God’s Preserving Grace
Righteousness Revealed: An Exposition of Romans

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Good morning, church! We’re continuing our series through the book of Romans, picking up at chapter 11, verse one today. We’ll be covering the first 10 verses of chapter 11. We’ve entitled this sermon, “God’s Preserving Grace.”

Before I begin, I have a couple of items to note. Today, we’re launching a new ministry called “Ask the Pastor.” You can find some details about that on the Church Center app. if you have that app on your phone. You can, also, see at the bottom of the notes section of your bulletin starting today. You can text your sermon questions to (252) 285-3042. During the week, we hope to offer a video where we answer a couple of the questions that you ask. We will probably be able to answer all of them, but we’ll answer some of them on the video. We’ll be posting that on my blog site, gary combs.org, probably on the church website and perhaps on facebook as well. You can look for that. Many of you have asked for this, so we’re launching that this week and we invite you. You can use your cell phones while I’m preaching, but don’t be on instagram. Don’t be on facebook. Be over here at your Church Center app or texting me these questions. Those are approved uses of your cell phone, but please turn off the ringer.

The other item I would mention, and you might be wondering why I am wearing this pink ribbon, is that we have our Cancer Care ministry table in the lobby today. If you’ve lost someone, a friend or a family member to the terrible plague of cancer, I would encourage you to drop by and pick up one of those. We have a ministry to people that are going through cancer. I’m wearing this ribbon in memory of my father who died of lung cancer at the age of 39. We have our Cancer Care ministry to help people that are going through it.

Let’s dig into today’s message. We’re in Romans, chapter 11. Today, we’re talking about God’s grace, specifically God’s preserving grace. We understand that we’re saved by grace. The scripture teaches that you can’t save yourself. We know this. We have to admit that we need a Savior. We need what Christ has done for us. We recognize that we’re saved by grace. Many of us, though, struggle with the idea that we are kept by grace or preserved by grace; that it’s God’s grace that saves us and it’s God’s grace that keeps us. This is the point of today’s message. We’re going to be talking about how God’s grace not only saves us, but God’s grace keeps us.

Perhaps you’re someone today who is doubting your salvation . You have doubts and you’re plagued by them. Often, I will have people come forward to pray with me at the end of the service or to make appointments with me during the week where they’ll say, I’m struggling with doubts. Usually, when I’m talking to the person, we’ll find an area where they have a repetitive sin that they can’t seem to overcome. Maybe it’s an addiction or some other sin area and that has called into question their salvation because they somehow equated their performance with God’s grace. They recognize that they couldn’t earn God’s salvation, but somehow they think they have to earn it to keep it. They begin to have doubts about their salvation. I don’t think God wants us to be there. I think God wants us to have confidence that He saves us, but also keeps us.

I don’t know where you’re at today. Maybe you’re in a place today, or maybe you’re watching online, where you’ve never asked Jesus to be your Lord and to save you. The Bible teaches clearly, and we read this in the previous chapter, chapter 10, that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Not maybe, not later, it’s God that does the saving, but may I say to you today, it’s also God who does the keeping.

Now, as we look at chapter 11, I would remind you that chapters nine through 11 are nested here in the middle of the book of Romans and they primarily deal with the state of Israel, the people of Israel and how they largely rejected Jesus as their Messiah. I could preach this message, actually not as a preacher, but as a seminary professor. I could just teach it to you. It seems to be Paul’s primary purpose here to explain the problem that he’s working out probably in his own life, and that is why the Jews, by and large, have rejected their own Messiah, Jesus. He works this out for three chapters. If I were to do that, you would be engaging intellectually. That would be good, it would be a good lesson, but my purpose today is not just to help you educate yourself. I do want to do that, but my purpose today is to step on your toes as hard as I can, because that’s what preaching is. Preaching is God’s word applied to us. It’s not just for the head, it’s for the heart. Every time we hear God’s word, we believe as a people, as a church, that it deserves our repentance, because it always calls into question some arena of our life that needs correction. I’ll try to do both today then. I’m not just going to teach how it applies to Israel, but I’m going to try my best, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to help us apply it to our own hearts.

