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Romans 9-16

Faithful Despite Rejection

Stephen Billings · Sunday, 12 October 2025 · Romans 11:1-36 · 28:24 · 4,119 words

Romans S25 · 11:1-36 Goodrich

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In Romans 11 the speaker asks whether God has rejected His people, then shows that God remains faithful to the nation of Israel by providing a remnant chosen by grace. Through Paul’s conversion and Elijah’s story, he illustrates that God’s mercy reaches even those whose hearts have hardened. The message calls listeners to recognize God’s faithfulness and to take a step of faith—accepting Christ, confessing sin, praying, or sharing faith with others.

What this sermon is about

Ranked by keyness against every other sermon in the corpus. Each one is a word this sermon actually said — nothing here was written by a model.

israel 33 remnant 17 reject 21 faithful 18 saul 11 nation 17 carson 8 elijah 9 boots 4 special 7 god 88 provide 9

Topics

Israel 12 Faith 5 Salvation 3 Prayer 2 Sin 1 The Gentiles 1 The Gospel 1 Grace 1

Scripture referenced 37

Verified against the transcript. A reference the recording does not support is never listed here.

Romans 11 0:56 Romans 11 1:14 Romans 11:1 1:14 Romans 11 4:32 Romans 11:1 4:32 Romans 11 4:43 Genesis 26:4 6:14 Romans 11:1 6:57 Romans 10 7:54 Romans 10:9 7:54 Romans 10:9 7:58 Romans 11 8:01 Romans 11:1 8:34 Acts 9:1 9:49 Psalms 9:4 12:09 Romans 11:2-5 13:34 Romans 11:3 14:44 Romans 11:5 15:24 Romans 11 15:29 Romans 11:5 15:34 Romans 11:5 15:40 Romans 9:27 16:39 Romans 9:27 16:48 Romans 11 17:34 Romans 11:5 17:34 Romans 11 17:37 Romans 11:6 17:37 Romans 11 18:56 Romans 11 19:01 Romans 11:8-9 20:04 Romans 11 20:15 Romans 11 20:17 Romans 11:1 21:38 Acts 9:15 22:00 Acts 9:15 22:32 Acts 9:15 22:42 Romans 11 23:13

Transcript

Every word, as spoken, with the second it was said. Each word links to its own entry in the index.

Pre-service announcement — 9 lines, 0:40. Excluded from every count and search on this site, kept here so nothing is hidden.

Hey everyone, my name is Lorena and thanks for checking out this message today.

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Good morning, my name is Stephen Billings.

I am the Children's Director at our Goodrich location.

And it is such an honor and a pleasure to be with you all this morning.

If you would, please feel free to pull out your Bibles.

We are going to be in the book of Romans this morning, chapter 11.

It is so important to have God's Word in front of us.

If you don't have a Bible this morning,

I am going to encourage you to use your phone.

You can get the River Church app or the Bible app is a great one as well.

We are going to be in Romans chapter 11, starting in verse 1.

This morning as I was driving in, I was thinking about our church staff here at the River Flushing.

And first and foremost, I want to say thank you so much to Pastor John

for giving me the opportunity to open up God's Word with you all.

And I was also thinking about Carson Thede, who is the Children's Director here on staff.

And I got to know Carson within my first two weeks or so on staff here at the River Church.

I've been on staff for about four years now.

And within the first two weeks, I was getting to know Carson.

He had come up to me just asking to serve in kids ministry, sharing his heart for the Lord with me.

As I'm getting to know him, I quickly learned that Carson is very goofy.

He's very fun and he's really good at skits.

And something about me is I am.

I'm terrible at skits.

I don't play good characters well.

And so I looked at Carson one week and I said,

Hey, would you be willing to do a skit character for me?

I want you to come in during our Bible memory verse time.

And I want you to dress up like a caveman.

And I want you to teach the kids the Bible memory verse.

And he agrees.

He's like, sounds good, Stephen.

I told him, hey, meet me at the main elementary door when it's time for the Bible verse time.

