Rev. David Holwick ZD Romans series #14
First Baptist Church (very well-received)
Ledgewood, New Jersey
October 2, 2005
Romans 11:25-29
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I. Where's the proof?
One of the greatest challenges facing people today is the ability
to have confidence in what you believe.
The world has become a supermarket of competing philosophies and
religions.
Most of these religious systems probably have elements of truth,
but since they contradict each other there is obviously a great
deal that is false.
How can we know that our beliefs are correct?
Or at least that they are headed in the right direction?
Most of our lives this may not be much of an issue.
We are protected by our families or community or church.
We sort of soak up what everyone else believes.
But there comes a time when you have to make personal commitment,
a time when you decide what you're going to believe,
not just what other people tell you.
The moment of challenge comes in different ways.
For many people it's when they go to college.
The average college does not have a high regard for Biblical truth.
Even many supposedly Christian colleges seem to tear down the
beliefs the students were taught at home.
Anyone who has a mind of their own is going to have times of doubt
about what they believe.
What we need is anchors that hold our faith tightly when everything
around us seems to be shifting.
What is your anchor?
It might be your family.
If Jesus is good enough for Mom and Dad, it's good enough for you.
Maybe you have had a positive change in your life after accepting
Christ, or you just feel in your heart it is right.
If these kinds of things anchor your faith, then fine.
But for many people they are not enough.
In the first centuries of Christianity, missionaries traveled far
and wide to spread the Gospel.
A common strategy was to convert a king because then his people
usually copied him - whether they wanted to or not.
Some kings even marched their people into a river, turned to the
missionary, and said, "Do your thing."
One missionary came to a king in what is now eastern Europe.
The pagan king was impressed by the ethical teaching in the gospel
and he had no problem with the miracles of Jesus.
But he still wasn't convinced.
He asked the missionary: "How can you PROVE TO ME that the Bible
is true?
What is one fact you can point to that cannot be contested?"
The missionary replied with two words: "The Jew." #2194
You may think this is an unusual answer for a Christian missionary,
but it is a very powerful one.
Most of our reasons for being Christians are subjective.
This means it feels right to us.
It's something we can't prove, or even explain.
But the evidence of Jewish history is a solid fact that even our
opponents cannot deny.
A. Jews are a miracle of history.
The descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have survived as a
distinct race in spite of the most formidable odds.
What other people on earth can trace their continuous unity
back nearly 4,000 years?
The Assyrians conquered the Jews - but they are gone now.
The Babylonians conquered them - they are gone too.
The same with the Persians, Seleucids, even the Romans.
The Jews alone have survived.
Twice the Jews have been destroyed as a nation and dragged away
to the far corners of the earth as slaves.
Twice they have returned to Israel and re-established their
nation.
For periods totaling 2,600 years they had no land to call
their own, but they still held together and kept the faith.
They have endured more persecution and suffering than any other
collection of people on earth.
There is only one thing more incredible than the survival of
the Jews.
What is really incredible is that it was all predicted.
B. God has a plan.
1) Jews were designated as God's "Chosen People."
a) Not because they deserved it, but because of grace.
1> The Old Testament itself is clear that their
special status has nothing to do with merit.
2> All along it was due to God's gracious choice,
which is still the way it works. Rom 11:5
b) Their status carried an obligation.
1> Obey God and his Law.
2> Carry his message to the world.
2) God's plan was hard.
a) Deuteronomy 28-30: curses and blessings.
1> Blessings have been intermittent.
2> Curses have been shockingly fulfilled.
b) Jews would say Christians are part of that curse.
1> The long tradition of anti-semitism.
2> Holocaust in World War II.
3> Southern Baptist evangelism focus on them -
during their high holy days. #5147
C. To Christians, where do Jews fit in God's plan now?
1) A huge concern has been their rejection of gospel.
a) Paul says clearly, they are not saved. Rom 10:1
2) He also says their rejection is part of the plan.
a) It allows Gentiles like us to be saved.
b) Their unbelief is temporary.
c) God still has a future for his "Chosen People."
II. Four theories on God's plan for Jews.
A. Replacement theology - Church takes over, Israel is obsolete.
(also known as supercessionism)
1) Common among Catholics and Orthodox.
2) Support can found in book of Hebrews, which says the
Jewish system is soon to be "obsolete." Hebrews 8:13
3) More recent example:
I was reading an article in the Newark Star-Ledger paper
today - they are dropping some popular comics.
