The Wilmington daily Republican., 1901-04-02
SER MON BY
REV ]. SHAPE
Preached at the Delaware Avenue


the Gentiles be come in. And so all
Israel shall be saved" Romans II;
%. 26.
Tue rejection of the Jews was not
total. God did not cast away his
people, whom he foreknew. Elijah
under the juniper tree crying out that
he alone of all the prophets is left,
has yet to learn that 1000 others have
now bowed to Baal. Is then their re-
lection final? The discussion Of the
paragraph from the midst Of which
our text Is take n is introduced with
this question, 81 say then, did they
stumble in order that they might
FAM" And Paul makes quick. ans
wcr with his usual vehement n ga
tive God forbid.h
For the tenth and last time in our
epistle tnis expression occurs, and in
each verse where this "God Forbid
it is at an important point The
places are ga, 9, 81; 6:2, l5:' 7, 13;
8, ia; IL: l, II.
Consider three things which Our
text suggests.
|. IsRAEL's PARTI AL BLINDNESS.
''Blindness in part has happened to
Israel, and for three reasons.
lie misinterpretcd his own Scrip
lures. He could not see that the very
Scriptures that promised him prc.em-
inence, also prophesied his failure.
The best exposer Of human insufficicn-.
cy and human weakness Is the Word
of God. If Paul wants to show that
there is none righteous, no not one,
that Jew and Gentle are alike sold
under sin, he does it by quoting Scrip
ture. If he wishes to set forth sew
en-fold Jewish advantage he appeals
to the Word and If he wishes to de-
clare the Jewish failure, the Bible is
again his proof.
The best way to convince u man OF
his own frailty, and helplessness apart
from God is not by an appeal to rea-
son, but by an appeal TO Scripture.
Faith is reasonable, but it is not found
by reasoning, Abraham standing
above his PROSTATE son with upliEted
knife Is the picture Of human mad
ness, but the writer to the Hebrews
called it faith. (Heb, 1l:l7)
Doubts are settled by believing, not
before believing.
received letter from young
man, whose mother is an hohored
member of our church telling me that
,, he had accepted Jesus as his personal
Saviour and wanted to be bapUised
Easter Sunday morning. lie told me
that he had many doubts and was
much troubled about many things,
evolution being one of them. He did
not settle evolution until he had set
| tied salvation, and he will find no diff
| ficrity now. One cannot adjust the
details of Christian life, until life ex"
| lists.
The failure Of the Jews gave the
| Gcntles their chance for salvation.
| The Jew did not stumble in order
| that he might fall, but through his
| fall salvation has come to the Gen
tiles. A world diffusion of the Worlds
Light has been made possible by the
Jewish failure.
Twice Paul calls the gospel riches
and in each case couples it with Cen
tile salvation. Poor Old Jew!-he is
not dead, but he lies very still where
he has fallen, and while he lies there
the'Gentile over his PROSTATE form
leaps to liberty and to life. The Jew
has grown rich in temporal affairs,
but he has sighted the riches Of the
gospel. His diminutIon is the riches
! Of the Genties; his failure their sue
cess: his emptiness their fitness.
Paul hopes that this may provoke
to rivalry his flesh, that Israel seeing
the Gentle "riches "may be ashamed
to hold out longer, and that some Of
them may be saved. And when they
are received, what shall the receiving
OF them be, but life from the dead?
II. THE FULLNEss OF TIE eENTlLEs.
| What does this mean? The Greek
word tr anslated fulness is the word
"pieoroma. 1t may mean "that
which Is filled (Eph ABB "that with
which a thing is filled" Il Cor. 1923
Mark 8: 49, or it may mean abun-
dance Jno 1:l6. Col ll0. In one
place Matt 0. 16) ten words in the
English are used to translate this
single word "pleorama" ''that-whic
putin -to-tll-it-up.
| In the eleventh chapter Of Romans
| it evidently has a double significance
"that by which loss is repaired
llI2) and fulness is the sense Of full
number III, 25.) This then IS 'the
fnlness oil the Gentiles." Christ is
the head. Every Gentile convert is
an addition to the body OF Christ and
helps to swell the number which will
eventually make complete the Gentle
''fnlness" This is the Gentle period.
We do well to take advantage of the
Jewish rejection, for the stream Of
the Gospel is now turned our way.
Let every Gentle hearer in this house
tonight, wash in that stream and be
clean.
| III. THE ULTIMATE SALVATION OF
TIE JEWS.
"And so all Israel shall be saved. !"
Not necessarily every individual Jew.
But in the same sense in which Amer
lea is Christian nation so the Jew
ish people are to be at last Chris
tian people. lie who once rejected
the Messiah will accept him and Jew
ish "fulness ~, will follow the fulness
of the Gentlles. God is able to graft
them In again and will do so. If they
continue not in unbelief. If the first
point abraham, Isaac. Jacob was
holy, SO also will be the mass. II the
root (Abraham) is holy so will be the
branches. Let not the GENTLE boast.
L IIo cta,dg only By hiq hnlief .nE