God Has Not Rejected His People But He Has Left A Remnant. EXPOSITION ON THE BOOK OF ROMANS study #61 (Romans 11:1-5)
The last two chapter are always challenging to teach through because of the problems we often have with the way God has chosen to work out salvation in our lives. What we have seen is that Paul has used the Jewish people to show how being zealous for the things of God is not the same as being saved or called by God. The Jewish people would have been considered the people that most people would assume to be first in line when it comes to receiving salvation. What we have seen is that they were no more capable of earning salvation than any other person because salvation does not come through our own deeds, privileges or abilities.
This thought is widely accepted but many still have a problem with thinking that they do not have a choice in the matter. I would say this, I am glad that God has chosen to give me His grace because I would have never looked for it if it wasn’t for God’s drawing me to Himself. So many others look at this as unfair because not all people get what we have. The fact is that the fair thing to do is to leave us to pay our own penalty for the sins we committed against God so we need to be thankful for this act of God in giving us His mercy.
As we know, God has not left all people to pay the penalty for their sins. He has provided His Only Begotten Son, Jesus to be the propitiation for us and with that we have eternal life. That is, those that have believed, trusted or had faith in Jesus will receive this gift of eternal life. This is where the debate happens often because many think that our own believing is something we can accomplish ourselves and that God left it to us to decide. The section of Scripture we will look at in this study will destroy that thought completely as Paul uses the Jews as an example of how God chooses a remnant of people for Himself and not the whole.
Most of this chapter will be focused on this idea as he will tie everything together that he has been teaching on in the last couple of chapters. Let’s look now at our first point for this study.
1.PAUL is proof that God has not rejected His people.
Look with me at Romans 11:1-2a that says I say then, has God rejected His people? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew.
With all that has been said about the Jews ignorance to salvation and in their rejection of the Messiah, many people would wonder if God has truly forsaken the Jewish people. It seems that He gave them blessings, promises and left them to their own stubborn will. As we will see this is not the case but it does bring up the question that we see Paul ask at the beginning of Romans 11:1 where he asks, I say then, has God rejected His people?
The thought behind this question would be brought up because it seems that God has left the Jews and turned to the Gentiles to give them salvation. The Gentiles seem to be reaping the promises of salvation while the Jewish people are left out. What we must remember is that all throughout the book of Romans, Paul has expressed that neither Jew nor Gentile has any place to make a case before God concerning that they deserve salvation. Romans 3:9-12 says What then? Are we better? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; 10 as it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one; 11 There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; 12 All have turned aside, together they have become worthless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.”
With this is mind, we know that the Gentile nor the Jew has more of a chance to have salvation than the other. All of this comes down to how God works in our lives. Just like what we read in Romans 9:18 that says So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.
The problem with any of this from our human standpoint is that we want to know why God works in this way. The thing we must keep in mind is that God does not give us that reason. We must trust His sovereignty and accept what we read here. This point has been clear from Paul’s standpoint because as he expressed in Romans 9:3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.
He wants to see their salvation but he also understands that all of this happens in God’s timing and for His purpose. This is where we will look at how he responds to this question that would be asked. Read with me again the whole verse of Romans 11:1 that says I say then, has God rejected His people? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
Paul uses himself as an example of how God’s mercy is given to those that are Jewish. He would have been the least likely candidate for mercy in our eyes because of his persecution of the church. Yet we see that God gave him mercy and saved him for a purpose that is God’s alone. After Paul was confronted by Jesus on the rode to Damascus, God appeared to a Christian by the name of Ananias to help Paul. Ananias had heard of Paul’s outrage and persecution of Christians so he was afraid. We read what God tells him of Paul in Acts 9:16-17 that says But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; 16 for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name.”
Paul was chosen by God for His purpose. God had changed Paul and would use him to share the message of salvation. Paul who is a Jew, would be used by God just as the other 12 Apostles of the Lord. Many others were used to spread the Gospel of the Lord but Paul did not seem to fit the criterial that most thought would do this work. This was not Paul’s plan but God’s. Paul says in Romans 11:2a God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew.
We need to be clear that these who He foreknew is not referring to salvation. Back in Romans 8:29-30 we read Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers; 30 and those whom He predestined, He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified; and those whom He justified, He also glorified.
The foreknowledge in that context is directly pointing at salvation or justification. Here in Romans 11:2 this is referring to the Jews as His people whom He foreknew. We already know that most Jews of that time rejected Jesus as the Messiah so they are not considered those that God foreknew for salvation. Instead this is referring to their relationship to God in that He made them the nation that they are, He guided them through the times of the Old Testament in giving them promises, covenants and blessings. So we must be sure to not apply this foreknowledge to salvation. This love that God had for Israel shows up in the way He deals with them throughout their history.
The point that Paul is making here is that God has not rejected His people who are the Israelites. In fact He has set aside a remnant of those that follow Him and trust Him. This is a continual theme throughout the Old Testament but here Paul shows this truth as he looks at Elijah. We will do this as well as we look at our next point for this study.
