“The Passion”, The Jews & The Bible

Transcript

GRM 891
02/29/2004
“The Passion,” the Jews and the Bible
Selected Verses
Gil Rugh

These are interesting days. We were talking about “The Passion of the Christ,” the film, this morning and I want to say some more about that in our study together in a few moments. Interesting days. The issues of homosexuality and homosexual marriage so prominent in the news. Other things going on in the world, and yet in the midst of it many people talking about the death of Christ. And the central thing we want to keep bringing back people’s attention back to is why did He die, why did He die. Why was the cross necessary? Because we are sinners, because the penalty for sin is death, because we could not pay that penalty ourselves without being separated from God for eternity, because God loved us and had His Son come and die for us. Simple truths yet misunderstood by multitudes. I have to say, you appreciate the grace of God as you read the material, as you watch people talking, as you hear people who have studied the gospels, who have read the gospels, and yet they fail to understand the significance of what is going on. But you realize, Lord, they are more intelligent than I am, but it’s your grace that has opened my eyes to see.

I want to read just a couple more comments from the “Newsweek” article that I referred to today from February 16, “Who Really Killed Jesus? What History Teaches Us” and so on, written by John Mecham, which reflects some of the thinking of what we would call modern liberalism, modernism, or liberalism today, in Protestant circles, particularly. I won’t read… I just want to read a couple of sections, not necessarily together. “So why was the gospel story, the story Gibson has drawn on, told in a way that makes the Jews look worse than the Romans. The Bible did not descend from heaven fully formed and edged in gilt. The writers of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John shaped their narratives several decades after Jesus’ death to attract converts and make their young religion understood by many Christians to be a faction of Judaism attractive to as broad an audience as possible.”

Now here you see he pretends to be able to discern what the motives of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were almost 2000 years ago when they wrote. “They’re not the motives that would appear on the surface as you read the gospels, but Matthew, Mark, Luke and John shaped their narratives several decades after Jesus’ death to attract converts and make their young religion attractive to as broad an audience as possible.” So they weren’t communicating necessarily truth from God, they were trying to present what they were saying was a religion to be believed, the rivalries that existed among Jews and even non-Jews. “Given these rivalries we can begin to understand the origins of the unflattering gospel image of the temple establishment. The elite looked down on Jesus’ followers, so the New Testament authors portrayed the priests in a negative light.” You see, there is a battle going on. Since the religious establishment of the Jews looks down on the followers of Christ, the followers of Christ react by making the leaders of the religious establishment in Israel look as bad as possible.

“We can also see why the writers downplayed the role of the ruling Romans in Jesus’ day. The advocates of Christianity, then a new, struggling faith, understandably chose to placate, not antagonize, the powers that were. Why remind the world that the earthly empire which still ran the Mediterranean had executed your hero as a revolutionary.” In other words, they were liars and deceivers. They knew the Romans were guilty, but they didn’t want to put themselves at risk by saying the Romans did it. So it was a chance to get back at the Jews who were opposing them. Now if that is anywhere near accurate, just what value is in what these men wrote? I gave you the quote today that this man used on a television interview this weekend where he said that the gospels are truth, but they are not necessarily historically accurate. Now just what truth could there be if the lies made up by men to cover their wrong motives, and I’m going to spend my life finding truth in that, something that is worthy to be believed. I mean, they wrote this because they wanted to get converts. They wrote it this way because they were afraid to antagonize the Romans. They wrote it this way because the Jewish leaders didn’t like them, and they wanted to get back at them.

Now is there anything that I would get from men like this that is worthy of my attention? Somehow these men throw out pious sounding ‘this-is-truth,’ not historically accurate, but truth. But it’s a lie from the beginning. It’s fabricated for wrong motives. How he knows what’s going on in their mind, I don’t know, but he’s sure he knows. And I don’t know what he knows about them apart from what we have here in their record. But he says, let me tell you what was really going on in their mind so that you know what they wrote is not really true. I mean, does anybody stop, even unbelievers, and say, now wait a minute, something is wrong here. I would like to know, how you know what was in the mind of Luke 2000 years ago, since you say what he wrote here is not a reflection of what was really in his mind. How do you know what was in his mind? Do you see the real lack of substance and foundation in these who are claiming to be so scholarly and have such insights as to why the Bible is not reliable? It’s true that the temple leaders had no use for Jesus, but these lines of dialogue taken together suggest Jewish control over the situation are not found in the gospels.

