The Kindness & Severity of God

Transcript

GR 1459
02/06/11
The Kindness and Severity of God
Romans 11:17-24
Gil Rugh

We're going to be in Romans 11 in your Bibles and we're going to be some other places as well. Romans 9-11 are about God's dealings with Israel in the world. And it was very pertinent when Paul was writing Romans, it is very pertinent in our day. There has been a change in the focus of God's work of salvation in the world. That change came about with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. From the call of Abraham in the Old Testament about 2,000 years before Christ, down to the coming of Christ, His rejection, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension and the establishing of the church in Acts 2, God's program was on the nation Israel. His work of salvation focused in the nation Israel. There were some Gentiles saved, some of those were recorded in the Old Testament. We think of outstanding examples, someone like Ruth the Moabitess, a Gentile woman but of great faith, a believer. But by and large salvation was taking place within the nation Israel among the Jews. With the establishing of the church in Acts 2 there is a change in God's program. It's been His program from eternity past but it's now unfolded with clarity, that God's work of salvation in the world will focus on Gentiles. That has gone on for about 2,000 years. During that time Israel is experiencing the judgment of God, a very severe judgment. In fact in Romans 11 we will look at in a little bit, in one of the verses we are told to behold the severity of God in dealing with Israel. So God's program with the nation Israel is the focal point.

In Romans 11:16 Paul said if the first fruits are holy the lump is holy, if the root is holy the branches are, too. And we've noted, what he is referring to there is taking us back to the covenant established with Abraham, reiterated with Abraham's son, Isaac and Isaac's son, Jacob. The Abrahamic Covenant. Verse 17 he says, if some of the branches were broken off, that refers to the Jews who were in the place of favor with God since the time of Abraham. And you, Gentiles, being grafted in became with them the partaker of the rich root of the olive tree. That rich root of the olive tree refers to the Abrahamic Covenant, the promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We noted Romans 11:28, from the standpoint of the gospel the Jews are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers, referring back to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the covenant established with Abraham and reaffirmed with Isaac and Jacob. For the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. That is the foundation for what he is talking about in this chapter.

The branches were broken off refers to Jews. But he says if some of the branches, verse 17, were broken off. And that's an understatement in light of what he has said up to this point. Because he has already made clear it is just a remnant at that point of Jews, a small number that experienced God's salvation. But that has happened before in Israel's history. During the days of Elijah it was down to 7,000 men who were truly believers. So that idea that some of the branches, the majority of the branches have been broken off. And wild olive branches, the Gentiles, have been placed in.
We've noted there are several things we want to be clear on here, lack of clarity causes confusion. One of the statements often used by those who refer to this passage refer to the fact there is one people of God. And we noted that is not a correct statement theologically. But it comes up again and again. Part of it comes from a misunderstanding of verse 17. They claim that the olive tree is the one people of God. Therefore when the Gentiles were grafted into the olive tree we became one people with the Jews, and so Jews and Gentiles are one people of God. One popular commentator said that that is foundational to being able to understand Romans 11, that there is one people of God. But that is not true. The Jews are still Jews, the Gentiles are still Gentiles. The true olive branches are still the true olive branches, the wild olive branches are still wild olive branches. That does not change. And that will be consistent through this passage as we will see.

In fact, we're going to see that just as wild olive branches were grafted in and the genuine olive branches were broken off, so the reverse is going to take place. There will come a time when the wild olive branches are removed and the true olive branches are grafted in. Now we have to be clear on this as well. Some have taken this to mean you could lose your salvation and if you stop believing God will remove you from His salvation. That is not correct. He is talking about national identities here, the Jews as a nation, the Gentiles as a nation, as a multitude of nations but a group apart from the Jews. In other words all the nations can be gathered together in a lump and talked about as Gentiles, all those who are not physical Jews.

So he's talking about what is the olive tree. Well the root of the olive tree is the Abrahamic Covenant. But the olive tree is not the people of God, the olive tree is the place of favor in God's work in the world in these days. And the Jewish nation was in that place of favor but by and large has been removed. And now the Gentiles are the focal point of God's work of salvation in the world. And while there are some Jews being saved, they are a small number. If we'd take a poll in our auditorium this morning, the number of Jews here would be small. Praise God, it's an evidence of His grace, there are some Jews being saved. But by and large this is a day of Gentile salvation. And that day of Gentile salvation is going to come to a close and then God will resume His focal point in salvation with the nation Israel. That will come later in the chapter.

