(# 355) Romans 10 - In God’s Plan, There is Always a RemnantWelcome To BARAH MINISTRIES a Christian Church Rory Clark Pastor-Teacher
Good Morning!
Welcome to Barah Ministries…a Christian Church based in Mesa, AZ…my name is Pastor Rory Clark. Our God is the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, a God who pays attention to the little things. Among the little things is us! The Lord tells us in Matthew, Chapter 10, Verse 30…
MATTHEW 10:30 …the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Welcome to a place where you can learn about how God makes something out of us nothings.
TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON In God’s Plan, There is Always a Remnant
Being one of the little people in this world is quite a challenge…it’s a prescription for a lot of suffering. We are constantly moving against the wind. But God is preparing us through the suffering for the greatness He has in store for us.
MUSIC AND REFLECTION Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ Enjoy the Singing of His Praises
WHEN YOU SUFFER June Murphy
Here is June Murphy to tell you the attitude to maintain through suffering, in her song…WHEN YOU SUFFER. OPENING PRAYER Let us pray...
We’re grateful, Heavenly Father, for the privilege of studying Your absolute truth...the Word of God…
Thank you, Father, for always being there for us…thank you for allowing tribulation, and for using it to prepare us to enjoy the victory You’ll deliver us to…
Help us to notice the wisdom of Your preparation approach…
We ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit…in Christ’s name... Amen.
A few announcements…
BARAH MINISTRIES ANNOUNCEMENTS
MARK YOUR CALENDARS! TODAY! Visit the Vets April 9, 2017 1:45PM-3:00PM
MARK YOUR CALENDARS! Next Deacon’s Meeting April 15, 2017 7:30A -9:00A
MARK YOUR CALENDARS! Homecoming for the Non-Resident Congregation April 21-22, 2017
Coming up…looking forward to it!
MARK YOUR CALENDARS! Lesson Back to 9AM May 7, 2017 MARK YOUR CALENDARS! The Next Lord’s Supper Celebration May 14, 2017
TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON In God’s Plan, There is Always a Remnant
We open our study of Romans, Chapter 11 by reminding ourselves that Unbelieving Israel and The Unbelieving Jewish Race has rejected their God and the Jewish Messiah…the Lord Jesus Christ…Romans, Chapter 10, Verse 21 says…
ROMANS 10:21 But as for Israel and The Jewish Race the Lord says, “All the day long I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and obstinate people (and they have rejected My Hand).”
So often that is the case…the ones we love just don’t love us back. And no one is more acquainted with this form of suffering than the Lord Jesus Christ…Isaiah, Chapter 53, Verse 3…
ISAIAH 53:3 The Lord was despised and forsaken of men…a man of sorrows (anguish) and acquainted with grief (sufferings and infirmities)…and like one from whom men hide their face…He was despised…and we did not esteem Him.
Unbelieving Israel and The Unbelieving Jewish Race were absolutely repulsed by the Lord. And He loved them anyway. There was a group of believing Jews…called “The Remnant”…which means ‘a small remaining part of something’…and they kept on preaching the gospel message about The Lord Jesus Christ. Yet their evangelism only brought grief and suffering and persecution to them. In John, Chapter 15, Verses 18 to 20, the Lord Himself says…
JOHN 15:18 “If the world hates you believers in Christ, and it does, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.”
JOHN 15:19 “If (for the sake of argument) you were of the world, the world would love you because you are its own…but because you are not of the world, but because I chose you out of the world…because of this the world hates you.”
JOHN 15:20 “Remember the words that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, and they did, they will also persecute you…if (for the sake of argument) they kept My word…they will keep yours also.”
Let’s hear the Word of God speak as we listen to the words of the first passage of Romans, Chapter 11, Verses 1 to 6…
PASSAGE 1
ROMANS 11:1 I (Paul) say then, God has not rejected His people…(Unbelieving Israel and The Unbelieving Jewish Race), has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite (a Jew), a descendant of Abraham (a believing Jew), of the tribe of Benjamin (the only tribe faithful to Judah).
ROMANS 11:2 God (absolutely) has not rejected His people (Israel and The Jewish Race, a nation and a people) whom He foreknew. Or do you not know (are you ignorant of) what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, and how he pleads with God against Israel?
ROMANS 11:3 “Lord, The Unbelieving Jews have killed Your prophets…they have torn down Your altars…and I alone am left…and they are seeking my life.”
ROMANS 11:4 But what is the divine response to Elijah? The Lord says, “I have kept for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”
ROMANS 11:5 In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant (of Jewish believers) according to God’s gracious choice.
ROMANS 11:6 But if the remnant is chosen by grace, and it is, it is no longer chosen on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.
Now the rest of the story…the details of the first passage…God has not finished His work with Israel and The Jewish Race. Romans, Chapter 11, Verse 1…
PASSAGE 1
ROMANS 11:1 I (Paul) say then, God has not rejected His people (Unbelieving Israel and The Unbelieving Jewish Race), has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite (a Jew), a descendant of Abraham (a believing Jew), of the tribe of Benjamin (the only tribe faithful to Judah).
