I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill me,
because my word hath no place in you. John 8:37
Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own:
​for he is a liar, and the father of it. John 8:43-44
THE TEST OF SONSHIP

Very few will like this devotion, almost no bible teachers today will touch it. The reasons are obvious, it goes right to the heart of what lies in the vast majority of people, and Jesus exposes it with clear cut language. In Jesus' day, he had people who targeted and followed him every day. Their purpose wasn't to learn from him, to understand him, or receive his teachings. It was to find fault and twist everything he did, and to destroy him. The world is full of people who fit this description today. He knew their hearts, and their motives. Chapter 8 is an entire discourse between him and the leaders who dogged him to catch him in his words and deeds. Jesus didn't play games with them, he cut right to the point, and exposed what they were doing. 

Jesus admitted they were Abraham's descendants but was not spiritually their father. They could find no sin in Jesus, or find fault in his teachings, but his word had no place in them. They were descendants of Abraham, but not his children. They didn't do the works of Abraham, through faith. Their deeds revealed their father was the devil. Their actions revealed and exposed who their father was.
Jesus described the works of Satan: 
Joh 10:10  The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. 

This short devotional commentary by F.B. Meyer gives some good insights:
"Godly ancestors and parents will avail nothing, unless we are animated by their spirit and do their works. There were in the old world two families that ran in parallel lines-that of Cain and that of Seth. See Gen_4:1-26; Gen_5:1-32.

The Cainites were citizens of this world; the Sethites were pilgrims of the eternal. The one family finally reached such a pitch of wickedness that they were swept away by the flood, while the other furnished the world with an Enoch that walked with God and a Noah who was perfect in his generation.

This distinction has continued down the ages, and is not only accentuated by these words of our Lord but by 1Jn_3:12; 1Jn_3:15.
1Jn 3:12  Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous. 
1Jn 3:15  Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. 

In Eph_2:2, those who walk according to the course of this world are practically walking according to the spirit that works disobedience in men’s lives. It becomes us, then, to see to it that we are not deceived. We may never have plunged into such depth of sin as overwhelmed the men of that generation; and yet if our hearts are steeped in the love of this world, which is passing away, we betray our affinity to evil and not to good, to the devil and not to God."
​Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 

Those who do not hear God’s word are not of God, but of the devil.--
1. One who lies and deceives had a good tongue given him from God, but his use of it is from the devil; he abuses his tongue by using it in the devil’s service against God. God may also give men sound eyesight; but he who uses his eyes unchastely does so of the devil. Thus, too, when the heart desires what is unchaste, deceitful, lying, and the like, then, although by nature it is from God, the use of it is evil and of the devil. On the other hand, to be of God is when a man uses his ears to hear the word, and permits himself to be corrected when he is in the wrong. So when one prays, preaches, instructs, and comforts with the tongue, such ears and tongues are of God and are good, for they are put to a godly use. Thus, too, when the heart strives after modesty, to be of use to our neighbor, and is not filled with wrath, such a heart is a creature of God, like the ear and the tongue. The meaning of being “of God” is that we conform to God’s word, and do not willingly think of, read, listen to, what is against God. If it should sometimes happen that we neglect this and stumble, are angry when we should be gentle, this is certainly wrong. But if men repent and confess that they have done wrong, and pray for grace, then this error may be called stumbling or even falling, but it is not being of the devil, because the men turn again to God through repentance. There are, however, children of the devil who are stubborn, and who, when they are corrected for their good and exhorted, speak like ill-mannered children. Such people are of the devil, and will become more evil—“the longer the worse,” for the devil will not let them rest. They first despise the word, then blaspheme it, then rage and curse against it. In the end they will do as the Jews did here—take up stones and become murderers at heart. These are the devil’s true colors—inattention to God’s word, abusing it, doing evil to one’s neighbors, wishing the preacher were dead. By such colors men may learn to know the devil and his children, for “he is a murderer from the beginning,” etc. (Joh_8:44). Therefore learn to guard yourself against such sins.

