Romans 11:22-23
Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again.
When is the last time you considered the kindness and the severity of God?
First, there is severity toward those who fail to cling to his grace. This is not a kind of cranky old-man, stay-off-my-lawn kind of severity. This is not the severity of an insecure authority figure. Instead, God’s severity is a necessary part of his justice. He cannot wink at sin and just let it slide. The cross is evidence enough of that, isn’t it? Jesus went to the cross to pay the just penalty for our sin. But if we are rejecting what Christ accomplished on the cross, thinking that we deserve God’s favor, then God’s just wrath will fall on us.
Not only is his severity part of his justice, but severity is also part of his grace. Tom Schreiner puts it like this: “The kindness of God cannot be truly appreciated as a gift of his grace unless the severity of God is contemplated as the just penalty for forsaking him.”
Just like we can see the splendor of a high quality diamond best against a dark velvet backdrop, so we can see God’s grace most clearly through his severity toward sin. This is a warning against pride for many of us, but as Paul continues, it also gives us hope. Hope for God’s work among the Jewish people, and hope for God’s work among some of us who might be far from him this morning.
Look at verse 23 again:
And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again.
While we see God’s severity and judgment as the backdrop, let’s not forget that it is just that: the backdrop. Front and center is his kindness and his grace. Consider the kindness of God.
There was still hope for those Jews who had rejected Jesus in the first century. That is the whole point of Paul’s argument in these chapters, isn’t it? He was telling the church in Rome, don’t think those Jews are so far gone that they cannot be grafted in again. But the reason for this is not ultimately because they are natural branches or because they have so much going for them. Look at the verse. What is the reason why they are able to be grafted in again?
God has the power to graft them in.
So alongside of his just severity and glorious kindness, we see God’s sovereign power on display in his saving plan. God has the power to graft them in again. God is able to do it.
That is so freeing and liberating as we think about those around us who are far from Christ.
Most of us probably know people who are not just passive toward the gospel, but who actively resist the gospel. You know who they are. They are posting the Richard Dawkins links on Facebook, they are always rolling their eyes when you mention anything having to do with God at the office, they sit at the table with their arms crossed and give a loud sigh when you try to pray during family meals. When you try to talk to those people, the walls are so high and so hard that it seems like the grace of God will never make it through.
But what does the text say?
God is able to graft them in.
Don’t give up hope. God is able to do it.
Part of his saving plan is that God, in his sovereign power, will grab people you would never have guessed. John Piper summarizes this well. He says, “The effect this should have on us, I believe is to keep us faithful and patient, even when it looks as though unbelief has the upper hand. God is in control-unfathomably, unsearchably. And everything will work for mercy to those who trust the Christ.”
Salvation is of the Lord, and in that salvation we see the Lord’s justice, kindness, and sovereign power on display. So consider the kindness and severity of God, and marvel!