Jesus: The Lamb of God and Son of God (John 1:29-34)

The Old Testament sacrificial system served as an illustration of substitutionary atonement. An innocent, spotless, unblemished lamb would be sacrificed as a substitute in the place of sinning Israelites. This served only as an illustration because it was impossible that the execution of an innocent animal could legally and actually be a substitute for guilty capital offenders.  The Bible says, “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10:4). We all understand this. We know that it would be wrong to set free a death-row-convict by executing an animal in his place.

No one was ever saved simply because he participated in the Old Testament sacrificial system. Only those that understood and believed that the lamb being sacrificed was an illustration of an innocent, sinless, perfect man who would come and die for their sins were saved. These were saved by grace through faith in the coming Christ. By faith Abel offered a better sacrifice (Hebrews 11:4). What was Abel’s offering? Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock . . . . (Genesis 4:4). Abel understood and believed that the lamb he offered was an illustration of an innocent, sinless, perfect man who would come and crush the devil’s head and whom God had promised to send (Genesis 3:15).

“By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac . . . He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type” (Hebrews 11:17-19). Abraham understood and believed that the Lamb of God would be an innocent, sinless, perfect man. As Abraham and Isaac were walking to Mount Moriah where Abraham was going to offer Isaac as a burnt offering by God’s command, Isaac asked his father, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering” (Genesis 22:7)? “Abraham said, ‘God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son’” (Genesis 22:8). Abraham was not speaking of the ram caught in the thicket that day (Genesis 22:13) but of the Lamb who some 2000 years later would be an innocent, sinless, perfect man walking up the same spot carrying the wood for the offering on His back (Genesis 22:6; John 19:17). And instead of a ram caught in a thicket by his horns that would be offered up in His place, this Man’s head was caught in a thicket with a cruel crown of thorns pressed around his brows because He was the offering (Genesis 22:13; John 19:2-5).

It was this Man, the innocent, sinless, perfect man, with a crown of thorns on His head and carrying His own cross that Abraham believed in. Jesus said, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad” (John 8:56). Isaac asked, “Where it the lamb?” Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the Lamb.” Then some 2000 years later, John the Baptist was confronted by a committee from the religious leaders wanting to know if he was the Christ, Elijah, or the Prophet (John 1:19-28). He confessed that he was not but that the Christ indeed was among them (John 1:26). And, “The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’” (John 1:29). This Man, Jesus, the innocent, sinless, perfect man – the Son of God (John 1:34), would be the sacrificial Lamb not for believing Israelites alone but also for any non-Israelite who would believe (John 3:16).

How did John the Baptist know that Jesus was the Lamb of God and Son of God? Remember, Jesus and John the Baptist were physical cousins. There was nothing so extraordinary about Jesus at first-glance that would cause anyone to know and understand that He was the Christ. Twice, John the Baptist said that he did not recognize Him (John 1:31, 33). He did not mean that he did not know that Jesus was his cousin and that he did not know him in that manner. What John the Baptist meant was that he did not recognize Jesus as the Christ, the Lamb of God and Son of God, until God revealed it to him (John 1:31-33).

The Man who would be the Lamb of God would have to be innocent, sinless, and perfect. In order for this to be true of Him, He would have to have a sinless nature and be born into the human race without the agency of a human father. The Son of God would have to take on flesh in order to be the Lamb of God (John 1:1-14). Jesus is the Lamb of God and the Son of God (John 1:29, 34).

Isaac asked, “Where is the Lamb?” Abraham answered, “God will provide for Himself the Lamb.” John the Baptist said, “Behold the Lamb.” Then in Revelation 5:1-14, the apostle John said, “Worthy is the Lamb.” We could summarize the progressive revelation concerning the Lamb of God like this: Where is the Lamb? Wait for the Lamb! Watch the Lamb! Worship the Lamb!

Explaining God - as Father

If the human race is going to gain any knowledge about who God is and what He wants us to do, it must come from God Himself. Left to themselves, people produce concepts of God based on themselves. Their gods are images of themselves.

John 1:14 – Trinity and Incarnation belong together. The doctrine of the Trinity declares that the man Jesus is truly divine; that of the Incarnation declares that the divine Jesus is truly human. Together they proclaim the full reality of the Savior whom the New Testament sets forth, the Son who came from the Father’s side at the Father’s will to become the sinner’s substitute on the cross. God sent His Son to save us and the fact that His Son is co-eternal and co-equal (see John 1:1-2), not a created being, shows the great length God will run to throw His forgiving arms around you.

John 1:15 – John the Baptist used a riddle, as it were, to get people to think. John's riddle is, "He who came after me actually came before me." People wondered what he meant by that.

I believe the apostle includes this quotation because that is how he first discovered who Jesus was. Here John the Apostle is telling us that he saw for the first time who Jesus was when he heard John the Baptist (whose disciple he was for awhile), say, "This one who came after me is the one who was before me." Putting that all together, John caught on to the fact that this Jesus of Nazareth, this Stranger of Galilee, was a human tent in which was hidden a remarkable glory, a glory full of grace and truth.

John 1:16 – Jesus is full of glory, full of grace, full of truth, full of deity. That means we have available an unending daily supply of grace. Grace is the generosity of love reaching out toward us, giving itself to us. To those who come to Christ, God's promise is that every day we can take a new supply of his love. We can know that we are loved. We know we are cherished, protected, and blessed. We are strengthened, kept, and supported by his love; grace upon grace, day after day. The experience of grace should be continuous and progressive in the life of God’s people.

John 1:17 - Notice the reappearance in Verse 17 of the words "grace and truth," and the contrast which John draws between them and the Law and Moses. The Law makes demands. It is hard, cold, unyielding, without mercy.

John says that the Law was given by Moses. Moses did not originate it, but he gave it. Moses may disappear, but the Law remains -- cold, unyielding, demanding, without mercy.

But, John says, "Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." Take away Jesus and you take away grace and truth; he is the channel of them. What John is saying in this section is that law is demand, but grace and truth are supply. Grace and truth are given to meet that demand.

Many people think that law and grace are contradictory, that they are opposing principles. But in the sense in which they were originally intended they are not. Law and grace supplement one another. Law makes its demands, rightfully and justly, and no one can meet them, but grace and truth is given in order to meet that demand. In Exodus 20 there is the remarkable account of the giving of the Law on Mt. Sinai; the Law, which came with smoke, thunder, earthquake, fire, fear and trembling. But in the very next section we read the detailed plans for the building of the tabernacle -- God's provision to meet the demands of the Law. That tabernacle is a picture of Jesus, the meeting place where God's demands are fully met in terms of the sacrifice of blood, of a life poured out. Thus John saw in the coming of Jesus the fulfillment of that tabernacle.

John 1:18 – Jesus has revealed, explained (exegeted) God. The only begotten God who dwells at the heart of reality (who lives in the bosom of the Father), has made God known. (The verb is "exegeted" him.) Jesus has explained him and made known that the heart of God is a Father's heart. God is a Father. In John 14:9, Jesus told Philip, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father?’”

When we come to God through Jesus Christ we discover a loving Father; around us are a Father's forgiving arms; a Father's wisdom guides our way; a Father's power protects us and guards us.

Are you living in the fullness of God’s grace and truth today? What is the basis of your knowledge about God? What is the basis of your relationship with God? 

Jesus as the Tabernacle (John 1:14)

When it comes to knowing God, having a relationship with Him, we must have a proper explanation of who God is, what He is like, and how He must be approached. God is transcendent and so it follows logically that if man is going to know the truth about Him with any certainty, God must condescend and reveal Himself to man.

There has been no greater revelation of God than when His Son, the eternal second person of the Godhead, became flesh and dwelt among men. Jesus Christ revealed the Father. He explained Him (John 1:18). Through Jesus we have the proper explanation of who God is, what he is like, and how He must be approached.

John 1:14 presents Jesus as the tabernacle, the place where holy God and sinful man could meet in intimate relationship based solely on the initiative and grace of God. The Old Testament tabernacle was the foreshadowing of the coming of the Son of God as a man in order to reveal the Father, redeem sinners, and rule in righteousness.

The tabernacle housed the glory of God because it housed the presence of God. We read that after Moses erected the tabernacle that the glory of God filled it and Moses couldn’t enter it because of the heaviness of the presence of God – “Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle” (Exodus 40:34-35). The same thing happened again when the ark of the covenant was brought into the Temple built by Solomon – “It happened that when the priests came from the holy place [they had set the ark of the covenant in the holy of holies in the Temple (verses 4-8)], the cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord” (1 Kings 8:10-11). This glory of God was referred to as the shekinah glory.

So what can we learn from the tabernacle that would be fulfilled in Jesus?

First, the eternal God would become a man – “And the Word became flesh.” Here we see the biblical teaching of the incarnation – a doctrine that is absolutely crucial to our redemption – God became a man in order to live a sinless life and then die a substitutionary death to fulfill His own holy demands so that He could justly save us from His wrath and enable our relationship with Him. God’s wrath against us is removed through our faith in the work of Christ for us and our love for God is generated through our faith in the work of Christ for us. In order to accomplish the work of redemption for us, Christ had to become a man.

