If you will, turn back in your
Bibles to Romans chapter 11, as we deal with our third installment
in this chapter, which is a transition point, as I've stated before,
on the part of the Apostle Paul with reference to the grand theme
of the Gospel that he has been treating for 11 chapters now.
And as we stated last week, his attention has been shifted from
The jews and seeking to persuade them of the grace of god in christ
And all the blessings that come with trusting christ alone So
that they would abandon their attempt at meriting favor with
god by their own good works He has turned from that effort And
has begun to speak to the gentiles largely and i'm sure he has in
his mind that the jews are also his audience They are listening
as tertiary parties, as he speaks to the Gentiles about them, but
they are both members of the same body. So we are not contemplating
three categories of people. We are considering one church,
one body whose head is Christ. It's simply that is the complex
nature of almost everything we have to delineate in order to
Achieve the goal of unity sometimes There is a distinction between
men and women Y'all agree with that, right? Okay, good. Just
want to make sure we got some saved folk in the house today
there is a distinction between men and women and yet men and
women come from the same stock and God created the male and
female He created Adam first and then the woman out of Adam
so that ontologically men and women are the same Distinctively
in terms of their genders and design and purpose they are discriminated
and yet they bear such a likeness that I unless we are clear on
our distinctions, for the purpose of, as theology would call it,
design, we can fail to achieve the goal that we're seeking to
accomplish. So in the church of Christ, the body of Christ,
as we have already learned, Jews and Gentiles are one new man
in Christ, are we not? that one new man in Christ is
a real theology, a real experience, a real spiritual reality in terms
of the people of God. And I would say that as we are
about to work through the blessing of being part of the commonwealth,
you and I really want to be able to think through these two categories,
who I am in my human nature, male or female, black or white
or Latino or Filipino or Asian, et cetera, who I am in my human
makeup, but also and more so who I am in Christ. Those are
the two realities that we have to negotiate. And the reality
is if we don't negotiate both of them, we can't be a benefit
to anyone. For if I ultimately and altogether
deny my maleness, and my human natural origin, I will fail to
achieve what Paul is seeking to achieve as his basic modus
operandi of the gospel is to the what first? To the Jew first,
then also to the Gentile. His love for his own people grants
within himself a priority to reach them. So it should be with
all of us. We should want to reach the people
that we are part of the natural stock. But we would want to reach
them from this vantage point that we are far more connected
to the reality of who we are in Christ than we are in terms
of our natural origins. Because we would want them also
to rise up out of what we have learned this morning is the condemnation
of all men in Adam. so that we would enjoy the blessings,
the blessings, the blessings of what it means to be in Christ.
And so what Paul is doing is sharing with both Jews and Gentiles
that you guys are part of the covenant, you guys are blessed
in the covenant, but we must understand how that covenant
works and how it's designed. And Paul now is beginning to
press us into aspects of the covenant that are wonderful metaphorically
to your pastor, as I told you. I think I tell you almost every
week. I love to eat. And I love all the metaphors,
analogies, typological patterns, implications and inferences of
festivity and enjoyment and feasts. And our God is a festive God,
is he not? He's a festive God. And this
is why we have the title, the bread and oil of God's what?
And my sister has, she didn't ask for my permission, but she
didn't need it. Isn't that a wonderful picture up there? Y'all know
anything about wonderful bread dipped in that olive oil as a
precursor to a nice big old fat filet mignon steak or some excellent
pasta? Y'all know what I'm talking about?
That's living the good life, isn't it? God has been good to
us. You need to give him thanks for
that. He's been really good to us. And so good to us has he
been as Angelo and I were discussing his mercies to us over the last
20 years. Angelo was talking about this tree. Somebody just
threw a seed in front of his yard and it turned into a big
old peach tree. Now he's trying to give away
the peaches. I don't want none because I got a peach tree too
full of peaches. and all sorts of other trees
in my yard full of different fruits and things like that.
But this is typical and pictorial of God's grace in our life. Hasn't
he poured out upon us in abundance? Don't we live well compared to
many, many people of the world? Count your blessings right now
before we get into it. Count your blessings. Because
you owe God glory. You owe Him glory. You owe Him
glory. There was a homeless brother
that came in the other day and he sat in on the Bible study
and then he left and one of the brothers was feeling sorry for
him. I said don't feel sorry for him. That brother homeless
in the Bay Area. He's not homeless in some despotic
country where people are just scraping for food. He can live
by any dumpster bin for a whole month. Am I making some sense
to you? This is, for all intents and
purposes, the land of milk and honey. We should not go hungry
in America. There are a lot of blessings
that we have. And the analogy before us shows us how God intends
to bring his people into the sphere and realm of covenant
blessing by actually identifying us as part of the means of his
bounty bestowed upon the human race. The two standing metaphors
that are before us, both in the Old and the New Testament of
God's festive nature, are the bread and the oil. And they describe for us both
God's blessedness to satisfy the souls of men in God's grace
to anoint men with the blessing of the oil so that they enjoy
life as a testimony of God's goodness to us. The bread is
all through the scriptures, is it not? Israel then was given
this typical picture of God giving them manna from heaven as they
walked through the wilderness. You guys remember that? God rained
down manna from heaven and God told Israel, this is the glory
of God. Israel saw on that morning that
little small wafer on the ground that they couldn't quite describe
But God said this is a manifestation of my glory and God feeds us
daily Does he not and this is why our master said in Matthew
chapter 6 you make sure when you pray to your heavenly father
Tell him that he's holy that he's good that he's righteous
that he's just and everything comes from his hand and then
say father Give unto us this day what our daily bread And
does he ever fail? He never fails. And he gives
it to us in such abundance that the thing that he expects from
us is twofold. One is that we are to be thankful
every day for what he has given us. Here's the other part, and
that we should be ready to share with others who wants the bread.
And this is why he brings us into the analogy of the bread. And then he also talks about
the what? The oil. The oil the blessed
oil that runs from the old testament to the new as well and the oil
and the bread Are magnificent emblems of god's own nature bestowed
upon us So that we might enjoy the satisfaction of god's nature
in our own life consider this The father god the father is
the one from whom all blessings flow. Do you agree with that?
That's why we say praise God from whom all blessings flow.
He is the first cause of everything, but he gives us everything through
his Son, the Lord Jesus. Is that right? Is not Christ
the bread of life? And yet the bread of life doesn't
come alone, for he gives us the third person, the Holy Ghost,
which is God's oil and anointing to bless us in the enjoyment
of God. The metaphor is absolutely stunning. The Father gives the Son, which
is the bread of life. And he also gives the spirit,
which is the oil of life. And why does he give us these
gifts? That we might enjoy God as you heard it this morning
forever. He gives us Christ as our bread and the spirit as the
oil and both serve as a nourishing, strengthening and healing element
in the life of the church. He gives us Christ as our bread
And he gives us the spirit of God as the oil and both serve
as a nourishing, strengthening and healing element in the life
of the church. Is that true? And it becomes
a feast festive table for all who would come into the house.
