Paul's written the greatest doctrinal work ever written in the book of Romans, and it's an explanation—it's really an expanded explanation of the gospel. We see the text break very nicely into sections as Paul lays out a complete explanation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

In Chapters 1:18 to 3:20, we see the sinfulness and condemnation of all men born in Adam. Every man is deserving of eternal death because he is the son of Adam, a sinner by nature. Paul says there is none righteous, no, not one. He begins to explain in 3:19-20 that no good work or righteous act, observing the law, can remedy our guilt or our lost condition. We have no righteousness of our own. In fact, Isaiah said all of our righteousness is as filthy rags before a holy God. 

But the good news of justification by grace through faith in Jesus Christ begins in chapter 3, verse 21, where we see the adversative: "But now." Paul writes, "But now he says we cannot establish our own righteousness." This is bad news; this is religion trying to establish your own righteousness through works. But the good news is this: we can receive the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ because He has paid our sin debt in our place, suffering the wrath of God that I deserved, as we've been singing about this morning.

Romans 4 goes on to tell us that we are made right with God through faith alone in Jesus alone, as He imputes His righteousness to me—not by works, but by faith. We see the results of this great salvation by grace through faith in Romans 5 to 8, where Paul teaches on regeneration. We are new men, new creations in Christ, having a new spirit and the Holy Spirit living in us. We've died to sin. We've died to the law; our old man was crucified with Christ, and thus we live new lives by the power of Christ's life in us and through us, as we abide in Him by faith. We no longer live by the letter, but by the Spirit.

We see particularly in chapter 8 that this salvation means security. It is a complete salvation. Jesus saves to the uttermost; He ever lives to make intercession for us. Those whom He justified, He also glorified. My brothers and sisters, these are the great doctrines of the gospel, and Paul explains them in depth in the first eight chapters of the book of Romans. 

So why this section on Israel? Why chapters 9 to 11 before the great application chapters in 12 to 16? How does this fit? Well, it fits because the gospel of Christ brings up a vital question concerning Israel: What about the promises made to Israel, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? If Israel rejected her Messiah, is God done with her? Is He not going to keep those promises? This is no ancillary text; this is a vital part of Paul's gospel explanation, and the main message for Israel and for the Gentiles, the church, is this: God always keeps His promises. He always brings to pass that which He has spoken.

Chapter 9 showed us that God is sovereign, that He can fulfill His word how He decides. But He will keep His word. In chapter 10, we learned that it is not the fault of God that He has not yet fulfilled His promises to Israel, but rather the unbelief of Israel. What we learn in chapter 11 is that God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. He will keep His promises, fulfill His word, and this will happen when Israel believes, when she turns to the one whom she pierced and believes on Jesus. Paul says all Israel will be saved.

Now, my brothers and sisters in Christ, it is vital that we understand that this text before us is about Israel, and we see Paul consistently contrasting the nation Israel with the Gentiles, with the church. We've seen that all the way through. It's not a mixing of the church with Israel; the term itself—the church—is in no way Israel, especially in this section of Paul's teaching on the gospel and salvation. His point is to show the distinction here, setting Israel, the nation, as one part and the church, the Gentiles, as the other, in order that he might explain God's salvation plan in relation to the church and Israel.

I think you will see that as we work through our text this morning. The church is distinct from the nation of Israel. The message is that God will keep His promises, those unconditional promises made to Abraham, and He will keep His promises to us in Christ as well. In fact, Christ is a fulfillment of that very promise, a blessing to all nations, Abraham's seed, because God always keeps His promises. He always brings His will to pass because, as Paul says at the end of the section, the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 

Let's look at Romans 11:11 together. Paul says, asking this question—a similar question the second time: "I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Now if their fall is riches for the world and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness! For I speak to you Gentiles, and as much as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry. If by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them. For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?"

"For if the first fruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, 'Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.'" Well said! "Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity, but towards you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness; otherwise, you also will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 

For if you were cut out of the olive tree, which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?" 

