Romans 11:22

Romans 11:22

Romans 11:22 says, "Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity: but toward you, goodness, if you continue in his goodness: otherwise you also shall be cut off." This verse mentions two of the attributes of God. They are two things about God that are very important to remember, and they are two things that in a way are on opposite ends of the spectrum from each other: the goodness of God and the severity of God.

We need to remember both of these things about God: His goodness and His severity. Some people make the mistake of emphasizing one to the neglecting of the other, but both are important. If someone only talked about the severity of God or the chastisement that God can give or the judgment of God, then that person would have a very negative message. We all need to be reminded frequently of the great love of God. To leave out the message of the great love of God and the goodness of God towards all the people of the earth would be a mistake. Even when God punishes us, He does it with love because whom the Lord loves He chastens. When God spoke to Jeremiah about the chastisement that He would bring upon the nation of Israel, and the great destruction that would come through the Babylonians; God wanted Jeremiah to know that they were not totally forsaken. God said to him; "I have loved you with an everlasting love." God is love. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. God loves you.

On the other hand, someone should not emphasize the love of God to the point of never mentioning the fact that God is the judge of the whole earth and that one day everyone will give an account to the holy and righteous Judge. Such an empty and weak message would not have the power to change lives, because no one can come to God to receive His love unless they also turn from their sins. Some people need to be reminded of the coming judgment of God. God will judge sin. Those who are not forgiven of their sins because they do not turn to Jesus to be their Savior will face the judgment of God. "Vengeance is mine. I will repay, saith the Lord."

Some people will only turn to God because they have been convicted of their sins to the point where they understand how terribly guilty they are, and how much they truly deserve to be punished. God is not unjust if He punishes someone who deserves to be punished. It is the right thing, it is the good thing, and it is the thing that ought to be done when God punishes someone who deserves to be punished. The amazing thing is that the holy and righteous judge of the universe has found a way that He could forgive people their sins. What a horrible destiny awaits those who have rejected the forgiveness of God. The only possibility that they will have is the judgment of God.

Hell was created for the devil and the other fallen angels. God does not want humans to go there, and He sent Jesus to die for our sins so that we would not have to go there; but mark this down, everyone who deserves to go to hell will go there, unless they turn to Jesus before it is too late. Think of the murders that have been committed, think of the drug pushers and the lives that they have ruined, think of the children that have been molested, think of the lies that have been told, of the cold and deceitful hearts that have cheated their neighbor, of the rape and the incest and the adultery, and think of the lust for power and possessions. There is a hell. Justice demands it. There is a hell because God is holy. There is a hell because He knows everything that has been done and who did it. He knows all the ungodly deeds that we have ungodly committed. No one will escape the justice of the ultimate Judge, unless they have Jesus as their Savior.

A wise person will have the right kind of fear of hell: not a fear that paralyzes you or causes you to have nightmares, but a fear that motivates you to make sure that you have called out to Jesus to save you from your sins. "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." In Romans 11:22 we are reminded of the goodness and the severity of God. I hope that you put time and effort into reminding yourself of the goodness of God and the love of God. We can never get too much of that, and we need to be reminded daily of how good God is and of how much He loves us. David wrote in the Psalms; "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

But we should never take the mercy of God or the love of God or the goodness of God for granted. We need to be warned that God is righteous and holy, and He will be severe if He has to be in handing out punishments that are deserved. Because God is the God of the whole universe, and because He is everywhere, He has established the universal principle of retribution. If you bounce a ball against a wall, it will come right back at you. For every action, there is a reaction. This is true not only in a physical sense, but also in a moral and ethical sense. Actions have consequences. "Be not deceived, God is not mocked. Whatever a person sows, that shall he also reap."

God has no pleasure in the death of the sinner who dies in his sins. Much the opposite is true. Jesus looked over the city of Jerusalem after they had rejected Him and with great sadness said, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, You who stone the prophets and kills them who are sent unto you, how often I would have gathered you together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would not." For those who are in danger of the wrath of God that leads to hell, there is an escape. A refuge can be found: the mercy of God can be discovered through faith in Jesus Christ.

Those who have entered into a relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ are now a part of the one great church that Jesus started. This passage in Romans Chapter 11 is a warning to the church. If any man thinks that he stands, he should take heed lest he fall. The nation of Israel was cut off because of unbelief and the same thing could happen to the church. Be careful, be forewarned. You were brought into a relationship with God because of faith. Your faith is the most important possession that you have. Even if you are already a Christian, trust in Jesus with all your heart. Seek Him.

Israel was cut off from God because of unbelief, but they can be restored. All that needs to happen is for them to put their faith in God and in Jesus the Messiah. Romans 11:23-24 says, "And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again. For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree; how much more shall these, which are the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?"

The message to Christians in this part of Romans Chapter 11 is very clear. If you are not careful, there is a danger that you will fall away. There is a possibility that you could lose faith and stop trusting God and stop believing God the way that you once did. Romans 11:25 tells one of the reasons that could cause this to happen. It says, "For I would not, brothers, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in."