By saying “may it never be,” Paul is using the strongest possible NO in Greek. The Wizard of Oz equivalent? Not no way…Not no how! There are other ways to say this strong NO…God forbid! Perish the thought! Are you serious?! Not hardly! By no means! If Paul, who is a Jew, can be saved, anyone, including ANY member of The Jewish Race can be saved as long as this person is breathing. It is an absolutely false and a totally repulsive thought that God would ever turn His back on anyone. Anyone who thinks such a foolish thing does not know God at all. Unfortunately there are many Christians who don’t know God at all. They are deceived.
Benjamin, Paul’s tribe of Jews, was the faithful one of the twelve tribes. Paul knows that God has not rejected Israel and The Jewish Race because Paul has seen God’s dealings with obstinate people firsthand in himself. Perhaps that’s why the Lord picked Paul, a Jew, to evangelize to the Gentiles…to call attention to the possibilities that are awaiting us from a loving, gracious and forgiving God, even for a man as bad as Paul.
Paul describes himself as the worst BELIEVER IN CHRIST who ever lived…yet God chose Paul for the most important spiritual task in human history…Ephesians, Chapter 3, Verses 8 to 10…
EPHESIANS 3:8
EPHESIANS 3:9 …and to bring to light what is the dispensation of the mystery (The Church Age…the Age of Grace) which for ages has been hidden in THE God (the Lord Jesus Christ, the One) who created all things…
EPHESIANS 3:10 …so that the manifold wisdom of God the Father might now be made known through The Church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.
What does it mean, “That the wisdom of God the Father might now be made known to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places?” First Corinthians, Chapter 4, Verse 9…
FIRST CORINTHIANS 4:9 For, I (Paul) think, God the Father has exhibited us apostles last of all…as men condemned to death…because we have become a spectacle (theatron) to the world, both to angels (in the Supreme Court of Heaven) and to men (on earth).
God the Father showed, through the apostles, the kind of persecution that is suffered at the hands of godless men…not only do we know how godless men treated God the Father’s Son…but also we get to see how godless men treat believers in Christ. That treatment is a testimony to the angels in the Supreme Court of Heaven who are looking down at us, observing human history as it unfolds, in the theatron…the “theater” called planet earth…and are getting a lesson about “The Creator-creature Conflict.” Romans, Chapter 1, Verse 25…
ROMANS 1:25 For the godless exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature (Satan) rather than the Creator (the Lord Jesus Christ), (the One) who is blessed forever. Amen.
Back to Paul, who also describes himself as the worst PERSON who ever lived, as he gives a reason for this assessment, in First Corinthians, Chapter 15, Verse 9… FIRST CORINTHIANS 15:9 For I am the least of the apostles, and not even fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
Even after Paul spent a large part of His life trying to eliminate the first century church, trying to kill off the remnant (which God would not allow), God kept on opening His arms to Paul, disregarding slight after slight… disregarding murder after murder…and Paul continued in obstinacy, saying NO to God’s love, grace and forgiveness. Then one day, on the Damascus Road, Acts, Chapter 9, Verses 1 to 4…
ACTS 9:1 Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest…
ACTS 9:2 …and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to The Way (Christians…believers in Christ), both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
ACTS 9:3 As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him…
ACTS 9:4 …and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”
Paul was obstinate…now He is a remnant…there is hope for Israel and for every member of The Jewish Race who is still alive…they can be saved!
Who are the obstinate people in your life? Who are the ones you love who just won’t love you back?
Not all are obstinate. There are the obstinate and there is a remnant…those Jews who don’t believe and those Jews who do… those Gentiles who don’t believe and those Gentiles who do. If there were any doubt, Paul puts the cherry on top of the whipped cream from Romans, Chapter 11, Verse 1 on this issue about the Lord forgetting, abandoning, or rejecting His chosen nation and His Chosen race…Romans, Chapter 11, Verse 2…
ROMANS 11:2 God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says (you aren’t ignorant of this are you? or Don’t you already know?) in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?
What does “the people whom God foreknew” mean? What is foreknowledge? It means that God the Father knew about Israel and The Jewish Race before He allowed them to be created…and He had an end in mind with them from the beginning…that they would be blessed in every way…and God chose Israel even though they had not done anything worthy of being chosen… Amos, Chapter 3, Verses 1 and 2…
AMOS 3:1 Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, sons of Israel, against the entire family (of Jews) that He brought up from the land of Egypt…
AMOS 3:2a “You only (Israel and The Jewish Race) have I chosen among all the families of the earth…”
For us to believe that the Lord rejected Israel and The Jewish Race, we would have to believe that the Lord thought about creating a nation and a people that He foreknew so He could later abandon them “just for thrills.” An omniscient God who knows all the knowable…who knew exactly how Israel and The Jewish Race would be toward Him…who knew that many would reject Him…created them anyway. Funny thing…the Lord knew the same thing about each of us…and He created us anyway as well.
