Well, amen. Indeed, we can say it is well with my soul. What a precious truth. You know, this great Christian hymn was actually not written too long ago. about 200 years ago. And I was thinking about it this week when I saw that It Is Well would be our offertory this evening. I was super excited, because this is one of my favorite songs of all time. I want it sung at my funeral loudly and triumphantly. But as I was thinking about this song, I was reminded of the story behind it. It was written by a man by the name of Horatio Spafford. And Spafford writes this hymn after experiencing some of the most devastating and tragic events that a human being could go through. Think about Psalm 93 that we heard this morning, the torrential waves that break against our hearts in seasons of difficulty. Horatio Spafford, he writes this hymn in the midst of a lot of grief, a lot of waves. The waves of devastation have laid waste to his soul. He first lost his son to sickness. His family home and business was destroyed by the great fire in Chicago. And later on, Horatio planned to travel to England with his family to participate in some evangelistic efforts. but he got sidetracked, got stuck behind in Chicago and he had to send his wife and four daughters ahead onto England. And sadly on this voyage, the ship sunk rapidly after a collision and his four daughters died. His wife alone survived. And this tragic event is sort of the inspiration for this hymn. You know, even in the face of great despair, the promises of God remain steadfast. Like Job, As Christians, when we experience great tragedy, we acknowledge that the Lord giveth, that the Lord taketh, and his name is still blessed. And we say this because we know that the promises of God are sure. We know this to be true, right? As this hymn says, Lord haste the day when my faith shall be sight. We sing it as well because we know that the promises of God are fulfilled in Christ Jesus. and that he will come again to restore all things to himself. And this evening, we see the promises of God accomplished in the family of God, made up of both Jew and Gentile. We see the promises of God find their fulfillment in the deliverer, the one who comes from Zion. And so tonight, I want for us to see the promises of God revealed in the plan of salvation. Firstly, we'll see these promises accomplished for ethnic Israel. And secondly, we'll see them accomplished for the Gentiles. And thirdly, we will see the mystery of salvation bound up in the Israel of God. If you'd look with me in your Bibles at verses one through 10, I wanna firstly examine how God has been faithful in his plan of salvation. Verse one, this is Paul speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. I ask then, has God rejected his people? By no means, for I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. If you think about where we are in chapter 11 of Romans, Paul has just painstakingly laid out in chapters nine and 10 that God's plan of salvation has always included the Gentiles, and that faith in Christ has always been the way in which believers receive salvation. Romans chapter 9, 33, whoever believes will not be put to shame. And this is entirely an act of grace alone, God's free electing and predestining love. We just saw last week, Romans chapter 10, verse 10, through belief, through faith, we are justified. But after talking in chapter nine and 10 about the salvation which extends to the Gentiles through faith, Paul wants to make something crystal clear. Has God rejected his people Israel? No. Has God's promises failed? No. Has the covenant that God made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has it failed? No. Yahweh is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Jacob, and his covenant faithfulness is unshakable. Paul draws on this reality here in verse one, right? Paul himself is the living proof of God's faithfulness to his promises. He himself being a Jew. God has not forsaken Israel. His covenant with Israel has not failed. Unless the readers of this letter misunderstand the nature of salvation going out to the Gentiles, Paul wants to make it known that God has not rejected his covenant People, Israel. Paul himself is an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, verse one. God's promises cannot fail, for if they did, right, that would make God a liar. And there is no untruth in God, there is only truth and light. The Holy Spirit speaks about this in the book of Hebrews, chapter six, verses 17 and 18. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. The author of Hebrews here is commenting on God's promise to Abraham. God's oath, God's covenant with Abraham has been sworn by himself. There's no faltering, there's no changing, there's no risk. It's impossible for God to lie to use the language of Hebrews. And this is what Paul wants to convey to us, right? Paul doesn't just use himself as an example to show God's faithfulness. He reminds us of the story of Elijah, verses two through four. You see, Paul appeals to scripture, the living word of God, to show us God's great love for us. He reminds us of the story of the prophet Elijah, who fled for his life, because he refused to bow to the gods of bronze and iron. Elijah comes to the end of himself. He's feeling alone, he's feeling helpless, he's feeling rejected, isolated. And in 1 Kings 19, we read that Elijah pleads with the Lord to end his life. And Elijah, he finds himself in a cave and he cries out to the Lord about Israel's unfaithfulness. Elijah is downcast at Israel's harlotry, that she has forsaken the covenant that Yahweh made with her. And Elijah says, I, even I only, am left. 1 Kings 19 verse 14. Elijah doubts Yahweh's covenant faithfulness here. Elijah looks around and wonders, how could God possibly accomplish the promises that he made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? And yet, as we see, Paul reminds us God has left for himself a remnant. Even in the days of Elijah, as the Lord reveals, there were 7,000 in