Understanding the covenant that God established with Abraham is crucial. So we spent the bulk of our previous study talking about the Abrahamic Covenant and its three provisions—land, seed and blessing. It is made with Abraham and his descendants. The Jews, the physical descendants of Abraham will get the land. They will have a seed, Abraham will have a seed that will become like the stars of heaven that cannot be numbered. And there will be blessing for Israel, but the blessings that come to Israel will come through Israel to the nations. And the salvation that you and I are experiencing comes under that provision of the Abrahamic Covenant, that in Abraham all nations of the earth will be blessed.

There are other covenants in scripture, I want to look at some of those in a moment with you. But some of you expressed a little bit of confusion about some of the things we talk about, terms we use. I just want to clarify a couple of things. We talk about covenant theology, reformed theology, Calvinism in this kind of context. We use those terms almost synonymously in at least the aspect we're talking about in Romans 11. Covenant theology is not talking about the biblical covenants like the Abrahamic Covenant or the Palestinian Covenant, the Davidic Covenant, the New Covenant. Covenant theology is built upon two covenants that are not called covenants in the Bible. Let me read you what one person who identifies himself as a covenant theologian says. It begins by noting, and you ought to be aware of this, covenant theology as a system did not start until after John Calvin's life. So technically John Calvin was not a Calvinist in the covenantal sense, because covenant theology was started by two of the followers of John Calvin. But some of the characteristics of it characterized John Calvin as well. It started in the 16th century.

They develop the idea of two main covenants—a covenant of works between God and Adam, and a covenant of grace established between God the Father and God the Son. So in the 16th century these two men came up with the idea there are two covenants in scripture—the covenant of works between God and Adam and the covenant of grace between God the Father and God the Son. This covenant theologian, this writer also notes that the word covenant, the Hebrew word is used over 300 times in the Old Testament. The Greek word for covenant is used 96 times in the New Testament. So about 400 times in the Bible we have the word covenant used. But interestingly it is never used of a covenant of works, it's never used of a covenant of grace. Now this covenant theologian writing in this commentary, a rather popular commentary, acknowledges that, but then he goes on to list the covenants that are biblical. And the first one he lists is God's covenant with Adam, the covenant of works. But he says the word covenant is not used in the account of God's promises and warnings to Adam. But it is assumed that God established something like a covenant with him.

I want you to understand, when covenant theology talks about covenant, they are talking about a covenant first of all that they assume would have happened but is never said so in the Bible. Then when he talks about the covenant of grace, he says, this is not a biblical expression. There is only one verse in all the Bible that puts the word covenant and the word grace in the same verse and it is not talking about a covenant of grace. But the covenant of grace is a phrase that theologians use alongside the covenant of works which they use to describe the covenant assumed to be established between God and Adam. I don't think we ought to be assuming covenants. If the word covenant is used 400 times in the Bible, God can call a covenant what He wants to call a covenant. And theologians have created great confusion by creating two covenants that are not identified as covenants in the Bible. Then they relate everything in the Bible to these covenants.

So amillennialists, for example, don't believe the Abrahamic Covenant is a permanent, unconditional covenant. But they believe the covenant of works and the covenant of grace, they are things that ought to govern everything in the Bible. So my number 1 rule is, I only call a covenant what God says is a covenant in the Bible. I say that because you hear people talk about covenant theology and you think they are talking about things like the Abrahamic Covenant, the Palestinian Covenant. That's what we believe in. That's not what they are talking about. Covenant theology has covenants that they have come up with in theology, that they have derived they think from scripture. Then they rework scripture to fit the covenants that they assume were present in scripture. That's a backward way of coming to scripture. So just keep in your mind, the only thing that is a covenant is what God says is a covenant. So there is no covenant of works between God and Adam, there is no covenant of grace, or sometimes called the covenant of redemption, between God the Father and God the Son.

The Abrahamic Covenant is the foundational covenant that we are concerned with. There are other covenants—the Noahic Covenant, the covenant with Noah established after the flood; the Mosaic Covenant that is given such prominence in scripture. We are concerned with the Abrahamic Covenant which is the foundational covenant that has come to our attention in the book of Romans. The Abrahamic Covenant had three provisions—land, seed and blessing. Each of those areas is elaborated by another covenant—the land by the Palestinian Covenant, the seed by the Davidic Covenant, the blessing by the New Covenant. I want to look at those three covenants with you. We looked at the Abrahamic Covenant, I just want to observe these other three covenants in scripture. Then when we come back to Romans 11 we'll have a foundation.

