CCC Livestream - It's All About The Gospel - Romans Romans 11:25-36

Live Worship Gathering: 10/12/2025

Preaching: Jason Purdy

To Him Be Glory Forever

Jason Purdy

It’s All About The Gospel / Romans 11:25–36

I invite you to take your copy of God’s word and open with me to Romans 11.

We will complete chapter 11 today looking at verses 25-36.

We always provide the children’s activity page on the table to help the kids in the room follow along.

I always enjoy conversations with my kids when they are explaining to me how they think the world should work.

Things like how kids should govern the adults, how kids should make the money and decide what to do with it,

How I should let one of my kids preach one week.

And as a family, we laugh and joke in light hearted conversation about such things, but the truth is as sinners: we are all tempted to constantly question the way things are and why God has or has not orchestrated things in the way that he has.

Couldn’t God have done this? or Shouldn’t God have done that?

And as sinners, it is impossible for us to trust and let God be God without the divine intervention of the Spirit of God by His grace.

Today, we finish the section of the book of Romans that has sought to ask and answer the question: if the gospel of Jesus Christ is true, and Jesus was a Jew, and the Jews are the chosen people of God to whom he gave the patriarchs and the promises, then why is it that the vast majority of Jews have rejected this gospel? And why is it that Gentiles, those who are not Jewish, are the ones who have more readily believed the gospel?

Why in the world has God done it this way?

Has the word of God failed Israel?

Has God rejected his people?

Has Israel stumbled so that they might ultimately fall?

And we have seen the wisdom of God to answer all these questions through Paul all leading the the answer of: By no means!

God’s word has not failed Israel.

God has not ultimately rejected his people - Israel.

Israel has not stumbled in order to ultimately fall.

There is actually a great and grand design of God that no human could or would ever think up, and it shows off the glory of God’s wisdom, knowledge, power, sovereignty, love, grace, and mercy!

And while there is a lot of detail in these three chapters and some things are hard to understand, the verses we will focus on today help bring it all together in a way that causes all who believe on Him to worship and be in awe of the God whose ways are so much higher than our ways and whose thoughts are so much higher than our thoughts.

Would you follow along with me as I read God’s word aloud?

Romans 11:25–36 ESV

25 Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,

“The Deliverer will come from Zion,

he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;

27 “and this will be my covenant with them

when I take away their sins.”

28 As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 30 For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy. 32 For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.

33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord,

or who has been his counselor?”

35 “Or who has given a gift to him

that he might be repaid?”

36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

1. God’s Promises Are Irrevocable And Will Perfectly Come To Pass

Verse 25 tells us that Paul is explaining God’s ultimate plans for Israel and the Jews in comparison and contrast with the Gentiles in order that the Gentiles not think themselves wise in their own sight.

He doesn’t want them or us to be conceited and proud.

Remember verse 18 from last week: do not be arrogant toward the branches.

The branches are the Jews.

What would tempt Gentile believers to be proud?

Well, even though their background is a pagan people, not part of the chosen people of God, God has now saved them by His grace and grafted those who believe the gospel in to be his people.

Compared to the Jews for whom very little of them believed the gospel of Jesus when it was preached.

It would have been tempting for Gentile believers then and us today to think, well, you Jews had your time to be God’s special people, and you blew it, so now, we are the special people of God! Not you!

So, Paul writes, I don’t want you to be wise in your own sight.

Do not be proud, arrogant, and conceited.

Let me share with you the mystery that should keep you from pride.

Paul calls it a mystery, because it is a truth that has not been fully expounded upon previously in the gospels, and it is this:

Verse 25: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles has come in.

Remember, throughout the Old Testament, God chose the Israelite people and many, certainly not all of them, had true saving faith in God and much less Gentiles did though there were some.

Yet, when God sent HIs son Jesus into the world, the corporate Israel as a people by and large rejected Jesus as the Christ and called out for his crucifixion.

And as God sent the Spirit of God on His apostles, and the gospel of Jesus was being preached, the Jews by vast majority rejected the gospel, though their were a few here and there who believed, but it was the Gentile world, all who were not ethnically Jewish that received a greater reception to the gospel message.

But, Paul is saying to the Gentiles, don’t be arrogant about this, because you didn’t do anything!

This has happened by God’s sovereign plan and grace alone.