The idea of a nighttime trial as depicted in Gibson’s movie is also problematic. The gospels do not agree on what happened between Jesus’ arrest and His appearance before Pilate, save for one detail. Jesus was brought before the High Priest in some setting. You see, it just goes on that way. I mean, and you can understand the unbeliever is not able to understand the things of God, so he reads this and it’s a jumbled, confused mess to him, because the God of this world has blinded his mind so that the glorious light of the gospel does not shine in. So we do have that going on, and it’s good opportunity for us to be alert as believers as to what is going on in general Protestant thinking today, what we call liberal churches. And the confusion goes on because they’ll refer to the Bible, they’ll talk about the Bible, they’ll quote Bible verses, they can refer to it as truth, but they’re not talking about the same thing we’re talking about. So we don’t want to be confused on that.

One more article and then I want to look into some scriptures with you. This appeared in today’s “Omaha World Herald,” February 29th. And it’s an editorial by the retired publisher of the “Omaha World Herald.” And I’ve appreciated some of his editorials, but he follows the thinking that I’ve just reflected to you. The title is “Passion,” referring to the passion movie, “Passion” would have benefited from less reliance on visions. Incidentally, I was asked this morning, why do they call it the passion of Christ? From the Latin word for ‘suffering,’ in fact, I checked “Webster’s Dictionary” and the first meaning given for the word ‘passion’ is the sufferings of Christ from His last night to His death on the cross. Again, it comes from the Latin word for ‘sufferings.’ So you talk about the passion of Christ you’re talking about the sufferings of Christ.

“My problem with Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” is that it is presented as a supposedly credible documentary-like account of the last days of Jesus. The truth is…” now here again is somebody who knows the truth. “The truth is that Gibson takes historical fact, the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth, that’s a historical fact, and wraps it in a mantle of shocking, gory, fictional detail for which there is simply no documented, historical foundation. The Biblical gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, are generally regarded by Christians as the basis for their belief that Jesus was crucified as a form of atonement for the sins of mankind. None of the gospels paints a bloody, detailed picture of Jesus suffering.” We talked about that this morning. It’s true, the gospels don’t go into that detail, but we did look at Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53, and the gospels.

And this amazed me because here is a man who is a retired publisher of a newspaper who writes. I would assume he would know the gospels do say He was scourged. Wouldn’t you think we’d have to go find out what scourging involved at that time by the Romans? He was crucified. Wouldn’t you think he would have to go and find out what is entailed in crucifixion? To say that none of the gospels paints a bloody, detailed picture of Jesus suffering, well, it’s a twisted truth. It doesn’t go into detail on that, but when it says He was scourged I have to find out what did it mean when someone was scourged. I read you descriptions of that. That’s a pretty bloody event, even though the gospels don’t draw out the details. I mean, if I’m going to read and understand what is written I have to understand they scourged Jesus. Well, that doesn’t mean it was bloody. Well, I’m talking about a scourging. If I say, well, here is a person who went through a ‘whipahoola’ [imaginary term]. Well, okay that wasn’t bad, a lot of people go through a whipahoola. I say, I have to know what a whipahoola is. I mean, so I have to go to some kind of dictionary or encyclopedia or historical record that will explain what a whipahoola is. Then I’ll know whether it was bloody, whether it was bad, whether it was good. And here’s a man who has spent his life publishing a paper and says, well, there is no indication it was a bloody event. I’ve never read anybody who has written anything on scourging who said it was anything other than a bloody event and the same with the crucifixion.

Now here’s his problem. “According to the “Columbia Encyclopedia,” so here’s the final word, “the gospel generally regarded as the earliest to be written,” and I didn’t know this until I read his article, “that of Luke.” So Luke is generally regarded to be the first of the gospels. I didn’t know that. The things I’ve read that I’ve disagreed with usually say Mark was the first. Some of you are familiar with more conservative writings like that of Bob Thomas who accepts Matthew as the earliest gospel, which I would also. But the earliest gospel according to the “Columbia Encyclopedia” was written some time apparently approaching 70 years after Jesus’ death.” Bible-believing Christians don’t understand that. Scholars who believe the Bible don’t understand that. That would make it written around 100 A.D. or a little later. I understand that the gospel would have been written much earlier than that. But on what basis are you saying this. “This is hardly on-the-scene reporting or a reliable source for any detailed account of Jesus’ final hours.” Even if it was written 70 years afterwards, it’s the closest account we have. Even assuming they’re right, Luke’s was the first written and it was written 70 years later, how did he just get to know so much more than Luke did who was only 70 years removed, to say it’s hardly on-the-scene reporting.

