"Failure = Riches"

Good morning. I must admit that studying through these verses has been enlightening for me because for the lack of any other understanding, it reveals how God works his character. So I thought we'd start off today with just a little bit of a history lesson to bring us to where we are with Israel. The message of the Bible is one of redemption from the estate of sin, and sin which according to God's word has to be due to the fall. And consequently the whole Bible, the whole biblical revelation comes to be without reason or reality when the fall of man is denied. And you hear a lot about that today.

The record of the fall, which scripture presents as one of great simplicity, really. The story is a man and a woman are brought into being as innocent and as upright as the creation of a holy God could make them. They were perfect. They knew God's mind since they hung out with him all the time.

And he gave them a subjective command that they abstain from eating the fruit of one certain tree. So if you disobey God in any sense, what really happens is you don't accept him. And you don't adopt a course, you do adopt a course of independent action. If I tell God no, then my resulting fallback position is my own independent action, which is wholly foreign to the proper relationship that exists between a creature and a creator.

So the warning had been duly given to them because of disobedience and independent action that they were told that dying they would surely die. This reference is perishing both physically and spiritually. It was a consummation of the second death, which is eternal separation from God. So by the immediate experience of spiritual death, man's first parents, I like this term, were converted downward. We, when we're saved, are converted upward. They were converted downward. and became a kind of being wholly different than that which God created.

And then Israel comes on the scene, and they were elect, they were sacred to God, they're an everlasting nation, and that's the plan and purpose of God for Israel. These people, They came into being miraculously as the seed of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob. They were the object of immeasurable covenants and promises and prophecies. and become a major identification and destination for the covenants are secured or sealed by the acts of Jehovah. So who they are and what they have was God's idea, and he guarantees it to them.

They stand alone, as we've talked about in weeks past, in distinction from all other nations combined. They are the only nation on the earth that God ever dealt with directly. Those many other nations we know as Gentiles. Most of us are Gentiles. But Israel have been known as Jews.

So the individual Jew as such became, because they were born in a covenant relationship with God by physical birth. That's how a Jew is in the covenant with God. They're born that way, into the covenant. And there lies a contrast since you and I became such, we were born by a spiritual birth into the right relationship with God. So Israel sustains a covenant relationship to God.

He gave them specific rules of life through Moses. A lot of people look at the specific rules, so to speak, or the commandments as, do this or die, but really what God was doing was saying, well, you're my people, and if you're gonna be my people, here's how you should live. That's really what he was doing. He was showing them how to live as being members of the Jewish nation.

So keeping the rule of life, however, did not and could not make them children of Jehovah's covenant. Just because you were born that way doesn't mean that you were a child of the covenant. They were to keep the rule of life because they were already in the covenant. They didn't have to keep the rules to get in. They start in the covenant.

So the believer has a principle of life secured by his position under grace today, not by rules, but by grace alone. And so keeping this or any rule will not make him or us a child of God. become a child of God by keeping the rules. Although being the child of God, of the Father, he would and should walk according to God's revealed will.

Israel's relationship to Jehovah remained unchanged until the present age, until the rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ as Messiah. At that time, God has ordained that there shouldn't be any difference between Jew and Gentile, Romans 10, 12, which we talked about that. Now God looks at every human being, whether you're a Jew or a Gentile, as either under sin or in Christ. And the individual Jew, like the Gentile, may be saved through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. In a similar manner, all Jews are now subject to divine judgment, which is something eternal if they continue to reject Christ. Christ is the issue and the only issue.

So when we get to the point where this present age is completed, Israel will return to Jehovah and B, will return to his purpose for her and will enter, properly purged, the long-promised and anticipated kingdom of glory. God will deal specifically with Israel in judgment, Ezekiel 20, 33 and 34. Also, at that same time, all the nations shall stand before the throne of Christ's glory to be judged respecting their treatment of Israel as a people. Matthew 25, 31.

So Israel is appointed to glorify God. That's why they exist. Their whole existence is to glorify God. That's our existence, is to glorify God. God speaks of them as Israel, my glory, in Isaiah 46. Israel, my glory. He has chosen that nation above all nations, whoops. Oops, didn't get it all in. Chosen that nation above all other nations to manifest His glory. That's what He's done.