We’re answering questions about Israel, but we’re also answering questions about ourselves. The problem has been that Israel rejected their Messiah. By and large, only a small remnant believed and Paul is working this out.

Now in chapter 11, he explains that God had not rejected Israel, but by His grace, He had always preserved a remnant of Israel for Himself. As we carry that across the Bible Bridge, from 2000 years ago to the present, we can put it in present tense language and say to ourselves that we can recognize, we can understand, we can trust that God not only saves us, but He keeps us. He preserves us by His grace. As we look at the text today, we’ll see three reasons for trusting God preserving grace that keeps us. Let’s look at the text. Chapter 11 will take on the first 10 verses, Romans 11:1-10 (ESV) 1 “I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? 3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” 4 But what is God’s reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 5 So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. 6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace. 7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, 8 as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day.” 9 And David says, “Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them; 10 let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and bend their backs forever.” This is God’s word. Amen.

We’re looking for three reasons that we can trust in God’s preserving grace. Here is the first reason:

1. Because it moved Him to seek and love us first.

Now, we tend to think, from a human perspective, that we found God. But, God wasn’t lost; you were. God found us. But, it feels like we found Him, like we were searching for something and we found Him. But the truth is, He sought us and loved us first. Let’s remember how we got to verse one in chapter 11. If you would have received this letter from Paul, if you’d have been one of the Roman believers, it would have had no chapter and verse markings. This was added later to help us memorize scripture and to find our way around.

Verse 21 of chapter 10 leads into why he asks this question in verse one of chapter 11. Let’s read this former verse in chapter 10. It reads like this, Romans 10:21 (ESV) “But of Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.” Paul is saying that God has held out His hands all through the centuries and they keep pushing His hands away. Paul comes up with another question. This is how he’s been going through chapters 9, 10 and 11. He asked questions and then he begins to work them out. He uses what some have called the “Socratic” method of teaching. You ask questions, which engages critical thinking of the listener. He says, 1 “I ask, then, has God rejected his people?” They keep pushing His hands away. Has God stopped holding them out ?

Now, he gives his first answer and then he gives more persuasive answers. His first answer is, “By no means.” Has God rejected his people? “By no means.” Or, as the KJV says, “ “God forbid.” God has not rejected His people. Who are His people that are contextually viewed here? Paul is talking about Israel; we’re going to apply this to us as well, because God’s word has a purpose for the listener today. But, during this time, he was talking about why the nation of Israel, by and large, had rejected the Messiah. Has God rejected Israel? Is He finished with Israel? “By no means.” “God forbid.”

Now he’s going to give some arguments for his case. He gives four arguments. His first is a personal argument. You see it in verse one, “for I myself, am an Israelite.” He is thinking, If God would have rejected Israel, He surely would have rejected me because I’m an Israelite. I’m a son of Abraham, I’m from the tribe of Benjamin. Not only that, he gives a little bit of his credentials there, but we know this about Paul: Paul used to be a Jewish terrorist; he was persecuting Christians so that they might be killed.

He says this of himself in 1 Corinthians 15:8-10 (ESV) 8 “Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain…” Paul says that if God was picking people based on their performance, He surely would not have picked me. Paul’s first argument was “has God rejected the people of Israel?” Look at me, I’m the least of these. If God went through the whole list of Israelites, I’d have been at the bottom. But, by grace, He chose me. He picked me.

Grace comes from God; works comes from us. His grace is free; it is unmerited favor. It means you didn’t earn it, nor could you earn it. He offers it freely. Paul says, I’m the first argument for why this isn’t so. God has not rejected his people because if He had, I certainly would have been the first reject.

Now, I don’t know how many of you here remember your high school yearbook. They have this section in the yearbook where the senior superlatives are elected. The senior class elects these people. And one of the categories is, “most likely to succeed.” Do you remember that category? Did anybody in here get that one, “most likely to succeed?” You would get your picture in the yearbook for that .

