Calvary Road Baptist Church
“THE ELECTION OF GRACE”
Romans 11.1-10
Imagine yourself a Jewish Christian in the city of Rome, about 35 years after the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, who was crucified on a cruel cross just outside Jerusalem. There are a couple of things that are on your mind and heart as you hear Paul’s letter to the Romans read to your small group for the first time.
First, because you are well-informed regarding the events that occurred at that Passover time when the Lord Jesus died, you are only too familiar with the suffering and humiliation that He endured before His horrible crucifixion. And you have looked back with sadness at the behavior of everyone around the Savior on that fateful day, including your Jewish people. You recognize because you have obeyed the Gospel, that Jesus Christ is the Messiah of Israel. You recognize that during His earthly ministry He did offer the Messianic Kingdom to your people, He offered to establish the Kingdom on earth for 1000 years, but your people rejected His offer when they rejected Him and He was crucified.
Second, because of your Jewish upbringing in the synagogue, you are mindful of your heritage. Oh sure, much was rightly said about the positive aspects of being Jewish, of being God’s chosen people, of being the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But you have also become aware of your people’s historical shortcomings. You remember that while in Egyptian bondage your people turned to idolatry. You remember that while they were being given the Law through God’s servant Moses, while Moses was on the mountain, in fact, your ancestors were worshiping the golden calf at the foot of the mountain. You also remember how quickly the Israelites turned against God during the times of the judges and how God told Samuel that the people had not rejected Samuel, but had rejected God when they demanded their king.
Throughout Jewish history, you remember, your people have demonstrated their unfaithfulness to the God Who chose them to be His people. To be sure, God did promise certain things to Israel. But after all the idolatry, after the waywardness that led to the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities, after killing His prophets, after the apostasy that took over the priesthood in Jerusalem, and now, after the rejection of God’s Own Son and the obvious refusal of the majority of the Jewish people to repent of their sins and recognize Jesus as Lord, could it be that God has finally had enough of us?
These are the kinds of thoughts that I imagine ran through the minds of the Jewish believers who heard Paul’s Roman letter read to them aloud for the first time. Having thoroughly covered the subject of justification, which has to do with how a sinner is given a right standing before our holy God, and having dealt with Israel’s past, Paul concludes his discussion of Israel’s present with God’s declaration to Israel that “All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.” So, anticipating the concern of the Jewish believer that God may finally have had enough of the rebellion, enough of the duplicity, enough of the backsliding, Paul asked, “I say then, Hath God cast away his people?”
And now, as we begin our study of Romans chapter 11, which deals with the future of Israel, Paul begins to answer this question. Has God cast away His people? There is no suspense here. Responding in light of God’s character Paul declares, “God forbid!” God has not cast away His people. And through more than 35 verses of Romans chapter 11, Paul will provide reassurance to the concerned reader.
Paul’s reassurance comes in the form of four responses, four reasons, if you will, for being confident that Israel’s future is assured, for being confident that God’s promises will be kept. In our text for today, Romans 11.1-10, we are given the first of Paul’s reasons, the first of Paul’s reassurances, for being confident that Israel’s future is assured. Stand with me, if you will, as we read about the remnant according to the election of grace. Romans 11.1-10:
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.
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,
3 Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.
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.
5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
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.
7 What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded
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.
9 And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them:
10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.
There are two groups of Jewish people mentioned here by Paul. We’ll look at them in turn.
First, THE REMNANT
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.
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,
3 Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.
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.
5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
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.
The concept of a remnant is not a new one in God’s dealings with His people. Some Old Testament books address this matter of the remnant, that small group from among God’s people who know God. Isaiah and Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Ezra and Nehemiah each refer to this idea in connection with the Assyrian and Babylonian crisis points in Israel’s history. So Paul is going to take a concept familiar to his readers and show how that familiar concept of the past applies to the present situation the Jewish people are in. There are two ways in which he does this:
First, we encounter the declaration of Paul (11.1c-2a)
1 ... For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
2 God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew.
There are essentially two declarations found here: At the end of verse 1, Paul declares his qualifications. He is an Israelite. He is a physical descendant of Abraham. He is a Benjamite. He is no recent convert to Judaism. He is not the progeny of proselytes. He is the genuine article. Thus, Paul is making a declaration that establishes him, not as any kind of spokesman for the Israelite nation, but solely as a member of the Israelite nation. He is a part of that group that would be directly affected by any decision made by God to abrogate His covenant responsibility and cast off the Israelites. So, what does this thoroughly Israelite man say? In his second declaration, which speaks directly to the question being considered, Paul asserts two claims: First, God has not cast away His people. The possessive pronoun is important. The Israelites are God’s people. Second, God foreknew these people. Remember, you cannot separate the foreknowledge of God from the predestinating purpose of God. That God foreknew these people decries the possibility that He would ever cast them off.
