From Valley to Victory, Part 14

Thank you for joining listeners around the world for Leading the Way with local pastor, international evangelist, and author, Dr. Michael Yusef. Today on Leading the Way, dive into Romans chapter 11 with Dr. Yusef for a reminder that God's mercy is available to all. God's grace is amazing and salvation is a gift from God.

Listen along with me to Dr. Michael Yusef. Romans 11 reminds us of the indescribable riches, majesty and wisdom and knowledge of God. Romans 11 reminds us of the absolute necessity of bowing to God and bow whether we understand what we're going through or not. We bow to him in our difficult circumstances, in our joys and in our sorrows.

We bow to him and to remember that God alone is God and we are not. That is why the key verse in Romans chapter 11 is verses 33 and 34. I want you to look with me because if you miss those two verses, you miss the whole chapter.

You really do. Oh the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable his judgment and his path beyond tracing out. Verse 34, who has known the mind of the Lord? Who has been his counselor?

And the answer is no one. You cannot put God in a box. That you cannot put God in a little system or a small formula. You cannot put God's plan on a chart and say this is the way God works.

No. The Pharisees did exactly this and when the Messiah showed up, they failed to recognize him and they wouldn't believe in him. They missed him completely and they rejected him. So much so that Jesus said in John chapter 5, 39 to 40, he said you diligently study the scriptures because you think by them you possess eternal life. These are the scriptures that testify about me and yet you refuse to believe in me.

You refuse to come to me and have life. Among these unfathomable wisdom of God, listen to me, how can he love sinners like me? How can he die for sinners like me? How can he redeem sinners like me? How can he forgive sinners like me? How can he work miracles on behalf of his children?

How God gives victory to his children? It's unfathomable. It's inexplicable. I can't explain it, can you? Romans 11 33 is like someone who has been climbing Mount Everest.

Have you ever seen one of those documentaries? It's climbing, I mean step by step, painful step after painful step and it goes on for days and then when that person reached the summit, when he reached the top of the mountain, he looks around and said wow, look at that beauty, look at the splendor, it is indescribable. I can't put it in words and here's what the apostle Paul in the first 10 chapters of the epistle to the Romans, in the first 10 chapters he's been crawling step by step by step about the great reality of salvation on the part of God and then he comes to the summit, he comes to the top and verse 33 of Romans 11 and he says God's footprints are unsearchable. God's footprints are untraceable. It only causes me to bow in awe and in wonder in the difficult times, in the good times, I bow, I say you are God, you are God. If you look with me, there are three things I want you to see here in Romans 11. In verses 1 to 10, you're going to see this indescribable God, this indescribable God in his dealing with Israel in the Old Testament. Then in verses 11 to 24, you're going to see this indescribable God in his dealing with the Gentiles in the New Testament. And thirdly, verses 25 to 32, you'll see this indescribable God of grace and his grace is indescribable.

First, God is unsearchable, he is indescribable in the way he dealt with Israel in the Old Testament. Look at verses 1 to 10. In verse 1, Paul asked the question did God permanently reject his Jewish people and he said absolutely no way. After all of the pain that caused him for 2,000 years, God had not rejected Jewish people.

He has not. He said God forbid because I'm a Jew myself. If that's the case, how can I be an apostle? In less than two minutes, I'm going to give you 2,000 years of history so you understand what Paul is saying here. So many professing Christians in the 2,000 years of Christian history had this following thought pattern.

Listen carefully. The Jews rejected Jesus. The Jews crucified Jesus. The Jews persecuted the followers of Jesus. Therefore, God rejected the Jews forever. But this is absolute fallacy. It is fallacy because Paul himself is a Jew. He is saying this type of erroneous thinking began actually in the church of Rome.

That's why he's writing what he's writing. This erroneous thinking started back then and continues to this day. This erroneous thinking is persistent. This type of thinking gave rise to Nazism and antisemitism and Hitler. This type of erroneous thinking is behind all antisemitism, all of it. If you dig deep, this is the thought behind it, which is absolutely contrary and incompatible with and inconsistent with the Christian faith. Paul calls this type of argument flawed, false.

