[Romans 11:26 – 12:1] ------- ~ America has a widely varied and majestic landscape; incredible mountain ranges like the Rockies contrasted with depths like the Grand Canyon. The heartland of America has Great Plains that are great, indeed. All of these declare the mighty work of God just like the Word of God does! Our Spiritual Safari has reached a few plateaus but in this report we’re going a little bit higher! We’re still in this section of the Word of God that deals with God’s future purpose for the nation Israel. For two thousand years plus now God has been saving those who believe in the nation Israel and outside of the nation Israel. All men are placed on the same basis before God today. That in no way discounts the Old Testament; God still has a future plan and purpose for Israel. So, as we pick up in this report we’re talking about the future restoration of the nation Israel…. XI 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: 27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. ~ Paul has already said that ‘’all’’ Israel is not Israel; Paul is not talking about every individual Israelite in the world being saved. We’re talking about the national and corporate nation as we have seen before on safari; and always a remnant, of course. It was a remnant in Elijah’s day and in David’s day, as we have considered. The same was true in Paul’s day and it is still true today, too. God’s people will always be a remnant down here, even after the church is removed from the earth and the Great Tribulation period begins. We’re told that twelve thousand from the twelve tribes equaling one hundred forty four thousand will be sealed. I do not know if that is the total of the remnant during the Great Tribulation; it is likely there are others. Either way, we’re talking about the nation as a whole and not individuals within the nation. The message to the individual will be that they must turn from transgression; and a remnant will return at that time. All of them will be saved is what Paul means here. I could refer you to a whole bunch of Scripture here but the important thing to understand is that Paul is speaking of Israel as a nation and NOT of individuals at all…. 28 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers sakes. 29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. ~ This is a summation of Paul’s preceding discussion. There are two lines of thought here that are in a seeming contradiction and in opposition; both are true, however. Israel is regarded as an enemy for the sake of the Gentiles – that is, so the Gospel can go to the Gentiles. On the other hand they’re beloved for the sake of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob! So, it would be absolutely impossible to claim to be a Christian and indulge in ANY form of anti-Semitism. The failure of the nation Israel – and our failure likewise – cannot and will not alter the plan and purpose of God! The gifts here are NOT natural gifts! The word used here is closely related to grace; and the calling is not an invitation, either – but is the effectual calling of God and it has nothing to do with repentance! Crying a river means nothing – only your faith in Christ matters. Even the faith is not meritorious – it’s Christ Who saves! Our faith only enables us to lay hold of Him! ~ 30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: 31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. ~ Paul is writing here largely to Gentiles because the church in Rome was largely Gentile. By this time in history many Gentiles were being saved. Paul is making a contrast between the nation Israel and the Gentiles in this passage. In times past Gentiles did not believe; but now a remnant of the Gentiles have obtained mercy! Israel, who once did believe – no longer believes! So, God makes provisions to save both Jew and Gentile and that way is by grace and mercy! God shows the same mercy to both the Jew and the Gentiles; both are in the same state of rebellion and aggravated unbelief. Well, grace and mercy are both gifts of God, friends…. 32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all. 33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! ~ The reason for restoring the nation Israel is locked in the depths of the riches of the wisdom of God! So, from here forward on our expedition through the entire Bible we have a new axiom: whatever God has done / is doing / will do in the earth is wise, right and is the best that can be done! You and I have an old nature and that natural man always questions God in His decisions. God has every right to do whatever it is imaginable that He does OR ALLOWS! Why? – Because He is God! If you don’t think that what God is doing today is right then YOUR thinking is wrong! See, you and I are always wrong because we’re stupid – God is always right because all knowledge is His! These last two verses are a glorious place we have arrived at with Paul! Everything is now placed within the confines of the wisdom and the glory of God! This is where Paul turns to contemplate the heights he has reached! We have climbed this treacherously high mountain in this safari and – here we are at the top. Depths are steps away from our feet but waves of light illuminate them. The horizon lets us know the expanse of our mere immediate existence. We can only dream of the unsearchable judgments! This is pure praise to the Lord Jesus Christ we have reached in this expedition. This is no argument at all and yet it is the greatest argument imaginable! It covers from pole to pole and all three hundred sixty plus five degrees! It goes out in all directions at every angle and all points of light in the universe are hit by this comet. If you do not understand the why of God’s dealings between Israel, the Gentiles and ourselves it’s not because there isn’t a good evidence and sufficient reason – the difficulty is with YOU and YOUR understanding – because we have just been told! We must also remember that God said His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways…. 34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? 