Lessons.—Therefore think, dear children, how profitable it is for you to hearken willingly and diligently to the word of God. This is the chief thing—that you know that you are of God and have overcome the devil, and that neither sin nor judgment can harm you. Whatever dross you meet side by side with this you will turn away from. On the other hand, the world is impatient and discouraged even in the most trivial concerns. Christians truly must endure much, as the devil and the world are their bitter foes—must often be in danger of life and limb, etc. How can they endure all this and remain patient? Through nothing else than by continuing in the word, and saying: Let things go how they will, I am not of the world, but of God, otherwise the world would act differently toward me. I had rather that it hated me than that it loved me, and I were not of God. Where the heart is thus fixed, then all temptations, trials, adversities, pass away, as clouds in the heaven pass over us, or as the birds in the air who soil us for a moment, but fly off and leave us untroubled."—[Translated from Luther’s “Hauspostille.]

Hatred of the truth (Joh 8:40; Joh 8:44-47). This was the real ground of their unbelief. They disliked Christ’s doctrines. Had He spoken so as to gratify their pride, they might have been disposed to accept Him. The same principle operates in all opponents of the gospel. The tendency of Christ’s truth is still to humble, and so it is still hated. The Jews said, “We are Abraham’s seed; we are no idolaters.” And so many think it sufficient to belong to a pure Church, to be outwardly moral; hence where the necessity of Christ and His salvation?

Enmity against God and His people. The Jews were not content with rejecting Christ; they went about to kill Him. In every age he who is born after the flesh persecutes him who is born after the Spirit. Stephen asked the Jews which of the prophets their fathers had not persecuted. They themselves murdered the Just One; and as they treated the Master so they treated His servants. The heathen followed their example, and these, again, were succeeded by the persecutors of Popery. And in spite of the Reformation, the offence of the Cross has not ceased. Godly persons in the nineteenth century find foes in their own households, and that their religion stands in the way of worldly advancement.

LOVE TO CHRIST IS THE TEST OF SONSHIP. Our Lord plainly declares that God is not the Father of those who do not love Him. The Jews were by nature and descent, if any were, the children of God. They were the seed of Abraham, God’s chosen, had observed God’s ceremonies, bore the mark of His covenant, were the only people who worshipped one God, and incurred the greatest abusive language  in consequence—yet as they did not love Christ they were no sons of God.
1. The child of God loves Christ because he loves what his Father loves: his nature, descended from God, runs in the same channel, and since God loves Christ supremely so does he.
2. He sees God in Jesus—the express image of His Person.
3. He is like Christ. Every man loves what is like himself. If you are born of God you are holy and true and loving, and as He is all that you must love Him.
4. He is essentially divine. “I proceeded and came forth,” etc.
5. Of His mission

(1) We must love that which comes from God if we love God. It matters not how small the trifle, you prize it if it comes from someone you revere. How much more should we love Him who came from God; and came not as a relic or memorial, but as His living, loving voice.
(2) Remember the message Christ brought—a message of pardon, restoration, acceptance, eternal life and glory.
6. He came not of Himself. When a man lives only to serve himself our love dries up. But Jesus’ aims were entirely for the Father and for us—so our heart must go out towards Him.

III. THIS TEST IT IS IMPORTANT FOR US TO APPLY NOW. Do you love Him or no? If you do then, you will
1. Trust Him and lean on Him with all your weight. Have you any other hope besides that which springs from His Cross?
2. Keep His Word. How about your neglected Bible? How about those parts of Scripture you have never understood, because afraid they were different from the creed of your church and family?
3. Keep His commandments. Do you obey Christ? If His commands are of little importance, then your heart is not with Him.
4. Imitate Him. It is the nature of love to be imitative. Are you trying to be Christ-like?
5. Love His people—not because they are sweet in their tempers or belong to your denomination, but because they are His.
6. Sympathize with His objects. Whenever we love another we begin to love the things which he loves. He delights to save men, do you?
7. Serve His cause. Love that never leads to action is no love at all. Are you speaking for Him, giving to Him?
8. Desire to be with Him.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)