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Second, we learn from the tabernacle that God would dwell among men – “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.” The word “dwelt” means “tabernacled or tented.” God became a man and tabernacled among us. He pitched His tent among humanity. The Old Testament tabernacle was where God’s presence was among His people. The tabernacle offered access to God on God’s terms. The tabernacle was the place of sacrifice, the place of cleansing, the place of light, the place of life, the place of intercession, and the place of mercy.

Third, we learn from the tabernacle that the glory of God was revealed there – “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father.” The “we” John referred to was those who received Christ in John 1:12. John was saying, “We, the ones who received Him, saw His glory.”

Glory is from the word “doxan” from which we get the word “doxology.” To see someone’s glory is to see his worth, his honor, his majesty, etc. Those who receive Jesus do so because they see His worth, they see His glory! For instance, after water got sunburned by the glory of Jesus and turned into wine at the wedding in Cana, we read, “This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him” (John 2:11).

The glory of Jesus was not a reflected glory but a radiating glory (Hebrews 1:3). We are created to reflect God’s glory, but Jesus radiates God’s glory – “glory as of the only begotten from the Father.” “Only begotten” means unique, only one of His kind. It does not mean that Christ was created (see Hebrews 1:5). He is God’s only Son. “From the Father” shows that God sent His Son, His only Son whom He loves, to redeem sinners. There is no greater demonstration of love than God sending His only Son whom He loves to live a sinless life and die a sacrificial death to redeem us and restore us.

Fourth, we learn from the tabernacle that God is full of grace and truth – “And the word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Grace is undeserved kindness. While the tabernacle proclaimed that God was full of underserved kindness, Jesus Christ demonstrated it. Truth is absolute rightness. We can say that truth is strict righteousness. Truth is unyielding faithfulness. The tabernacle proclaimed that God was full of truth by proclaiming that access to God had to be on a basis that upheld the righteousness of God and His Law. Jesus Christ demonstrated it.

The kindness of God never nullifies the righteousness of God. Grace and truth are to never be pitted against one another as though one is more important than the other. When God forgives it is only on the basis of the Law upholding work of Christ. Do you see in Jesus that God is full of grace and truth? Do you see the worth of God in the face of Christ?  

Grace and Truth (John 1:14)

Have you ever heard someone say, “If you are going to err, err on the side of grace?” What the person who says that to you is trying to communicate is that he or she believes that grace trumps truth. This is the primary characteristic of the spirit of the age in which we live. Many people are falling prey to the false notion that grace only has some sort of loose connection to truth if it has any connection to it at all. Any who dares to love truth in our day is quickly branded as an unloving Pharisee by the proponents of grace over truth.

Let me explain exactly how this is working itself out in our day. God’s Word tells us that in the last days there is going to be an apostate, harlot church that will be a deceptive counterfeit of the real thing. This harlot church will be the result of an ecumenical movement that gathers various false religions under the umbrella of what many regard as evangelical Christianity.

How can false teaching get confused with truth? How can the leaders of the harlot church get people to believe that an ungodly alliance with false religions and false teachers is OK? This will be accomplished by pushing and stretching the boundaries set by the truth of God’s Word to include and incorporate false teaching and false teachers under the banner of grace. Many mega-church pastors and church growth gurus are telling us that we must not erect boundaries with truth but stretch boundaries with grace. Instead of being divided over truth we ought to be united in grace they tell us.

 The creed of these deceivers is away with truth and in with grace. They see the truth as standing in the way of enlarging the kingdom of God. So they appeal to widening the entry point under the banner of grace. Now, since these heroes of the ecumenical movement see truth as standing in the way of enlarging God’s kingdom and grace as the solution, what do you think they are going to label those who love the truth, won’t compromise the truth, and battle for the truth?

 Lovers of truth will be labeled, “Pharisees,” by these modern day false teachers. These false teachers have wrongly interpreted the problem of the Pharisees as being too rigid with truth. They believe that the Pharisees were big on truth and small on grace. The truth is the Pharisees were small on both!

The problem of the Pharisees was not that they were too concerned with truth, but that they had invented their own truth. Jesus condemned them for replacing and modifying the clear truth of Scripture with their own traditions (Matthew 15:1-9). They were the chief theological false teachers of their day (Matthew 16:6-12).

One thing these modern day deceivers are not are Pharisees. They hate truth loving Christians Pharisees because they wrongly believe that Pharisees love truth. They view truth as the enemy of grace and cannot see that grace and truth are joined together by God and what God has joined together, let no man separate. These deceivers are described in God’s Word as those who turn God’s grace into licentiousness. “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ” (Jude 4). They use God’s grace as an excuse to disobey God’s truth and commit spiritual adultery with the world and with false religions.

The truth-perverting Pharisees used their appearance of love for the truth as a means to exclude all but the most religious of Jews from the kingdom of God. Jesus told them that they shut off the kingdom from people and did not enter themselves (Matthew 23:13). The grace-perverting church growth gurus use their appearance of love for grace as a means to include people who have not received the love of the truth so as to be saved in the kingdom of God and lead both themselves and others through the wide gate that leads to destruction.

Jesus was full of grace and truth (John 1:14). Grace and truth can never be pitted against one another or else Jesus was a walking contradiction. There was no contradiction in Jesus just as there are no contradictions in God’s Word. Jesus full of grace never once compromised the truth. Have no doubt about it – if Jesus were here in the flesh today these grace-perverting church leaders would label Him as a Pharisee too concerned with truth. Their false notion of what grace is would cause them to mislabel the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Lord Jesus would no more put up with the licentiousness of these modern day grace-perverting church leaders than he did with the legalism of the truth-perverting Pharisees. Just as the legalistic Pharisees thought Jesus had no truth because of His grace, these licentious false teachers would think He has no grace because of His truth.

Heresies are a result of elevating one side of a paradox and downplaying the other. Those who pit grace against truth or truth against grace are in serious error concerning the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is full of grace and truth!

Israel's Rejection is Passing (Romans 11:25-32)

We have already studied the truth that Israel’s rejection is partial (Romans 11:1-10). Paul, a past remnant and a present remnant all proved that Israel’s rejection is only partial. We also have seen the truth that Israel’s rejection has its purposes (Romans 11:11-24). God is using Israel’s rejection for the purpose of giving the Gentiles the opportunity to be saved by His grace and God is using Israel’s rejection for the purpose of graciously warning the Gentiles of His severity. Now we see that Israel’s rejection is passing (Romans 11:25-32).

Paul began leading into the truth that Israel’s rejection is passing in Romans 11:23-24. Paul pointed out that if Israel did not continue in their unbelief that God would graft them in again (Romans 11:23). This establishes the truth that God will not reject anyone who repents and believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, whether Jew or Gentile. Paul also turned to the Scriptures to show that the day is coming when Israel will not continue in unbelief and God will graft them in again (Romans 11:25-27).

So the Gentiles who are now being shown mercy are not to be arrogant (Romans 11:18), conceited (Romans 11:20), or wise in their own estimation (Romans 11:25) against Israel because Israel’s rejection is passing (Romans 11:25-32). This section gives us three very good reasons to praise and glorify God:

First, we are to praise and glorify God for His sovereignty (Romans 11:25).
In God’s sovereign plan, Israel’s hardening is not total but is partial – “For I do not want you, brethren, to be uniformed of this mystery (a truth which in other generations was not made known but has now been revealed) – that a partial hardening has happened to Israel.” Not every Jew has been or will be hardened. God in His sovereignty has graciously preserved a believing remnant of Israel so that His promises to them can be fulfilled. In God’s sovereign plan Israel’s hardening is not total but is partial.

In God’s sovereign timing, Israel’s hardening is not permanent but is temporary – “until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.” Here we notice God’s perfect sovereign timing – He will not bring Israel to national repentance until He has saved the fullness of the Gentiles. Israel’s hardness will last only for God’s divinely determined duration. There is a fullness for Israel (Romans 11:12) and a fullness for the Gentiles (Romans 11:25). The fullness of the Gentiles will come first because when the fullness of Israel comes in then Christ will return and set up His millennial Kingdom and usher in eternity. Today, God in His grace is visiting the Gentiles and taking out a people for His name (Acts 15:12-14). A remnant of individual Jews are being saved, but this present age is primarily a time when God is saving Gentiles and building His church. When the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, then God will once more deal with the nation of Israel. In God’s sovereign timing, Israel’s hardening is not permanent but is temporary. We are to praise and glorify God for His sovereignty.

Second, we are to praise and glorify God for His faithfulness (Romans 11:26-29). God is faithful to His promises (Romans 11:26). God has promised in His word that He will save all Israel (Isaiah 59:20) and He will keep His promise. This is a promise for national conversion. It does not mean that every Jew that has ever lived will be saved but that the Jews living when Jesus returns will receive Him and be saved (see Zechariah 12-13 especially 12:10). God’s promise to save all Israel is preceded by His promise to take out from among the Gentiles a people for His name and is followed by His promise to restore Israel afterwards through the appearing of the Deliverer (Acts 15:12-18).