Paul is saying, If I would have had a yearbook, my superlative would have said, “Most likely to be rejected.” But, God chose Paul. He pursued him; He appeared on the road to Damascus and interrupted His life. He saved Paul and chose him. Grace saw Paul, the persecutor become Paul, the apostle, the evangelist to the Gentiles. Paul is saying, I’m the first argument against God’s rejection.

Here’s the second; we see it in verse two. Paul says, 2 “God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew.” Now this is the theological argument. He’s given a personal argument; now, he gives a theological argument. By the way, this is a deep theological truth. It’s difficult for the human mind to comprehend. God stands outside of time. He’s not within creation. He’s the Creator. If you read the first verse of the bible, you understand that God created a three- dimensional universe. He says ”In the beginning (that’s a time word) God created the heavens (that’s a space word) and the earth (that’s a matter word.) So, God created time, space and matter. That’s the three dimensions of the universe which we live inside of. But, God is outside of that. He made it so time does not limit Him. He sees all of time in a glance. He’s not limited by time.

He foreknew you. He knew you before you were born. He foreknew you. John Stott says this, “To ‘foreknow’ means to ‘forelove’ and to ‘choose.’ Although here it is a nation, not an elect remnant, who God is said to have foreknown, still foreknowledge and rejection are mutually incompatible.” This commentator says that a good way to translate this word “foreknow,” is to say “foreloved.” He decided to love you before you were born. He “foreloved” you.

Now, that might seem odd unless you talk to a mom who is pregnant with a child. I can tell you, I’ve seen my wife, my daughter and my daughters in law fall in love with that baby before they ever see him/her, even before they begin to feel life. I can tell you, as a father, I began to fall in love with my children before I ever saw them. I used to speak to them. I would put my hands on my wife’s belly and say, “Hello, I am your father. I am your father. I will see you soon.” For some reason, all of my children came out speaking with a British accent. I don’t know why. When my children were born, as they would hear my voice, they would look at me like, I’ve heard that voice before. I made sure that I loved them before they were born. I get a little bit of that as a parent. God loved you first. How does this preserve you? He chose you. He came to you first.

I was a year ahead of my wife in college. She showed up my sophomore year. I saw her in some of my music classes. I overheard her talking to one of her girlfriends in a particular class about what she was doing that coming weekend. Robin said, “I am going home because my family has a gospel group and we’re traveling this weekend.” She played the piano in a gospel group called, “The Happy Hearts.” They had a bus and everything. Well, I overheard this conversation and my little pea brain went crazy because I already saw that she was pretty to look at, but I was looking for a Christian girl. Do you understand what I’m saying young men, single men, single women? So, when she said that I went, “Okay, she deserves a second glance.” Later that year, (sophomore year for me and freshman year for her,) I asked her out. It was going into Christmas. Do you know what she did? She told me, “No.” And so, then I was determined to have her. I asked her out again and do you know what she did? She told me “No” a second time. Now, the third time I decided not to ask her out. I asked her, “Are you going (because we were both music majors) to the symphony?” She answered with a “Well, we all have to go.” I said to her, “That great, because I’m sitting with you.” That’s how I tricked her into it. I foreknew her. I saw her, I overheard her talking. I decided to pursue her and she told me no and she almost told me no three times. But then she finally relented.

God’s theological argument is that He loved you first. It feels like you found Him, but you didn’t. He wasn’t lost. He found you.

Jesus said in Luke 19:10 (ESV) “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” That was His purpose. He came looking for lost people. God’s forelove was demonstrated by his unmerited favor toward us.

Look at Romans 5:8 (NKJV) “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” While we were still unlovable, He loved us. Why do we love Him back? Is it because we’re so good and so loving? No. It says in 1 John 4:19 (NKJV) “We love Him because He first loved us.”