So during this present time, the Jews were a minority in the church. When the church first started, granted Pentecost was in Jerusalem and the initial members of the body of Christ were Jews, but at this point in time when Romans is written, The Gentiles had responded to the message of salvation in mass, and the city of Rome was mostly Gentiles. The church in Antioch was mostly Gentiles, and we'll see in a minute there was a reason for that. God's salvation is now being broadcast to the world through the church and not through Israel. Is it possible then that salvation has come to the Gentiles to make the Jews jealous?

We studied Romans 10, 19. But I say, surely Israel did not know, did they? Yes, they did. For Moses says, I will make you jealous by that which is not a nation, meaning their nation. By a nation without understanding will I anger you. So notice that Romans 9, 10, 11, that we've been studying for the last couple of months, the word church is never mentioned in those three chapters. It's either Gentile, seven times, or Israel, 12 times. There's no mention of the church. And so the focus here is what God is doing with the Gentiles, Gentiles. and the promise.

But you have to understand that God is not through with Israel, even though he's doing some things with them. So the first verse we're gonna look at today repeats the question, I say then, did they not stumble so as to fall? Did they? Rhetorical question. May it never be, but by their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make them, Jews, jealous. So the national Israel's judicial hardness is temporary. It's in effect right now, but it's temporary. It's not permanent. Because this is a rhetorical question. It's the same question that was in verse one.

I say then, God has not rejected his people, has he? May it never be, for I am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin. Paul says, well, I'm a witness and I'm evidence that he hasn't rejected his people permanently. And then this verse, I say therefore, they did not stumble that they might fall permanently, did they?

Again, expecting a no answer. The categorical answer is it can never be, never, even though they stumbled. So, what does this mean? It means that the total of the Jewish nation, all but the elect remnant, that's what he's talking about, the contrast is between stumbling and falling. shows that the ladder has met an irretrievable fall where there's no recovery.

Now, I'm laughing about this when I was putting this together because my new friend, the cane, I'm stumbling all the time. I went to a reception dinner on the last Saturday night of wedding, and we walked in for the dinner, and I was in the table up in front, where the bride and the groom were gonna sit and add all these candles. Well, I kicked one of those like a field goal. And I never saw it. I stumbled.

So stumble, it just means, you know, I tripped. but I didn't fall down. Fall means that fall down from. Israel's fall is neither final nor fatal. Yeah, they fell, but they're gonna get to be able to get back up. Have you ever stumbled that you didn't fall? They stumbled, but they didn't fall. And as I look around, you guys stumble all the time. So he says, I say then, Did they not stumble as to fall? And the word that or hina, which means in order that or so as to, the idea here is not so much the purpose, but as a result. Did their stumbling result in a permanent separation from God? Paul rejects vehemently the idea that stumbling of Israel in its rejection of the Messiah resulted in their final downfall.

God has finally had enough of them. If you're just a cursory student of the Old Testament, you realize that if I was God, I'd have been done with them a long time ago. They just never, ever complied with what he wanted them to do, to glorify him to the world. So what has changed now that Jesus has come? Israel's relationship to Jehovah was unchanged, as we talked about a minute ago, until now. Now God has ordained that there wouldn't be any difference between them and the Gentiles. They're all under sin alike, every human being, whether you're Jew or Gentile.

I often ask the rabbi that lived in my neighborhood, what do you do on the Day of Atonement? You don't have a temple and you can't sacrifice the city, won't let you sacrifice lambs, so what do you do? He says, well, we go up to the synagogue and we pray. And it's interesting, if they are exactly like the Gentiles today in terms of their relationship with God.

All that religion doesn't matter. You either accept the Lord Jesus for who he is, or you don't. It's real simple, and you can't mention the name of Jesus to an Orthodox Jew. Now the individual, like the Gentile, may be saved alone through faith in Christ. That's it. All Jews are now subject to divine judgment.

Chafer. So, the second half of the verse, and this is really where you kind of see how God works in everything that he does. By their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make them, Israel, jealous. So you could look at that and say, well, if they didn't transgress, where would you and I be? We would have to go to them to get the message of salvation. God in his providence used it as an occasion to bring his salvation to the Gentiles. They're falling.

This is the means whereby God could make Israel jealous of the Gentiles, because he prophesied several places, I'm gonna make them jealous, and incite them in a desire for salvation that they had rejected. So in order to do that, he's gotta save the Gentiles.