God is faithful to His covenant (Romans 11:27-28). God chose Israel in His grace and not because of any merit in her (Deuteronomy 7:6-11; 9:1-6). Since the nation was not chosen because of its goodness, God has made a covenant to take away their sins (Romans 11:27). This quote is from Isaiah 59:21 and emphasizes that when the promise is fulfilled by the appearing of the Deliverer, God will then be faithful to His covenant to take away Israel’s sins. God’s covenant with Abraham was unconditional and therefore God will accomplish this totally by His grace through the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ in God’s sovereign timing. However, because Israel is right now partially hardened and enemies of the Gospel it appears that they have been rejected by God and that God is not going to be faithful to His covenant. That is not true. They are enemies of the Gospel right now so that we Gentiles can be saved (Romans 11:28). But God is not through with them and from the standpoint of God’s choice and for the sake of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they are beloved (Romans 11:28). God will keep His covenant with Israel.

God is faithful to His nature (Romans 11:29). Since God does not change, His gifts to Israel and His calling of Israel cannot be changed. God is immutable. He is unchanging in His nature. God will not change His plans for Israel’s spiritual regeneration. This verse speaks of gifts. If something is a gift then it must be by grace or unearned. This verse also speaks of calling. Paul has already established the truth that God’s calling is also by grace. Just as God’s gifts and calling cannot be earned, neither can they be overturned – they are irrevocable. They are irrevocable because God is faithful to His nature. We are to praise and glorify God for His faithfulness.

Third, we are to praise and glorify God for His graciousness (Romans 11:30-32). Paul’s explanation of God’s grace has gone full circle. First, because of Israel’s unbelief, the nation was partially and temporarily set aside, and the Gospel of salvation was extended to the Gentiles (Romans 11:30). Second, if God extended His grace to pagan Gentiles even while they were in unbelief, how much more surely will He extend His grace again to His chosen people Israel while they are in unbelief (Romans 11:31)? Finally, God has completed the full circle of His grace by shutting up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all. God has included all in unbelief so that all may have the opportunity to be saved by grace (Romans 11:32). There is no difference for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). We are to praise and glorify God for His graciousness.

We are not to be arrogant, conceited, or wise in our own estimation against Israel because Israel’s rejection is passing. This gives us three reasons to praise and glorify God. We are to praise and glorify God for His sovereignty, for His faithfulness, and for His graciousness.

Israel's Rejection: Warning to the Gentiles (Romans 11:16-24)

Romans 11:1-36 is establishing the truth that God has not forever rejected Israel because of their rejection of Christ, but that God is a promise keeping, wise, and redeeming God who is worthy of worship and praise. We have already considered the truth that Israel’s rejection is only partial (Romans 11:1-10). We have began considering the truth that Israel’s rejection has its purposes (Romans 11:11-24). There are two main purposes that arise from Israel’s rejection of the Gospel and God’s rejection of the majority of the nation. First, Israel’s rejection is bringing salvation to the Gentiles (Romans 11:11-15). Second, Israel’s rejection is serving as a warning to the Gentiles (Romans 11:16-24).

We have already considered the first purpose of Israel’s rejection – that it is bringing salvation to the Gentiles (Romans 11:11-15). Since the majority refused to believe in salvation by grace through faith in Christ, it opened and has extended the opportunity for Gentiles to be saved. The Bible makes it clear that when Israel believes in Christ, He will come again and the door to salvation will be closed (Acts 3:19-21). Now we will begin our consideration of the second purpose of Israel’s rejection – that it is serving as a warning to the Gentiles (Romans 11:16-24).

We are living in the day of what I term, “Positive Christianity.” Over the last century there have arisen more and more proponents of a positive Christianity who insist that preaching should be positive and never negative. In our day, what is needed preaching is often called negative preaching. The motto of the day is, “You can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar.” After all, we are living in the dispensation of grace, which according to the proponents of positive Christianity, leaves no room for anything negative in the preacher’s message.

It is precisely here that positive preachers fail to accurately communicate the grace of God. Even the warnings of God are expressions of His great grace and mercy. Negative preaching that warns of the severity of God is as needed as positive preaching that woos with the kindness of God. We have already been wooed with the kindness of God where we have seen that He is using the rejection of Israel to bring salvation to the Gentiles (Romans 11:11-15). Now let us consider three warnings of the severity of God to the Gentiles through His rejection of Israel (Romans 11:16-24).

First, God in His grace warns us against arrogance toward Israel (Romans 11:16-18). We notice the word arrogant twice in verse 18. The word “arrogant” carries the idea of “to brag or to boast against.” The KJV uses the word “boast” instead of “arrogant” – “Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.” Arrogance is over-exalting one thing at the expense of another which results in wrong conclusions. This is boasting with a sense of false superiority. So in these verses we as Gentiles are warned against arrogance toward Israel. Let’s follow Paul’s argument and take heed to the warning against arrogance toward Israel.

First, we must understand God’s overall plan for Israel (Romans 11:16). The apostle Paul used the principle of the offering of first-fruits to establish Israel’s future revival in God’s plan of salvation. The principle of the offering of first-fruits was that the Lord’s acceptance of the first piece offered was an “earnest” or pledge on His part of a full and final acceptance of the remaining harvest. Not only was this principle symbolized in the offering of the first sheaf of barley presented to the Lord at the beginning of the harvest season (Leviticus 23:9-14) but also in the offering of the first piece of dough when Israel entered the Promised Land (Numbers 15:18-20).

Paul used the concept of the first-fruits pinched from the dough as an offering to God to teach that since God has accepted the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, He will also accept the remaining harvest of Israel who have the same faith of the patriarchs. God is not through with Israel because His promises to Abraham concerning them and the principle of first-fruits have not been fulfilled yet. God is going to bring in a full and final harvest of Israel (Romans 11:25-27). There is no need for Gentile arrogance toward Israel.

Second, we must understand God’s overall place for Israel (Romans 11:16-18). Salvation is of the Jews (John 4:22). There is no getting around this truth. The promises of God for salvation are in His promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob through whom is the Christ. It is in Christ Jesus alone that the blessings of Abraham come to the Gentiles (Galatians 3:14). This means that the patriarchs are both the first-fruits in God’s overall plan for Israel and the root in God’s overall place for Israel.

The root provides nourishment to the branches, not the branches to the root. God did not graft in the Gentiles to provide nourishment to the root but so that the root could provide nourishment to the Gentiles. It is connection to the root that determines fruit. God did not graft in the Gentiles because they were fruitful but so that they would become fruitful.
Who in his right mind believes that the root is dependent upon the branches rather than the branches upon the root? No branch supports the root – the branch either partakes of the rich root or perishes. The branch does not impart life to the root or improve the life of the root. All that the connected branch can do is bear the fruit of the root (John 15:1-11).

Branches were broken off – some, not all (Romans 11:17) – not because they failed to provide life to the root but because they failed to receive life from the root. We as Gentiles are not to over-exalt a false superiority over the branches that were broken off. We are not to boast against the cut off Jews. Arrogance is a false claim of superiority and worth. Arrogance denies salvation by grace and exalts salvation by works or worth. To claim Jewish unworthiness and Gentile worthiness is to make the same mistake that the broken off Jews made concerning their false superiority over the Gentiles. God doesn’t change. If He judged the arrogant Israelites He will judge arrogant Gentiles. God in His grace warns us of the dangers of grace rejecting arrogance toward Israel.

Next, God in His grace warns us against conceit toward Israel (Romans 11:19-20). Both arrogance and conceit are forms of pride. Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before stumbling (Proverbs 16:18). Pride is the antithesis of grace. The person full of pride would believe that he is saved because of his worthiness and not in spite of his wretchedness. He would misinterpret God’s grace as a sign of his own goodness.

Paul anticipated the prideful response of the Gentiles toward Israel and that there was real danger for the Gentiles to misinterpret God’s grace as a sign of their own goodness or worth (Romans 11:19). We are not to misinterpret God’s grace as a sign of our own goodness.

Paul answered the prideful response of the Gentiles toward Israel and gave a warning against conceit (Romans 11:20). Paul explained the reason for the broken off branches – their unbelief! The broken off branches stumbled because of unbelief. The grafted in branches stand because of faith. Since pride is the antithesis of grace it is a manifestation of unbelief. The branches were broken off for unbelief which means they thought too highly of themselves and saw no need for grace. They were conceited.

So Paul issued a warning against conceit. “Do not be conceited, but fear.” Conceited means having an excessively favorable opinion of oneself. It is to be wrongheaded and wrong-hearted about your own ability or importance. Instead of being conceited, we should fear. The word fear comes from the word phobia. It means “to put to flight; terrify; to frighten.” We should be terrified or frightened of any trace or evidence of arrogance or conceit toward those who are perishing. We should especially be terrified if we are prideful toward broken off Israel. The Gospel of salvation by grace through faith in Christ doesn’t puff up – it humbles; it doesn’t make you conceited – it makes you contrite. God in His grace warns us against grace rejecting conceit toward Israel.

Finally, God in His grace warns us of His immutable holiness (Romans 11:21-24). The word “immutable” means that God does not change. This is speaking of His essence and His nature. The holiness and righteousness of God will never change and will never be compromised. On this basis, Paul issued a warning to the Gentiles from the example of God’s dealings with Israel.

Paul antidoted the prideful response of the Gentiles toward Israel and warned of God’s impartiality (Romans 11:21). Here is a powerful antidote for Gentile pride – “For if God did not spare the natural branches [physical descendants of Abraham; Israel], He will not spare you [Gentiles], either.” Pride is the antithesis of grace and is outright unbelief. If God did not spare Israel for their pride and unbelief, He certainly will not spare the Gentiles for pride and unbelief. We are to learn from Israel’s mistakes and not repeat them. God is no respecter of persons. He does not show personal favoritism. No man will ever be able to boast before God and therefore we should never be arrogant or conceited.