Psalm 104 verse 14 and 15. Listen to it. Psalm 104, verse 14 and 15. I'm going to
lay a foundation for the analogy before we consider what Paul
is stating along these lines. Just to help you understand that
when Paul draws out metaphors and analogy, he is coming richly
from the Old Testament to now. Psalm 104 verse 14 says this,
he causes the grass to grow for the what? God cares for the cattle,
doesn't he? and the herb for the service
of men. Do you see that? The word herb
there is vegetables, okay? This is not marijuana, all right?
This is vegetables, just because I get some of those interpretations
too. Let's fix that right now. This is squash and cabbage and
greens, collard greens and mustard greens, all right? Just helping
some of y'all. for the service of man that he
may bring forth what food out of the earth look at verse 15
and wine that maketh glad the heart of man and oil to make
his face to what and bread which does what strengthens his heart
here in verse 3 we have a great metaphor of the totality of the
atoning work of Christ for the wine represents the shed blood
isn't it that shed blood brings joy as the gospel is preached
to sinners in the forgiveness of sin and the oil to make his
face to shine the oil a type of the Spirit of God and the
shining face is the salvation of the soul who has seen the
glory of God in Christ is that so the shining face is the salvation
of the soul who has seen the glory of God in Christ Now, when
God saves you, there is an anointing that takes place. Is that true?
Now, I know sometimes we'll say, you know, boy, you look different
since you've been saved. And girl, you look different since
you've been saved. You're not really telling the truth, but
there is a kind of reality there, right? A kind of reality there. Because internally, you are now
partaker of the fatness of the olive oil that blesses the soul. Listen to what it says in Psalm
78 verse 25. as the psalmist is describing
the blessed work of God in providing for Israel, his people as they
were making their way through the wilderness. Listen to what
it says in verse 25. Do you see it? Watch this. And
men did eat what? Angel's food. What is he describing? He's describing the bread that
came down from heaven and he's calling it angel's food. He sent
them meat to the full. Does God provide for his people?
Look at Job chapter 29 verse 6 now. Job 29. And watch how
Job mixes metaphors in an interesting way. Job 29. Verse six, when
he speaks about God's favor in his own life and the blessings
of God while he was under God's anointing. He says over in verse
two, all that I were as in months past, as in the days when God
preserved me. We talked about this in Psalm
16. Do you know God preserves all
of his elect? All of God's people are preserved.
Now we learned, didn't we, that preservation is different than
what? Reservation. Now he reserves the ungodly,
but he preserves the righteous, doesn't he? He reserves those
who are awaiting destruction, but he preserves and he keeps
and he nurtures and he protects and he grows and he sustains
his people, doesn't he? We are preserved in Christ. And he says, oh that I might
be back in those days. Now notice verse 3. Watch how
Job describes his walk with God. When God's candle shined upon
his head. What does that mean? When God
was revealing to him the mysteries of the gospel in the word of
God. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path.
God's Word is a light, right? And when the Spirit of God illuminates
God's Word, the mind is illuminated to be able to see glorious, redemptive
realities. And that's a blessing, isn't
it? Some days that does not happen, but when it does, it is an amazing
experience. You, in the humility of God's
grace, go to your Bible, you open your Bible, you start reading,
and then all of a sudden you sink deep down into revelations. And you go, this is amazing.
You sense that God has accompanied you in your studies. And the
word of God begins to open up and a bounty of possibilities
start to emerge out of that text. Is that true? And you're going,
this is phenomenal. What has God done? He's cut the
lights on. Because other days you can read your Bible and it's
Hebrew and Greek and you don't know either. And you don't know
either. You can't wait to get the Bible
study so the pastor can unpack this. But there are days when
God gives you that deep, profound revelation. And for some of us
who are in ministry, that revelation is extended for weeks and months. Because watch this now. When
God gives you something, it's for you to first give Him glory,
enjoy it, and then give it to somebody else. These are effective
teachers in the ministry. And Job says, when his candle
was upon my head, and when his light, and when by his light,
I walked through the what? Ladies and gentlemen, this world
is dark. And in order for us to make it through this world,
we need Christ, who is the light of the world. And we need his
word, which is the light that shows us Christ. And by his spirit,
he leads us through the darkness, doesn't he? Watch the next verse.
Here it is. Here's what Job says. As I was
in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my
tabernacle. Isn't that good language? This
is one of the oldest books in your Bible and what Job is describing
is the power of the gospel when it rests upon a man or a woman
and the reality of their redemption in Jesus Christ. It's a special
knowledge when you know that God is your Savior. It's a special
knowledge when you know Christ has died for your sins. It is
a special knowledge when you know that you have been justified
freely by His grace. It is a special knowledge when
you know that you are His and He is yours. It's a special knowledge
when you know that you are the tabernacle of the Most High God
and God Himself dwells with you and dwells in you. That is a
special knowledge. Verse 5, watch this, verse 5.
When the Almighty was yet with me, When my children were about
me, verse 6, when I washed my steps with butter. Job now is
talking about the wealth and blessing that had come into his
life. He washed his steps with butter. You see the mixed metaphors
there? See the mixed metaphors? So don't
blame me when I use mixed metaphors. The Bible does it all the time.
What does it look like to wash your feet in butter? Well, it's
an old ancient sort of oriental idea or concept of being wealthy
enough for the richest herbs and oils to be used to cleanse
your body. Job was a rich man, wasn't he?
And he enjoyed the wealth, but he's speaking spiritually. Now
watch this latter line. Here's a definite mixed metaphor.
And the rock poured out to me rivers of what? Do you remember
the rock? that God used to lead three million
people through the wilderness. Who is that rock? And that rock
had to be claimed, didn't it? It had to be split open, right?
It had to be bust open, right? And God commanded Moses to smite
the rock. And when the rock was smitten,
the blessing came out, didn't it? That rock being Christ. Smiting
that rock was the work of the law. And Christ came under the
curse of the law so that out of Christ came the blessing of
the third person represented by the oil. Do you see it? We
do not receive the third person apart from the second person.