So come back to Deuteronomy. We looked in our previous time at the Abrahamic Covenant. We're going to Deuteronomy 28. The first mention of the Abrahamic Covenant was in Genesis 12, we're not going to review that material. Come to Deuteronomy 28. And we're going to break in here. Israel is gathered together, Mt. Ebal and Mt. Gerizim. And there are going to be curses pronounced for disobedience to God, blessings announced for obedience to Him. The nation has gathered as a nation before God. They are about to go into the land that God has promised them. So what He is going to do is establish a particular covenant with them, we call it the Palestinian Covenant. We'll see that in a moment. The curses are mentioned in Deuteronomy 27. You come to chapter 28 we're going to get the blessings and then we'll go back to the curses. We'll just pick up with Deuteronomy 28:1, get a flavor of this.

Now it shall be if you diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth and all these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you obey the Lord your God. And blessings pronounced down through here. And their prosperity and victory over all enemies and so on.

Come to verse 15, but it shall come about if you do not obey the Lord your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes with which I charge you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you. And he begins to elaborate on the curses that will come upon them.

Come down to verse 36, the Lord will bring you and your king whom you set over you to a nation. Now this is part of the curses, this is what will happen if you disobey God. The Lord will bring you and your king whom you have set over you to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known. You see they are being carried away from the land to another nation. There you shall serve other gods, wood and stone. You shall become a horror, a proverb and a taunt among all the people where the Lord drives you. And the curses go on down through here.

Come down to verse 58. If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law which are written in this book, to fear this honored and awesome God, the Lord your God. I want you to remember that, it's coming up in Romans 11, the fear of the Lord. If you don't fear this honored and awesome name, the Lord your God, these curses will come upon you. Because there is going to be a warning to us Gentiles in Romans 11, if we don't fear, the same severity that brought the curses on Israel will bring God's judgment on us. So keep that in mind.

The Lord will bring extraordinary plagues on you, verse 59. Come down to verse 62. Then you shall be few in number, whereas you were numerous as the stars of heaven because you did not obey the Lord your God. It shall come about that as the Lord delighted over you to prosper you, multiply you, so the Lord will delight over you to make you perish, destroy you. You will be torn from the land where you are entering to possess it. Moreover the Lord will scatter you among all the people from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth. There you shall serve other gods.

Verse 65, among those nations you shall find no rest. There will be no resting place for the sole of your foot, but the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing of eyes and despair of soul. So your life shall hand in doubt before you. You will be in dread night and day and shall have no assurance of your life. In the morning you shall say, would that it were evening; in the evening you shall say, would that it were morning. Because of the dread of your heart which you shall dread, for the sight of your eyes which you will see. You see what happened to Israel? They will be torn from the land, they'll be scattered in the world. But they will never be accepted in the world. We here in the United States have been brought together from people of other nations. And over time we get assimilated in and become Americans. But you know the Jews get disseminated through the world but they never lose their Jewish identity. And very quickly you see in different parts of the world at different times what we call anti-Semitism arises and a hatred of the Jews manifests itself. And they live in fear and trembling.

I watched on the news this week, and someone who is in Israel has been visiting with members of the Knesset, the ruling body in Israel. What did they say to me? They said, we have never had such concern for our safety and well-being since 1948. What has happened? It never goes away, it is there. And how quickly the world will turn against us.

I watched an interview again that included a Jewish man and two other men. And I got in in the middle of it, but the one man, looked like an average American, I don't know what his background was. When it came his turn to speak he said, the problem in the Middle East are the Jews. And if we would quit supporting the Jews and being friends with the Jews we could solve the problem in the Middle East. The Jewish man spoke up and said, I can't believe you would say that. What other democracy is there in the Middle East? What other nation ........... But you know that's all lost. What does God say will be part of His judgment on Israel? They've been brought back to the land but they are dry bones, they don't have spiritual life. But they are under the judgment of God, the severity of God.

