Rev. David Holwick D
First Baptist Church
Nobleboro, Maine
June 27, 2021
Romans 11:25-29
GOD'S PLAN FOR ISRAEL
I. Where's the proof?
A. The incredible testimony of history.
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 to believe.
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."
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. [1]
B. 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. [1]
II. God has a plan.
A. Jews were designated as God's "Chosen People."
1) This doesn't mean he only loves Jews, or loves them more
then others.
a) Deuteronomy 7:6 - "For you are a people holy to the
LORD your God. The LORD has chosen you out of all
the peoples on the face of the earth to be his
people, his treasured possession."
b) It means God has chosen to use them to reach everyone
else: Muslims and Buddhists - and Baptists.
c) Genesis 12:3 - "...and all peoples on earth will be
blessed through you."
2) Chosen not because they deserved it, but because of grace.
a) The Old Testament itself is clear that their
special status has nothing to do with merit.
b) Deuteronomy 7:7-8 - not because they have big numbers,
but because God loves them.
c) All along it was due to God's gracious choice,
which is still the way it works. Rom 11:5
3) Their status carried an obligation.
a) Obey God and his Law.
b) Carry his message to the world.
B. God's plan was hard.
1) Deuteronomy 28-30: curses and blessings.
a) Blessings have been intermittent.
b) Curses have been shockingly fulfilled.
2) Jews would say Christians are part of that curse.
a) The long tradition of anti-Semitism.
b) Holocaust in World War II.
c) Southern Baptists focus evangelism on Jews during their
high holy days.
(Jews don't appreciate this, but some of them recognize
that the Baptists are doing it out of their
conception of love.)
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 a bigger 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."
III. Four theories on God's plan for Jews.
A. Replacement theology.
1) The Church takes over and Israel is obsolete.
(also known as Supercessionism)
2) Common among Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians.
3) Support can found in the book of Hebrews, which says the
Jewish system is soon to be "obsolete." Hebrews 8:13
4) A more recent example:
When I lived in New Jersey I subscribed to the Newark
Star-Ledger newspaper.
One of the comics they used to publish was "B.C." by
Johnny Hart.
Every Easter Hart did a comic with a Christian theme.
One particular Easter the comic showed the tomb of Christ
at the beginning of the strip, and an extinguished
menorah (Jewish candelabra) at the end.
The Jewish readers were incensed and the newspaper dropped
that strip for good.
That comic strip was illustrating "replacement theology."
B. Dispensationalism.
1) Popular with many Baptists.
2) Israel is on standby while the Church grows.
3) 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.
1) Judaism and Christianity are separate tracks to heaven.
2) Popular with liberal denominations.
3) 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.
1) God is working in both groups, and will bring them together.
2) Romans 11 supports this view and I think it is the right
one.
3) Note that verse 17 says Gentiles have been grafted into
the Jewish tree.
a) We don't replace the Jews, but become part of them.
b) Paul adds that the pruned branches (unbelieving Jews)
can be grafted back in.
IV. 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
church-goer 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).
V. When will it happen?
A. There have always been a few Jewish converts.
1) According to the Pew research organization, about 4% of
those who were born Jewish in the United States now
identify as Christian.
2) The rate seems to be increasing.
a) There are 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.
3) There have been tens of thousands of converts since 1967.
Jews for Jesus, Chosen People ministries, and messianic
synagogues are just some of the signs.
American Baptists don't have popes but we do have area leaders.
In New Jersey, our state leader (ABC) was Lee Spitzer.
Lee was a very dynamic guy, a successful pastor in Nebraska,
the Executive Minister of NJ who turned the state around,
then the leader of the entire American Baptist
denomination.
He wasn't born into a Baptist family - he was born Jewish.
His family was not very religious and rarely attended
synagogue.
Lee had a bar mitzvah party, but no bar mitzvah.
His dad said the synagogue charged too much for the ceremony.
Lee remembers that he often felt like an outsider, such as
when his school sang Christmas songs at a holiday assembly.
Yet he was very proud to be Jewish.
During the Six-Day war between Israel and the Arabs in 1967,
he avidly followed the news of Israel's huge victory.
In his young mind, it was like God had delivered them from
Pharaoh all over again.
Lee knew about the Old Testament prophets, especially Ezekiel.
Ezekiel predicted a renewal of Israel and the defeat of its
enemies.
A messiah would bring it about.
When he was 7 years old, Lee had a dream.
Probably inspired by Ezekiel, he dreamed that he was taken to
a mountain where he saw all the enemies of Israel gathered.
Up in the sky, he saw a man riding on a white war horse.
He pointed to him and said, "That's my messiah!"
Then he woke up.
There was something else in Ezekiel that bothered Lee.
The prophet talked a lot about sin.
Lee was a pretty straight-laced kid, but he knew he fell far
short of God's ideal.
How could a holy God forgive him?
The Jewish Bible had animal sacrifices but that didn't seem
possible or desirable today.
Lee wrestled with the idea of atonement.
It all clicked for him on December 23, 1971.
He was bored and watching TV. Only Christmas movies were on.
He watched two versions of Dickens's "The Christmas Carol."
During the second one, he felt a PRESENCE in the room.
He started to tingle.
He searched all the closets to see if someone else was there.
Lee said out loud, "What should I do now?"
To his utter astonishment, he heard a strong voice.
The voice said, "Pick up that book!"
His eye caught a book lying on his brother's bookshelf.
He picked it up. It was a Bible.
Lee had never seen a New Testament before.
He turned to the last pages and his attention fell on this
passage in the book of Revelation:
"I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white
horse ... His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head
are many crowns...
On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:
KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS."
Revelation 19:11-16
Who was this guy?
The voice spoke to him again: "Turn to the first page of the
New Testament."
Lee had to go to the table of contents. Matthew was the first
book.
He turned there and read, "A record of the genealogy of Jesus
Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham..."
It dawned on Lee - Jesus was Jewish!
He was the rider on the white horse.
He has the power to forgive sins.
He is the Messiah Lee had been waiting for.
Lee was moved to pray, and he acknowledged Jesus as his
"master and messiah."
He concluded his prayer by telling God he wouldn't evangelize.
Jews hate evangelism.
Yet within days he was telling his friends about Jesus.
God had truly invaded his life.
#66319
Has he invaded yours?
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. 12:9
c) They will behold their crucified Messiah. 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.
VI. 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:
[1] This first section is derived from a sermon I did in the 1980s when
I did not put my sources in my manuscripts. I am sure it is taken
from someone else but I cannot locate who it was.
#66327 “He Had a Vision of the King of Kings,” by Rev. David Holwick,
modifying the testimony of Rev. Dr. Lee Spitzer (Illustration
#66319, "Being Jewish At Christmas").
These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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