Conclusion:
Lately I've seen signs in some peoples front lawns at times, when traveling here in my area that says "Everyone Belongs", really, to what?
I'll ask another question-do you belong the Christ? Have you opened your heart, repented of your sins, and received Him as your Lord and Savior? Do you believe He is God in the flesh, and risen from the grave? If not, your still outside the door. You don't belong to Christ, unless you believe He is who He says He is, and you allow Him to come in, and cleanse your soul from sin, and take up your cross and follow Him. That's when you belong to Him. The bible says we are all born in sin, if you've told one lie-you are a sinner, in need of forgiveness, that only Jesus can give. 
I pray you will do that, before your time on earth is done.
Lorna Couillard

​Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. 
Joh 10:8  All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. 
Joh 10:9  I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. 
Joh 10:10  The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. 

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon
​a rock, and established my goings. Psa 40:1-2

Waiting is much more difficult than walking. Waiting requires patience, and patience is a rare virtue. It is fine to know that God builds hedges around His people-- when the hedge is looked at from the viewpoint of protection. But when the hedge is kept around one until it grows so high that he cannot see over the top, and wonders whether he is ever to get out of the little sphere of influence and service in which he is pent up, it is hard for him sometimes to understand why he may not have a larger environment-- hard for him to "brighten the corner" where he is. But God has a purpose in all HIS holdups. "The steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord," reads Psa_37:23.
Psa 37:23  The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. 
​
On the margin of his Bible at this verse George Mueller had a notation, "And the stops also." It is a sad mistake for men to break through God’s hedges. It is a vital principle of guidance for a Christian never to move out of the place in which he is sure God has placed him, until the Pillar of Cloud moves.-- Sunday School Times

When we learn to wait for our Lord’s lead in everything, we shall know the strength that finds its climax in an even, steady walk. Many of us are lacking in the strength we so covet. But God gives full power for every task He appoints. Waiting, holding oneself true to His lead-- this is the secret of strength. And anything that falls out of the line of obedience is a waste of time and strength. Watch for His leading.-- S. D. Gordon

Must life be a failure for one compelled to stand still in enforced inaction and see the great throbbing tides of life go by? No; victory is then to be gotten by standing still, by quiet waiting. It is a thousand times harder to do this than it was in the active days to rush on in the columns of stirring life. It requires a grander heroism to stand and wait and not lose heart and not lose hope, to submit to the will of God, to give up work and honors to others, to be quiet, confident and rejoicing, while the happy, busy multitude go on and away. It is the grandest life "having done all, to stand."-- J. R. Miller
[Streams in the Desert]

“I waited patiently for the Lord.” Patient waiting upon God was a special characteristic of our Lord Jesus. Impatience never lingered in his heart, much less escaped his lips. All through his agony in the garden, his trial of cruel mocking's before Herod and Pilate, and his passion on the tree, he waited in omnipotence of patience. No glance of wrath, no word of murmuring, no deed of vengeance came from God's patient Lamb; he waited and waited on; was patient, and patient to perfection, far excelling all others who have according to their measure glorified God in the fires. Job on the dunghill does not equal Jesus on the cross. The Christ of God wears the imperial crown among the patient. Did the Only Begotten wait, and shall we be petulant and rebellious? “And he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.” Neither Jesus the head, nor any one of the members of his body, shall ever wait upon the Lord in vain. Mark the figure of inclining, as though the suppliant cried out of the lowest depression, and condescending love stooped to hear his feeble moans. What a marvel is it that our Lord should have to cry as we do, and wait as we do, and should receive the Father's help after the same process of faith and pleading as must be gone through by ourselves! The Savior's prayers among the midnight mountains and in Gethsemane expound this verse. The Son of David was brought very low, but he rose to victory; and here he teaches us how to conduct our conflicts so as to succeed after the same glorious pattern of triumph. Let us arm ourselves with the same mind; and panoplied in patience, armed with prayer, and girt with faith, let us maintain the Holy War.