And we do not receive the second person apart from the what? And
when the first person gave the second person, the second person
had to die in order for us to enjoy the blessings of the third
person. Do you see it? This is the totality of the gospel. And where you and I are now in
the metaphor is this. If we can affirm it in our own
life, for Christ to be a reality to us is for Him to have died
for our sins and for that gospel to be brought to us in a saving
way and for us to experientially know what it means to be forgiven
of our sins. Not everyone has experienced
the anointing. Not everyone has come into the
comfort of the freedom of justifying grace. Not everyone has come
into the comfort of knowing that their sins are forgiven and that
there is therefore now, what? No condemnation to them that
are in Christ Jesus. That's the secret, ladies and
gentlemen. And if you sell anything else other than that, you are
shortchanging the glory of God. In other words, don't tell people
to come to God to get more money. or more things, or a better life
now. To do so is to shortchange the
glory of God. What God wants to give you and
me is Himself. Is Himself. And when He gives
us Himself, then you and I now get to enjoy the privileges of
being sons and daughters of God. This is why I'm driving home
the language so that when we go back and look at Paul's development
of the argument for both Jew and Gentile in the commonwealth,
and he calls us the first fruit, and he calls us the branches
in the olive tree. This is not a mundane metaphor. This is a massive, massive reality
of truth that you and I are partakers of God and his goodness. at such
a level, watch this now, that God won't bless anyone else outside
of us. Did any of y'all get that with
me? I can go on if you got it. Raise your hand, can I go on?
All right, 50% of you got it. I'm gonna go on anyway for time's
sake. Go with me in your Bibles now to Romans chapter 11 and
let's start to work through this. The father's gift to his children
The son of the Living God the Lord Jesus Christ who is the
bread of life and the spirit of the Living God who is the
oil? that sustains us on all levels including healing and
Now he speaks to us in Romans chapter 11 along these lines
and we'll quickly now work through the metaphor Romans chapter 11
verse 16 and 17 is what we'll start and we'll consider our
first point under this statement the blessing of being part of
the celebratory covenant Romans 11, verse 16 and 17. For if the
first fruits be holy, the lump is also holy. And if the root
be holy, so are the what? And if some of the branches be
broken off, that you being a wild olive tree were grafted in among
them, and with them you are now partaker of the root and fatness
of the what? Olive tree. You see what he did?
He conflated two metaphors that I want to talk about. The first
is the bread. verse 16. For if the firstfruits
be what? Holy. What is he talking about
here? He's talking about that grand
event that happened in the book of Exodus chapter 12 when God
told Israel on the night that I'm going to deliver you out
of Egypt you are to make what is called unleavened bread. That was the first lump. That
was the first dough. And Israel came out under unleavened
bread. And God taught them in the wilderness
as they would go into the land of promise that three times a
year they would engage in a feast towards God. And the unleavened
bread would take place at the same time that Passover would. You guys remember that? Go with
me in your Bible now to Leviticus chapter 16, and I'll underscore
the emphasis of what Paul is driving home. In Leviticus chapter
23, I'm sorry, Leviticus 23 verse 6 will be the first place that
we go. In this account, God is describing for the children of
Israel how they are to celebrate before him his blessings in their
life three times a year. And in Leviticus chapter 23,
verse 6, listen to these words. Are you there? And on the 15th
day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread. Unto
who? seven days you must eat unleavened
bread and in the first day you shall Have an holy gathering
you shall do no serval work therein But you shall offer an offering
made by fire unto the Lord seven days and in the seventh day is
a holy Convocation now mark what he says in verse 10 Speak unto
the children of Israel and saying to them when you come into the
land which I given to you You shall reap the harvest thereof.
Then you shall bring a sheaf of the what first fruits of the
harvest Ladies and gentlemen that sheaf is Christ Christ is
the first fruits of all his brethren He is the first fruits of all
those being sanctified. Christ is the first fruits of
God's salvation plan. He is represented by the sheave.
You know what the sheave is? It's a gathering of a bunch of
the wheat at the beginning of the harvest. And the sheave was
acknowledged before God as God giving us the blessing of the
harvest. The sheave represents Christ.
And Christ is our first fruits. the harvest as it says unto the
priests and now if you will look at verse 17 and 18 of the same
chapter he says you shall bring out of your habitations two wave
loaves of two-tenth deals They shall be a fine flour. They shall
be baked with leaven. They are the what? First fruits
unto the Lord. Now, what is he doing here? He's
giving Israel instructions that in the first month, at the beginning
of the month in April, they are to have what is called Passover
with leavened bread. And the sheave loaf is to be
offered to God to thank him for the harvest. That unleavened
bread represents the purity of Christ. Christ is not like you
and I, he's unleavened. But this second offering, which
was to happen 50 days later, which corresponds with what,
ladies and gentlemen? Pentecost. On Pentecost, the
priests were to offer up two waved loaves. Now what are these? These are big loaves of bread.
And what did God say? Add leaven to it. in order that
you might have two wave loaves. Do you see it? You shall bring
out of your habitation two wave loaves. I remember reading that
years ago when I was 18, 19 years old. And I thought about that
big old balloon bread we used to eat. Poor people, right? Remember
that? Balloon bread, big old loaves of bread. But why is he
talking about bread here before he talked about the sheaves?
Because without the sheaves, you don't have the bread. Without
the corn, you don't have the sheave. And the corn is Christ. And the sheaves are Christ. But
who are the two wave loaves? The church of the living God.
You and I are a byproduct of Christ's death. We are a byproduct
of his resurrection. We are a byproduct of him being
the wheat that went into the ground and died. Remember what
he said in John 12? Accept the corn of wheat, go into the ground
and die. It abides alone, but if it dies, it'll bring forth
what? Much fruit? You're looking at two-way loaves
that represents the church of the living God. Out of the mouth
of two or three witnesses, let every word be what? And we used
to wonder all the time in theology, why would God use leaven? Why
would he use leaven here? He would use leaven here because
while we are offered to the Lord, we're still sinners. Whoa, think
about it. The first fruits and the sheaves
were without leaven. The unleavened bread that was
offered up is Christ. But you and I are the wave loaves
that the priest offers to God, representing what took place
at Pentecost. At Pentecost, there was a first
fruits offering by the Holy Ghost, which was the early church, the
disciples that hung out in the upper room that waited for the
outpouring of the Holy Ghost. and they became the beginning
or the first fruits of the gospel. Paul made this plain in the book
of Corinthians. He made it plain in the book
of Romans that that first fruits that emerged were the Jewish
believers sprinkled with a few Gentile believers that became
the body of Christ, that loaf that began to Bread throughout
Jerusalem and Judea and then Samaria and then the uttermost
parts of the world in other words What I am saying is as we are
looking at Romans chapter 11 Paul is very much aware of the
connection between the feast of unleavened bread and firstfruits
and Passover and the feast of Pentecost and what we have here
the term is what firstfruits are we firstfruits and we are
firstfruits unto the Lord as well. We are a kind of firstfruits
unto the Lord. Why does the Bible call us firstfruits? Because there is an aspect of
our salvation that will only come at the end of the what?
