Let's take our Bibles and turn
to the book of Romans, chapter 11. Romans 11. We'll begin in a moment
in the 17th verse. But I thought back this morning on this blessed passage of Scripture,
this chapter. chapter 11, all of it, but especially
the message of this chapter 11. Paul asked a question in verse
1 of this chapter, Hath God cast away his people? You know, Paul asked that question
and had a good reason to ask that question. The reason he asked that question
was because it was apparent to many, or they thought it was
apparent, let me say it like that, that God had cast away
His people. As God cast away His people,
Paul said, God forbid. Paul said, I can tell you for
a fact, God hasn't cast away his people, he said, I'm an Israelite. I'm a Jew of the seed of Abraham. I traced my lineage back to Abraham. Tribe of Benjamin. God hadn't
cast away his people, which he foreknew in eternal election.
Not those. God's never forsaken his own.
Elijah thought he had. But verse 2 said Elijah was praying
against Israel. Verse 3, they killed your prophets. Dig down your altars. Lord, surely
you have forsaken them. They cut off just like all the
others, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, all the otherites. They're gone. I'm the only one left. You've
got one faithful man left, Lord. I'm it. I'm the last of them.
I'm the last of the good stuff. The Lord gave him an answer. I've reserved. I chose. I kept. They're mine. They're sheep. Or the sheep I have. They're
not of this yard. Of the sheep I have reserved
to myself, 7,000 men not bowed the knee to Baal. Exactly 7,000? 7,000. Maybe 7,000 to the number. Maybe
spiritually speaking 7,000. Maybe 7,000. I don't know. I
don't know. But God knew them. God knew. When are they going to be called
out? Whenever God pleases to. In the
time of Elijah? Maybe not. No record of it. But
they're still the Lord's. I'm the last one, Elijah said.
No, you're not. No, you're not. I've reserved myself. Verse 5
says, At this present time, God's still been calling them out.
At this present time, Paul said, there's a remnant, just a few,
just some, according to election, election of God's grace, there's
a remnant right now. Verse 7, what? Israel didn't
attain, hath not attained that which he seeketh far. Oh, they sought for righteousness
before God. They went through the motions.
They kept the precepts of the law, just like that rich young
ruler that came to the Lord. I don't have any proof of this
whatsoever. I'm just giving you my opinion,
so just take it for what it is, my opinion, because the Scripture
doesn't bear this out. That rich young ruler that came
to the Lord? Very possibly. I said possibly. I don't know. Saul of Tarsus. Scripture says the Lord loved
him. When he asked him, he said, what
does Scripture say? Well, you know, love the Lord
your God, remember the Sabbath, you know, all of these I've kept
from my youth up, he said. Paul said concerning the law,
I considered myself blameless. Blameless. Was that Saul of Tarsus? Scripture said the Lord loved
him. And if it was Saul of Tarsus, in the process of time, when
he pleased God, God called him out of darkness. Why? Because
he everlastingly loved him. I don't know who it was. Just
a thought. Israel, just like Saul of Tarsus,
one of God's elect, in that fold for a while, in that yard, Israel didn't obtain that which
he sought for, righteousness before God by the keeping of
law. Israel did not attain that which
he sought for. I'm going to establish a righteousness
before God by keeping the law. Israel didn't do that. But for
those within natural Israel that were of the elect of God, the
spiritual Israel, the election hath obtained it." There were
some in there. Not all of them, but some of
them. And the rest were blinded, hardened, left to themselves. Then Paul asked in verse 11,
he said, Have they stumbled that they should fall? Have they tripped
is what that word stumbled means. It means what you think it means.
Have they tripped? that they should eternally be
under the judgment of God. All of them, all of Israel, have
they stumbled that they should eternally fall under God's judgment
is what he's asking. He said, God forbid. No. But rather, through their fall,
through their fall, salvation is come unto the Gentiles for
to provoke them to jealousy." And as I said, that word jealousy
there, it can mean in a bad sense, but it doesn't here. God is a
jealous God. Is that a slur on God's character?
No. God loves that which He loves,
and He's jealous for it. He's jealous for His honor. Jealous
for His people. You're jealous for the Integrity
of those you love. Some folks say. Talk about. Have a bad word about. Some people
I love don't talk about Brother Scott. Why I'm jealous for him. Don't don't say anything about
him. You don't say something about him. Don't say it to me.
