811 Sing for joy to God our strength ; Shout joyfully to the God of Jacob . 2 Raise a song , strike the timbrel , The sweet sounding lyre with the harp . 3 Blow the trumpet at the new moon , At the full moon , on our feast day . 4 For it is a statute for Israel , An ordinance of the God of Jacob . 5 He established it for a testimony in Joseph When he went throughout the land of Egypt . I heard a language that I did not know : 6 "I relieved his shoulder of the burden , His hands were freed from the basket . 7 "You called in trouble and I rescued you; I answered you in the hiding place of thunder ; I proved you at the waters of Meribah . Selah .
8 " Hear , O My people , and I will admonish you; O Israel , if you would listen to Me! 9 "Let there be no strange god among you; Nor shall you worship any foreign god . 10 " I, the Lord , am your God , Who brought you up from the land of Egypt ; Open your mouth wide and I will fill it. 11 "But My people did not listen to My voice , And Israel did not obey Me. 12 "So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart , To walk in their own devices . 13 "Oh that My people would listen to Me, That Israel would walk in My ways ! 14 "I would quickly subdue their enemies And turn My hand against their adversaries . 15 " Those who hate the Lord would pretend obedience to Him, And their time of punishment would be forever . 16 "But I would feed you with the finest of the wheat , And with honey from the rock I would satisfy you."
821 God takes His stand in His own congregation ; He judges in the midst of the rulers . 2 How long e will you judge unjustly And show partiality e to the wicked ? Selah . 3 Vindicate the weak and fatherless ; Do justice to the afflicted and destitute . 4 Rescue the weak and needy ; Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked . 5 They do not know nor do they understand ; They walk about in darkness ; All the foundations of the earth are shaken .
6 I said , "You are gods , And all of you are sons of the Most High . 7 "Nevertheless you will die like men And fall like any one of the princes ." 8 Arise , O God , judge the earth ! For it is You who possesses all the nations .
831 O God , do not remain quiet ; Do not be silent and, O God , do not be still . 2 For behold , Your enemies make an uproar , And those who hate You have exalted themselves . 3 They make shrewd plans against Your people , And conspire together against Your treasured ones. 4 They have said , "Come , and let us wipe them out as a nation , That the name of Israel be remembered no more ." 5 For they have conspired together with one mind ; Against You they make a covenant : 6 The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites , Moab and the Hagrites ; 7 Gebal and Ammon and Amalek , Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre ; 8 Assyria also has joined with them; They have become a help to the children of Lot . Selah .
9 Deal with them as with Midian , As with Sisera and Jabin at the torrent of Kishon , 10 Who were destroyed at En-dor , Who became as dung for the ground . 11 Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb And all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna , 12 Who said , " Let us possess for ourselves The pastures of God ." 13 O my God , make them like the whirling dust , Like chaff before the wind . 14 Like fire that burns the forest And like a flame that sets the mountains on fire , 15 So pursue them with Your tempest And terrify them with Your storm . 16 Fill their faces with dishonor , That they may seek Your name , O Lord . 17 Let them be ashamed and dismayed forever , And let them be humiliated and perish , 18 That they may know that You alone , whose name is the Lord , Are the Most High over all the earth .
19 You will say then , "Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in." 20 Quite right , they were broken off for their unbelief , but you stand by your faith . Do not be conceited e , but fear ; 21 for if God did not spare the natural branches , He will not spare you, either . 22 Behold then the kindness and severity of God ; to those who fell , severity , but to you, God's kindness , if you continue in His kindness ; otherwise you also will be cut off . 23 And they also , if they do not continue in their unbelief , will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again . 24 For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree , and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree , how much more will these who are the natural e branches be grafted into their own olive tree ?
25 For I do not want you, brethren , to be uninformed of this mystery -so e that you will not be wise in your own estimation -that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; 26 and so all Israel will be saved ; just as it is written , " THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION , HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB ." 27 " THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS ." 28 From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake , but from the standpoint of God's choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers ; 29 for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable . 30 For just as you once were disobedient to God , but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience , 31 so these also now have been disobedient , that because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy . 32 For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all .
