David is speaking in Psalm 58,
and this will give us a context for what we have been dealing
with over the last several weeks. Sorry, Psalm 52. I'm thinking
about something else in Psalm 58, Psalm 52. And David is going
to help us with what we've been dealing with over the last couple
of weeks, and particularly last week. If you have your outline,
we're in the last aspect of our outline, Olive tree analogy and
there's some things here in this psalm that are worth our attention
So I'm going to read all 11 verses and I'm going to pay attention
to verse to the verses in Psalm 52 that are I'm at Psalm 58 all
nine verses the last three verses or so that will bless our hearts
David said why boasted thou thyself in mischief Almighty man the
goodness of God endure it continually. Your tongue devises mischief
like a sharp razor, working deceitfully. You love evil more than good
and lying rather than to speak righteousness. You love all devouring
words, O thou deceitful tongue. God shall likewise destroy you
forever. He shall take you away and pluck
you out of your dwelling place and root you out of the land
of the living. Now, David is speaking about
wicked and ungodly men and women. But he's not talking about folks
in the world. He's talking about folks in the
church. And you need to know that. And this is where he uses
the language of plucking them out of the land of the living.
And this is the language that John the Baptist spoke when he
began his short ministry of three and a half years as he was preaching
The Pharisees and the Sadducees gave him trouble. And he said,
every tree that my father hath not planted will be plucked up. And the idea of being plucked
up out of the land of the living is being removed from any hope
of eternal life because one has continued in their rebellious
ways, even in the midst of God's goodness. And so David is speaking
to the wicked in Israel when he says they shall be plucked
out of the land of the living. And then he goes on to say the
state of the righteous. Now the Psalms do this often.
Psalm one opens up that way, addressing the characteristics
of the righteous and then closes out by saying, but the wicked
are not so. So you have this contrast in
the scriptures of the state of the ungodly and the unrighteous
and the wicked and the state of the godly and the righteous. And he now begins to explain
the characteristics of those who are righteous in God's sight.
Verse six says, the righteous also shall see and fear. Do you see that? The righteous
will see when God uproots the hypocrite. And then he will reverence
God for it because he'll know that if it wasn't for the mercy
of God, he'd be uprooted too. And then he'll go on and he shall
laugh at him. and shall laugh at him. That
is, rejoice. This laughter is the same laughter
that Sarah laughed and Abraham laughed. This is the same laughter
that Hannah laughed and all the godly laughed when for years
and years and years and years and years. The godly appear to
be desolate, forsaken, unfruitful, barren, without any hope in the
world, and the ungodly mock them and ridicule them while they
live off of the ostensive fatness of the land. You see, there's
a period in time when the godly have to appear to be a dry tree,
a fruitless tree, a barren tree. That's because as we learned
in our meeting the other night, God has to strip you down to
a place of hopelessness in order for him to give you his grace
and you not rob him of his glory. So there's a period of time where
God's people are in this state where we look like we're abandoned
by God. We're accursed of God. We are
forsaken. We are withered. Jesus has called
himself a root out of dry ground. We're going to deal with that
tonight. But you see, the latter end of the believer is always
better than the beginning. That's the way God does it. So
David is actually triumphing over the wicked who are themselves
rejoicing at the barren tree of God's people, because David
is saying there's a day coming when we'll be able to laugh at
you. There's a day coming when God will bless us abundantly.
And now he's going to describe that here in verses six, following
verse seven. Lo, this is the man that made
not God his strength. Do you see it? But he trusted
in the abundance of his riches. Now, what David is describing
is not merely the rich man in physical resources. but the foolish
religious person who thinks that he can stand before God on the
last day and boast in his good works as a grounds by which God
will accept him into the kingdom. Do you see that? David is saying
these are the people who were in this world conniving and scheming
and manipulating and God allowed them to do it. God allowed them
to prosper in the flesh. David and Jeremiah and the prophets
often said, why doth the wicked prosper? Why are they growing
like a green bay tree? Lord, why do you allow those
people who take your name in vain, who ridicule you, who are
hypocrites, who aren't taking you seriously? They're not trusting
in your grace. They're operating out of the
flesh. They're operating out of their own agendas. And it
seems to be working. It seems to be working. and God's
patient with them. That's what David was saying
down over in verse, the latter part of verse one. Why do you
boast yourself in mischief, O mighty man? The goodness of God endures
continually. Do you see that? In other words,
God's goodness can outweigh any of the manipulative schemes of
mankind. His goodness will outlast them. They'll come to their end and
God's goodness is still there for his people. And that's what
God's people have to understand. God's running things. God is
orchestrating history. And he very often allows the
wicked to appear to triumph before he blesses his elect. David understands
this. And by the spirit of prophecy
is simply exposing them for their latter end while he goes on to
talk about what it means to trust the Lord. So verse seven says,
look, this is the man that did not make God his strength. You
got it. He didn't trust in the grace of God in Christ. He didn't
rest in Christ's righteousness. He didn't rejoice in Christ's
finished work. He didn't abandon himself to
the mercy of God. He leaned on his own understanding.
He sought salvation by his own works. He trusted in the abundance
of his riches. Now watch this. And he strengthened
himself his wickedness then we have what is called a contrasting
clause but what David is saying I'm not like that do you see
that now watch what David says I am like a green olive tree
do you see I am like isn't that what we've been dealing with
the olive tree David says I am like a green olive tree where
in the house of God. Now this is important because
as we deal with the text and understand the analogy that Paul
is setting forth, David is giving us a little bit more insight
on the meaning and significance of the olive tree and its ultimate
connection where this olive tree dwells. It dwells in the house
of God. So I want you to get that in
your vision. The olive tree dwells in the house of God. This is
an olive tree in God's house David says I'm a green olive
tree In the house of God now watch this I trust in the mercy
of God Forever and ever got it. See David's a whole lot different
than the wicked Who trusts in his own mischief? David constantly
battled with who he was in Christ and the enemies that opposed
him and who seemed to prosper. David had a personal vendetta
to let the ungodly know that he may not always look like he
was on top of his game, but he always trusted God. Even when
David was fleeing upon the mountains, when Saul was chasing him, he
said, I'm like a dog and I'm like a flea. And you know, I'm
like a man out of sorts. And I wonder, has God abandoned
me? And yet I continue to trust God. Even when his son Absalom,
Pursued the kingdom to take it over from David and is chasing
his own father seeking to kill him David is humbly in the wilderness
Trusting in his God and you know what David's doing while he's
hiding from his son. He's saying God I can't wait
to get back to the temple. I can't wait to get back up under
the gospel. I can't wait till I can start
worshiping with the people of God again. I can't do it now,
but I'm waiting for the day when I'm brought back to my place
of authority. See, David could walk by faith like that. You
understand what I'm saying? So he says here, the green olive
tree is situated. In the house of God, I'm going
to make application to that as we go down the line and the believer
who is like a green olive tree His hallmarks are depicted by
trusting in the mercy of God. You want to stay fat. You want
to stay flourishing. You want to stay situated. You
want to stay like a tree planted by the rivers of water whose
leaves never wither, whose fruit is always full in its season.