Harvest. This is harvest metaphor, right?
So right now we're enjoying the beginning of the gathering in
of the blessings of Christ's death and his resurrection and
the spread of the gospel. I don't know where you and I
are in terms of the range of time. I don't know. But we can
be very well close to the harvest. Is that true? But if you believe
the gospel today, you are part of the firstfruits. And this
is why he says going back to Romans chapter 11, if the lump
be holy, then the first fruits are holy too. Do you see it?
He can really argue something for us that's going to be really
insightful. Going back to Romans chapter 11, here's what he says
in verse 16. For if the first fruits be holy,
the lump, the lump is also holy. And if the root be holy, so are
the what? Now he's moving into what metaphor?
The olive tree, isn't he? He's moving into the metaphor
of the olive tree. And the olive tree is a standing
metaphor in the Old Testament again of God's two trees in Israel
that bear witness to his glory. Remember what he said, when you
go into the land, You're gonna see olive trees and vine trees
and grape trees and all sorts of trees, right? The olive tree
always identifies with the work of the Spirit of God in bearing
witness to God's glory. So let's consider that briefly
as well as we consider now the olive tree here. Psalm 52 verse
8 describes it this way. This is what David said about
the olive tree. Psalm 52 verse 8. These are verses
worth remembering. Now think about David. Was David
a believer? But was David also a sinner?
So was he part of that firstfruits of the wave loads that had lemon
in it? You and me too. So listen to what he says in
Psalm 52 verse 8 and see if you can identify with him here. Ask
yourself to put your feet in David's shoes and contemplate
this statement here as he makes it in verse 8. Are we there?
Let me start back at verse six. The righteous also shall see
and fear and shall laugh at the wicked. This is God in his destruction
of the wicked. Lo, this is the man that did
not make God his what? But trusted in the abundance
of his riches and strengthened himself in his wickedness. You
see what David is doing? David is acknowledging that people
who trust in their own strength will be cut off. People who rely
upon their own wisdom will be cut off. now listen saints we
gotta think like that because we have a whole world who has
abandoned god they have told us we don't need god we don't
need god at all but david says that person he's going to be
cut off that person who trusts in his own strength shall be
under the wrath of God. Now watch what he says in verse
8. Look at verse 8. Watch this now. This is so interesting.
But, but, but. What do we call that? A contrasting
conjunction. But, on the other hand, I am
like a what? Green olive tree. Where? In the
house of God. We contemplated that a few years
ago in our Wednesday Psalms class. Isn't that a rich metaphor? Watch
this. This is what David said he is. He's a green olive tree. Isn't that the metaphor that
Paul is using? Now watch this. Where is this olive tree at?
In the house of God. See, David understands something
that you probably don't understand in the larger eschatological
picture. And that's this. God has, from
the beginning, been painting pictures of His abundance, of
His blessings, of His goodness, horticulturally, like the Garden
of Eden, with all of the trees and the blessings there, and
the temple of the living God. He has demonstrated that they
have worked hand in hand throughout history where God blesses the
land and he blesses his worship. And here we have the garden inside
of the temple. We have the blessing of the trees
inside of the temple. We have the organic horticultural
analogy inside that stated godly temple metaphor. And isn't that
how our Bibles close? Doesn't Revelation chapter 22
talk about God being the temple and Christ being the temple?
And they saw in the temple trees and rivers and fruit flowing
out of it. This is a conflation of the garden and the presence
of God for all eternity. Now here's the point that David
is making that I want you to draw. David says when you are
a believer, God has taken you out of the wilderness and planted
you in his house. Isn't that a good place to be
planted? He's planted you in His house and He's made you a
green olive tree. He's made you fruitful. He's
made you now useful in the kingdom of God. Because the olive tree
is used to produce what, ladies and gentlemen? Oil. Oil. What is that oil a picture of?
The Holy Ghost. Now you begin to see how those
olive trees were used in Zechariah chapter 3 and 4 where Zechariah
saw the vision, right, of two olive trees and the oil being
poured into the menorah so that the menorah was lit. You guys
remember that? The menorah being lit is the candle, that candle
representing the church of the living God. And this is the point
of the olive tree. The olive tree speaks to our
ability to be used by God to be a blessing to others that
they might see the light of the gospel. The olive tree then,
according to Romans chapter 11, that Paul is using is the promise
of the gospel that was given to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. He says, I am like a green olive
tree in the house of the Lord. One more, Revelation chapter
11, verse four, then we'll go back. Revelation 11, four is
where you see this imagery of the olive tree again. Here we
are in the final portion of biblical revelation. And God uses the
metaphor of olive trees. Once again, we're at in the temple
because the temple represents God's sacred presence. and the
olive tree represents God's resource to manifest His glory to the
world through the church. Revelation chapter 11, are we
there? Verse 3 and 4, here it is. And I will give power unto
my two, what? And they shall prophesy a thousand,
a thousand, two hundred and three square days clothed in sackcloth.
These are the two, what? And the two candlesticks standing
before the God of the earth. These are the two witnesses.
That's what Zechariah called them, witnesses. Why? Because
the olive trees and the candlestick represents the ministry of the
church as it proclaims the gospel to the world. The olive trees
and the candlestick represents the ministry of the church as
it proclaims the gospel to the world. Are we candlesticks? Ye
are the what of the world? Now, this is not electric light
bulbs. I can see y'all slow today. How is your light going to be
lit? With oil. Do you see it? Without the oil, there is no
light. So there's a combination of the metaphor of the olive
trees constantly sustaining the light in the candle. Stay with
me now. Here's what this means. It's
not by power nor by might, but by my spirit. Without the Spirit
of God, we can't bear record to the glory of God in Christ.
