Romans Chapter 11:5-11

In the Middle East, the Jewish people are known as the people of the book.

I'm a little envious of that title. I wish that we as Christians knew our Bibles, and I'm trying very passionately to help you and help this area, help this region, and even beyond this all over the world to help people understand the Bibles. Because as we understand the Bible, then we can have conversations with people. And as we understand the Hebrew Scriptures, we can have conversations with Jewish people. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David Magee. Stay tuned as David Magee continues in Romans Chapter 11 with God's People.

Here's David. We're looking at Romans Chapter 11, and Chapter 11 gives us a view into Israel's future. Now this chapter is going to get really exciting prophetically towards the end, and we'll talk about end times events, and we always of course enjoy talking about those things. But we're looking at God's relationship with Israel. One of the reasons this is really, really important, God's relationship with Israel helps to define the character and the nature and the personality of God himself.

So as we understand more about that covenant relationship that God has, not had, has with Israel, it helps us to understand more about the character of God. Romans Chapter 11 verse 5 says, even so then at this present time, there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then it is no longer of works. Otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace.

Otherwise work is no longer work. Verse 7 says, what then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks, but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded.

The rest were blinded. There comes a point in everybody's life, and God in His grace and His mercy usually has several points at somebody's life where you stand at the crossroads and you know that the Lord is speaking to you. There's just no doubt about it. You just sense God pull in your heart. I regret to say that over the years, many times I've not responded to that, to the tug and the drawing and the wooing of the Holy Spirit. But now as a follower of Jesus, I try to always respond to that. And sometimes it may be something small, sometimes it may be something big.

But here's what I've discovered. When you don't respond to that, you know what happens next time? It's a little easier not to respond to that. Sometimes people go to church and they think, well, you know, I went to church and I heard a message about salvation and I didn't respond and I don't believe that Jesus is my Messiah, but after all, I went to church and I'm one step closer because I heard the gospel. I'm sorry, don't take comfort in that. See, because when you hear the gospel, when you hear that Jesus, God incarnate in the flesh came to this earth to die for your sins and He did die for your sins and you go, oh, no thanks, not today, you're not one step closer.

You're one step further away. When the Lord speaks to you about really making Him the center of your life, making Him the core of what you're about, making God the priority, respond to that. Second Corinthians 6 2 says, for He says, notice the capital H, it's the Lord, in an acceptable time I've heard you and in the day of salvation I've helped you. Behold now is the accepted time. Behold now is the day of salvation.

Now. So often we think, well, tomorrow I'll do it, maybe next week, maybe next Sunday, maybe in a month or so. Or maybe if you're kind of young, you're thinking, well, I'm going to have my fun, I'm going to have my season, I'm going to do my thing. And then when I get older and things slow down, then I'll get God involved in my life.

Let me tell you something as somebody that's experienced a number of years at this point, time grows wings and passes quickly. And I don't want to be on my deathbed, hopefully many years from now, saying, oh, I wish I'd have done this. I wish I'd have done that. And I wish I'd have responded to that altar call at that point. And I wish I would have done this for God. I want to step out in faith. I want to, between now and the time I go to be with Jesus, I want to have some failures.

You know why? Because if I don't ever fail at anything, it means I wasn't really trying. It means I never really stepped out in faith and tried anything big for God. Or maybe you're going, well, what's happening in this church?

Well, yeah, I mean, this is incredibly cool. Started as a home Bible study and God has blessed it, but I'm still on this adventure of faith. And I want to stay on this adventure of faith. If the Lord says, well, go do this, okay, let's go do that. Let's see how it happens. If God tells you to do something and you do it, you know who's responsible for the results?

Not you. God is. Well, God had did what you told me. It kind of worked out a little weird.

It didn't work out the way I thought it was going to, but don't keep putting things off, friend. The Lord in Isaiah chapter one, verse 18, says, come now, let us reason together. Says the Lord, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

Isn't that a beautiful picture? Scarlet, snow, crimson, wool. You've messed up, stained. God knows the things you've done, the things you've been involved with. And yet he says, come to me and I'll forgive you of those things.

You'll be as white as snow. What a graphic picture. Let's look at verse eight. Just as it is written, God has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear to this very day. Now, let me share, because I used to, in some of the commentaries that I read, you know, they're like, well, you know, God has blinded Israel for a season. And this, this verse seems to indicate that.