Trust in the mercies of God. That's what God is calling us
to trust in the mercies of God. Now, that's the key. Don't don't
fall. Listen, don't get in trouble now. That's the key. You want
to have the believer stands in the midst of a fiery trial. He
trusts in the mercies of God. Now, I know that, you know, for
strong men and strong women, this may not seem like a wise
thing, but I'm here to tell you the mercy of God is what you
need. The mercy of God is really the key for all of us. And David
is saying, I trust in the mercy of God forever. Now watch this.
I will praise thee forever. Why? Because you did it. Got
it? Because you did it. In other
words, God did everything for David. And I will wait on your
name for it is good before your saints. Do you see that? David
is a man depicting utter and total dependence upon God's mercy,
upon God's goodness, upon God's favor. And as a consequence,
David is like a green olive tree. Now, if you have your outline,
what was the first thing we said about the olive tree versus 16
and 17? What does the olive tree signify in the larger biblical
interpretive sense? The witness. Isn't that right? The witness. We're dealing with
the olive tree in Romans chapter nine. Before we go, Romans 11,
before we go back to Romans 11, go with me to Psalm 92. I want
you to see one more verse. By the way, you do know if you
read your Bible frequently that the Bible uses the tree metaphor
from Genesis to Revelation, isn't that right? In the beginning,
God spoke about trees in Genesis chapter two and three. All the
trees of the garden may you eat freely eat. The goal was to get
to the tree of life, right? The devil distracted our first
parents and we missed that tree. That tree was taken out of the
Garden of Eden and it was placed in paradise. Did you guys know
that? That tree was Christ. But it was taken out of the garden
and it was put in paradise and you can find it again when you
go to Revelation 22. That's where paradise is. I had
to teach Our folks in Vacaville, this I guess I'll have to teach
you this if you don't know it. The garden is not paradise. It never was. When God saves
us, he's not restoring us back to the Garden of Eden. You know,
some folks say, you know, salvation is being restored to that sort
of Edenic state. I'm not interested in going back
to the Garden of Eden. Tell you why. Because the Garden
of Eden was a typological place. It was real, but it only prefigured
those things that were eternal in nature. The Garden of Eden
also has snakes in it. I don't like snakes. I never
have. I've always had an aversion to
snakes. How about you? I don't care if it was a garter
snake. When I see a garter snake, I'm getting the cut to put on
top of because I just have an aversion to snakes. But do you
know there are no snakes in paradise? Know also that in paradise there
is no curse. Also in paradise there is no
night. In paradise there's nothing but
eternal blessings. The garden prefigured and pointed
to paradise, but paradise is the reality and the tree is in
paradise. And when men failed, God removed
him out of the garden and he wanted to get to the tree, but
God put two flaming swords up by the cherubim. Remember that
to guard the way to the tree of life so that the only way
we get to the tree now is by what faith in Christ. That's
how you do it. And the fullness of that blessing
called the tree of life won't be experienced by God's people
until we get the glory. Paul tasted of it. We talked
about it last Sunday. Such a man as was caught up to
the third heavens, whether in the body or out of the body,
I cannot tell. But I saw things and I heard
things. He was in paradise. And so the language of Revelation
22 tells us that there is a finality to the purpose of redemption
signified and prefigured by all of those images there. And John
said in Revelation 22 verse 1, I saw a tree, in fact, two trees
on either side of the river and that river flowed out of the
throne and on the throne was one like the Lamb of God. You
see that? And so what John is saying is
everything that the Bible has been given to us in historical
scenarios with their redemptive connotations is brought to full
reality in heaven. Full reality in heaven. So you
and I are passing through scripture right along with the Old Testament
saints, and they're learning about these things like David
himself is. And so David is now taking the
olive tree analogy and applying it to himself, which he has a
right to do. Because as we learned last week,
the two olive trees in Zechariah 4 poured their oil into the menorah,
the candlestick. Remember that? That candlestick,
we take it and we move further down the line in what we call
progressive revelation, and we land in Revelation chapter 1.
And John said the candlestick was the first vision of the four
major visions, and they represented the seven what? The seven churches. And so David is a church. Every believer is a temple. That
means every believer is a witness. That means every believer needs
that olive tree to pour into his life the illuminating power
of the Holy Ghost so that he can be a witness to the glory
of God. That's what David is saying.
You know what that means? David knew the gospel. So I'm saying
all this to let us know that the Old Testament saints knew
the gospel just like we do. In fact, in some cases, just
based on the way they talk, they knew it better than folks today.
Do you hear what I'm saying? One more place in Psalm 92. Now
you've heard this one before. This is beautiful as we make
our way back to Romans chapter 11 and deal with the very tedious
language that Paul sets forth there in the analogy. In Psalm
92, this is a wonderful Psalm encouraging believers also in
their walk. In Psalm 92, I'm going to start
over at, he does the same thing. This is amazing. I'm going to
start over at verse 11. and make my way through verse 15. Psalm 92, are we there? My eyes
have also seen my desire on my enemy. And my ears shall hear
my desire of the wicked that rise up against me. Do you see
that? The righteous shall flourish like the what? Palm tree. He
shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Now watch this language. Here's
the parallel again. Those that be planted where in
the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. Do
you see what David has done a second time? He's taken the tree analogy
and brought it inside the scope of the temple because that's
where it has its ultimate application. So then let me, let me develop
this because I've been thinking about this for a while as I've
been meditating on the necessity of God's people staying fruitful. This is one of the challenges
in our life. We all ebb and flow, don't we? We go up and down.