Notice the phrase, "lest you should be wise in your own conceits." Normally, you would think that the acquiring of knowledge would be a good thing, but there is one thing that can go wrong when someone increases in knowledge. They can become vain and proud. It happens that way much too often. You do not usually find a situation where someone increases in knowledge and then at the same time increases in humility. That is because knowledge puffs up. It is one of the unpleasant characteristics of human nature: the vanity and conceit that humans are so easily prone to: thinking that they know so much when they actually know so little. First Corinthians 1:19-21 says, "For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe."

Many who are not saved make the mistake of thinking that they are wise when in reality they are not, because they are blind to the truth about God and His Messiah. The warning in Romans 11:22 is that believers should be careful to not make the same mistake. If we know anything, it is only by the grace of God that we know it, and we still have a lot to learn. That is one of the shortcomings about any system of theology. A system of theology is written as if someone found all the answers. But we all have so much more to learn that we will spend an eternity learning ever more about the great and infinite God and the universe that He has created.

One thing that the Lord does want us to learn now through the pen of the Apostle Paul is some of the details about the circumstances of the nation of Israel. They now exist in a current state of spiritual blindness. They are blind because they do not believe in Jesus the Messiah. Anyone in the world who fails to perceive and to understand and to appreciate Jesus the Messiah is spiritually blind. We are told that the nation of Israel is spiritually blind, but we are also told that their blindness is only temporary. The nation of Israel will not always be spiritually blind. The day will come when they will believe in Jesus the Messiah.

When will it happen? According to Romans 11:25, it will happen when the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. In regards to the providence of God and the work of God, we currently live in the age of the Gentiles. We live now in the age where Israel has been set aside, and the gospel is offered to all the Gentiles. But this age will not last forever. Once God has accomplished everything that He can with the Gentiles, then the age of the Gentiles will be complete. Once the age of the Gentiles is complete, called here the "fullness of the Gentiles," something marvelous and wonderful will happen to the nation of Israel: their blindness will be taken away.

Romans 11:26-27 describes what will happen. It says, "And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, who shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins."

Salvation always involves the taking away of sins. When we are saved, we are saved from the guilt of our sins. Israel has the problem that all humans have: the problem of sin. In order to be saved from destruction, they must be saved from their sins. When we are saved, we are saved one at a time. As individuals we come to God through faith in Christ, and find salvation for our souls. Because we are saved as individuals, usually not many people get saved in the same place and at the same time. But in the time when the nation of Israel gets saved, the entire nation will turn to God at the same time and will believe in Christ, because Romans 11:26 says; that "all Israel shall be saved."

Today Jews get saved just like Gentiles: one at a time by turning from their sins and putting their trust in Jesus the Messiah. Sadly, it appears as though not many Jews and not many Gentiles will do this, even though they could. But in that day when the age of the Gentiles has been fulfilled, every citizen of Israel who is left alive will turn to Christ.

How should believers today regard the nation of Israel, because the nation of Israel has not yet turned to Jesus? Romans 11:28 says, "As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the Father’s sake."

Over the course of human history there are peoples and movements and governments that have well organized their opposition to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Ultimately, they have all lost, because nothing is stronger than faith and who can oppose the mighty God and win? Today there is the opposition of humanism and many intellectuals to faith in Jesus. This century we have seen the opposition of Communism, but we have also found that the fires of persecution will only make the flames of faith grow stronger in those who learn to put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Jews themselves, over the course of the last two thousand years, have had a steady and a determined resistance to the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Romans were not the only ones who persecuted the Christians in the first century: the Jews did also.

But we who are Christians do not regard the Jews as our enemies, because we know that the day is coming when the entire nation of Israel will believe in Jesus the Messiah. God loves the Jews because God made a promise to Abraham about his descendants, and God will keep the promise. Romans 11:29 says, "For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance." Unlike humans, when God makes a promise, He keeps it.

The word "repentance" means a change of mind. God does not change His mind when He calls someone, or when He gives them a gift. Remember that salvation is a gift. "The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." And then after you are saved, God will give you one or more spiritual gifts for you to use in your service to God. Every believer has at least one gift, one special ability with which to serve God. It says about Jesus that when He ascended into heaven, He gave gifts unto men. It would be a mistake if someone tried to serve God without knowing what the gift was that God had given to him. It would also be a mistake if someone tried to serve God in a capacity that required a gift that they did not have. For example, in order to teach you must have the gift of a teacher. Teaching is a gift. If you do not have the gift to teach, then you have another gift. Every believer is important because we have all been called of God and have each been given a gift. Paul said to Timothy, "Neglect not the gift that was given to you."

If you want to know what the will of God is for you, then find out what your gift is. The will of God is for you to exercise and use the gift that He has given to you. When you became a believer, you were given one or more gifts. Sometimes when someone has a unique quality or skill, we say about them that they are a gifted individual. But if you are a child of God, then you are also gifted, and your gift is very important. Some people may fear that they have missed serving God and that they have been set aside, and that they cannot be used of God any longer. That is not true because if God was finished with you, He would take you off the earth. God still has something for you to do for Him because Romans 11:29 says, "For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance."

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