But Paul’s declarations are not comforting in and of themselves. Therefore, through verse 6, Paul verifies the form of an explanation: He begins by bringing to his reader’s remembrance the accusation of Elijah (11.2b-3):
2 ... Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying,
3 Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.
You remember Elijah’s pity party after his victorious confrontation over the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel and his flight from the threat from Jezebel, First Kings 19.2-8. Thinking he was the only one of God’s faithful people left he bitterly complained to God, First Kings 19.9-14. What was God’s response to Elijah’s bellyaching? What was God’s response to Elijah’s whining? What was God’s response to Elijah’s discouragement and lack of hope? The remonstration to Elijah is repeated by Paul in verse 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.”[1]
You don’t know what you’re talking about Elijah. I have 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal, so your pity party is based on bad information. Your discouragement is based on bad information. Your lack of hope is based on bad information, as it always is. So what? What does this have to do with you and me, pastor? What does this have to do with the Jewish Christians in Rome during the first century? Let me answer the second question first. What does this reference to Elijah’s complaint to God and God’s response back to Elijah have to do with the first century Jewish Christians in Rome? The application made by Paul is found in verse 5:
“Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.”
Just as in Elijah’s day, when God had reserved to Himself, and not with Elijah’s knowledge or with Elijah’s permission, 7,000 men, so, in our day, there is again a remnant. And this remnant is not comprised of a group of people who have remained steadfast through their efforts. The existence of a remnant can only be explained as a result of the election of grace; the selection by God of individuals comprising the remnant, according to His grace, because election is selection. What does this have to do with you and me? The assertion by Paul is in verse 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.”
Election is according to grace and is entirely apart from works. When God chooses individuals to stand for Him when few others are standing, He does so not by merit but the basis of grace alone. Additionally, any salvation which seems to involve works, of necessity, cannot involve grace, and must, therefore, be something other than God’s plan of salvation. If you have to work to get it, it cannot be God’s salvation. This is the Law of the Excluded Middle in logic. This means, when it comes to the salvation of a small number of Jewish people who comprise the remnant Paul is referring to here, or the salvation of a much larger number of Gentiles, there are only two possible ways this salvation can be brought about.
Either it is God’s grace, which excludes the possibility of works, or it is works, which excludes the possibility of grace. There is no mixture of these two. And throughout the Bible salvation is shown to be by God’s grace. Has God cast away His people? No, He has not. What is to be observed during Paul’s day, and during our day as well, is that God has called out a few Israelites to faith in Jesus Christ. These few comprise a remnant. And just because there are so few who know Christ, so few who comprise the remnant, should not be interpreted as God abandoning His covenant people. Today, as in Israel’s past, the remnant has been a token of God’s faithfulness, not an indication that He has forsaken Israel, despite the conclusion drawn by covenant theologians (who are wrong about other things, also). Had He forsaken Israel there would be no Jewish Christians instead of few Jewish Christians.
FIRST THE REMNANT, NOW THE REST
Having spoken about the remnant, those few in Paul’s day and in our day among the Israelite nation who have responded to their Messiah in faith, Paul now turns his comments to the rest of the Jewish people, the majority who rejected and who still reject Christ’s claims:
First, a general conclusion:
“What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for.”
This is a restatement of Romans 9.31-32. Israel wants righteousness, but not the righteousness which is of faith. But without faith in Christ, righteousness, which is unattainable by works, is impossible for anyone to obtain. The result? Israel has not found that which was sought. By and large, presently as well as in Paul’s day, Israel is comprised of people who are lost. And tremendous numbers of Jewish people of our day are not only lost, but they are also atheists as well, denying the very existence of the God of Israel.
Let me just interject at this point another problem with the Charismatic Movement, as if it is not enough for us to deal with already. Has anyone ever heard of a Charismatic pastor in San Antonio, Texas named John Hagee? John Hagee once preached a messaged in which he indicated that Jewish people needed to trust Christ as their Savior. The Jewish community in the state of Texas and throughout the nation responded in an uproar, so John Hagee responded by saying something along the line of “Let me restate that. Everybody needs to come to Jesus Christ as their Savior, except religious Jews. They are saved by complying with the Law of Moses.” Excuse me. One of the reasons the Lord Jesus came was because the Law of Moses could not save anybody. So, that’s a problem with the Charismatic Movement. That’s just one; there are many more.
