and I’m making the point that people when they do evil, God uses their evil to bring about good things. He uses
righteous people to do his will, and he uses wicked people to do his will. And the wicked are now saying here, well, wait a minute, if we do something evil and God turns it to good, we should be getting credit rather than getting blame. And Paul says, they say, let us do evil that good may come. And Paul says, that’s not what I teach. That’s not what I teach. That’s what I’m slanderously
reported to be saying that’s not true. So, way back in chapter three, he makes the point that God will use hardened people. He said, The hardness of your own heart, your own impenitent way, you’re getting yourself ready for wrath. But God uses your impenitence, God uses your hardness of heart to get his purpose.
Done. And in this particular case, Israel rejects Jesus. That’s an evil, the profound evil. God uses their evil in rejecting Jesus and slaying him. He uses that to work redemption for all people. So
We did something bad we we crucified Jesus And you say that without the death and all of that of Jesus nobody could be saved then we did the world a favor killing him.
We ought to get credit for it. That’s their story. Paul in ⁓ eleven and ⁓ verse eleven. I say then had they stumbled that they should fall since he crucified and rejected the Messiah. Was that the end of the whole story? Did God want to be done with them? Did he want to wash his hands of them? No. No. They crucified the Christ.
They open up the door for salvation for the whole world, they’ll let the Gentiles in. They’ll now look at the Gentiles and see the Gentiles blessed by the Messiah. They’ll become jealous and want in. He said, That’s what I’m after. That’s why I preach. I want to provoke to jealousy my own people. Yeah.
Now verse twelve If their fall they’re stumbling by sinning, if their trespass works out to be riches for the world and their failure.
Turns out to be riches for the Gentiles. He said if their failure and their loss turns out to be blessing for the world, we should all smile about it. If their failure and their loss works out lovely. And we’re all smiles. What will be their rise?
Their resurrection. What if all of that, if them doing bad things and God working out marvelous things through the bad things they’re doing, if that worked out great, how much more wonderful will it be? Their fullness, they’re being blessed, they’re being gathered into the Lord Jesus Christ.
He said if the bad things work though marvelously. Think how wonderful the wonderful things are. Christ on the cross, you watch it all going on and you think, that’s terrible. But it’s wonderful for all of that. For Paul was saying Galatians 6:14 God forbid that I should glory in nothing but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. So what? He looks at this horrible thing going on here.
He said, I rejoice in that. Why on earth would you rejoice in that? Because of what it means, what it does, and all of that. Now we see the Jews rejecting Jesus. It looks like an absolute utter bummer. But it’s not the end of the story. He said, God isn’t done with the Jew yet.
Gospel is still for them.