Fruitfulness. Is a consequence of understanding
your priorities. And walking in them. You can
test God anytime you want to, and he will dry you up. Am I
making some sense? You can say, I'm going to spend
a little time outside of God's house. I'm going to spend a little
time outside of God's word. I'm going to spend a little time
outside of the sphere, the sphere of his spirit and his blessings
and the means of grace that he uses to nurture us. And I'm all
right. You know, I'm like a camel. I
got a little reserve on my back, you know? And so you get out
there in the wilderness and you start to dry up and you begin
to realize that you have no strength. You can't worship God, you can't
read your Bible, you can't pray, you're not getting revelations,
God not using you to witness to people. For all intents and
purposes, you are fruitless. Am I making some sense? That's
because you have chosen to tempt God and operate outside of the
sphere of blessing. For God's people, the sphere
of blessing is the church. That's why David took the olive
tree and put it in the house of God. That's why he said concerning
the cedar of Lebanon and the palm tree, they are blessed in
the house of God. Now, we can take that and make
it a much larger application, but I don't want to deny what
I have learned after almost 30 years of being in Christ. The
most foolish thing you and I can do is cut ourselves off from
the body. The most foolish thing we can
do is to misprioritize our time and get caught up in secular
material pursuits about things that have nothing to do with
our eternal welfare. That's the most foolish thing
we can do. We will cut ourselves off from God's resources and
we will look like it when we're done. There's nothing like a
Christian who doesn't have a witness or his witnesses tore up because
he's not abiding by the riverside where his roots can go down deep
and drop from the water source of the Holy Ghost in order for
his trunk and his branches and his leaves and his fruit to be
there for sinners to pluck and eat and say, I want to know the
God that produced this in your life. Am I making some sense?
But you got a whole lot of rogue, maverick, individual, autonomous,
disconnected, disjointed Christians who aren't bearing any fruit
because they don't understand this principle. David understood
this principle. This is what I love about David.
He was a sinner saved by grace, just like I am. But David knew
that to be close to God was the key to fruitfulness. David loved
him some God. He was a man after God's own
heart. And this is what he's teaching in this song. And listen
to it. The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree. He shall
grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the
house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They
shall still bring forth fruit. You believe that? Drive me crazy
when I meet old Christians that talk about retiring. When I know
many of the old saints who love the word just as passionately
and zealously as I do right now. Am I telling the truth? And it
drives me crazy when young people think that, you know, they they
can they can just sort of, you know, put it on cruise. Listen,
whatever whatever pattern you carve out in your life when you're
older, you're going to be stuck with that pattern. I've seen
this. I've seen this so many times in ministry. I've seen
the young person who has been given the gift of consistency
and zeal for God. who has had to overcome and endure
the ridicule and the scorn of folks in his family who call
him overzealous, because he's pursuing God. He may or may not
know it, but he's simply fighting against the spirit of unbelief
in his relatives. Because his relatives can't even
conceive of the idea of being committed to the true and the
living God. And so he continues and he presses through and you
know, you got to pay for something to get to Jesus I'm here to tell
you read Philippians chapter 3 Paul talked about what he lost
in order for him to gain He said I counted everything lost for
the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus I was willing
to lose everything that I thought was game became dawn because
when I saw his glory I had to have him So he said, I pressed
toward the mark of the high calling in Christ. He also said, I am
pursuing that for which I have been apprehended. And so the
reality is, is that until the Christian understands this dynamic,
you are setting yourself up for dismal experiences of dryness
in your life and listlessness and idleness in terms of God
using you. And I can just think of multitudes
of people that I used to associate with years ago. years ago, who
are not at all in the sphere of God's blessing right now.
And you can too, can't you? They are so far removed from
the blessings of God, so far removes in our in this fellowship
right now, just right now, I met a new young man who's been listening
to me for a while, and he's glad to be here today. And it's a
pleasure to have him out with us. And he says he's been listening
for a season and he's been blessed under the ministry of the word
under the radio we know that and and we thank god for that
uh... uh... but there are people who are
here that I've seen being born and raised and grown right now
in my presence. I've seen children born. I've
seen couples who weren't couples. They were single 25 years ago,
almost 30 years ago, who are married now and raising children
and their children are grown in our presence and are about
to get married. If not getting married right
along with some of mine, what I'm saying is I've seen that
long panorama of the walk of the saints in this world. And
some people are with us and some people are not with us. That's
the nature of the kingdom of God. Five years ago, there were
some folk who seemed like they would never slow down. But as
Paul said in the book of Galatians, what did hinder you? You did
run well. What stopped you from being committed
to the truth? That's a battle. That's a huge
battle. It's just an immense battle.
And do you know you got to beg God to give you grace to stay
on the straight and narrow, to help you maintain your priorities?
Because the reality is that priority setting is seed sowing. Priority setting is seed sowing. If you sow to the spirit, you
will reap of the spirit. If you sow to the flesh, you
will of necessity reap of the flesh. And when you sow to the
Spirit, even in your difficult times, God remembers that sowing. He blesses that seed, and it
sustains you in your weakness, even in your trouble, to get
you back on track. You didn't get back on track
because you were smart. You got back on track because God gave
you grace to sow the seed a year earlier, or two years earlier,
or three years earlier. And what I'm saying is, when
the Bible says here, they shall still be bearing fruit in their
old age, It's because that's what God intends for all of us
Jesus gave the analogy in John chapter 15 of the vine tree,
right? He says I am the true vine tree and you are the what
we getting ready to get into that Back in Romans 11. He says
every tree that bears fruit It's because it's abiding in the vine
tree Receiving nourishment from the life of the vine tree and
because my father is pruning it You know, you bear fruit when
you're being pruned, right? That's this is horticulture.
That husband knows what to do to produce fruit out of that
tree to cause it to produce more fruit. And so you go through
difficult times, but you stay committed and connected to the
vine because, you know, shortly after this trial, God's going
to be able to use me in a more effective way. Am I making some
sense? And this is the analogy here.
Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish
in the courts of God. They shall still bring forth
fruit in old age. They shall be what? And flourishing. To show that
the Lord is upright. He is my rock and there is no
unrighteousness in him. See, now we're dealing with,
again, the concept of fatness. We started off dealing with last
week Um, and the week before the fall, we started dealing
with the fullness. They fell in the previous verses
of Romans 11. We started dealing with the fullness
that could be even more fully developed, but now we're dealing
with the fatness. And this is as you make your way to Romans
chapter 11, I need you to stop at judges chapter nine again,
so that we can get a definition of the particular aspect of the
olive tree. Judges chapter 9 that means you
got to go back a little bit after the book of Joshua Judges chapter
9 and listen again to the metaphor so that we can get the definition
of the olive tree and then we'll go back to Romans 11 and we're
going to exegete in Romans 11 the 4 or 5 verses that Paul is
using to help us understand what happened when us Gentiles were
brought into the Commonwealth of Israel. Are we in Judges 9?