But the more I looked at this verse and the more I prayed about it, the more I thought about it. When somebody is blinded, either their eyes do not function or they're in the dark. And let's understand too, when it talks about people being blinded to the gospel, it's not just the Jewish people. There's people in this country, there's probably people in this room that are blinded to the gospel. That as you talk about Jesus dying for the sins of the world, dying for your sins, they just, they don't see it.

They won't grab ahold of it. So there's many people who are blinded. Bible talks about the second Corinthians chapter four says, but even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the God of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel, the glory of Christ, who is the image of God should shine on them. First John two 11 says, but he who hates his brothers in darkness and walks in darkness and does not know where he's going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

That's interesting. So if you hate your brother, you're walking in darkness. You know what happens when you walk in darkness? You stumble, you fall. When you travel it, it's interesting because if you travel for a living or you travel much here, you know, there's all, there's that moment when you wake up in the dark and you're like, where am I?

And, and you know, if you're going to the restroom, it's always like a risk and an adventure, you know, because it's not like exactly like your, your home is. And, and there was a friend of mine that was on the road and they, they had a deal with a chain of hotels. And so he stayed for about three months.

He stayed in a room that looked exactly the same as he traveled from city to city. He says like something from the twilight zone. But when you get up in the darkness to whatever, get a drink of water or whatever, sometimes you stumble.

So through not loving your brother, you can cause yourself to stumble. So pastor what talked about being blinded and I was sharing with a lady in Israel and she was interested because I've got a ring with Hebrew and I have other jewelry with Hebrew on it. And, and then I saw some, some Jewish people doing something and I was infatuated and watching them and I turned back and she was still looking at them.

She was looking at me with this puzzled look on her face. And I said, I'm infatuated by Judaism. And the Bible tells me in this chapter actually that we're in, that the roots of Christianity are Judaism.

So I explained that to her and she had this really puzzled look on her face. And I said, I love Israel. I love the Jewish people.

Jesus himself was a Jew. And so, you know, and you know what she said? She said, well, that's different. She said, most Christians hate us. And I said, I don't hate you.

I love the people and I love the land. I was talking with the Dr. Jeffrey Seif about this whole concept and Jeffrey is a Jewish believer. I'm a Gentile believer. I'm not a Jewish believer.

I've been grafted in. But friend, if they're blinded, could it be that as we hate one another, as the perception is that we hate them, are we taking part in their blindness? Jesus in Matthew 5, 14 said, you are the light of the world.

A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. That's kind of interesting when you parallel that verse with John chapter 9, it says, as long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. Jesus said, as long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

Jesus now physically has ascended from the right hand of the Father. Now we are the light of the world. And if anybody in this world is blinded, who's responsible?

It would be those who are supposed to be lights. It's always interesting to me when Christians talk about how messed up the world is like they have nothing to do with it. If we're the light of the world, how can we talk about how dark the world is and messed up and not feel like we're playing a part?

If we cause darkness by not loving one another and not loving Israel, not loving Jewish people, not loving everybody, then we're in part responsible for this darkness that we find ourselves in. I guess this is fresh because there's a place, Yad Vashem, in Jerusalem that's the Holocaust Museum. And one of the things that will affect you if you ever go there or to another Holocaust Museum is understanding how silent the Christian church was during World War II and how silent our government was, to be honest. There was a shift that came to the United States. We have an open policy that they can come in, but we refused them. As a matter of fact, we sent the Coast Guard out to make sure that none of the Jewish people that came from Europe on that boat got out of the boat and swam to shore. We refused their entrance in the United States. So did Britain. They tried to go to Israel. They said no. It was operated by Britain at that time.

So they wound up back in Europe, and out of about the 900 Jewish people, European Jews that were on that ship, 897 of them died in concentration camps. Never again. The Christian church, those who say that Jesus is the Messiah and that we're supposed to love one another, we can never stand idly by and watch that again. And I say again because, folks, it's going to occur. And we can either be passive about it.

I went to a concentration camp in Germany, and one of the things that was over there is the thing that led to this pacifism that allowed the execution of six million people. And over the gate it said, to each his own. Because when we look at life like that and we don't see our connection with other people, this is the kind of tragedy that happens. We have to let our light shine bright. And if somebody is blinded, let it be by choice and not be lack of the light. It's easy to curse the darkness.

It's much better to light a candle and let your light shine. It's speaking about them being blinded. What are they blinded by?

They're blinded by the legalism. And it's, you know, are they kosher? Yes.

Or they celebrate the Shabbat, the Sabbath? Yes. Do they do candles? Yes.