Paul analyzed the perfect righteousness of God toward both belief and unbelief and warned of God’s severity (Romans 11:22-24). If there is one thing we should learn from Israel’s pride and unbelief, it is the severity of God toward pride and unbelief – no matter who is guilty. The immutable holiness of God which shows itself in the perfect righteousness of God has both a positive and a negative outworking.

First, Paul analyzed the negative side of the perfect righteousness of God (Romans 11:22). God is unchanging in His dealings with pride and unbelief. Since pride and unbelief are rejections of the grace of God, God in His perfect righteousness gives the unrepentant what he or she deserves and has earned – eternal destruction. All men are sinners and all men have earned death and eternal destruction as sin’s wages. God has provided the only remedy by which He can give sinners who have earned Hell what they have not earned – Heaven – while still upholding His perfect righteousness. God saves by grace through faith in the finished work of Christ. Salvation is by the kindness of God and not the works of man. Those who do not see their need for God’s grace through faith in Christ will receive the severity of God’s perfect righteousness.

Second, Paul analyzed the positive side of the perfect righteousness of God (Romans 11:22-24). God is unchanging in His dealings with humble repentance and belief. Since repentance and belief are receptions of the grace of God, God in His perfect righteousness gives the repentant and believing sinner what he does not deserve but what has been earned for him by Another – eternal life! “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). That’s grace! As long as Gentiles repent and believe they will be grafted in and given eternal life. If the Gentiles ever get to the point that they no longer repent and believe they will be cut off (Romans 11:22). If Israel ever gets to the point where they no longer are prideful and unbelieving, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again (Romans 11:23-24).

God is immutable in His holiness and perfect in His righteousness. His mercy is for anyone who believes whether Jew or Gentile. His wrath is for anyone who does not believe whether Jew or Gentile. We must never forget or lose the doctrine of both the kindness and severity of God.

God’s dealings with unbelieving Israel clearly show His unchanging nature toward pride and unbelief. Since He didn’t spare them, He will not spare anyone else either. Is God going to destroy all who have not been humbled and brought to repentance and belief through the Gospel? Yes!

God’s dealings with the believing Gentiles clearly show His unchanging nature toward humble repentance and belief. Since He grafted them in, He will certainly graft in anyone else who believes. Is God going to redeem all who have been humbled and brought to repentance and belief through the Gospel? Yes!

Israel's Rejection is Bringing Salvation to the Gentiles (Romans 11:11-15)

In Romans 11:1-36, the apostle Paul proves that God has not rejected Israel and that He is not through with them as a nation. God is faithful! He keeps His promises and nothing or no one can stop Him from doing what He has said He will do. This is the thrust of Paul’s argument from Romans 9 through Romans 11. Paul is proving in these chapters that Israel’s past election was by God’s grace and not their deeds (Romans 9 – God’s sovereignty); that Israel’s present rejection of salvation by grace is by failure to submit to God’s Word (Romans 10 – human responsibility); and that Israel’s future reception of salvation by grace is by God’s faithfulness in spite of Israel’s rejection (Romans 11 – God’s wisdom and ways).

So Romans 11:1-36 is proving that God has not forever rejected Israel and that He is a faithful, promise-keeping God. We could outline Romans 11 like this: Israel’s rejection is only partial (Romans 11:1-10). Israel’s rejection has its purposes (Romans 11:11-24). Israel’s rejection is passing (Romans 11:25-32). Israel’s rejection is to the praise of God’s glory (Romans 11:33-36).

Romans 11:1-10 proves that Israel’s rejection is only partial. Paul gave three proofs in those verses that Israel’s rejection is only partial: (1) Paul was proof - Paul was a saved Israelite so God hadn’t totally rejected Israel (Romans 11:1). (2) A past remnant was proof – in Elijah’s day of widespread apostasy God reserved for Himself 7,000 (Romans 11:2-4). (3) A present remnant was proof – there were other saved Israelites in Paul’s day and continue to be to this day (Romans 11:5-10).

Romans 11:11-24 proves that Israel’s rejection has its purposes. There are two main purposes that God is accomplishing through the rejection of Israel: (1) Israel’s rejection is bringing salvation to the Gentiles (Romans 11:11-15) and (2) Israel’s rejection is serving as a warning to the Gentiles (Romans 11:16-24). For now we will consider that Israel’s rejection is bringing salvation to the Gentiles.

Israel’s Rejection is Bringing Salvation to the Gentiles (Romans 11:11-15).

Not only is Israel’s rejection partial – God is preserving a remnant so that He can fulfill His promises to them – Israel’s rejection has its purposes. God is using Israel’s rejection to bring salvation to the Gentiles.

We can praise God’s wisdom and ways because Israel’s fall is not permanent – “They did not stumble so as to fall did they” (Romans 11:11). The word Paul used here for “fall” is a word that means to fall completely out of sight or beyond recovery. In other words, did their stumble injure or paralyze them beyond healing? Perish the thought! That could never happen or else God’s Word will fail.

We can praise God’s wisdom and ways because Israel’s fall is for a purpose – “But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous” (Romans 11:11). Israel’s transgression – her rejection of the Gospel of salvation by grace through Jesus Christ – has brought salvation to the Gentiles. Israel refused it so God offered salvation to the Gentiles – “To the Jew first and then to the Greek.” In one of His parables, the Lord Jesus said that those who had been invited to the King’s wedding feast refused to come so He sent His servants to the main highways to invite as many as they found to the feast (Matthew 22:1-14). He was speaking of the rejection of the Jews that would precipitate the invitation to the Gentiles.

We can praise God’s wisdom and ways because if Israel’s fall is profitable, then their fullness will be perfection (Romans 11:12). Here Paul argues from the lesser to the greater – he is saying that if Israel’s fall (transgression) is riches for the world and their failure is riches for the Gentiles then their fullness will mean the restoration of all things (see Acts 3:17-21)!

We can praise God’s wisdom and ways because Israel’s fall and Gentile blessing is provoking some of Israel to salvation (Romans 11:13-14). When Israel sees others receiving their promises and their blessings by faith rather than by works – some of them will get saved.

We can praise God’s wisdom and ways because if Israel’s fall is reconciliation of the world then their acceptance will be resurrection (Romans 11:15). God will revive Israel! He is going to grant Israel repentance (Zechariah 12:10); deliver Israel from ungodliness (Romans 11:26; Isaiah 59:20); and keep His covenant with them (Romans 11:27; Isaiah 59:21). The Lord will come and set up His kingdom and Israel’s acceptance will be resurrection from the dead (Revelation 19:11 – 20:6).

One of the purposes of Israel’s rejection is to bring salvation to the Gentiles. We can praise God’s wisdom and ways and for the glory of His grace.

Israel’s fall is not permanent but has the purpose of bringing salvation to the Gentiles, restoration to the world, revival to Israel, and resurrection from the dead.

A Present Remnant is Proof God Hasn't Rejected Israel (Romans 11:5-10)

Have you ever made a promise that you did not keep? For that matter, have you ever made a promise that you did not intend to keep? Sad to say but both of these are situations that are common in the human experience because of our common fallen condition. These are serious offenses for people created in the image of God for the express purpose of accurately reflecting the nature and character of God. Every time we make a promise and don’t keep it, we are reflecting something that is absolutely not true about God. No matter what vow we have made, if we break it we are liars and prove ourselves to be untrustworthy – even if we had our fingers crossed when we made the promise.

Has God ever made a promise that He did not keep? Has God ever made a promise that He does not intend to keep? God is truth and there is no lie in Him at all. It is impossible for God to lie, therefore it is impossible for God to fail to keep His promises. The apostle Paul knew that there would be people who would interpret his preaching of Israel’s failure to believe the Gospel and the hardening of the majority of the nation as a sign that God had rejected Israel (Romans 11:1) and failed to keep His promises (Romans 9:6). So in Romans 11:1-10, Paul gave three proofs that Israel’s rejection was only partial in order to help the Christians at Rome (both Jew and Greek) understand that God keeps His promises and men need God’s grace.

The first proof that Paul gave to show that God has not rejected Israel was his own salvation as an Israelite (Romans 11:1). The second proof that Paul gave to show that God has not rejected Israel was Elijah and the remnant of 7,000 (Romans 11:2-4). The third proof that Paul gave to show that God has not rejected Israel was the present remnant that received grace while the rest were hardened (Romans 11:5-10). All of this was to show that God keeps His promises and therefore we can trust and serve Him because of His great faithfulness. This portion of Scripture shows us three reasons we can trust and serve God.

First, we can trust and serve God because He graciously preserves a remnant of Israel so that He can keep His promises to them (Romans 11:5). From the fall of man into sin in the Garden of Eden, the devil and his demons have done everything in their power to thwart the promises and purposes of God. Their first attempt was to defile the entire human race through cohabitation so that they could destroy the godly, believing line of men and women through whom Christ would come into the world. God sent a flood and destroyed the whole world except for Noah and his family. God preserved a godly line to keep His promises to Adam and Eve.