If I am a light, if you are a light, we need the olive tree, don't
we? We need the olive tree to keep the candles lit, don't we? And so as we are entertaining
the metaphor that Paul is developing in Romans 11, understand what
he's saying. God is in you. You are in God. God is working in us to make
us vessels by which men and women might come to know the glory
of God. That is a great privilege. For me, what I enjoy about the
metaphor is that it's not an inanimate static thing. It's
organic. The tree represents life. The Holy Ghost is the spirit
of life. He pours life into us that we
might be the light of the world. What a blessing. And then this
is just crazy because as the olive trees represent the third
person As the bread represents the second person that are given
by the first person You and I are called the loaf and you and I
are called the olive tree. We're called branches in that
tree Branches in that tree How privileged are we to be so identified
with god that he would call us sons and daughters of god? Are
you guys hearing what I'm saying? I've worked a metaphor and let's
go and listen to the apostles admonition around this Romans
chapter 11. Now the manner in which I have
developed this was in order for you to know if you didn't know
that what Paul is describing in Romans chapter 11 verse 16
and 17 is the state of things before God in terms of our position
with Him. We are part of the bread and
we are part of the oil. And so we go to point number
two in our outline, the warning to maintain your what? Standing. I told you Christ has made of
the two one new man, but we don't act like it, do we? So, the Jews
have had a history of looking down their little noses at human
beings and calling us the goyim. You, my Jewish brother, know
what I'm talking about? The goyim. The goyim. Like, they're not
made out of the same nasty dirt that I'm made out of. But we
heard it this morning, right? All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. But one man did sin and enter
into the world, and sin has passed upon all, and all have sinned,
right? It doesn't matter whether you're
a goyim or whether you are a Jew, you're a sinner. We're all part
of the same family. But boy, we love to divide, don't
we? We love to make our little doo-doo special. Don't we? Mine is special. Still doo-doo. Still doo-doo. It might be special to you, but
it's doo-doo. It's all dong. It's all dong. You need to get
it. We love to pump ourselves up, but do you know you're going
to die? And this body is going to turn into maggots and worms?
Dong. Dong. And if the soul is not
covered in the grace of God, you're going to perish forever.
Where is boasting then? And for us Gentiles who have
experienced the grace of the gospel for almost 2,000 years
now, we wallow in gospel grace, don't we? You heard it this morning.
And we have been used by God since the early days of church
history after the apostles, largely after the apostles, to develop
the rich theology and history and anthems of Christianity up
to this hour. Jews have sparsely been part
of that process, haven't they? And today we have just voluminous
works of rich history and theological truths and traditions and experiences
and writings from which we can dive into the wells of grace
in history and drink forever. All a consequence of God nurturing
and cultivating the olive tree of the Gentiles. Are you guys
hearing what I'm saying? Because it's largely been Gentile
ministry when you do church history up to this hour. I'll look around
our room if I said, how many of you guys here are Jews? Raise
your hand. I mean, historically Jews. How many would you be?
Right now in this room, not a one. Not a one. Y'all might be, don't
even know it. But not a one is able to say
that they are Jewish. How many Gentiles in the house?
Everybody Gentile in the house. See? Now watch this. What Paul
is about to say is, and this is what I was saying in the opening
of my message, You ready? God has been good to you. Don't
be conceited. God has been good to you. God's
been good. So listen to the language. The
warning to maintain your standing. That's verses 18 through 24.
Boast not against the branches. But if you boast, you are not
bearing the root, but the root is bearing you. Do you see it?
So the emphasis is this, Paul calls us branches that have been
grafted in, verse 19. You will say then that the branches
were broken off that I might be grafted in. Boy, now you know
you boasting right now, aren't you? Well, because of unbelief
they were what? Broken off and you stand only
by what? Be not high-minded, but what? Three sub points then I want
you to consider under Paul's admonition here before we go
on further. Rebellious Israel was indeed
what? Cut off. Jeremiah chapter 11,
16. I'm going to show you how Paul, every thought that he had,
every idea and concept that he had, that he uttered in the New
Testament has its anchoring in Old Testament scripture explicitly. In other words, Paul wasn't one
of those theologians that were building ideas and arguments
and metaphors out of the fancy of his own mind. He was guided
by the Spirit of God to take a text from the Old Testament
and use it to expand the realities of the grace of God in the New
Testament. He just said Israel were like branches that were
broken off. Didn't that what he said? Watch the language in
Jeremiah chapter 11. Watch this, verse 16. The Lord
called thy name, speaking to Israel. What did he call them?
A green olive tree. Fair. You see the word fair?
That's our Hebrew word for goodly. It's always the idea of God's
original design. Don't go anywhere. I want to
develop that for a moment. Whenever God called someone fair
in the Old Testament, he was describing the original intent. Remember when God created everything?
What did he call it? Good and what? Very good. He was describing it prior to
sin. And the metaphor that he's painting
here is that he has called Israel to be an olive tree. He had called
them out of the old Adam into the new. He had called them into
the righteousness of Christ, so that they are viewed as sinless
before God, because every believer is good to God. Is that right?
But our goodness is derived, right? It's not intrinsic to
us. It's a gift, isn't it? So God calls us fair for Christ's
sake. Watch this now. He says, you
are fair and of what? Goodly fruit. Now watch this.
With the noise of a great tumult, He that is God hath kindled a
fire upon what? It. And the branches of it are
what? Do you see it? That's false text. Now you need to do a little bit
of literal, historical, grammatical, contextualizing to get it. This
is the book of Jeremiah, isn't it? Jeremiah has been warning
Israel for years, God's coming. God's coming. God's coming. And what did they do to Jeremiah?
Beat him up and throw him in a pit. But here's the prophecy.
God did this with Isaiah when he told Isaiah to tell Israel,
I made you a goodly vine. You were a beautiful vine. I
plucked out all the stones, uprooted all of the weeds, and I planted
you and I hedged you about. In other words, God's original
intent for Israel was for them to be the model testimony to
the world of the grace of God. Hear the metaphor of the olive
tree. Y'all following me? He says, I made you good. What
happened to you? That I have to now set a fire
under you and break off your what? Branches. See it? This here is a metaphor of Israel
coming to the end of its stewardship under the gospel when Christ
came. Remember what our master said in Matthew 21? The kingdom
now is taken from you and given to others bearing fruit thereof.
Stay with me. Let me help you now. So when
you think about national Israel, do not think of national Israel
as root, as stock, but as branches. Did you get that? They are not
the root. The root is Christ. He always
has been. Christ is the root. He is the
root and branch of Jesse. He is the root and branch of
God. He is the root cause of every tree. He's the root cause
of our salvation. Is that true? Israel is not the
root. Abraham is not the root. God
is the root. God is always the root. Abraham
is part of the stock, such as Jacob and Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, and Israel become the branches. But the branches were
what? Cut off. And then the cutting
off of the branches, what got replaced there? The Gentiles,
right? Isn't that what our text is saying?
So watch this. The Gentiles are not the root.
Isn't that what he's arguing here? Both not against the branches
and both not against the root because you're not the root.
Oh, I love this. Think about this for me for a
moment with this. You know what he's saying is the gospel is
not about you. The gospel didn't start with
you. Watch this. You don't uphold the gospel.
The gospel was around long before you. And it's the gospel that
saved you. The gospel is about Jesus. It's
about the work of Christ. It's about the one seed that
produces the tree. You and I are partakers of that
tree as God engrafts us in. Stay humble. Are you following me? Right.