"For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion: that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: 'The Deliverer will come out of Zion. He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob, for this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.' Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers, for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable."

I've given you three points on your outline this morning: first, God's focus on Israel; second, God's faithfulness to Israel; and third, God's fulfillment in Israel. I'd like for you to turn as we begin to Deuteronomy chapter 7. 

Deuteronomy chapter 7, beginning at verse 6: "For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples. But because the Lord loves you and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. 

Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps His covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments." 

God chose Israel not because of something great about them, not because they were greater than other nations, but because He chose to set His affection, His love upon them. He chose them to glorify Himself, to manifest Himself to them and through them to the world, that He might draw all nations to Himself. Israel was to be His witness; they were to be a city on a hill, a light to the world. It was always God's plan for Israel to be His special people, to walk in fellowship with Him, to be a witness for Him. And the promise was always that God would bless all nations through Israel. 

God chose Israel, and His focus has always consistently been on Israel throughout salvation history. God made unconditional promises to Abraham, and He reiterated these again and again through Isaac and Jacob and swore over and over that He would keep His covenant to give them a land, a kingdom, to bring salvation to the nation, and to bless all nations through their seed. Paul explains in Galatians 3 that it does not say seeds, as of many, but seed, singular. That seed, that promise, is Christ. Christ is the fulfillment of the third part of the promise made to Abraham in Genesis 12—the blessing to all nations through the seed of Israel. Jesus fulfilled that.

However, John tells us that when He came to His own, His own received Him not. Paul says they rejected Jesus; they crucified Him—the long-awaited Messiah. So there were those in the church in Paul's day, and certainly there are those in the church in our day, who say that God has now rejected Israel, that He has cast them away permanently and bestowed the blessings, the promises made to Israel, on the Gentiles in the church. 

Our brothers and sisters, Paul asks this question directly in 11:1 and in 11:11, and his answer is as emphatic as possible in the Greek: No, no, no, no, no! God has not cast away His people. They have not stumbled to the point where they cannot be redeemed. In fact, God still has His focus on Israel, His love set on His special people, and His plan fully in place to bring to pass the promises and salvation to Israel. 

You say, "Well, that's kind of an odd statement now in the church age when the Gentiles are being saved predominantly." God still has His focus on Israel. I want you to look at Paul's humbling words for us in verses 11 to 15 of our text. Paul says, "I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles." 

Notice Paul's words, how he's still focusing on Israel in the fullness and the fulfillment. Look at verse 12: "If their fall is riches for the world and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!" The lesser to the greater argument here; he's saying if this worked out for the Gentiles' salvation when they rejected Christ, how much more will it be in their fullness?

"For I speak to you Gentiles, and as much as I am an apostle to Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, if by any means," he says, "I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them. For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be? See, Paul's looking forward to that time when Israel will turn to Christ. What will their acceptance be but life from the dead?"

You know, we love the promise of Romans 8:28. It says that God works all things together for the good of those who love God, who are the called according to His purpose—"all things together for our good." This truth that Paul explains here may be the greatest example of that promise. Israel killed their promised Messiah; they would not believe Him. What does God do with this unbelief? Cast them away as a nation? Forsake His promises? Paul said He takes this very bad thing and He works it for good; He works it for the good of the Gentiles, the church, for their salvation, and for the good of Israel and His plan to bring them to salvation as well. 

They fell, and God takes that event—that unbelief—and He brings salvation to the Gentiles, to the church. But in this, He still has His eye on Israel. He's still working out His sovereign plan, working within the choices and bumbling and stumbling of men. I am continually amazed that God chooses to use man to accomplish His will. Even the unbelief of man sometimes. 

Paul says God turns to the Gentiles in order to provoke the Jews to jealousy. He says, "Yes, their fall is riches for the world in that salvation has come to them, but God still has Israel's fullness in mind." This is an amazing argument that Paul is establishing here, and he maintains it through the text. 