I say, this is a man who published a newspaper and he’s going to talk about what on-the-scene. You go to one source, and I don’t know, I don’t have the “Columbia Encyclopedia,” I don’t know that I’ve ever consulted that particular one. I find some place that reflects a view and that becomes authoritative for me and therefore I can say I can discard the record of Luke, because that was written some 70 years later. That’s hardly on-the-scene reporting. How does Luke start out? I interviewed the eyewitnesses, I searched out the facts, and here they are. But no, we just throw that out the window because the “Columbia Encyclopedia” said it was 70 years later, and that’s not on-the-site reporting. Take it from me, I’m a reporter, I guess that’s what he’s saying.

Now here’s part of the problem. Gibson is a religious fundamentalist, religious fanatic is perhaps a more appropriate description, he was making a sort of recruiting-for-Christ movie. There are men who don’t mind telling you what was in the mind of the apostles 2000 years ago, don’t mind telling you what’s in the mind of Mel Gibson or someone else, either. Doesn’t matter that the writers of the gospels tell you what was in their mind and why they wrote, and what their motivation was. We know better what was in their mind. Doesn’t matter if Mel Gibson sits down and says here’s what was in my mind and in my thinking when I did the movie. Let me tell you what was really in his mind. There is just no end to this. I don’t want to get into it, I don’t know what was in Mel Gibson’s mind. I’ve watched his interviews and read the articles. Here’s what he said was in his mind. I guess that’s the best I have. If he’s lying I have no other way of knowing. And he’s a religious fundamentalist. Remember I mentioned John Mecham, used that same kind of terminology. I got the idea reading this that he probably drew most of his information from John Mecham, although he doesn’t source him at all in his editorial.

Then he goes on that the bloody account depicted in the movie, the gory details not included or even hinted at in the four gospels’ version of Jesus’ final hours “make a compelling story likely to persuade some Christians to be even more grateful for what they believe Christ suffered in atonement for their sins.” Again, how does he get away with being, I don’t know what the word is… so stupid? I mean, what is scourging? I don’t like to keep coming back to this, but he says these gory details are not even hinted at. I would like to know, does he have any idea, did he consult the “Columbia Encyclopedia” on scourging to see what the Romans did when they scourged people? Did he check the word cross or crucifixion to find out what the Romans did when they crucified people? To say that it’s not even hinted at that this was a bloody even in the gospels is, I mean, I don’t even know what to say about it. Here’s a man who was the publisher of a newspaper until he retired and still frequently writes the editorials, and he can make that kind of a statement. I’m dumbfounded. It’s not even hinted at that it was a bloody event, that it was gory. I have never read anybody who has done any work at all on what the gospels say about it who didn’t see it as a bloody event, a gruesome event. I’ve mentioned some of the secular writers on Rome, like Cicero, his description. My goodness, I don’t know where he’s been living.

All right, goes on to talk about Gibson and I’m not interested in debate over Gibson particularly. “For Christians who believe the gospel accounts, there is a good deal of language explaining the feeling that Jews were primarily responsible for Jesus’ death.” Now there’s a confession that goes contrary to what he’s led up to this. “For Christians who believe the gospel accounts, there is a good deal of language explaining the feeling that Jews were primarily responsible for Jesus’ death.” Put simply, for those who believe the gospels, they do teach the Jews are responsible. “But I can understand the concern of today’s Jews, that any dramatic gospel-based recreation of the events leading to the death of Jesus of Nazareth 2000 years ago, especially as gory a dramatization as Mel Gibson has produced, has the potential of encouraging anti-Semitism in today’s world, 2000 years removed from the people and events involved in the death of Jesus of Nazareth.” Now here you get 2000 years removed, that’s a long way. We ought to be think… But it didn’t keep him from knowing what’s in the mind of these writers 2000 years ago.