What is the proof? Paul said I myself is a proof. I'm a Jew.

I am now the ambassador and apostle of Christ. All of the apostles were Jewish. 99.9 percent of the early church were all Jewish.

Furthermore, this type of thinking runs opposite to the character of God. Today we can look at the thousands, tens of thousands of messianic believers around the world, some of them my dear, dear friends. And you know for sure that God has not rejected the Jewish people.

He has not. To be sure, I said in the last message, because God shows Israel to be a light to the nations, that is to proclaim Yahweh to the world and when they failed, the commission, you get that right, the commission of making God known to the world was taken from them and given to the church, the commission. But that does not mean for a moment that God completely rejected his people or rescinded his offer of salvation through the Messiah Jesus. And that is why throughout the Old Testament, the Bible speaks of the faithful remnant. Israel as a race, inside there is a faithful remnant. Let me show you from the Word of God.

The first one Paul mentions in Romans 11. The prophet Elijah said, God, everybody defected from you. They're worshiping Baal and they're now following Ahab and Jezebel. They become Baal worshipers.

I'm the only one who's left. And God said, no, no, no, Elijah. God said there's seven thousand faithful Jews who have not bowed down to Baal or kissed him. Second reference, Amos 9 9. The Bible tells us that God has sifted Israel like corn and all the faithful remnant remain in the sieve.

All the husk has fallen through. Three, Malachi chapter 3 verses 16 to 18. God declared that this faithful remnant is his treasured possession. In Zechariah 8 12 and 13, God declared that he will keep the faithful remnant safe. And Jeremiah 23 3, God said the remnant will remain faithful. Number six, Ezekiel 14 14. The Bible declares that the individual faithful Israelites will come to receive salvation.

And then finally, Isaiah chapter 7 8 and 9. We find that the faithful remnant within Israel will be saved. To say that all of the Israelites who are faithful to God would be like saying all of the church goers are born again and are believers.

Question. What does Paul mean when he says all of Israel will be saved? From what I just showed you, the several references in Amor, he is saying that the faithful remnant are the true Israel and every one of them are going to be saved. Now you understand that whether you're studying the Old Testament or you're studying the New Testament, it is faithfulness not ethnicity that will save. Salvation is to whomsoever. Whomsoever. It was, starting with Abraham, is and always will be faithfulness.

What does that mean? That relationship with God is determined on an individual basis. If I look at this congregation and your masses of people, a blob of people in front of me, God does not see it that way. He sees each individual.

You as an individual is what he's focusing on. It's an individual salvation. No one is saved because they were raised a Baptist or Presbyterian. We don't get saved because our church background or family background or any background. In the same way, Paul is saying just because a person, ethnically a Jew, does not mean that he's a believer, but only the faithful Jews whom the Bible calls the remnant will be saved.

Why? Because this remnant looked forward by faith like Abraham to the cross of Jesus, just as we in the New Testament look back by faith to the cross of Jesus. Let me show you from the Old Testament. Ezekiel 18 20, here's what the prophet said, the soul that sin, it shall die. The soul, each individual, it's individual salvation in the Old Testament, New Testament. Individual salvation is both in the Scripture. God does not change. And beloved, this is the reality. Paul is telling us the fact that some individual Jews have hardened their hearts toward the Messiah does not mean that God rejected them all as a race.

No way. What Paul is saying about the hardness of their hearts is a sobering, is sobering, listen to me, is sobering to the Jews and to the Gentiles, to every one of us. It's sobering. Verses 7 to 10, there is a universal principle here that you must take to heart.