Psa_ 40:2
“He brought me up also out of an horrible pit.” When our Lord bore in his own person the terrible curse which was due to sin, he was so cast down as to be like a prisoner in a deep, dark, tearful dungeon, amid whose horrible glooms the captive heard a noise as of rushing torrents, while overhead resounded the tramp of furious foes. Our Lord in his anguish was like a captive in the oubliettes, forgotten of all mankind, immured amid horror, darkness, and desolation. Yet the Lord Jehovah made him to ascend from all his abasement; he retraced his steps from that deep hell of anguish into which he had been cast as our substitute. He who thus delivered our surety in extremis, will not fail to liberate us form our far lighter griefs. “Out of the miry clay.” The sufferer was as one who cannot find a foothold, but slips and sinks. The figure indicates not only positive misery as in the former figure, but the absence of solid comfort by which sorrow might have been rendered supportable. Once give a man good foothold, and a burden is greatly lightened, but to be loaded and to be placed on slimy, slippery clay, is to be tried doubly. Reader, with humble gratitude, adore the dear Redeemer who, for thy sake, was deprived of all consolation while surrounded with every form of misery; remark his gratitude at being upborn amid his arduous labors and sufferings, and if thou too hast experienced the divine help, be sure to join thy Lord in this song. “And set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.” The Redeemer's work is done. He reposes on the firm ground of his accomplished engagements; he can never suffer again; for ever does he reign in glory. What a comfort to know that Jesus our Lord and Savior stands on a sure foundation in all that he is and does for us, and his goings forth in love are not liable to be cut short by failure in years to come, for God has fixed him firmly. He is for ever and eternally able to save unto the uttermost them that come unto God by him, seeing that in the highest heavens he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Jesus is the true Joseph taken from the pit to be Lord of all. It is something more than a “sip of sweetness” to remember that if we are cast like our Lord into the lowest pit of shame and sorrow, we shall by faith rise to stand on the same elevated, sure, and everlasting rock of divine favor and faithfulness."

I am a stranger in the earth: hide not thy commandments from me. Psa 119:19
For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding. 1Co 29:15​

The verses above speak of realities and truths that many will go to great lengths to avoid, and will quickly change the subject. For some people however, they have the ring of truth, that they relate to, because they've felt this sense of being here in the world, but never fitting in with it. Some find them confirming, and make a great deal of sense. I'm among them. I dig deeper, and search into what God wants me to learn from them, as they speak affirmation to my soul. The experiences in my life has proven the truth of these verses to me. The two homes my husband and I built and lived in, are now owned by other's. The work, enjoyment, trials, and conflicts are now memories, and all that's left of the years we put into them.

Nothing is permanent here, and no matter how much gold and riches you may acquire, one day it will be left to somebody else. What is really important, has nothing to do with this worlds goods. Nothing can replace sincere love-without hypocrisy, speaking the truth, and treating people the way you want to be treated, and putting the Lord first and seeking His will in every aspect of life. This is what matters in eternity. The contents below, touch on this.

You may benefit the same, as you read on. A quote from John Wesley begins:
"Strangers - For the land which we possess is thine, not ours; we are not the proprietors but only thy tenants: and as our fathers once were mere strangers in it, even before men, so we at this day are no better before thee, having no absolute right in it, but only to travel through it, and sojourn in it for the short time that we live in the world. None abiding - We only give thee what we must shortly leave, and what we cannot keep to ourselves: and therefore it is a great favor that thou wilt accept such offerings. David's days had as much of substance in them as most men: for he was upon the whole a good man, an useful man, and now an old man. And yet he puts himself in the front of those who must acknowledge, that their days on the earth are as a shadow: which speaks of our life as a vain life, a dark life, a transient life, and a life that will have its period, either in perfect light or perfect darkness."
"​I am not here as in my home, but as a pilgrim travelling homeward in a strange land. God's Commandments - Which are my chief support and guide in my pilgrimage."