Look down to verse 19. He says, "You will say then, 'Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.'" Well said! "Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but towards you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness; otherwise, you also will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again."

And down in verse 28, it says, "Concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election, they are beloved for the sake of the fathers, for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable."

You know, my friends, there's coming a time when the fullness of the Gentiles will come in, and God will turn back to Israel. The Gentiles will not believe, and they will be cut off, and Israel will believe when they look on the one whom they pierced, and they will be grafted in, and the promises will be fulfilled. 

What is God's focus? What is His primary concern? His primary concern is His great name, His word, His promise. We will see that the main focus of Paul's words are the fathers—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—really meaning the promises made to the fathers. This is the root; this is the fatness and goodness of the olive tree. This is the election; this is the gifts and calling which are irrevocable—the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God made promises; He will keep them. He is keeping them.

Don't you see what Paul is saying? I love the warning—the great admonition here. Don't get haughty, you Gentiles, you church. You're just wild branches grafted into the promise to the root. Don't be wise in your own opinion. You are here; you have salvation for one reason: the grace of God, the promise of God through faith. This is so important because this is exactly what we have in the church today with those who teach that God has replaced Israel with the church. Paul says you better just be thankful! You better keep trusting Christ and know that even in this salvation that has come to the Gentiles, God is still working out His salvation plan for Israel—not because of Israel, but because of His great namesake, for His glory. 

God has turned to the Gentiles in order to provoke the Jews to jealousy. Their being cast away is the reconciling of the world. This is all part of God's plan. Jesus is the fulfillment of God's plan. Jesus is the fulfillment of the promise of blessing to all nations through the seed of Abraham. This isn't extra stuff; this is all consistent. This is all part of His plan.

But the acceptance of Israel—their faith that Jesus is coming—will complete God's promise fulfilled in Israel. We see that in verse 15. It's going to be a fulfillment of His word, and we read in the Old Testament over and over, "For My great namesake, I have promised; I will keep My word; I will keep My covenant." 

Next, we see in our text God's faithfulness to Israel and the promises to the fathers. Look at verse 16: "For if the first fruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and the fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you."

It goes on to tell us again that God is able to graft them back in. This is a masterful argument given by the Holy Spirit through the pen of Paul. Notice what he is saying. He uses two analogies here that the Jews were very familiar with: the first fruits and the root of the tree. The law said that the people of God were to give Him the first fruits. That is, the first part of the dough of the harvest. The point is that they were to dedicate the best part, the first part, to God. 

In doing this, they dedicated it all to God. Paul's saying if you take off the first part of the dough and it's holy, then the whole lump is holy. If the root of the tree that gives life to the tree and pushes up the nutrients in the water and produces the fruit out through the branches is holy, then the whole tree is holy as well. 

Paul extends this metaphor of the tree throughout the next several verses: the tree is Israel; the root is the fathers, specifically the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So the picture, the analogy is that God established the root, planting the tree when He made the promises to the fathers. Out of this grew a great tree—a nation. This is a cultivated olive tree. In reality, these trees grow to be thousands of years old, and the roots are established very deeply—a firm foundation of blessing and nutrients and resources to support the branches and produce the fruit.

What Paul is saying is that in the salvation plan of God, there is a well-established root system all the way back to Abraham and Genesis 12, all the way back to Genesis 3, really, and that tree has grown and produced a nation—God's nation, Israel. But because of unbelief, many—not all; the remnant is still there today—but many of the natural branches were broken off because of unbelief. 

This is what the arborist does; we have a certified arborist with us here today, Doug Foley. This is what the arborist does. You have this great tree, but some of the branches die; they no longer produce fruit. So the pruner comes in and he prunes off those branches, and what Paul is saying is that in God's salvation plan, He has grafted in wild olive branches into that great root system to benefit from the promises made to the fathers—the uncultivated, wild branches—the Gentiles, you and me—have been grafted into this great tree. And the many in Israel have been broken off because of unbelief.