Do they do washings? Yes. Do they do sacrifices? No. No. And even in the Hebrew scriptures it says that in order to be forgiven, there has to be the shedding of blood.

There has to be the shedding of blood. Hi, this is Pastor David. And I want to share something that's on my heart and the solution for a growing problem in all of our communities across the country, down the street, and probably in your own backyard. I'm talking about the issue of homelessness and what sometimes goes with it, substance abuse. Perhaps you've seen people at street corners and intersections and you're not sure the best way to help. Well, we're now providing food and shelter in our communities to those struggling with these issues.

And we need your help. Not only are we providing food and shelter, we're sharing Jesus with them, teaching them the Bible and discipleship, helping them with job skills. The needs are overwhelming, but if we all do something, if you do something, we can help so many.

The Bible said we're to be doers of the word, not just hearers. And Jesus said, what you've done to the least of these, you've done for me. Please help us reach these people in our nation, in our communities who are dying every day without our help. Please commit to give monthly or a one-time gift to The Bridge House by going to our website at crossthebridge.com, or calling 877-458-5508.

That's 877-458-5508. And together, we can change the world. Now let's return to David McGee's verse-by-verse teaching in the book of Romans. Let's look at verse 9. And David says, Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a recompense to them. In other words, let prosperity be their trap. Romans 11, 9 in the New Living Translation says, David spoke of the same thing when he said, Let their bountiful table become a snare, a trap that makes them think all is well, and let their blessings cause them to stumble. Whenever you're blessed, it's important that you recognize the hand of God in that, because blessings, prosperity often can be a trap to us as individuals.

But it also says let their table, and there's kind of a picture in here of let their, they became confident, and this is why this, we can learn something. They became confident in their empty ritual that no longer meant anything. That's what some of these prophets pointed out. Well, you do the feast, but you're not really thinking about God.

Man, that's a little bit convicting, isn't it? Because we go through religious rituals and we take comfort when we don't even think about what we're doing or what we're saying. Classic example, the Lord's Prayer. The Lord's Prayer. It's interesting, Jesus, they said, Jesus teaches how to pray. And Jesus said, Don't just vainly babble a bunch of words like the heathen do. And then he said, Our Father who art in heaven prayed that prayer. It's interesting to me that Jesus said, Don't do vain babblings and you're not thinking about what they're saying. What did we do with that prayer? I grew up in a church. Every Sunday, we'd say that Lord's Prayer in this kind of strange drone. You realize I was in my 30s before I started thinking what that prayer was and what it was I'd been saying all that time. And Jesus said, When you pray, don't vainly babble.

And what did I do for 30 plus years? Some of you are going, Don't do that. That's not funny.

I'm illustrating a point. How many of us have actually stopped to think about what that prayer means and what it's saying? I bet very few. And yet we take comfort in this vainly babbled thing. How many of us when we actually stopped and hopefully you thank the Lord for the food when you're praying, when you eat.

Do you really stop and think of what you're saying? Thank you for this day. Thank you for this day. In Jesus' name, amen. We get into ritual, man.

The difference between a rut and a grave is just the length and the depth of the hole. Some of you are being really convicted because you got a set little prayer you say before you, I'm sorry, I'm loving you enough to tell you these things. Let it be from the heart and not just a formula. And don't, don't ever be embarrassed about praying for your food. I can't tell you the number of times I've had somebody come up to me after I prayed in a restaurant and say, you know what? It was such a blessing to see somebody praying publicly over their food and don't do one of them little napkin drop prayers either.

You know what I'm talking about? Where you're like, Oh, we need to pray, but we don't want anybody to see us pray. So, Lord, thank you for this food. Jesus.

All right, kids, let's eat. We prayed. But see, as we understand there, there is beauty, there is no doubt there's beauty in some of the rituals that we do and some of the things that we do.

And you know, this past week I was in a church for a funeral and just saw the stained glass and just was, man, it was just beautiful, you know. But when we take spiritual comfort in the ritual to the point that it becomes a stumbling block, then there's a problem. Let's look at verse 10. Let their eyes be darkened so that they do not see and bow down their back always. In verse 11, I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Probably not, but through their fall to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. You know, it's interesting that in the Middle East, the Jewish people are known as the people of the book.

I'm a little envious of that title. I wish that we as Christians knew our Bibles. And I'm trying very passionately to help you and help this area, help this region and even beyond this all over the world to help people understand their Bibles. Because as we understand the Bible, then we can have conversations with people. And as we understand the Hebrew Scriptures, we can have conversations with Jewish people. Because something is happening in the world today. Forty years ago in Israel, there was hardly a messianic Jewish believing congregation there.