I'll open up that door and you're going to come on out all excited, ready to teach the kids the Bible memory verse.

So I get going with the kids.

We pray.

We get our time going.

And when it's time for the Bible memory verse, I go to that door.

I open it up.

And what I see is absolutely jaw dropping.

Carson is standing there and he's kind of like squatted down and looks at me.

He's got an Indiana Jones hat on.

He's got his pants rolled up to his knees like he's Noah in the ark ready for the flood.

Right.

He's got this long, long, straggly gray beard on.

And if you know,

Carson, he rocks cowboy boots all the time, right?

I can't pull off cowboy boots, but he does.

And no, he did not have his cowboy boots on.

And no, he did not have his socks on.

So he's running around the church without shoes on.

And so Carson's got his toes hanging out there.

And he looks up at me and goes, hey, kids, it's time for Bible memory verse time.

And needless to say, I was absolutely shocked.

I was like, what in the world am I getting myself into?

But I quickly learned how fun Carson is.

And the kids.

That day, if you ask them, hey, how was how was church today?

They would have said, hey, today we had, I think, a hobo Indiana Jones caveman dude came to teach us about God's word.

But he used to say, I've loved working alongside him.

I love how fun he is.

And most importantly, I'm so thankful for him and his wife, Anna, for how faithful they are in sharing God's word week in and week out.

And today, that's what we're going to be talking about, how faithful God is.

And so if you would, please bow your heads in prayer with me.

God, thank you so much that we have your word to study today.

Thank you that we can quiet our hearts, help us to be attentive to what you have this morning.

I pray today, God, that you would encourage us and challenge us.

We love you, God, in your name.

So this morning, we're going to be starting in Romans chapter 11, verse one, where Paul comes out with a very important question for us.

Romans chapter 11 says,

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.

The important question that Paul has for us to start today is, has God rejected his people?

You might be thinking, well, when our Bibles are saying his people, I am one of God's people.

That's me.

See, you know, you might be saying, hey, I go to church, I read my Bible, I pray, I've invited friends, I bring my grandkids, I go to growth community, friends, Bible studies.

You know, I am definitely one of God's people.

That's got to be me.

Well, in fact, when Paul is writing here, he's actually talking about the nation of Israel.

He's talking about the Jews, those who are in the line of Abraham, the descendants of Jacob.

And as we read.

We talk today about God's word.

I'm going to be calling them the nation of Israel because that's what they've grown to be.

And just to provide a quick refresher for us all today, give a quick couple quick details here.

The nation of Israel has a special relationship which is established between them and God going all the way back to the book of Genesis.

And this verse will be on the screen, so don't feel like you need to turn there in your Bibles.

But Genesis 26, 4 says,

I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give your offspring all these lands.

And in your offspring, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.

So God is basically looking at Abraham and he's saying, I am going to absolutely bless your socks off.

I'm going to give you so many descendants, so many children, so many little rugrats running around that you're not going to know what to do.

Because Abraham's family grows.

Into becoming a great nation.

The nation of Israel.

And that all starts from this promise.

And that promise is called the Abrahamic covenant.

And as God establishes this relationship with the nation of Israel, it adds some weight and some importance to this question that Paul is asking us here in verse 1.

I ask then, has God rejected his people?

Has he rejected the nation of Israel?

Well, you may be saying, well, Stephen, why?

Why?

Why is this question even being asked?

Well, the nation of Israel has rejected God.

And the way they chose to do that is they rejected God by trying to earn their salvation by doing good works.

Yes, they believe in God, but how to get to heaven, how to achieve salvation is what they kind of disagree with.

And so they want to try to earn their salvation by trying really hard, putting on their work boots and earning it.

But the reality is, is that view is rooted in pride.

And Romans 10 and Romans 10, 9 argues against this.

It says, Romans 10, 9 does,

So Paul goes on throughout the rest of Romans 11.

Proving that salvation comes by faith and that God has not rejected Israel despite their sin against God.