In Judges 9, as we were dealing with that, I was sharing with
you that Abimelech, his son, began to address what was happening
in the kingdom, and he used a parable to do it. In Judges 9, verse
8, the trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them. The
trees here are a metaphor for men. They're a metaphor for people. Trees sometimes are a metaphor
for kingdoms. They ultimately point to Christ,
but they can also be a figure of the Antichrist kingdom. Isn't
that right? Nebuchadnezzar was represented by a tree, wasn't
he? And so here it says, but the
trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them, and
they said unto the olive tree, rain thou over us. But the olive
tree said unto them, should I leave my what? Fatness. what David
said in Psalm 92 wherewith by me they honor God and man do
you see that the fatness therefore is a representation of the resource
and power and efficacy of the Spirit of God it's not possible
for us to honor God or man without the Holy Ghost If we wanted to
make a crystal centric and redemptive interpretation out of this passage,
the way God is honored and the way man is honored is by the
God man, Jesus Christ, who is the true olive tree. Am I making
some sense? See, only he could truly honor
God by keeping God's commandments. And only he could truly honor
man by keeping God's commandments for him. Am I making some sense? See, you and I don't honor God
whenever we sin against God, we dishonor him. But there was
a man who was sinless, who was harmless, who was holy and separate
from sinners. He honored both God and man. And the Bible tells us in John
three and the spirit was given to him without measure. And that's
how he did it, because he was so full of the spirit of God
that he could honor both God and man being the God man. at the same time. So the olive
tree points us to the fullness and the fatness of the resource
of the Spirit of God necessary for us to be effective witnesses. To be an effective witness you
need the Spirit of God. You guys got that? Go back with
me to Romans chapter 11. I think sometimes when I talk
about the Spirit of God that people don't quite believe in
the imminence and the efficacy and the dynamic of the third
person as a crucial, crucial participant in your life as a
Christian. Sometimes I think that when we
talk about the third person, we're dealing with sort of an
ethereal concept that can be taken or left. But I'm here to tell you, it
is a crucial error to make to think that you don't need the
spirit of God. Without the Spirit of God, you
can't do one thing for God. Did you hear what I just said?
And there is no reality to the Christian life without the Spirit
of God. None. You can't take one walk
of faith, one step of faith without the Spirit of God. He is the
quickening Spirit. Jesus said in John chapter 6,
verse 63, it is the Spirit that gives life. The flesh profits
nothing. It is so critical then to understand
the spirit's place in this whole thing we call the ministry of
God, as Paul is now going to develop it. If you follow me
in your outline, we're going to work this now. The olive tree
analogy in Romans chapter 11. I'm going to be dealing with
now the subsequent question. We've already dealt with the
witness. We've looked at Zechariah chapter 4. We've looked at Psalm
52. We've looked at Revelation chapter 11. We've looked at Judges
9. Here is the question. In the context in which the apostle
is speaking in Romans chapter nine, or 11, I'm sorry. In the
context of Romans chapter 11, what is the olive tree signifying
in this context? What does your outline say? The
context, whenever you establish an interpretation based upon
the context, what that means is, in the context, a word or
an analogy or a concept has meaning first and foremost in that context. Then it may have a larger or
a broader meaning in relationship to the whole of scripture. You
heard me say earlier that the trees in the Bible sometimes
signify men, right? They sometimes signify kingdoms. They often point to Christ, but
they can also point to antichrist. Well, how are all of these different
aspects and definitions sold? Context. Context. Context are you hearing what
I'm saying? I said earlier John the Baptist looked out among
the masses of the people that were coming to him and he could
distinguish between Sincere sinners who were willing to confess their
sins and believe on Christ and be baptized from the leaders
of the church Who were snakes and vipers as he called them
and he says who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come
That's what it means to come to Jesus by the way It means
to have been warned by the gospel to flee from the wrath of God
to Christ, who is the only hiding place. John said, Who had warned
you Pharisees and Sadducees to flee? Because you're coming to
the waters of baptism as if you're confessing your sin, as if you're
acknowledging that Jesus is Lord, as if you know that you need
his righteousness to get you into heaven. But he says every
tree that my father hath not what planted. Will be plucked
up john said it like this and now is the axe laid to the tree
Do you know what he was talking about? He was talking about the
tree of judaism He was talking about the whole jewish system
about to be cut down Now is the axe laid to the tree? Why not
cut it down? Jesus had already cursed it Remember
that when he went to the fig tree he saw that the fig tree
didn't have figs remember that And he cursed that tree and said,
let no man eat from you from his fort. His disciples and him
went into the temple. He cleaned up the temple. Remember
what he did? That politically incorrect move
that Jesus did. And then he left the temple and
on his way back to the Mount of Olives, the disciples saw
that the tree was cursed. And Jesus says, this tree is
a sign. It's a sign that the stewardship
of national Israel has been removed from them and given to a people
bearing the fruit thereof. Am I making some sense? And so
Jesus had already said, you're done. He had, in fact, given
two parables concerning the fig tree beforehand. One of the parables,
he said it was a man who had a tree, a fig tree, and it wasn't
bearing fruit. And he said, cut it down. And
the people that tilled the ground says, no, let us don't get let
us work it. for the first year and in the
second year, and if it doesn't bear fruit in the third year,
cut it down. Those three years was that time
where Jesus was preaching the gospel to Israel day in and day
out, month in and month out, year in and year out, and they
still weren't getting it. By the end of his ministry, that
tree had to come down. Am I making some sense? And so
what I'm getting across to you is that the Bible uses these
metaphors and these analogies consistently through the scripture
to teach us spiritual realities. And that's what's going on here.