In 1976, my senior year of high school, billboards all over the United States had this on it, “I found it.” There were brochures everywhere, tv ads and radio ads. “I found it.” I was part of a group called Campus Crusade for Christ that had launched this evangelistic campaign. We gave out little blue buttons. I still have one in a drawer somewhere that says, “I found it.” You wore it on your lapel and the purpose of it was for somebody to come up to you and say, “What do you find?” Then, you’d say, “I found Jesus.” You would have an opportunity to share Christ with them. It was a powerful season, where a lot of people did come to Christ. Now, some preachers got mad about it because they rightly understood that the truth is He found you. This campaign is theologically incorrect. Well, in a way that’s true, it is theologically incorrect, but it always feels like we found Him because we’ve been searching.

Many of you are here today and you’ve been searching your whole life trying to find something that would give meaning to your life. It isn’t until He finds you. But, you think you found Him. He actually found you. It might not be theologically correct to say, “I found it.” The truth is, He found you and maybe you found each other in a way.

Let me make a comment or two about how we might apply the historical meaning of this passage. God is not finished with Israel. The church has not replaced Israel. Israel is inside the church; a remnant of Israel is inside the church. He’s not finished with Israel. The people there were His chosen people. He has not relented from His promise. He has not rejected Israel. Did you see that in the text? What’s our response to that? We should bless Israel. We’ve seen that go wrong in recent history. We should bless Israel. What’s the greatest blessing we could give Israel? The greatest blessing would be to give them their Messiah. He was theirs first; talk to them about Him. As we read in the last chapter, make them jealous for Jesus. That’s one application that we can apply.

We could recognize that God is not finished with Israel. Has there ever been a nation in human history that ceased to exist and then, 2000 years later, showed up again? No, I can only think of one. Israel.

How can we apply it to ourselves? This idea is that He sought us, He found us and He loved us first. That’s the only way that we can find Him and love Him back because He found us first. We can recognize that whether you’re Jew or Gentile, He will keep you if He sought you and if He’s found you. You don’t have to be full of doubt anymore because He loved you first. He goes after you and He wants you. That’s how we might apply that one. Let’s go to the second reason:

2. Because it reveals how He chooses to keep us.

He reveals how He chooses to keep us. We’re going to try to cover the latter part of verse two through verse six. Now, as we look at verse two, he brings up his third argument that God has not rejected. Israel. Paul has given us the personal argument. Paul has given us the theological argument. Now, he’s going to give us the scriptural argument. He’s going to talk about Elijah. And so, he says, “Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel?” It would be good to be reminded that he’s referring to 1 Kings, chapter 19. It’s the story of Elijah’s victory over the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. On Mount Carmel, he challenged the prophets of Baal to a competition to see whose God was real. He said, “You build your altar and I’ll build mine.” There were 400 prophets of Baal; they worked all day long to call fire down from heaven. That was the goal; whoever calls fire down from heaven, their God was real. They worked all day. Elijah started taunting them and saying, “Maybe your god is asleep, maybe your god has gone to the john.” Did he really say that? Read 1 Kings, chapter 19; he said that. The prophets of Baal couldn’t call fire down from heaven. And so, Elijah prayed and the minute he prayed, fire came down out of heaven. He built a ditch around his altar and filled it full of water. Fire came down, consumed the offering, consumed the rocks and lapped up the water. The people of Israel hit their faces and said, “Jehovah is God.” They turned on the prophets of Baal and killed them all. Elijah was having a mountaintop experience.

Ahab the king, said to Elijah to bring the rain back. There was a famine in the land for three years. Elijah said to him, “Yes, God’s going to send the rain now.” And so, as a cloud started forming, his servant said that there’s a cloud about the size of a man’s hand coming this way. Elijah said, “Go back to Samaria; the rain will hit before you get there.” And so, Ahab, the king, got in his chariot and headed back to Samaria. Elijah was so full of fire and adrenaline; he was fired up for God. He grabbed his robe, pulled it up between his legs, tucked it in his belt and out ran the chariot. I said Jerusalem. They’re headed to Samaria.

Elijah gets there and Ahab’s wife, Jezebel, (she’s the one that brought the prophets of Baal there) was mad and she says, “I’m telling you, I’m going to kill you.” Now , Elijah has taken on 400 prophets of Baal, he has called fire down from heaven, he has outrun a chariot in a foot race, bu that woman scared him. Sometimes, when you’ve had a mountaintop experience, you’re at your most vulnerable place spiritually. This happened to Elijah. It shook him up and he ran into the wilderness and took refuge in a cave on Mount Horeb. He appealed to God.

