Israel's Condition Explained - Part 2
Romans 11:11-24 · Bob Eckel · May 20, 2007
Romans (2005-07), No. 83
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/49260272134

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

All right, we've got a couple of challenging weeks ahead of us here. And Roger set that up for us last week. And notice who gets the tough weeks, right? Today is really a lesson in horticulture, right? So we're going to study trees and branches and twigs and roots and all those kinds of things. But to be serious now, we've got an important text.

I think at the beginning, I'm going to remind you now and also remind you at the end of the lesson today, who's Paul talking to here in Romans 11? Is he talking to the Jew? Or is he talking to the Gentile? In verse 13, chapter 11 says, For I speak to you, Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office.

If by any means I may provoke to jealousy them who are my flesh, and might save some on them. For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead? Now our text for today is 16 through 24, and I'll read that now.

For if the first fruit be holy, the lump is also holy, and if the root be holy, so are the branches. If some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree, boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root be. Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.

Well, because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear. For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed, lest he also spare not thee. Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of God on them who fell. Severity, but towards thee goodness, if thou continue in his goodness, otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.

And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree, which is wild by nature, and wert grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree, how much more shall these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?

So let's kind of start where we left off last week. And Jim and Roger and I just kind of felt it'd be reasonable to remind ourselves of kind of the three basic principles of the remnant. Good morning. Good to have you with us. The first is the physical remnant.

And I've summarized that concept here as the continuity of the ethnic line of Israel and his promises to the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And there's the text that we could turn to that relates to each of those three patriarchs. The first text is the promise to Abraham. The second, the reminder to Isaac. And finally, the substantiation of that promise Jacob. So we can turn there, but I don't think we'll take the time to do that this morning.

The second is the spiritual remnant, and that's the principle of the salvation is by faith, and thus God will always maintain or raise up a believing remnant within the physical remnant. And we could turn back to Romans 9, 6, and 7 to substantiate that. But remember, the born-again Jew today is a member of the body of Christ.

And so that's the spiritual remnant sustained through the church age. And that's the remnant ultimately that will go through the tribulation and be sustained through that period. The spiritual remnant is what God called the Jew to. This is his calling to the spiritual remnant.

And the final is the concept that we'll deal with next week. And Roger, you sure don't want to take this topic next week? Okay, and that topic is that all Israel will be saved. And so following the Great Tribulation, those who survive will be saved by fate. And these will be preserved through the thousand-year reign. And let's do turn to Zechariah just for a second. Zechariah 13, 8 and 9. And we'll use this as an appetizer to next week. So whoever gets that, please begin reading.

And it will come about in all the land, declares the Lord, that two parts in it will be cut off and perish, and the third will be left in it. And I will bring the third part through the fire, refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, they are my people, and they will say, the Lord is my God.

Now a concept we can begin thinking about is this seems to be God's perfect will for the nation of Israel. Is the principle of being saved by faith removed from this? Is this a country that becomes robotic and simply because of God's sovereignty is brought to salvation?

We're going to delay that, OK? That's next week. And I'm not sure there will be a perfect answer for us then either, OK? There we go. All right, so let's begin today's text. And the verse before us now is, oh, we've got two sides here, is Romans 11.16, the New King James Version I'm going to be using throughout this morning. What I read from was the original King James. So the New King James Version, for if the first fruit is holy, The lump is also holy.

Remember, this is a lesson in horticulture here. So we got fruits, and we got branches, and we got trees, and roots, and all this stuff. And if the root is holy, so are the branches. So let's take a look at this. Relate the first fruit to the lump. Both are described as holy. What are we talking about here? The lump and the first fruit. What do you think of when you think of first fruits? first part of the harvest. Alright. The first fruit could relate to items from the harvest brought before the Lord by the nation Israel or interestingly there's some evidence that this could relate to bread itself.

So let's I want to look at these three texts. Margaret, Exodus 23, 19. Vani, how about Deuteronomy 26, 10 and Adonai, Numbers 15, 21. So if we could take a look at those three texts we're going to substantiate first fruits Exodus 23 19 The first of the first fruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not see the kid in his mother's milk.

Deuteronomy 26 10 and now behold I have brought the first of the produce of the ground which you O Lord have given me and you shall set it down before the Lord your God and worship before the Lord your God. All right Donna. Numbers 15 21 of the first of your dough you shall give unto the Lord in plenty of offerings in your generosity. All right, thanks. So here's reference both to first fruit and dough or lump that ultimately relates to something presented to the Lord. And what was the view of the nation of Israel about these first fruits? What would the average Jew have thought about these first fruits or this lump? What did that represent? The rest of the crop, or the rest of what would follow.