So Paul, when he was out, doing what God called him to do, followed this procedure all through his missionary labors. First he goes to the Jews, and when they reject the gospel, what does he do? He goes to the Gentiles. Until finally, in his first Roman imprisonment, he abandoned Israel and turned solely to the Gentiles.

So God's blessing to the Gentiles causes the self-satisfied, arrogant Jew to awake. At first, he ridicules Gentile testimony. And then the next thing he does is seeing the reality of divine blessing to the despised Gentiles, it arouses him to deep jealousy.

So we'll take a look at, is that really right? Is that what really happens? They have what we ought to have. We've lost God's favor. The cross was a consummate rejection of Jesus Christ, and Israel as a nation insisted that Christ be crucified. So what's gonna happen during the period of rejection now? It opens the door for Gentile blessing. That tells us how God does things. By their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make the Jewish nation jealous. If you look at Acts 13, 44 and 45, the next Sabbath, nearly the whole city assembled to hear the word of the Lord.

And when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy. So how did they react? They began contradicting the things spoken by Paul, and they were blaspheming. But they were jealous, why? Because the Christians were getting a bigger audience. That's really the reason. They got all the people over there listening, and they're not coming to the temple. We're jealous of them, we better do something about it.

So, verse 12 tells us now, If their transgression is riches for the world and their failure is riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be? And listening to Chester McCauley, he made an interesting, which caused me to go back and look.

He said there are no verbs in this verse. Notice I've crossed out is, is, and will. They're not in the Greek. They're in the English because they have to be there to make sense. But if you read it from the Greek standpoint, it says, now if transgression riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fulfillment be? You see that?

And what Macaulay said, which was really cool, is right between the word transgression and riches is the sovereignty of God. That's the doctrine. And right between the word failure and riches lies the doctrine of the sovereignty of God. Who else could do this? Sovereignty is not God's approval of everything it is. What sovereignty is is that God's ability to control all events so that the net results, they bring glory to Him. So you see the logic here? The Jew turns his back on the nation or on the Messiah. And they're set aside, but that turning of their back means that salvation is offered to the rest of the world. And they'll hear. What does that do?

It glorifies God. So you can say everything he does, no matter what it looks like to us, he does to glorify himself. Now, a lot of times, When you get into a discussion about God's glory, you think, well, it's kind of self-centered. God would be glorifying himself.

But if you know him just a little bit, you know he's gracious, and he's a lover, and he wishes that none should perish. So he always wants to manifest his graciousness, his love to mankind, which is his glory. and it doesn't restrict what he is, it manifests, examples of his sovereignty.

The life of Joseph is a really good one. And Joseph tells his brother, do not be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. God sent me before you to preserve you for a remnant in the earth and to keep you alive by a great deliverance. God did that. Joseph just happened to be the vehicle he did it through.

What is God's purpose? It's to glorify himself. God takes all events, all of them, and he brings about his glory to himself through all of the events. Romans 8.28 is probably the best. God, for we know that God causes all things, not some things, not the good things, all things, together for good, to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. His purpose is to conform each one of us to his very image, to glorify himself, to manifest who he is.

So, You ever think about this, that God is totally secure in his throne? You can't, I mean, I've talked to people who say, well, I've sinned enough, and I'm really gonna make God mad. And I always say, well, good luck with that. Or I'm gonna work really hard and do all those wonderful things, and God is gonna really think I'm cool. Good luck with doing that, too.

God is who he is, and he's secure in his throne. John 111 said, he came unto his own, the Jewish nation, and those who were his did not receive him. If you came over to my house and I didn't receive you, you wouldn't be happy about it. This didn't mess up God's program at all. It might look like sin wins, but his sovereignty is absolutely sovereign.

Courtney doesn't like that you, what's the word I'm looking for? You use the same word to explain the previous word, but this case, sovereignty is absolutely sovereign. Who can make failure riches? Who can make transgression riches? Only God can do that. He's the only one that can do that.

So this chapter is of great importance to us as believers because it shows that the knowledge of God and his ways. It's really cool when you just read through chapter 11, and you'll see that Israel is this, and they're doing this, and they're doing this, and they're doing this, and they're being set aside, but none of it causes a diminishment of God's sovereignty, not a single bit of it. The sovereignty of God is often regarded as if it were a narrowing up, or a restriction of the blessing, But Paul, in showing out, it has secured blessing for where otherwise it would be none. In other words, any other creature who was dealt with like the Jews dealt with God would have totally walked away from God. But God never does that.