And so as we are dealing with the olive tree, the Apostle Paul
knows specifically what he is addressing. Specifically, contentually
in your outline, the olive tree is what we may call the Abrahamic
promise. Please grasp that, and I'm using
my words carefully. the Abrahamic promise. The olive
tree is the Abrahamic promise, that promise that God gave to
Abraham, that of his seed, singular, all the nations of the earth
would be blessed. You guys got that? It's very
important for you to hear me now. I want you to hear me. I
said the promise that was given to Abraham, represented by an
olive tree I did not say that Abraham was the olive tree did
you hear me I want you to get this now because I want you to
understand as we unfold the analogy of the olive tree in relationship
to Israel being cut off the Gentiles being brought in And the whole
scheme of what we call eschatology coming to its full end. The olive
tree in this context represents the promise that God had given
to Abraham. And that was God had set Abraham
up to be the vehicle by which the gospel would come into the
four corners of the world. He has that promise, that Abrahamic
promise is the starting promise that would operate throughout
the nation of Israel, but not to the nation of Israel exclusively. I have to keep saying that because
people are so enamored by the physical nation of Israel. First
of all, as I told you before, and I'll tell you again, when
God gave Abraham the promise in Genesis chapter 12, Genesis
15, Genesis 17, he gave Abraham that promise while Abraham was
a Gentile. He wasn't a Jew. Do you hear
me? He was a Gentile. Abraham received
the promise. while he was outside of any scope
of the legal system that was given to Moses, that was given
to Israel. So Abraham wasn't under the law. The promise doesn't come through
circumcision and the promise doesn't come through the law.
The promise comes through Christ. Are you hearing me? The promise
comes through Christ and is given to sinners who are chosen to
experience those promises. And this is why I've developed
this for weeks with you. When God brought Abraham into
the promise, the covenant, God didn't look to Abraham to affect
the covenant. That covenant was affected between
the father and the son. Abraham simply was the beneficiary
of it. He was the earthly recipient
of the blessings of the covenant that God made with Abraham, but
confirmed in who? Christ. Can you guys hear me? I'm glad you can, because I'm
telling you, I want people to get this so bad. When God makes
a covenant with a sinner and it's a covenant of grace and
mercy and redemption, God doesn't look for you to confirm the covenant.
Are you hearing me? Because you can't. Abraham wasn't
Asked by god to confirm the covenant only to represent the covenant
And therefore god told him to circumcise the firstborn in his
house circumcise every male in his house because that covenant
of circumcision According to paul in romans 4 was merely a
sign between god and abraham That god would give him a seed
You guys got that? Every time abraham circumcised
one of the slaves or one of his own children It was a sign that
God would keep his promise to Abraham. Circumcision was for
the male reproductive organ. It wasn't the female reproductive
organ. It was the male reproductive
organ because circumcision pointed to the seed, the seed, the one
seed who came through many seeds, as Paul said in Galatians 3,
11, 12, 13, and 14, the seed, which is who? Christ. So God's looking way down the
line, even though he's operating through Abraham's life and Isaac
and Jacob and the 12 tribes. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and
the 12 tribes are not the olive tree. Did you hear what I just
said? They are not the olive tree.
They are merely part of the olive tree. This is what we're getting
ready to develop. I want you to see this now. Now
if the olive tree is the fatness, and if the olive tree is the
blessing, and if the olive tree as we've seen from Genesis all
the way to Revelation, remember the dove who represents what? The Holy Ghost. Went and intentionally
under annoyed that dove was anointed. Did you know that? That dove
was anointed by the holy ghost to go to the olive tree. He could
have went to any tree after the flood He went to the olive tree
plucked a leaf off and went back and told noah. It's all over
All sins are over with see the flood of noah's day represented
judgment day It represented that time where God would pour out
his wrath upon the world. It represented your judgment
and my judgment. See, either we stand before God
in judgment in Christ on Calvary's tree, represented by the ark,
having hid inside that ark and endured the wrath of God against
our soul in Christ. And once that wrath is over with,
we get to come on the outside of the ark and enjoy the blessings
of new beginnings and new life because there is therefore now
no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus or we bear
the wrath of God outside of the ark like those folks did who
suffered in that flood. Am I making some sense? And this
is what Peter is saying in first Peter chapter three, when he
talks about baptism, which some of you will be being baptized
on March 22nd and we'll explain it all over again. Baptism is
the sinner being brought into union with Jesus Christ While
Christ enters into the waters of God's wrath. He is Crucified
he is buried and he's raised again. The sinner is crucified
He's buried and he's raised again in Christ Am I making some sense
as Noah and his eight souls were in the ark? So God's elect were
in Christ And I'm here to tell you, God's elect were in Christ
before the world began when God drew up this scheme of redemption
and confirmed it in his son, Jesus Christ. Am I making some
sense? And therefore, when we use the
metaphor of the olive tree and the olive tree is so closely
connected with the spirit of God because it becomes the vehicle
or means by which the lamp is illuminated, we're talking about
the third person. We're talking about the spirit
of God. We're talking about God himself. The promise that was
given to Abraham was the promise of redemption through Christ
to sinners. And here's what Paul goes on to say. So we can develop
this. I needed to drive that home because it's so very important.
He says over in verse 15, verse 16, rather of chapter 11, these
words for if the first fruits be holy, do you guys see that
the love is also holy? And if the root be holy, so are
the what? Now if some of the branches be
broken off, who is he talking about? Come on now, what are
some of the branches? Israel, the Jews, some of the
branches. Now is the branch the tree? Isn't that what Jesus said in
John chapter 15? I am the tree, you are the branches. I'm supporting you, you're not
supporting me. There's a big difference between a branch in
a tree. Am I making some sense? Please
get this. The sum of the branches was national
Israel. That means national Israel could
not be the tree. It was only part of the tree.
It was only part of the tree because it was part of the Abrahamic
promise in that God had intended for Abraham's physical seed to
be the progenitors of the one who would fulfill the promise,
even Jesus. Am I making some sense? Some
of the branches of the olive tree, what happened to them?
They were cut off. Isn't that what Paul has been
talking about for the last two chapters? Israel being cut off. National Israel being cut up
now, isn't there a difference between cutting a branch off
and cutting the tree down? I'm trying to help you now Paul
knows what he's doing I'm just wondering do we as we deal with
the argument in Romans 11 be very careful that God cannot
fail God's not cutting down the tree of promise. He's not cutting
down the olive tree. He's just cutting off a branch
He's not just pruning. He's cut it off with this needs
to be understood See, we learned in John 15 by Jesus pruning is
done when God loves you and God is going to bear more fruit in
your life. But he said in John 15, if you don't bear fruit,
I'm cutting you off. Isn't that what he said? And
when I cut you off, I'm going to cast you into fire so that
you can be burned. He established for us the interpretation
on the vine tree. This is so very important. So
Israel represents some of the branches. That is, the unbelieving
nation of Israel was cut off from the stewardship of the promise. The stewardship of the promise.