Garfield, Cathy, and others will be dropped. [moans from church]
The article gave the reasons, such as stale humor, lack
of uniqueness.
None were dropped for being controversial, but in the past
one was - the comic "B.C." by Johnny Hart.
Every Easter Hart did one with a Christian theme.
This particular Easter showed the tomb of Christ in the
beginning of the strip, and an extinguished menorah
(Jewish candelabra) at the end.
The Jewish readers were incensed and the strip was dropped
for good.
That comic strip was illustrating "replacement theology."
#29999
B. Dispensationalism - popular with many Baptists.
1) Israel is on standby while the Church grows.
2) But Israel has a short role in future, during the
tribulation period and into the millennium. In this
way all the Old Testament prophecies are fulfilled.
C. Two covenant - Judaism and Christianity are separate tracks
to heaven.
1) Popular with liberal denominations.
2) They may describe religion as a mountain with many paths to
the top (=God). Each path, or religion, is valid to
its followers. There is no one truth.
D. One covenant - God is working in both groups, and will
bring them together someday.
1) Romans 11 supports this view and I think it is the right
one.
2) Note that verse 17 says Gentiles have been grafted
into the Jewish tree.
a) We don't replace them, but become part of them.
b) Paul adds that the pruned branches (unbelieving Jews)
can be grafted back in.
III. Paul's important points.
A. God has not rejected the Jews. 11:1
1) A remnant of believing Jews has always existed. 11:5
a) Baptists have a "remnant mentality" as well.
b) Look at the person on your right and the one on your
left. Are they REALLY saved?
1> They can be a baptized, tithing, consistent
churchgoer and still go to hell.
2> Of course this would never be true of YOU!
(your pew-mates have doubts, however)
2) God loves the Jewish people. (11:28)
B. The situation promotes Gentile evangelism. 11:11
1) Cryptic verse 15 reveals ultimate goal: 11:15
a) Jewish rejection of gospel results in conversion
of Gentiles.
b) Their acceptance of gospel will usher in the Second
Coming (this is what the reference to the
resurrection means).
2) Their hardened hearts are temporary. 11:25
C. Final fulfillment is the conversion of Israel. 11:26
1) All Israel will be saved.
a) Not every individual, but people as a whole.
2) Predicted in Isaiah 59:20 (which Paul loosely quotes).
IV. When will it happen?
A. There have always been a few Jewish converts.
1) The rate seems to be increasing.
a) Our state leader, Rev. Lee Spitzer, is a convert.
1> He and his wife grew up in Orthodox Jewish homes. #5163
b) Dozens of Messianic congregations around world.
1> These are believers who live and worship as Jews,
but accept Jesus as the Messiah.
2> 30 have been started by Southern Baptists alone.
2) There have been tens of thousands of converts since 1967.
B. But the final revival waits for the Second Coming.
1) "The deliverer" is the future Messiah.
2) Background is in Old Testament book of Zechariah. (520 B.C.)
a) Battle of Armageddon seems to be described. Zech 12:3
1> Note the universal language that is used.
b) God will destroy Israel's enemies. Zech 12:9
c) They will behold their crucified Messiah. Zech 12:10
"They will look on me, the one they have pierced,
and they will mourn for him as one mourns for
an only child,
and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a
firstborn son."
d) I consider this one of the most heart-rending
prophecies in the entire Bible.
V. Have you "looked on him"?
A. We are no different.
1) By our sins we have pierced Jesus to the cross.
2) We have been disobedient, yet we can have mercy.
B. We must admit our need and receive him as Savior.
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
The beginning of the sermon basically duplicates one of my earlier sermons,
"The Miracle of the Jew," preached on March 16, 1986, at the First Baptist
Church in West Lafayette, Ohio. Kerux sermon #21584.
# 2194 "The Miracle Of The Jew," original source unknown; from an old
sermon by Rev. David Holwick, dated March 16, 1986.
# 5147 "Mohler Defends Outreach To Jews On CNN 'Larry King Live' Panel,"
Tim Ellsworth, Baptist Press (with Goshen.net),
http://www.baptistpress.org/, January 13, 2000.
# 5163 "Being Jewish At Christmas," Rev. Dr. Lee B. Spitzer,
http://www.spiritualjourneypress.com/dec1999.htm,
December 1, 1999.
#29999 "Supercessionism In The Comics," Star Ledger newspaper,
Newark, New Jersey, October 2, 2005.
These and 25,000 others are part of a database that can be downloaded,
absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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