Let’s take a music break…what ails you? There’s only one cure…JESUS! Let’s hear the group UNSPOKEN sing about our spiritual physician.
MUSIC BREAK THE CURE Unspoken
TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON In God’s Plan, There is Always a Remnant
Let’s begin the next portion of our lesson by giving you a chance to make an offering…we need and we value your financial support to continue the work of this ministry…please welcome up Deacon Denny Goodall with the offering message.
THE OFFERING Deacon Denny Goodall
OFFERING VERSE
REVELATION 2:7 He who has an ear…let him keep on hearing what God the Holy Spirit keeps on saying to the churches. To him who overcomes…I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.
OFFERING FLIGHT OF THE EAGLE Dave McClure, Instrumental
TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON In God’s Plan, There is Always a Remnant
Continuing in the first passage of Romans, Chapter 11, what does Elijah have to say against Unbelieving Israel and The Unbelieving Jewish Race? What is Elijah’s plea? Romans, Chapter 11, Verse 3…
ROMANS 11:3 “Lord, Unbelieving Israel and the Unbelieving Jewish Race have killed Your prophets…they have torn down Your altars…and I alone am left, and they are seeking my life (a quote from First Kings 19:10).”
We can relate to that feeling Elijah is expressing can’t we? It always feels like we are alone as we go through the trials of life. It’s really important to realize that with God we are never alone…for example, we know that ALL of Israel is in the care of God, even though there are both the obstinate and the remnant. Romans, Chapter 11, Verse 4… ROMANS 11:4 But what is (God’s) divine response to Elijah? “I have kept for Myself (a remnant)…seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”
God says to Elijah…you are not alone. God’s responds with hope…in God’s plan there is always hope…the absolute confidence concerning what He is able and willing to do for His people. Facing what seemed impossible, the fathering of a son at one hundred years old when he was sexually dead, Abraham, the father of The Jewish Race, had confidence in what the Lord could do. Romans, Chapter 4, Verses 20 and 21…
ROMANS 4:20 …with respect to the promise of God, Abraham did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God…
ROMANS 4:21 …and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.
The Lord provided a remnant of Jewish believers to give hope to the nation Israel and to The Jewish Race that they were not forgotten, rejected or abandoned.
Messianic Jews, the Jews who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Jewish Messiah, are outcasts in this world. Because of Messianic Judaism’s identification with Jesus, all of the major denominations of Judaism (Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist) have rejected Messianic Judaism. At times, even various Christian leaders have publicly criticized Messianic Jews for their aggressive missionary work in the Jewish community and have accused them of misrepresenting themselves as Jews. Probably the easiest way to tell if you are doing something right in this world from a spiritual standpoint is the loudness with which it is being rejected. The Messianic Jews have certainly experienced this rejection. Yet the remnant of Jewish believers is the HOPE of Israel and The Jewish Race. Romans, Chapter 11, Verse 5…
ROMANS 11:5 In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant (of Jewish believers) according to God’s gracious choice (the election of them).
Not all of Israel and not all of The Jewish Race rejected their Messiah. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and David are all names that come easily to mind. God has always provided a remnant of faithful followers of the Lord Jesus Christ to honor Israel and The Jewish Race, AND to save them. The Lord is faithful to Israel and The Jewish Race…His chosen nation and His chosen people. Romans, Chapter 11, Verse 6…
ROMANS 11:6 But if the remnant of Jewish believers is chosen (for election) by grace, and it is, it is no longer chosen on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.
Once more with feeling…Romans, Chapter 9, Verses 31 and 32…
ROMANS 9:31 …but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness (The Mosaic Law), did not arrive at (a fulfillment of) that law (and its promised righteousness).
ROMANS 9: 32 Why? Because they did not pursue righteousness by faith, but they pursued righteousness as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone…(they missed accepting a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ for the righteousness)…
There are the two poles again…self-righteous works and God’s grace! Israel and The Jewish race stumbled over the Lord Jesus Christ as the stumbling stone because they thought salvation was by works. Ephesians, Chapter 2, Verses 8 and 9…
EPHESIANS 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith…and that grace, that salvation and that faith is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God…
EPHESIANS 2:9 …not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
No one other than Jesus ever has been able to keep the Mosaic Law, so no one can be saved that way. What is the moral of the story? Don’t ever underestimate what God can do with a small group.
GOD WANTS YOU! Make the Most Important Decision of Your Life
ACTS 16:30 “…the jailer asked (Paul and Silas), “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
ACTS 16:31 “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and everyone in your household who also believes.”
ROMANS 10:10 …for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
SECOND PETER 3:9 The Lord is not slow about His promise of salvation, as some accuse Him of, but instead He is patient toward you unbelievers, not wishing for any to perish (in the Lake of Fire) but for all to come to repentance (a change of mind about having a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ).
LUKE 19:10 “For the Son of Man (the Lord Jesus Christ) has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
CLOSING SONG WHAT CAN SEPARATE YOU June Murphy
CLOSING PRAYER Let us pray...
THANKS - INTERCESSION - PETITION
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