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■THE KING’S BUSINESS
the nation as a whole, some faithful Israelites, just as in Elijah’s day ( 11 : 1 - 5 ). Was not Paul himself a Jew? There has never been a total apostasy on the part of God’s people. Just as in Malachi’s time (Malachi 3:16), so in that day,. God had a faithful remnant. God still has His saints, even where we least think of them —“even in Sardis.* These “remnants” are the the salt of the earth. From this it is clear that even in Paul’s day, the rejection of Israel was not final and complete. There was still a remnant according to election of grace. (b) This faithful remnant is according to grace not works ( 11 : 6 - 10 ). This failure on the part of the Jews to recognize that salvation is by grace has led to the large ingathering of the Gentiles and the large rejection of the Jews. Just as the remnant has accepted God’s right eousness by faith, so must the whole nation, if it would be saved. The remnant is prophetic. . 2 . The casting away of Israel ; is only until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in ( 11 : 11 - 16 ). The nation which has been so peculiarly blessed of God is not to end in rejection and. apostasy. Out of seeming loss .will come great gain. The conversion of the Gentiles will stir up the Jews so that they will turn to God and in turn become a blessing to the world. The Jews are" to be the great missionaries of the coming age. 3- The • Gentile should realize how indebted he is to the Jew, and consequently should not boast himself against , the Jew ( 11 : 17 - 24 ,) : ' ; If the chosen people, with all their pecul iar privilèges, could fail so disastrously, what will be the end of the Gentile if he, without these privileges, should cease to exercise faith in God? God still has great purposes for the Jew. Therefore, the Gen tile must respect the Jew. God did not cast off Israel because He wanted to take in the Gentile, nor because the Gentile was any better than the Jew. It was because of unbelief that Israel was cast off. The
it, but simply to believe in God’s testi mony about Christ, to acknowledge Him to be the Lord and Saviour—all this seemed so simple, too. simple, indeed, to be true. Because the message was so easy of-access, so simple in nature (7:13), they stumbled over it. The redemptive work of Christ is the very core of the gospel. This must be believed in with the heart, and confessed with the mouth. Confession of Christ with the mouth, if He is not believed in truly with the heart, is a false confession. A belief in Christ which does not issue in confession of Him with the mouth, is a false faith. To confess with the mouth only is hypocrisy; to believe,with the heart only is cowardice; to believe with the heart and confess with the mouth means salvation. 3 . Any plea of ignorance of the gospel . on their part was without grounds, for the gospel had been fully proclaimed to them, nor should they be surprised at their rejection, for that also had been foretold by the prophets ( 10 : 14 - 21 ). Summing up the message of the whole chapter, the thought is this, that the rejec tion of Israel is Israel’s own fault. Instead of accepting God’s plan "of salvation, they had sought to establish one of their own, and thus had become responsible for their own rejection. III. T he Rejection of Israel Is Hut P artial and T em porary, (1 1 :1 -3 6 ). Israel must not infer, because of the absolute sovereignty of God (c. 9), and because of Israel’s hardness of heart which caused her rejection (c. 10), that God was finally done with His people, that this rejection was final and complete, or that the nation which had been God’s special treasure was now cast off forever. Israel will not always be as she now is, in a state of rejection. The day will come when she will see her mistake, will welcome the; Messiah, and become a blessing to .the nations. - 1. The faithful remnant ( 11 : 1 - 10 ) (a) God still has, amid the unbelief of
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