After the earth was repopulated, God entered into a covenant with Abraham and promised to bring the deliverer through his descendants. Once again there was an attempt to thwart God’s promises and purposes with an attempt to destroy the Hebrew race by destroying all the male Hebrew children. But God rescued Moses and raised him up as a deliverer from Egyptian bondage.

When Christ was born an attempt was made to take His life through the killing of all the male children two years old and under in the region where He was born – but God warned Joseph in a dream and sent them to Egypt ahead of the slaughter.

All through Israel’s history the nation was tempted and led into apostasy and idolatry but God kept for himself in every generation a remnant of Jewish believers. Nothing can stop God from keeping His promises.

Second, we can trust and serve God because salvation is by grace and not works (Romans 11:6-7). If our blessings depend upon our efforts; if our salvation is determined by our works; if our pleasing God is decided by our abilities then we are all doomed. If these things were true then we could never trust and serve God because in the end it would all be for naught. If salvation is conditioned upon our works rather than God’s grace in Jesus Christ then the promise of salvation is one that God doesn’t intend to keep because no man can be saved by the works of his own hands.

Those who seek to be saved by works rather than by grace will not be saved because the promise of God for salvation is in Jesus Christ in whom all the promises of God are “yes” (2 Corinthians 1:20). The problem with the majority of Israel was that they sought salvation as though it were by works and therefore didn’t enter into the promises of God (Romans 11:7) and proved themselves to be children of the flesh rather than children of the promise (Romans 9:8). Thank God salvation is by grace!

Third, we can trust and serve God because His judgments are righteous (Romans 11:8-10). The context of these two quotes from the Old Testament gives us the setting for God’s just judgment on the majority of the nation. First, Paul quoted from the writings of Moses to show that Israel rejected God’s miraculous signs (Romans 11:8; Deuteronomy 29:1-4). The Psalmist in Psalm 106:7, giving commentary on Israel’s rebelliousness, added the truth that Israel rejected God’s multitude of mercies – “Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your wonders [miracles]; they did not remember Your abundant kindness [multitude of mercies], but rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea.” Next, Paul quoted from the writings of David to show that Israel rejected God’s Messiah [King] (Romans 11:9-10; Psalm 69:22-23; Psalm 35:1-7).

In light of the truth that Israel rejected God’s miracles, His mercies, and His Messiah, we see that the judgments of God are righteous, that He will judge the world in righteousness, and that He always does what is right.

We can trust and serve God because He preserves a remnant so that He can fulfill His promises; salvation is by His grace, not our works; and His judgments are righteous. God keeps His promises and men need His grace.

A Past Remnant is Proof that God Hasn't Rejected Israel (Romans 11:2-4)

The apostle Paul, in his letter to the Romans, in the eleventh chapter, is dealing with the question of whether or not God has rejected Israel. He opened up this chapter with this question: “I say then, God has not rejected His people, has he?” This question is of utmost importance because if God has made specific promises to this nation that He is not going to keep then the trustworthiness of God is on the line. If God cannot be trusted to keep His promises to Israel, then logic would dictate He cannot be trusted to keep any of His promises. This would mean that His promise, whoever believes in Christ will not be disappointed, cannot be trusted. This would mean that His promise that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, cannot be trusted. This would mean that God is not to be trusted.

However, we know that God keeps His promises and that it is impossible for God to lie. We as God’s people are fully assured that what God has promised, He is also able to perform. There are those who say that God has forever rejected Israel because of Israel’s rejection of Christ. However, I want to be quick to point out that those who believe that God has rejected Israel and is through with the nation do not believe that God doesn’t keep His promises. On the contrary, they believe that He does keep His promises but that His promises to Israel were conditional promises and not unconditional. But as is plain from Romans chapter eleven, God has not rejected Israel and therefore He has not violated His promise to the nation which we believe to be an unconditional promise given at first to Abraham and then to Isaac and then to Jacob whom God changed his name to Israel.

In Romans 11:1-10, Paul gave three proofs that God that God has not rejected Israel and therefore has not violated His promise. First, Paul pointed to himself as a saved Israelite whom God has not rejected (Romans 11:1). Second, Paul pointed to Israel’s past during a time of great apostasy in Elijah’s day to show that God had not rejected His people but had a remnant (Romans 11:2-4). Third, Paul pointed to the truth that a present remnant had received grace while the majority was hardened (Romans 11:5-10).

We have already considered Paul is proof that God’s rejection of Israel is only partial (Romans 11:1). Now we will consider Romans 11:2-4.

The remnant of Elijah’s day is proof that God’s rejection of Israel is only partial (Romans 11:2-4). The story of Elijah is of great importance to establishing this truth that God’s rejection of Israel is only partial. If there had ever been a time in the history of the Israel that God should have outright rejected them, this was one of them. It was a time of widespread apostasy. This was during the reign of Ahab, the King of the ten northern tribes known as Israel. Ahab’s wife was Jezebel, a priestess of Baal, who, with her prophets of Baal, led seemingly the entire nation into apostasy and idolatry.

Baal was a false heathen god who was believed to be in control of the weather. He was the lord of Canaanite religion and seen in the thunderstorms. Baal was worshiped as a great god who provided fertility. It was in the middle of this apostasy and idolatry that Elijah prayed to the Lord that it would not rain for three and a half years at the end of which he would pray again for it to rain. This drought set the stage for the showdown between Elijah, God’s true prophet, and Jezebel’s prophets of Baal, to show the nation whether the Lord or Baal is God (1 Kings 18:20-46).

After Elijah’s great victory over the prophets of Baal, he expected that the nation would turn from its apostasy and come back to the Lord. Instead, Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and she sent him a death threat that made him realize that not only had the people not turned to the Lord, the King and Queen had not turned to the Lord either.

Elijah fled for his life, becoming despondent and depressed because he believed that he was the only faithful Israelite left in the land. This brought about Elijah’s pleading with God against Israel – “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have torn down your altars, and I alone am left, and they are seeking my life” (Romans 11:3; 1 Kings 19:10).

Surely God had rejected Israel and failed to keep His promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. At least this is how it appeared but this wasn’t how things really were. As Paul put it, “But what is the divine response to him? ‘I have kept for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal’” (Romans 11:4; 1 Kings 19:18).

The divine response to Elijah was that God had preserved a believing remnant in Israel. This is important because this shows that God’s rejection of Israel is only partial. If God were going to reject the nation He would not preserve or keep for Himself a remnant.

Paul is proof that God’s rejection of Israel is only partial. Elijah and the remnant of 7000 are proof that God’s rejection of Israel is only partial. God has not failed to remain true to His covenant with Abraham. God’s rejection of Israel is only partial because God is a promise keeping God.

God Has Not Rejected Israel: Paul is Proof (Romans 11:1)

Most people who know anything about the Bible know that God has made certain promises to certain people in the past. We know these promises as covenants. Most Christians are particularly familiar with what we call the Abrahamic Covenant and the Davidic Covenant. To Abraham God promised a Son who would be the redeemer of the world and He promised Abraham the land from the river of Egypt as far as the Euphrates. When God made this promise to Abraham He did it through the ritual of a covenant. God had Abraham cut certain animals in half and make a path in between the pieces by laying the halves opposite each other with a space in between. God then passed in between these animals cut in half and swore to Abraham that He would bring about what He promised (Genesis 15:7-18).

Abraham did not pass in between the animals cut in half, only God did. This means that God’s promise to Abraham was unconditional. In other words, there were no conditions that Abraham would have to meet for the promise to come about. God was making a promise to Abraham without Abraham having to make a promise of some sort back to God. This was not God saying to Abraham, “I’ll do this...if you do that.” That is a conditional promise. This was an unconditional promise – no strings attached.

God’s passing through the animals cut in half was an ancient Near East custom. The one making the promise passed between the slain animals and was in essence saying, “May the same thing happen to me that happened to these animals if I don’t keep my promise.”

God also made a promise to King David which we call the Davidic Covenant. In that covenant God promised David that one from his lineage would rule forever over God’s kingdom. Of course we know that God was speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ.

God keeps His promises. We as God’s people are to be fully assured that what God has promised, He is also able to perform. The author of the letter to the Hebrews appealed to the trustworthiness of God to encourage them to remain steadfast in the face of persecution and opposition. “For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, ‘I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply you.’ And so, having patiently waited, he obtained the promise. For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute. In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us” (Hebrews 6:13-18).

There are those who say that God has forever rejected Israel because of their rejection of Christ. Paul takes up this subject in this chapter. Here we see that the trustworthiness of God is on the line. Can we trust God to keep His promises – especially if He hasn’t kept His promise to Israel?

In Romans 11:1-10, the apostle Paul gave three proofs that God hasn’t rejected Israel and therefore hasn’t violated His promise. First, Paul points to himself as a saved Israelite whom God has not rejected (Romans 11:1). Second, Paul points to Israel’s past during the time of great apostasy in Elijah’s day to show that God had not rejected His people but had a remnant (Romans 11:2-4). Third, Paul points to the truth that a present remnant received grace while the majority was hardened (Romans 11:5-10). Paul uses these proofs to show that the setting aside of Israel was only partial because God keeps His promises.