​“I am a stranger in the earth.” This is meant for a plea. By divine command men are bound to be kind to strangers, and what God commands in others he will exemplify in himself. The Psalmist was a stranger for God's sake, else had he been as much at home as worldlings are; he was not a stranger to God, but a stranger to the world, a banished man so long as he was out of heaven. Therefore he pleads, “Hide not thy commandments from me.” If these are gone, what have I else? Since nothing around me is mine, what can I do if I lose thy word? Since none around me know or care to know the way to thyself, what shall I do if I fail to see thy commands, by which alone I can guide my steps to the land where thou dwellest? David implies that God's commands were his solace in his exile' they reminded him of home, and they showed him the way thither, and therefore he begged that they might never be hidden from him, by his being unable either to understand them or to obey them. If spiritual light be withdrawn the command is hidden, and this a gracious heart greatly deprecates. What would be the use of opened eyes if the best object of sight were hidden from their view? While we wander here we can endure all the ills of this foreign land with patience if the word of God is applied to our hearts by the Spirit of God; but if the heavenly things which make for our peace were hid from our eyes we should be in an evil case, - in fact, we should be at sea without a compass, in a desert without a guide, in an enemy's country without a friend.
This prayer is a supplement to “open thou mine eyes,” and, as the one prays to see, the other deprecates the negative of seeing, namely, the command being hidden, and so out of sight. We do well to look at both sides of the blessing we are seeking, and plead for it from every point of view. The prayers are appropriate to the characters mentioned' as he is a servant he asks for opened eves that his eyes may ever be towards his Lord, as the eyes of a servant should be; as a stranger he begs that he may not be strange to the way in which he is to walk towards his home. In each case his entire dependence is upon God alone."

The shadow is a fit emblem of human life. From the hour it falls on the dial it moves round the little circle until the sun sinks, when in a moment it is gone. A few hours past, and its work is done. The shadow thrown by the brightest sunshine must vanish when the night comes. Thus it is with life.
I. God does not speak to us through nature without a purpose. We are not to ponder in our hearts on the analogy between human life and nature in its various phases for the pleasure of indulging in sentimental feelings. When Moses mused on the shortness of life, his prayer was, "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." Life is short, so we must seek for wisdom to make the most of it. No more is required than that every man should do his best with the hours entrusted to his care.
II. The thought of life’s shortness should lead us to value time more highly. Our short life on earth should be a life of work, for we shall have all eternity to rest in. Learn to value time, first, because you have the work your "hand finds" to accomplish, and, secondly, because you have to "work out your own salvation." The great lesson which the frailty and shortness of life should teach us is the importance of preparing for the eternity beyond.  [W. S. Randall, "Literary Churchman" Sermons, 1883, p. 174]

All men are sojourners on earth. David uses language of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who lived as men without permanent home. All sojourners or pilgrims on earth, because all passing through it to a future beyond it. Stern law compels advance. We live and we must die. Not naturalized, no rights of inheritance, foreigners here; we should seek home, rest, and bliss in heaven.

All men sojourn in shadows on earth. “Our days on earth are as a shadow.”
1. Life itself is a shadow. In swiftness and uncertainty; darkness and perplexing changes. “Shadows in career,” says Geo. Herbert. We flee as a shadow and continue not (Job_14:2).
​2. Men walk in shadows. “Every man walks in a vain show (an image)” (Psa_39:6). “All shadows and pursuing shadows,” says Burke. Deluded by sense, refusing to see the only lasting substance; men live in lies, dream of false pleasure, and find everything fleeting and unsubstantial. After all discussions concerning the supreme good, some pointing to pleasure, some to virtue, and others to apathy, who can give a definite and decisive answer? Life without God is vain, and not worth living. “Who knows what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spends as a shadow” (Heb. “the number of the days of the life of his vanity”) (Ecc_6:12).

Only some men are strangers on earth. Christians are strangers. They feel, dress, and act as such. “Confess that they are strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” But a large class of men to whom the world is perfectly congenial; who feel nothing strange, nothing unnatural. They are in their element; find their place and satisfaction in its pursuits and enjoyments. They desire no better country, but seem to fix their hearts and homes in this, through which they rapidly pass. What a foolish exchange; shadows for substance; trifles or eternity!
“All on earth is shadow,
All beyond is substance. How solid all
Where change is known no more!” [Young].

