Lessons From Romans – Lesson 14
Rom_5:18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
Rom_3:24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
Salvation is truly a free gift by grace and not by works. And last week we looked at how Paul in Romans 10:6-10 focused on belief in the heart. And we looked at a parable of Jesus that showed what belief in the heart looks like. God be merciful to me a sinner.
And we looked at how God commands all men to repent and how Jesus taught repent.
And you put it all together it becomes clear. Believe in the heart in the Romans road is talking about believing with a repentant heart.
Getting saved is not like taking out an insurance policy against going to hell. It is not like going to Allstate and taking out a fire insurance policy on your house. It is logical and there is a danger so I will take out a policy to cover myself.
Some try to treat salvation that way. And they do it without any conviction or remorse for sin. To get saved there must be some kind of desire in the heart to turn from sin and turn to Jesus.
You can’t come to God in pride and rebellion and say I have signed up so to speak and confessed that I believe and so I am all good. This is where I think that many of the people will come from that will say Lord Lord, and hear Jesus say depart from me for I never knew you.
Salvation is free and it is that simple. You only have to believe you are a sinner and call upon Him to save you with a repentant heart.
This is the greatest truth that there is to tell others.
This is the heart of God. His desire is that all men come to Him for salvation.
2Pe_3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
This is why Jesus gave the orders before He ascended that we call the great commission.
He wants His Gospel to go everywhere to all people.
After Paul concludes the Romans Road describing how to get saved, he then gives the main plan for getting the Gospel to the world.
First a man must see the need.
Rom 10:14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?
Once he sees the need then he needs to understand that people must hear and for that to happen someone must go and tell.
Rom 10:14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
Of course this lines up perfectly with the commands Jesus gave before He ascended.
And then the man submits to God’s will to go, and his local church agrees and sends him out with their blessing.
Rom 10:15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
That is God’s main plan. And that is the main way it has been done for about 2,000 years. And that is still God’s main plan today.
I say it is the main way. But it is not the only way that God has done this. What happens when Christians in the church refuse and the Church itself refuses.
Does God then say O’ well. I guess no one gets told. Too bad.
Nope. That goes against the very heart of God. God’s heart is that people hear and that people are given a chance. What does God do when the church is too messed up to obey?
We have an example in the Bible.
Jesus told the church to go to all the world and preach to every creature. James and the church in Jerusalem under his leadership refused. And they refused and refused again.
God then sent Peter to a family of gentiles, Peter obeyed the family of Gentiles gets saved. And James got upset. When confronted James said ok and gave glory to God.
But no changes in policy or action. The church still refused to go.
God then sends persecution. The Jewish Christians scatter from Jerusalem and they do go preaching but only to other Jews.
So they are still refusing.
So what did God do? He finally got thru to a couple of men who gave the gospel to Gentiles in Antioch. Gentiles got saved. They heard from men who were not sent from the Church.
Barnabas gets sent to Antioch to see what is happening. He sees God moving in a big way and that help is needed for the work. He knows no help will be coming from Jerusalem so he goes gets Paul and takes him directly to the work in Antioch.
Many more Gentiles hear the Gospel from Paul. But Paul also was not sent by a church.
So God’s plan and main way is for a man to see the need and feel the call of God to go and his local church agrees and sends him. This is the best way and God’s preferred method.
But when that fails because of rebellion to God’s instructions and fails because of sin in the church.
God will do the calling and the sending directly. This is what God did with Peter to the first Gentiles that got saved. And this is what God did with Barnabas and with Paul going to Antioch.
And you can see other times in History where circumstances were such where the main preferred method did not work, and so God called and sent men without being sent from a local church. One example would be when the Catholics marched into France and killed Christians and the Christians that lived scattered.
And they went preaching and they started churches in the areas they escaped to. And they did it without being send from a local church. Because their local church no longer existed.
So God will at times not use the preferred main method. But those are exceptions due to circumstances.
I believe where ever possible God sticks to using the main preferred method in verses 14-15
Rom 10:14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
Rom 10:15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
When we help missionaries with material via Chick Track Missions and Fellowship tract league and bearing precious seed, we are helping men who have followed God’s preferred method.
That is one of the main reasons I chose those 3 organizations for us to support.
So the flow has been Salvation is a wonderful gift to all who choose to believe with a repentant heart.
That news is so wonderful that all people need to hear. And how will that happen if someone does not go and tell. And the main way that should happen is thru a local church seeing a man called and then sending him.
Since the truth is so wonderful and since there is a plan to get it to people then should not more people get saved? If this is God’s plan and it is, then why is it not more effective?
That is a valid question that the readers of this letter might have. So we see that Paul deals with that next. And Paul once again goes back to Old Testament prophecies to explain it.
Rom 10:16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?
Rom 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Rom 10:18 But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.
Rom 10:19 But I say, Did not Israel know? First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you.
Rom 10:20 But Esaias is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me.
Rom 10:21 But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.