And see, if we twist our gospel, and start talking about salvation
as a consequence of our own work, or a consequence of our own efforts,
or a combination of God's work and our work, as we're learning
in Sunday school, you are boasting against the root. You are telling
God that God needs you. And God doesn't need you, you
need God. And by the way, as we learned
it this morning in Sunday school, Your decision for Jesus doesn't
save you. It's God's decision to save you
that saved you. Now watch this, watch this. Now
stay with me now. So the metaphor is that we were
part of an old raggedy, tore up, unkept, uncultivated olive
tree. That's true. That's right. You
got that? A raggedy, tore up, unkept, uncultivated
olive tree. An olive tree that God walked
away from long ago and we walked away from God. We fired God.
We fired him. We told him we don't want him
cultivating us. We don't want him nipping at
our branches. We don't want him tweaking our
life. We don't want him digging up the roots and taking out all
of the poisonous things that would, as it were, intoxicate
our tree. We were fine without God and
we were dying. We are a wild olive tree. We're
wild by nature. Wild means God left you alone. but in his mercy in his mercy
he took some of the branches he took him off that wild olive
tree and he put him on that good olive tree is that right he took
him and put him on that good olive tree see now right now
what i'm talking about is the real way in which you were saved
You couldn't come out of the old olive tree into the new olive
tree to save your life. You don't have the ability to
do it. It was only the mercy of God that did it. It was God
who came along and got you, took you off, and then he engrafted
you. He engrafted you. I'm stuck now in what we call
grammatical theology. Go back to Romans chapter 11.
I want to make sure I drive this home. This is called grammatical
theology because if you don't slow down and read your Bibles
carefully, you'll miss the implications. You didn't just wake up one day
saved. You didn't just wake up one day
saying, I want to be saved. You're a hell-bound sinner. You
were dead in trespasses and sins. You were lost and you love being
lost. It was God that came and found
you in your lost estate. It started working on your nasty
heart. It started dealing with your twisted mind. It started
washing you with the washing of the water of the word. It
started bringing life into you as we learned it this morning.
He didn't revive you. He gave you life. He didn't resuscitate you. You
were plumb dead. He had to give you a whole new
battery. Take the old one out, put another
one in. No, he threw the whole car away. He gave you a whole
brand new car. That's what we call salvation.
Isn't that right? He said, now, if some of the branches be broken
off, and you be, I like what Paul is saying, you be in a wild
olive tree. He's talking to the Gentiles
now. Didn't we grow up wild, Renee? Weren't we wild? Wild
as a goat, right? Wild as a billy goat. My girl
know what I'm talking about. Toe up from the flow up. Acting
a straight fool. And God in his mercy. And God
in his mercy, right? And God in his mercy. And God in his mercy. You are, while all are true,
you are grafted in. See that word grafted? Paul knows
what he's using. This is a word that is only used
in the book of Romans chapter 11 six times, because he wants
to make sure the Gentiles understand that their salvation is not a
natural thing. It's both unnatural and supernatural. Did you get that? That you didn't
just go from being a wild olive tree to a pure olive tree. You
were a wild olive tree of which God took the branches, gave it
life, and then plugged it into a good olive tree. He took wild
olive branches, gave it life. Now that's a horticulturalist,
isn't that right? God knows how to hook us up, doesn't he? And
then plugged us into the promises of God. So that you and I become
what Paul has been teaching for years. If any man believe God,
he's a child of Abraham. If you be Christ, you are Abraham's
what? Seed. Some broke off that you
might be brought in and grafted in, and with them, you and I
are partakers of the what? What's the substitute for the
word root? Christ! We are partakers of Christ. Are
we partakers of Christ? He brought us in, plugged us
in, and made us partakers of Christ. Did he? Now watch this.
And he says because you are partakers of Christ, you get to enjoy the
fatness of the olive tree. Meditate on it, saints. Yeah,
meditate on it. Meditate on it. Because I don't
think we get it. I don't think we get the blessing
that comes with being a Christian. We get to enjoy the fatness of
the olive tree. This is what it said in the book
of Judges where they used the metaphor of seeking a king and
the person that was being sought used the metaphor saying, I'm
like an olive tree, but I bless people with my fatness. I bless
both God and man with my fatness. Because the olive oil was used
for multiple purposes, wasn't it? It was used to sustain the
light and the temple. It was used to cook the bread.
It was used for many, many medicinal purposes. This is the multifaceted
nature of the Holy Ghost, is it not? And you and I are made
partakers of that multifaceted grace of God in the Spirit of
God, the fatness of it. The fatness of it. The fatness
of the Spirit of God, isn't that right? He's the one that causes
our face to shine, right? In the spiritual sense, right?
Not all of that Vaseline and grease like you got on your face.
That's all good, but that ain't the Holy Ghost. right? I'm talking
about our souls, right? I'm talking about our souls,
our souls fat and greasy, right? With the pure olive oil, with
that, with that, with the good fats, right? Good fats, the,
the healthy fats, right? Big old healthy fat, fat glowing,
glorious men and women in Christ. Yeah, you give him glory for
that. I told you I like eating. And I think God does too when
you think through the metaphor and he does not want us to go
around acting or behaving stingy or pitiful Our poverty stricken
when he has given us Christ and he's given us Christ in order
to give us everything that Christ has That's right It's your job
in mind is your job in mind to tap into Christ as deep as we
can possibly go To get all we got from Christ Do you understand
that? Because to the degree that you
enjoy Christ manifestly, you glorify God. To the degree that
you can enjoy Christ manifestly, you glorify God. To the degree
that you fail to enjoy Him, you fail to glorify Him. Your job
then is to go deep as you can into God and get all that you
can of God and Christ and revel in it. So that other men and
women, didn't we talk about this last week? Does your gospel cause
people to be jealous for God? This is what Paul is talking
about in our text. Let's go and work this through.
I got a few more minutes. Would you listen to it? The warning
to maintain your standing. Rebellious Israel was indeed
cut off. And Christ also warns the church of the same thing.