There's an amazing lesson here for us—for the church and for our understanding of God's salvation plan in Israel. We learn in passages like Jeremiah 31 and especially Hebrews 8. Let's go to Hebrews 8 and look at that passage.

In Hebrews chapter 8, Paul’s explaining the more excellent ministry—the new priestly service of Christ. He has a more excellent ministry. Verse 6 says, "But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry inasmuch as He is also mediator of a better covenant than the Old Covenant—the law covenant with Moses—which was established on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. 

Because finding fault with them, He says: 'Behold, the days are coming,' says the Lord, 'when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not continue in My covenant and I disregarded them,' says the Lord. 'For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,' says the Lord. 'I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, "Know the Lord," for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.'" 

In that He says, "A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. 

The new covenant—based in the promises to Abraham—God made this new covenant with who? Who did He make this covenant with? We just read that in Hebrews 8: Israel and the house of Judah, right? He did not and He never has made a covenant with Gentiles. He made the old covenant with Moses and Israel, the law covenant. But that covenant came to an end with Christ; it says here it vanished away. Jesus instituted the new covenant at the cross—that which we celebrate this morning in our communion service. He raised the cup and said, "This is the new covenant in My blood." 

But my friends, that new covenant was made with Israel, and we see that prophesied in Jeremiah 31, Ezekiel 36, and like passages. The author of Hebrews in chapter 8 that we just read applies this new covenant to the church. Now here's the salient point of Paul's analogy: We, as wild branches, were grafted into this new covenant blessing based in the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This is the significance of the phrase in verse 18: "You do not support the root; the root supports you."

It's quite amazing in my estimation that you could take Romans 11 and twist it into replacement theology. Paul's entire argument here is that it is Israel; it is the promises; it is the fathers—the root—the nation Israel—that is the focus of God. Specifically, His purpose to bring to pass their salvation, which He promised. And He warns the church; He warns the Gentiles against pride, against boasting against the nation Israel. 

His logic is this: You're just a bunch of wild branches. You are grafted in by grace through faith. You better just be thankful that God has blessed you out of this new covenant made with Israel. It's the promise; it's the seed; it's the blessing to all nations through the promise to Israel that we are blessed. 

How can we turn around and say God is done with Israel, that God does not keep His promises? That's why this is so important. We are blessed out of the new covenant. The new covenant will be fulfilled. Ezekiel 36 will be fulfilled in Israel. Ultimately, what we see now is a sort of pre-fulfillment in the church. We experience those blessings of being in the church in the New Covenant age, but the covenant that God will keep is with Israel. 

The matter is not Israel. Sometimes you hear these preachers, "We're worshiping Israel; Israel's apostate, Israel's in unbelief." It's not a matter of Israel; the matter is that God has made the promises through and to Israel. It's the nature and the character of God that is at stake. And He’s still working, my friends, through His sovereign will and through man as well to bring about His promises. 

This church age, this turning to the Gentiles, is part of the plan of bringing about the fullness of the promises, and we see that in verses 25 to 29—God's fulfillment in Israel. 

"For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion: that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: 'The Deliverer will come out of Zion. He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob, for this is My covenant with them when I take away their sins.' And then he says, 'For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.'"

We see some very important truths and conclusions in these verses. First, in verse 25, two major points: Don't be ignorant of this mystery, he says. Blindness in part—notice this—the blinding of Israel is only partial. Jews are still being saved in the church age; the remnant still exists! My friends, Israel still exists! We just finished the book of Joshua. Where are all those people? Alright? But Israel still exists! 

And also we see this important truth: the blindness of the nation of Israel is only temporary. Until—that word until means that there's an end to this blindness—until what? Until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. Then what? Then all Israel will be saved! The promises will be fulfilled! God is now fulfilling the promise of blessing to all nations through the seed of Abraham—Jesus. This is true as an integral part of God's salvation plan and fulfillment of the promise of blessing to all nations—part of the Abrahamic Covenant. 