God had Isaiah give prophecy about this. Faith comes by hearing and the Jews did hear but still did not believe because they were a disobedient and gainsaying people.
Isaiah prophesied that God would then turn to another nation because of the hardness of their hearts and that it would anger the Jews. And that is exactly what Paul is seeing in his day.
Gentiles are getting saved in large numbers but Jews are not.
So a question that might now come to mind is, did God then forsake the Jews because of this? Paul, like he has been doing this entire letter, anticipates the possible question and answers it.
Rom 11:1 I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
The answer is God has not cast away his people. Paul is evidence of that. Jesus visited him on the Damascus road and Paul got saved.
Rom 11:2 God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying,
Rom 11:3 Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.
There is that word once again. Which he foreknew. God made sure that in many places in His word where this subject comes up that He put the word foreknew there. God works in lives and circumstances according to His foreknowledge.
In the example that Paul is using here Elijah thought that he was alone, but that was not true. God had reserved to Himself 7,000 men who had not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.
And God reserving those men was done out of His foreknowledge. God knew who would choose Him over Baal and who would not. So God moved and used His almighty power in the circumstances of life to provide for and protect those 7,000 men.
God did not force those 7,000 men to choose Him over Baal. God moved out of foreknowledge.
Rom 11:4 But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.
Rom 11:5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
Rom 11:6 And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.
Rom 11:7 What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded
And again this is said in the context of the example that Paul gave of Elijah which was done out of foreknowledge.
So the same thing is true here in Paul’s day.
Rom 11:8 (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.
Rom 11:9 And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them:
Rom 11:10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.
Those that God foreknew would get saved He moved and worked for them to hear and to see and understand and God brought the conviction and they got saved.
And those that God foreknew would reject Him, He moved and gave those Jews the spirit of slumber.
And this is what Paul is seeing. Paul is seeing a remnant of Jews get saved like the ruler of the synagogue in Corinth. And Paul is seeing the eyes darkened for most of the Jews.
And Paul is seeing the prophecy come true that God is turning to the gentiles.
Rom 11:11 I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.
Rom 11:12 Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?
Rom 11:13 For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:
Rom 11:14 If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.
God turning to the Gentiles in part was to provoke the Jews to jealousy. Seeing God turn to others was supposed to affect their hearts and make them consider their wrong thinking and their rejection of Jesus.
In verse 14 when Paul say them which are my flesh, he is talking about Jews. And he says might save some of them. So Paul understands that while God out of foreknowledge has blinded the eyes of most Jews, God also promised a remnant would get saved.
So Paul keeps praying and witnessing and taking the rejection of the masses of Jews for the few who will get saved.
Paul now sets up the illustration of a tree and its natural branches and the principal of how you can break off a natural branch and graph in a branch from a different tree.
In this object lesson the natural branches is Israel and the wild branches are Gentiles.
The roots are what gives life. That of course is the Lord God Almighty.
Rom 11:15 For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?
Casting away a branch means death for the branch. Receiving the branch to the tree means life.
Rom 11:16 For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.
The branches are declared holy not because of the branches. They are declared holy because of the root that feeds the branches.
We are declared just before God not because of us, but because of Him. His righteousness is imputed to us.
Rom 11:17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;
When we get saved we are graffed in. We partake of the life from the same root. Some people wrongly think even today that Israel had to be broken off so that we could be added. This is an error.
The branches of Israel that were broken off was because of their willful unbelief. And remember there is a remnant of Israel that gets saved. So not every branch was broken off.
The branches represent those that are saved. The tree now has both. Jew branches and Gentile branches.
Some make the error that once grafted in we have become Israel. They teach that we have replaced Israel. This is a huge error. If you take a grapefruit branch and graft it onto a lemon tree. It gets life from the Lemon roots, but it is still a grapefruit branch.
And when it flowers, it is a grapefruit flower and when it produces fruit it makes a grapefruit. It is a grapefruit branch. When we get saved and are grafted in we are still a Gentile branch getting life from the root.
We are Gentile believers. We have not replaced Israel.
Rom 11:18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
Rom 11:19 Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in.
Rom 11:20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:
We are not all that and a bag of chips. No one was cast off to make room for us. So do not get highminded. Stay humble and do right.
Rom 11:21 For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.
Rom 11:22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
Rom 11:23 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.
Rom 11:24 For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?
Basically if any of the Jews choose to change their minds and turn to Jesus they can get saved and be graffed back in.
And we know that one day all Israel will do just that in the Tribulation and they will get saved.
Rom 11:25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
Rom 11:26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
Rom 11:27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
Rom 11:28 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes.
Rom 11:29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
God made an unconditional promise to that people group. And God will keep that promise.
God will out of foreknowledge work and maintain a remnant of saved Jews. There has always been a small percentage of saved Jews for the last 2,000 years and there are some saved Jews today.
And there will be some Jews saved all the way until the Tribulation. And during that time period all Israel will be saved.