You come to Deuteronomy 29, these are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the sons of Israel in the land of Moab. Moab on the east side of the Jordan. They are preparing to cross the Jordan to go into the land that God promised to them. This is a covenant, note the end of verse 1, besides the covenant which He had made with them at Horeb. So this is a new covenant. The covenant at Horeb, Mt. Sinai, is the Mosaic Covenant. So this is an additional covenant, a new covenant. And it is a covenant that will be encompassed in the provisions of the Abrahamic Covenant. The land was promised to Abraham, this elaborates that.

A word of exhortation, verse 9, keep the words of this covenant to do them, that you may prosper in all you do. Verse 12, you enter into covenant with the Lord your God and His oath which the Lord your God is making with you today. Look at verse 14, not with you alone am I making this covenant, this oath, but both with those who stand here with us in the presence of the Lord our God and with those who are not with us today. This is with subsequent generations of Jews as well. We've moved about 500 years from Abraham now, where we are in making this covenant in Deuteronomy 29.

Come to Deuteronomy 30, and we'll see what this covenant entails. And you could read the content of the chapters that we have just highlighted. Look at verse 1, so it shall be when all these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse. It's all going to happen, you are going to receive the blessings. They went into the land, they prospered, there were times of prosperity in the land. The reign of Solomon and so on. They had great prosperity. And the curse. When all these things, the blessing and the curses which I have set before you and you call them to mind in all the nations where the Lord your God has banished you, and you return to the Lord your God and obey Him with all your heart and soul, according to all that I command you today, you and your sons. Then the Lord your God will restore you from captivity, have compassion on you, will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. If your outcasts are at the ends of the earth, from there the Lord your God will gather you, from there He will bring you back. The Lord will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. You see the last chapter? The blessings are there, the curses are there, the scattering from the land, the not being able to be assimilated into the nations. But the last chapter is I will bring you back and restore you, you will possess it. He will prosper you, multiply you more than your fathers. Moreover the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul so that you may live. Keep that provision in mind. That will come up in the New Covenant, the transformed heart.

Israel now is a nation experiencing the salvation of God. When I say now in the context of verses 5-6, that's part of the Palestinian Covenant as we call it, the land covenant. The word Palestinian has taken on some unfortunate connotations. Do you know where the name Palestine originated from? The Emperor Hadrian who ruled Roman Empire for about three years until 135 A.D. There was a rebellion. We think of 70 A.D., but then there was a subsequent rebellion around 130 or 133 A.D., I forget the exact year, on the part of the Jews. And Hadrian, when he put that down, was so angry with the Jews that he drove them all out of the land. He made an edict that no Jew was every allowed to live in Israel again and to disassociate it from the Jews and Israel, he changed the name to Palestine. Even that name is a reminder of the judgment of God on the Jews. That's why we call it the Palestinian Covenant because that's the name that had been given to the land by Hadrian. It's the land covenant with Israel, that they get the land. And this is the problem, they get the land. God promises it, that's the Palestinian Covenant—the land dimension of the Abrahamic Covenant.

Turn over to II Samuel 7. This is the Davidic Covenant, and the Davidic Covenant expands and develops that aspect of the Abrahamic Covenant that dealt with the seed of Abraham and clarifies. The seed includes the physical seed that will be like the stars of heaven for number. It also includes a specific single seed, Christ, in whom everything will be realized and the ultimate ruler will be focused.

We'll pick up here. Nathan is sent to David with this message. Verse 8, now therefore you shall say to My servant, David. Thus says the Lord of Hosts, and he talks about here. Verse 9, I have been with you wherever you have gone and cut off all your enemies, given you a great name. Verse 10, I will also appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them that they may live in their own place, not be disturbed again nor will the wicked afflict them anymore as formerly. I will give them rest from all their enemies. Verse 11, the Lord also declares to you that the Lord will make a house for you. You'll note these different promises are going to be interwoven with one another because the basic foundational Abrahamic Covenant is made with Abraham and his physical descendants.

Verse 12, when your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant, your seed after you, who shall come forth from you. And I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him, and he will be a son to Me. And we come to Solomon. And some of what is said here regarding Solomon then ultimately realizes its full realization in Jesus Christ, the descendant of David through Solomon. Look at verse 16, your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever. Your throne shall be established forever.