You know what I’ve come to the conclusion? Gentiles, like this man whose name is Harold W. Anderson, not Jewish. Not Andersonstein, just Anderson. You know what we have is Gentile hostility toward Christ, but you know it becomes more acceptable -- the reason I’m saying this is my heart of love and compassion for Jews, that’s my real concern; I mean, if you read the gospels and believed what they said, it does indicate that the Jews played a major role; but I can understand the concern of today’s Jews, that any dramatic…

I referred to the man who was Jewish last night who was part of the interview, and he couldn’t understand why these Gentile Christians kept trying to make an issue out of the movie being anti-Semitic or anti-Jewish. He reminded them, I’m Jewish, I didn’t find it that way. But they kept trying to enlighten him, and what they really had is a heart of hatred. I shared with you John 15, animosity toward Jesus Christ. And, of course, today if you’re defending the Jews, that makes your animosity toward Christ seem more. But the root of it is there is a rejection of God’s truth and a rejection of God’s Son who is the truth.

Okay, go to Acts 2. Someone shared with me this morning they were concerned that I didn’t leave a wrong impression when I said the Jews were responsible for the death of Christ. The Jews were responsible for the death of Christ. Let me read just a portion. I went back and read the closing sections of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John this afternoon and I’m not going to take you back through those. You can do that on your own, it doesn’t take very long. You can’t read those and accept them at face value. I accept the reading of the gospels the same way I accept that the article he wrote is an editorial. Normally. I read it the way I read normal things, the way I read the newspaper. You can’t not read it that way and come away not convinced. You’re in Acts 2, just back up into John, just before Acts, John 19. John 18-19 you could read, would unfold the details here as John wrote them. And there is absolute consistency and harmony in these four gospel writers. In the confusion that these people are seeing I can understand as they come to the Word of God and find it a confusing book.

Pilate’s conversations with Christ and his repeated declaration, “I don’t find any guilt in him,” John 18:38, his discussion with Jesus over the issue of truth. Jesus explains to him, and here is the issue that we face. Look at verse 37, “Pilate said to Him, ‘So You are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.’ Pilate said, ‘What is truth?’ ” Then he goes out to the Jews and what does he say? “I find no guilt in Him.” Verse 4 of chapter 19, as this scene continues to unfold, “Pilate came out again and said to them, ‘Behold, I am bringing Him out to you so that you may know that I find no guilt in Him.’ ” Verse 6, “the chief priests and officers saw Christ, they cried out saying, ‘Crucify, crucify!’ Pilate said to them, ‘Take Him yourselves and crucify Him, for I find no guilt in Him.’ ” You see, the account of who is driving this trial or these trials, this event, is clear. The reluctance of Pilate is clear. Now to say, well, we know the Romans would have done this. You know, it’s one time… one time they’re arguing the Romans wouldn’t have been so mean and cruel and on the other side they are arguing how the Romans did what they want. We’ve talked about Pilate and the Jews are clear.

Verse 7, “We have a law… He ought to die because He made Himself out to be the Son of God.” Pilate’s afraid about that. You know, his wife has been troubled by nightmares over this Man, Pilate’s uncomfortable with what he’s hearing, the Man telling him about truth, claims to be born King of the Jews. And the Jews say He claims to be the Son of God. I can't find any reason to crucify Him. He comes in to talk to Christ, Christ doesn’t have anything more to say to Pilate. Pilate says, don’t you know I have authority? Verse 10, I could release you, “I have authority to crucify you.” “Jesus said, ‘You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above.’ ” I mean, the powers that be are ordained of God, Romans 13 develops that. “For this reason he who delivered Me to you has the greater sin,” a verse I referred to you in our considerations this morning.

Now I’m not limiting the guilt over the crucifixion of Christ to Israel. It’s true, the writers of our New Testament were basically Jews. Take Luke out of it, Luke and Acts. Paul was a Jew; Matthew, Mark, John were Jews, Peter was a Jew. We’re not minimizing the role that God had for the Jews, but neither do I want to try to be politically correct in our day and say, oh, I wouldn’t want anybody to think I’m anti-Semitic, of course, the Jews weren’t responsible. Wait a minute, I can’t deny the scripture. Jesus was a Jew, He was the Jewish Messiah. He was turned over to the Romans because the Jews were unwilling to have Him as their King.

Now that’s not the total story. Turn over to Acts 2. Peter is preaching on the day of Pentecost, he’s preaching to Jews. Jews will be the primary focus through the first nine chapters of Acts. The Samaritans who are half-breed Jews will be included there, but the primary focus of ministry through the first nine chapters is Jews, until Peter goes to the Gentiles at the house of Cornelius in chapter 10. Here is his first sermon after the coming of the Spirit, and he unfolds the Old Testament scripture as pointing to the plan of God. And then you’ll note verse 22 of Acts 2, “Men of Israel,” he’s speaking to the Jews, “listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know --,” His miracles, His works, demonstrated He was the prophesied Messiah, “this man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.” Now you see all the ingredients put together here.