Even in, Even in what seems to be the most severe cases like the curse put on the earth and the husband and the wife, there's a blessing in the middle of that. So, a little syllogism. Since the stumble of the nation of Israel in its rejection of the Messiah and consequent temporary rejection by God, results in the enrichment of the world of sinners in the sense that salvation has now come directly to the Gentiles, and the setting aside of Israel results in the enrichment of Gentiles in that they became recipients of salvation, then their fall equals riches to the world. Their loss equals riches to the Gentiles.

Before they fell, if a Gentile wanted to know the true God, what did he have to do? He had to become a proselyte. He had to go up to Jerusalem and start talking to the Jews about who God was and what does he require. He has to go there three times a year and then even then he couldn't worship directly. He must leave, he must have the Levitical priesthood in all of its forms to represent him.

Contrast that with the day of Pentecost. Every man heard in his own tongue in which he was born the wonderful works of God. And later, Paul goes freely forth apart from the law and apart from religion to all the Gentiles. All you have to do is look at the book of Ephesians, and look at the book of Corinth, and Romans, and all of the New Testament, and you'll find in there the riches that the fall of Israel gave you and me.

So, last part of this verse. Now, with all that in place, How much more will their fulfillment be? The barrier there is Israel. If their failure and their sin brought this wonderful salvation, what will their restoration do or be like? Because they're gonna be restored. The word fullness, that which has been filled, the word refers to that which is complete. The completeness of Israel. Referring here to the return to God at the second advent and its national salvation. Point is, imagine what that day is gonna be like. If he did this wonderful thing for the Gentiles, what will he do when bringing restoration to the Jews?

You know, there's this principle when you read through Paul's epistles. If he did the lesser, or if he did the bigger thing, won't he also do the little thing? If he saved you, won't he do this and this? Yes, he will. So, Paul doesn't answer this question, he just puts it out there and lets it sit there. The question is, if he did this wonderful thing for the Gentiles, what will he do when they're being restored? No answer, it's just there.

Imagine, is what he's saying. in the normal course of things, according to prophetic word, would have been for the nations to be blessed through Israel as God's people enjoying his favor. That was the original intent of Israel. But instead of that, in the present ways of God, their fall has been the world's wealth. And the Jews lost the wealth of the nations. But this is in no way sets aside God's plan for the Gentiles. in a future day in connection with the full blessing of Israel.

You and I get to be there when this happens. Now if this blessing is so great for the world with Israel fallen, how much more when the time of restoration and of the fullness of Israel will be? What Paul wants you to do is sit down and just think about that. Think of it, the Lord Jesus personally reigning on the throne, on David's throne in Jerusalem. Imagine that. The nation Israel, the whole nation is saved. Satan is bound. The creation is released from its curse. and universal righteousness and peace and prosperity for 1,000 years. That's what's gonna happen. Acts 15, 16, 15, 16 through 18 says, after these things, God says, I will return and rebuild the tabernacle of David which has fallen and I will rebuild its ruins and I will restore it.

So that the rest of mankind, may seek the Lord. And all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who makes these things known from long ago. That's gonna be so cool when we get to see that. So whoever you are, I'll put this in your handout, you can call on the Lord. You can walk by the blessed Holy Spirit. You can witness of a free salvation to all and any who will just listen.

If their fall is the riches of the world and their loss has been riches of the world, the Gentiles, how much more their fullness. For 20 centuries, Israel has been feeding on vain hopes on expectations which have either utterly failed or have become connected with material gain in a way that has carried them more and more into complete faithlessness. Israel will yet have their fulfillment. According to many prophetic scriptures, and the nations will be wealthy when the riches of the millennial blessing subordinate to Israel as the head under Messiah's benevolent reign. But before that day, Israel's wealth and glory so fully described in the Old Testament prophecies there has come in an uncharacteristic interval, right now, marked by the fall, loss, and setting aside of Israel nationally. and the salvation and wealth of God in grace has gone out to all the nations.

So I hope you can see how God works. That's what I saw here, that no matter what the circumstances are, no matter how bad they look, that God always works from the basis of grace. He's always, always trying to bless us and to bless Israel and to bless every human being he can if we would just listen to him as close.

Father, how we thank you. We thank you for you. You are the God of grace. We thank you that you spend your efforts in teaching us what it is, your grace, and that we can receive it just by faith. We thank you. We pray in your son's precious name. Amen.