Paul is proof that God’s rejection of Israel is only partial (Romans 11:1). In Romans 11:1 Paul asks a rhetorical question. That is a question that isn’t seeking an answer but making a statement. Paul emphatically states that there is no way that God has rejected His people. He uses the strongest negative in the Greek language to make his point – “May it never be!” In other words, “God forbid” or “perish the thought.” For God to reject His people would be for God to be untrue to His promises to them.

Now I want to point out in a hurry that God is under no obligation to keep misinterpreted promises. Just as in Romans 9:6-13, Paul explained that the Jews had misinterpreted God’s promise to Abraham as wholesale for all of Abraham’s descendants – it wasn’t for all his descendants as Paul proved from Scripture – it is possible to misinterpret His promises and believe that He has failed to keep His word.

How does Paul prove that God has not rejected His people and gone back on His Word? First of all, Paul points to the evidence that he too is an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. The logic is that if God has rejected His people then He would have also rejected the apostle Paul.

Were there any reasons that God would have rejected Paul? Well sure! We remember Paul’s past. He was no different than any other Israelite. He was seeking to establish a righteousness of his own through the Law as a Pharisee. He was depending upon his heritage as a descendant of Abraham. He was especially proud of the fact that he was of the tribe of Benjamin which was also the tribe from which the first king of Israel, Saul, came from. At first he rejected Christ and his witnesses. He persecuted the church. However, God saved him by grace and did not reject him.

The Jews had failed God. Paul had failed God. But God did not fail to remain true to his covenant with Abraham which was not a covenant that promised every single descendant of Abraham would be saved but that God would save some of them based solely on His grace and good pleasure. Those who were of the faith of Abraham are the children of Abraham and these are the heirs to the promises of God.

God’s rejection of Israel was only partial because He is a promise keeping God. Are you fully assured that what God has promised, He is able to perform?

Israel's Failure to Heed the Gospel (Romans 10:18-21)

I would like to give a quick summary of Romans 9-11 so that we can keep our text in its proper context to better understand what God is saying in this portion of Scripture. These three chapters are dealing primarily with the reasons for Israel’s rejection of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

Romans chapter 9 describes Israel’s false hope of salvation by works rather than by grace. As a whole, most Jews believed they were guaranteed God’s favor because of their ancestry and their ability. In essence, they believed God chose Abraham because of Abraham’s ability to please God rather than the truth that God saved Abraham by grace (a truth firmly established in Romans 4). All through Scripture we see the Jews appealing to their ancestry and claiming Abraham as their father. Romans chapter 9 obliterates this false hope of salvation and establishes the truth that salvation is by grace and not by ancestry or ability.

Romans chapter 10 describes Israel’s failure to heed the message of salvation by grace. Since it was true that the majority of the Jews had a false hope of salvation based on their ancestry and ability, their failure to heed the message of salvation by grace was the logical and inevitable outcome. Their false hope of salvation by works led to their failure to heed the message of salvation by grace.

Romans chapter 11 describes Israel’s future salvation by grace after the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. Chapter 11, while dealing with Israel’s rejection and the good that God would accomplish through it (bringing salvation to the Gentiles), tempers the bad news about Israel’s stubborn disobedience with the good news that God will one day save Israel by grace.

As we conclude chapter 10 we will be considering the truth that Israel’s failure to heed the message about salvation by grace in Christ was predicted in Scripture. Chapter 10 deals with both the exclusiveness of salvation in Christ (God doesn’t save any other way than through faith in Christ) and the inclusiveness of salvation in Christ (it is for anyone who believes, Jew or Gentile). Israel failed to heed both of these aspects of the Gospel message and therefore Christ became a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to them.

Israel failed to heed the exclusiveness of salvation in Christ (10:18). Had they ever heard? Sure they had! Over and over God sent His prophets and they preached of the exclusiveness of salvation in Christ. In Genesis 3, God promised Adam and Eve that He would send an exclusive deliverer through the seed of the woman who would crush the serpent’s head.

When giving the promise to Abraham and his seed, God spoke in the singular and not the plural (Galatians 3:16), speaking of Christ and the exclusiveness of salvation through Him. Moses also stated that God would raise up one exclusive Prophet to whom you shall give heed to everything He says or utterly be destroyed from among the people of God (Deuteronomy 18:15; Acts 3:22-23). God proclaimed through Isaiah about the exclusive Suffering Servant who would pay sin’s penalty for His people.

Instead of trusting in the exclusiveness of salvation in Christ, Israel trusted in ancestry and ability rather than the finished and sufficient work of Christ. The exclusiveness of salvation in Christ was a stumbling stone to the Jews.

Israel failed to heed the inclusiveness of salvation in Christ (10:19-21). They didn’t know that God was going to include the Gentiles did they? Well, Paul gave two Scriptures that Israel failed to heed concerning the truth of the inclusiveness of the Gospel of Christ:

First, what Moses said in Deuteronomy 32:21. Here we see that the Scriptures predicted the inclusion of Gentiles in salvation in order to make Israel jealous (Romans 11:11) so that they might also be saved (Romans 11:14).

Second, what Isaiah is very bold and says in Isaiah 65:1. Here we see that God through Isaiah preached the truth that He was going to include the Gentiles who did not seek Him or ask for Him because salvation is by grace and not by works. The Jews were seeking God through their works but salvation is by grace through faith. Israel thought salvation was exclusive in the sense that they believed it was for them because of their works and not for the Gentiles because they weren’t even trying.

Paul could have given more Scripture showing that Israel should have known about the inclusion of Gentiles because of the predictions of Scripture. Paul said in his letter to the Galatians, “The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘All the nations will be blessed in you’” (Galatians 3:8). The truth that God would include the Gentiles in salvation was reprehensible to the Jews. The inclusiveness of salvation in Christ was a rock of offense to the Jews.

Israel failed to heed God’s offer of salvation (10:21). Immediately after God told Israel through Isaiah 65:1 the truth that He was going to include Gentiles in salvation, He told them the sad truth of their condition in Isaiah 65:2 – “All the day long I have stretched out My hand to a disobedient and obstinate people.”

The apostle Paul, making application with the Scriptures, showed that Israel’s failure to heed the message of the exclusiveness of salvation in Christ and the inclusiveness of salvation in Christ, was predicted in Scripture.

The Parameters of Salvation (Romans 10:11-17)

Paul has been establishing the truth of salvation by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. In his defense of the gospel he has shown that all men, including the Jews, are incapable of attaining to the righteousness of God because of men’s sin nature. Therefore, only those who have faith in Jesus Christ and His work of living a sinless life, dying a sacrificial death, and experiencing a supernatural resurrection, on their behalf, are saved.

In Romans 9-11 Paul was primarily answering the question of why the Jews who had the Word of God were mostly or as a whole rejecting the gospel of Christ and salvation by grace. Let me attempt to briefly summarize the problem of why most of the Jews rejected the gospel of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ:

(1) The Jews believed they were God’s elect and special people because they were better people than all other men in the world. This means that they believed in conditional election rather than unconditional election which would make salvation by merit and not by mercy; by works and not by grace.

(2) Since most of the Jews rejected the gospel of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, they also rejected the notion that God would save and include Gentiles in His family. By rejecting salvation by grace and attempting to exclude Gentiles from the promises and covenants of God, they excluded themselves. As a result, they did not pursue God’s righteousness by faith but as though it was by works.

(3) Since most of the Jews rejected the Gospel of grace, they were ignorant of God’s righteousness and sought to establish their own. This caused them to reject Christ and the promises of God that are yes in Him. Instead of believing in their hearts that God raised Him from the dead and confessing Jesus as Lord, they did not believe in Him and they did not call on His name. Through this they missed the wonderful promises of God: “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed,” and, “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

That brings us to our text where we will see the parameters of salvation.

Anyone can be saved who believes (Romans 10:11-13). I want you to notice something very important in the particular order of the promises found in verses 11 and 13. In verse 11 the promise is that “whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed” and in verse 13 the promise is that “whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” The order here gives you an idea of the parameters of salvation that Paul is talking about in these verses. The logical order is that you believe in Him before you call on Him. It is your belief in Christ that enables your calling on Christ. What is it that you believe? You believe in His sinless life, sacrificial death, and supernatural resurrection on your behalf as the only way a holy God can pardon your sins. This enables and motivates you to call out, “Lord, save me.” These two must always go together; believing in the work of Christ and as a result of that belief calling on the name of Christ. Anyone can be saved who believes.

Anyone who believes must hear (Romans 10:14-15). Here we see the parameters of salvation in reverse order. To be saved you must call on Him and to call on Him you must believe in Him and to believe in Him you must hear about Him and to hear about Him someone must tell or preach about Him and to preach about Him you must be sent by God with God’s message about Him and not your own. What do these verses say about people who have never heard God’s message about His Son? Can men be saved without hearing? Must what they hear be the truth about Christ? Look at the description the Bible gives of those who are sent and preach the good news – they are considered to have beautiful feet because they are the vehicles by which the good news about Christ is told.

It is impossible to believe in someone of whom you have never heard. Anyone who believes must hear.

Anyone who hears must heed (Romans 10:16-17). The word “heed” means to obey. The KJV puts verse 16 this way, “But they have not all obeyed the Gospel. For Esaias saith, “Lord, who hath believed our report?” The ESV puts it like this, “But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” Notice how the Bible equates obeying or heeding with believing. Hearing the message and not heeding the message is because one doesn’t really believe the message.

