• Main Idea: God has promised to save his people and we can be certain that he will never reject those who confess that he is Lord.
• Head Change: To know that God always keeps his word.
• Heart Change: To feel confident that God will accomplish everything he promised.
• Life Change: To persevere in our belief that God is Lord and that salvation is found in him alone.

Have you ever made a promise you were unable to keep? What promise did you make?

Have you ever been promised something that never came to fruition? What was that experience like for you?

It’s safe to say that all of us have experienced, at one point or another, what it’s like to have our trust broken. We may have even been the ones to break another’s trust by not keeping our word or making a promise we couldn’t keep. But God is not like that—he always keeps his word.

In this session, J.D. will walk us through Romans 11 and help us understand what it means that God always keeps his promises.

Read Romans 11:1–27.

Show Session 6: Romans 11:1–27 (16 minutes).

J.D. opened this session by talking about the promises God has made, both to Israel and to us. He suggested that Paul’s readers may have been skeptical about God’s ability or willingness to keep his promises. Do you ever wonder about God’s ability or willingness to keep the promises he’s made? When do these questions tend to present themselves? Why do you think we question that God will keep his promises?

To begin this chapter, Paul asks a penetrating question: “has God rejected his people?” He answers with a resounding, “Absolutely not!” But while Paul is speaking specifically of Israel here, we may have wrestled with the same question ourselves. Have you ever worried that you’ve been rejected by God? What led you to those worries? What or whom did God use to minister to you in those moments?

Paul uses himself—an Israelite—as proof that God has not rejected Israel or failed to keep his promises to them. In what ways is personal testimony a powerful way to answer questions like the one Paul is addressing?

Going further, Paul adds Scriptures in verse 3 to prove his point—particularly, the story of Elijah in the book of 1 Kings. Elijah pleaded with God against Israel, who had “killed [God’s] prophets and torn down [his] altars.” Yet God refused to reject them because he there were still seven thousand faithful men and women in Israel. god is far more patient with us than we are with one another. He is, thankfully, much more willing to forgive others than we are. In what ways is God’s patience exercised for the good of his people? How has God shown patience to you?

Speaking of the remnant that God has set aside for himself, he says they were “chosen by grace.” And if they were chosen “by grace,” then it’s not a matter of works, “otherwise grace ceases to be grace.” How would you define the grace of God?

Paul goes on to say in verse 7 that “Israel did not find what it was looking for, but the elect did find it. The rest were hardened.” In other words, God’s acceptance, which we’re all longing for, comes not as a result of effort but by grace. When did you first grasp the goodness of God’s grace? How did your life change as a result?

The language used in verses 7–8 describes the hardening that set in over Israel. Citing the prophet Isaiah, Paul writes that “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that cannot see and ears that cannot hear, to this day.” And lest we assume that these words only apply to Israel, Paul later warns readers to not follow their lead. How can we keep ourselves from becoming hardened to the gospel? What are the habits and practices you maintain to keep yourself receptive to God’s grace?

Paul continues to cite the Old Testament in verses 9–10, this time using David’s words in Psalm 69 to highlight the condition of Israel’s heart. The language David uses sounds like Paul’s own words in Romans 1 where he says that “God delivered them over” to their corrupt desires. Have you ever been given what you desired, only to find that it was not best for you? What did you learn from that experience? How can you apply that lesson to your relationship with God?

After detailing the unfaithfulness of Israel, Paul comes back to the question he opened the chapter with. He asks now, “have they stumbled so as to fall?” Emphatically, he replies: “Absolutely not!” Despite their disobedience, no one is beyond God’s forgiveness. When have you experienced a significant stumbling in your faith? Did you ever wonder if you’d fallen away too far? How do Paul’s words about Israel encourage you as you consider your own experience with stumbling?

God welcomed believing Gentiles into his family, which made Israel jealous. Paul, in verse 14, says he tries to draw on their jealousy to “save some of them,” which may seem strange to us. But God knows our jealousy and can sovereignly use it for our good. How do you react to the idea that God can use something negative, like our jealousy, to accomplish good for us?

In verse 16, Paul introduces the metaphor of a root. He talks about branches being broken off from the root (Israelites) and branches being grafted into the root (Gentiles) and uses that idea to instruct the Gentiles not to boast as if they are better than Israel. Have you ever felt better than others because you’re a Christian? What would you say led to those feelings? How do we fight against the tendency we have toward pride? 

One of the ways Paul seeks to keep us away from the boasting is by reminding us of God’s response to Israel’s unbelief. “If God did not spare the natural branches,” he says in verse 21, “he will not spare you either.” Their unbelief (i.e., unfaithfulness and pride) led to their removal. In what ways do you find yourself drawn toward pride or unbelief? What does it look like to put those things to death? How do Paul’s words here help motivate you to “remain in God’s kindness” (v. 22)?

After warning his Gentile listeners against going the way of Israel, Paul returns in verse 23 to his fellow Israelites, saying “even they, if they do not remain in unbelief, will be grafted in, because God has the power to graft them in again.” Israel had been saved and had fallen away, yet God has the power to bring them back. Have you ever been in the grips of unbelief, even as a Christian? Are you there now? What was/is that experience like for you?

In what ways does it encourage you to know that God can and will bring us back from our unbelief?

In verse 25, Paul tells his readers that a “partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in,” which he calls a mystery. This passage, and the chapter as a whole, is challenging and debated among scholars. Mysteries are all over the Bible and are a critical, and even formative, part of our faith because they humble us and help us to marvel at God’s wisdom. When you encounter difficult passages like this one, how do you typically respond? What questions do you have about this passage? What could it look like for this group to grapple with this mystery together?

“And in this way,” Paul says, “all Israel will be saved.” In other words, even when we don’t know what God is doing or don’t understand why certain things are happening, his words always prove true. Have you ever been confused about or even dismayed by what God was doing (or not doing) in your life? What can you do to remind yourself that he can be trusted to keep his word?

Paul ends this portion of the chapter by turning to the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah, restating promises that God made to his people in the Old Testament. Notice how many times the word “will” is used in verses 26–27. What do these passages say about the certainty of God’s promises? Who, in this passage, is the one that “turns godlessness away from Jacob”? Who takes away their sins?

In what ways can the certainty with which Paul communicates these truths encourage us in our daily life?

While it’s deeply encouraging, Romans 11 is a challenging and downright confounding chapter—it has been debated for as long as it’s been around. What questions did you have about chapter 11 coming into this session? What deeper insights were you able to gain through J.D.’s teaching and through your discussion? What questions do you still have about what chapter 11 contains?

What can you do to train yourself to turn to God when you’re faced with mystery, either in reading the Bible or in your life experience? How can you use his promises as a tool for building trust in him?

Though Romans 11 is challenging, what’s clear from these passages is that God’s words to his people are certain. He will accomplish all that he’s promised. And because that’s true, we can exercise confident trust in him. He is trustworthy. He is faithful. He is good.

As with all the Bible, the continual study of this chapter in the book of Romans will elicit deeper insight, greater understanding, and, by God’s grace, increasing conformity to the image of Christ. Feel free to return to this session again to remind yourself of God’s faithfulness to his word and to his people.