Peter Barnes | Romans 11:1-4
SERMON NOTES
PAUL, ELIJAH AND THE REMNANT
(Romans 11:1-4)
– privileges for the Jews in John 4:22; Rom.9:4-5. But Israel seemed to have sinned these privileges away (Rom. 9:30-32; 10:1-3, 21; Matt.8:11-12; 21:43).
1. God has not rejected Israel.
– 11:1a; ‘certainly not’ is the negative of ‘Amen’, and is very decided (cf. Gal.2:17; 3:21; 6:14)
2. Paul himself is an Israelite.
– 11:1b; see too 2 Cor.11:21-22; Phil.3:38
– God took the most ardent fanatical Pharisee and made him the apostle to the Gentiles!
3. Even in Elijah’s day, God preserved a people for Himself.
– 11:2-4; Elijah thought the whole of Israel was apostate (1 Kings 19:10, 14)
– God preserved 7,000 men plus women and children.
– God foreordained this (11:2; same word as in 8:29). God cannot cast off His people (1 Sam.12:22; Ps.94:14)
– Calvin calls this the Church of God ‘hidden in a tomb’. God will always set apart a people for Himself.