Second, specific conclusions. Having made a general statement about Israel, Paul now gets more specific: First, conclusions about Jewish believers in Christ. What can be said, in passing, about those who are a part of the remnant? How is their situation to be summarized? Paul writes, “But the election hath obtained it.” Righteousness has been obtained for those who comprise the remnant. But it was not anything they did. No personal merit or works. God’s election accomplished what needed to be done. And about those Jewish people who are presently lost? What is to be said about Jewish people who are presently without Christ? Two comments from Paul: First, their experience. At the end of verse 7, Paul states, “and the rest were blinded.” We can’t get into the why of this until next time, but God has judicially blinded the greater portion of the Jewish people to spiritual truth. You say, “Pastor, that’s a very strong statement to make.” Yes, and that’s the reason I am glad I didn’t make it. It was the Apostle Paul, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and he was right. How else can we explain their inability to see what is so clear to be seen, that Jesus Christ is the Messiah foretold in the prophets? He is the Savior of mankind. So, their experience is spiritual blindness that has come upon them by an act of God. Then, their expectation. It should come as no surprise to the Bible student to read of Paul’s conclusion that the Israelites have been blinded by God. Verse 8 refers to such a prediction by the prophet Isaiah and verses 9 and ten refer to such a prediction by the psalmist David, no less:
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.
9 And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them:
10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.
Conclusion? The remnant can only be explained by the grace of God. When God sovereignly chooses His remnant, which is election, He does so by grace and not merit or works. That is, the remnant does not deserve to be a part of the remnant. Saved people don’t deserve being saved. They do not deserve to be saved from their sins by God’s grace. They don’t; you don’t, I don’t. That they know Jesus Christ and are a part of the remnant is a testimony to the grace of God in their lives, just as when we who are Gentiles are saved.
The majority of the Israelites who are not saved, on the other hand, can be explained in two ways: First, they are lost because of their works. We are told that they sought righteousness, but they sought righteousness by works and not by faith. The result for going about it the wrong way? They did not find righteousness, and they are lost. You say, “But pastor, they seem some of them to be so sincere.” Sincere? Some of the sincerest people who have ever lived have been members of the communist party and are responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of people because they were sincere in their convictions that the state must be supreme. But they were sincerely wrong. Excuse me, folks, sincerity doesn’t count for much with God. It’s important if you are right, its good to be sincerely right. But if you are sincerely wrong, sincerity counts for nothing.
Second, for reasons that we will explore next time, God has judicially blinded the majority of Israelites. And this results in their inability to see and perceive spiritual truth that we observe in the lives of so many Jewish people today.
In Romans 11.1-10 Paul has laid a foundation that he will build on through the rest of the chapter. It is a foundation that will support his contention that God has not cast off His people, the Israelites. And in laying this foundation, which was particularly important to his Jewish Christian readers in Rome, Paul also left important and applicable truth for the believers of our day. I conclude with these two items:
First, we have every reason to be encouraged that our God will never leave us or forsake us. He has promised that He would hold to His Word, and with the situation, with the Israelites that we have just examined, we have seen ample evidence that God will keep His Word. Look at Israel’s long history of sin and rebellion and infidelity toward God. He has remained true to His Word. If God has kept His Word with the Jewish people He will keep His Word with His children, will He not?
Second, we see one of the most clearly explained distinctions between works and grace, in Romans 11.6, that can be found anywhere in the Bible. So many people will come to a Church like ours, where salvation by grace apart from works is preached. And though the message is clear and untainted, people will still convince themselves that salvation is by grace, but with some small measure of works needed. But in the passage which we have examined today, Paul has shown, in the most unmistakable way, that in the matter of salvation grace and works are mutually exclusive concepts. If you have the one you cannot have the other.
So, be encouraged, Christian. God will not leave you or forsake you. It is totally contrary to His character. God is faithful. He cannot deny Himself.
As to this matter of salvation, my lost friend who has tried to mix grace and works, who has tried to be good (only to fail). Perhaps you’ve not realized before this very minute that you think you are saved as a result of mixing grace and works. But you realize it now. And you realize that this attempt to mix two things which cannot mix has only resulted in you fooling yourself for awhile. Now you know. Now you can be saved, not by works or anything that involves works, but by the wonderful grace of God.
If you are a Christian who needs to address the issue of your Scriptural assurance of your salvation, or if you are lost and need to be saved as only God can save, perhaps it would be good for you to come and talk to me.
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[1] 1 King 19.18
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Pastor@CalvaryRoadBaptist.Church