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims
​on the earth. Heb 11:13
The Christian Pilgrim

The apostle is here setting forth the excellencies of the grace of faith, by the glorious effects and happy issue of it in the saints of the Old Testament.
1. What these saints confessed of themselves—that they were strangers and pilgrims.
2. The inference drawn by the apostle—they sought another country as their home.
​
I. This life ought to be so spent by us as to be only a journey or pilgrimage towards heaven.--
1. We ought not to rest in the world or in its enjoyments, but should desire heaven.—A traveler passing through pleasant places, flowery meadows, shady groves, only takes a transient view of them as he goes along. His journey’s end is in his mind.
2. We ought to seek heaven by travelling in the way that leads thither. This is a way of holiness, the way of obedience to God’s commands, an ascending way, a Christ-like way.
3. We should travel on in this way in a laborious manner. Many mountains, rocks, and rough plains demand our strength.
4. Our whole lives ought to be spent in travelling this road. We ought to begin early; we ought to travel with assiduity; we ought to persevere.
5. We ought to be continually growing in holiness. Thus we come nearer and nearer to heaven. “As new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word,”. “This one thing I do,”.
​6. All other concerns of life ought to be subordinate to this. Business, money, temporal enjoyments, quit if they prove a hindrance.

II. Why the Christian’s life is a journey or pilgrimage.—1. This world is not our abiding-place. Continuance here is short. God never designed that this world should be our home.
2. The future world was designed to be our settled and everlasting abode. The present state is short and transitory, but our state in the other world is everlasting.
3. Heaven is that place alone where our highest end and highest good is to be obtained. God hath made us for Himself. God is the highest good of the reasonable creature. Here we get but scattered beams—God is the sun; but streams—God is the fountain; but drops—God is the ocean.

III. Instruction afforded by this consideration.—1. Moderation in our grief for the loss of friends who have died in Christ. Death is to them a great blessing; gone to Father’s house. “I heard a voice from heaven,” (Rev_14:13).
Rev 14:13  And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them. 
​2. How ill do they improve their lives that spend them in travelling towards hell! Thus do backbiters, covetous, drunkards.
3. Converted persons do but begin their work, and set out in the way they have to go. They should be earnest and laborious, and should strive for grace.

IV. Exhortations.—1. How worthy is heaven that your life should be wholly spent as a journey towards it! Where can you choose your home better than in heaven?
2. This is the way to have death comfortable to us.
3. It will make retrospect pleasant.
4. In journeying to heaven we may have heaven.
5. If our lives be not a journey towards heaven, they will be a journey to hell.

Conclusion.—A few directions.
1. Labor to get a sense of the vanity of this world.
2. Labor to be much acquainted with heaven.
3. Seek heaven only by Jesus Christ. “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”
4. Let Christians help one another in going this journey. Go in company, conversing together, assisting one another. Go united. This will ensure a more successful travelling, and a more joyful meeting at the Father’s house in glory.—[ Jonathan Edwards, M.A.]

Corresponding verses:
​Mat 6:19  Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 
Mat 6:20  But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 
Mat 6:21  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. 

I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. Rom 11:1-5

There are many people today who have the belief that God has cast off the people of Israel, and that the covenant between God and Abraham is not relevant in this age of Christianity. There's arguments for and against this subject, and the debates can get very hostile. There's not going to be any debating here. The information posted here on these verses can give the reader a good overall look at what Paul was talking about, in regards to where Israel stands with God, and what God is going to do with his people, and that in no way, has he cast them off. The commentaries below have scriptures references to help you study further, and learn more. I'm standing on what scripture teaches, and what Paul's true meanings are regarding the Jews. I won't argue with anyone, I'll just point you to scripture, and sound bible scholars, and let you make up your own mind. 
​
I believe God's word, as it's written, and stand with Israel. One day, they will have their eyes opened, and their blindness will be removed-and they will know that Jesus Christ, is their Messiah. He has not forsaken them. This teaching is to bring the scriptures to bear, to speak to those who hate Israel, and all Jews. What's going on in this country now, is very twisted, and racist. It's wrong, and I will not be silent about it. My approach is to let the Word of God speak for itself. Now to begin- B.W. Johnson breaks down the above verses, for our understanding.

