Hi Chris
What does Jesus say about the lost sheep?
[h=3]A Gentile Shows Her Faith[/h][SUP]21 [/SUP]Then Jesus went out from there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon. [SUP]22 [/SUP]And behold,
a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.”
[SUP]23 [/SUP]But He answered her not a word.
And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, “Send her away, for she cries out after us.”
[SUP]24 [/SUP]But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
[SUP]25 [/SUP]Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, help me!”
[SUP]26 [/SUP]But He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw
it to the little dogs.”
[SUP]27 [/SUP]And she said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.”
[SUP]28 [/SUP]Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great
is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.
- thank God for the fact that the way was opened for the Gentiles. For Israel (his lost sheep) rejected their Messiah
11 I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham,
of the tribe of Benjamin. [SUP]2 [/SUP]God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, [SUP]3 [/SUP]“Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life”?[SUP][
a][/SUP] [SUP]4 [/SUP]But what does the divine response say to him? “I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”[SUP][
b][/SUP] [SUP]5 [/SUP]
Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. <in other words....NOT EVERYONE> [SUP]6 [/SUP]And if by grace, then
it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace.[SUP][
c][/SUP] But if
it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.
[SUP]7 [/SUP]What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks
<not all the lost sheep are found> ; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded.
<God blinded these sheep> [SUP]8 [/SUP]Just as it is written:
“God has given them a spirit of stupor,
Eyes that they should not see
And ears that they should not hear,
To this very day.”[SUP][
d][/SUP]
[SUP]9 [/SUP]And David says:
“Let their table become a snare and a trap,
A stumbling block and a recompense to them.
[SUP]10 [/SUP]Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see,
And bow down their back always.”[SUP][
e][/SUP]
[SUP]11 [/SUP]I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation
has come to the Gentiles. [SUP]12 [/SUP]Now if their fall
is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!
[SUP]13 [/SUP]For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, [SUP]14 [/SUP]if by any means I may provoke to jealousy
those who are my flesh and save some of them.
[SUP]15 [/SUP]For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
[SUP]16 [/SUP]For if the firstfruit
is holy, the lump
is also
holy; and if the root
is holy, so
are the branches. [SUP]17 [/SUP]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, [SUP]18 [/SUP]do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast,
remember that you do not support the root, but the root
supports you.
[SUP]19 [/SUP]You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.” [SUP]20 [/SUP]Well
said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. [SUP]21 [/SUP]
For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. [SUP]22 [/SUP]Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness,[SUP][f][/SUP] if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. [SUP]23 [/SUP]And they also,
if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.
<but if they continue in unbelief then they won't be. They remain a lost sheep> [SUP]24 [/SUP]For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who
are natural
branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?
[SUP]25 [/SUP]For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that
blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
<blindness because they rejected the gospel> [SUP]26 [/SUP]And so all Israel will be saved,[SUP][
g][/SUP] as it is written:
“The Deliverer will come out of Zion,
And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;
[SUP]27 [/SUP]For this
is My covenant with them,
When I take away their sins.”[SUP][
h][/SUP]
[SUP]28 [/SUP]Concerning the gospel
they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election
they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. [SUP]29 [/SUP]For the gifts and the calling of God
are irrevocable. [SUP]30 [/SUP]For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience, [SUP]31 [/SUP]even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy. [SUP]32 [/SUP]For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.
[SUP]33 [/SUP]Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable
are His judgments and His ways past finding out!
[SUP]34 [/SUP]“For who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has become His counselor?”[SUP][
i][/SUP]
[SUP]35 [/SUP]“Or who has first given to Him
And it shall be repaid to him?”[SUP][
j][/SUP]
[SUP]36 [/SUP]For of Him and through Him and to Him
are all things, to whom
be glory forever. Amen.