Come over to Psalm 89, still talking about the Davidic Covenant. The psalm opens up, I will sing of the lovingkindness of the Lord forever to all generations, I will make known your faithfulness with my mouth. For I have said, lovingkindness will be built up forever, in the heavens you will establish your faithfulness. Look at the context of this faithfulness, this lovingkindness, what God has done. I have made a covenant with My chosen. I have sworn to David My servant. I will establish your seed forever and build your throne to all generations. You see that promise to David is said to be a covenant by God established with David.

Come over to Psalm 89:33, I will not break off my lovingkindness from him, nor deal falsely in my faithfulness. My covenant I will not violate, nor will I alter the utterance of My lips. Once I have sworn by My holiness, I will not lie to David. His seed, his descendants shall endure forever, his throne as the sun before Me. It shall be established forever like the moon. You'll note included in this seed is the King that will reign forever. But it includes the people over which He will reign. I say that because some say since Christ in Galatians referred to the seed, singular, that everything is fulfilled in Christ and there is nothing for the physical Jews per se. Not consistent with what the Old Testament says here. Going back to the Abrahamic Covenant and having a seed like the stars of heaven, He's talking about physical descendants. That was in the context, remember, where Abraham was struggling. And that covenant is reiterated and elaborated with Abraham, but he doesn't have any children. And then Genesis 15, look at the stars of heaven. And Abraham believed God and God credited it to him as righteousness.

But there is also a singular individual in the line of David because not every physical descendant of Abraham is in the line of David. But there is a King in the line of David who will rule over all the people of Israel, in the plan of God will ultimately rule over all the world. So that's the Davidic Covenant. It expands and elaborates on the seed provisions of the Abrahamic Covenant.

And then you come to Jeremiah 31 and you have the New Covenant. And the New Covenant elaborates on the blessing promise of the Abrahamic Covenant. We had land, seed and blessing. In you all the nations of the earth will be blessed. The blessing will not only be for the physical descendants of Abraham, but it will be for all the non-physical descendants of Abraham as well. Now be careful. Just because the Abrahamic Covenant makes provisions that encompass other than the physical descendants of Abraham, they can in no way alter or change the promises to the physical descendants of Abraham. And the New Covenant expands on that.

And the New Covenant in Jeremiah 31, we'll pick up with verse 31. Behold days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a New Covenant. New Covenant in contrast to the Mosaic Covenant which is a conditional covenant added at a later date and comes to an end. The Abrahamic Covenant with its provisions is a permanent, eternal covenant. And these three covenants we are looking at are also permanent because all they do is elaborate on the basic Abrahamic Covenant. Note, I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Could it be any clearer? Who is the new covenant made with? The house of Israel and the house of Judah. That's it. I think it's consistent to say and can be argued without any adequate defense that the Bible only talks about physical Israel as Israel. This is made with Israel and Judah. What is it?

Verse 33, this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel, after he contrasted it with the Mosaic Covenant, verse 32, after those days. I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it. Remember we saw in the Palestinian Covenant when they are brought back in the land, He will circumcise their heart? He puts His law on their heart, He removes the sin, defilement and gives them a new heart with His law written on their heart. I will be their God, they will be My people. They will not teach again each man his neighbor, each man his brother saying, know the Lord. For they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, their sin I will remember no more. And you want to know how fixed this is? Thus says the Lord who gives the sun for light by day, the fixed order with the moon and the stars by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar. The Lord of Hosts is His name. So much for Mother Nature, it's God who is doing it all. If this fixed order departs from before Me, declares the Lord, then the offspring of Israel will cease from being a nation before Me forever.

Thus says the Lord, if the heavens can be measured and the foundations of the earth searched out. It can't happen. We still can't measure them with all our ability today, they keep growing, they keep finding more. I'm not going to cast off Israel. Do you get that? Israel and Judah belong to Me, My promises to them are irrevocable. The gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. They can't get meshed and some way joined in with the Church. That's Israel.

