Sermon
The Goodness And Severity of God
August 7, 2005
Pastor Donald Sheley

I'd like for you to take your Bibles. Go back to that portion that we have been studying from Romans, at least in that area of your Bible; we have spent a number of weeks in Romans chapter 12. Chapters 9, 10 and 11 of the Book of Romans is possibly one of the most profound and possibly one of the most difficult portions of Scripture to explain.

Over my 50 plus years of ministry in the pulpit I have not frequently gone to this passage because of the difficulty of trying to explain it. But there are portions of it that are very, very clear and so I have selected some Scripture verses from chapter 11 to talk today on the subject of the goodness and the severity of God.

Paul writes: "For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them. For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. 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, do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.

You will say then, "Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in." Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. But if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. 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."

Now these chapters deal with the position of the nation of Israel in the historical plan of God, that's why it's so profound. But Paul makes some observations, and he is saying that God in His judgment severely handled the nation of Israel, and if God so dealt with them severely, He can deal with us severely and He will.

Now the greatest tragedy of history is the rejection of Jesus Christ as the Messiah by the nation of Israel. John tells us, "He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, but His own did not receive Him." What a sad verse.

Although Christ had created the world, the people He created did not recognize Him. He was denied the general acknowledgment that should have been His as a Creator. And even more tragic...His very own people, the Jews, rejected Him and finally participated in the death, His death, on a cruel cross. Those who should have been most eager to welcome Him were the first to turn Him away.

One day, Jesus gave a parable concerning this act of rejection by the nation of Israel. Listen to His parable: "Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers, and went into a far country. Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit. And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them. Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.'

But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.' So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. (Those are Jesus' prophetic words of His upcoming death). Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes (that's God), what will he do to those vinedressers? They said to him, "He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers, who will render to him the fruits in their seasons."

Jesus said, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: "The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes." Therefore I say to you (and here's His severity), the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruit of it. And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder."

Now listen to the words of Jesus as He comes to the end of His ministry, and He walks from Bethany and He has approached Jerusalem and He stops to cry and to pray. Listen to Him: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.""

Now the parable which we read was concerning the nation of Israel, its rejection of the Son of God, and the judgment - the kingdom of God taken from her. Now in the passage we read in Romans 11, the branches that were broken off were the people of Israel, and the branches that were grafted in were the Gentiles and Paul, in his closing comments of 10, says, "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. But I say, have they not heard, Yes, indeed: 'Their sound has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world." 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." 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." But to Israel He says: "All day long I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and contrary people."

It was this disobedient and contrary nation of Israel that rejected Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah. Why? Because of their unbelief they were broken off, He did not spare the natural branches.

Now Isaiah, way back in the Old Testament, was weeping over this act of rejection by a nation so blessed by God. Look at what he says: "Hear O heavens, and give ear, O earth! For the Lord has spoken: "I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against Me (those are His chosen people, the nation of Israel); The ox knows its owner and the donkey its master's crib; but Israel does not know, My people do not consider. Alas, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children who are corrupters! They have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked to anger the Holy One of Israel, they have turned away backward."

And Isaiah still has this burden on his heart so he comes to chapter 5 and look at what he says: I'm going to sing to my Well-beloved a song of my Beloved regarding His vineyard (remember we just read the parable about the vineyard): My Well-beloved has a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. He dug it up and cleared out its stones, and planted it with the choicest vine. He built a tower in its midst, and also made a winepress in it: so he expected it to bring forth good grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes.

"And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, Judge, please, between Me and My vineyard. What more could have been done by My vineyard, that I have not done in it? Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes? And now, please let Me tell you what I will do to My vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned; and break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will lay it waste; it shall not be pruned or dug, there shall come up briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no more on it."

Who is the vineyard? "For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are His pleasant plant." So here we have the crying out of an old prophet saying, what more could God have done to express His goodness to a people and be so rejected and scorned for His goodness?

That brings us to page 4 in our notes. That's the burden that Paul is feeling as he opens up these very difficult passages of Romans 9, 10 and 11. Listen to his heart beat, he said: "I tell you the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, who are Israelites..." We had the old prophet weeping, what more could God have done to show His goodness?

We have the Christ entering a city and saying, why? I wanted to gather you as a hen does its chicks, but you have rejected Me. And now Paul feels this same burden for a people who have so ignored the grace of God. Look at what he says. Look at the blessings God's poured out - to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen."

Now this is Paul's point, God has so graciously poured out His goodness upon us, I would to God, he says, if I could go to hell and give myself to be burned for my nation so they would wake up and realize the goodness that they have spurned, I would go there because as a nation God has graciously dealt with us. He lists eight of them. Look at number one, he says, we are sons of God by adoption. "Israel is my firstborn son," God says in Exodus. "Yet the Israelites will be like the sand of the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' they will be called, 'sons of the living God'"

Here's Paul's point, I belong to a nation, the house of Israel, and God in His own sovereign way back in ancient history said you will be My people and I will be your God. We are selected by God; by divine adoption we are the sons of God.