And notice, a partial hardening has come upon Israel.

We’ve said many times it is partial because God has saved a remnant of Jewish people by grace through faith in every generation.

But look, this partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

So, there are always Jews coming to faith in Jesus in every generation, so we should always be sharing the gospel with Jews,

yet, this is also the time between the first and second coming of Jesus when the gospel is going to all the peoples of the world, the Gentiles and all who repent and believe are saved!

And the partial hardening of the Jews will last until the fulness of the Gentiles has come in.

And we live in the time when the church is taking the gospel to the ends of the earth by the commission of our Lord Jesus.

And when the last Gentile of the elect of God is saved, Jesus will return for His church and many more Jews in the end will be saved, I believe during the tribulation period.

Verse 26: And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”; “and this will be my covenant when I take away their sins.”

This is the way all Israel will be saved, the remnant of Jewish believers throughout all of history, the Jews as part of the revival at the end of the age, and all the Gentiles of all the nations who repented and believed the gospel throughout all of time grafted into God’s people Israel, the true believing Israel of God.

For it was promised by the Old Testament prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah that God, the deliverer, would come and finally banish all ungodliness from Jacob.

And He would finally remove not only from the penalty and the power of sin from His people, but he will finally remove the very presence of sin from among his people.

God, our deliverer, is coming to make all things new and to remove even the presence of sin and ungodliness from his people forever!

You see, whether you realize it or not, the thing you should long for the most just after the glory of God itself is to be removed from even the presence of sin both in you and around you.

This is your future church.

No matter where you are today, your future is one of endless hope, joy, and purpose in the presence of God our Savior and Lord.

Paul then provides a summary beginning in verse 28 to conclude the whole point he has been making about Jewish and Gentile salvation.

Verse 28: As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of your forefathers.

Remember, the Jews brought the greatest amount of opposition toward Christ and persecution toward the early church.

So, it was difficult for the church in Rome to understand how the Jewish Messiah received such a hostile reception among his own people.

And Paul sums it up beginning in verse 28 this way: As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake.

It is the plan of God we have been seeing for the past few weeks now.

In God’s sovereign plan, the majority Jews were enemies of the gospel in order that the gospel might go to the Gentiles.

Even Jewish sin and rejection served a good purpose of God, to get the gospel to the other people of the world.

Remember, in ancient times, it took something more dramatic in order to cross the barriers of culture, language, and geography than it does in our day.

But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of your forefathers.

What does that mean?

It means God chose Israel as a nation and made eternal promises to Israel through the forefathers like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David.

Verse 29: For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

It does not mean that all Jews are saved, by no means, we have established that, but it does mean corporate Israel will not finally fall but all the remnant and all Gentiles grafted into the people of God are saved, for God will never reject His people and will never not make good on his promises.

This is why you can be confident that if you have been called of God and received the gift of salvation by grace through faith, He who began this good work in you will bring you all the way home to Heaven, for the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable.

In the time that the gospel is going to the Gentiles, corporate Israel are by and large enemies of the gospel.

But, they are beloved enemies, for God chose them way back during the time of their forefathers, and his calling and promises will not fail.

Verse 30: For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy.

It is a summary of God’s sovereign plan once again.

Many Gentiles who were pagan background and disobedient to God have now received God’s mercy because the gospel spread to them when the Jews rejected it.

Yet, though the Jews have been disobedient and rejected the gospel, the mercy shown to the Gentiles will be the very thing God uses to draw back in many of His Jewish people.

Both throughout history, as Jews become jealous of Gentile freedom in Christ and repent and believe for salvation.

And in the end, when God takes his church up to be with himself, which leads many Jews to repent and believe during the tribulation.

It’s a marvelous plan of God. One no human would have ever conceived of.

Verse 32: For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.

So, in the end, is it better to be a Jew or to be a Gentile?

Neither, it doesn’t matter in the sense that the most important thing about all of us is that we stand disobedient before the God who created us!

Yet, because we all stand disobedient before God on behalf of our sin no matter what our categories or backgrounds, we all have the opportunity to receive the same mercy from God.

In no way does this passage teach that every single human will end up receiving mercy from God.

No God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all, means he may have mercy on any and all kinds of people regardless of their categories or backgrounds.