What is it? If anyone keeps on hearing the truth and refuses to respond to the truth, the time will come when that person will be incapable of responding. This ought to make us weep over the lost. If somebody here or listening, watching anywhere, you've been hardening your heart and hardening your heart and you know the truth and God's speaking to you, there's going to be a time when that's going to be difficult for you to respond. Jesus said the same thing in Matthew 13 12, listen to what Jesus said, whoever has will be given more and will have an abundance, but whoever does not have what he has will be taken away from him. There are some who thinks, you know, they can lie and cheat and live any which way all week long, as long as they go to mass or go to church on Sunday, everything is fine. No.

No, beloved. Paul is saying there is a spiritual danger that can develop in the life of such a person, in the life of this type of person, and it is called spiritual callousness. You see the indescribable God in his dealing with stubborn Israel. That's what Paul is saying. You see this indescribable God in his dealing with the Gentiles. Look at verses 11 to 24. At first 11 to 16, you see Paul makes an incredible statement regarding the sovereignty of God.

He really does. When the Jew becomes callous and indifferent and spiritually insensitive toward the Messiah, what does God do? He uses that same callousness, that same insensitivity toward the voice of God to bring Gentiles to be saved and into salvation and into knowledge of Jesus Christ, who is the Jewish Messiah.

Why? To provoke the Jews in order to provoke them into jealousy and they want to come to their Messiah. Just because the Jews refused the good news, it does not mean that God washes his hands.

No. The fact they refused to listen to the fact that their faithful remnant waited for, longing for, expectant, and they didn't, it doesn't mean that God permanently rejected them, as some people say. Now, it is offered to those who did not have the privilege of the covenant and the relationship that the Jews had with God. Look at verse 11, all the way to 16 again. When you attempted to feel high and mighty toward an unbelieving Jew, or when you attempted to look down on an unbelieving Jew because they've rejected Christ, remember three things.

It was through the rejection that you've been accepted. Second, your salvation should make a Jew jealous to turn to their Messiah. And thirdly, when a Jew believes in Jesus, his Messiah, it is a greater riches to the world.

It really is. Many years ago, there was a Christian student, law student, at Mercer University. And then, lo and behold, he discovered that his roommate was a Jewish man from New York.

I mean, he was New Yorker. And he comes in the room, he looks at his Christian friend, he sees the Bible, and he says, listen to me, if you don't give me the Jesus stuff, you are not going to get along just fine. Here's what the Christian student said, here's what the Christian student said, I make your promise, you'll never hear me talk to you about Jesus.

Accept the challenge. And so he didn't. That went on for a few months. The Christian student just kept reading the Word of God, kept studying the Word of God, kept living his life for Christ. Finally, the Jewish student just couldn't take it anymore. I mean, he just couldn't take it.

The curiosity killed the cat, I think the curiosity almost killed this guy. And he said, okay, tell me. He said, no, no, no, no, we made an agreement. He said, tell me about Jesus. I said, no, I'm not going to do that. I made your promise, I keep my word. He kept urging him, tell me about Jesus.

Finally, he said to him, no, but I'm going to tell you, do two things for me. Go and read the passages in Isaiah about the suffering servants. You know what I'm talking about, it was like a sheep led to the slaughter, and all the suffering servants passages in Isaiah. And when you're finished on that, you can go and read the Gospel of Matthew. If you come to the conclusion that they're talking about the same person 750 years apart, one 750 years before, and one 750 years later, then we can talk. So my friend goes in there and reads those passages, comes back.

A few weeks later, I said, I get it. They're talking about the same person. He said, okay, within days, the Jewish student knelt before his Messiah, Jesus, and received him as Savior and Lord. And that person is no other than my dear friend, Jay Sekulow, of the Law Center for Law and Justice.

And look how much Jay blessed the world. Just think about that. Had Paul been standing there in that room, or has peace standing in this pulpit telling you this, he would have said, guy, that's what I'm trying to tell you in Romans 11. That's exactly what I'm trying to tell you. That's exactly what I'm trying to explain to you. A gentle believer provoked a Jewish man into believing in his Messiah, and he enriched the world.

