9 - YOUR UNCLAIMED RICHES
March 13, 1966
Henry F. Kulp
Romans 11: 11 - 15 I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them. For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?
In this chapter, God has been showing us that He has not cast away the nation Israel, He has merely set them aside for a given season, and in setting aside the nation, He is now working out a brand new plan, and this new plan is wrapped up in verse 13 where it speaks of Paul as the apostle of the Gentiles. For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:
Here we have a Jew going to the Gentiles, and he is going to them with a brand new message that has never been heard before. It is called the mystery in this chapter.
Have you ever gone on a trip, and something has gone wrong with your car? You drive it to a garage and you tell your story to the manager of the garage, and you say, I have to be at a certain place tomorrow evening at six o’clock and it is about 150 miles from here—is it possible to have my car fixed in time so I can reach my destination on time? And so he calls a couple of mechanics from another part of the garage, and he tells them, drop the job you are doing, and get this job done, and in a very short time you are on your way, and you reach your destination at the appointed time.
That is exactly what God is doing—God had a plan—He had a program—it is an earthly kingdom—the nation Israel will be the top nation, but God has set that nation aside. He dropped work on that because of the unbelief of the nation Israel, and now he is working on a brand new program, and as soon as this program is finished, He will get back on the other one. For 2,000 years He worked with Israel, He has stopped for the time being, and now for the last 2,000 years He has worked with the church which is the Body of Christ.
1/ It is wonderful to know that God has a plan, and God is working that plan. If you study history, you will find simply confusion—it is the rise of one nation, and the fall of that nation. The rise of another nation, and then that one is defeated by another nation —that is history, it is all traveling in a circle. But God has a plan behind it all, and the marvelous thing about this is that He reveals this plan to us. We can know what He is doing. Right now, He is not dealing with nations He is dealing with individuals, winning individuals to Himself, but one of these days He is going to get back to the nations, and Israel will be the one nation God will work through.
2/ Now let us notice, verse 12 Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?
If the fall of them be the riches of the world—that means mankind, and, of course, it is speaking of the Gentiles, and the diminishing of them, the riches of the Gentiles—how are the Gentiles rich? How have they been made rich? By being recipients of God’s grace.
In ages past, God did not exhibit grace to the Gentiles, God did not deal with the Gentiles, but now He is dealing with them—for 2,000 years they had been cast away, but now they are in a position to receive the grace of God. Anyone who is a recipient of the grace of God is rich. Did you ever notice in the book of Ephesians, the connection between riches and grace?
Ephesians 1: 7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
Here you have the riches of His grace.
Then notice, Ephesians 2: 7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
Here we read about the exceeding riches of His grace.
Then notice in Ephesians 3: 8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;
The unsearchable riches of Christ.
3/ Grace is just a little word, it only has five letters, either in English or in Greek, but there is one thing I want you to see about this word, grace. It strains the pen and tongue, and mind even to describe it—you can never exhaust this word—it is a fathomless word.
4/ Now let us get an illustration of grace out of the Word of God. Let us see some of the riches of the grace of God—the unsearchable riches of the grace of God.
Luke 15: 17 – 24 And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.
This is not salvation, as we said last Sunday night. Salvation is not in mind here, this has to do with the nation Israel, but let’s see the exceeding riches of grace that God exhibited to this wayward, independent son.
Notice, he came to himself, and as he did, he anticipated. What did he anticipate? First of all, he was hungry, so he was willing to be a hired servant of his father. He was willing to have the bread that these hired servants had, and when he came back to the father, his feet lacked shoes. He came barefoot, and then, I believe he was naked, for he had lost all—not only were his feet bare, but he was naked. He didn’t have a place to live, and he was willing to live with the hired servants in their quarters, but now let’s see what the father did for him. He not only gave him bread, but he gave him the fatted calf, verse 23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:
He had the best food that money could buy—this is exceeding riches. Not only did he come with bare feet, but his father put shoes upon his feet, and a robe to cover his nakedness, and a ring for his hand. He never anticipated this—then there is music, dancing, and the merriment of the feast, and he is back in the father’s house.
But then he had something else he didn’t anticipate—the feel of his father’s arm about his neck and his voice saying in his ear—My son, for this is my son. Yes, this is a beautiful picture of grace. Grace does far more than we can ever anticipate.
5/ We are rich beyond imagination. Now let us get an Old Testament illustration of what we are talking about—the unsearchable riches of the grace of God.
You have a portion of Scripture that tells about Joseph and his brethren in the book of Genesis, and as you know all Bible scholars tell us that Joseph is a beautiful picture of Jesus Christ. You do not read about Joseph ever sinning, ever doing anything evil. Now, he was not perfect, but we do not have a record of anything he ever did that was sin. He is a beautiful picture of Christ.