Hath God cast away his people? In chapter 10 Paul has shown that the Gentiles were to come into God's favor, and the Jews, the chosen people, to be rejected. He now asks whether the Jews were finally cast off. He shows that the rejection was not total, but partial, many Jews being saved; and secondly, that it was not eternal, but finally all Israel would come to Christ.

I also am an Israelite. Hence all Israel is not cast off, since he, an Israelite, is an apostle of Christ. He shows that he is of approved Jewish descent.

God hath not cast away his people whom he foreknew. Israel was the people foreknown, "the chosen people." In Rom_11:1, "his people" refers to the nation; here it must mean the same, not individuals. The nation foreknown and chosen is not totally and eternally cast off. This is what Paul means, and what he devotes the rest of the chapter to proving. He first shows that a portion of Israel is saved.

Know ye not what the Scripture saith of Elias? The passage referred to is found in 1Ki_19:10. Elijah, a fugitive for his life, in his appeal to God, assumes that all Israel had fallen into the idol worship of Ahab and Jezebel. But there were true worshipers left, although the nation seemed to have fallen away. In what seemed a general apostasy, there were seven thousand left. So, argues the apostle, there are faithful ones left now in Israel.

Not bowed the knee to Baal. Baal was the principal deity of the Phoenicians, and represented the sun. Jezebel, the queen of Ahab, was a Phoenician, and sought to supplant the worship of Jehovah with the worship of Baal. Though it seemed as though she had succeeded, still there were those left who had not bowed the knee to the false God.  [B.W. Johnson]

In the worst days of Hebrew apostasy there was always an elect handful that did not go astray after other gods. It was so in the days of Elijah; and it was a comfort to the faithful heart of Paul to believe that, amid the general opposition excited by the preaching of the gospel, there were many secret lovers of the Cross who were true to the Messiah and His claims. Man can never count these quiet, unknown, holy souls, who, like the sweetest wild flowers, can be detected only by the fragrance of their lives. But God counts them, to whose grace and care all that is good in them is due.

The few seek and find, because they stoop to seek in God’s predetermined way and along His lines. But when men set themselves against these, they become hardened and overwhelmed by a “spirit of stupor,” Rom_11:8.
Rom 11:8  (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day. 

When Scripture says that God gives them this, it simply means that such state of insensibility is the working out of an inevitable law. But the Apostle cherished the secret hope that the avidity with which the Gentiles were accepting the gospel would, in the mystery of God’s providence, have the ultimate effect of bringing the Chosen People back to Him whom their fathers crucified, Rom_11:11.
​Rom 11:11  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. [F.B. Meyer]

As Paul continues, this was done to bring the Gentiles in:

​Rom 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? 
Rom 11:13  For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: 
Rom 11:14  If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them. 
Rom 11:15  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? 
Rom 11:16  For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches. 
Rom 11:17  And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; 
Rom 11:18  Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. 
Rom 11:19  Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. 
Rom 11:20  Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: 
Rom 11:21  For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. 
Rom 11:22  Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. 
Rom 11:23  And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again. 
Rom 11:24  For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree? 

For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. Rom 11:25-27

​I would not . . . have you ignorant of this mystery. Any secret thing, known to but a few, is called "a mystery." The mystery that Paul is about to unfold is concerning the conversion of Israel. He unfolds it lest the Gentile Christians may have incorrect views, or be wise in their own conceits. The first thing noted in explaining this mystery, is that hardening hath happened to Israel. This blindness, or hardening, had been due to Israel's sins, especially to unbelief. The second fact is that it would continue until the fulness of the Gentiles had come in, or the greater part of the Gentile world been converted.