35 Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? ~ The questions we have in the Authorized Version are simple enough; but the answers aren’t so easy and, therefore, not forthcoming! No one knows the mind of the Lord. It was Paul’s ambition to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings being made conformable unto His death! Paul still didn’t know the mind of the Lord. Only the Holy Spirit speaking through Paul could ever have written this epistle. No one has ever advised God; but a lot of people want to give Him advice! I’ve seen a lot of people around this forum on which I teach that seem to think they give God some good advice with their proclamation of healing and such; but God doesn’t need their advice – He doesn’t take it – and I doubt He wants to even hear it. The Lord Jesus Christ never asked the disciples for advice when He was here on earth – not one single time. In fact Jesus ignored their unsolicited advice when the disciples told Jesus to send the crowd away! Jesus fed the crowd. Every time Jesus asked them a question He already knew what He was going to do! God doesn’t need our advice, friends – and He doesn’t take it. Paul asks who has first given to God – how about you? Have you ever really given anything to God? You and I can’t give God anything. If we did that might place Him in the awkward position of owing us something! That’s just never going to happen, friends. I will say that one of the reasons most of us are so poor today is because we give Him so little! Whatever you give to God He is going to turn right around and give much more back to you…. 36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen. XII 1 I beg of you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. ~ Verse thirty six has been described as the most sublime apostrophe existing, even in the pages of Scripture itself. God is the all sufficient cause, source and resource of everything! He is the mighty sustainer and worker in His universe. God is going to call every creature to account to Him because all things flow towards God! The glory belongs to Him! Are you robbing God of glory that belongs to Him? Chapter twelve brings us to a new division in Romans; and it is the practical application of all of our previous theological arguments from this epistle - beginning in chapter twelve and running through the end. Verse one opens with ‘’therefore’’ which ties it in with everything that has just preceded it; I think that one word gathers up the entire preceding epistle so far, personally. There is no law here; no thunder and lightnings from Mount Sinai. Paul begins with, ‘’I beg of you….’’ Moses commanded but the apostle exhorts. This approaches the suggestion that no commandment follows the fire from Mount Sinai because we have the ‘mercies’ – plural – of God. The plural is a Hebraism that simply denotes and abundance of mercy. God is so rich in mercy, friends; He has plenty of it, too! I know that because He has to use a bunch of it for me! I suspect He uses quite a bit for you, too? We’re talking about the compassion, tenderness and pity of God Almighty. His compassions never fail. Then, we are called upon to yield and to ‘present.’ This is the same word we had in chapter six where some say the application was to the mind; and, here, the application is to the will. Well, I think that’s a false distinction – the appeal in BOTH is to the WILL! Chapter six brought us the way to Christian character as we yielded to Him. Here we have the way to Christian consecration and conduct as we continue to yield to Him. Our bodies are our total personality; the body is the only physical means by which to express ourselves. When the mind, the affections and the will are yielded to Him then the Holy Spirit of God can use the body! Vincent assembled these Scriptures to reveal very wide latitude of glorifying God in our bodies because we were bought with a price. We need to really get hold of the fact that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. It is our reasonable, rational and realistic service to God and it is well pleasing to Him. This is where the Gospel walks in shoe leather. In the first part of Romans the reader saw the helmet of salvation and the shield of faith. In this last section our feet become protected with a preparation of the Gospel. When we finish here we should be able to stand and walk in the spiritual battle although we are never called to fight. This is where our Christian walk and our run in the race both begin. Some may think we have already considered the practical application in our reports on sanctification. That was a very practical section, to be sure; but, there is a sharp distinction in these two sections. Under sanctification we were dealing with Christian character. In this section we are dealing with Christian conduct. When we examined sanctification we examined the inner man; here we will consider the outward manner. There it was the condition of the Christian but here we have the consecration of the believer! There we saw who the Christian is and here we see what a Christian does! We have also learned about the privileges of grace. This section will be the precepts of grace! The annunciation of our way of life must be followed by evidences of that profession, friends. Announcing justification of faith must be augmented by activities of life. Further, the conduct of Christians must be expressed in this world by their relationship to those with whom they come into contact! Naturally, these relationships must be regulated in some way. It’s very easy to write a whole long list of rules of conduct. Paul is NOT doing that; he has already delivered us from the Mosaic Law. That was not done to put us under some other law, either. There are a lot of Christians that don’t do this and don’t do that; the problem is: they don’t do anything. I sure wish they didn’t gossip so much! Those who think they are separated and have no sin – my advice is: you better watch them very carefully! They are ALWAYS carnal Christians! These are not rules and regulations we have coming up; they are tremendous spiritual principles that are to guide the believer. The Holy Spirit has given the believer a road map of life. It shows the topography, the curves, orientation; but it doesn’t give any speed limits. Detours are clearly marked. The city of Vanity is surveyed and the exits are also clearly marked. The believer is told about lodging and restaurants but is never told to patronize any certain place. The believer is told to lead; but many different choices are given as to which route to take. Our Spiritual Safari ends this leg by returning from the dizzying pinnacles on the mountaintops of the government of God back to the wide open Great Plains where the Word of God is worked out in us and where we live our life today. This is also the plane where we all move and have our being on earth. The child of God has a relationship to Him. We also have a relationship to the gifts of the Spirit of God. We have a relationship to other believers and to unbelievers; to government; to our neighbors and those we deal with in our day to day existence. We’re in the world but we aren’t of the world! Either way, there is a very real duty the child of God has in this world. We will examine that as we continue through Romans ~
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 01:40:12 +0000