Gentile Reinforcements (Part A)

Something men and devils could not beat out of Paul.

They tried. Sticks and stones, scourges, shipwrecks, serpent. They tried to beat out of this man the desire to go forward with the gospel. I think every Christian should have a taste of this.

Every Christian should have a taste of Satan trying to beat out of them the desire to go forward with evangelical Christianity, with doing the work of the Lord, with serving the Lord. Pastor Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of Romans.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now let's join Pastor Rick in the book of Romans chapter 11 with today's edition of Cross Reference Radio. We will take verses 22 and 23 of Romans 11. Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God on those who fell severely. But toward 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. God is able to graft them in again. Well, this whole paragraph we're dealing with is kind of fragmented from what's going on, but those two verses are enough to stir an individual to say, huh, what's going on here? Unless you know already. But as we have been considering through Romans 11, Paul is answering some serious questions about the Jews.

Just a quick review. If they have the Bible, if they're God's people, why don't they see their Messiah? And well, that's what he's dealing with. After chapter 11, then he gets back to dealing with basic Christianity.

And I hope that you can appreciate the lessons that are here. In New Testament times, most of the Jewish people rejected Jesus as being the Messiah. That left God with an insufficient amount of servants to reach the world. He could raise up servants from stones if he wanted to, but instead he raised them up from Gentiles as though God called for reinforcements, which is the title of this message. Gentile reinforcements.

Not gentle, but Gentile reinforcements. To build up his army. After all, he is the Lord of hosts. And so this is what we're looking at. Paul's saying, well, God is now bringing Gentiles into the church. His work's not stopping. He's not making them Jewish.

He's moving forward, and you're either going to move with him or you're not. So looking at verse 11, 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. Well, God did not plan that Israel would not believe. He's not the author of their rejection of his son. He totally wanted them to receive his son, but he was ready for their rejection.

He had always been ready for this rejection. And he is going to use Israel's disbelief to get Gentiles to believe. A lot of twists and turns to that. It's not just, okay, you don't believe or you'll start believing. Certainly not that simple. So God proceeded with or without the Jewish people to save other peoples, again, without making them Jewish because it wouldn't work.

It was already proven it wouldn't work. A lot of the Gentiles were repulsed by the rituals of the Jews. So in between Israel's temporary forfeiture of being light bearers to the world, and that's where we are now. We're in between their forfeiture of being light bearers to the world, and then, of course, they're coming back to God and again being the light bearers of the world in the Millennial Kingdom, the Millennial reign of Christ from Jerusalem. And so God is now investing in Gentiles to be the light bearers. Now, Gentiles have always been invited into Mosaic law since the law of Moses was given. In fact, Jesus said of the Pharisees, you travel land and sea to win one proselyte.

That's a convert from paganism to Judaism. And when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of the hell as yourselves. Oh, they didn't see that coming.

They were applauding themselves. Yeah, we do. You know, we have an outreach program to get Gentiles to believe. And then he says, you make him twice as much a son of hell. Well, that's not going to grow your church, Jesus. You want to grow the church, you've got to play ball. We don't need a pastor, we need a mascot. May that perish from anybody's thinking. God has not called men to be mascots when he calls them to the pulpit. Anyway, that's just a side note of what's going on. Don't be intimidated by that.

Rejoice in that. The Gentiles are no longer to come to the God of Moses through the law of Moses, as it was when they were looking for converts, proselytes. But they are to come to the Messiah of Moses, Jesus, and the Messiah, his law, which we now have. Paul, reaching out to the Jews to try to tell them these very things, Acts 28, verse 28, Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it. And there's a picture of God stirring up the Jews, trying to provoke them to have a hunger and thirst for truth over religion. Well, that happens in Christianity.

