Latest / HBCWestminster / 9.10.23 Romans 11:11-24 Pastor Danny Gardner

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9.10.23 Romans 11:11-24 Pastor Danny Gardner · HBCWestminster

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Open, if you would, to Romans.
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Romans chapter 11, we pick up in our study of the book of Romans.
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Romans chapter 11 and verse 11, when you find it, if you would stand in honor of God's word
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as I read our text, verses 11 to 24, Romans 11 and verse 11, the word of God says,
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So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall?
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By no means.
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Rather, through their trespass, salvation has come to the Gentiles so as to make Israel
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jealous.
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Now, if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for
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the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean?
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I'm speaking to you, Gentiles, and as much then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I
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magnify my ministry in order to somehow make my fellow Jews jealous and thus save some
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of them.
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For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean
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but life from the dead?
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If the dough offered us life, what will it mean to us?
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If the firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the
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branches.
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But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were
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grafted in among the others, and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree,
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do not become arrogant toward the branches.
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If you are, remember, it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.
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Then you will say, branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in, and that is
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true.
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They were broken off because of their unbelief.
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But you stand fast.
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You stand fast through faith, so do not become proud of fear.
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For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you.
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Note then the kindness and the severity of God, severity toward those who have fallen,
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but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in His kindness, otherwise you too will be
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cut off.
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And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God
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has the power to graft them in again.
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For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree and grafted, contrary to
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nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches,
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be grafted back into their own olive tree?
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Would you pray with me?
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Lord, help us to understand things which are perhaps beyond our abilities.
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Give us heaven's wisdom and the mind of Christ so that we can discern spiritual things, so
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that we can understand those things.
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Lord, help us to understand those things which are perhaps beyond our abilities.
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Lord, help us to understand those things which are perhaps beyond our abilities.
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Which have been freely given to us in Jesus' name.
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Amen.
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Amen.
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Thank you, church.
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Well, do you ever read sections of scripture and just think, what?
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What are you talking about?
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Do you ever read passages, especially in Romans chapter 11, and just think, what in the world
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is he talking about?
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Well, guess what?
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You're in good company.
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Turn, if you would, to the right.
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Go to 2 Peter.
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2 Peter chapter 3, and perhaps a verse that you're familiar with, maybe one you've never
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really noticed before.
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2 Peter chapter 3, and verse 15, the apostle Peter is speaking.
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He is the author of the book of 2 Peter, right?
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And this guy knew what he was talking about.
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He was an apostle.
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He was maybe the foremost of the original apostles before Paul himself was saved and
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became the missionary to the Gentiles.
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Peter was the missionary to the Jews.
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Peter not only was maybe best friends with Jesus, one of his closest apostles, he was
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also...
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an inspired writer of God's word.
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He wrote the books of 1 and 2 Peter, and look at what he says in 2 Peter chapter 3, and
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verse 15.
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It says,
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Just count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote
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to you according to the wisdom given him.
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And Peter and Paul knew each other.
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They even had, according to Acts chapter 15, occasions to meet.
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Perhaps at times they even ate together.
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They knew each other.
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And he says,
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Paul wrote these things to you.
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In accordance with the wisdom given to him.
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Now look in verse 15.
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He does this in all of his letters.
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When he speaks in these matters, there are some things in those letters of Paul that
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are hard to understand.
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Did you catch that?
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There were times when the apostle Peter and the apostle Paul got together, and as Paul
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is eloquently speaking of divine doctrines and really delving into the depth of the riches
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and wisdom of God, the apostle Peter looked across the land and said,
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Paul, are you talking about?
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The apostle Peter would read Paul's letters and go,
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Huh?
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What do you mean?
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There are some things we know, we go back now to Romans chapter 11, which are difficult
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to understand.
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We can look into the deep abyss of the theology of the scriptures and end with maybe more
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questions than answers.
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Remember, it was the apostle Paul himself.
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who just a few verses later in Romans 11 and verse 33,
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what will be our text for next Sunday,
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concludes the entire section,
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Romans 11 and verse 33 with this statement.
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Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom
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and knowledge of God.
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How unsearchable are his judgments.
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How inscrutable are his ways.
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Who has known the mind of the Lord?