Yet, you must repent and believe in order to receive the mercy of God.

We saw Paul make this same argument in chapters 1-3 when he talked about those who had the law of God and those who did not, but God wrote the law on their hearts, so we are all condemned before God, and the only way to be saved is by the mercy of God!

One of the great evils in the world and throughout history has been the separating and the categorizing of peoples, and it is happening today more than ever, and it creates all the -isms.

Racism, sexism, classism, ageism, you name it.

You have the haves and the have nots, the privileged and the victimized, the majority and the minority, and on and on you can go.

And these categories feed pride and discontent, jealousies and animosities.

I warn you, don’t get caught up in it church!

God’s word tells us at the foundation of who we are, the only category that matters for eternity, is whether you are condemned or whether you are justified by God your Creator and Redeemer.

Galatians 3:28 ESV

28 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.

You are either in Christ Jesus, or you are on your own.

You see, the ground is completely level at the foot of the cross.

You will boast of no category or credential with the Holy God, you will either stand alone and receive eternal condemnation, or you will stand with Christ through faith and receive God’s mercy and eternal justification as though you had never sinned.

God’s promises are irrevocable and will perfectly come to pass.

2. To God Be The Glory, Great Things He Has Done

Remember church, Paul has spent eleven chapters and 293 verses laying out God’s salvation plan through the gospel which is the power of God for salvation to anyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

We as a church have taken 31 Sunday morning sermons in order to flesh it out so far.

Paul has shown clearly how we are all condemned in sin,

He has shown how we are only saved and made right with God by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone,

He has shown how this new life we have in Christ leads to sanctification as we say no to sin and yes to righteousness by the power of His presence and grace,

He has shown how in Christ we are being led to glorification where all things are working together for the good of the one who loves God and is called according to His purposes,

He has shown how in Christ, we have predestined, and called, and justified, and glorified, as if it has all already happened because our future is that sure due to the fact that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus!

And though this brand new church in Rome, made up of both Jews and Gentiles, and wrestling with vast Jewish rejection of the gospel and persecution toward Jesus and now toward Jesus’ people,

He has shown that God’s word has not failed toward the Jews nor toward anyone else,

But instead, God has sovereignly used Jewish rejection to take the gospel to the ends of the earth,

For how will they hear without someone preaching? and faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ,

And all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved,

And while it is the pagan background Gentiles who in larger number are being saved today,

God is using Gentile faith to make Jews jealous in order to bring many to faith as well,

And in the end, when Christ raptures his church, many more Jews will see and believe,

And in so doing all the people of God who repent and believe will live with God in joy and separated from even the presence of sin and darkness!

And as Paul was carried along by the Spirit of God to write to the Roman church and, by extension, to all of us of the great plan of God in the gospel,

This all culminated in Paul’s mind and heart in verse 33 where he writes:

Oh!

I know I only use the word “oh” when my whole my mind, emotions, and spirit are feeling the great depths and weight of what is being said.

Whether it be, “Oh church, do not miss this!”

Or, “Oh brother, I am so sorry.”

Or, “Oh sister, I am so grateful.”

So, as Paul is caught up in his mind, emotions, and spirit regarding the great depths and weight of the plan of God in salvation,

He writes in verse 33: Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!

Paul is caught up in worship as he considers the great plan of God in the gospel!

Paul already told us back in chapter 10 that God bestows His great riches on all who call on him for salvation.

In Ephesians, Paul goes on to tell us that the riches we receive are of the full depth of God’s grace and kindness to give us a full inheritance in Christ and these are the riches in glory that we will have and experience for eternity!

And they are the riches that we will joyfully offer back to God for they cannot be compared to His worth and glory alone!

Oh, the depth not only of his riches but his wisdom!

For who else could know all that He knows, and form that knowledge into insight for the greatness of His glory and the good of His people, and then have the all powerful sovereign ability to flesh it all out never allowing a stray molecule in all the universe to fall outside of His grand plan, control, and design!

And you want to know why it is so important for you personally to worship God in the depth of his riches and wisdom and knowledge for His glory and your good?

Here’s why: because throughout your life in this fallen world of sinners, you are going to experience hurts, hangups, shocks, and setbacks that you could have never planned or prepared for.