Go with me to John chapter 15 and let's consider briefly verses
5 and 6. John 15 5 and 6 this here is
another tree it's called the vine tree of which Jesus in seven
of his major I am sets forth I am the true vine John chapter
15 verse 1 I am the true vine and my father is the husband
father-son paradigm right every here it is again branch in me
that bears not fruit he does what Isn't that what Paul is
saying now in Romans 11? So he's making a connection between
human sinful boasting and a lack of fruit bearing. I want you
to make the connection. Here's what he's saying. Be careful
not to grow conceited. Be careful not to become high
minded. Because the conceited high minded
person is putting on a facade. Are you with me so far? Can I
work this? You are portending by your conceitedness to be fruit-bearing. But when you are really, truly
fruit-bearing, you don't have to tell anybody. The fruit shows
up on its own. And stay with me now. The more
fruit that shows up, the lower the tree hangs. And as the tree
hangs, because it's fruit growing, it's walking in the humility
of the gospel. It's walking in the humility
of the gospel. It's walking in the humility
of the gospel and it's making itself available to others. Because when you truly understand
the reason that God saved you is for his glory and the good
of others, you're more than willing to hang over So the fruit can
be available to anyone and everyone. But if you are high and lifted
up and you are haughty and conceited, you're putting up a smoke screen
because you don't have any fruit. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
Here's the metaphor. Every branch in me that bears
not fruit, he takes away. And every branch that bears fruit,
he does what? Prunes it. That's daddy. Helps
some of you, that's daddy. Pastor, I don't like it. That's
daddy. It doesn't feel good. That's daddy. This, I told you
earlier, right? As Gentiles, we told daddy we
don't want him nipping at us. We don't want him. Have you ever
seen those brothers prune back those grapevines? Have you ever
seen the brothers that come, the gardener that comes to your
house and prunes back? I had a brother come to my house
last year and prune back a tree. I left and I came back. and wasn't
nothing there. I said, he ain't getting paid.
He ain't getting paid. Brother, you ain't getting paid.
He said, Pastor, don't worry about it. Just wait till next
year. That tree grew so quick, and
it bore more fruit than I ever saw in my life. Lord, prune me
anytime. Prune me anytime. anytime you
want to prune me. I couldn't believe it. In fact,
it was in the front of my yard and I was embarrassed. I said,
I should go out and go buy another tree and plant it there. Cause
we love having a fair show in the flesh. We love to be perennials. We want to bear fruit all year
round. But do you understand you got
to go through seasons of pruning. for God to bear fruit in your
life. Are you with me? And so you got to be able to
trust the husbandman because he knows what he's doing, doesn't
he? But here's what he says in verse five and six. I am the
vine. You are the branches. He that
what abides in me and I in him, the same does what? Bring forth
much fruit for with out me you can do nothing. There it is. There it is. And here's the challenge
you and I have to deal with every day. You and I have to deal with
the challenge of walking away from the source and walking in
our own strength and leaning on our own understanding and
solving our own problems and fixing our own dilemmas and going
out and buying artificial fruit and putting it on the tree. Artificial
fruit. You know what I call that? Christmas
trees Autumn I'm starting another message right now. You want to
be a Christmas tree? I want to be a fruit-bearing
tree. You understand that you want to be a Christmas tree superficial
artificial light instead of the real thing and This is what the
Apostle was saying. Look at verse 6 John 15 verse
6 if a man does not abide in me he is cast forth as a branch
and Like father, like son. What God did to Israel in the
Old Testament, what Paul is saying is, listen you Gentiles, listen,
please listen. He's saying unless you are authentically
in Christ, unless you are truly authentically rooted and grounded
in Christ, you can be cut off too. And now speaking on the
larger metaphorical level, larger metaphorical level, because he's
really talking about prophecy. Let's go back to our text. I
want to work this through just a little bit as we begin to wrap
this up. The warning is that all we have to do is look at
Israel and we can see how that they failed to obtain the blessings. And we also know how they failed.
And this is why he's saying what he's saying in verse 22 of Romans
chapter 11. Listen to it in verse 22 of Romans
chapter 11. This is what he says. Behold,
therefore, what? The goodness and severity of
God. Mark that child of God, because
this is God's nature. We love to talk about how good
God is, right? We go, God is good, right? Then
the next thing we say in church is what? All the time. Okay,
let's do some theology right here now. Let's see if that's
good doctrine. Nice, isn't it? Isn't it nice?
Let's see if that's good doctrine. So if God is good all the time,
he can never ever be severe. Anybody with me? Anybody following
me? See, if we make God always good,
there's no room for his holiness. and his judgment and his severity. See, faithful preachers will
depict before you an accurate description of God, whether you
like it or not. We're going to let you know that
God is holy, that God is just, that while he is good and he's
loving, he will always punish sin. And that whereas He bestows
upon us the blessings of grace and mercy and salvation and redemption,
He also warns us that if we rebel against Him, He will send us
straight to hell. And that severity is a real aspect
of God's righteous judgment. Is that right? Severity is a
real aspect of God's righteous judgment. Now watch this, Saints,
as I get ready to move on into my other point. If you abandon
this concept you will have failed to grasp the cross. If you abandon the severity of
God, you will have failed to grasp the cross. The cross reveals
both God's goodness and His severity. The cross shows God's love and
His wrath. The cross shows God's goodness
and mercy, but also God's hostility and necessary justice against
sin. If you paint God as only always
good, you make a mockery of the cross. When you do that, you
fail to bring men and women to a true need of their salvation. You minimize the cross work and
now all God is for them is a sugar daddy. because their problem
is not really that bad. They're not, they're not, they're
not that bad. They don't need a savior to die
for their sins. They just need a God to help
them get along. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
And so what Paul does frequently, like I told you, if you're going
to read your Bible, honestly, if you're going to read your
Bible, honestly, you got these little road bumps all through
the Bible. You know how some of our streets
are knucklehead youth? I used to be one of them. Ride
down a 25 mile road at 40, 50 miles an hour. And then we had
to start putting down what? Speed bumps. Because that'll
tie your car up real quick, right? And it's designed to what? Slow
you down. So in your Bible, you have speed bumps virtually every
three or four chapters. What are those speed bumps? God
will punish sin. You can't get to Genesis 3 without
God getting in the butt of Adam and Eve. And then we go three
more chapters and God wipes out the whole world. That's my God. And then he starts all over again.
And the next thing you know in Genesis chapter 11, he's scattering
the whole world. Is that right? And then he gives
you a little snippet in Genesis 19 when he destroys the sodomites. And then by the time you get
to Exodus chapter 2 and 3, he's been backed up, ready to clean
up Egypt. That's the God of the Bible.
Now, Pastor, where's the hope? In between the judgments. That's
where the hope is. In between the judgments. That's
where the hope is. Get in between the judgments.
Because in between the judgments is the goodness of God. It's
the goodness and patience of God and long-suffering of God
that you and I live every day, breathe every day, have our being
every day, haven't fallen to the hell yet. God's good to you. He's good to you. Yeah, he's
good to you. And the third sub-point is the
mandate is abiding in what? When Christ says, except you
abide in me and I abide in you and my word abide in you, you
can't bear fruit. What does he mean by abiding? Abiding by what?
Abiding by what? Faith. faith, faith, which is
a humble disposition of the soul to cast itself totally upon God. Here's the problem. Here's the
problem. We stopped walking by faith.