3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” I’m your last man. And they’re trying to kill me now. Paul probably felt like that sometimes too. He was a Jew. Why aren’t the Jews believing in the Messiah? Why are they trying to kill me? Everywhere he went, it seemed like it was the Jews that tried to kill Paul. He related to Elijah. But he remarks how God answered Elijah. It’s in verse four, he’s quoting 1 Kings 19:18 (ESV) “Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.” 4 “But what is God’s reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”

Circle the word, “kept,” in your notes there. “I have kept for myself…” I have kept for myself, not according to their character traits, but according to my own character traits. I have kept 7000 for myself. You’re not the only one Elijah. And so that’s the scriptural argument.

And then, he comes across and and he brings it into the present tense in verse five and he concludes his four arguments with the contemporary argument contemporary for his time. He says, 5 “So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.” Paul has given us his personal argument. He has given us his theological argument that God chose us. We didn’t choose him. God corrected Elijah, that he’s not the only one. And now, I’m telling you this is God’s principle today, that He still chooses a remnant. He still chooses and He doesn’t choose them by their character traits, by their works or by their efforts. He does it by His own grace, which is God’s unmerited favor.

In the Old Testament, it might have been translated, “loving kindness.” In the New Testament, the Greek word is “charis.” If your name is Charis or Karen, your name means “grace.” Grace is unmerited favor. God chooses us by His grace. We have here the basis, if you will, for our salvation, and also “the keys under the doormat,” to help us understand these ten verses.

If you look at verses five and six, you can see that he’s given us a timeless principle here, he says, 5 “So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. 6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.” So, he says the word, “grace” four times in these two verses. These two verses sit in the middle of these ten verses, God’s talking to us about grace. He’s talking to us about how we come into salvation and how we are kept. We are kept by His grace. We’re not just saved by His grace, we are preserved by His grace. This is good news, because not only could I not save myself, I can’t keep myself. I need one that will hang on to me. He says, “I’ve always kept a remnant.” In other words, a small quantity, a small remnant within the whole that really had faith in me. This remnant is applied to Israel here; I’ve not rejected Israel because I always had a remnant inside of Israel, that was the true Israel.

We might apply that to the church today and say not everyone who’s sitting in my hearing right now, whether it’s online or in person, is of the church. Your parents may have brought you here kicking and screaming, You had to come or you came because you’re dating a girl and she won’t date you unless you come. There’s a lot of reasons, a lot of motivations about why people come to church. Maybe you’re trying to sell life insurance and it’s a good place to meet some folks. I don’t know. There’s a lot of motivations for coming to church and it’s not always Jesus. If the name, Jesus, that we sang about a minute ago is your motivation, He will save you. If you have other motivations, if you think it’s some kind of earning, then you will not receive His grace.

He keeps us and He keeps a remnant. I would warn you, church, that not all here are the church, only those who have believed and received Jesus are the church. There’s a remnant within Israel. There’s a remnant inside the church. He uses this word, “basis.” He says that grace is the basis. If we try to make it about works, then it’s not grace anymore. The word, “basis,” has the idea of foundation, the foundational principle. So grace is the basis for saving us. Grace is the basis for keeping us. Faith is the means, not the basis. Faith is the means of receiving the grace. Ephesians 2:8, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. “ It’s not how much faith you have; I have people ask me, Can you pray for me? I’m doubting my salvation. Doubt is the opposite of faith. It’s not how much faith you have that saves you. It’s grace that saves you; receive it by faith, believing. It’s not great faith in God, It’s faith in a great God.

Jesus said, “Faith as a mustard seed can move mountains.” So it’s a little bit of faith, a whole lot of God ; it’s just enough faith to believe. Faith is the way, it’s the means, that you receive the basis, which is God’s grace. It is unmerited favor toward you. So when your faith wanes, cry out as the father did when he asked the Lord to heal his son. He said, “I believe, Lord. Help me with my unbelief.” He will.