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Who has been his counselor?
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Who has given a gift to God
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that now he should be repaid?
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From him and through him and to him are all things.
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To God be the glory forever and ever.
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Amen.
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Even after the apostle Paul got done writing Romans 11,
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he just said, you know what,
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there are some things which not even I fully understand.
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And let me encourage you
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as we jump into Romans 11,
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what is really the meat of the chapter this morning?
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That it is okay.
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It is okay to be an apostle, Paul.
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It's okay to be educated, to be eloquent.
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It is okay to be curious.
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It is okay to want your deep theological questions satisfied.
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That is okay.
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But let me encourage you,
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it's also okay to be an apostle, Peter.
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And just to say, you know what,
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let's cut to the chase.
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I don't fully understand everything we're talking about.
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But you know what, I know that God is good.
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And I know when it all boils down,
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that what he's really saying in Romans chapter 11
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is that people need the Lord.
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People need the Lord.
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That is the point of Romans chapter 11.
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And so as we talk about cultivating olive trees
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and breaking up branches and regrafting branches
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and all of that stuff,
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and don't be arrogant, you know,
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but fear God, his severity and his kindness.
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We're talking about all of these,
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what could be very deep theological discussions
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that don't forget the main point
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is that people need the Lord.
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And if you leave with that,
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you've left understanding Romans chapter 11.
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In the late 1930s,
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Jesse Owens was not only the greatest athlete in America,
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he was controversially so because he was black.
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1936, Berlin, of all places,
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hosted the world's Olympic games.
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In the 1930s, the German chancellor and his Nazi party
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were convinced that the Aryan Germans
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were superior in every way to any other nation on earth.
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Jesse Owens proved that.
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Jesse Owens proved that wrong
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by winning four gold medals in a single Olympic Games.
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It had never been done before.
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He won them in the long jump,
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the 100 and 200 meter dashes,
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and in the four by 100 meter relay.
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Four gold medals standing at the top of that podium.
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You've probably heard most of that before,
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but there's an interesting side note in history
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that is rarely discussed.
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While he was attending and competing in those Olympics,
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1936, Jesse Owens made a friend
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of one of his competitors,
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a man named Luz Long.
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This would have been unremarkable
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except that Luz Long was the competitor from Germany.
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The two spoke.
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They often encouraged each other.
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They continued, in fact, a friendship by mail
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for the next several years.
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Owens so appreciated the friendship and support
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that he received from Long
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that he at one point said, and I quote,
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it took a lot of courage for Luz Long to befriend me
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right then.
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In front of Hitler.
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Right?
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Look at the, they're inside of the Olympic arena
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and there they are standing together.
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And he said, look, it took a lot of courage
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for him to do that.
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He said, you can melt down all of the medals I've won,
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all of the cups I have,
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and they wouldn't become a plating
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for the 24 carat friendship
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that I felt for Luz Long in that moment.
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As they continued to correspond through letters
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over the years, Luz Long communicated to his friend,
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Jesse, this statement.
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In one of his letters, he said,
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my biggest fear is not that I would die,
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but that I would die for the wrong thing.
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Can I ask you, what is your greatest fear?
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Do you have any phobias?
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Maybe spiders or heights?
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A fear of public speaking?
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Maybe something more existential and permanent,
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like death, that you have a fear of death?
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Does your fear of dying pale in comparison?
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To your fear of dying for the wrong thing?
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Maybe like Luz Long, devoting your life to something
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which does not matter.
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Succeeding, maybe, in something which will not last.
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We've said that the book of Romans
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is the greatest single book of all time.
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It communicates with soaring beauty and clarity
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the gospel of God, as revealed in his son, Jesus Christ.
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Its pages contain not only that one must be saved,
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but how one is to be.
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The book can be broken into some major sections,
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which we've been studying for the last year or so.
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They are written on banners
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against the back wall of the sanctuary.
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It can be broken into several big sections,
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most of which we've studied.
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Chapters one to three describe the righteousness of God
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being revealed in the condemnation of mankind
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because of our sin.
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Chapter one describes the natural bent
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of man's heart toward depravity.
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We are bent toward sin, not toward holiness.
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We have universally demanded the freedom
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to rebel against God.
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We have made this demand of our creator.