And so if you would look down back in your Bibles at Romans 11, 1, this is the second section of our verse.

It says,

For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.

So what Paul is doing is saying, hey, I'm going to show you that God is faithful.

And the way that I'm going to do that is by looking at my life first.

Let's look at that.

And Paul is saying, hey, I am a descendant of Abraham.

I am one whom God has made this special covenant with.

And when God makes covenants, he is faithful to them.

So it kind of adds some weight to this question to say, well, if God is not faithful to the nation of Israel and he rejects Israel,

then what about us?

What about me?

Because I'm nothing special.

I'm just an ordinary person.

If God rejects Israel, then, oh boy, I'm in trouble.

I mean, I'm a sinner.

And God said he was going to be faithful and then turns his back on him.

We've got a problem.

I know I'm going to have some questions for God.

And so Paul looks and says, hey, look at my life and how God has been faithful to me.

If you're taking notes today, the story of Paul is found in the book of Acts 9 verses 1.

1 through 19.

And Paul, who goes by the name Saul at this time, was a hater of the followers of Jesus.

His one goal was to harm as many followers of Jesus as possible.

He was a follower of the law.

He would have been a Pharisee.

He would have been well-educated.

And Saul did not believe that Jesus was the one who came to fulfill the Old Testament law.

So he created for himself this goal to kill as many followers.

As many followers of Jesus as he could.

And needless to say, Saul was not on the right team.

But God wanted Paul to be on the right team.

So what did God do?

God stops him in his tracks.

He shines a bright light down from heaven.

He temporarily blinds Saul.

And then from heaven, Paul would have heard his name that he was going by at this time.

And Saul, Saul, why have you persecuted?

So now imagine being temporarily blinded, hearing the voice of God come from heaven.

I imagine Paul had some things to think about at this time.

He had to spend some time in prayer.

Like, hmm, maybe these things I'm doing, maybe I shouldn't be persecuting this God.

Because if he has the power to do this, I wonder what else he has the power to do.

Now think with me.

If a killer of the followers of Jesus, an Israelite, can be transformed to be an author who God uses to write the word of God,

then I think it is safe to say that God does not completely reject Israel because he is able to transform their hearts.

And Paul is an example of this.

Was God okay with Paul's sin?

Absolutely not.

He was not okay with Paul's sin.

That's why he blinded him.

That's why he spoke to him from the heavens.

As our passage would say today, by no means is God okay with Paul's sin.

I think of Psalms 9.4.

You don't have to turn there.

The verse will be on the screen.

It says,

For you are not a God who delights in wickedness.

Evil may not dwell in you.

Our God does not delight or dwell in wickedness.

God does not approve of Saul's sin.

Yet he loved Saul so very much.

He loved him so much that he was willing to speak from the heavens.

He was willing to blind him.

He was willing to stop him from harming believers of Jesus Christ.

Did God turn his back on Saul?

No, he was faithful to him by providing the chance for him to turn from his sin,

just as he does for us.

And God goes on throughout the book of Acts to give Saul a very special purpose.

But I want to stop right here in the story of Paul, in his transformation story.

I want to put the story in the back burner of our minds, so to speak.

Because to follow along with our text today,

Paul goes on to look at another very important figure amongst the nation of Israel.

And that is Elijah, the prophet Elijah.

We read in Romans 11, verses 2 through 5.

I encourage you to follow along with me.

Which says,

God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew.

Do you not know what the scripture says?

How he appeals to God against Israel.

Lord, they have killed your prophets.

They have demolished your altars.

And I am alone.

I am left.

And they seek my life.

But what is God's reply to him?

I have kept for myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.

So too, at the present time, there is a remnant chosen by...

Elijah, the prophet, he's feeling alone.

He's feeling in the depths of despair.

And yet, Elijah calls out to God in his depths of despair.

What a great example for us as we are going through all different things of life

to cry out to God for help.

And as Elijah is alone and is feeling this way,

verse 3 says,

Lord, they have killed your prophets.

They have demolished your altars.

And I alone am left.