Look at the second one. Not only that, but they had the divine glory, or visible presence of God, dwelling among them. "By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people."

Here's Paul's point. Not only has He chosen us to be His children, but He has manifested His glory among us. While our ancient fathers were traveling through the wilderness they had the cloud to protect them from the sun during the daytime, they had the pillar of fire to guide them by night and to give them heat. God always demonstrated His presence amongst us. God has been good to us. No other nation in the world has been so blessed as the nation of Israel.

That's Paul's point, and then he goes on to number three: we were given divine covenants. A covenant is an agreement made by Almighty God. When He makes an agreement, He keeps it. I list five of them for you. There's the Abrahamic covenant. "On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abraham and said, 'To your descendants I give this land."

There's the mosaic covenant, which is the Ten Commandments recorded in Exodus 20. There's the reestablished covenant. "I am making this covenant, with its oath, not only with you who are standing here with us today in the presence of the Lord our God but also with those who are not here today." And then there's the Davidic covenant. "Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before Me; your throne will be established forever."

And then we have the new covenant that He made with Jeremiah. Look at what He says to that ancient prophet, "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the Lord. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people"

Here's Paul's point, what other nation in the world has God made covenants with and kept them, and even to this day, the Israelite still clings to these covenants that God gave. Paul said we've been a blessed nation. God has made personal agreements with us.

Look at his next one - The nation of Israel received the law. No other nation in the world ever got the law of God. He took Moses on the hillside, they wrote it down, and God gave us the Commandments. God gave us His divine law.

Number five, they worshiped in the temple. Israel also was given the worship ceremonies prescribed for the tabernacle and the temple. God told them how they were to worship. No other nation in the world folks - God said now this is the way I want the place of worship. I want it with these dimensions; I want this here and I want this here, and God gave the recipes for all of the things that went into making their time of worship. He told them how to come, He told them what to do, He told them if they would do this they would see His presence, and time and time again in that sacred place of worship God demonstrated His presence. They had the joy of divinely assigned place of worship and a designed place where God dwelt amongst them. He said we are blessed people. God told us how to worship Him. No other nation did He tell them that.

Look at, he goes on, he says not only did He give them the worship, but he said He's given us promises. And here he is speaking of all of the promises. There are over 300 in the Old Testament concerning the coming of the Messiah. Moses is saying, God so wonderfully told us, forewarned us, gave us that hope that one day He would manifest His glory in the coming of the Messiah - no other nation. He's counting God's goodness.

He goes on... not only that, we've had a wonderful heritage. We've had Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the twelve sons. And from the patriarchs is traced the human ancestry of Christ, thus all Israel is in line to receive God's promises. And it is in Christ that all of God's promises to Israel are fulfilled.

He is saying, look at, we have a marvelous heritage. Look at who God has given us as our ancestors; men who dealt so closely and with God and His dealings, and we have that wonderful heritage as no other nation has. And then he gives us the last one; he said we are the nation to which God manifested Himself. It's through our nation has come the Messiah.

His point is this - we are a nation so blessed. God has divinely dealt with us, but look at what we've done to His goodness! We took His goodness in the person of Christ and we nailed Him to a cross. We rejected His goodness. That's Paul's point. Now Paul said because of it God broke them off.

Now when you go through the Scriptures we read those Scriptures. First of all the kingdom of God was taken from them as a nation. Secondly, we go back to the Old Testament and it says that God destroyed them. I tell you one of the most tragic moments of history is to read the A.D. 70 event when Jerusalem was absolutely annihilated, absolutely abolished, its stones were taken from stone to stone and historians tell us that 1.5 million people died in the streets of Jerusalem in a city no bigger than San Bruno. A judgment of God upon them; the severity of God, and for 2000 years judgment has still been there.

Go back to that moment when in the trial they have an opportunity to clear themselves, what do they say - Crucify Him! Crucify Him! and then they cry out let His blood be upon us and upon our children. They called down a curse from heaven upon them as a nation. And ladies and gentlemen, that's the tragic story of the nation of Israel. For 2000 years they've been driven and chased into every corner of this world, hated, killed, murdered because of their rejection.

I know that in this passage Paul says there will be a redemption time for them, but his point is this: If God brings judgment when goodness is rejected on a nation, He'll also bring it on us if we reject of His goodness. It's a powerful argument. Not only is God good, but God is a judge. And this is Paul's point, I can list for you, and he does, all the goodness that God has demonstrated to us as Israelites, and when He came in the flesh He came to His own, but His own received Him not. And Paul uses that illustration or that metaphor of the breaking off, he said, they were broken. And all these years, all these centuries, the price that's paid for rejecting God's goodness.