Is that true? We start, we listen, we get our
degree and it just, it's an amazing thing. As Christian parents,
we try to do the best we can, right? And that's not that great
of a job, but we try, right? And then we, our kids, we do
what we can and we get our kids up to high school and then we
send them to college. What we do that for? They come back with
a piece of paper in their hand, armed against God, don't they?
We paid for them to get armed against God, didn't we? Paid
for them to get armed against God, because they go to college
to learn how to be conceited. Stay with me for a moment. I
see what's going on in some of you parents' minds. I ain't paying
for that. ain't paying for that and if you were to talk to me
for about 30 minutes I probably would agree with you see I know
I'm slow cuz I didn't get it like five or six times now paid
for it and I'm getting ready to pay for it again and I'm really
trying to figure a way out because I'm worried whether or not my
kids gonna come out with another piece of paper talking about
knowing something more than they knew before they went in about
how there is no God Or how they don't need God. Or how they're
questioning whether or not the death of Christ is even relevant
to their soul. See, you can learn your way out
of hope. You can learn your way out of
sanity. You can learn your way out of
salvation. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? They will teach you how not to believe the gospel. They
will teach you how to be conceited and haughty and high-minded.
And this is why you pray for your kids when they go to school,
that God keeps them humble, especially when they go to college. Pray
that college is hard. Lord, make it hard. Make it hard
enough for them to call home and ask daddy and mama to pray
for them. Make it hard. Give them one of the classes
that they got to pass that they didn't discover that they getting
a D. So they can call mama, mama, daddy, and you know, because
they'll call you when they're in trouble. Mama, daddy, I'm really struggling
in class. I don't know what to do. Would
you pray for me? Sure will. Sure will. So in the summer break,
are we going to see you in church? Y'all didn't hear me. Y'all didn't
hear me. Let's deal with our last point,
third point. This is an interesting insight
to me, and I'm gonna close here, and we'll pick up the rest as
we'll close out Romans 11 tomorrow. What I love about Paul in his
exhortation to his Gentile brothers, he's being very pastoral, as
you know, in verses 16 through 20, by telling them, be careful,
brothers, be careful, count your blessings. You in, but count
your blessings. That's very pastoral, isn't it?
Be careful, you're in, you're in, but count your blessings.
Listen, it happened to Israel and they have far deeper roots
than you do. You're in, but count your blessings.
That's really good, that's really good. But Paul has a view of
a remnant returning. He has a view of a remnant of
the Jews returning. And on a psychological level,
that ought to be an insight for you and me. I'm going to close
right here, then we're going to pick this up next week. All
right. So you know how we have loved ones who have gone far,
far, far from God? I mean, off the chart. I mean, they didn't bought the
lie lock, stock, and barrel. I'm going to work this for five
minutes, then we're done. Because I want you to get it. Right? Because you know how we are naive? Especially with our own family
members. I'm just going to keep it real close to home because
a lot of times you don't get it unless it's close to home.
How many of you guys got family in the far country? I'm talking
about the far country. I'm talking the far, far country.
Y'all scared, huh? Y'all don't even know what I
mean by that. I'm talking about so twisted, so far, so gone that
they are hyper-liberal progressives. They didn't jump out of anything
that had to do with the modern world or the old ancient views.
Y'all know what I'm talking about now? I'm gonna keep it right
there for a moment, because that's really difficult for us old schoolers
to deal with. You take a trip to Thailand,
a part of the Philippines, a part of Japan, or parts of China,
and you see crazy. Y'all following what I'm saying?
You see, super twisted. And it's coming to America too,
right? It's already working its way in San Francisco and New
York and other places, right? Some of our family members are
in that country. Is that true? Right. And when
you think about the ubiquitous nature of the encroaching system
bringing itself to us, because it's coming to us. We're not
going there. It's evangelizing us right now. And we think about,
Lord, I don't even see a way for those people out of that.
Well, you need to think like Paul. Because Paul is thinking
about a nation who has for thousands of years turned its back on God.
Are you hearing what I'm saying? His own people. He knew what
it was like to be one of them. He was just one of them a few
decades earlier. This is why you can't forget. You can't forget. You can't forget. You can't forget where you came
from. You can't forget the hole you
were dug out of. You can't forget the pit you
were hewn from. You can't forget the darkness
you were in. You can't forget the bondage you were in. You
can't forget. You can't forget the slavery that you were in.
You can't forget the debauchery that you were engaged in. You
can't forget the depths of hell that you were engaged in and
God came and got you. Are you hearing me? You can't
forget that. And in fact, God saved you so you don't forget,
so that you can take the privileges of standing in the mediatorial
role of praying for them. Praying for them and being ready
to proclaim the gospel to them. Watch this. If you don't believe
the gospel, you won't share it with them. Am I telling the truth? When they come in to the house
looking like who knows what, this neo persian empire androgynous
creature y'all get that in a moment how many y'all got what i just
said there you go you go what is that come on in come on in lord help me to ask what this
is because i don't know how to call it uh she uh he a it, a
what, right? Y'all following me? So what you
want me to call you? That's where we are today, right?
Because if you notice, it used to be L-G-B-T. No, no, no, we
need the Q now. And then pretty soon we're going
to R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z, right? Because that's where we're at
right now. You know where we're at now? Stay with me now. Stay with me
now. So can the Christian lose his
confidence that God is not able to save wretched sinners like
that? They can't lose their confidence. Is he able to save? Is he able
to save to the uttermost? But if he's going to do it, is
he going to use us? He's going to humble us? and
teach us to get deeply anchored in Christ. Know our identity
in Christ. By the way, that's what we're
going to be talking about this Saturday in our Daughters of
Grace class, because our daughters are always struggling with image
and identity, and you need to be here. Always struggling with
identity and image. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
That's what's going to happen this Saturday. But we all have to deal with
that onslaught, don't we? But is God able to? Is he able
to convert people who are that extremely given over to the dark
world? He certainly is. And that's the
way Paul is setting up his argument here. I'll just read it in verse
23 and 24 in close. He says, I'm going to start at
verse 22. Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of
God on them which fail. Severity, but toward you goodness,
if you continue in his goodness, otherwise you shall be cut off.
Scary that the church the Gentile church might end up almost dead
by the time Christ comes See it Then he goes on to say and
They that is Israel also if they abide not still in what? Shall
be what? For God is able to graft them
in what again? I I'm gonna start right there
next week and then close out the rest of the chapter and I
want you to think about this question Based on verse 23. I want you to ask the question
How will he grab such rebels back in? based on verse 23 How
will he grab such rebels back in? How will he take such desperate
sinners whose fist is against God's face and then grab them
back in? How will he do it? Based on verse
22 and verse 23. Are you guys hearing me? I want
you to think that through because the answer is in verse 23. We're
going to have the offering at this time and then we're going
to close in a word of prayer.