If you place your faith in your faith, you’ve got faulty faith. I don’t have enough faith, so I’m doubting. Place your faith in the object of your salvation, which is Jesus and His grace that He saved you, not according to you, but according to Himself because He wanted you and loved you first. You can lay your head on your pillow at night, knowing you are saved. “I know that I know that I know.” You can rest in it. He’s not rejected you.

If you keep on thinking, I can be good enough, then you’ll be lost. But if you put your faith in the grace of God, you’ll be saved. Grace is not grace if you think you can earn it. Grace is not grace if you think you have to earn it to keep it. He’s the Savior and He saves to the uttermost.

He says in John 10:27-30 (ESV), this is Jesus speaking, 27 “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.” This is John, chapter 10, where Jesus reveals two of his seven “I am” statements that are found in the book of John . He says, “I am the door to the sheep pen.” In other words, you can’t get in without coming through Him. The only way to know God and to be part of God’s true church is through Jesus. He says, “I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except by me.” He’s the door. Then He goes on to say, “I’m also the good shepherd. I’m the one who leads the flock and they know my voice and they recognize it when I call them.” “No one can snatch them out of my hand and my father is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of his hand.”

If we look at that chapter together, you could look at it like this: Jesus is the door. He’s the lock on the door and God the Father is the deadbolt. He says, in John 14:6, “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Noone includes you. You might have a bad day where you ate some bad pepperoni pizza or something; you might have a bad dream and you wake up and you start thinking, I’m not saved, because of that bad dream. We are given to diminished understanding at times when we are in a bad spot, when we’re depressed, discouraged or hurting. But, He hangs on.

I have three kids; two sons and a daughter. That middle kid… I don’t know how many of you have had two or three or four of these people. My middle kid is Jonathan. He’s a preacher now, but you never would have thought that he was like Paul before. If you were picking people, you wouldn’t have picked him when he was little. He was a “runner.” Do you know what a “runner” is? It’s the kind of kid that, when you are trying to undo his car seat, his feet are already running. When you get him out, the minute you unbuckle him, he is gone. He will run out in front of traffic. He had no sense about it because he did not recognize his family as belonging to him. He didn’t care if he had parents or not. He was his own man from the time he was born. And so, we would unbuckle him and we learned, early on, if you put him down, he’s already running and he’s gone. So, if I was going to be a good father, I had to hang on to that boy, right? I’m a pretty good father. I’m not as good a father as the Father is with me, but I’m pretty good and I love my son. I don’t love him the way God loves me, but I love him the best I know how to love. I didn’t want him to get run over. Okay, so when I would put him down, I would try to grab his hand, but he wouldn’t let me grab his hand so I would grab anything that I could get: his hair, his ear, his collar… You might say, That doesn’t look like love. Yes, it was. I didn’t want him to get run over. Love isn’t all sentimental and syrupy; sometimes it snatches you.

What do you think about the Father? Do you think He has the grace to keep you? Do you think He has the grace to hold on to you and preserve you? He says, “I kept Israel, I kept a remnant for myself.” I’m happy that we kept Jonathan for ourselves. He tried to run away from us but we kept him. He finally grew up. He finally learned that it was better to hold his father’s hand than it was to run.

Will you stop running? He’s been chasing after you. If you say “yes” to Him and you take Him by the hand, He won’t let go. It says in Hebrews 13:5 (NKJV)” … For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” That’s the Lord speaking. I’m not worried about Jesus leaving me. I trust Him. I don’t think He’ll leave me. I’m glad that He said, “I will never leave you.” That means something to me. But I was never worried about that. I was more worried about whether or not I would do something and run off, because I used to be a runner too. I used to run from God. I used to rebel against God. He says, “ I’ll never leave you.” But then, the best part of that verse is, “I’ll never forsake you.” I’ll hang on to you. I’ll never forsake you. I’ll hang on. I’m happy about that. Put your doubts away. Put your faith in His grace that he saves. Here’s number three:

3. Because it is the only way to obtain God’s righteousness.

Paul says, 7 “What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened.” Circle the word, “obtain.” “The elect obtained it.” What is this thing, that you can take hold of salvation? But here, more particularly, God’s righteousness. Because it is the means of salvation, what is accounted unto us is by faith. When I receive Christ Jesus, His righteousness, the righteousness of Christ is accounted to my account. So, he says, Israel has not obtained it.