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We want the freedom to rebel,
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and he, in his grace, has given us that freedom.
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If he were not a gracious God,
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he just would have hit reset and killed us all.
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But in his grace, he has said, okay, I will give you
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the freedom to rebel against me.
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And because of this, we all now face the judgment of God.
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In fact, Romans chapter three, verse 10 says it this way.
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It says, none is righteous, not even one.
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No one understands, no one seeks for God.
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Not a single person on earth in history
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has ever been a righteous person
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other than Jesus Christ himself.
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Now at the end of chapter three,
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and then going through chapters four and five,
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the apostle Paul described this as,
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the righteousness of God revealed in justification.
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He declared that there is a way of being saved
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apart from the law, apart from our own righteousness.
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He said that we can be saved
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through the righteous works of Jesus Christ by faith.
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In Romans chapter three, in verse 21, said it this way.
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Now the righteousness of God has been manifested
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apart from the law, the righteousness of God
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through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.
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And you may recall,
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in chapter four, we see that Jesus Christ
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he was the one who was guiding us with a guide in chapter four,
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on our road to saving faith.
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That guide was Abraham himself, the man of faith.
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In chapter five, the apostle described how Jesus Christ
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undid the consequences of Adam's sin
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by succeeding where Adam had failed.
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Chapters six and seven then turned a corner.
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He began to describe the righteousness of God
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being revealed in sanctification, as, he used his own testimony, as an example of being set free from the bondage of sin and made whole.
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He said there really is genuine freedom in Christ.
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And yet, he said, you can be free in Christ
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and still struggle against the spiritual storm
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raging in your own heart.
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Romans chapter six and verse four, he says,
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we were buried therefore with Christ by baptism into death
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in order that just as Christ raised from the dead
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by the glory of the Father,
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we too might walk in newness of life.
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That what has been given to us, granted to us,
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is not only salvation, forgiveness of sin,
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but the ability now to live holy lives.
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We can pursue righteousness,
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and through that righteousness, we can be given joy.
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In chapter eight, you guys know my feelings about chapter eight.
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Chapter eight is the greatest chapter in Romans.
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Romans is the greatest book in the Bible,
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and the Bible is the greatest book on earth.
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And so Romans chapter eight is the greatest chapter
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and the greatest book,
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and the greatest book ever written romans chapter 8 and verse 1 there is therefore now no condemnation
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for those who are in christ jesus for the law of the spirit of life has set you free in christ
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jesus from the law of sin and death no condemnation church if you are in christ then you are not
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hanging on to the outside of noah's ark hoping not to fall off you are inside of the ark and sealed
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by the grace of god protected from his wrath protected from his judgment protected from
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condemnation if you are in christ then this right now on this earth is as close to hell as you will
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ever be this is it you only have righteous freedom to look forward to chapters 9 to 11
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describe the righteousness of god revealed in his restoration
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and specifically
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his restoring of his people the jews chapters 9 and 10 of romans dealt with the jewish rejection
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of their own messiah and then the lord's subsequent rejection of them as god's primary ambassadors to
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the world but we read in chapter 11 that as their rejection was not total right we looked at that a
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few weeks ago at the beginning of romans chapter 11 indeed the apostle paul was jewish right it's
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not that every single jew is now outside of the grace of god it was not total but neither was it
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final
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chapter 11 describes a restoration of the jews at some point in the future and our text this
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morning is a reminder to devote our lives to that which will last for eternity
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it gives a warning to those who may be tempted to toy with their own souls who might be tempted
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to play games with their faith thinking that somehow despite their ignorance and arrogance
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the lord would certainly never put me out but the partial and temporal rejection of the jews
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by god tells another story actually says that there were some of those branches broken off
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because of their disbelief but our text this morning also contains the promise
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that that rejection by god has had as its purpose the inclusion of the gentiles into his divine grace
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and in a stroke of irony i believe which only the lord could devise the gentile inclusion made
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made available because of the Jewish rejection,
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is the very thing which God will now use
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as the means of a future conversion of the Jews.
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Let me tell you what I just said.
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The Jews reject their Messiah, Jesus.
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Because of their rejection of Jesus,
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the Lord then rejects them by breaking off some of their branches,
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the disbelieving branches.