We don't have to argue, now from history, that's a proven point, but Paul makes this a personal application to each one of us. You see God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son. God loves you; God loves me, and His mercies are from everlasting to everlasting. Those who call upon the Lord shall be saved. God demonstrates His mercies, His patience, and sometimes some of us took so long in responding to His goodness and His grace, but in His love and His mercy He has touched our lives, forgiven us, and made us new creations in Christ Jesus.

But here's the point of the message, we can go on and on and on and reject that goodness and God's mercy and God's grace, and ultimately pay an eternal consequence.

Go with me to page 7 in your notes. Look at what the Scripture says: "...when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ...these shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power."

His goodness, forgiveness available through Jesus Christ, His mercy from everlasting to everlasting, His grace that includes us all, but when that is rejected ultimately we must face the eternal judge. You know, as your pastor, there are two things that I deal with and it gets more intense as the years roll on, because I have stood now in this pulpit for nearly 46 years. There are great joys in pasturing. I look across this congregation service after service and I see lives that have been wonderfully touched by the grace of God, people who have responded to God's goodness and His mercy and His grace brought to us in the person of Jesus Christ.

You folks sit here today and I know many of you and I have watched that spiritual life grow and it thrills me; those are the joys, that's the privilege of pasturing. But there is also the burden; it's to know that over the years thousands of people have come and gone from this sanctuary, and many of them did not respond to the goodness of God, and that brings tears to my heart every time.

The other day I stood at a graveside out at Skylawn Cemetery. It was a lovely lady who has worshiped with us probably for 30 years. She had been a part of the church longer but she had to go back to the Valley to finish her lifetime. I stood there with a group that was part of the service and I thought of...here's a wonderful mother who loved God and she responded to God's goodness and grace, and I remember the father. I had buried him earlier with cancer, but here are the three children, two boys and a girl, and 40 years ago I dedicated those children, held them in my arms and prayed God bless them.

But standing there at that graveside I saw those children who have rejected God's goodness, rejected His gospel, and rejected His love. The girl is a prostitute on one of the streets in a nearby city, and the two boys have absolutely ruined their lives; their bodies are just simply frail nothings because of drugs and alcohol. And I stood there beside them and I thought to myself, dear God, what a tragedy to live this way when they were surrounded by the message God's love and God's goodness and God's mercy. And their lives are soon going to be finished because they've just almost sinned away all the health that they have.

Ladies and gentlemen, I want you to know that I love preaching about the love of God and His grace, and His mercy, but one of the great deficiencies in the pulpit today is keeping the character of God in balance. So much is talked about His love, little is talked about His severity and His judgment. We live in a time when people want to hear things that tickle their ears and somehow makes them forget the realities of the end of the line, but as your pastor I want you to know just as sure as we are sitting here today, the day will come when we'll all stand before the eternal judge. And what we have done with Jesus Christ, either accepting Him, we will hear those wonderful words when we go into His presence, well done thou good and faithful servant; but if we live our lives rejecting His love and His mercy and His grace, when we stand there on that eternal day we will hear those words, depart from Me, I never knew you.

It's sad to live a life without God, but it's a tragedy to die without God. That's hell.

Paul said I want you to know God is a God of goodness. Look at how He demonstrated His goodness to the nation of Israel. Look at how He's demonstrated His goodness to us in sending His Son, but He will hold us accountable on that eternal day for what we did with Jesus. My prayer is that you've accepted Him as your personal Lord and Savior. Let's bow our heads in prayer, shall we?

Every head is bowed and it's a serious moment. What have you done with Jesus? Oh you say I've admired Him, I like His teachings, I think He was a good man. No, He's got to be more than that folks. He's the Savior of the world. He left heaven's glory to come and die on a cruel cross to pay the penalty, a penalty we could not pay, and there He took your sins and mine and its penalty, and He paid the eternal price; He died for us. And His gospel is this...that if you will put your trust in Him, turn your life over to Him and let Him be your Savior and your God, when life is finished here that glorious welcome into His eternal presence shall take place.

He died so that we could live eternally with Him. You say, pastor, I want to spent eternity with Christ. I want to receive Christ as my Savior. I want you to tell God by raising your hand. God, today I open my heart to the saving grace of Jesus Christ and I want to turn my life over to Christ today. Would you like to raise your hand to God, not to me...God bless you.

Father, You've observed these hands. They have raised them to You, and now by the work of Your Holy Spirit I ask You today to commence a work in these hearts. And I pray Lord Jesus that You'll make Yourself very real to these folks; Your love, Your Grace, and Your forgiveness. And I pray that this will be the day where they begin their journey heavenward with You as Savior and Lord.

Knowing, Lord Jesus, that it's a work of Your Holy Spirit. I can only do so much. I can just simply deliver the message. I leave now the work of that total transformation of grace into Your hands, O Holy Spirit of God, and may it be that these folks who have lifted their hands will experience Your grace in a way so profound, so glorious, and so wonderful they'll never forget it.

Jesus, thank you for loving us so much that You would come and die for us to pay the penalty of our sins. Thank you, thank you very much dear Jesus...and everybody said, amen. God bless you.