Before God, what was God's interpretation about what this act of obedience was related to? the tithe perhaps, but wasn't it an act of faith by the high priest ultimately? And what did that act, what was that faith based on? Why would the quote spiritual remnant, let's go back in the Old Testament and think that spiritual remnant were obedient to the faith of the first fruit and the dough? All right, true. I mean, but by God's declaration, right? So if the nation responded by faith, what was that faith in? All right, thankfulness, but didn't they ultimately believe that God requested this and for them to respond was they believed in the truth of what God was revealing? I mean, the principle of faith is responding to what God had revealed. I mean, there can be a religiosity to this. That's what the Lord was looking for. He was looking for them to gleefully and trustworthily bring these offerings to him by faith.

The lump represents, I think, throughout at least the New Testament, reflecting back on the old nation of Israel. And this relates to the physical remnant, the promises given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. If you think about this response of the first fruit in the lump, God has promised them a land. He's promised that their seeds would be multiplied substantially in the earth.

And those Israelites who probably had unique insight, perhaps some, I mean, Hal used to say Abraham saw the cross. And I don't know whether Abraham saw the cross, and maybe one day we're going to find out whether he did, but he was looking forward to something very nice, not just the land. Abraham's faith was accounted as righteousness, right? So Abraham had the view.

I think today we can consider the passage in Romans 9, verse 21. Hath not the potter power of the clay of the same lump, notice that, to make one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor? and 1 Corinthians 5-6. Your glorifying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?

So I think what I'm trying to do with this is ultimately ask, what is the interpretation of the root and the branches? What does it mean that these are holy? Is this moral quality, or is this being set apart? What's the thought here? Is there something moral about the lump? Is there something moral about the root here? So what is it then? Particularly if we reflect back here, right?

Look at this. I mean, God's got the power to use the lump to honor or to dishonor. And look at this. Your glorifying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? The lump is It's kind of set apart, it's sanctified, it's put separate, but yet has no moral quality in its own right.

And I think in context, that's what we're talking about here. We're not talking about some moral value of the root, the nation of Israel is the root. And ultimately, the lump is the nation of Israel. And the first fruit is just the harvest being brought forward. But those are being set apart for a purpose. There's no moral quality necessarily intrinsic there.

So I think in examining this in context, this first fruit and lump are set apart so that ultimately, God's purpose will be fulfilled. Now remember, the root represents the source of life. And for us as believers, and also the Jewish believer, that life would be founded in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 17, and some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a particular root of the fatness of the olive tree. Now remember, who's Paul talking to here? The Gentiles, right? So even though Romans 9 and 11 is steeped with Israel and its relationship to the church or not with the church, ultimately this text here right now is addressed to the Gentiles. So what or who are these branches that have been broken off? We've got to get our horticulture straight here. Remember this is a lesson in horticulture this morning. Who are the branches that are broken off?

Anybody. Well, what part of the Jews? The unbelieving Jews. Unbelieving Jews, all right. Branches, literally a young tender shoot in context, the posterity of the Jewish patriarchs. These are the land-based people. They're looking for the land, right? They're not the spiritual remnant. And notice some, but all of those who do not believe. If some of the branches were broken off, they in fact were broken off. So this is some, but not all. As we look historically and we look at the present age, it seems like some is most, doesn't it?

And remember, I kind of reflected on this last week. I've had the privilege over the years in my job to interact with a lot of Jewish people. And I kind of, this is a kind of a summary of my view of the Jewish people is they fall into kind of globally into three groups of people. And Margaret and I had the privilege of being in Jerusalem a few years ago, and there's clearly the Orthodox Jew who takes his or her faith quite seriously.

The Wailing Wall, they're going through all the traditions. And just parenthetically, within the nation of Israel, these people are generally not liked by most of the population. because the government supports these people, their taxes support their lives. These people are entirely free to worship God in their religiosity and the ways of the past without really any evidence that the cross means anything to their lives. So this is the Orthodox Jews, serious intent, keeping the law, and I'll never forget this flight to Sydney a few years ago when I was going for an international meeting down there and ultimately the guy sitting next to me thought he was keeping the entire law, all 613 aspects of the law. He was keeping them all. That was a fun flight. Margaret never, I'll tell you, never mind. Margaret had an issue on that flight, I'll tell you about that.

So then there's a second group who's the Jewish holiday person, right? You know, they take their faith semi, you know, seriously. They get their, go through, you know, the bar mitzvah and all those kinds of things and they take the holidays and they kind of, They take the Christian holidays, too. That's true, for sure. And they take all the holidays.

And then the third group is kind of the land-based people only, and there's very little of the other. By the way, all three groups, the way I've kind of mentally divided them, are all interested in the land. They all want their land, they want their privileges, etc., that they claim are ordained by God.

But the third group pretty much doesn't take any of this very seriously. And even the holidays become pale at times. So that's kind of a global assessment. What we're talking about here is this third, this group of people who do not believe these branches that have been broken off, or in fact all three of those groups.