They seek my life.

Elijah was feeling like he was the only follower of Jesus at this time.

Yet God answers him by saying,

No, no, no.

You are not alone.

And he points out how there is a remnant, a group of people,

about 7,000 people who believe in the gospel,

who have not bowed their knee to the false idol at the time, Baal.

And I don't want us to miss verse 5 here,

because as I studied God's word

and working through this passage of Romans chapter 11,

I so quickly was skipping over this verse,

but then quickly discovered the importance of verse 5.

So if you would read with me,

Romans 11, 5 says,

So too at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.

God provided a remnant for Elijah,

a group of believers who were faithful,

who believed salvation came or comes by faith.

That same thing is true here for the nation of Israel.

God provides a remnant,

a small group of believers throughout the nation of Israel.

Now, a principle of basic Bible study is that when God repeats himself,

he says the same thing over and over again,

or God acts in the same way over and over again,

we stop and we take note of that.

And we try to figure out,

well,

why is God acting in this way?

Because he must be doing something special.

If you would,

if you have your Bibles open or have God's word on your phones,

turn with me to Romans 9, 27.

So just a page or two over.

Romans 9, 27 says,

And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel,

though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sands of the sea,

only a remnant of them will be saved.

So Paul here is quoting Isaiah from the Old Testament saying,

God is using a remnant.

God then uses a remnant in the life of Elijah as well.

He uses a remnant in the nation of Israel.

So God is acting in the same way over and over again.

So I want to lock in here on the idea of remnants.

How and why is God using remnants?

The how is the easy one, frankly.

If you look at the end of verse five of Romans 11,

it says by grace for into verse six.

But if it is by grace,

it is no longer on the basis of works.

Otherwise, grace would no longer be grace.

Commentators note that it is the election of grace,

which God is acting by.

And Israel has rejected God.

So in response,

God shows that he is faithful to Israel by picking a remnant.

And he does this over and over.

Again, throughout God's word.

Yes, people reject him,

but he provides a remnant of believers in the gospel.

My mind goes to Ephesians two verses eight and nine,

which says for by grace,

you have been saved through faith.

And that is not your own doing.

It is the gift of God,

not as a result of works so that no one may boast.

We are not saved by works,

but by our faith.

that he is faithful by providing a remnant of believers.

And the how is by his grace.

Now, the why here gets a little bit tricky.

But why is God creating these remnants?

Romans 11, seven,

just to continue on in order of our text today.

Romans 11, seven says,

what then Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking.

The elect obtained it,

but the rest were hardened.

So the first part of this,

verse what then Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking.

What it was seeking was salvation.

How?

By their good works.

And that's why they failed.

Second part of this verse,

the elect obtained it,

but the rest were hardened.

The elect are those who God foreknew would accept

that salvation comes through faith.

So those who did not accept salvation by faith,

that's the majority of Israel,

their hearts,

then what happened?

See, when we sin over and over and over again,

our hearts become harder and harder and harder.

So then when we do have opportunities to respond to the gospel,

our hearts are so hard that our eyes and our ears are not open to what God has for us.

And Paul goes on in verses eight, nine, and 10

to then describe the hardened hearts of the nation of Israel.

If you would look down at Romans 11, eight, nine, and 10,

Romans 11, eight, nine, and 10,

it says,

as it is written,

God gave them a spirit of stupor,

eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear

down to this very day.

And David says,

let their table become a snare and a trap,

a stumbling block and a retribution for them.

Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see

and bend their backs forever.

God gave them a spirit of stupor,

a spirit of stupor,

meaning a feeling of tiredness,

As one commentator mentions,

an attitude of spiritual deadness towards spiritual things.

Their eyes could not see,

their ears could not hear spiritual truth from God's word

because they have rejected God over and over again.

So their hearts become harder and harder.

Despite a majority of the nation of Israel's hearts being hard,

God provides this remnant of,

of believers amongst the hard hearts of Israel.

That's why God created these remnants.

To provide encouragement,

to show that he is still faithful.