In verse 16, many heard but did not heed. They heard but did not believe. They heard but did not obey. Had they believed what they heard they would have obeyed what they heard and would have called on the name of the Lord. Simply put, this means that they would have seen their works as filthy rags and His as beautiful and all sufficient.

Romans 10:16 has to be the most disappointing response to the gospel recorded in Scripture – “They did not all heed the good news.” Isaiah not only experienced this disappointing response from his countrymen, he prophesied about their future rejection of the Gospel – “Lord, who has believed our report?”

Isaiah wasn’t speaking to God as a co-author of the Gospel but was referring to himself and the other prophets as heralds of that message. Isaiah was sent with a message and didn’t manufacture one.

The conclusion is that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word about Christ (Romans 10:17). Men must hear the gospel to believe in Christ and call on His name for salvation. While hearing the gospel doesn’t guarantee faith because men must heed what they hear; not hearing the gospel guarantees no chance for faith in Christ and no chance for salvation.
Anyone can be saved who believes; anyone who believes must hear; anyone who hears must heed. These are the parameters of salvation.

Who can be Saved? (Romans 10:5-13)

The most important question that a person can ask is: “What must I do to be saved?” This is the question that was on the heart and mind of the rich young ruler (Matthew 19:16). This young religious leader came to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” It’s interesting that the first thing the Lord said to this young man was the truth of man’s total inability to do good because man isn’t good. “And He said to him, ‘Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good…’” (Matthew 19:17). This truth alone puts the possibility of obtaining the righteousness God requires out of the reach of fallen men. To show this young man his inability to inherit eternal life by the works of his own hands, the Lord said, “But if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments” (Matthew 19:17).

Notice the unusual response of the young ruler to the Lord – “Then he said to Him, ‘Which ones’” (Matthew 19:18)? Behind this question is the false notion that as long as ones partial obedience to the commandments outweighs his disobedience then God will be pleased. It’s the false notion that as long as my good outweighs my bad then God will grant me eternal life. This overlooks the truth that God’s Law and God’s holy nature requires perfect perpetual obedience and partial obedience is disobedience – “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all” (James 2:10). Also the Law itself said, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the Law, to perform them” (Galatians 3:10).

The Law puts the requirements of God for eternal life out of reach of sinful humanity (Romans 3:20) and witnesses to the truth that eternal life must come as a gift by faith in the only One who is good and lived in perfect perpetual obedience to the Law (Romans 3:21-24). Since salvation is by grace through faith in Christ and not by works of the Law then that which is impossible becomes possible – that which is out of reach through the works of sinful man becomes near and in reach through faith in the One and only Sinless Man. This is the truth that Paul is establishing in Romans 10:5-13.

The righteousness of God is impossible for sinners through the work of the flesh (Romans 10:5). Eternal life is out of reach and impossible for sinners to accomplish themselves. In order to do so he or she would have to have perfect perpetual obedience to the Law. Impossible!

The righteousness of God is possible for sinners through the word of faith (Romans 10:6-8). Eternal life is in the reach of sinners as a gift through faith in the finished work of Christ. Notice that this requires faith in Christ and not oneself. This means that we must believe in our own inability in order to believe in Christ and His ability. We must believe that we are truly unrighteous and in need of imputed righteousness. We must believe that we are sinners, God is holy, and our only hope is in the Person and work of Jesus Christ. Christ must become to the sinner his sole source of righteousness.

This truth humbles all who will receive it and removes all boasting before God so that he who boasts, boasts in the Lord (1 Corinthians 1:31). Do you see how a person must be humbled by the truth of his own inability in order to believe in Christ as his sole source of righteousness? Man must see that the righteousness of God is so far out of his reach that it is impossible for him to attain to it. It is only then that man can see the wonderful truth of how God has made possible the impossible as a gift. By making the righteousness required for eternal life a gift through faith in Christ, God has made the impossible, possible; and that which was out of reach; near.

This is why Paul personified the righteousness based on faith and showed us how it speaks. What does faith say? “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (that is to bring Christ down), or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ (that is to bring Christ up from the dead)” (Romans 10:6-7). Those are two impossible tasks for men, both of which are a denial of the work of Christ, and faith doesn’t talk that way. How does faith talk? It says this, “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (Romans 10:8).

In order to be saved by faith a person must see his total inability and his hope of any self-sufficiency must die so that he can trust in Christ’s work as his only hope of righteousness and eternal life. By this he will confess his own sinfulness and Christ’s righteousness; his own inability and Christ’s ability; and his own insufficiency and Christ’s total sufficiency – [this] is, the word of faith which [Paul] was preaching (Romans 10:8).

The word of faith must affect the heart to inform the mouth (Romans 10:9-13). The word of faith connects the mouth and the heart so that what the mouth says actually comes from the heart. It is possible for the mouth to speak and not mean what it says. Jesus said, “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord’ and do not do what I say” (Luke 6:46). He also said, “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me” (Matthew 15:8). To speak the right words without believing or understanding those words in the heart is not confession but confusion! For genuine confession to take place the heart must be supernaturally affected by the truth if it is to inform the mouth with real understanding. Jesus said, “For the heart of this people has become dull, with their ears they scarcely hear, and they have closed their eyes, otherwise they would see with their eyes, hear with their ears, and understand with their heart and return, and I would heal them” (Matthew 13:15).

Since the heart of the problem is the problem of the heart, the heart must be changed for one to turn from self and sin to the Lord Jesus Christ. This only happens through the preaching of the word about Christ (Romans 10:17) which confronts man with his own sinfulness and inability with the sinless, sufficient work of Christ on his behalf in stark contrast.

Then and only then will the sinless life, sacrificial death, and supernatural resurrection of Christ become heart knowledge and not just head knowledge and it will result in the confession of Jesus as Lord.

Vicarious Law-Keeping (Romans 10:4-5)

The aim of the Holy Spirit inspired explanation of the Gospel is to remove the false notion that man can be justified through keeping the Law in the power of his flesh. The aim of the Gospel is to show that justification is on the basis of grace along through faith alone in Christ alone because of His vicarious Law-keeping, vicarious Law-paying, and vicarious Law-releasing. In other words, the aim of the Gospel is to show Christ as the fulfillment of the Law and not its nullifier so that the righteousness of God can be attained by faith and never by the flesh. We are justified solely as a gift through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:24) based on His sinless life, sacrificial death, and supernatural resurrection – all on our behalf. Therefore we cannot be justified by our own Law-keeping (because we can’t keep it) and we cannot be justified without Christ’s Law-keeping (He’s the only One who could) for it must be fulfilled and not nullified. Our justification is based on the works of another and not our own! We are justified by a Savior who serves as our Substitute who alone was qualified to pay a debt He didn’t owe for those who owed a debt they couldn’t pay!

Since it is true that the aim of the Gospel is to remove the false notion that man can be justified through keeping the Law in the power of his flesh then of necessity you will understand that God has never justified any sinner through works of the Law but only on the basis of faith in God’s perfect Substitute – the Lord Jesus Christ. There has never been nor will there ever be a dispensation in which men are justified by their own law-keeping. It is error and heresy to believe that God has at one time in history justified men by their own law-keeping but today has nullified the Law through a dispensation of grace. There has never been anything but a dispensation of justification by grace through faith in the One and only Vicarious Law-Keeper.

Let me define vicarious so that you know exactly what I’m communicating so that you can also communicate this wonderful good-news to all men everywhere. Vicarious means “performed, received, or suffered in the place of another” (Webster’s Universal College Dictionary). All three meanings of the word apply to the totality of the work of Christ on our behalf. Christ performed Law-keeping in our place through His sinless life; Christ suffered Law-paying in our place through His sacrificial death; and Christ received Law-releasing in our place through His supernatural resurrection. Every single aspect of the work of Christ is necessary for our justification. Without His sinless life He could not become the Sacrificial Lamb and would not experience a supernatural resurrection by which we could be justified and become the righteousness of God in Him. Therefore faith in Christ does not nullify the Law but establishes it (Romans 3:31) and brings to an end all attempts at meriting justification through our own works by receiving it through faith in His works (Romans 10:4).

Here is the wonderful truth of redemption in Christ – we can’t keep the Law; He never said we could! He can keep the Law; and He always said He would! It is in this and this alone that the weary and heavy laden find rest for their souls. We don’t have rest because the Law has been abolished – we have rest because our Lord has been sufficient! Christ didn’t abolish the Law; He fulfilled it just as He said He would.

There are those today who believe that the Law has been abolished and that Romans 10:4 is teaching that the Law has been abolished. These are so against the Law that they discount the sinless life of Christ under the Law as a non-essential to salvation. They would dare divide the seamless garment of the work of Christ and reject His obedience to the Law as a necessary part of our justification. This is a severe misinterpretation of this passage that not only overlooks its immediate context but also the overall context of Scripture. That the Law has not been abolished but fulfilled is the explicit teaching of the Bible and so it does not imply in this verse or any other verse that the Law has been abolished. Faith establishes the Law because it trusts in the vicarious Law-keeping of Christ!

