Beth Emunah Sermon, Romans 10 and 11, A Gentile Perspective

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Paul has just used that wonderful word “everyone” in Roman’s 1:16 “The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes.”

Oh what an exhilarating word to those of us in this room who feel that there is something about us that rules us out! Wrong family, wrong background, wrong education, wrong language, wrong race, wrong culture, wrong moral track record. Then to hear the word, “Everyone who believes.” Everyone! Yes, our sin blocks our way and blocks the door to His promises, but he did say everyone. Come to me all who are burdened and heavy laden and I will give you rest!

One thing can rule you out: unbelief — not trusting Yeshua. But nothing else has to. The good news that Messiah died for our sins, and that he rose from the dead to open eternal life, and that salvation is by grace through faith — all that is for everyone who believes. Not just Jews and not just Gentiles and no one race or social class or culture, but everyone who believes.

So, what about God’s chosen people. Who exactly are they and coming from a Christian perspective, how do I fit in to God’s plan for their lives, as a believing Gentile who is worshipping and serving God at Beth Emunah Messianic Synagogue? Let’s try to answer this in the next few minutes.

In Genesis 12, God chose Abraham and his descendants freely from all the peoples of the world to bless with his covenant and promise.

Deuteronomy 14:2 says about the whole Jewish people, “The Lord has chosen you to be a people for his own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” Amos 3:2 says, “You only have I chosen among all the families of the earth.”

And here in Romans 11:28-29 Paul says, “From the standpoint of the gospel they [the Jews] are enemies for your sake [you Gentiles], but from the standpoint of [election, or] God’s choice, they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”

“Salvation comes to Gentiles from the root of God’s covenant with the Jews.”

John 4:22 – “…because salvation comes from the Jews.”

The Jewish people have a priority place in God’s Kingdom because of their special role as God’s elect or chosen people. Not only were they chosen, but that He created a People for His own purpose. He set his favor on them and set them apart from all the peoples. Freely! Not because of any virtue or special value in them, but simply on the basis of his free choice. Deuteronomy 7:7,8 states, “The Lord did not set his love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which he swore to your forefathers”

Here are some other facts…

The Messiah, Yeshua, is a Jewish, a Son of David (Romans 1:3). And he focused his earthly ministry on the Jewish people.

In Matthew 10:5–6, Jesus said to the twelve apostles as he sent them out during his life, “Do not go in the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans; but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

Matthew 15:24, the story of the Samaritan woman with the demon possessed daughter, Jesus said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” So during his earthly life, Jesus was focused on the Jews.

So when Paul says in Romans 1:16, “The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek,” we are reminded that salvation through Yeshua is for all, but we should also keep in mind these six ways that the Jews have a special place in God’s heart and His eternal plan over the Gentiles.

1.                 They are the historic chosen people of God, because God created them.

2.                 They are the guardians of God’s special revelation, the Old Testament                             Scriptures.

3.                 The Messiah and Savior, Yeshua, comes to the world as a Jew to Jews.

4.                 Salvation is from the Jews, since everyone who is saved is saved by being connected to the covenant with Abraham by faith.

5.                 The Jews were brought the salvation message first when the gospel penetrated               the land.

6.                 The Jews will enter first into final judgment and final blessing.

Okay then! God’s heart for His people is clearly seen. Where do the gentiles fit into this plan?

Romans 11:17–24 where Paul compares the Jewish nation to an olive tree. He says that natural branches were broken off and unnatural branches were grafted in, meaning that those Jews by birth who were unbelieving were cut off from the covenant of promise; and Gentiles who were believing were grafted in and saved by the covenant of promise.

Verses 17–18 are crucial for us: 

If some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree, [then] do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you.

In other words, salvation comes to the Gentiles from the root of God’s covenant with the Jewish people. We are simply grafted in like wild olive branches that have no historical claim at all on being God’s people.

And God saves us by reckoning us as children of Abraham by faith, as Paul says in Galatians 3:7, “It is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.”

So are we saved differently? The Answer is NO!

Romans 10: 11,12: For the scripture says, “Whoever trusts in Him will not be put to shame. There is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on him; for everyone who calls on the name of the Adonai will be saved.” So neither Jews nor Gentiles have priority in how they are saved: both are saved by faith in Yeshua, not in any ethnic or religious distinctives.

The mystery of the gospel that Paul preaches, he says, is that Gentiles now are full partners in the blessings of Jewish salvation.

Hear me as I read from the letter to the Ephesians, Chapter 2:12-13 and 18-19:

You [Gentiles] were . . . separate from Christ [the Messiah], excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Messiah Yeshua you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Messiah . . . for through him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household.

Again in Ephesians 3:4-6: 

“When you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Messiah, . . . that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Yeshua the Messiah through the gospel.”

And to top it al off, Yeshua makes this perfectly clear in John 14:6 about everyone’s salvation, “I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me!”

So, Jews do not have priority in participation in God’s covenant blessings. Gentiles are now full fellow heirs of all the promises of God.

But, before we, as Messianic Gentiles, can step up to our role in the restoration of God’s people Israel, we must understand, appreciate and embrace our relationship with God’s chosen people.

As I mentioned previously and it warrants being mentioned again, In Romans 11, Paul the apostle explains the relationship of Jews and Gentiles as an olive tree. Israel stands as the enduring root and Gentile believers are ingrafted branches. For the Gentiles to be grafted into God’s family, the Jews had to be blinded for a time. Their blindness is not to their discredit, or something for Gentile Christians to mock, but an occurrence we are indebted to.

Paul put it this way in Roman’s 11:25, “Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of Gentiles has come in”.

I want to emphasize again Verses 17 and 18 in Chapter 11, where He gives a warning to any branches with a prideful spirit saying, “If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not boast against those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you”.

Branches who think they can live without roots will die. To think that anyone has replaced Israel is arrogant, as Paul mentioned in the passage, but the unbelieving Jewish people’s loss meant riches for the nations, and their transgression meant riches for the world as stated in Romans 11:12. In turn though, verse 15 implores us to understand, “what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?”

In Romans 11:26 Paul declares “All Israel will be Saved” and quotes prophesy from Isaiah 59:20 and 21, “The deliverer will come from Zion; He will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins” (v. 27).

Paul continues verses 30 and 31 saying , “Just as you were at one time disobedient to God and have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you”

The Jews were struck with a blindness, a veil as it were and this veil was always meant to be lifted. Their blindness was not a done deal, but God’s mysterious way of setting a time for the rest of the world to see and receive Him. That is the fullness of the Gentiles.

The gospel of Messiah Yeshua went out from Jerusalem, circled the world, and is now coming back to Jerusalem as was always intended. This is the restoration God invites His followers to join Him in.

As branches we are called to walk in the light of the Messiah, the enduring foundation who supports and sustains us. To have a love for God, is to have a servant’s heart for Israel. And a servant heart for Israel, is a love for Israel.

Brother and sisters, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for Israel is for their salvation. Beloved, that is the call to those who have been grafted in and called to serve Him at Beth Emunah Messianic Synagogue. My challenge to you is this, If you have truly been called to serve the ministry and calling that is Beth Emunah, then I assure you…You will know if you have…Embrace this calling and step out in faith that you are in this place for such a time as this.

Shabbat Shalom