I'm going to take his side. Why I love him. God had allowed
them for a while to stumble. But not that they should be under
the judgment, eternal judgment of God. Not all of them. Some
of them, yes. But he's talking about spiritual
Israel that God has kept. Is he talking about all of Israel
without exception? No. No. Don't ever think that
I'm talking about God His purpose is that He's going to save every
Israelite that's ever been born. That ain't going to happen. Why? The Lord said it wasn't. He told
some Pharisees one time, He said, You're not of My sheep. Let me ask you this. Do you think
that there's a possibility that they were ever going then to
become His sheep? No. No. You're not of My sheep. My sheep hear My voice. They
follow Me. You're not of them. How could
he say that? He said, I know. I know who they
are. I call them by name. Whenever
I wanted to get my boy to come, you know what I hollered? I hollered
his name. Gabe, come here. Come here. And he knew that meant
come here now. I called him. God has allowed under His eternal
good providence and will and pleasure, sent the gospel to
the Jews, called some of them out, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses,
the prophets. Some of them He did. Not all
of them. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world And by and large, the Jews rejected him. And the
Lord told him, He said, now you just, you go preach to the Gentiles.
Does that mean that God had cast away the Jews? Not those that
He foreknew, Paul said. No, no. He allowed this, verse
11, He allowed this fall, stumble, tripping, and sent the gospel
to the Gentiles to provoke them to a healthy jealousy. Not bad. That's not a bad word. For them to come to the realization
in the process of time, those that He foreknew that they're
going to realize something. I've forsaken the Savior. You
know, those that believe here, Gentiles that believe here, you
think the same thing. You thought that. Time in my
life when I didn't know Him, I didn't love Him, I was just
going through the motions, praying, reading my daily Bible readings,
you know, saying my little, you know, repetitious prayer every
night. Thought myself to be a God. of the Lord. Look what he says in verse 15.
But he said, If the casting away of them be the reconciling of
the world. What did he just say? If God
allowing the Jews for a while to be pushed aside. Who? Those that God has everlastingly
loved. He's never cast those away. But
if God has allowed the nation of Israel for a while, and those
that He leaves in darkness, they are in darkness. And those that
die in unbelief, God is going to judge them. But if God has
allowed for a while the Jews to be as it would be casting
away. See, the Spirit of God allowed
Paul to ask that first question in verse 1. to qualify everything
else that he was going to say. Has God cast away? No, no, no. Not those that he foreknew. So
that we wouldn't get over into this chapter and start jumping
to some conclusions here. But if the casting away of them
be the reconciling of the world, who? The Gentiles. What shall
the receiving of them be? But life from the dead. If the
casting, if the throwing off What shall the drawing to oneself
be? Paul says it's going to be like
life from the dead. I think about this, and here again, this is
my opinion, but I think about when the Lord, I've mentioned
this to you, sent Ezekiel into that valley of dry bones. The
Lord told Ezekiel, he said, this is the whole nation of spiritual
Israel, spiritual. Can these bones live? Spiritual Israel out of natural.
Can these bones live? All those that were the Lord's
found within that yard. Can these bones live? Lord, You
know. You preach to them. And I'll
cause life and breath. I'll send the wind. I'll put
the sinews on them. I'll put muscles in life, and
I'll breathe into them. I will. I will. Well, okay. Knowing that Paul has been dealing
with the surety of his mercy, with God's mercy to spiritual
Israel, and please always remember, Whenever Paul is preaching and
talking about God showing mercy to any nation of Israel or Gentiles,
they have always been God's spiritual Israel. Jews or Gentiles, they've
always been God's spiritual Israel. Jews or Gentiles, they've always
been spiritual Jews if God showed them mercy. But this thing of
thinking that God is going to show mercy to all of natural
Israel because they are naturally Israelites? No. Now, the Scripture
sets forth in verse 17 of Romans 11. Paul is talking to a group
of people, and he asks a question here. And if some of the branches
be broken off, And thou, who's Paul writing to? He's writing
to a group of believers at Rome. They were Gentiles. They were
Gentiles. They were Gentiles. Gentile converts. And Paul is going to set forth
something here that we need to really listen to what he's saying.