Things that will cast your soul into the depths of turmoil and confusion and pain,

And in those moments, your only peace, comfort, and salvation will be your God whose depth of riches, wisdom, and knowledge outweigh the depths of your pain, suffering, and confusion.

The Psalms say: deep cries out to deep.

That means in the depth of your darkness you can cry out to the greater depths of God’s riches of love, mercy, and grace and trust in the depth of his knowledge and wisdom to see what you do not see and understand what you could never understand.

Second half of 33: How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

Inscrutable means impossible to fully understand or interpret.

I’ve said before: a God that I can fully understand and figure out would not be a God big enough to be worth worshipping.

And I am so thankful that God’s judgments are unsearchable and His ways beyond finding out because there are a lot of things in my life and experience and a lot of things in the world that I don’t understand and that I would have never planned this way,

But I can trust in the God who knows, who understands, and who has purposed to finally work all things for my good and His glory!

If you think that predestination, and election, and freewill, and the fact that all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved is the greatest mystery of God,

I would just remind us that we live in a world where our children sometimes die before we do,

And some have chronic pain that is so debilitating and seemingly senseless,

And we have brothers and sisters imprisoned and killed for their faith around the world all the time.

And every single one of us has a history that we would not have written exactly as it has been written,

But in all of it, we can worship the God of all riches and wisdom and knowledge whose judgments are unsearchable and ways are inscrutable,

Yet, nothing in all creation can separate us from His love and good plan for our future if we are in Christ!

Verse 34: “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?”

It is incredible because God has revealed to us all things that we need to know and believe in order to live in faith and godliness, but there is so much more we do not know.

Who has known the mind of the Lord? Who has been his counselor?

One of the most humbling realities in the universe is when something we don’t want to happen happens and we had absolutely no say in the matter and no control to make it happen any differently.

Just consider the salvation plan laid out to us in chapters 1-11.

Would you have conceived of any of it?

If God took counsel with you, would you have suggested any piece of this plan?

Probably not, and it doesn’t matter, because he would never take counsel with you, me, or anyone, for His is all sufficient in His knowledge, wisdom, judgments, and sovereign rule all on his own!

This is why the old hymn commands us to “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.”

You don’t have to understand, and you certainly don’t get to add your two sense!

It is more than enough to trust and obey the one who does.

Verse 35: “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?”

Have you ever been tempted in the midst of your hurt and disappointment to cry out to God, “God, you owe me!”

Look at how good I’ve been. Look at the things I have done for you!

But the truth is: God owes no man anything!

What gift could be given a God who owns all things?

For it is the height of arrogance to believe that God could possibly in your debt!

The God whom this world and this universe cannot contain is a God who has everything to give and nothing needed to be received.

For He is all sufficiently sustaining in himself.

We see the summary of it all in verse 36: For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

The truth is: there is nothing truly secular or neutral in all of the universe.

All things were made by God and through God and to God and for God.

And God in His good providence guides all things for His glory and the good of his people.

You could no more outrun God or his purposes more than you could be removed from your own soul.

All is God’s and we are His and He is now and has always and will always continue to move every dot and speck both inside and outside the universe by His sovereign plan for His glory and the good of those who love him.

In response, the question becomes:

Do you know about God or do you know God?

These are two very different things and they mean the difference between eternal life and eternal death for you.

Knowing about God means you can tell me some Bible facts and you can attribute some of the good things in your life to God and you can give him a nod with church attendance, or a prayer when you are in a bind, or a dollar in the offering plate when you have something left over.

But when you know God, you know and understand that nothing in your entire life or existence has ever or will ever fall outside of the jurisdiction of your Lord God and His Son Jesus Christ.

When you know God, you know that whether you pass through the fire or the water, your God is with you, He has begun a work of salvation in you that he will faithfully complete, and you are willing to risk and go to the ends of the earth if that is what God asks because your whole life is about trust and obedience to the God worthy of all worship.

The difference in knowing about God and knowing God is the difference in understanding that God sent His son Jesus to die for the world, and God sent His son Jesus to die for me, in my place, for my sins.

Let me warn you, to truly know God is not to get an easier life or to have your questions answered.

To know God is to surrender to God’s plan and will for your life no matter what knowing that He is good and He is trustworthy.

Oh church, may we worship God for who he is and what great things he has done!

Let’s pray.