God’s sovereign plan in providing redemption was that His Son would come to earth and die. We read Isaiah 53, we read Psalm 22. And then there are multiplied other passages that speak of the coming of the Son of God, the provision He would make, was part of the predetermined plan of God. God is sovereign, He ordained before the foundation of the world, according to Ephesians 1 and other passages, that His Son would be the Savior. That’s the sovereign plan of God. The Jews, not saying they were just pawns in the hand of God; no, they acted according to their own sinful desires. And God had ordained to use their sinful desires to accomplish His purposes. So according to the predetermined plan of God, you nailed Him to the cross, and you used the Romans to do it. You nailed Him to the cross by the hands of godless men. Excuse the Romans? No, but the Jews even have a greater accountability than Pilate, as we read in John 19.

I want to be clear, this is the sovereign plan of God. The early church was comprised of Jews. You know, unbelievers take and twist the scripture. I can’t change my theology because some unbelievers are going to take the scripture and find some verses here that they say will justify their persecuting the Jews, even some believers in our church history, men that we would admire for some of their other writings, because of their confusion over certain portions of the Word. Let me read you a comment by a British writer. And as you’re aware it’s not normal for those in Europe, Britain and Europe, to see a proper distinction between Israel and the church. But when C. E. B. Cranfield wrote his masterful commentary, two volumes on the Greek text of the book of Romans, he put this comment in there. He’s talking about the mercy of God, and the word ‘mercy’ is key in the book of Romans. “It is only where the church persists in refusing to learn this message of the mercy of God, where it is secretly believed that its own existence is based on human achievement. And so fails to understand God’s mercy to itself, that it is unable to believe in God’s mercy for still unbelieving Israel. And so entertains the ugly and unscriptural notion that God has cast off His people, Israel, and simply replaced it by the Christian church. Romans 9, 10, 11, these three chapters emphatically forbid us to speak of the church as having once for all taken the place of the Jewish people.”

You know, bad theology always catches up to you. Some of the reformers in the Protestant Reformation, men like Martin Luther, manifested an anti-Semitic attitude. But they failed to understand the distinction between Israel and the church, and God’s role for Israel. If you take the scriptures for what it says, you see a glorious future for Israel, and I know you’re aware of that. Before we leave Acts and go to Romans I want you to look at [Acts 2]verse 36. You know, Peter doesn’t pull any punches. Peter is a Jew, he’s one who has believed in Christ. What’s he say? Verse 36, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ -- this Jesus whom you crucified.” So the nation is responsible. God by His grace saves Jews. Praise the Lord, He saves Gentiles.

Come over to the book of Romans and look at chapter 9 with me. 31:41 It’s also true, you know, we talk about Christ as crucified in the plan of God to pay the penalty for sin, Jewish sinners and Gentile sinners. So we can’t speak of our sin, when He died on the cross He bore our sins in His body. So in that sense it was my sin that necessitated His awful suffering and death on the cross. But don’t get confused. You say, well, if that’s true then the Jews couldn’t have been responsible. There are a variety of responsibilities here. We see the purpose of God in unfolding His work in the cross.

What does Paul say about Israel? Chapter 9 verse 1, “I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption of sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen. But it is not as though the word of God has failed.” God is not done with Israel, and His mercy continues today. It continued in Paul’s day, Paul is a testimony. The nation Israel had rejected their Messiah, but here is Paul, a Jew, who has been the recipient of God’s grace. And so he goes on, [Romans 9:6], not all the physical descendents of Abraham are going to enter into the promises of Abraham. But the believing remnant of Abraham’s physical descendents will enter into those promises.