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He used that rejection of the Jews, then,
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to open the door of salvation to the Gentiles.
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Now, raise your hand if you're a Gentile.
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Right? Here we all are.
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We live now in a mostly, predominantly Gentile church.
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His rejection of the Jews meant salvation for the Gentiles.
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The stroke of irony here, and again,
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what I believe could only be devised by the divine mind,
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is He is going to now use the inclusion of the Gentiles
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in order to make those Jews jealous,
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in order to bring them back to faith.
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We are saved because of their rejection,
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and they will now be saved because of our inclusion.
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Does that make sense?
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Then you've got Romans 11.
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There it is.
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You got it.
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The whole point is God working out this heavenly, eternal orchestra,
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all playing these notes and bringing harmony to one another
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so that people will understand this great statement.
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That in the end, what people actually need,
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and what will be the answer to all of their personal problems,
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and all of the world's problems,
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is that people need the Lord.
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You pay particular attention to the wording of verse 11.
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Did they stumble in order that they might fall?
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He says, by no means.
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Rather, through their trespass, salvation has come to the Jews,
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there it is, so as to make Israel jealous.
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Did they stumble in order that they might fall?
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Two questions I think should be asked regarding the nature of that stumbling.
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First, was it the design of God?
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Second, was it the design of God?
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He says, by no means.
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No.
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He says that stumbling is temporary.
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That's the first question.
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Second question is this.
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What was the purpose of God then in allowing the Jews to stumble?
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And again, a clear answer, I think.
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The answer is to,
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to be a washer in salvation to the Gentiles.
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And as has always been the case throughout chapters 9 and 10,
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and even always been the plan of God
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that the gospel would go out into all the world.
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It has always, from the Old Testament through the New Testament,
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been the plan of God that all peoples would be saved.
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Even the calling of the Jews and the covenant to Abraham,
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so was that so all the nations would be blessed.
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In the prediction of the coming Messiah, Isaiah the prophet,
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700 years before that Messiah would be born,
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said that a light to the Gentiles would come in.
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At the birth of that Christ, the Messiah,
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the angelic choir proclaimed glory to God in the highest
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and on earth, peace among men.
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God genuinely does want what is best for his kids,
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just like you and I want what is best for our kids.
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Randall and Samantha want what is best for six-day-old baby Piper, right?
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They want what is best for her.
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God is willing to do the things for them which are in their best interest,
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even when his kids may not agree, just like you and I would.
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There are going to be some systems, some rules, some boundaries
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that Randall and Samantha as new parents will put on their six-day-old baby girl,
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and she will not like all of them.
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Isn't that true?
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But we as parents are willing to say,
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you know what, I know that you don't agree with everything I'm doing,
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but guess what?
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It's for your good, and I know that you can't see it yet,
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but someday you'll look back and you'll thank me
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for making you eat your broccoli.
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And guess what?
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When you have your own kids,
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guess what you're going to make them do?
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You're going to make them eat their broccoli.
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You're going to make them.
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You have to.
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You just have to.
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Why?
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Because my parents made me eat it.
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Your parents are going to make you.
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This is what we do.
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We know what is best for them,
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and so we are going to make sure that their lives,
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that our lives are giving them the orientation
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that they need to make their lives good.
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Our Heavenly Father, in the same way,
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out of His genuine love and concern for His own kids,
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orchestrates their lives in such a way
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that they would see His love,
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that they would see His compassion,
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and ultimately worship Him.
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That's what He wants.
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And this, it turns out, is exactly what He wants
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for the nation of Israel.
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Why?
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After they turn their back on Him,
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does He then turn His back on them?
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The answer is so that they would come back.
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Now,
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consider now the difference between that word stumble
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and the word fall.
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What's the difference between stumbling and falling?
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The implication seems clearly to be
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that although Israel tripped,
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they did not do so irrevocably.
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It says in verse 11, right at the end,
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so as to make Israel jealous.
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The purpose of the rejection of the Jews
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was the salvation of the Gentiles.
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But the purpose of the salvation of the Gentiles
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is the restoration.
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Only the divine mind could have conjured
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such a beautiful and ironic plan.
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Pick up in verse 12.