Now, if you would remember,

just for a moment,

let's look back at Romans 11 verse 1.

Paul and his transformation story.

Let's bring that back from the back burner of our minds

to the forefront of our minds.

Paul is stopped by God.

He stopped in the harming of believers

and he's given a special purpose.

Well, what is that special purpose?

It's seen in Acts 9.15

when a man named Ananias comes and he visits Paul.

And Ananias, he at first doesn't want to go visit Paul

who is known by Saul at this time.

He's looking at Saul like,

I don't want to go there, God.

I know you're telling me I need to go there,

but this dude has been killing believers left and right

and I will be next if I go visit him.

And so now God encourages Ananias by saying,

this in Acts 9.15,

and this is also the purpose

which God has for the rest of Paul's life.

Acts 9.15 says this,

but the Lord said to him,

go for he is a chosen instrument of mine

to carry my name before the Gentiles

and kings and children of Israel.

God wanted to use Paul

to bring the gospel to all people,

both Jew and Gentile.

Gentile being all those who are not.

Not Jews.

The gospel of Jesus Christ

is for all people.

And Romans 11 goes on to explain

that yeah, God has not rejected Israel,

but instead is using their rejection

to provide more opportunities

for all people to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ

and more opportunities for the nation of Israel

to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ.

So we have the opportunity

to accept or reject Jesus.

The gospel of Jesus Christ

is that God sent His one and only Son Jesus

to die on the cross,

rise again on the third day,

making a way for us to confess our sins

and live with Him forever in heaven.

But that means coming before our God

and saying, I have sinned.

I have done wrong.

Would you please forgive me?

We do this through prayer.

When I am teaching at the River Goodrich,

teaching our kids,

I always tell the kids,

well, what does God say back to us

when we ask for the forgiveness of our sins?

And God says, I forgive you and I love you.

And we see that in the life of Paul.

He stands alongside him.

He gives him an opportunity to serve him.

Today you've heard me proclaim

that God does not reject Israel.

And you may be sitting here saying,

okay, Stephen, if God has not rejected Israel,

that means He must not reject me,

which means that I can just keep on doing

whatever I want to do.

I can just keep on sinning,

living the way that I want to live.

But that's the exact opposite

of what I want us to hear

and take from this passage today.

Because while God does not reject Israel,

He reaches out and extends His hand

with salvation,

calling Israel out of their sin

and into an obedient relationship with Jesus.

That same thing is true for us today.

My prayer for us today is that

as our world is full of the rejection of God,

that we, like Paul, will choose to accept Jesus.

As God has been so faithful to us

and He has shown that He is faithful,

how then will we respond to the faithfulness of God?

What step of faith do you need to take today?

If that is accepting the gospel of Jesus Christ

for the very first time,

I'm going to encourage you to take a step of faith.

I would love to pray with you.

Our staff members here,

our volunteers wearing lanyards

would love to chat with you,

would love to pray with you,

answer your questions about the gospel.

If that step of faith is saying,

hey, I need to spend some time before God in prayer

saying, God, would you show me in my heart

where I have chosen to reject you?

Spend some time in prayer.

Take the step of faith.

If you need to go have a conversation

with someone in your life

whom you have not been faithful to,

take a step of faith.

If that's telling a friend, a family,

a family member, a co-worker,

how God has been faithful to you

this past week in your life,

take a step of faith.

Today as we close our gathering,

Nate, our gathering director,

is going to come up and share a song with us.

And as the band begins to play,

I want to encourage you just to take a moment,

quiet your hearts,

forget about all the crazy,

bitterness of life,

and to ask God,

how do I need to take a step of faith?

How do I need to take a step of faith?

I want to encourage you as the song plays

to stay in your seat

and spend some time before the Lord

who made you and loves you so very much.

Would you pray with me?

God, thank you so much for being faithful to us.

Thank you for the work on the cross.

Thank you for loving us so much

that you gave us grace.

God, please convict us.

Help us grow to become more like you today.

We love you, God.

In your name, amen.

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