THE TRUE ISRAELITE - PART I
(Romans Bible Study Series Tape Twenty-Five)
Recommended reading - Romans 9:1-13.
There is a difference between true Israel (who will be
saved) and national Israel (who will have the opportunity for salvation).
In Romans Chapters 9 - 11, the Apostle Paul addresses his concern
for the Christian church at Rome. He directs his concern to his people,
the Jewish or Israelite nation. We can benefit from what Paul has said to
the Jews because we are told in I Corinthians 10:11, the history of
the Jews has been recorded for our benefit. If we forget history, we are
doomed to repeat it. God has recorded the history of Israel because He
doesn't want us to repeat their mistakes. God gave the Jews a tremendous
amount of blessings, as we see in Romans 9:4. The Jews were given
the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the Law, the service of God, and
the promises. The Jews were a blessed people because they had the
advantage of the scriptures that prophesied about the coming Messiah. They
rejected Him; however, and today they no longer have that advantage
because the Bible, detailing the work of Christ, is available to almost
anyone that desires to read it.
I. What constitutes true Israel?
· The Jews failed
on two major accounts to understand what constitutes true Israel and
that failure has very important significance for us.
· The Jews
thought that as long as they were the physical descendants of Israel's
three fathers (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob), they qualified to be God's
elect.
· Today, many who
have their name on church rosters feel that they qualify to be God's
elect. There is no such thing as group or mass salvation. Salvation is
an individual blessing.
· Having your
name on a church roll, or being a descendent of the Jewish race, does
not give you a ticket into God's Kingdom.
· The churches do
not lead you or direct you to God, rather they direct you to themselves,
and keep you from properly focusing on God.
· The Jews failed
to recognize God's way of saving sinful man. Salvation is by faith
alone, in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and not by our own Law
keeping.
· God took the
keys of the Kingdom from the Jews because they failed. The keys were
given to the Body of Christ, the Spiritual organism, which is the true
Church of God.
II. God keeps His promise.
· Paul makes a
key statement, after expressing his concern for the Jews, in Romans
9:6. There is no hope for physical Israel as we see in Matthew
23:37-38.
· God ultimately
keeps the promise that He made to Israel's fathers as we note in Romans
11:26. All Israel will be saved! We need to understand the logic of
Paul's statements to properly understand what Verse 26 really
means. We must understand what Paul meant, when he spoke about Israel
and how Israel will be saved.
· God does not
have two separate chosen people, the Gentiles and the Jews. God has only
one that is His and that is Israel. You either belong to Israel or you
don't.
· In Romans
9:1-5, Paul expresses concern for his fellow Jews. Paul displayed
concern for the Jews even after they had treated him very harshly. We
need to focus on what Paul is saying in Verse 3. Paul was willing
to be lost forever, if that action would save his fellow Jews those who
hated him. That is the power of the gospel. To be accursed from Christ
means to be lost eternally.
· The love that
Paul displayed is not a normal response of a human being. The response
is the Agape love that is manifested in the flesh. The people who God
will produce are that kind of loving people. Paul is a transformed man
revealing in his life the power of the gospel.
· Paul goes on to
explain that God did not fail to keep His promise. He tells his
listeners that the problem was not God, it was them! They failed to
understand what God meant by Israel.
III. Paul explains who is true Israel.
· Paul starts to
explain what is meant by Israel in Romans 9:6-9. Abraham had more
than one son. All the sons had an equal right to call Abraham father.
· God gave Israel
three fathers for a very specific purpose. The three men are to be an
example of what all of the children of God should be like. In order to
be an Israelite you need to have the qualities of all three of these
men.
· Abraham stands
for faith; he is the father of all who believe. Isaac was important
because of how he came into the world; Isaac was born from above. True
believers are like Isaac, the children of promise. Jacob's name was
changed, by God, to Israel. Jacob represented those whose faith endures
unto the end.
· These fathers
qualities represent qualities of God's true spiritual Israel. Spiritual
Israel will believe, will be begotten of the Holy Spirit, and will
through faith not give up, but endure to the end.
IV. God is sovereign.
· Everything that
takes place occurs because God allows it. Justification, sanctification,
and glorification all come from God through Jesus Christ.
· Our part is
faith; we must believe and surrender to the truth that God has given to
us in Christ. God gives mankind a choice; no one will be forced into His
Spiritual Family.
· The Jews failed
to realize the significance of the three fathers. The failure to
understand the three fathers led to the second failure of not seeing how
God would keep His promise of saving mankind.
V. Christ, a stumbling stone?
· Paul is not
against the Law as a standard for Christian living and the fruit of
Christian salvation.
· Paul states in Romans
13, that love is the fulfillment of the Law. Paul is against anyone
who tries to earn salvation outside of Christ.
· Paul called
Jesus Christ a stumbling stone. Christ is a stumbling stone to anyone
who wants to be saved by their own righteousness.
The message to the church at Laodicea was, buy from me
white raiment. The word buy means to exchange. We are to give up our
self-righteousness in exchange for Christ's righteousness. God has given
to His people so many wonderful truths. God is sovereign; we don't deserve
what He so wonderfully has given to us. We must depend entirely on His
mercy, His righteousness, and His gift - Jesus Christ. We need to learn
from the mistakes of the past, and not to repeat those mistakes. We need
to have a proper and clear understanding about who is spiritual Israel,
and the qualities of those who comprise the family of God. |
The True Israelite - Part
I 