So all Israel shall be saved. After the fulness of the Gentiles has come in, the Jews, as a people, shall be saved. That is, of the Jews then living, the great part shall be converted. The nation shall turn to the Lord.

Even as it is written. Paul does not quote literally in what follows, but cites the sense of Isa_59:20-21
Isa 59:20  And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD. 
Isa 59:21  As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.

and Isa_27:9.
Isa 27:9  By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; when he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, the groves and images shall not stand up. 
​
There shall come a Deliverer out of Zion. Christ.

He shall turn ungodliness from Jacob. Convert to righteousness the descendants of Jacob, the Jews.
This is my covenant unto them. The Lord's covenant unto them is what follows, "Take away their sins." Hence these passages imply the restoration of Israel to the divine favor. [B.W. Johnson]

“Mysteries” are the reasons and principles of the divine procedure which are hidden from ordinary minds, but revealed to the children of God by the Spirit, who searches the deep things, 1Co_2:10.
1Co 2:10  But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. 

We cannot tell how near the brim we are, or when the fullness of the Gentiles will fill the predestined measure. It may be much nearer than we suppose, and then the door will be closed, and the Hebrew nation will be grafted in to serve the divine program in the last stages of human history. They are still beloved for their fathers’ sake, and the day is coming when all their sins will be forgiven and taken away.

We may go a certain distance in the devout understanding of the ways of God, but there is a point beyond which we cannot advance; and as we gaze down into the profound abyss of the divine dealings, we must cry, O the depth! Rom_11:33.
Rom 11:33  O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! 

The origin, the maintenance, and the ultimate end of creation, providence, and redemption, is God. To Him must be the glory! In other words, we shall find that the whole story of sin, redemption, and salvation will unravel and reveal the nature of God, as the prismatic band of color the sunlight.
​[F.B. Meyer]

A dual method of salvation. Salvation for the Gentiles through the Jews; salvation for the Jews through the Gentiles. There shall come out of Zion a Deliverer. A mighty Deliverer has come out of the heavenly Zion to the earthly plains. He spoke in righteousness, travelling in the greatness of His strength, for He was mighty to save. And again in manifest and more victorious manner shall the Deliverer come out of the heavenly Zion and turn away ungodliness from Jacob; and Jew and Gentile shall embrace each other beneath the banner of mediatorial love. The Deliverer came with noiseless tread, with the silent but pervasive power of nature. And it may be that in the final ingathering there will be no miraculous interventions. All things will seem to be moving as before, until one day the Church will wake up to find herself pressed on all sides with ingathering adherents. Gladsome time when Jews and Gentiles shall love and worship the world’s great King—when the vast races of humanity shall bow, as one great army of the living God, beneath the spell of omnipotent and redeeming love! 

A dual emotional aspect.—“Enemies for your sakes. Beloved for the fathers’ sakes.” God is not a series of cold abstractions. God is emotional. Let us not be wise in our own conceits by pretending to explain the motions of hatred and love in a God. Perhaps, however, we may say divine hatred is the projection of human wrongdoing. Divine love is the projection of the divine attribute into humanity, removing human enmities, and filling the world with a new light. Let us fear lest we invoke divine enmity. Let us supplicate divine love. “Beloved for the fathers’ sakes.” Good fathers are a blessed heritage to their children. Here learn the greatness of man. He possesses a dual nature: one aspect stirs the divine enmity; another aspect elicits the divine love. God looks at the man and drives him from the divine presence. God looks again at the man and embraces him as beloved. Even in the expulsion there is a force of outreaching love. Is it not thus that we often appear to ourselves? We shrink with utmost loathing from one aspect, and then we taste some little comfort by the contemplation of another aspect. But oh to be beloved for the Son’s sake! The fathers of the race, the elected of God, were noble and beloved; but rising above all, and nobler than all, and more beloved than all, is the only begotten Son. Beloved for the Son’s sake! “He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things!”—the needful, ofttimes more than the needful, in the present; the pleasant, the joy-inspiring, in the blessed future.   [Preacher's Homiletical]