If some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive
tree, were grafted in among them, and with them partakers of the
root and the fatness of the olive tree, boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest
not the root, but the root thee." Now you know what? He just asked something that
just, if you think about what he just asked or said, Better
stop and think about what he just said. If some of the branches
be broken off, turn with me to Jeremiah 11. Jeremiah 11. Let's read verse 1 and 2 first
of all. Jeremiah 11, verse 1 and 2. The reason I want to read verse
1 and 2, I'm going to read verse 16 and 17 in a second. I want
to establish who Jeremiah is talking to. Jeremiah 11, 1 and
2, the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, Hear ye
the words of this covenant and speak unto the men of Judah and
to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. All right. Jeremiah is talking
to some Jews. That's what I want to establish.
He's talking to some Jews. Natural Jews. Natural Israel. Jews. Now look at verse 16 and
17. He says, The Lord called thy
name a green olive tree, fair and of goodly fruit, with the
noise of a great tumult. He hath kindled fire upon it,
and the branches of it are broken. For the Lord of hosts that planted
thee hath pronounced evil against thee for the evil of the house
of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against
themselves to provoke me to anger in offering incense unto Baal."
All right? What did Jeremiah just say? He says, The Lord has sent me
to tell you something. He said, God called you a green
olive tree. But some of the branches are
broken off. Psalm 52.8 says, But I am like
a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the mercy
of God forever and ever. So in type. And I'm going to
show you this, Lord willing, in just a second. In type, natural
Israel. Jeremiah was talking to natural
Israel. And he said, God told me to tell
you that God called you a green olive tree. But because you rebelled
against God, God's broken some of the branches off. Hmm. In type. Natural Israel was said to be
a flourishing, vigorous, thriving olive tree in type. Now listen, in type, but only
in the sense, why was she a vigorous, vibrant, green olive tree? Because some of those branches
were broken off. Why was she called that? It was
because she had the Gospel. She had the only God-ordained
order of worship. The priest, the sacrifices that
God had ordained. Oh, there was other stuff going
on. Don't think that there wasn't
false religion, that men that were left to themselves to establish
their own type of worship. This way we're going to worship
God. That's what men say today. Now, we're going to worship God,
and we're going to say that by speaking in tongues is the way
you're saved. Now, we're going to worship God,
and this is what we're going to say. You've got to be baptized
to be saved. You're not baptized, you're not
saved. Now, we're going to worship God, and it's on and on and on
and on. Israel was in type a picture of God's church. Right? She was called a green olive
tree only because she had the law, she had the prophets, she
had the scriptures. But though she possessed all
of these things, some of those branches back in
Jeremiah were broken off. Now what is insinuated back in
Romans 11, verse 17, by these branches being broken
off. If some of the branches be broken
off, turn to John 15. John 15. I think we'd do well just to kind
of take a minute here. Lord willing, Lord give us some
understanding. The Lord Jesus Christ said in
John 15, 1 and 2, I am the true vine. And my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth
not fruit, he taketh away. And every branch that beareth
fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit."
Now, you know, when you first read that, that might cause you
to stop for just a minute and think. Every branch in me that
beareth not fruit. My father. Take it away. The actual literal wording of
that is this every branch that beareth not fruit in me. Every
branch that beareth not fruit in me, the father take it away. Now, here's a question I think
that we're all asking right now. Does that mean that one of God's
elect, that one of God's sheep, one that's in Christ, does that
mean that one of God's sheep can be removed from Christ? No. Absolutely not. You say, how
do you know that? Well, John 10, 27, 28 says my
sheep hear my voice. We've looked at that. And I know
them. That is, I know as valuable. Know them? Yes. But I know them
to be mine. That's what they're saying. And
they follow me. They're a companion with me.
They're a disciple with me. A follower after me. And I give
unto them eternal life. And they shall never perish.
Neither shall any man Or actually, the word man there is in italics. Neither shall any pluck them
out of my hand. Not even me. Not even me. You turn to Peter, 1 Peter. 1
Peter. This is what I'm going to establish.
If we don't get anything else established this morning, talking
about these branches being broken off, I'm going to tell you right
now, all that the Father has chosen in Christ, given to Christ,
they're never going to perish. They're never going to perish.
And Lord willing, I'm going to tell you what that means to have
these branches broken off. Maybe as far as we get this morning,
that's OK, Kevin. 1 Peter 1, 3, Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy
hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, a living hope, a living hope, is, remember what
I told you the difference between faith and hope? Faith is that
which God gives me to behold my hope, the Lord Jesus Christ,
which is the object of my faith. Faith is the grace given me to
see Him. He is my hope. Faith beholds
the hope, the object. By God and us again unto a lively
hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to
an inheritance that is incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth
not away, reserved in heaven for you who are kept, who are
kept, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation,
ready to be revealed in the last time." John 6.37, "...all that
the Father giveth me shall come to me, him that cometh to me
Who? All that the Father gives me.