We have to go back to chapter nine, because he’s summarizing here. Remember, there aren’t chapter marks in the original. So, he’s hitting a section here, and he’s summarizing. If you go back to Romans 9:30-32 (ESV) 30 “What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works.” So, we have to go back to chapter nine to catch up with him. He’s summarizing here and He’s saying that Israel failed to obtain the righteousness of God, which is free through Christ Jesus. Instead, they continue to labor at their own brand of righteousness, which is through law keeping, which they can’t do. But yet they would continue seeking after it. They failed to receive, to obtain the righteousness of God because they continued to do it in their own strength. Whereas, the Gentiles and the elect here, which includes the Jew and the Gentile that believed, obtained it. The rest of Israel, that rejected Jesus, were hardened.

This word, “hardened,” is not the same word that we found in the previous chapter. In the Greek, it is where we get sclerosis, which is like the hardening of the arteries and of the organs. We use that word today in the English language. But, it’s a different word here. It’s more like callused, like a callus forms that hardens over. It’s more like that, to cover with thick skin, to harden. They heard the truth; they had the whole Old Testament telling them what the Messiah would look like, what He would do, how He would die and He would rise again. It’s all in the Old Testament. There are over 300 fulfilled Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament. And yet, they said No and a callus formed as a result of that.

In a moment, I’m going to give you an opportunity to receive Jesus as your Lord and to receive Him as your Lord and Savior. If you say No, every time you say No, I’m convinced that another callus forms and ultimately God gives you over to that hardening. If you’re going to keep running, He is going to let you keep running.

Read Luke, chapter 15, The Prodigal Son. That father let his boy run and it was really a gift to the boy because he ran all the way down to the pigpen before he looked up. Sometimes people don’t even look up from that place and they’re given over to a hard heart spiritually speaking. And so, the only way to obtain this and to receive it is to recognize that God has to initiate.

Now, he begins to explain their hardening and what it looks like. He says in verse 8, “God gave them a spirit of stupor.” He’s quoting Isaiah 29:10. The word, “stupor,” has the idea of something tingling. Have you ever slept with your arm under your pillow by accident and you wake up the next morning and you stick your hand under your pillow and somebody else’s hand is there and it freaks you out for a second? Then you realize, Oh wait a minute, that’s my hand, but it’s like dead. That’s the spirit of stupor: tingling and sleepiness. And so They hardened themselves and they were hardened, God gave them over to it. They were just stumbling in this deep sleep.

As Paul goes on, he quotes Deuteronomy 29: 4 and he says, “eyes that would not see.” Verse 8 says this, “eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day.” I want you to take note that it says eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear. It does not say eyes that could not see and ears that could not hear. What’s the difference between would and could ? Would has to do with the will and could has to do with ability. It was willful spiritual blindness; it was willful spiritual deafness. It was willful hardening, but then God gives them over to it because He allows them to run from Him.

And then, he says in verse 9, “And David says, “Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them;” Paul is quoting from Psalm 69:20-23. This is a Messianic psalm, appropriately. David is talking about his enemies and he says, “let their table become a snare and a trap.” And

How does a table become something that pulls you in and traps you? It might be a view here of the table of the Tabernacle or the table, whereby, they thought this is where I get my food and drink and from the law rather than from Jesus. And so, let that actually trap you and entangle you. He goes on to say “a stumbling block,” which the Greek word here is “skandalon” which is where we get the words, “scandalous” or “scandal.” The cross was a scandal to the Jew, that Jesus would be crucified as a criminal on the cross.