And when His salvation of the nations of the Gentiles is fulfilled, when the fullness has come in, God is going to turn back to Israel. And look at this, verse 26: "All Israel will be saved." When? When the Deliverer comes out of Zion and He turns away ungodliness from Jacob. 

And notice God's affirmation again in verse 27: "For this is My covenant with them." This is My covenant with them! God keeps His word! Who is Jacob? Jacob is Israel! Notice verse 27: "For this is My covenant with them"—with who? Is Israel here? The church is all Israel fulfilled in the church? That'd be quite a shift of gears from Paul's consistent argument throughout this text! Show me where it is that God made a covenant with Gentiles! He talks about the salvation of Israel here! Jesus is coming and they will look on Him whom they pierced, and all Israel will be saved when they believe!

Who pierced Jesus? Was it the church? What is this covenant? It's the new covenant made with who? With Israel! Promised Abraham! "For this is My covenant with them"—with Israel—and I will take away their sins, and all Israel will be saved! 

My brothers and sisters, we must understand that God will see His promises fulfilled. He will see His promises fulfilled in Israel and in Christ. All of this is part of the fulfillment of God's salvation plan. There are enemies for your sake, he says, but concerning the election, they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. Who is "they" in verse 28? Israel! You is the Gentiles, the church! Paul consistently contrasts here the church with the nation of Israel. 

"Concerning the election, they are beloved for the sake of the fathers." God's not going to save Israel because they're so great, because of something in them. He will save all physical Israel, the nation, when Jesus comes and they believe! It's that simple! Why did they not receive the righteousness of God before? Romans 9:30, we studied that before, because they did not seek it by faith, but by the works of the law. When will they receive the righteousness of God? When they seek it by faith! When they see Jesus come and they turn to Him in faith, and God will do this for His namesake because of His promise, for the sake of the fathers—the promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 

Now I want you to take this application for yourself. If you believe Jesus, if you trust in the promise of God, the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Let me ask you this: Did God make a promise in Christ? It's not foreign to the New Covenant; it is the fulfillment of the New Covenant—the promise of a Savior, of a blessing to all nations to see. Did God make that promise? Yes! It's in Genesis, it's all over our New Testament! Who is the promise for? For those who believe! Those who trust solely in what Jesus did on the cross—in His death, burial, and resurrection from the dead. Not for those who trust in Jesus plus works! Not for those who trust in Jesus plus sacraments! Not for those who trust in Jesus plus anything, but for those who trust in Jesus alone! 

Have you believed on His name, who He is, what He has done? Then this promise is for you! Now let me ask you, can you trust the promise? Can you trust the promise made to you in Christ if you have believed Jesus? You better believe you can because the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable! 

And my friends, this is why this matters! This is why it matters that God keeps His promises to Israel, because if God keeps His promises, then we can trust Him to keep His promises to us in Christ! That's what this is about; that's what the cross is about; that's why we're here this morning—to obey Christ's command, to celebrate communion, to remember what He did for us, to look back to the cross, the gospel. We were saved because of His death, His burial, His resurrection, and we're saved through faith in Him. 

It's trusting God and His Word; it's trusting the promise. And that's true for Israel. Abraham was justified by faith, and it's true for us today. But we can know that God keeps His promises.

Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we thank You for continuing to teach us, for Your Word, Your truth, how You explain these things to us in so many ways. Paul said it’s not tedious for me to write the same things to you again and again, but it’s safe for you; it’s safe for us, Lord, to keep renewing our mind, to keep coming back to these truths. 

I just pray that You'd help us to remember the gospel, to preach the gospel to ourselves every day, and remember what You have done for us and what that means to our life now and for all eternity. In Jesus' name, Amen.