In other words, they are no longer national Israel, the representatives
of the gospel. They were cut off. Am I making
some sense? Very important for you to see
this. Now I'm going to get back to verse 16 because Paul is teaching
a wonderful truth there But I just wanted to get the context very
clear if some of the branches be broken off That's national
Israel and you who is he talking about the Gentiles? Being a wild
olive tree. I'm gonna talk about that in
a moment. We're what grabbed it in among them now watch this
on the one side of the tree Branches are cut off Those branches are
national Israel. On the other side of the tree,
branches are put in, right? Those are the Gentiles. Now he
did what we call in, what they call in horticulture, a grafting
in. In horticulture, you can take
a branch from another tree that's still alive and in some cases
dead in itself but still having life elements in it, grafted
into a whole nother tree by a process of wisdom and that tree nourishes
that branch until it comes to life. That's precisely what God
did with the Gentiles. They were cut off from the promises
of God. They were separated from the
Commonwealth. They were outside of the life of God Ephesians
4 and God took the dead branches of Gentile sinners like you and
me and placed us in that olive tree. Am I making some sense?
In fact, the verb that's used for grafted there is a verb which
means to cut and to pierce. And what it's talking about is
the difficulty with which it was necessary to take a dead
thing and place it into a living thing in order for that living
thing to produce life in that dead thing. Now the living thing
is Christ himself. The dead thing is us. We were
dead in trespasses and sins. We were dead in our soul, dead
in our spirit. That's man's condition from the
fall. Am I making some sense? Listen
to me, you are completely dead outside of Christ. I mean, there's
nothing about you and me that's alive at all. We are not alive
in our mind. We are not alive in our heart. We are not alive in our spirit
to God. We are dead in our wills. In
other words, you don't have the freedom to will to come to God
until He gives you life. You're a dead man. A dead man
can't do a thing but be dead. Am I making some sense? And God
gets the glory and the salvation of sinners when He raises the
dead. That's what the Bible said in
John chapter 5 verse 24 and 25 Jesus said in verse 24 He that
heareth my words and believes on him that sent me hath everlasting
life and shall never come into condemnation But has passed from
what death to life and then he says the hour is coming and now
is when the dead Shall hear the voice of the Son of God Who were
the dead? He was it was me Guilty sinners
chosen in Christ to hear the gospel when the gospel came in
power You know one day you heard the gospel didn't mean a thing
to you Then it was another day you heard the gospel and it meant
everything to you. It came in power, didn't it?
The Spirit of God preceded the preaching and raised you from
the dead and opened your ears and opened your eyes now you
heard God and Now you heard God and he translated you out of
the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his dear son.
He picked you up out of that wild olive tree that was bearing
no fruit and grafted you into the promises of God. Am I making
some sense? The the fusion of life in the
promised tree the promised olive tree poured into your dead being
and gave you life That's what Jesus meant when he says I am
the what? Resurrection and the life he
that believeth on me though work though. He were dead yet Shall
he live and he that that liveth in me? He that what he that believeth
in me shall never see death the dead living is a consequence
of Christ's resurrection and And it's a consequence of the
dead person being brought into union with Christ. By virtue
of God choosing him in Christ and the spirit of God hunting
him down in time and telling him, you live because your your
master lives and hearing that gospel is what God has purpose
to use in saving sinners. And this is what Paul is talking
about as he uses the metaphor of the olive tree that we were
grafted in. I'm expanding on this verb, the
grafted in part, because it's really an intense verb. It really
talks about cutting off on one half and placing in on the other. And it's a, it's a, it's a brutal
work to engraft. In fact, in some cases, just
in horticulture, it doesn't always work, but in the matter of redemption,
it always works. And this is what God has done
for you and me. Now, Paul uses that term because he wants the
Gentiles to remain humble. He wants them to remain humble.
He said, first and foremost, you were part of a wild olive
tree. Did he say that? You know what he was talking
about? He was talking about being part of Adam's race. Adam was
born or created rather in the image of God with all the promise
of eternal life. Isn't that right? He was created
in God's image. He was given God's blessing.
He was told to be fruitful and multiply, replenish the earth
and subdue it and to have dominion over everything. Isn't that what
the Bible says? Adam one pointed to the last Adam, didn't he?
But Adam one didn't have what Adam two had. Adam one only had
an external righteousness, which in the time of testing proved
to fail for him. And as a consequence, he fell
into sin, terminated by death. And so the whole human race,
was like an olive tree that was unattended by God. See a wild
olive tree means that you don't have a husbandman. It means you
don't have anyone tending to that tree. That tree is sitting
there bearing thorns and thistles. It's a wild olive tree. And that's
the condition of the human race outside of Christ. Am I making
some sense? God took us out of that wild olive tree and placed
us into an olive tree that was under the husbandry and supervision
of God himself. Now you and I are part of the
Commonwealth of Israel. He goes on to say this now, listen
to what it says. And if some of the branches be
broken off and you being a wild olive tree were grafted in among
them and with them partakest of the what? Root and what? Fatness of the what? All right,
now I'm gonna get into the root and fatness in a little bit,
but I want you to go back with me to verse 16 while we have some time and
I want you to consider with me what he's doing. He's getting
ready to strengthen his argument as to how the Gentiles were saved. And because he's going to strengthen
his argument as to how the Gentiles were saved, he's going to buy
it, remind the Gentiles this, that if God could save you who
were dead and hopeless and without Christ, and if he did it in the
manner in which he did it, he can save Jews too. So the Gentile
is a living witness that if God can raise them from the dead,
he can raise the Jews from the dead anytime he wants to. And
a humble Gentile will say just that. Am I making some sense?
This is the analogy that he's drawing. So he starts off in
verse 16 this way. He says, for the first fruits
be holy. The lump is also holy. And if
the root be holy, so are the branches. What is he doing there?