In Romans 10:4-5, Paul is contrasting Gospel righteousness (Romans 10:4) to the righteousness of the Law (Romans 10:5) in order to show that we are saved by Another’s Law-keeping and not our own. Why is this so? Because to be saved by the Law through our own ability to keep it is impossible for sinful man since the Law requires perfect obedience at every point perpetually throughout man’s life in order to receive the Law’s promise of life. The Law promises life for those who live by it in perpetual perfection but it promises death for those who don’t. “For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the Law, to perform them’” (Galatians 3:10; Deuteronomy 27:26).

So the Law does not bring righteousness to man, it actually reveals man’s unrighteousness through his inability to live by it in perpetual perfection. It is because of this that men must trust the only sufficient Substitute, Jesus Christ, in order to be justified by God. “Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for ‘The righteous man shall live by faith’” (Galatians 3:11).

We are justified by faith in the finished work of Christ alone. It is not that He kept nine of the commandments and we kept one – it is that He kept all the commandments and we kept none – “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all” (James 2:10). We don’t add anything to the work of Christ – He did it all and He did it all by Himself. That is why we read that “when He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Hebrews 1:3).

That, my brethren, is vicarious Law-keeping - the Law-keeper dying for the Law-breakers and being raised from the dead for our justification and His own vindication. Christ performed the whole Law, suffered the Law’s penalty, and received the Law’s release on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him and also receive the Law’s release. That is justification; that is liberation; that is the Gospel!

Christ: The End of Trying (Romans 10:4)

Since man cannot meet the righteous requirement of a holy God through works of the Law and cannot by the labor of his hands fulfill the Law’s demands, his only hope is found in Jesus Christ who did perfectly fulfill the Law in order to redeem him. People that believe they can serve God and please God in the flesh are ignorant about the righteous requirements of an absolutely righteous God and their own sinfulness (Romans 10:3).

The most difficult people on the face of the earth to reach with the gospel of salvation by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ are those who have been taught that they are pretty good people and therefore God owes them salvation. The absolute need for any person to be saved is that he or she sees his or her inability to please God in the power of the flesh through works of the Law. The self-righteous are excluded from salvation because salvation is by mercy and not by merit. So the first duty of the faithful witness is to exalt the absolute righteousness of God and thereby show man his absolute inability to measure up. Men must be convinced of their sin if they are going to be convinced of their need for a Savior. As long as we allow men to remain in their self-righteousness by not exposing their sinfulness then we play right into the hands of the enemy of souls and join him in excluding them from salvation.

Many redefine sin in order to remove its offensiveness. Redefining sin as something other than what God has defined it in the Bible and telling men that they are not really as bad as God says they are is a hindrance to men coming to saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Sad to say, but this is much of what characterizes today’s evangelism. Sin and repentance are either overlooked or toned down so that men aren’t offended or hurt by the stinging truth of their real condition before a holy and righteous God. The end result is men are offered grace without guilt, healing without hurting, and response without repentance. So these poor souls end up with a false assurance of salvation and will either be legalistic or licentious – not knowing about God’s righteousness!

Since man cannot achieve the righteousness of God – it must be achieved for him through a Substitute and received as a gift on the basis of faith. That being true, then all effort by man to please God in the flesh is an exercise in futility and ends in destruction. However, since the Lord Jesus Christ did achieve the righteousness of God as a Substitute for men who would believe, for them He is the end of attempting to please God in the flesh (Romans 10:4).

For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes (Romans 10:4). Those who come to believe are those who come to see and know God’s righteousness and their inability to achieve it. They come to know themselves as sinners in the need of mercy! These are the ones that can see that they need a Savior and are no longer blinded by their self-righteousness or their zeal without knowledge. They come to know and understand – not the labors of my hands, can fulfill they law’s demands; could my zeal no respite know, could my tears forever flow, all for sin could not atone; Thou must save, and thou alone (Baptist Hymnal, Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me, second stanza, Hymn 163). For everyone who believes, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness! Christ is the end of trying!

Salvation isn’t achieved by our trying to live a good life – we can’t; salvation is achieved by our trusting in the finished work of Christ. We become the recipients of the righteousness of God through faith not through the flesh. This is why it written, “The righteous man shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17). Believers experience the great transaction – “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Therefore, “[we] no longer live for [ourselves], but for Him who died and rose again on [our] behalf” (2 Corinthians 5:15). We no longer live by the flesh and for the flesh but we live by faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself up for us (Galatians 2:20).

I want you to notice three aspects about this verse:

“For Christ” - Salvation is exclusive - it is in Christ alone – He is the exclusive Savior and Liberator for there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12).

“Is the end of the law for righteousness” – Salvation is liberative – it sets men free from trying and gives them rest through trusting.

“To everyone who believes” – Salvation is inclusive – it is for everyone, Jew or Gentile, who comes to know God’s righteousness; his inability to achieve it; and that God has provided it through the finished work of Christ.

Zeal without Knowledge (Romans 10:1-4)

In Romans 9:1-33 the apostle Paul gave two reasons for Israel’s failure to obtain salvation: (1) Israel failed to obtain salvation because of God’s sovereignty – God saves by grace through faith whoever He chooses on the basis of unconditional election. God saves by grace not race; by mercy not merit; and by faith not flesh. Therefore no man can put God under obligation to save on any other basis. (2) Israel failed to obtain salvation because of human responsibility – since God saves by grace through faith man is responsible to see his inability to be saved by the Law through works of the flesh on the basis of conditional election. Israel pursued salvation as though it were by works rather than by faith (Romans 9:31-32).

Paul was at one time in the same shoes that the majority of his Israelite kinsmen were in. He also pursued salvation as though it were by works and believed in conditional election rather than unconditional election – until the Lord saved him on the Damascus Road. So what Paul was about to write in Romans 10:1-4 was not only true to Scripture but also his own personal experience – he had zeal without knowledge and was attempting to establish his own righteousness.

Paul’s prayer was for Israel’s salvation (Romans 10:1). There are two discoveries to be made in this verse by keeping it in its literary context (the verses that precede and follow it) and in its historical context (the situation in life for the author and the meaning of the message to its original audience): (1) We discover that believing in God’s sovereignty (chapter 9) does not discourage praying for the lost or witnessing to the lost. (2) We discover that while Paul was accused of preaching against the people (his situation in life), his telling them the truth and praying for them showed his genuine concern and love for them. It was those false teachers that told them what they wanted to hear and preyed on them that were actually against them.

Paul’s problem was Israel’s religion (Romans 10:2-3). We notice four problems with Israel’s religion in these two verses that made it almost impossible for them to receive Paul’s message: (1) the first problem with Israel’s religion was that they had a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. (2) The second problem with Israel’s religion was that they were ignorant of God’s righteousness. (3) The third problem with Israel’s religion was that they were seeking to establish their own righteousness – being ignorant of the righteousness of God that He requires. (4) The fourth problem with Israel’s religion was they did not subject themselves to God’s righteousness.

Paul knew all about these four problems because at one time in his life he was the epitome of Israel’s religion. Paul said that he was more zealous for Israel’s religion than the rest of his countrymen – “And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions” (Galatians 1:14). Paul also said that he was “circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless” (Philippians 3:5-6). While being attacked in the temple at Jerusalem and given the opportunity to make a defense before the Jews, Paul said, “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated under Gamaliel, strictly according to the law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as you all are today” (Acts 22:3).

Paul had a zeal for God but without knowledge. The word knowledge is epignosis which means “real knowledge” or “true knowledge.” Gnosis is the word for common knowledge which is a lower form of knowledge and may even be a false knowledge. However the prefix epi means “over” or “above.” So epignosis is “true knowledge” which is “over” or “above” common knowledge and must be revealed by God because it does not originate in man. It is knowledge from above as compared to earthly or natural knowledge (see James 3:15, 17).

Paul also at one time was ignorant (without knowledge) of God’s righteousness and sought to establish a righteousness of his own. After being confronted by the Lord on the Damascus Road, Paul threw away his attempts at having a righteousness of his own derived from the Law and relied totally on the imputed righteousness of Christ as his only hope for attaining to the righteousness of God (Philippians 3:7-9). To be ignorant of God’s righteousness is to fail to see that God’s standard is beyond the reach of sinful man and that what we need we cannot attain and therefore it must be received as a gift through the works of another who was able to completely meet God’s righteous standard – this is why salvation is by faith in Christ.

The whole time Paul was depending upon his zeal for God and his personal obedience to the law in order to establish a righteousness of his own by which to be acceptable to God and merit His favor, he was not subjecting himself to God’s righteousness. Believing that he was pleasing God – being very sincere in that belief – Paul was refusing to place himself under God’s revealed way of salvation and was despising God’s authority. Nothing would have looked more like subjecting oneself to God’s righteousness than the earnest pursuit of rules and regulations – but those rules and regulations were for pointing men to Christ by pointing men to their own sinfulness. So instead of subjecting themselves to God’s way of righteousness – they rejected it.

Paul’s prescription was Israel’s Liberator (Romans 10:4). Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. Christ is the goal to which the law points and in Him men can rest and cease striving. By this He is the end of attempting to gain God’s required righteousness through the works of the law because it cannot be done. Christ fulfilled the Law of God completely. In His sinless life He upheld the precepts of the Law; in His sacrificial death He upheld the penalty of the Law; and in His supernatural resurrection He upheld the Person of the Law so that faith in Christ establishes the Law rather than nullifies it (Romans 3:31). Men are saved through the work of Christ alone and not one iota of their own!