But under the provision of this New Covenant, what do we say every time we take communion? This is the new covenant in My blood. What are we talking about? The death of Christ provides the foundation for the provisions of the New Covenant. Salvation for Israel and for all the nations that are going to be blessed in Abraham. So the fact that the New Covenant has been established in Christ, but it's not in operation in its fullness. The death of Christ laid the foundation for the New Covenant. The salvation provision of the New Covenant is in operation and God is directing that and His favor in bringing salvation to the Gentiles today. That doesn't change anything. That has been there from day one in the Abrahamic Covenant, in you all the nations of the earth will be blessed. And the fact that there is blessing coming to the Gentiles doesn't mean the New Covenant has been established in all its provision. Because the New Covenant is made with Israel. A part of the New Covenant that was included in the Abrahamic Covenant, in you all the nations of the earth will be blessed, is being realized today. We want to go back now and redo everything. We don't redo anything. We have a clarity we did not have before. That's going to come up later in Romans 11. We won't get to it today. But you know what we're going to be told in Romans 11? This working of God in this way was a mystery, He hadn't revealed exactly how the Abrahamic Covenant would be unfolded in that provision. The Old Testament prophesied the salvation of Gentiles, the provision is made in the New Covenant. So nothing has changed in that realm.

All right come over to Romans 11. We're talking about national identity here, the Jews as a nation, as a people; the Gentiles as a people, a nation. There are a multitude of nations but really you can divide the world into the Jews and everybody else. The Jews and the non-Jews, the Jews and the Gentiles. And there is only one racial identity of overwhelming significance in the Bible, and that is Israel's identity. Nations have been divided by God for His purposes and one of them is to keep us divided. But what we're dealing with in Romans 11 shows that in the church there should be no divide. And that includes between Jews and Gentiles, even though we never lose the recognition of the distinction between Jews and Gentiles. Any distinctions we have among ourselves as Gentiles, they are not even dealt with. But the identity of the Jews as Jews is maintained. And our identity as Gentiles, non-Jews is maintained.

That happened here. Verse 17, some of the branches were broken off. You being a wild olive are grafted in among them, became partaker with the rich root of the olive tree. The rich root of the olive tree was the promises made to Abraham, the covenant made with Abraham. We've just looked at the elaboration of that. Now the branches. Some say that to understand this, you understand there is one people of God. The olive tree is the one people of God. That's not so. How can that be? Because branches are being broken off and removed from the olive tree. That can't be the people of God because then the people of God in that sense, not truly saved people. It is the place of favor in God's salvation work, that focused in Israel for 2,000 years. Now most of those branches, the nation Israel as a nation has been removed from the place of favor. There are some Jews being saved today, but they are a small number proportionately.

Wild olive branches were grafted in. We are benefiting from that rich root of the olive tree, the promise that in you all nations of the earth will be blessed, Abraham. And the New Covenant was the foundation for that, the provision for that foundation with the death of Christ to provide salvation for Jew and Gentile alike. And remember Jesus said, salvation is of the Jews. And to be saved you must believe in the Jewish Messiah. And ultimately the Jewish nation will experience that.

So what does he say to Gentiles? Do not be arrogant toward the branches, but if you are arrogant remember it's not you who supports the root, but the root supports you. See what's going on. Racial and ethnic conflicts go on. Again, that is there, God divided the world in Genesis 10-11 because of a united world. Wanted to have a united religion and so on. There are conflicts, and in the church at Rome there are conflicts. Do you know what? The Gentiles thought the Jews were an unworthy people and they have sinned away their opportunity. And they are now under the judgment of God and God has brought His blessing to us Gentiles. And obviously we are a better people. And we've referred to the fact that characterized the church down to today. Some call themselves replacement theologians because the church replaced Israel. Why? They sinned so badly that God is done with them. And we've made reference to some even of the Reformers who said some terrible things about the Jews. Remember it is not you who supports the root, the root supports you. Do you know where my salvation goes back to? It goes back to the covenant God promised to Abraham, in you all the nations of the earth will be blessed. I'm a Gentile, I'm a wild olive branch that has been brought in to the place of favor to experience God's salvation. And so are you, so is the church today. That's what he is saying to the church at Rome. Remember, you don't support the root, the root supports you. Don't get arrogant looking down on the Jews.

But you will say, you Gentiles, this could be your argument. Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in. That tells you how important I am. Even believers are always looking for a way to magnify themselves. We went through that time, I hope it has disintegrated, don't read as much about it, where they wanted to say, look how important you are, how valuable you are to God. His Son died for you. That same kind of thinking was infiltrating the church at Rome. Look how important you are, how valuable you are. I mean, you are more valuable than the Jews because God has removed the Jews and put you in the place of favor. God loves you and has saved you. How wonderful you are. He is not showing that same love and favor to the Jews, is He. No, He broke them off and discarded them. The Jews, they can get saved, they can come to our church but they ought to know they will always be second class citizens because God is done with them and He is working with us.