2.ELIJAH learns that God has not rejected His people.
Look with me at Romans 11:2-4 that says God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? 3 “Lord, they have killed Your prophets, they have torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they are seeking my life.” 4 But what does the divine response say to him? “I have left for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”
In our first point we pointed out that Paul used himself as an example showing that God has not rejected His people, the Israelites. It would be easy to think that Paul’s message of salvation looked like it excluded the Jews but over and over again we have seen Paul say things like we read in Romans 10:12-13 that says For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him, 13 for “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Paul wants his audience to know that salvation was never about the Jews only. Salvation is offered to Jews and Gentiles. Just like how God didn’t cast off the Gentiles forever, neither has He cast off the Jews forever. Instead we have seen as he says in Romans 11:2a God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew.
With himself as an example, Paul now shows us that God has always worked in this way. He will do this by using a story about Elijah. He does not go into the details of this story but for our purpose I think it will help in understanding the situation that Elijah was in. Paul says in Romans 11:2b-3 Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? 3 “Lord, they have killed Your prophets, they have torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they are seeking my life.”
What Paul is referring to is from 1 Kings 19. At the beginning of this chapter we find Elijah fearful for his life. In 1 Kings 18 you find that familiar story of how Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal to show the people of Israel that Yahweh was truly God and not Baal. After God showed Himself to the people by burning the sacrifice, Elijah killed the 450 prophets of Baal. This is where we read about Jezebel threatening Elijah in 1 Kings 19:1-3 that says Now Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and even more, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by about this time tomorrow.” 3 And he was afraid and arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his young man there.
Elijah finds himself in a cave where God speaks to him. He says two different times in 1 Kings 19:10 and 14 “I have been very zealous for Yahweh, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, pulled down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”
Elijah went from one of the greatest moments in proving that God is God to fearful and scared. He felt alone, scared and at a wonder of what would happen next. This is where God tells him that he is not alone. Paul references 1 Kings 19:18 as we read Romans 11:4 that says But what does the divine response say to him? “I have left for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”
Even though many people may not see this as a direct reference to salvation, this is exactly what it is. A person that God has designated to not worship a false God and follow Him is a person that has been given the mercy to believe. These 7000 men were not following Baal because God says I have left for Myself seven thousand men who have bowed the knee to Baal not because of their own goodness.
Just like these 7000 men, Paul was one that God set aside for himself. Not only to be used by Him but also to have eternal life. Also God has set aside a remnant for Himself from both Jew and Gentile that has been given this same grace as we have seen Paul and these 7000 men have. Paul continues to show this in relation to the Jews in his present time as well as we look at our final point for this study.
3.The PRESENT CONVERTS proves that God has not rejected His people.
Look with me at Romans 11:5 that says In this way then, at the present time, a remnant according to God’s gracious choice has also come to be.
Paul is of course speaking of the time of his writing when he says at the present time but I also believe that we could say the same. In our time there are still Jewish people that have converted to follow Christ. It was in Paul’s time that he speaks these words because he knows that Jews, just like himself, had been set aside to be given the mercy from God so that they too would have salvation.
There are two things that we see Paul refer back to from earlier in Romans. Romans 9:27 says And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, “Though the number of the sons of Israel be like the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that will be saved.
He refers back to the point that he was making in reference to what Isaiah said there. The remnant are those that have been associated with those that have followed in faith as Abraham did. The remnant goes back to refer to those that are of Isaac as he says in Romans 9:6b-8 For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; 7 nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s seed, but: “through Isaac your seed will be named.” 8 That is, the children of the flesh are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are considered as seed.
The remnant were the ones that would receive the promises not the whole of people of Israel. He expressed this in the second thing he references back to from Romans 9:11 that says for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that the purpose of God according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls.
As Paul begins to tie all of this together, I can’t help but see this so clearly. This study has helped me to confirm my stance with God’s sovereign choice in salvation. It was these verses that guided me to think this way before and now that I see a clearer connection than ever, I am convinced of this being the case from these last two and a half chapters. I do not think that Paul’s entire case is to convince us of this doctrine but it sure guides us to understand it the way that we do. I do think there is still a lot that needs to be answered that we may not get answered but it is clear that God is in control of all of this. The means of salvation, choosing, calling, giving mercy and glorifying.
To close this study out I want us to know that Paul is leading right back into this topic. I am not reaching back to those chapter 9 verses out of nowhere but showing where he is heading in the next section that we will look at beginning in the next study.
All of this is to point out that God does give mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires as we have seen in Romans 9:18. In fact we will see that Paul says in Romans 11:7 What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but the chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened.
Paul will look back once again into Scripture to prove the point that he is making in reference to how God chooses the remnant for Himself. We will look at this in detail as we look at this next study so I hope that you will come back next week to study along with me.
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