Turn over to chapter 11 verse 1, “I say, then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be!” Megenoito! That means that’s just not a possibility. So again, to see the role that the Jews played, the role that the nation Israel plays, in the plan of God, and how their sin was used of God even in the crucifixion of Christ to pay the penalty for all of our sins, does not mean that now we’re going to persecute the Jews. Because the Bible says, God has not rejected His people. You understand, Israel is still the people of God. They are under the discipline of God, but they are still right down until this day the only nation chosen by God for Himself. Amos 3:2, “You only have I known [chosen] among all the families of the earth.” Of all the nations on the earth, you’re the only one I’ve put My favor on. The United States of America is not God’s chosen nation. We’ve experienced great blessings from God, we are not God’s chosen nation. There has been and continues to be only one chosen nation. There is only one nation, in whom all the promises of God to that nation will be fulfilled, and that is the nation Israel. You cannot believe the Bible and believe anything else. “God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be!” And Paul goes on, I’m an Israelite.

Verse 2, “God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew.” Paul says even now there is a remnant. Verse 5, “In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s gracious choice. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.” He refers to the quote I gave you by Cranfield. You don’t understand the mercy of God, you don’t understand the grace of God. You’ve ended up with a works salvation. And its people in churches who believe that Gentiles or the Church is better than the Jews because our works are better than the Jews’ works, don’t understand grace. They think, oh, Israel is under judgment, they deserve everything they get, I hate the Jews and I agree they ought to be persecuted, they’re God-killers. What do you mean, what are you? Well, I would have never done that. So then the Bible is not true when it says all have sinned, there is none righteous, we’ve all fallen short of God’s glory. Yes, but I haven’t fallen as short as they have, I’m not as sinful as they are. Then where do the publican, “I thank you, Lord, that I am not a sinner as other men.” It’s what Paul’s warning of here, warning Gentiles you better remember you are where you are by grace, not by works. And Israel will be saved because God’s grace is shown to them. Just like you’re saved, because God’s grace has been shown to you.

God has a purpose, even in the sinful actions of Israel. Verse 11, “I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they?” Remember verse 1 of this chapter, “God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be!” Megenoito! That’s not a possibility. King James says, “God forbid,” trying to give you the force of how absolutely impossible this is. Verse 11, “I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be!” Megenoito! That is absolutely impossible. Israel stumbled, they stumbled over the stumbling stone, their Savior, their Messiah. But they didn’t fall on their face, never to rise again. What’s going on? “By their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous.” In what has happened, God has removed the Jews from the center of His work of salvation in the world today, set them aside. Not buried them and been done with them, but set them aside, and placed the Gentiles primarily in the center of His work of grace in salvation in the world today. Why did He do that? Because the Gentiles are better people. No. Grace. Because consistent with His eternal plan and the promises made to Abraham that even the nonphysical descendents would experience the blessing of the Jewish Messiah who would be the descendent of Abraham.

And so in verse 17, “if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in and become partaker with them of the rich fruit of the olive tree…” We’re partaking of those glorious promises given to who? Father Abraham. Not that we’ve become Jews, but the promises given to Abraham made provision for all the peoples being blessed in him. So “do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you.” I mean, how do you get this anti-Semitic attitude? How do we come into these blessings? Where do they come from? God’s promises to Abraham, now and through the Jewish people, culminating in the Jewish Messiah who suffered and died on a cross. How are you going to get saved, Mr. Anti-Semitic? You don’t believe in a Jewish Messiah. You can’t reject Him as the Jewish Messiah and be saved, you know. I can’t understand. Periodically on one of the channels you’ll see a program on these white supremacist groups, and it just grieves you to see them walking around with a Bible, quoting some verses and having a cross on them. Their Nazi-kind of philosophies of Jews and other races, as though they are superior. They understand nothing of the Bible -- godless people, corrupting the Word of God.

Verse 20, “they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear.” Verse 22, “Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness.” So a word of warning here. We’re not here because of our superiorness. And you need to understand in our fallen state, easy for those even if you be followers of Christ, if they’re not careful, to find reasons to dislike the Jews, to be influenced by the thinking of the day and think of us as superior and not be able to understand how they could do such sinful things. You know, the real problems comes, we don’t understand our sinfulness. I want to say something about that in just a moment.

Look at verse 28, “From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake.” They are enemies of the gospel right now because God is giving the Gentiles opportunity in His plan to be recipients of His grace and be saved. But never forget, “from the standpoint” of election, “God’s choice, they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” Now how can you believe the Word of God and believe that that is the Word of God and be anti-Semitic? I mean, I understand they are God’s enemies now and that’s part of His plan to give me as a Gentile this glorious opportunity for salvation by His grace. You understand nothing has changed regarding God’s plan of election, He has chosen Israel. And the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. So I’d better be careful about my attitude toward those that God has chosen for Himself. That does not mean that Israel is saved today, there is a national election of the nation. Individual salvation occurs with the individual election that takes place within the nation, Paul being an example as he has used himself.