33 Oh , the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God ! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways ! 34 For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE Lord , OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR ? 35 Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT MIGHT BE PAID BACK TO HIM AGAIN? 36 For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things . To Him be the glory forever . Amen .
(Read Romans 11:11-21)
The gospel is the greatest riches of every place where it is. As therefore the righteous rejection of the unbelieving Jews, was the occasion of so large a multitude of the Gentiles being reconciled to God, and at peace with him; the future receiving of the Jews into the church would be such a change, as would resemble a general resurrection of the dead in sin to a life of righteousness. Abraham was as the root of the church. The Jews continued branches of this tree till, as a nation, they rejected the Messiah; after that, their relation to Abraham and to God was, as it were, cut off. The Gentiles were grafted into this tree in their room; being admitted into the church of God. Multitudes were made heirs of Abraham's faith, holiness and blessedness. It is the natural state of every one of us, to be wild by nature. Conversion is as the grafting in of wild branches into the good olive. The wild olive was often ingrafted into the fruitful one when it began to decay, and this not only brought forth fruit, but caused the decaying olive to revive and flourish. The Gentiles, of free grace, had been grafted in to share advantages. They ought therefore to beware of self-confidence, and every kind of pride or ambition; lest, having only a dead faith, and an empty profession, they should turn from God, and forfeit their privileges. If we stand at all, it is by faith; we are guilty and helpless in ourselves, and are to be humble, watchful, afraid of self-deception, or of being overcome by temptation. Not only are we at first justified by faith, but kept to the end in that justified state by faith only; yet, by a faith which is not alone, but which worketh by love to God and man.
(Read Romans 11:22-32)
Of all judgments, spiritual judgments are the sorest; of these the apostle is here speaking. The restoration of the Jews is, in the course of things, far less improbable than the call of the Gentiles to be the children of Abraham; and though others now possess these privileges, it will not hinder their being admitted again. By rejecting the gospel, and by their indignation at its being preached to the Gentiles, the Jews were become enemies to God; yet they are still to be favoured for the sake of their pious fathers. Though at present they are enemies to the gospel, for their hatred to the Gentiles; yet, when God's time is come, that will no longer exist, and God's love to their fathers will be remembered. True grace seeks not to confine God's favour. Those who find mercy themselves, should endeavour that through their mercy others also may obtain mercy. Not that the Jews will be restored to have their priesthood, and temple, and ceremonies again; an end is put to all these; but they are to be brought to believe in Christ, the true become one sheep-fold with the Gentiles, under Christ the Great Shepherd. The captivities of Israel, their dispersion, and their being shut out from the church, are emblems of the believer's corrections for doing wrong; and the continued care of the Lord towards that people, and the final mercy and blessed restoration intended for them, show the patience and love of God.
(Read Romans 11:33-36)
The apostle Paul knew the mysteries of the kingdom of God as well as ever any man; yet he confesses himself at a loss; and despairing to find the bottom, he humbly sits down at the brink, and adores the depth. Those who know most in this imperfect state, feel their own weakness most. There is not only depth in the Divine counsels, but riches; abundance of that which is precious and valuable. The Divine counsels are complete; they have not only depth and height, but breadth and length, Ephesians 3:18, and that passing knowledge. There is that vast distance and disproportion between God and man, between the Creator and the creature, which for ever shuts us from knowledge of his ways. What man shall teach God how to govern the world? The apostle adores the sovereignty of the Divine counsels. All things in heaven and earth, especially those which relate to our salvation, that belong to our peace, are all of him by way of creation, through him by way of providence, that they may be to him in their end. Of God, as the Spring and Fountain of all; through Christ, to God, as the end. These include all God's relations to his creatures; if all are of Him, and through Him, all should be to Him, and for Him. Whatever begins, let God's glory be the end: especially let us adore him when we talk of the Divine counsels and actings. The saints in heaven never dispute, but always praise.