About seven years ago, there was 100. Now there's about 150 Christian, evangelical Christian churches in Israel. And I think tied to this is the understanding of evangelical Christians of supporting Israel, standing with Israel, Warren Wiersbe, very good Bible teacher, asked the question when it comes to this verse 11 about us provoking them to jealousy.

He asked a question. He says, if they attended a church service today, would it provoke them to jealousy or just provoke them? The New Living Translation, Romans 11, 11 says this, the God's people stumble and fall beyond recovery.

Of course not. His purpose was to make a salvation available to the Gentiles and the Jews would be jealous and want it for themselves. So while we sit here today and we talk about Israel and we talk about the Jewish people and we recognize that part of the stumbling block, as Paul is writing it, is this stumbling block of thinking we are saved through works. And somehow, you know, we just came in here and all those silly Jewish people thinking they can be saved by works and, you know, then we close in prayer and we could all leave.

We could come in and sing just as I am three times and leave just as we were. But we need to understand there's something in each and every one of us that wants to try to be justified by works because then we get some of the credit. Like I've earned mine, if you earned yours, that if you're good enough for long enough, you can join this elite social club we call the church. Friend, if any person in this room are listening or any person that ever existed in the history of this planet could be saved by works, they would have changed human history because Jesus Christ never would have came and he never would have died because he wouldn't have had to.

He would have looked and said, well, this little group over here in Kernersville, they're getting it. They're earning it through works. And some of them are actually obtained perfection. So I don't need to go die a gory, grizzly, painful, shameful death.

They can earn it on their own. That's not what happened, is it? Jesus looked and knew there was no other way that none of us would ever be able to attain through works, through legalism, what he was willing to give us through his grace and his mercy. You know, this would be an incredible, incredible story.

Even if we were going, yeah, and up until 1500, God was given grace. The reality is he said, today's the day. Now's the time. Let us reason together. What about you, friend? Something going on in your life that you need forgiveness for?

Some struggle, some problem. Then the Lord is saying to you right now, today, come to me and know your sins were like scarlet. They'll be as white as snow. They're like crimson.

They'll be like wool. Jesus wants to make a divine transaction with each and every one of us. And he wants to do it today. It would be incredible enough if there was just a select few that God would make this offer to, but he makes it to every one of us. Whoever, whoever will come and drink, anyone, anyone can come to God and say, God, I'm sorry. Forgive me for my sins and help me to live for you. Now I'm hearing those words. You go, well, I can't do that because I've got so much stuff in my life and I'm doing some wrong things and I really don't deserve it.

You're there. As you realize you don't deserve God's forgiveness, you're ready to receive it. But if you're sitting in here today and, and think somehow you've earned it or you deserve it, you're far from God. And maybe you're sitting there go, well, yeah, but I'm, I'm messing up. And then I don't know, I need to feel bad enough long enough before I can ask God to forgive me. You know what I found in my Christian walk? I just think, well, I need to feel bad enough for long enough before I can come to him and ask him to forgive me.

And I lived like that, but it was this up and down peaks and valleys. You know why? Because when I did something wrong and I waited to repent, I wasn't more likely to come to God. I was more likely not to. And instead of running to God with my mess ups and my failures and my sins, I got into the habit of running from him. Don't run from God. Run to him. Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short, simple prayer, simply telling God you're sorry and asking him to help you to live for him. Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me that I could be forgiven and I believe you were raised from the dead that I could have a new life and I've done wrong things. I have sinned and I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things. Please give me the power to live for you all of my days in Jesus name.

Amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer according to the Bible, you've been forgiven. You've been born again. So congratulations, friend.

You just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If this was your first time praying that prayer with Pastor David, we would love to hear from you. You can call us toll free at 877-458-5508 to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Jesus. Also, if you have been blessed by the ministry of Cross the Bridge and David McGee, would you consider supporting us with a financial gift? This month when you give to Cross the Bridge, we will send David's powerful booklet on biblical fatherhood entitled, A Father's Blessing. The number to call is 877-458-5508. That's 877-458-5508 or go online to crossthebridge.com. While you're there, make sure to sign up for David's email devotional and begin receiving daily inspiration in your inbox. That website again is crossthebridge.com. Thanks for listening today. We pray you will join us next time as we cross the bridge.