A lot of Christians, they want church, they don't want scripture. This jealousy that he brings up here, when he says, But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Well, there's a lawful jealousy and there's an unlawful jealousy. Hijacked jealousy, which is unlawful possessiveness, is very zealous and refuses to let go of that which does not belong to them. You know, you break up with somebody and you don't want to see anybody else have them. They broke up with you and you're mine.

You know, you're not. That's an unlawful possessiveness. But then there is a protective form of jealousy, a passion to God. What rightfully does belong to you against threats? God's jealousy is protective. And so we read in 2 Corinthians, Paul writing to the church, concerned, here's a surprise, Christians were being attractive to unchristian things. And so he writes, he says, See, that's a protective form. It is proper.

It is in its place. He says, And so Paul here is saying that he wants to see the Jews provoked to a righteous jealousy to say, wait a minute, these Gentiles, they're understanding our scripture. They have a hunger and thirst for our scripture. They're receiving the one that we should say is Messiah. They're receiving him.

What's going on with this picture? Maybe we should look into this. That's what Paul was hoping would happen. It did happen that way with some of the Jews, not all of them. Salvation has come to the Gentiles. So God uses their disbelief as a tool to save other peoples, pushing the gospel out of Jerusalem.

That's what God did. And he pushed it out of the synagogues. It's almost a blessing that the temple of the Jews was destroyed by the Romans because it would have remained an obstacle. They would have clung to it when the gospel of Jesus Christ was now to be center. And with the temple gone, well, that ended a lot of questions or created questions and ended a lot of troubles.

And the Gentiles just flooded into the church more and more. The Gentiles did not want to convert to Judaism. They did not want the diet. They did not want the circumcision. They did not want the Sabbath restrictions. There are a lot of things they didn't want.

And so in that way, it began to serve as a hindrance to reaching the world. And God knew that. He was ready for all of this. And he prepared his people, too, through the scriptures. So in verse 12, he says, Now, if their fall is riches for the world and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness? So he says, yeah, God is going to use this for the good of the Gentiles. As I mentioned with the temple, you could say being destroyed.

Well, you know, God used that. Getting them out of the synagogues, getting them away. The Christian Gentile converse, that is, getting them away from Judaism, sort of sealing that chapter up. And yet Paul wants them to understand, even though God's got a plan, he's using the Gentiles and he's using the disbelief of the Jews to get the Gentiles. He's not finished with the Jewish people either.

Very much not so. So as a nation, the Jews had a history of falling into idolatry and to self-righteousness. But this was different. They were not becoming idolaters. They were still self-righteous, many of them. But this time, it was the rejection of the Messiah.

And God was not surprised, nor was he stalled, nor was he unprepared. As I mentioned, this aversion that the Gentiles had to Mosaic law had to be pushed out of the way. And this was a problem, even in Antioch, when the Jews came up from Jerusalem, they stirred problems up for the Gentiles, demanding that they be Jews.

And Paul got into a big thing with Barnabas and Peter about that very thing. To us, it's removed a few thousand years away, two thousand years from us. We're kind of removed from it. Well, we shouldn't be, because other things have filled its place. There are other competitors. Jealousy will not stand for rivalry. And we will not stand for rivalry against truth.

Well, at least we should not. And so, here, Paul said that the fall of the Jews ended up enriching the world. God did not cause the fall of the Jew.

He timed solutions to match it. How much more their fullness. Well, ethnic Israel will recover their relationship with God in the millennial kingdom. But as a people, they do not now lead the world with the truth of the gospel.

But they will again. Zechariah chapter 8, verse 23, Thus says Yahweh of hosts, In those days, ten men from every language of the nation shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you. So when Christ returns and sets up his earthly kingdom in Jerusalem, remember, there will be just multitudes upon multitudes of survivors from the great tribulation period, who will know nothing about God.

How would they know? They're going to have to be taught. We'll be kings and priests. We'll be part of the process. But so will the Jews. All Israel will be saved at that time.