Well you are right. The genuine, true branches of the olive tree were broken off and you were grafted in. Quite right, but remember this, they were broken off for unbelief. You stand by our faith. Do not be conceited but fear. Remember that warning I told you to remember back in the Palestinian Covenant, that you want to fear God and honor Him. We Gentiles forget. God didn't save us because we were a better people than the Jews. We're not in the place of God's favor, receiving God's salvation benefits as a Gentile multitude because we are something better than the Jews, more deserving than the Jews. The Jews didn't lose their place of favor because they were less worthy than the Gentiles, they lost it because of unbelief. And we were brought in not because we were better, more deserving, but because of faith. Don't be conceited. Fear.

Come back to Romans 3. Paul has developed this in some detail and you probably have this section, Romans 3:21 through chapter 4 and into chapter 5, marked. We marked all the verses, all the words, believe, faith. We talked about in verse 22, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. There is no distinction because all have sinned. Verse 24, we are justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. Verse 26, that God would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith. Verse 29, is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not the God of the Gentiles also? Yes the God of Gentiles also. Well then, verse 27, where then is boasting? It is excluded by the law of faith.

So with the Gentiles to be arrogant over the Jews and think their salvation is some indication of superiority to the Jews is a failure to understand the gospel of salvation by grace through faith. And so in the church at Rome this ought not to be a problem. In fact there ought to be a recognition that in the Jews that God has saved. I have a greater appreciation of you because I am benefiting from the covenant God made with you through your father Abraham. A covenant that by His grace extended blessings to all the nations and that rich root of the promise made to Abraham and his descendants was extended out to me. So rather than looking down on the Jews we ought to have a greater appreciation for them. Anti-Semitism, of all places, has no place in the true church of Jesus Christ. We understand the root and foundation of God's work is in the covenant with Abraham, the salvation provided in the Jewish Messiah. I mean, what blessing.

So come back to Romans 11. Don't be conceited, but fear. If God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you either. You'll note nothing has changed. The natural branches are the natural branches, the wild olive branches are the wild olive branches. So you better fear. Again we're not talking about individuals as though you could lose your salvation, but rather the Gentiles just like the nation Israel. It's true the nation Israel had salvation as a nation, particularly as individuals in the nation believed the promises of God. God in grace drew multitudes. Now it's extended to Gentiles, the Gentiles as Gentiles. And by and large God's work of salvation manifested by the numbers of Gentiles being saved rather than a number of Jews.

But if God did not spare the natural branches, He won't spare you either. If God were willing to remove the Jews from the place of favor and the benefits of the covenant with Abraham and put them under judgment, you are not even the natural branches. What will happen to the Gentiles if they cease faith in the promises of God?

Behold, then, the kindness and severity of God. Remember the curses we looked at under the land covenant? The severity of God? That severity is very serious. You know you don't play fast and loose with God, you don't deal with God on your terms, you don't despise the grace of God often and not have consequences. Behold then the kindness and severity of God. People want to talk about the love of God, the kindness of God, and it is infinite and overwhelming. But you understand, so is the severity of God. It is crushing. That will not cancel out the promises of God to Israel, but you think how severe the chastening of God is. For 2,000 years Israel has been under the heavy hand of God's severity and the worst is yet to come. We talk about the severity of God and we ought to take notice.

That's what he is saying to us Gentiles. Remember he said in verse 13, I'm speaking to you who are Gentiles. Verse 22, pay attention, behold. Then the kindness and severity of God to those who fail, severity. The Jews as a nation turned away from God, they fell, they experienced God's severity. But to you Gentiles God's kindness. If you continue in His kindness, otherwise you will be cut off. A word of warning to Gentiles, words of warning to the church at Rome. You know we see the same change occur, and God in His work in the world over the last 2,000 years. Among Gentiles we've seen places in the world at different times have the gracious work of God in salvation. Those places that once were centers of Christianity are now centers of paganism. A few hundred years after Christ Constantinople and the country we know basically as Turkey today, a center of Christianity and Christian writing. What is it today? We see God moving around the world. We look at our country and say, it will stay. But more and more the churches, we follow the same pattern of Israel. Since God was bringing His blessings to us, therefore.......... It starts out by faith. Therefore we begin to assume His blessings are given to us because we are us. We had a Reformation in the 1500s with Calvin and Luther and other Reformers. But now we lost sight of justification by faith and you are saved because you are Lutheran, saved because you are Baptist, saved because you are Roman Catholic. We roll over to the same thing the Jews did—we are saved because we are Jews, and we go through the ritual. Circumcision, keeping the Sabbath. Therefore God is pleased with us. And the severity of God, they did not continue in His kindness because of their unbelief. The church loses sight of that. What does it do? Becomes more ritualistic, more external, more going through the motions. And genuine faith is lost. The pattern continues. God says that is where it is going. So we ought to stand boldly for the gospel and salvation by grace through faith, and that alone. But we ought not to be surprised that's where it is going. The day of Gentile salvation will come to a close.