And then, Paul says, “and a retribution.” In other words, a payback. If you want to live by the law, then you’ll die by the law, the law that says whatever you sow, you’ll reap. A retribution. Verse ten, “let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and bend their backs forever.” They would not see, ultimately, they cannot see; it’s a progression. “And bend their backs forever,” as if under a burden, a heavy burden that they are unable to carry. This is what he’s describing. He’s not finished with Israel. We are not finished preaching Romans yet. But, at this point he’s explaining why a portion of Israel has rejected God, but it’s not because God has rejected them. He’s given them over to what they’ve chosen. In a way. Christ wanted Israel, he wanted all of Israel.

Matthew 23:37 (ESV) “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” You would not, but I would have, I would have like a hen gathers her chicks. But, you would not. And it says that Jesus wept over Jerusalem. He saw you. He wants you. But you would not. Only the Lord can open spiritually blind eyes.It says in Psalm 146:8 (NKJV) “The Lord opens the eyes of the blind; The Lord raises those who are bowed down; The Lord loves the righteous.”

In John, chapter nine, Jesus saw a man born blind. Jesus had just preached His sermon, “I am the light of the world” and He turned to this young man who was blind. And having said these things, He spit on the ground and made a little mud pie out of his saliva he mixed it together. I find this a wonderful part of the story. I’m just kind of contemplating that the Lord who made Adam, who took some dirt and breathed into it and made himself a man, thinks to Himself, I’m gonna do a do over but a little different this time. So, He spit on it and rubbed the mud in the guy’s eyes and said, “Now, go wash your face, wash your eyes in the pool of Siloam.” He does and when he does he receives his sight; this man born blind receives his sight. So some people started interviewing him and asking him who did this and how did it happen? The Pharisees got all worked up about it because it happened on the Sabbath. The man says, “I’m not sure, but one thing I do know. I once was blind, but now I see.” Jesus was overheard by the Pharisees later, saying, “I entered this world to give sight to the blind and show those who think they see that they are actually blind.” One of the Pharisees said to Him, “Are you saying we’re blind?” He says back to them, “If you hadn’t claimed to be a seeing person, you would not have been guilty, but since you claim to see you remain blind.” Do you understand that answer? You’ll never ask for a Savior until you admit that you need one. If you claim you can see and hear on your own, then He leaves you there because you don’t need Him. He leaves you running. I don’t need You . I’m gonna take off running and do life my own way. But if you admit, I can’t do life myself anymore, I need help. Then, He is ready to open your eyes. He is ready to open your ears. He is ready to take care of you. This is a preserving grace. He pursues us with His love. He keeps us by His own grace and He gives us the righteousness of Christ, accounted unto us with no mixture of our righteousness, just His. We can trust this. Will you trust Him?

Let’s pray. Lord, thank You for Your word. We come to Your word, placing our faith in what you have said and it’s changed everything. Lord, I pray for the one right now that has never given their life to Jesus. He’s been pursuing you. He loves you. He died for you. He was raised for you. Would you express your faith in Him right now? You can do it right where you’re at, Prayer is just talking to God and expressing your faith. Pray with me right now and pray like this. Dear Lord Jesus, I’m a sinner. I believe You died on the cross for my sins and I’m convinced that You were raised from the grave, that You live today. I believe that. Come and live in me, adopt me into God’s family, make me a child of God. I want You as my Lord and Savior. If you’re praying that prayer of faith, believing, it’s not the amount of your faith, but it’s the amount of His grace that will save you if you will confess and believe. Others are here and you’ve done that. You’ve received Christ as Lord and Savior, but you’ve been struggling with doubts or maybe it’s a repetitive sin area that you can’t seem to get control over. I would remind you of what the Lord told the apostle paul. The apostle paul prayed three times that a certain thorn in the flesh would be removed from him. And finally the Lord said, “My grace is sufficient for you . For in your weakness, I’m strong.” So right now, if that’s you, my friend, you’ve been struggling and praying and praying for a thing to be removed. Just lean into God’s grace right now. He says, “My grace is sufficient for you. “ Stop doubting and believe. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.