THE MYSTERY OF THE SALVATION OF THE GENTILES/ LE MYSTÈRE DU SALUT DES GENTILS

CHRIST THE ROCK CONGREGATION

SUNDAY MARCH 21ST 2021

Sermon par Pasteur Marc E Siméon

LE MYSTÈRE DU SALUT DES GENTILS

THE MYSTERY OF THE SALVATION OF THE GENTILES

Ro 11:33 ¶ O profondeur de la richesse, de la sagesse et de la science de Dieu! Que ses jugements sont insondables, et ses voies incompréhensibles! Car

 34 Qui a connu la pensée du Seigneur, Ou qui a été son conseiller?

 35 Qui lui a donné le premier, pour qu’il ait à recevoir en retour?

 36 C’est de lui, par lui, et pour lui que sont toutes choses. A lui la gloire dans tous les siècles! Amen!

Ro 11:33 ¶ Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!

 34 “For who has known the mind of the LORD? Or who has become His counselor?”

 35 “Or who has first given to Him And it shall be repaid to him?”

 36 For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

INTRODUCTION

• What an expression of exclamation and praise that Paul uttered in the last verses of Romans chapter 11!
• The apostle Paul had reached the pinnacle of his emotion as he was meditating on the mystery of the salvation of the gentiles.
• It was as if Paul was hit by a massive revelation that shook the foundation all his entire belief system.
• There are times when the Holy Spirit just decides to drop a massive revelation in one’s spirit.
• Sometimes it happens in the course of an intense moment of prayer.
• Sometimes it happens in our dreams while we are sleeping.
• Sometimes it happens while one is reading the Word of God.
• It can happen while one is listening to a sermon.
• Many a times it happens in the midst of praise and worship.
• From a Jewish standpoint, it was really strange to see how the gentiles were embracing the Gospel, while the Jews for whom the plan of salvation was crafted in the first place showed little interest to it.
• How come the gentiles who had no parts of the promises of Abraham end up being the primary partakers of the Gospel while the Jewish people who long waited for it got pushed on the side?

John 1:11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. (NKJV)

 11 Elle est venue chez les siens, et les siens ne l’ont point reçue. (LSV)

Ac 13:46 Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. (NKJV)

 46 Paul et Barnabas leur dirent avec assurance: C’est à vous premièrement que la parole de Dieu devait être annoncée; mais, puisque vous la repoussez, et que vous vous jugez vous-mêmes indignes de la vie éternelle, voici, nous nous tournons vers les païens. (LSV)

• It was the God of the Jews that these gentiles were embracing.
• It was the intimacy they desired to have with God that these gentile invaders of the faith were enjoying.
• It was the mission that was first conferred to them that these gentiles save a handful of Jews were fulfilling.
• Paul knew that the calls of God are irrevocable with regard to the seeds of Abraham.
• Yet, it was the gentiles who were living the realities of the promises.
• A great revival sparked in Antioch when the Gospel was introduced to the gentiles.
• Peter went to Cornelius house and they were all baptized and filled with the Holy Ghost.
• Paul went to Macedonia and the Gospel was spread like a while fire.
• The more the Jewish people were becoming indifferent toward the Gospel, the more the gentiles were embracing it.
• God is using the zeal of the gentile believers to spark the jealousy of the Jewish people.
• In Romans chapter 10 and 11 Paul rebuked the gentiles who now began to look down on the Jews as if they were cut off from the plan of God forever.

 Ro 10:19-21 Mais je dis: Israël ne l’a-t-il pas su? Moïse le premier dit: J’exciterai votre jalousie par ce qui n’est point une nation, je provoquerai votre colère par une nation sans intelligence.

 20 Et Ésaïe pousse la hardiesse jusqu’à dire: J’ai été trouvé par ceux qui ne me cherchaient pas, Je me suis manifesté à ceux qui ne me demandaient pas.

 21 Mais au sujet d’Israël, il dit: J’ai tendu mes mains tout le jour vers un peuple rebelle Et contredisant.

Ro 10:19 But I say, did Israel not know? First Moses says: “I will provoke you to jealousy by those who are not a nation, I will move you to anger by a foolish nation.”

 20 But Isaiah is very bold and says: “I was found by those who did not seek Me; I was made manifest to those who did not ask for Me.”

 21 But to Israel he says: “All day long I have stretched out My hands To a disobedient and contrary people.”

• Paul warned the gentiles that they were the branches wild olives who were grafted in the true olive tree.
• Gentile believers needed to understand that the Jewish people were in alliance with God by election and that they were grafted in God by grace and not by merits.
• Paul warned the gentiles to hold fast to their salvation less they suffer the same lot of Jews who took God for granted.

Ro 11:17-22

17 And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree,

 18 do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.

 19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.”

 20 Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear.

 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either.

 22 Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.

Ro 11:17 Mais si quelques-unes des branches ont été retranchées, et si toi, qui étais un olivier sauvage, tu as été enté à leur place, et rendu participant de la racine et de la graisse de l’olivier,

 18 ne te glorifie pas aux dépens de ces branches. Si tu te glorifies, sache que ce n’est pas toi qui portes la racine, mais que c’est la racine qui te porte.

 19 Tu diras donc: Les branches ont été retranchées, afin que moi je fusse enté.

 20 Cela est vrai; elles ont été retranchées pour cause d’incrédulité, et toi, tu subsistes par la foi. Ne t’abandonne pas à l’orgueil, mais crains;

 21 car si Dieu n’a pas épargné les branches naturelles, il ne t’épargnera pas non plus.