We're just not there yet. So there's one of the verses that Paul certainly is aware of, and we are supposed to be also. In verse 13, he says, For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry. And many Gentiles loved that he magnified his ministry. Oh, there's Titus, Epaphroditus, Onesiphorus, Onesimus, Philemon, Erastus, Trophimus.

Wait till we get to the end of Romans. He starts rattling off all these names of Gentiles. They're very grateful that he magnified his ministry. By that, it was expanded beyond the Jewish people, reaching the Gentiles. Many of the apostles remained amongst the Jews.

Well, some of them did, but not Paul. Jesus said to the woman at the well, You worship what you do not know. We know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. Of course, he had a greater outlook than anybody, but there we see it after the resurrection of Christ and the birth of the church.

We still see this being carried out. Salvation is of the Jews. Our Old Testament flashes that constantly.

Salvation, that's where we're connected to them. There was a time if you wanted to know any truth about God, you had to find a Jew. And now it's supposed to be, now you've got to find a Christian, a true Christian. I magnify my ministry, something men and devils could not beat out of Paul.

They tried. Sticks and stones, scourges, shipwrecks, serpent, they tried to beat out of this man the desire to go forward with the gospel. I think every Christian should have a taste of this. Every Christian should have a taste of Satan trying to beat out of them the desire to go forward with evangelical Christianity, with doing the work of the Lord, with serving the Lord. The next time you feel like you want to give up in serving, understand, that's not coming from heaven. Unless there's a rebuke to you, like when God's saying I need to get you out of serving before you infect other people, hopefully that's not the case. But when you feel like, man, you know, just, what's the point? As much as I serve, you know, somebody messes something up, another Christian. Well, what are you going to do? Play into Satan's hands?

He'll love that. He doesn't have to use a scourge or a shipwreck to knock Christians out of the fight. It just has to make them feel like they're being cheated, like it's hopeless, like what's the point? Yes, that applies to our Christian life also. But if all you have is a Christian life and there's really not much service coming out of it, you need to be challenged. You need to be challenged to serve a little bit more. And there are so many ways to serve. I mean, what about those who are bedridden? We can always use people who can pray.

Always we can use people like that. Read Psalm 25 and hear the psalmist just pretty much say to God, I can't stop praying to you. Verse 14, If by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them. Again, he wanted to provoke them with truth, give them a taste for truth, not opinion. Truth doesn't care about our opinions unless it matches the truth.

He wanted them to desire the same relationship with God as their scriptures called for, as they were watching Gentiles being inspired. Well, if you're not excited about your faith, if you're not excited about your church, why would you expect anybody else to be? I mean, imagine a pastor coming up into the pulpit and not being excited about the truth. See, it's been privileged to share. If he got into the pulpit and said, oh, Psalm 23, well, whatever.

I mean, who wants to be attracted to that? The one that steps up and says, I know my Redeemer lives and I will see him and you're not taking that away from me, Satan, man, or anything else. And there are a lot of things that converge on our faith. Personal struggles, health, other people, it just doesn't stop.

Well, make hell say that about you. This guy won't stop. They keep following hard after Christ. We've thrown depression at him, we've thrown failure at them, we've thrown confusion, perplexed, cast down, not destroyed though. That's what gets things done for the kingdom. What he mentions here in verse 14, and save some of them. Well, his objective was God's objective first.

That's where he got it from. He wrote in Romans 10, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. Well, do I have anybody in my life that I am praying for more than one time a week?

More than once a day. Is there someone in my life whose soul is on the train to hell that I can pray for? It's worth it, no matter how much time it takes.

Hell is betting you're going to give up if you don't see results. But the just shall live by faith, not by sight. Verse 15, for if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? Well, he's talking about an anti-Messiah people. They cast away the one whom their own scriptures singled out with extraordinary detail.

That's the catch right there. God didn't ask them to believe in fairy tales. He gave them hard evidence that we still use to this day. Reconciliation is supposed to be a big part of our ministry. 2 Corinthians 5, 19. What will their acceptance be but life from the dead? Well, that's called revival. When you see a church saying, we're having a revival, you have to ask them, are you bringing the dead back to life?