So verse 22, severity to them, kindness to us Gentiles if you continue in the kindness. Otherwise you, too, will be cut off. And they also if they do not continue in their unbelief will be grafted in. For God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree and were grafted in contrary to nature to a cultivated olive tree, how much more will those who are natural branches be grafted in to their own tree. I mean, if God could graft in a wild olive branch into the cultivated tree, what makes you think He can't cut out the wild olive branch and put back in the cultivated branch. The amazing this is not that God would put a cultivated branch back into the cultivated tree, the amazing thing is that you the wild olive branch are in the place of favor and blessing. Again, he's talking about the warning to the Gentile church, the attitude there. And how quickly, here we are the church at Rome, the generation alive that saw the death of Christ on the cross and already they have to be warned about arrogance, turning their attention away from salvation by grace through faith. To think something about the church meeting at Rome and going through the motions and being able to claim God's salvation makes them something superior to the Jews. We lose the whole ................ Why did Paul spend so much time unfolding the sinful condition of Jew and Gentile and salvation by grace through faith? Because we lose hold of that quickly, we lose our focus.

There are people who come to Indian Hills, spend much of their lives at Indian Hills, this local church, and you know what they think? I went there, I attended Sunday School there, I maybe was baptized there, I gave money there, I did this there; therefore, I'm going to heaven. How sad. That's something we fight against as a church all the time. I know, I know, it's salvation by grace through faith. I know all that. I don't need to hear it again. And pretty soon we come less to hear it. And what is happening? Pretty soon we just begin to roll over and our salvation is because we are who we are.

Our family was Methodist before we were saved, we were followers of John Wesley. Well you know somewhere along the line it seemed to start out that way and the preaching of the gospel, and then somewhere along the line it just because good enough to be a Methodist. My Dad had pins that go down to his knee for never missing a Sunday or a Sunday School in a Presbyterian church. And I was ten years old before he got saved. What were the pins for? Nothing. We were Presbyterian, we could trace our lineage back to John Calvin. No, you couldn't, you just thought you could.

And we're not above it. If the Lord doesn't come, where will this church be in ten years, twenty years, forty years? Oh, we would never go that way. The church at Rome, remember you stand by your faith in Jesus Christ. That's what connects you to the salvation of God. The plan of God and where we're going, we're breaking off here, is there will come a time when God will be done bestowing His salvation favor on the Gentiles. And then He is going to put back in the cultivated olive branches. And they will be in that place of favor and be the recipients of God's salvation. And we're all looking forward to that time because it is then that Jesus Christ will come to earth and establish His kingdom.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the richness of your word. It's good for us to be reminded of the pattern that Israel followed because it's the pattern of fallen beings. Lord, even when your salvation is bestowed in such fullness, with such grace on the people like Israel, over time they began to take it for granted, over time they turned their eyes away from you the living God. They stopped fearing you and trusting you. Lord, now that your gracious favor in salvation is being poured out upon us Gentiles, Lord, it's easy for us to follow that same pattern while we in our pride and our arrogance are thinking we would never be like that, that would never be true of us. But Lord, we would be reminded again and again that we have our position of enjoying your favor, your blessings because of your grace and our faith in you and your Son. Lord, you know our hearts as we gather together as a Gentile church in this place. Thank you for joining us together in a relationship of oneness with yourself and one another. Lord, guard us against carelessness. Many of us have had the privilege of knowing you many years. Lord, may those years not cause us to become dull, insensitive, taking for granted the blessing of what we have in Christ. May you continue to use your word and our testimony to bring before the world the wonder of your salvation. We pray in Christ's name, amen.