What is he? What is he doing? He's establishing what is called
a parallelism, right? If you had the analogy of a tree,
he says the first fruits of the tree, if they are holy, then
that by necessity means that what's only the roots. Isn't
that true? All right. Think of don't go
to sleep on me now. We're dealing with a tree and
the tree is bearing fruit. Let's call this the fruit. And
let's call the bottom half the roots. And if the fruit is holy,
that means that it received his holiness from what? The roots. That's Paul's argument. Now,
let's identify the fruit for a moment and just develop this
analogy because Paul knows what he's doing. He says, for if the
first fruits be holy, arguing in verse 15, If the casting away
of Israel be the reconciling of the world, what shall be the
receiving of them be but life from the dead? See, he's arguing
that it's possible for them to be raised from the dead just
like you were. Are you hearing me? See, he's
admitting they're dead. But he's also saying that's not
a problem with God. Are you hearing me? That's not
a problem with God. And you are a living witness
that is not a problem with God. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
But indeed he argues now from the lesser to the greater by
what we call the continuity of the analogy. He says the first
fruits are holy. Now I want you to understand
what he's done with the first fruits. Give you a few more minutes
of your time. He's saying if the first fruits be holy. He
should say since they are. Why? Because the first fruits
represent as you have in your outline that group of Jewish
believers who were part of that initial work that Christ accomplished
when he came and died on Calvary street. Are you guys hearing
me? They are called the first fruits. It's not exclusive of
the Gentiles, but when you understand the historicity of how Christ
came into the world, he came into the world as a Jew, among
the Jewish people and the larger constituency that were with him
in his work were Jews. When he died, it was Jews who
were waiting on him. When he rose again, it was Jewish
brothers and sisters who were waiting for him when he rose
again. When he ascended on high at Pentecost, it was Jewish believers
who waited on him in the upper room. It was Jewish believers
who received the Holy Ghost at Pentecost when the church was
born. Am I making some sense? They
are called the first fruits. Am I making some sense? Because
they are the first fruits of Christ's work as the seed that
must be sown into the ground and die or else it abides alone. But if it's sewn into the ground
and die, it brings forth what? Much fruit. Are you hearing what
I'm saying? That nucleus of believers, Peter,
James, John, Mary, Martha, all those sisters who hung out with
Jesus, Jesus told them there's a day coming when you will be
endued with power from on high. They would then typologically
be the first fruits. of Christ's work, having died
and been buried and raised again. Does that make some sense to
you? All right, go with me now in your Bible to let's develop
this a little bit, because I want you to see this. Go with me in
your Bible now to to understand this. And first of all, well,
we can look here in Romans chapter 15 and Romans chapter 15. Paul
talks about this in the 16th verse, Romans 15, verse 16. This is quite interesting. Notice what he says in Romans
15, 16, I'll start back at verse 15. Nevertheless, brethren, I
have written a more, I'm sorry, Romans 16, 15. It's not in Romans
16, 15, cause I'm looking at 16, 15. So maybe Romans 16, yes,
verse five. I'm sorry. Look at what he says.
Paul is dealing with the Jewish brethren in this long list of
Jewish believers who are witnessing the gospel in Rome. They have
also Gentile believers among them. But notice what he says
in verse three. Greet Priscilla and Aquila. You guys know who
they were, right? Priscilla and Aquila were gospel ministers
who were Jewish in Corinth before the persecution. They helped
Barnabas understand the gospel, right? I'm sorry, Apollos. And
they departed from Corinth because of the persecution. They're Jews.
Now notice what it says. Helpers in Christ Jesus who have
for my life laid down their own necks unto whom not only I give
thanks But also all of the churches of the Gentiles likewise greet
the church that is in their house salute my well-beloved a Panetus
who is the first fruits of a kaya unto Christ Do you see that and
what he's saying? he's saying as a consequence
of the ministry of the gospel in that region where I Apollos
and Aquila and Priscilla are ministering, there are what we
call first fruits. What you're going to hear Paul
talk about all through the New Testament is the idea of the
first fruits ministry. Now go with me back to Romans
chapter 8. I want you to see this. I'm going
to just run around in the New Testament a little bit and show
you how Paul uses this language frequently. I'm in Romans chapter
8. He talks about it again in Romans
chapter 8. I'm in Romans chapter 8, and
will you notice what he says also in verse 23? Listen to it. He's speaking concerning
the giving of the Spirit, and he says, He's addressing creation. He says in verse 21, because
the creature or creation itself shall also be delivered from
the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children
of God. For we know that the whole creation
groans and travails together until now in pain. And not only
they, but ourselves. Do we groan? Do we groan like
creation groans? Now watch this. But not only
they, but ourselves also, which have the what? First fruits of
the what? Spirit. Even we ourselves grow
within ourselves, waiting for what? The adoption. To wit, the
redemption of our bodies. What is Paul talking about? Here's
what he's saying. He's saying you and I as believers are first
fruit participants of Christ's resurrection. And what we have
received is the first fruits of the Spirit of God. In other
words, the spirit of God, like we talked about last week, is
the down payment or the promissory note that's given to us until
the time of the reception of the whole package. Also, what
he's saying is when we receive the spirit of God, we receive
what was called the first fruit of the spirit. And that is an
experience of salvation as a consequence of the resurrection of Christ.
Am I making some sense? All right, go with me to another
passage because there are many of them. I only share with you
a couple more. Go with me to James chapter one and James chapter
one. It talks about this. Now, Paul,
when he speaks concerning the first fruits, he's talking about
a dual process. James chapter one, when he talks
about the first fruits, he's talking about a process by which.
At the beginning of the harvest, there is a first fruits extraction
of the full harvest that's given to those who labor to produce
that harvest at what they call the end of the harvest. There's
a first fruits. And then there's what is called
an ultimate harvest or an end gathering. He uses this metaphor
all the time. And he says in James chapter
one, I'm going to read in James chapter one. Verse 17 and 18,
every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. And it comes
down from who? The father of light. Isn't this
what we learn? The father is the first cause
of everything. It comes down from the father
of lights. Now listen to it. With whom is no variableness,
neither shadow of turning of his own will. Did he make us
born again? That's what it means to be begotten.
You guys got that? How were we born again? By God's will. not
our will, God's will. Of his own will begot he us again.
Watch this now. Of his own will begot he us again
with the word of truth. Here's the purpose, that we should
be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. See, Paul understands
what he's talking about, because Israel was exercised in this
agricultural principle before they even went into the land
of promise. In the wilderness, they were taught the first fruit
principle, right? They were told that when you sow your seed,
once you have what is called that beginning harvest, you take
what is called a first fruits of that harvest and you offer
it to God. The harvest finally comes in
seven months later and you have what is called the full harvest.