You know how his brethren hated him, sought to take his life—sold him for a sum of money, yet God preserved his life. And then while he was in Egypt, a famine came up in the land where the brothers and the father were living, and they had to go to Egypt to get food, and so they came to him to get food, and they tried to buy this food, and on each occasion, their money was return to them—he refused to accept their money, they were like mankind, trying to buy their way to God, and it is impossible. God returns our money, our activities, our works.
Genesis 41: 49 And Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea, very much, until he left numbering; for it was without number.
Genesis tells us that Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea, until he left numbering, for it was without number. His granaries were filled to over-flowing.
One day I read where Charles Spurgeon, that prince of preachers, in one of his sermons, imagines a little mouse had gotten into one of the granaries, and started to eat, but he was filled with anxiety, with care, he was afraid that the corn would come to an end, so he was quite anxious about the situation, and so the preacher cried, out, away, little mouse, there is enough and to spare in this storehouse, you can eat and never exhaust the supply.
And then his brethren come before him, they saw the plenty of the land of Egypt, and they were in need, and suddenly recognized this is their brother whom they had so viciously used, and here was their brother who could be their judge, their jailor, yes, even their executioner.
But in Genesis 50: 15 - 21 And when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him. And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying, So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him. And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants. And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God? But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.
and when Joseph’s father was dead, the brethren came to him and they said, Our father, before he died, told us to tell you, Forgive thine brethren for their sin. They did evil unto thee, and they fell down on their face—Behold we be thy servants. This is important, they simply will to be servants, so that Joseph wouldn’t be their jailor or their executioner, but notice what Joseph did—he wept. He didn’t want to see them down on their faces, and he said to them, Fear not, I will nourish you and your little ones, comfort them, and he spake kindly unto them. There was no judgment whatsoever, just kindness. Notice, the unsearchable riches of grace that is exhibited here.
6/ Then we have another Old Testament passage that shows the grace of God, of course, He is speaking to the nation Israel.
Isaiah 55: 1 Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
He that is thirsty. Come ye to the waters, if you don’t have any money, come, buy and eat, buy wine and milk, without money and without price, for it is not for sale. God does not sell things. He does not bargain His grace out—it is given freely.
7/ Now notice, Romans 11: 12 Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?
Here He speaks and says the diminishing of them happens to be the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fullness? Then go to verse 15 For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall be the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?
This world has a wonderful experience coming. The whole world is going to experience the rejuvenation of the nation Israel.
Let us notice a beautiful Old Testament passage. Jeremiah 23: 6, 7 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, The Lord Our Righteousness. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more say, The Lord liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; It says, in his days Judah shall be saved. Israel shall dwell safely.
God is going to bring them back, and give them their land, now notice this, and this is His name by which ye shall be called—the LORD our Righteousness, but in the 7th verse. Therefore, behold, the days come saith the LORD, that they shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
The greatest event in the history of this nation is when God opened the Red Sea and let three million people go over on dry land. Not even the bed of the sea was wet. God said, You are going to go over on dry land. You know, if you drain a lake, it is going to take days before it gets dry, so you can walk on it. There will be inches, many inches of muck, soft mud at the bottom, but it was not so at the Red Sea. When God opened it, they didn’t even get the soles of their feet wet—God said, You are going to go over on dry land. He pushed the seas apart and walled them up on either side, just think of it—walls of water. They walked over on perfectly dry sand, and, of course, the nations down through the ages have said, This is the people who have a God who led them through the Red Sea on dry land.
But they are not going to say that when the nation is back in its covenant position, back in the land of Palestine. Rather they will say, The LORD liveth which brought up and led the seed of the house of Israel out of the North country, and from all countries wither He had driven them, and they shall dwell in their own land. That is going to be a greater thing—He is going to bring them out of all the nations of the world. This is what the world has in store for them.
8/ You may think that here in the United States we have a wonderful economy, a marvelous world, and we do—I praise God that I live in this land, but when Jesus Christ comes back, and the nation Israel is regathered out of all the nations, it will be the greatest blessing for the nations—the Gentiles that the world has ever known.
Romans 11: 12 Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?
Notice, how much more their fullness. What is going to happen when this kingdom is set up? All the things men have been dreaming about are going to come into reality. They will never come to reality in our day—we have what they call an anti-poverty war, and it is doomed to failure.
Let us notice a passage that is quite interesting.
Isaiah 65: 19 - 23 And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed. And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them.
Can you visualize a day when all the world will be united under one ruler and one king. We talk today about the United Nations, but that is just a dream, it isn’t an actuality at all—there are no united nations.
AMEN
Ref: 03/13/1966 / 9 - YOUR UNCLAIMED RICHES / 12/08/2020
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