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It says,
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Now, if their trespass means riches for the world,
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and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles,
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how much more will their full inclusion or fullness,
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how much more would their fullness mean?
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Now, the general meaning of this verse is obvious.
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If by the Jews' rejection,
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the Lord has provided spiritual riches to the world,
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imagine the abundance,
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abundance of riches that the Lord will bestow
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if those same people repent and are restored.
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The apostle's clear goal is to state
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that the full restoration of the Jewish people
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is a desirable event.
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I think this verse can be interpreted one of two ways.
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Either Paul is indicating
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that the full inclusion of the Jews
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will spark a salvation event
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perhaps unparalleled in human history.
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Those who hold the Jewish faith
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to this view believe that a little bit later in verse 26 when he says and in this way all israel
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will be saved that that is referring to a national salvific event where every jew on earth will be
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saved there are many who believe that way they would even point to the book of revelation
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referencing a salvation of 144 000 jews you've heard that number before they would say well that
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is the full inclusion of the jews he's talking about bringing them all into christ it could mean
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that it could also mean that the jewish people who have believed in christ for salvation and
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therefore considered full jews fullness of the jews will bring an even greater blessing on the
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gentiles it would be like saying if those who have rejected christ have bought riches riches on the
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world how much more will those who have believed in christ
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bring riches on the world now this interpretation i think makes sense if you understand verse 26 to
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be referring to the fullness of the gentiles as being the salvation of spiritual israel rather
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than ethnic israel i think this interpretation i think also fits nicely with ephesians chapter 2
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ephesians 2 which states that there is no longer any separation between jew and gentile all are
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one in the church and i'm going to read that text for just a moment and just marinate in the beauty
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of these promises as i read ephesians chapter 2 says remember that you were at that at one time
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at that time separated from christ he's referring to gentiles everybody who just rose their hand
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you were separated from christ alienated from the commonwealth of israel strangers
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to the covenants of promise having no hope and without god in the world do you guys remember
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what it was like before christ in your life is that not an apt description alienated
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strangers without hope without god in the world i was just going through my life bouncing around
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like a pinball but now in christ you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of
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christ for he himself is our peace who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh
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the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances
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that he might create in himself one new man that is the church
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in place of the two that is jew and gentile and so making peace what god has done in christ
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is broken down the divide between jew and gentile there are no longer now two men there is one man
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in christ he might reconcile us both to god in one body through the cross thereby killing the
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hostility between the two men is he speaking literally that literally
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someone who demands that you adapt is aunter two once a god the
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one who seven comes find himreel also GOD is Jan which is a blocks that makes the way in
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questions is that they never speak part首 more figuratively that this is referring to a spiritual
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Israel and that their inclusion as believers will bring blessing on the world honestly it doesn't
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particularly matter godly men and women pray and study and author books on both sides of that issue
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you what does matter is the gospel message that we preach and that we believe we need to give
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people what they need and what do people need 1987 billy graham came to denver i know that is true i
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have seen pictures of it and i know that some of you were there right liz were you there you were
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there billy graham crusade at mile high stadium in 1987 during that billy graham crusade a man
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named steve green stood up and began to sing and he he sang a song that became very famous it
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became a solo song in almost every church at some point in the 1980s and 90s at some point somebody
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in your church stood up during the offertory or something and sang these words every day they
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passed me by i can see it in their eyes empty people
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fill the room
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filled with care headed who knows where on they go through private pain living fear to fear laughter
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hides their silent cries only jesus hears and then he breaks into a chorus people need the lord
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you guys remember that song people need the lord right people need the lord at the end of broken
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dreams he's the open door people need the lord people need the lord when will we realize that
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people need the lord
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and could it be church that there will be a massive national repentance among the jews at the end of
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days yes it could be we've got to insist that their salvation would be based on their individual faith
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in jesus christ not necessarily on their ethnicity alone otherwise romans chapter 4 9 and 10 are all
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completely worthless the point of all of it is that people need the lord the author elaborates
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on that idea verses 13 to 16 and then starting in 17 to the end he gives this warning about becoming
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arrogant in your faith notice verse 13 says i'm speaking to you gentiles and as much then as i'm
