"I ask then: Did God reject his people? by no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don't you know what the scripture says in the passage about Elijah - how he appealed to God against Israel: 'Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me?' And what was God's answer to him? 'I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.' So to, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. And if by grace then it is no longer by works; if it were grace would no longer be grace."
Romans 11:1-6

IN our last sermon we looked at the whole chapter and learnt that God's 'fulness' consists not of whole nations, or ethnic groups, but all people chosen by God's grace to be his saved ones, whether Jew or Gentile. We came to understand that this 'fulness' constituted the true Israel of God, who are the true descendants of Abraham, those who have the same faith as Abraham. We now come to consider the detail of this chapter which establishes this true understanding. We look first at verses 1 to 6.

Paul asks the question as to whether God has rejected his people. This seems to be so because the nation of the Jews had been rejected by God, and the understanding prevalent at the time was that the whole nation of the Jews constituted the chosen people of God. As soon as we make such a statement which was the prevalent understanding of the time, we can see that it is false. All down the history of the Jews we see how few Jews really followed Jehovah and submitted to his law.

Paul's answer to his own question is a plain rejection of such an idea. Has God rejected his people? By no means! Paul then proves his point by two illustrations. The first one is concerning himself, and second is found in the history of the Jewish nation.

THE CASE OF PAUL.

Paul argues that to say God had rejected his people, and had gone back on his word, was proved wrong straight away because of his own experience.

Paul then describes briefly his Jewish pedigree. He was a true Jew. He could trace his ancestry back to Abraham, and to the the fact he belonged directly to the tribe of Benjamin. What Paul is arguing is that here was a true Jew, of the nation of the Jews, and this true Jews was accepted by God. Paul plainly had in mind the fact of his conversion. As a Jew he was angrily opposed to Christians, and to the Gospel. He went out of his way to exterminate the followers of Jesus, that is the saved ones of God. He hated the people of the way of Jesus, and had no desire to be part of them. If he had had his way he would have never considered in his wildest dreams of becoming a Christian and a disciple of Jesus Christ. Yet in spite of this God stopped him in his tracks and in his virulent attack of the church of Christ, and made him one of Christ's disciples. Paul had had no desire to become a Christian and abhorred such and idea, yet here he was owned by God, and made by God one of God's own people.

Paul saw this as a very powerful argument that God had not rejected his people. If God had rejected his people he would not have gone out of his way to save and accept Paul who was a true Jew.

Paul then tells us the truth. God foreknew Paul, and it was because he was foreknown by God before the foundation of the world, that God accepted him in Christ and gave him an interest in Christ's death for him, and numbered him amongst the members of the true Israel of God.

What Paul is arguing, therefore, is that God had not rejected the people of the Jews altogether. The nation had been rejected, but there was still the remnant whom God had chosen before the foundation of the world, and these were being saved all the time. What was true of Paul in this respect was true of all the apostles, and many other Jews, the 3000 converted on the day of Pentecost, and indeed many others since. God had not forgotten his promise to Abraham. He was accepting all the true children of Abraham by faith. Paul himself, happened to be one who had had no love for Jesus, and so his salvation and election was a most powerful proof that God had not forgotten his people.

EXAMPLE FROM SCRIPTURE.

Not content with this Paul goes on to give an example from the history of the Jews, and for this he chooses a spectacular example in the history of Elijah the prophet.

The times in Israel of Elijah marked a time of awful apostasy in Israel. Ahab married a heathen women, Jezebel, and under her influence Ahab had pursued a virulent campaign to promote heathen practice and life. So bad was it that Elijah felt he was the only true Israelite left.

Elijah had been true to the Lord, and under God had done his best to fight the idolatry that covered the nation. In God's power he had challenged the prophets of Baal on mount Carmel. God had wonderfully proved himself to be the one true God by answering Elijah's prayer and sending fire down from heaven to consume Elijah's offering, when all the crying of the prophets of Baal to their god had been in vain. The prophets of Baal had been killed, and the people had bowed down and cried 'The Lord he is God'. Then the Lord had sent rain on Israel and ended the drought, but all seemed in vain. Jezebel still dominated over Ahab, and Elijah found himself having fly for his life. In this situation Elijah cried out to God in despair. In his flight from Jezebel God asks Elijah what he is doing. Elijah replies “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down you altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me.” Elijah was in despair, yet after God had dealt with him in earthquake and fire and thunder and a great stillness, God points out to Elijah that his assessment of the situation was wrong. God tells Elijah "Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel - all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him."

In other words, God in sovereign grace, had kept a remnant for himself, and preserved them from bowing down to Baal. But notice from the sacred account, God makes it clear that he has been the author of these seven thousand who had not succumbed to idolatry. Without God's action none of these 7000 would have refused to bow before Baal.

Paul argues that this was and is the pattern of the work of God. Just as in the past God preserved a remnant chosen by grace all down the history of the Jews, so now and in the future he was doing the same, preserving a remnant who would not turn away from God.

We need to notice here that the rejection of the Jews as a nation was because as a nation the Jews had turned away from God and rejected the promised Messiah. There rejection as a nation was well deserved. God had graciously persevered with them when they continually turned against him, even up to the time when they killed his Son. The rejection of the nation was entirely just. The Jews had brought it on themselves.

The amazing thing was that even though the nation had been rejected so justly, God had not denied his promise to Abraham, and he had always throughout history had his chosen ones, whom he preserved by grace from apostasy and idolatry. In this way Paul shows that God has not rejected his people altogether.

ALL OF GRACE.

What Paul is at pains to point out in his argument is the centrality of the grace of God. The fact is that none of God's remnant are worthy of God's favour, and are all entirely dependent on God's undeserved favour. The true Israel are saved by grace, and are blessed only because God poured out his grace upon them, and this is a universal fact.

There would have never been, and never can be, any saved but for the grace of God. The fact is that every human being is born dead to God, corrupt and enemies of God. There is nothing in the human mind or heart that responds to God on its own, and in the natural condition. If any were or are to be saved, it is because of God's gracious election.

EVALUATION.

Before closing this sermon let us make some evaluation of what Paul has been teaching us. Paul has been teaching us that there is only a remnant who do not bow down to Baal or any other idol through the wonder of the grace of God. Salvation is not of works, that is it is not gained in any way whatsoever through the power or action or choice of human beings. There is nothing in any human beings in the natural way that is moved towards God. Rather in the heart of every human being there is enmity against God. This fact is not in any way proved wrong because so many human beings are religious. Religion is in the heart of mankind, but not the worship of the one and only true God. Human being will seek a god, but apart from grace will not seek the one and only true God.

For this reason, the promise of God to Abraham that he would be a Father of many people is only made on the basis of God's foreknowledge of who he has elected to be saved out of the mass of fallen and corrupt humanity. None of us are worthy of such a blessing, and if we are accounted one of the true spiritual Israel it is simply through God in pure undeserved favour choosing to bestow this salvation on us, and so by irresistible grace bestowing repentance and faith and everlasting life.