[Verse 30], “For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience, so these also now have been disobedient, that because of the mercy shown to you they may also be shown mercy. For God has shut up all in disobedience so He might show mercy to all. Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!” Do we hate Israel? No, we love them, we desire their salvation. We grieve for their rebellion and rejection of their Messiah and Savior. But at the same time we thank God for giving us Gentiles this time of grace for salvation.

Up in verse 25, “I do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, concerning this mystery.” He’s unfolded the truth concerning God’s plan in working with the Gentiles and bringing them salvation. “So that you will not be wise in your estimation, a partial hardening has happened to Israel.” A partial hardening, there are Jews saved today. We have writings being published today that are available in our bookstore, written by believing Jews. So praise God it doesn’t say that every Jew is lost. No, there is salvation for Jews as well as Gentile. “A partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.” The fullness of the Gentiles is the time of Gentile salvation. “And so all Israel will be saved.” Now when God is done with this wide open door of salvation for the Gentiles, it closes and it opens to the Jews again, and it becomes a time of Jewish salvation. Gentiles still will be saved, but the focus will once again become Israel. What a plan.

This is the culmination, Romans 9, 10, 11, of what he has unfolded in the gospel through the first eight chapters. And how did he begin in Romans after the introduction? Chapter 1 verse 18 starts with what? Demonstrating the sinfulness of all humanity. The wrath of God is being poured out, not just on Israel, but on the unbelieving world. Romans chapter 1 verse 18, “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness” and don’t want to hear about Christ. That’s why we see articles like this being presented, trying to nullify the scripture. Why? They want to suppress the truth, the truth that is all around them, the truth that is unfolded through the glories of creation. Chapter 2 he focuses particularly on the Jews as sinful. And they may, in verse 17 of chapter 2, boast about being Jews and rely upon the Law, but they are going to come into judgment before God because they are breakers of the Law, not keepers of the Law. They are guilty before Him. Comes down into chapter 3 and through verse 20, and so from chapter 1 verse 18 through chapter 3 verse 20 you know what he talks about? The sin and guilt of all humanity, Jew and Gentile alike. So then he can come to his conclusion that “every mouth may be closed,” the end of verse 19 of chapter 3, “and all the world may become accountable before God.”

This is the issue. That’s why as we talk about the suffering and death of Christ we say we want to bring it back to the “why.” We are all guilty before God. Yes, the Jews are guilty, they crucified their Messiah. They had the scriptures, they were to know. But God’s plan was to use their sinful rejection of their Messiah to make a provision for the sin of Jew and Gentile alike. And you know, God looks at you as a Gentile and says, you are just as guilty. So where is there room to be anti-Semitic? So as we talk to people we want to talk about where Paul starts with the gospel. We have to bring it back, why did Christ die, not just to get caught up in the emotion and decide I’m going to be a better Catholic, I’m going to be more committed to my church, if it’s Protestant. That doesn’t save a person. We have to understand why did He die. My sins. So that’s why Paul starts an unfolding of the gospel with condemnation. We are all sinners.

Then he goes in to talk about justification in chapter 3 verse 21 through chapter 5 verse 21. He shows that God’s righteousness is provided for all through Jesus Christ. So verse 28 of chapter 3, “we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. Or is He God of the Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Just as also of Gentiles since God indeed will justify,” declare righteous, “the circumcised by faith,” that’s the Jews, “and the uncircumcised by faith as one.” There is only one God, there is only one way of salvation. You understand you as a Gentile have to be saved the same way the Jews do.

You can watch the movie or read the biblical account and say, how could the Jews do that, how could they not believe in Him. I say, how could you not? You have the completed story where God says here is the issue. He explains in detail the why of His Son’s death and you still have not believed in Him. That was the provision for those Jews and the Jews today. It’s a provision for those Gentiles and the Gentiles today. It’s not by works, it’s by faith. But the faith that is genuine changes a life and makes you new. I shared with the man I told you I was talking with Friday. I said, “When you’ve truly believed in Christ your life will be changed. The Bible says that any person is in Christ he is a new creature, a new creation, the old things have passed away, they are gone. You’ve become a new person… not just saying I believe in Jesus, I’m a Christian. When you truly believe, recognize your sin and guilt before God and place your faith in Christ alone, you will be changed.