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an apostle to the gentiles i magnify my ministry paul here is saying that his ministry goal was to
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bring as many gentiles as possible into the kingdom and by magnifying his ministry he's saying
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that he was committed to the faithful discharge of his duties and let me ask you church are you
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are you committed to the faithful discharge of your duties
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duties what has the lord called you to are you committed to faithfully discharge your ministry
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as a spouse as a parent as an employee as a servant of the church as a neighbor i would
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encourage you to have that same commitment i magnify my ministry the apostle paul says
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he continues verse 14 in order somehow to make my fellow jews jealous and thus save some of them
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for if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world what will their acceptance mean but
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life from death the future restoration and conversion of the jews will indeed be a glorious
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event one which is perhaps unparalleled in human history one commentator has described that day as
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glorious for the whole world a joyful and desirable event as though a new world had arisen
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and his statement the reconciliation of the world in verse 14 refers to a great conversion of men
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and women in the present world and in the present world and in the present world and in the present
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of true religion not a fake faith and his statement then bringing death or from death to
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life as a spiritual figure of speech makes sense it most certainly does mean this
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any time large portions of a population are converted
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there follows a time of great blessing life will be given after death
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you think of the great reformations and awakenings in our own country's history the first great
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awakening of the mid-1700s sparked by the preaching ministries of jonathan edwards and
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george whitfield the second great great awakening a hundred years later pastors like charles finney
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and others sparked the anti-slavery movement the underground railroad women's rights the
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salvation army the ymca all of these things were done because of the preaching of god's word a
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second great awakening
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the third great awakening shortly after that fueled by the ministry of dwight l moody
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with an emphasis on getting right with the lord because of the eminence of christ's coming
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my former church where i often used to preach there was an elderly woman indian by ethnicity
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named mercy rajaratnam was her name first generation indian migrated here as a young
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girl had a very thick indian accent she out aged
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me by about sixty years
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she would come to me after i would preach and she would always give me cuz you know i
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like indian food
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i still do
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she would bring the she would
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cook for me
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chicken curry or chicken tikka masala are one of those things that i'd like to know
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prochain bringing organized upper where
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she would have to may be a
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end of my sermons and she would say i made it extra spicy she said just like you're preaching
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and then she would say then she would say you remind me of d.l moody and i thought did you know
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him like are you old enough that you knew d.l moody i don't think she actually did there's no
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way she could have even overlapped with his life but nevertheless his spicy preaching sparked a
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great awakening in american history and 50 years after that another one the azusa street revival
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the birth of the pentecostal movement which really emphasized holy living
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the 1960s 70s 80s another revival sparked by billy graham himself culminating in the one-way movement
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all of these revivals were a blessing to those people whose lives were transformed by the gospel
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and we would pray for that
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kind of revival today amen is it not our prayer lord jesus save our nation bring life where there
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is death that's what he's talking about when people become saved he says it is like life is
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breathed into them that they are now alive where they were spiritually dead i was speaking to my
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very good friend pastor brad hay and who many of you know he leads our trips to israel i was speaking
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to my friend jeff about our longing for heaven and honestly the longer i live on this earth the more i long for the life to come amen
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that resonates more with this service than at the 11 o'clock service where the average age here
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is slightly older isn't it true the longer we live on this earth the more we don't want to live on
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this earth anymore you can cling to life if you want the longer i live here the more i want to be
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there i can't wait
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I will wait, but I can't wait to throw off the shackles of flesh and sin and temptation and
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weakness and to clothe myself with the white robes that Jesus has procured for me and to take hold
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of the crown of righteousness which awaits. What a day that will be. And if all this text refers to
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is a spiritual revival, then what a glorious day we have in store. However, there is also a
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possibility that the author intended to convey even more. Maybe he's speaking literally here.
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If he is, then our interpretation could be that when the Jews are converted on a global scale,
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when there is that national ethnic conversion, then the resurrection of the dead, life after
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death, will commence. Meaning, and there are a lot of people who believe this, that when the Jews
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repent, Christ's kingdom is about to be consummated.
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Again, that makes sense if you correlate 144,000 Jews, Jewish converts in Revelation, and if this
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text refers to a national revival of the Jews, and therefore the beginning of the end of time,
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what a glorious day that will be. Verse 16 makes a statement, if the dough offered his first
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fruits is holy, so is the whole lump. If the root is holy, so are the branches. A very simple
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language it could read. If the early portion of the Jewish believers is holy, then so is the latter.