The harvest generally in the scriptures refers to the end
of time. Isn't that what Jesus said in
the parable of the wheat and the tares? Let them grow together
until the harvest? So the first fruits is that beginning
ministry where God demonstrates the vitality and the vigor of
that ministry in producing that initial fruit. That initial fruit
tells you and me that we will have a harvest. The first fruits
in this context in which Christ is risen from the dead are the
believers of the first century. They are the first fruits. They
are the beginning of Christ's work of men and women coming
to faith in Christ and thereby going out doing the ministry
that God has called them to do. So when Paul says, if the first
fruits be holy, that is Peter, James and John and Mary and all
those brothers and sisters in that first century, right along
with Paul, by the way, If the first fruits be holy, then also
the root is holy. You guys got that? If the first
fruits be holy. This is why all through the scriptures,
particularly the Old Testament, God told Israel, I want the first
fruits of everything. Isn't that what he said? That's
proverbs chapter 3 verses 5 through 9 after we read trust in the
Lord with all your heartly not unto your own understanding Acknowledge
the Lord in all your ways and he will give you and he will
direct your path He goes on to say and make sure you give him
the first fruits of all your possessions Israel was taught
that because to give the first fruits was to acknowledge that
God gave it to you in the first place Am I making some sense? So Israel was under what we call
the tutor and governor of the law to execute this external
work of offering to God What God had given to them They offered
to God the first fruits because they acknowledged that God's
the one that blesses the ground And they give God the first fruits
in anticipation of him blessing the rest of the harvest And you
and I when we are saved We receive the first fruits of the spirit.
We are the first Fruits of God's creation Let me let me develop
that and I'll close with this and we'll come back to this next
week What God is doing right now in this world is Recreating
a new heavens and a new earth God is doing in his recreation
process the precise opposite of what he did in the first creation
process and In the first creation process, God created the heavens
and the earth. For five days, God operated in
creating the heavens and the earth, dividing the waters above
and the waters below. And God created the sun, the
moon, and the stars. And God created the vegetation.
And on the fifth day, God created the animals. Now the world is
created. On the last day, or the sixth
day, God created what? Man. In the new creation, God
starts off with the man. And that man is Christ Jesus.
This is in Corinthians chapter 5 verse 17. If any man be in
Christ Jesus, he is a what? New creation. Old things have
passed away, everything has become new. What is he doing? He's creating
his bride. He's creating his new man. He's
creating his church. He's creating the last Adam.
All of these are metaphors for us being in Christ. And then
he's going to recreate the heavens and the earth all over again
for his Jerusalem to abide in it forever. Am I making some
sense? Therefore, what we are called, what we are called is
the first fruits of God's total redemption plan. We are called
the first fruits of God's total redemption plan. The fact that
there are now after 2000 years, Men and women who love christ
and declare his glory and preach his gospel all over the world
Is an evidence that christ rose again from the dead ascended
on high and sent the third person See, it's the third person That's
producing fruit in our life Is that right? It's the third person
the fruit in our life is the fruit of the spirit is not your
fruit. It's god's fruit And we are merely part of that first
fruit process waiting for the full manifestation of the harvest
on the last day. Does that make some sense? Because
this is what Paul is saying. He's arguing from the lesser
to the greater. He's saying, you guys know you
Gentiles and you Jews, and he's speaking particularly to the
Gentiles now. You know we Jewish people, we believe the gospel.
Because we're dying for Christ, we're being persecuted. Half
of the apostles are already either in prison or put to death by
the time Paul is writing to the Romans. Many Jews have left Jerusalem
and have started heading to Rome and have established gospel churches.
We've seen that in Romans 16. So the Gentiles have a witness
that the Spirit of God has operated radically in the life of Jewish
men and women and Paul is identifying them as the first fruits He says
now if they be holy and holiness has three connotations and These
are unarguable To be holy is to be set apart You guys got
that To be holy is to be washed And here's the third aspect of
holiness to be holy is to be used Got it To be holy is understood
in three aspects to be set apart That's where the glorious doctrine
of election comes in God set me apart in Christ before the
world began I was made holy because I was placed in him who is holy.
So I was set apart by God and then one day by the power of
his spirit through the preaching of the gospel by what we call
the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost God
washed me of all my sin quickening me by his spirit through the
preaching of the gospel now I was already chosen in Christ Am I
making some sense? Election has nothing to do with
your disposition or your conduct. It has all to do with God's purpose.
So I was out there in my mind and in my deeds, but I was in
Christ, in God's purpose and in his providence. And one day
the Holy Ghost hunted me down. And he holds me down with the
power of the gospel, right? So I get washed in the blood.
I get washed by the water of the world. I get renewed by the
Holy Ghost. And here's the third phase. Now
he uses me. That's what he does for all of
his people. That's what it means to be holy. Did you hear what
I just said? Set apart, washed and used. Set apart, washed and used. And that's why in the analogy
that Jesus used in John 15 concerning the tree and the vine, he says,
now are you clean through the word which I have preached unto
you? And then he told them, go forth and bear forth much fruit
for herein is my father glorified. So how do I know I'm holy? Cause
I'm in Christ. He's my holiness. First Corinthians
130. How do I know I'm holy? Because
I remember when I lived like hell and the gospel came in power
and changed my mind and changed my heart. Now I love him and
I love his message and I love his people and I love his plan.
And God has infused me by his power to live to his glory. That's
how I know. That's how you know too. Am I
making some sense? That's what it means to be holy.
And so that first fruits is holy. They're holy because the root
is holy. Now who's the root? Yeah, you
got that right. Now, it's important for you to
know that because when we come back next week, Paul is going
to develop the metaphor even more tightly in order for you
and I to not fall prey to what is a prevalent Jewish centered
hermeneutic. And that is to say that this
olive tree is national Israel. This olive tree is Christ. National
Israel only had a participant in it, in the process of redemption,
just like the Gentiles. That's why he said, now, if you
Gentiles get out of line, let me share with you something.
God will cut you off, too. Just like he cut them off. Because
it's not about you. See, the branch doesn't uphold
the root. The root upholds the branches.
And the root is who? And we're going to enjoy that
next week. All right, let's close in prayer. Father, we thank you
for your time. We thank you for your word. We thank you for the
truth as it is in Jesus. We thank you for that gospel
that humbles all of us. You said not by works of righteousness,
which we have done No flesh show glory in your sight This is all
a work of your grace and your mercy and we'll all look to you
And we'll all rejoice in christ and we'll all give you the glory
for saving us with so great a salvation as we go our way Give us traveling
mercies. We pray as we worship you on
sunday lord Teach us to acknowledge you with all of our being as
our only savior in jesus name. We pray. Amen. God bless you