Israel. who still feared Yahweh and who walked in his statutes and in his precepts. God's reply is humbling. And Paul really wants us to sense this here. God has not forsaken Israel. The plan of salvation began with ethnic Israel, but expands to include the new Israel, as we will see later. God remains faithful in his plan of salvation. And the family of God encompasses Israel. And the elect of ethnic Israel will continue to be part of the family of God. As Paul notes in chapter 11, verses five and six, the remnant remains and presently remains by the grace of God alone. The elect people of ethnic Israel, they obtained the salvation of God. They have obtained their salvation in Christ because God willed it. The rest were hardened, as we see in verses seven through 10. Paul wants to remind us, he wants us to see that God's promises to the nation Israel have not failed. The word of God has not failed, it cannot fail, and it will not fail. It's easy for us at times to perhaps feel like Elijah, to feel as though there is no remnant, to feel as though the promises of God have failed, perhaps even that he has abandoned us. especially in a day and age of such rampant secularism where the Christian faith is decried as nothing more than myth or legend. We await the triumphant second coming of Christ, but sometimes if we're honest with ourselves, we might grow a little pessimistic at the state of our fallen world, a world where the evil spirit of the Antichrist manifests itself in the public sphere. where the prophets of our age, if you will, where they lay their sacrifices at the altar of human reason and the pursuit of pleasure. Elijah's doom and gloom condition doesn't feel too distant from us if we're really honest with ourselves. And we might think of Charlemagne or even the origins of America as the glory days of Christendom. But I want to remind you that God's promise, his promise of a remnant here does not just extend to ethnic Israel, but to the bride of Christ, his church. God is in the business of preserving his church. And lest we look around us and think that somehow God's word has failed, we must remind ourselves of what God has promised. In Matthew 16, verse 18, we read, on this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. This is a promise that we can cling to. Christ's bride will not be forsaken. And like Elijah is reminded of the remnant of ethnic Israel, we must remind ourselves of God's promises to his church. not even the gates of hell shall prevail against Christ's bride. The spirit of Antichrist, though it wages war, it shall not and it cannot constrain the blood-bought church of Jesus Christ. God's word is sure, and as the bride awaits her bridegroom, the church of Christ awaits her sure end, which is promised and already accomplished for us in Christ Jesus. Paul's concern here is also for the nature of salvation for the Gentiles. Point number two. In verses 11 through 24, Paul explores how it is that salvation has come to the Gentiles. Paul begins by noting that through Israel's stumbling, salvation has come to the nations of the Gentiles, verse 11. And Paul points out that in God's redemptive plan, the purpose here was indeed redemptive, right? The goal of the inclusion of the Gentiles is what? It's to restore Israel. As Paul says in verse 11, the inclusion of the Gentiles on account of God's saving grace, it was ordained to make Israel jealous. Now this language might feel kind of unfamiliar or a little weird to us. When we think of jealous or jealousy, we usually think of envy, a sinful lust for what others have or what we don't have. But biblical jealousy in covenantal terms, it means something altogether different. In the divine self-disclosure, Yahweh in the giving of the law we read the following Exodus 20 verse 5 I the Lord your God am a jealous God right God's God's righteous jealousy is an attribute that needs to be understood in terms of his covenant to his people He is jealous in the sense that he demands singular worship and devotion. As the one true and living God, his covenant people, Israel, are called to the singular worship of Yahweh rather than Baal or rather than idols of bronze or gold. When Israel sought after other gods, right, she breached the covenant terms that were given by God. And this is the kind of jealousy that we must think of when we read about the Gentiles here. The salvation, the engrafting of the Gentiles is meant to instill a jealousy on Israel's part, to cast aside the pursuit of other gods and to worship the triune and living God alone. And Paul's prayer is not only that Israel will be jealous of God's love to the Gentiles, but that should Israel repent, how rich will her reconciliation be? Verses 15 and 16. The hinge of the passage here about the Gentiles though is seen in verses 17 through 24. Here we see the famous analogy of an olive branch to describe the plan of salvation in the family of God. Israel is described as an olive tree. And the unbelieving Israelites, they are removed branch by branch. And God grafts the Gentiles into the tree of Israel, thus forming a new whole. A tree that is comprised of both ethnic Israel and of people from every nation, tribe, and tongue. The Gentile nations, they are grafted into the covenant people of God, even though the roots began with God's chosen people, Israel. But Paul wants to remind the Gentiles, right, this is not a license to grow arrogant or to grow proud, verse 18. Israel is the root that supports the Gentile branches. Verse 22, you should read this and it should stop you in your tracks. Note then the kindness and the severity of God. Severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. Those of us grafted into the covenant tree, the covenant people of God, we must not presume upon our salvation. Israel's hardening and the engrafting of the Gentiles is not something that is trivial. The pruning of the olive tree and the grafting, these both reveal the kindness and the severity of God. Many of us here are more than likely