Here's the sad part. Some false teachers are running around and saying, a Jew does not need to be converted to Christ or believe in Christ to be saved. I wanted to tell this to the tens of thousands of messianic Jews in Europe and United States and in Israel, many of whom are my dear friends.

Beloved, God has provided only one way for salvation, and it's through the Jewish Messiah, Jesus. And I'm blessed to have some Jewish friends, and I often tell them, I owe you, I owe you Jesus. You gave me Jesus. Question, what about that olive tree?

Listen carefully. The root of the olive tree is the faith of Abraham. The trunk of the tree is the Lord Jesus Christ. The church made up branches of both Jewish and Gentile believers. The Gentile believers were grafted in, but the Jewish believers in Jesus, they were the natural branches. You see, our indescribable God, you see him clearly in dealing with the Jews in the Old Testament, and you see him, incredible God, clearly in the way he deals with grace with the Gentiles.

And thirdly, finally, you see our indescribable God, the God of grace, verses 25 to 32. Verse 25 says, don't be uninformed, don't be ignorant. You know, there's nothing worse than an uninformed person thinking that he or she is an expert on something.

But you know what I found out in my experience what's worse? A person who's half-informed. They're dangerous.

They're dangerous. They really are when they just have partial information. Bad information or half information can only lead to false pride, and it will lead to conceit. And the complete antidote to pride is the truth, objective truth, biblical truth.

The Jew cannot despise the Gentile because they both are made in God's own image, and a Gentile cannot despise a Jew, for Judaism is the very foundation of the Christian faith, and both can only be saved by God's mercy through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Talking about pride, I was thinking about this politician who went to a photographer and he said, I want you to really do a very good portrait of me. This is going to hang in a very prominent place. I want you to really work hard and give me a good portrait. And so finally, a few days later, he came and photographer handed him the proof. He looks at the proofs and he said, this picture does not do justice for me.

And the photographer looked at him and said, sir, with a face like yours, you don't need justice, you need mercy. Beloved, that can be said of all of us. None of us can boast about anything.

None of us can brag about anything. We're all sinners and deserving of hell. Verse 31, but God's mercy is exercised toward us who are disobedient. Jews or Gentiles, how? Because only the mercy of God can rescue us from the consequences of disobedience, whether you're a Jew or a Gentile. Salvation for all of humanity has no regard of ethnicity.

It is only based on the merits of Jesus Christ and this cross. Thank you for being part of Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef. In addition to listening to this station, you can also listen to this and other content at ltw.org, or you can download the Leading the Way app. Ask your smart home speakers to play the Leading the Way podcast.

More information about all of these and more is at ltw.org. My name is Paul. We have a ministry where we take a group every summer and we go down to Guatemala and build simple homes for folks who have none. We arrived with 200 navigators.

God's hand was in it. When we take these devices to different places, it becomes a really tangible thing that they can keep and hold in their hand, almost like they're just your own little Bible. I know that Leading the Way do the navigators in various languages, and it sort of spurred me to then ask if I was able to get some of these navigators for the Iranian refugees to hear the word of God in their own language, and that they could just listen and soak into the word of God.

God would encounter them through those teachings from Dr. Michael Youssef and also from the New Testament. We've actually trained these pastors and evangelists in how to use the Navigator audio Bibles, but also we've given them some creative ideas and how they can use them for their ministry. It's important for Latin people to listen to the word of God in our language whenever we go to churches that only speak English.

I think translating it into Spanish, using the Navigator, makes it very accessible for everyone. It's a solo powered device that people in any remote village anywhere can have it and listen to it. This month marks 15 years of ministry impact of Leading the Way Navigators. It's a small MP3 player containing messages by Dr. Youssef, as well as an audio Bible in the local language. Be a part of impacting lives around the world through all of the ministry arms of Leading the Way. Give us a call, 866-626-4356 or ltw.org. This program is brought to you by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef, passionately proclaiming uncompromising truth around the world.