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If the first fruits-
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. . . . . I don't know what they're talking about. I don't know what they're talking about. I don't know what they're talking about. They don't know what they're talking about.
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the jews like those first generation believers combined with the gentiles comprising the early
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church if that was holy then the second portion of the believing jews who would then repent and
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be restored at a future date is also holy now taken together this passage is stating that the
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future restoration of the jews will surely come it will surely be a spiritual blessing to all nations
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and could very well usher in a new age in case this truth becomes cause for boasting among the
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gentiles the author includes the much less controversial verses 17 to 24 he reminds us
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that we've taken the place of jewish branches which have been broken off
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because this is true we should remain humble understanding that we ourselves can also be
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broken off just as easily replaced by the original natural branches verse 17 says if some of the
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branches were broken off and you the gentiles although a wild olive shoot
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were broken off you would be broken off and you would be broken off and you would be broken off
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grafted in among the others now share in the nourishing root of the tree do not become arrogant
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toward the branches if you are remember it is you it is not you who support the root
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the root supports you there is he says only one tree of salvation there is only one people
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with god one people of god the root refers to that original covenant people of god dating back
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all the way to the patriarchs in the book of genesis that ancient theocracy of the old testament
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was merged into the kingdom of christ at his advent its name and nature may have changed but
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there remains one family of god through the ages we are still the same spiritual tree that the lord
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planted thousands of years and even millennia ago we are the same spiritual family as the millions
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of saints from bygone
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eras he says in verse 19 if you say branches were broken off so that i might be grafted in
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right like this braggadocious claim you become arrogant thinking oh i must be pretty great
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because he broke them off to include me he says do not become proud but fear for if god did not
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spare the natural branches neither will he spare you note the kindness and severity of god severity
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toward those who have fallen but kindness to you provided you continue in his kindness
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otherwise you too will be cut off
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he's talking there about faith if you do not have faith yes you will be cut off but if you do have
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faith he is kind and even they if they do not continue in their unbelief those who have been
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broken off because of a lack of faith even they if they repent and believe they'll be grafted back in
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god has the power to graft them in again for if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive
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tree you were grafted contrary to the law and you will be cut off if you do not have faith
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you will be cut off if you do not have faith you will be cut off if you do not have faith
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how much more will these the natural branches be grafted back into their own
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olive tree we see there is only one tree of salvation
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and the author ends where he began a declaration that what really matters is faith in the lord
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people need the lord a promise of restoration for those jews who will repent from their sin
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and exercise faith in jesus christ in early 1943 louis long wrote the final letter he
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would ever send to his friend jesse long long was in the german army in 1943 he was stationed in
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northern africa in that last letter to jesse owens he said this he said there is nothing here
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but dry sand and wet blood i have a feeling this will be my last letter and indeed it was
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he said i'm not concerned for myself i'm concerned for my wife and my young son carl
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he is at home he has never known his father i would ask you jesse
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that when this
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war is over you would return to germany find my son tell him about me
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tell him what the world was like before we were separated by war
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i need to tell you that that first hour i met you in berlin i saw you were kneeling in prayer
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i didn't know it at the time but i understand now that our meeting was not by chance
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because today i believe in god like you do
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your brother loose loose died in a field hospital after being wounded in the battle of sicily
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july 9th 1943 eight years later 1951 jesse honored louis long's request he returned to germany
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he searched out louis's son carl i'm a little backed up here
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he told him about his father told him about the world before the war he told him about his father's
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fate he told him about his father's fate he told him about his father's fate he told him about his
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father's fate he told him about his father's fate and jesse owens understood and knew this truth
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that more than anything else people need the lord and whatever your greatest fear may be
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replace it with this one that we would devote ourselves to something which may not matter for
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eternity that we may get locked up in things which bind but do not count that we may tangle
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horns over things which separate rather than unify
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that we may devote our energy and resources indeed our very minutes hours months years lives
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to things which distract from that one eternal truth that it is faith in christ which matters
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and lord thank you for this message which is so clear and lord would you be honored by the
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preaching of your word in jesus name amen