The Chain Reaction Of Blessings Series

ROMANS 11:11 – 24. CHAIN REACTION OF BLESSING.

RECAP. 11: 1 -10 PAUL HAS SHOWN US THE TRAGIC CONDITION OF ISRAEL WITH HER UNIQUE PRIVILEGES 9:1-4 YET DISTANT FROM GOD (UNBELIEF). PAUL HAS SHOWN THAT GOD WAS NEITHER UNFAITHFUL TO HIS PROMISES 9:6 OR UNJUST TOWARDS THEM WHEN IT CAME TO THEIR SALVATION 9:14 - BUT IT WAS IN ORDER THAT GODS PURPOSE IN ELECTION MIGHT STAND 9:11 AND THEIR REJECTION OF CHRIST 9:32 AND THEIR CONTINUAL REJECTION OF GODS ADVANCES 10:21.

YET IN THEIR DISOBEDIENCE THEY FAIL TO RESPOND TO GOD….… SO IN THIS CHAPTER PAUL UNPACKS TWO QUESTIONS WHICH DEALT WITH THE IMPLICATIONS OF THEIR DISOBEDIENCE.

1ST V1 DID GOD REJECT HIS PEOPLE? 1- 10.

WE SAW PREVIOUSLY THAT GOD HAS NOT FINISHED WITH ISRAEL , THERE IS STILL A REMNANT CHOSEN BY GRACE V5 TO BE SAVED . SO THE REJECTION OF ISRAEL IS AT PRESENT ONLY PARTIAL THERE IS A BELIEVING REMNANT WHO WILL BE SAVED. TO SUBSTANTIATE HS FIRST CLAIM PAUL BRINGS FORWARD THREE PIECES OF EVIDENCE:

PERSONAL (PAUL WAS A JEW ). THEOLOGICAL (THOSE WHOM HE FOREKNEW V2 THE REMNANT )

HISTORICAL (THE TIME OF ELIJAH WHEN GOD HAD RESERVED WHO WERE FAITHFUL)

THE 2ND QUESTION V11 AGAIN I ASK DID THEY STUMBLE SO AS TO FALL BEYOND RECOVERY? HERE WE SEE PAUL LOOKING AT ISRAEL’S FUTURE PREDICAMENT.

WHICH SEES .........

A. CHAIN REACTION OF BLESSING. V11 - 12

HAS ALL HOPE BEEN LOST FOR ISRAEL? IS THERE ANY PURPOSE IN THIS WHOLESALE REJECTION ARE THEY BEYOND RECOVERY? PAUL HAS A CATEGORICAL SAID, ‘ NOT AT ALL’ THEY ARE NOT BEYOND RECOVERY AND EVEN THEIR REJECTION IS WITHIN GODS DIVINE PURPOSES.

IT WAS DIANA ROSS WHO SUNG, “ I’M IN THE MIDDLE OF A CHAIN REACTION.” ISRAEL’S REJECTION WAS NOT THE MIDDLE OF A CHAIN REACTION BUT THE START OF A CHAIN REACTION OF BLESSINGS WHICH WILL SEE GENTILES SAVED AND THE FULLNESS OF JEWS BROUGHT TO CHRIST V12.

• WIKIPEDIA STATES A CHAIN REACTION IS A SEQUENCE OF REACTIONS WHERE A REACTIVE PRODUCT OR BY-PRODUCT CAUSES ADDITIONAL REACTIONS TO TAKE PLACE. IT IS A SELF-AMPLIFYING CHAIN OF EVENTS.

HAVE YOU EVE WITNESSED A CHAIN REACTION? MAYBE IN THE CHEMISTRY LAB, IN YOUR SCHOOL DAYS AS YOU MIXED CERTAIN CHEMICALS TOGETHER WHICH CAUSES A CHAIN REACTION TO TAKE PLACE. OR HAVE YOU EVER SET UP DOMINOES IN SUCH A WAY THAT IT CAUSES A SERIES OF CHAIN REACTIONS AS ONE HITS THE OTHER.