Gentiles. We've been grafted into the covenant people of God on account of saving faith in Jesus Christ. And this is exclusively the kindness of God displayed in Christ Jesus. God's kindness and severity must be held together. When we think about Jesus's words in John chapter 15, We see how the family of God is held together in Christ. Jesus is the vine, and the Father is the vinedresser. We live and we move and we have our being in Christ, meaning that he is the one that sustains our very existence on the vine, but it is the Father as the vinedresser who prunes and who plucks. It is the Father that casts out and grafts in. And this ought to remind us of our adoption in Christ Jesus as sons and daughters of the living God. When we think about the fact that we've been transferred, to use the language of scripture, we've been transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light, it ought to give us a sense of infinite thankfulness and praise. We were once enemies of God, alienated, hostile, and yet God the Father, in his infinite love and grace, he has seen fit to prune the tree so that not only is the family of God made up of ethnic Israel, but of everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord to be saved. But there's more to this olive tree that, there's more to this olive tree made up of ethnic Israel and engrafted Gentiles. In verses 25 through 27, we thirdly see the mystery regarding God's plan of salvation. There's a mystery here, says Paul. A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way, all Israel shall be saved, verse 26. Now when Paul says all Israel shall be saved in verse 26, we might be scratching our heads a little bit. Paul has just spent the first 24 verses of chapter 11 explaining how the makeup of the family of God, it began with Israel and merged into an olive tree comprised of both Jew and Gentile alike. Is he now saying that all Israel will be saved by virtue of her ethnicity? Is Israel's race her golden ticket to salvation? Well, in order to address this, I think it's important we really remind ourselves how we ought to understand the truth of God's word. You think of Jesus on the road to Emmaus. How did he interpret the truth of God's word concerning the Messiah? Well, he appealed to the law and to the prophets to uncover the truth of God's word, right? This is a basic hermeneutic. And there's more to it than that. But as we approach God's holy word, we employ this same kind of method to interpreting scripture, right? We understand that the whole counsel of God, Genesis to Revelation, And the pattern of scriptural interpretation throughout God's holy word is by appealing to other scripture. We've seen this at work even tonight, right? With Paul and his appeal to 1 Kings 19 in the story of Elijah. And so it is here in verses 25 and 26. Some have suggested that verse 26 sort of reveals that God has maybe made a separate way for Israel, that all Israel will be saved simply because she is the ethnic people of God. And I think this is faulty on several fronts, but chiefly because the whole counsel of God It doesn't allow us to think of salvation in these terms, right? Is there a separate, is there really a separate way to salvation apart from faith in Christ alone, by grace alone? No. The mode of salvation has always been faith in Christ, right? And in fact, even in the Old Testament, this has been the normative model. Think of Romans 4. Even ethnic Israel was saved through the instrument of faith. Romans 4, verse 13. It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes through faith. The path of salvation, it was never about external conformity. It was never about ethnicity, about circumcision. It was never about belonging to the corporate identity of Israel. Entrance into the covenant of God was always by faith for Israel. The Bible is clear on this. Even Gentiles, right? Even Gentiles in the Old Testament, how were they grafted into the family of God? Well, they were grafted into the family of God by faith. Faith is the instrument by which God's people are brought into his covenant, right? We see this with Rahab, a Gentile. By faith, Rahab, the prostitute, welcomed the spies, and she was considered righteous, Hebrews 11 and James 2. Salvation was always faith alone, in Christ alone, by grace alone. Well, we can only conclude then, using scripture to interpret scripture, that there is no separate way for Israel, apart from faith alone in Christ alone, which is a free and unmerited gift of grace. So how then does Paul say, all Israel will be saved? Verse 26. Well, there are two answers here. Firstly, some will say that this phrase, all Israel, that it doesn't refer to all the individuals of ethnic Israel. It's kind of like, for example, you think of after an election, the president-elect gets up to his press conference and he might say, America voted yes for me today. Well, of course, not all Americans voted yes, but you can sort of refer to all of America to encompass the whole. And this argument does have merit, and it makes sense in light of Paul's comments regarding ethnic Israel throughout Romans 11, verses 1 through 24. But there's a second interpretation of all Israel that I find more compelling in light of Paul's overarching view of Israel and her telos. John Calvin, a proponent of this second view, says this on Romans 11, 26. When the Gentiles shall come in, the Jews also shall return from their defection to the obedience of faith, and thus shall be completed the salvation of the whole Israel of God, which must be gathered from both. And yet in such a way that the Jews shall obtain the first place, being as it were the firstborn in God's family. I find Calvin's comments here quite helpful, especially when we think of the way that Paul uses the term Israel. We think back to chapter nine, verse six of the letter to the Romans, and we see that not all of Israel is of Israel, right? Just because you're a descendant of Abraham doesn't make you of Israel. You see, Paul is making important distinctions for us here. He's talking about a spiritual Israel in 9.6, one not derived from ethnic attributes, but from spiritual attributes. It's the same thing in Romans chapter two, verse 28 and 29. There's no Jew outwardly, based on the external act of circumcision. This is verse 29 of Romans two. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the spirit. Not by the letter, right? This is spiritual Israel, not an ethnic identity. And this is the beauty of scripture. It is self-attesting in that these other scriptures help us to make sense of the whole counsel of God. Now back to Romans 11, 26. We know that Paul doesn't always use the term Israel to refer to ethnic Israel. And we know that there's no separate way of salvation ever for Israel. And so it seems probable here that Paul has in view the spiritual Israel. This is the Israel of God. And when Paul talks about the Israel of God in Galatians 6, verse 16, he's speaking about the church, the covenant people of God, the family of God, the bride of Christ, the elect gathered from every tribe, nation, and tongue. It's not about national identity here, but rather it's about the olive tree that began with ethnic Israel and sprung forth to every corner of the earth. This is not about universal salvation for Israel, but it's about God's plan of salvation which transcends every ethnic category and division and requires a circumcision of the heart rather than ritual circumcision. And the promises of God to Abraham, they find their fulfillment where? In Christ Jesus. Look with me at Galatians 3, verses 28 and 29. This is radical. The promises of God to Abraham find their fulfillment in Christ Jesus, Galatians 3. Here is Paul speaking. There is neither Jew nor Greek There is neither slave nor free. There is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. If you are Christ's, you are Abraham's offspring. If you are united to Christ, then you are part of this Israel of God. If you abide in Christ and he in you, you share in the covenant blessings of the family of God entrusted to you as a member of Christ's body. This is a tremendous reality. And this is the mystery of Israel's salvation in Romans 11. And this mystery is summed up well when Paul writes in Ephesians 3 verse 6. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. We are the new Israel as members of Christ's body. This is the mystery that Gentiles, our fellow heirs, and we partake of the promise made to Abraham in Christ through the gospel. I love the way that Paul puts the gospel front and center in here when he's describing the mystery here in Ephesians. in Christ, through the gospel, through the good news, God is calling a people to himself. And our external attributes, our external adherence, it means nothing. The Israel of God is the bride of Christ, adorned and ready for her bridegroom. All Israel is the blood-bought church of Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters, the promises of God, they find their yes and our amen in Jesus Christ. God's plan of salvation finds its fulfillment in Christ. And when we think of the olive tree and the mystery of Israel's salvation, we think of how it is that God saves it all. What is the cost of our salvation? What is the cost of grafting in the Gentiles into the family of God? What is the cost of the redemption of the elect of ethnic Israel? The Israel of God, which includes the elect of ethnic Israel and the Gentiles that God has called to himself, this Israel is purchased by the blood of the Lamb. This is a tremendous cost. Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, He has freely offered Himself for me and for you. And in His death, He fulfilled all the promises of God so that there might be reconciliation between God and man. You see, it's our sin that created this divide, that created the need for the ingrafting Our brokenness, our treason against the Almighty is what has separated us from God. And Christ has paid the penalty for sin and death. He bore the wrath of God so that Jew and Gentile, that both might believe on him and in doing so find everlasting life. This is the mystery of the gospel revealed in Jesus Christ. God is the God of the Gentiles and the Jews, Romans 3.29. And it is by faith alone in Jesus Christ that anyone can find themselves united to Christ and brought into the covenant family of God as part of the olive tree. I can think of no better way to close this evening than with doxology for so great a gift. And so the words of Simeon come to mind here. After being beholden to the glory of the incarnate Christ, the living God, Simeon breaks out in glorious song. And he's waited all his life to gaze upon the Lamb of God as was promised to him. And you know, his song reveals the transcendent and all-encompassing beauty of the gospel, that God would gather a people to himself, both from Israel and from the Gentiles, the spiritual Israel, those whose names are written in the book of life from every tribe, tongue, and nation. This is a salvation, the consolation of Israel for both Jew and Gentile alike. Listen to these words. Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word. For my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people, Israel. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen. Let's pray together. Lord God, our Father, In your secret council, you have called to yourself a people from every tribe, tongue, and nation. And Lord, as we've seen tonight, you have not abandoned Israel, nor will you. But Lord, your promises, they expand beyond so that the fullness of your glory might sound forth through all the world. Lord, we pray that we, the church, your bride, the Israel of God, that we would look upon Christ Would we see him as he is, the founder and perfecter of our faith, Lord, the one in whom all the promises of God are accomplished, and for whom all history exists and finds its end. Bind us up in your love. Send us forth in your grace, Lord. We pray these things in Jesus' precious name. Amen.