So he talks about righteousness. Chapter 5 verse 1, “having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Well, look at the previous verse. How does chapter 4 end? Verse 25, “He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.” You’ll note the story is not over with Him on the cross. The movie just has a brief conclusion with portraying the resurrected Christ. That’s the focus, that’s death culminated in victory. He is raised, the penalty is paid in full. That’s the tragedy of Roman Catholicism and their teaching that salvation is by faith but not by faith alone. We need to understand what this message of the cross really is. It is that salvation is by faith alone. That’s chapter 4 of Romans.

You come to chapter 6, and chapter 6, 7, 8 tell you what I’ve just referred to. When you recognize you are under condemnation, that righteousness comes through faith in Christ and you place your faith in Him, your life is changed. And chapter 6, 7, 8 talk about sanctification. We started out with condemnation, then justification, being declared righteous by God. Then you come to sanctification, a new life lived now in the power of the Spirit, serving God and doing His will. And that brings us to where we were in chapters 9, 10, 11, explaining that it is the sovereignty of God that works in all of this and assures that Israel will enter into all the promises that God has given. Not every single Jew, but the nation as the nation when it has turned from its sin to God, that day when Christ returns and they look on Him whom they have pierced and they mourn. And blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. They realize their sin, bow before Him as their Savior.

Glorious picture the Bible presents. You know, it’s so tragic to hear people talking about the Bible, talking about what is the heart of everything, and the most significant event has ever occurred, the death of Christ, and understand so little of it. Be caught up in, well, is there too much blood and gore, or not. The movie is not the issue, the issue is the event of the suffering and death of Christ, what God was doing. People won’t be saved by going to the movie, but people go to the movie and may have their conscience pricked by the grace of God to provide occasion to talk to them about the gospel. Some people that you have talked to may go to the movie and be impressed with the truth they have heard from you. But they have to hear the gospel. The movie is not the gospel. I don’t want to get sidetracked on the movie, and I don’t see the movie as what’s going to bring the Bible to the world. I just see that we as believers have an opportunity to share with people who are so focused now on the terrible suffering and death of Christ to explain to them why, why, why. Keep that three-letter word in your mind as you talk to people about it. I want to talk to them about “why,” I want to talk to them about “why.” Why did Christ suffer and die? Well, I don’t think it was that gory. All right if it wasn’t that gory. I don’t want to get sidetracked and say, well, let me give you all my medical articles, let me give you all this. It was… Doesn’t matter. All right let’s say it was less gory than that. The fact is the Son of Man suffered terribly and died the death of the cross which the Bible says meant He was under the curse of God.

Why? That’s the issue. Why? Because of our sin, because Jews and Gentiles alike are guilty before God. You realize you’ve been trying to do your best, you’ve been trying to be a good person, you’ve maybe gone to church and may have been baptized, you may partake of the sacraments. And you know what God says? A verse I shared with this man I was talking to. You know what the Bible says? All our best works are like filthy rags before God, all our righteous acts are filthy, polluted rags before God. They’re nothing. You can’t be saved by your works. You must believe in this Savior who loved you and died for you. That’s the message. Glorious. What a thrilling thing for us as believers to talk about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. How do you know it is so? He was raised because of our justification. There is the proof. He’s alive. There were many people crucified, two criminals were crucified with Him. They died and were buried and stayed there. Three days later Jesus Christ rose from the dead as God’s declaration to you, the penalty for sin has been paid, and makes firm and clear for time and eternity, only by believing in Him will you have eternal life.

Let’s pray together. God, help us to seize the opportunities of these days. Lord, as we move toward the coming of our Savior to bring to fruition and completion the work of salvation that He accomplished at such a great price, terrible cost, that we might be saved by grace, that we might receive the free gift of eternal life through faith in Him, Lord, give us a boldness and a clarity with the gospel. May we not talk around the issues, may we not talk in generalities. Lord, may we share the truth of the gospel with a lost and dying world. May we be privileged by Your grace to see Jews and Gentiles alike come to bow the knee before the Savior. May these be days of salvation and may we be instruments You use in this day of opportunity. We praise You that we have hope beyond this life, that we are serving and ministering here in preparation for the time when we will enter in to the glory of Your presence because our Savior loved us and died for us. And it’s in His name we pray. Amen.