Good News for Everyone!

Paul's prayer. Paul wrote, “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved” (10:1). Paul was Jewish, and he loved his people. Trying hard is not enough. They had “a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge” (10:2). Zeal means strong, eager effort. They were trying to build their own way to God instead of taking His way (10:3). Jesus finished it. “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (10:4). Righteousness means being right with God. Jesus kept God's law perfectly and paid for our sins, so we do not earn our way. Near to you. You do not have to climb to heaven or dig down into the grave to find Christ (10:6-7). God sent Him down, and God raised Him up. “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (10:8). Heart and mouth. We believe in our hearts that God raised Jesus, and we say with our mouths that Jesus is Lord (10:9-10). Faith on the inside shows on the outside. Whoever. “For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek” (10:12). “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (10:13). Nobody is too far away. What this means for you. You cannot earn being right with God, and you do not have to. Trust Jesus, and tell Him and others that He is your Lord.

Paul's grief (10:1). Just before this, Paul said he could wish himself “accursed from Christ for my brethren” (9:3). Chapter 10 opens with the same love turned into prayer. Paul's teaching about Israel always comes with tears, never pride. Zeal without knowledge (10:2-3). Paul knew this from the inside. Before he met Jesus, he was an eager Pharisee who hunted down Christians (Acts 9). Sincere effort aimed the wrong way cannot save. They were “seeking to establish their own righteousness” instead of submitting to God's. The end of the law (10:4). End here means both the goal and the finish line. The law pointed to Christ, and in Him its demand is fully met for “everyone who believes.” “Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ” (Galatians 3:24). Near, not far (10:6-8). Paul takes Moses' words from Deuteronomy 30 and shows their full meaning in Christ. No one has to bring Christ down from heaven or up from the dead. He came, died and rose. Now the message is as close as your own mouth. Confess (10:9). The Greek word is homologeo (say: hoh-moh-loh-GEH-oh), which means to say the same thing. To confess Jesus as Lord is to agree out loud with what God says about Him. Lord (10:13). The Greek word is kyrios (say: KOO-ree-os), the word the Greek Old Testament used for God's own holy name. Paul quotes Joel 2:32 about calling on the Lord and applies it straight to Jesus. Calling on Jesus is calling on God. One Lord over all (10:12). Jew and Greek come the same way, by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Paul cared so much about his own people. They worked very hard to obey God's rules. But they were trying to be good enough on their own. Being made right with God is a gift. Jesus already did all the work on the cross. You do not have to climb up to heaven to find Him. God's good news is close, in your mouth and in your heart. Believe that God raised Jesus from death. Then say out loud, “Jesus is Lord.” That means Jesus is the King of your life. This good news is for every person. Anyone who asks the Lord for help will be saved.

God's good news is near. Believe that God raised Jesus. Say, “Jesus is Lord.” Then you will be saved!

A chain of questions. “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?” (10:14). Paul keeps asking. People cannot believe in someone they have never heard of, and they cannot hear unless someone tells them. Calling needs believing, believing needs hearing, and hearing needs someone who tells. Sent ones. “And how shall they preach unless they are sent?” (10:15). God is the One who sends. Jesus sent His followers to “make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:19). Beautiful feet. “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace” (10:15). Dusty, tired feet look beautiful to God when they carry good news. Faith comes by hearing. “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (10:17). God grows faith through His Word, so reading and hearing the Bible really matters. Heard, but not believed. Isaiah asked, “Lord, who has believed our report?” (10:16). Israel heard the message, but many did not believe it (10:18-19). Open hands. God says, “All day long I have stretched out My hands To a disobedient and contrary people” (10:21). Contrary means always pushing back. God kept inviting them anyway. What this means for you. Someone told you about Jesus. Now you get to be part of the chain and tell someone else.

The chain (10:14-15). Paul works backward: call, believe, hear, preach, sent. Every link matters. If no one is sent, no one hears. Paul himself was “an apostle to the Gentiles” (11:13), and apostle means a sent one. Beautiful feet (10:15). Paul quotes Isaiah 52:7, where a runner races over the mountains toward Jerusalem with news that God reigns. Paul says the gospel is that same news, now running to every nation. The word of God (10:17). Faith is not a feeling we produce. God creates it as His Word is heard. That is why Christians read Scripture, preach it, teach it and memorize it. They had heard (10:18). Paul borrows Psalm 19:4, where the sky tells God's glory to the whole earth, to show that the message had gone out widely. Israel had heard. Found by outsiders (10:19-20). Moses and Isaiah both said God would be found by nations that were not looking for Him. Paul saw that coming true as Gentiles turned to Christ. Stretched-out hands (10:21). The picture is a parent holding out open arms to a child who keeps turning away. Israel's no did not shut God's door. Jesus showed the same heart over Jerusalem: “How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings” (Matthew 23:37). Your part. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:19). Every believer is a link in somebody's chain.

Paul asked some important questions. How can people call on Jesus if they do not believe? How can they believe if they have never heard? And who will tell them if nobody goes? So God sends His people out with the Good News. God says their feet are beautiful! He loves it when people go and tell. Faith grows when we hear God's Word. Some people heard the message and still said no. But God kept holding out His hands to them. He was patient and kind all day long. God is patient with us too. You can tell somebody about Jesus too!