 22 Considère donc la bonté et la sévérité de Dieu: sévérité envers ceux qui sont tombés, et bonté de Dieu envers toi, si tu demeures ferme dans cette bonté; autrement, tu seras aussi retranché.

• Paul specified that some of the branches of the true olive tree were cut off but not all.
• Paul also underlined that the tree remained the same and that the branches of the wild olive tree were beneficiaries of an act of extraordinary grace.
• Paul warned the gentiles that God can reverse the order at will if the gentiles do not take heed to their salvation.
• Another mystery that Paul had unearthed in this body of the Scriptures is that, God is no respecter of person.
• Paul saw that God had as much love all alone for the gentiles as He had for the Jews.
• Paul discovered that God had been working on a hidden master plan to save all men of all races when He chose Abraham.
• God was very much the God of all inhabitants of the earth even if He was identified as the God of Israel.
• God is being creating Himself a righteous and holy nation made up from all the families of the earth, and not just from the immediate seeds of Abraham.
• Paul reminded the gentiles to never take God for granted as did the Jews.
• John the Baptist warned the Jews to stop relying on the false assumption that there were right with God by birth right because the blood of Abraham flew in their veins.
• John told them that “out of these stones”, meaning the gentiles, God can generate children to Abraham.
• John wanted the Jews to think of their relationship with Abraham as a spiritual venture instead of an inheritance.

THE MYSTERY OF THE MASTER PLAN OF SALVATION

Ro 11:32 Car Dieu a renfermé tous les hommes dans la désobéissance, pour faire miséricorde à tous. (LSV)

 32 For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all. (NKJV)

• Sometimes the best way to extinguish wild fire is by setting fire ahead of time on the path of the wild fire.
• God allowed mankind to fall in sin so that he could introduce a greater plan of mercy to mankind through the means of repentance.
• The Bible says that God has committed all men to disobedience.
• It pleased God for mankind to be vowed to sin so that all men can recognize their fallen state and seek the mercy of God for the salvation of their souls.

Ro 3:23 Car tous ont péché et sont privés de la gloire de Dieu; (LSV)

 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (NKJV)

 24 et ils sont gratuitement justifiés par sa grâce, par le moyen de la rédemption qui est en Jésus-Christ. (LSV)

 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, (NKJV)

• The revelation of the salvation of the gentiles is not easy to swallow if you are a Jewish person.
• You spend all your life thinking that you were better than others and that you stand holier in the sights of God, only to discover that God put you in the same bag as everyone else.
• You call them uncircumcised, pigs, dogs, pagan, and all sorts of offensive names, only to see that they are in equal footing with you in the sights of God.
• They can now get access to God independent of Judaism contrary to the way it was in the Old Testament.
• Paul was ready for this great revelation because God had done a radical transformation in his soul on the road to Damascus, but many of his compatriots were not pleased to see gentiles invading their faith and embracing their God.
• Paul even had to do the hard job of protecting gentile believers from falling under the grinds of Judaism.

THE INFINITE WISDOM OF GOD

• People who have appreciation for arts would pay a lot of money for the original work of some master painters.
• The plan of the salvation of mankind is so well crafted that it draw attention to the greatness of the wisdom of its Maker.
• The one who is most surprised by the infinite wisdom of God is Satan himself.
• Satan had made a foul out of himself thinking he could figure God out by causing man to fall in sin.
• God used the fall of man to promote the human race to be adopted as legal spiritual children of God.
• The fall of the Jews have afforded God the opportunity to offer salvation to the entire human race.
• The bad as turned to good and God’s name will be glorified forever and ever.
• In just a little while this present dispensation will end.
• And in another while, the millennium kingdom of Christ will be in effect so that all the Jews can come back to God.
• And in another while all the elects and the saints of the Old and the New Testament will embark to a new era to spend eternity in the presence of God.
• God has taken a long course from the fall of the angels and the fall of man to complete restoration of His kingdom.
• At last, the will of God will prevail, evil will be destroyed, and a remnant of humanity will glorified.
• I am joining Paul to avow:

Ro 11:33-36

33 ¶ O profondeur de la richesse, de la sagesse et de la science de Dieu! Que ses jugements sont insondables, et ses voies incompréhensibles! Car

 34 Qui a connu la pensée du Seigneur, Ou qui a été son conseiller?

 35 Qui lui a donné le premier, pour qu’il ait à recevoir en retour?

 36 C’est de lui, par lui, et pour lui que sont toutes choses. A lui la gloire dans tous les siècles! Amen!

Ro 11:33-36

³³ ¶ O, gade jan Bondye rich non! Bon konprann li, konesans li, nou pa ka sonde yo! Sa depase nou anpil. Ki moun ki ka esplike jijman Bondye? Ki moun ki konprann lide li gen nan tèt li? Jan sa ekri nan Liv la:

³⁴ Ki moun ki konnen sa k’ap pase nan tèt Mèt la? Ki moun ki ka ba li konsèy?

³⁵ Ki moun ki te janm ba li kichòy nan lide pou Bondye renmèt li sa?

³⁶ Se li menm, Bondye, ki fè tout bagay. Se gremesi li tout bagay la. Se pou li tout bagay ye. Lwanj pou Bondye tout tan tout tan! Amèn.

Ro 11:33-36

33 ¶ Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!

 34 “For who has known the mind of the LORD? Or who has become His counselor?”

 35 “Or who has first given to Him And it shall be repaid to him?”

 36 For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.