Metaphorically, what are you saying? Your congregation is dead? You're trying to revive them? This is true revival. I know what they mean by it.

I don't want to be too hard on them. I mean, there's a difference between an outreach and a revival when you use those words. To revive is to bring back to life. And he says here in verse 15, their acceptance will bring them to life from the dead. He knew this because he read his scriptures and he believed them. He knew end time prophecies, especially that are found in Ezekiel, Zechariah, and Isaiah. They're so detailed, so informative about Messiah reigning in Jerusalem. Ezekiel ends his book, that 38th chapter of Ezekiel, and he's talking about the kingdom age.

He's leaving his listeners with, this is where we're going. All 12 tribes appear in that final chapter of Ezekiel in the millennial kingdom. You know, usually you know there's one left out. Maybe he doesn't mention Joseph because he mentions Manasseh and Ephraim, and he from the sons of Joseph, but not in Ezekiel 38.

They're all there. And that is the hope of Israel. And that's what we're supposed to preach. And if you mess with the Jews as a people, you're messing with the apple of God's eye. And it ain't going to go good for you.

It's going to go doubly bad for you. Well, verse 16, and we'll come back to some quotes for that in a little while. Verse 16, for if the first fruit is holy, the lump is also holy. And if the root is holy, so are the branches. So he's going to use two illustrations to show that Israel's future is not over.

Because again, back to the whole beginning of this. They're God's people. They have God's word. They're not believers.

What's up with that? Has God done with them? There are people that have made doctrines in Christendom that have just discarded the Jews, cast them away forever.

That didn't come from heaven. And there are those that gobble it up, and they're articulate, they're intelligent in their argument, they're wrong. They disagree with what the Bible teaches clearly.

At least it should be clearly to them. Anyway, the first one, for if the first fruit is holy. That first fruit is Abraham.

The root will also be, and the branches will be the offspring. The lump, that will be the offspring of Abraham. Paul is saying Abraham was selected by God. His descendants ultimately will also be accepted by God. Not talking about the Jews who are against the Lord, who have disbelieved.

He's going to mention those branches being broken off. So he personifies the nation as a sacrificial offering and as an olive tree. All of that ties into their scripture, to their Old Testament. Every point he makes, he ties to scripture, not just Paul's opinion, not some clever argument. He always has as a basis, as a foundation, the word of God.

They are set apart to a position of privilege with God as a people. The lump refers to the harvest. So the first fruit, that's, you know, so let's just say it's wheat harvest. You take a sheaf from that harvest, you take it to the temple, you offer it to the Lord, you say thank you, Lord, as a token of your understanding that God didn't have to bless you and that the rest of the harvest, that's his too.

But he's letting you keep it. And that's the lump that he is referring to. The rest of the harvest is the lump. Meaning when God accepts the part, he sanctifies the whole thing. Numbers chapter 15, you shall offer up a cake of the first of your ground meal as a heave offering, as a heave offering of the threshing floor, so shall you offer it. And that's what Paul is getting this metaphor from.

He's making this analogy. He says, you know, you are this offering to the Lord. As a people, God is not done with you. He will make good on his promises to Abraham.

And you are his descendants. Thanks for joining us for today's teaching on Cross-Reference Radio. This is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia.

We're currently going through the book of Romans. If you're in need of hearing this message again, or want to listen to others like it, head over to crossreferenceradio.com. We encourage you to subscribe to our podcast too, so you'll never miss another edition. Just go to your favorite podcast app to subscribe. On our website, you'll be able to learn a little more about the ministry of Cross-Reference Radio, so make a note of it, crossreferenceradio.com. That's all we have time for today, but thanks so much for listening. Pastor Rick will be back next time in the book of Romans here on Cross-Reference Radio.