I will in no wise cast him out. I will never, no never, no never
cast him out. So, if I know that there is absolutely,
without question, no possibility that all that the Father has
given the Son has grafted into the vine, if there's no possibility
that I could ever be cast away, then what is Paul talking about
when he says, if some of the branches be broken off? What
was the Lord talking about when he says, every branch in me that
beareth not fruit? What was he talking about if
I know that God's elect cannot be? He is talking about those that
were in him by profession only. That is the only thing he could
mean. It is either that God can graft me into the Lord Jesus
Christ and then break me off and throw me away, or it means
that there are some tares. Judas, Simon Magus, Demas, there
are some There were some that appeared to be. The wording of
our Lord said this when he said every branch in me that bears
not fruit. The wording is every branch bearing
not fruit in me. There's some that appear to be. But they're not the Lord's. Every
branch. some of the branches be broken
off. There were many in the natural Israel, natural Israel, who adhered
to the law, who adhered to the decrees, and they were the Sabbath,
and they made prayers, and they made long discourses. I mean,
stand on the corners and, you know, praying to be seen of men. That's all it was. Men would look at them and say,
now there's a godly man right there. And the Lord revealed them to
be not of His. Broke them off, obviously. The Lord came to them, and here
they were, religious folks. making these long explanations
of the Scriptures. And the Lord told him when he
broke them off, he said, you're just whitened sepulchres full
of dead men's bones. You have your father, the devil. He said, if you knew my father,
you'd know me. We're Abraham's seed. If you
were of the spiritual seed of Abraham, you'd believe me. Abraham
believed me. You don't. Every branch broken
off, applied to those that obviously weren't his. Because I can tell
you this, God never breaks off the spiritual Israel. Never. They'll never perish. Now some, of the house of Israel,
some that God Almighty had everlastingly loved, they weren't broken off. Paul wasn't. Here he was doing
just exactly, exactly, exactly, just like his counterparts. He
was a Pharisee. I'm going to tell you something. There may have been one other
one. Maybe. But Saul of Tarsus was the only
Pharisee that I knew that God ever called out of darkness.
Someone would say, boy, I'll tell you what, there's a godly
man right there. He's never broken the law as far as I know. Or
he said he didn't. God didn't break him off. How do you know? He called him out of darkness.
He didn't die in unbelief. Some of them weren't. So Paul
says, now if some of the branches be broken off, And he's talking
to these Gentiles. And thou being a wild olive tree. What's he talking about? Well,
you know that Jeremiah had already said that the nation of Israel
was a green olive tree. And now he's talking to some
of these Gentiles. Where did they come from? Everywhere.
Nation, tribe, tongue. Paul says, if you were like a
wild olive tree, and Almighty God showed mercy to you, And
you came out of this false religion, this wild olive tree over here. You didn't have the Scriptures.
You weren't worshiping. You didn't have priests. You
didn't have a high priest that goes in to sprinkle one time
a year the Passover, the Day of Atonement. You didn't have
that, would you? A false religion. Whatever you were doing. Wild
olive tree. If thou being a wild olive tree
were grafted in among them, And with them partakers of the root
and the fatness of the olive tree." Spiritually, he said,
if Almighty God called you out of darkness and grafted you in, actually where it says among
them, the actual wording there is for them. Like this, he cast
some of them that were Nothing more than professors. And He
put you in for them. If you, being a wild olive tree,
who were not found in that place where God Almighty had sent His
prophets and His Word, and you were grafted in, how did anyone know that they
were ever grafted in? They didn't die in unbelief.
There were some. There were some Gentiles that
God called out of darkness. They were openly manifested. They were grafted in openly.
They were always there in God's covenant of grace. And therefore,
in that divine union with the Lord Jesus Christ, but He says,
if thou, being a wild olive tree, You didn't believe anything.
You didn't believe anything. You didn't believe anything.
Now listen, let's stop right here. We can just go ahead and
realize that this is exactly where most of us came from. Almighty
God, by and large, saves man out of false religion. False
religion. Mark, I know He did in you. A
lot of you said unto Brother Scott, I said a while ago, you
heard with this ear, but then in time you heard here. But I'm
telling you, there's a lot of us that came out of just false,
free will, God-hating religion. There was some that was right
here. This little congregation right here could be like that
green olive tree in the sense that God sent the gospel here.