FRIENDS AS OUR LIVES ARE LIVED OUT UNDER GODS PURPOSES WE ARE ALL LIVING UNDER A PROCESS OF CHAIN REACTIONS WHICH ULTIMATLY LEA TO GOD PURPOSES BEING ESTABLISHED.

YOU SEE EVEN ISRAEL’S REJECTION HAS BROUGHT BLESSINGS TO THE GENTILES. V11. GOD’S DIVINE PLAN WAS THROUGH JEWISH NATION (ABRAHAM THROUGH HIS SEED) ALL NATIONS WOULD BE BLESSED GEN 12:3. THE APOSTLE PAUL AND OTHERS PROCLAIMED THE GOOD NEWS TO JEWS FIRST, ACTS 13:46. THE FIRST PORT OF CALL WAS OFTEN THE JEWISH SYNAGOGUE YET AS THEY REJECTED THE GOSPEL, THE MESSAGE WENT TO THE GENTILES V48 WHEN THE GENTILES HEARD THIS THEY WERE GLAD AND HONOURED THE WORD OF THE LORD AND ALL WHO WERE APPOINTED TO ETERNAL LIFE BELIEVED.

THEIR REJECTION FULFILLED GODS DIVINE PURPOSES IN REACHING OUT TO THE REST OF THE WORLD, IT CAUSED A CHAIN REACTION OF BLESSINGS TO TAKE PLACE.

GENTILES WERE BEING SAVED AS PROPHESISED. ISAIAH 49:6, JESUS SAID IN MATT 8:11 -12 I SAY TO YOU MANY WILL COME FROM THE EAST AND THE WEST , AND WILL TAKE THEIR PLACES AT THE FEAST WITH ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND JACOB IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. BUT THE SUBJECTS OF THE KINGDOM WILL BE THROWN OUTSIDE, INTO THE DARKNESS, WHERE THERE WILL BE WEEPING AND GNASHING OF TEETH.

APPLICATION: AS WE LOOK UPON OUR LIVES CAN SEE A CHAIN OF EVENTS THAT HAS GOTTEN US TO WHERE WE ARE TODAY. A CHAIN OF EVENTS HAS LED US TO CHRIST, FROM A POSITION OF REJECTION TO RESPONSE. CHRISTIANS SHARE A PERSONAL TESTIMONY...... A CHAIN OF EVENTS OF HOW WE CAME TO TRUST IN CHRIST. AS A RESULT OF THEIR REJECTION WE TOO HAVE RECEIVED A SPIRITUAL BLESSING.

AT THIS POINT THE CHAIN REACTION STARTS TO REVERSE ITSELF

BECAUSE THE GENTILES BLESSINGS HAD BROUGHT ABOUT ISRAEL’S ENVY V11

THE BLESSING DIDN’T END THERE, THIS CHAIN REACTION RETURNED BACK TO THOSE WHO HAD REJECTED CHRIST AS MESSIAH V11 THEY WERE STIRRED UP TO ENVY... AS GOD HAD SAID EARLIER ROM 10:19 – DEUT 32:21. SOME WERE STIRRED TO A MALICIOUS ENVY ACTS 5:17, 13:45, 17:5.....

BUT THIS IS NOT WHAT PAUL IS REFERRING TO HERE BUT A MORE PURE , POSITIVE FORM OF ENVY.

JOHN STOTT WRITES, NOT ALL ENVY IS TAINTED WITH SELFISHNESS, BECAUSE IT IS NOT ALWAYS EITHER A GRUDGING DISCONTENT OR A SINFUL COVETOUSNESS. AT BASE ENVY IS THE DESIRE TO HAVE FOR ONES SELF SOMETHING POSSESSED BY ANOTHER. AND WHETHER ENVY IS GOOD OR EVIL DEPENDS ON THE NATURE OF THE SOMETHING DESIRED AND ON WHETHER ONE HAS THE RIGHT TO ITS POSSESSION.