People need to hear about Jesus. Someone must tell them. God loves good news tellers. You can tell about Jesus too!

Certainly not! “I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not!” (11:1). Paul points to himself: he is an Israelite from Abraham's family and the tribe of Benjamin. Elijah was not alone. Elijah thought he was the last faithful person in Israel. God answered, “I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal” (11:4). A remnant. “Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace” (11:5). A remnant is a part that is left. God kept a people for Himself. Grace is grace. “And if by grace, then it is no longer of works” (11:6). A gift you earn is not a gift anymore. Hard hearts. Many in Israel kept refusing, and their hearts grew hard (11:7-10). Saying no to God again and again is serious. A stumble, not the end. “Have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not!” (11:11). Through their fall, salvation came to the Gentiles. How much more! If Israel's stumble brought riches to the world, “how much more their fullness!” (11:12). Their coming back will be like “life from the dead” (11:15). What this means for you. God does not give up on people. He keeps His promises, and His grace holds on to you.

Paul as proof (11:1). If God had rejected Israel, Paul, a Jew from the tribe of Benjamin, could never have become an apostle. His own salvation showed that God was still saving Jews. Foreknew (11:2). “God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew.” To foreknow here means to set His love on someone ahead of time. God chose Israel in love before the nation existed, and He does not cancel that choice. Elijah (1 Kings 19). After the contest on Mount Carmel, Elijah ran for his life and felt completely alone. God showed him seven thousand who had stayed faithful. Discouragement always makes our count too small. The remnant (11:5-6). The remnant did not earn its place. It exists “according to the election of grace.” Paul then guards the word: if it were by works, “grace is no longer grace.” Hardening (11:7-10). Paul quotes Isaiah 29 and Psalm 69. When people keep refusing the light, God can give them over to the darkness they chose. It is a sober warning, but it is not God's last word. Jealousy for good (11:11-14). God used Israel's stumble to bring salvation to the nations, so that Israel would one day see it and want it. Paul hoped to “save some of them” (11:14). Firstfruit and root (11:16). The first piece of dough offered to God made the whole batch holy (Numbers 15). The root is God's promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God's commitment to the fathers still holds for their children.

Did God give up on the Jewish people? No! Paul himself was a Jew who believed in Jesus. Long ago, Elijah thought he was the only one left. But God had 7,000 people who still loved Him. God always keeps some of His people close. He does it by His grace. Grace is God's kindness that we cannot earn. Some people kept saying no to God. Then their hearts became hard, and they could not see. But their story was not over. Because many said no, the Good News went to the whole world. God was turning a sad thing into good.

God did not throw away His people. Paul was a Jew who loved Jesus. God kept His people by grace. God never lets go!

The olive tree. Some natural branches “were broken off,” and a wild branch was “grafted in among them” (11:17). To graft is to join a branch from one tree into another so it grows there. No bragging. “Do not boast against the branches… you do not support the root, but the root supports you” (11:18). The wild branch lives only because the old root feeds it. Faith, not family. “Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear” (11:20). Haughty means proud. Kind and strict. “Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God” (11:22). God is kind to all who trust Him, and He takes unbelief seriously. Grafted in again. “For God is able to graft them in again” (11:23). A secret made known. Part of Israel is blind “until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved” (11:25-26). God is not finished with Israel. A day is coming when the Jewish people will turn to Jesus, their Deliverer. Promises kept. “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (11:29). Irrevocable means God never takes them back. Praise! “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!” (11:33). What this means for you. Stay humble, keep trusting Jesus, and love the Jewish people God still loves.

Grafting (11:17). Olive growers join a branch into a cut in an old trunk so it shares the root's sap. God grafted the wild branch in “contrary to nature” (11:24): wild into cultivated, the opposite of normal farming. Grace does the unexpected. The root (11:16-18). The root is God's promise to Abraham: “And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). Gentile believers did not start a new tree. They were joined to Israel's story and to Israel's Messiah. Humility (11:18-22). Paul warns Gentile Christians against pride. Sadly, over the centuries some who called themselves Christians looked down on Jewish people. Romans 11 forbids that. The mystery (11:25). The Greek mysterion (say: moos-TAY-ree-on) means a secret God has now made known. The secret is this: Israel's hardening is partial, and it has an end. It lasts “until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.” All Israel (11:26-27). Paul expects a real turning of the Jewish people to Christ, when “the Deliverer will come out of Zion” and God takes away their sins. Many Christians see this as connected to Jesus' return. Beloved (11:28-29). Even while many reject the gospel, they are “beloved for the sake of the fathers,” because God's calling is never withdrawn. Mercy on all (11:30-32). Jew and Gentile alike have disobeyed, so that God “might have mercy on all.” Worship (11:33-36). Paul ends with praise: “For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.”

Paul used an olive tree to explain God's plan. Some old branches were broken off. They stand for Jews who did not believe. A wild branch was joined in. It stands for non-Jews who believe in Jesus. The new branch should never brag. The root holds up the branch, not the other way around. We stay in God's family by trusting Him. God can put the old branches back in too. Paul also shared a secret from God. Right now part of Israel will not believe. One day that will change, and all Israel will be saved. God never takes back His promises!

God's family is like an olive tree. New branches were joined on. One day all Israel will be saved. God is so good!