Katie Baptist Church, a green olive tree. But were they all
of the Lord? God broke some of them off. And if He took some, like me
and you, Mark, and grafted us into this, you know what Paul
says? Boasts not against the branches. Be careful. Don't be raised up. Paul says, don't you glory. Don't
be lifted up in pride against the branches that were broken
off or left to themselves. He says, if you boast, thou bearest
not the root, but the root thee. What does that mean? In the indescribable mercy of
God, Almighty God purposed to show compassion to the Gentiles
by allowing the nation of Israel, by and large, to reject the Messiah. All of them? No. Not those He
foreknew. But most of the Jews of natural
Israel rejected the Messiah And in that rejection, God allowing
them to do exactly what they wanted to do. God sent the gospel
to the Gentiles. Paul says, be careful now. God
did break off some openly. There were both scribes and Pharisees
and most all of the other religious folk that were there. God openly
revealed them to be not of His. Why? They died in unbelief. Paul said, Be careful. He said,
Boast not. Don't get that attitude. Well,
I'll tell you something, there's some that's here, you know, and
they just left. Be careful. Be careful. Why's that? Be careful that you don't boast. Remember, Paul says, you're not
holding up the root. You're not holding up Those that
were there, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, those first fruits
of the evidence of God's mercy, God said, He said, you were grafted
in openly to that same spiritual olive tree by the grace of God
that these were found in. Not because of anything they
did, not because of anything you did, but because God was
pleased to show mercy. Don't you boast against those.
Don't harbor resentment against those that God's left to themselves.
I mean, is there any other way I can say that? Listen, I know
how easy it is. I've dealt with some folks that
got mad at me and you know, and well, I'll go there anyway. Listen. Be careful. Because you are what
you are by the grace of God. Don't lift up yourself in pride. against some that has found to
be cast off, left to themselves. Verse 19, Thou wilt say then
the branches were broken off that I might be grafted in. The
apostle telling them, he said, I know what you're saying. I
know what you're saying. They were broken off that I might
be grafted in." Verse 20, well, what you're saying is right,
Paul says. What you're saying is right. But because of unbelief,
they were broken off. The cause of God's judgment was
their willful rejection of Christ and God's right to do what He
will according to His judgment or mercy. Paul says, you're right. But it was because of unbelief.
And he said, and you stand by faith. Don't be high-minded. But you reverence Almighty God.
You reverence Him who has the right to do what He will. That's true. That's true. God
raised up Israel, called her a green olive tree. green and
flourishing in the fact that she had the scriptures. She had
the prophets, the true form of worship. This is where God's
going to be worshipped. They saw the form. They just
didn't see the revelation of it. They didn't see Christ in
it. They thought by keeping the Sabbath and all this kind of
thing, they didn't see Christ to be their day of rest. They
didn't see that. They just thought because they
didn't work on Sunday that they were right before God, Roscati. But some did. Some did. And Almighty God was pleased to openly reveal some of them
that were in that nation of Israel weren't gods in eternal election.
And He broke them off, showed them to be. A lot of instances
he showed them to be. Then Paul says, But through their
fall, by God leaving some to themselves, God justly sent the
gospel to you Gentiles and to some. He called out a grace and
he just grafted you in to that which had been being preached
for years and years and years. He said, don't boast against
them. They fail because of unbelief. And he said, you stand by faith.
Don't lift up yourself in pride, which, boy, I'm telling you,
is the easiest thing in the world to do. Freddie, you and I talked
about that, how easy it is for us to say, you know what? At
least I believed. You believe by the grace of God.
And if it wouldn't have been for the grace of God, you'd have
done just like everybody else. I would have too. Oh, that He has been pleased
to show mercy to us. May the Lord be pleased to teach
us something. Lord willing, we'll pick up right
here where we left off. Our Father, as we come before
You this day, it is so good to be able to look into your Scriptures
and to see how you have been pleased to show mercy. Lord,
we realize that whether you show mercy or whether you leave a
man to himself in unbelief, Almighty God is going to do right.
Lord, You are a just God and a Savior. I pray that you might
be pleased to cause us to hear and to truly realize and rest
in Your mercy and grace that You've been pleased to show.
For Christ's sake, Amen.