Israel's Rejection: A Call to Embrace the Gospel

The Apostle Paul was a mighty arguer and debater and Reasoner and nowhere does he show the Brilliance of his debating Powers more than he does at this particular point but let's remember his ultimate object is not merely to indict the Jews and to show how terribly wrong they were don't forget the first verse Brethren my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. [00:08:36]

I am emphasize that because you and I should be animated by the same desire it's not always easy to keep these two things going together but that is what we are called to do as preachers and as teachers and as anybody who's an apologist for the Christian faith when you're dealing with an individual you've got to show that he's wrong and that this is the truth and that you are right but sometimes it's very difficult to do that in love to speak the the truth In Love. [00:09:31]

Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God all right but they have not all obeyed the gospel that's the question now there's a great uh discussion going on amongst the commentators I mean by that that when you not those who are alive only but those who are now no longer in this world the commentators argue amongst themselves as they're very fond of doing over this question to whom is he referring here. [00:10:56]

The Apostle says the Jews can't can't get out of it by saying that that they haven't heard I say have they not heard the thing's ridiculous is the thing has gone everywhere sound as spread throughout into all went into all the Earth and their words unto the ends of the world well now in what sense is it right for him to say this how does he rarely prove then that the Jews cannot plead ignorance with respect to the general statement of the Gospel. [00:23:39]

The Jews have no right to say that they haven't heard they've been hearing it even through the Old Testament scriptures and the teaching of those scriptures and there it is as our Lord says it's in the Books of Moses it's in the Psalms it's in the prophets Isaiah 53 and all similar statements and then you see the Apostle Paul in his way puts exactly the same point in writing to Timothy. [00:28:04]

You can preach the gospel from the Old Testament they are able to make us wise into salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus the Old Testament that's what he means by the scriptures and if you and I don't see Christ and his salvation in the Old Testament it's because we are BL mind my friends there are certain foolish Christian people who seem to think we don't need the Old Testament what a terrible ignorance that is and how unscriptural in any case what a contradiction of the plain teaching of the New Testament. [00:29:39]

The Apostle is simply saying that the gospel has been preached widely in general and the Jews of all people have no right to say that they haven't heard it and that they don't believe it for the reason that they haven't heard it well now the gospel of course as the Apostle says had been preached everywhere our Lord's prophecy was fulfilled at Pentecost there were people up in Jerusalem then from most parts of the then known and civilized world and they had that opportunity and they went back and it was spread through them and likewise through other preachers. [00:37:07]

The Apostle is making this point that the Christian Gospel is not some secret message it's not like those so-called mystery religions that were so common in that ancient world it wasn't an ESO I message you know these mystery religions they didn't preach their gospel from the housetops they didn't make it known to everybody no no you had to be initiated it was a secret message there are organizations and societies that still do that sort of thing we don't know what they believe exactly because we haven't been initiated we don't belong to them you're not told the message until you go in it's secret it isn't propag it to the whole world now the apostles point is that the gospel is the exact opposite of that. [00:37:07]

The explanation of the Jews and their rejection is not that they haven't heard they haven't aled to Stander on that on that score because the gospel has been spread abroad in this amazing manner well then the second the second negative I'm only going to mention it to you tonight because we haven't got time obviously to work it out the second negative is that their trouble was not due to lack of plain teach teaching concerning the gospel you see how the one follows from the other all right let's grant that this message has gone abroad but is the message quite plain and clear about all this and the Apostle says that it is. [00:37:07]

The gospel is not an innovation the Apostle and the other apostles were being charged with teaching some new teaching the Jews extending as they thought upon their scriptures said but look here you say you believe in the same God and that you haven't turned your back on the god of your fathers and that you're not denying our scriptures you say that but your message is a blank denial of them it's got nothing to do with them it's absolutely new it's a new teaching the Apostle says it's not it's not an innovation which Cuts right across everything that the Jews had known in the past. [00:38:59]

The way of Salvation two that the Gentiles were to be included three that the majority of the Jews would reject the gospel all that has been made perfectly plain in the Old Testament so that they can't say that they didn't know it's been put perfectly plainly clearly and explicitly to them indeed by their rejection of the Gospel they are fulfilling the scriptures they are verifying the Prophecies of the prophets it is the scriptures in which the Jews so much delighted that convinced them and convicted them of blindness and of sin now then that is the general statement in connection with this second negative argument. [00:40:05]

The Apostle is primarily dealing with but they have not all obeyed the gospel he wants to finish that off he's got to finish off that particular point and it's only after he has finished that that he then can stand back as it were and say well now then let us look at the whole question of the Jew so he does that in verse one of chapter 11 when he says I say then has hath God Cast Away his people and on he goes to deal with it in the body of chapter 11 so I believe the division into chapters in this particular case is more than Justified. [00:06:34]