You know, there's not one that's any different than the other in terms of what God's calling them to do today, in terms of come to him by faith. And that faith, of course, is in the Lord Jesus Christ and what's been accomplished. you, a wild olive tree, grafted in among them to partake. So what's this wild olive tree now? What are we thinking about here? All right, it's the Gentiles, but it's conditional. What's the condition? Thank you. What does it mean to become a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree?

Let's turn to Judges 9.9. This is kind of an interesting section of scripture, I must admit. I've never quite taken in before. This is the Old Testament parable of the trees. How many people know this Old Testament parable?

This is Jotham at Shechem. And to remind you, Jotham was the youngest son of Gideon, and Abimelech had taken charge. And in fact, Abimelech was not God-fearing. And he basically murdered all of Gideon's sons. And this was the remainder. And so Jotham is pleading with the Shechemites ultimately to turn away from Abimelech and what he represented. And in Judges 9-9, just because it relates very interestingly to what we're looking at today, but the olive tree said unto them, Should I leave my fatness, will live by me thy honor God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees.

Isn't that interesting in context? I mean, I'm not sure what's going on with the script up here, Roy, on the screen, but it's not that way in the paper. So there's something going on here in relationship to the way the computer is handling this program. But all that's minor in terms of importance.

So look at the olive tree has fatness. And what Jotham is appealing to the Jewish people is don't leave the fatness of the olive tree and make yourself superior. So the concept is that these branches that have been broken off have left the fatness, and that fatness is ingrained in the olive tree, which of course is rooted in the Lord Jesus Christ. All right, Romans 11, 18, and 19 together. Paul tells the believers, don't boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you did not support the root, but the root supports you. You'll then say branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.

So do not boast, and the Greek has this kind of preposition un before it, which makes this very strong language. It means that boasting is forbidden. It's just not to say, hey, don't boast. I mean, in other words, there appears to be some potential punitive result of ultimately boasting. So this is a strong, strong statement. So do not boast is just not a suggestion. It said, don't do this. It's forbidden. Now, if is conditional. So if you decide to boast, so you may not decide to boast, but in fact if you do decide to boast, and I guess the question comes up is the why. Why is this a conditional statement? sort of in fact, why would you boast?

Because you have nothing to do with the fact that you're grafted in. It comes from God. Okay. I mean, that's just my, just reading that. I mean, why would you boast? You know, you don't have anything to do with it. Well, does that happen today? Is the believer ever being, putting him or herself in a position of kind of looking down at those who in fact have been cut off? Sure, I think it happens all the time, because the you, or the grafted branch, is not what gives life.

There's no room for boasting in our faith. The source is the root, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the life. He's the source. There's no boasting other than about God himself, right? And it's simply because of His great grace that the believing Gentile has been grafted in. There's no merit on our behalf here. There's nothing to be boastful about. And we think of boasting to you thinking about taking on credit for yourself in some way that you've been so privileged to have this insight or intellect and a special privilege. Yes, we do have special privileges, but that's entirely by God's grace. So boasting is really forbidden in that perspective.

Galatians 3.7, Know ye therefore that they which are of faith the same are the children of Abraham.

And I think Galatians 3.14 is the next verse we have here. That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Nothing of ourselves here, is there? I mean, we've been grafted in to the root that was ultimately placed by God for the nation of Israel. Much of the prophecy was, of course, directed to them directly.

All right. Verse 20. Well said, because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. But don't be haughty, but fear. OK, so here we have this important dividing line. And that relates to the cross and the unbelief and faith and ultimately that dividing line allows unbelief to kind of not recognize Calvary and everything it stands for and is accomplished and ultimately being broken off is just the absence of active faith. But because we're in faith, we're in fact on the right side and that faith of course extends itself into the future. Very simple concept but yet difficult to accept simply intellectually.

So being haughty is to be high-minded or proud. And the opposite is fear or reverence. And here, do we think of fear as being afraid? Anybody think that it should be being afraid? Yes. And how would you describe reverential fear, Carol? giving him all praise and honor. Any other comments or thoughts about reverential fear? I think reverential fear is respect for God. Okay, good. Alright, good comments.

Any questions up until this point? So we've got this statement then that the branches have been broken off, that's unsaved Israel, that we've been grafted in as another root, and ultimately, by God's great grace, there's no reason for boast. It's all His grace and nothing beyond His grace. So verse 21 then, for if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. So to spare literally means to keep back.

And this is really for us to consider Romans 8.32 in terms of the way to interpret the verb spare. And here's a good example of the Lord himself. He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all thanks? So the question I have for the class here today is why the uncertainty about God not sparing you either?

And don't look on here further. Is anybody concerned about this? For if God didn't spare the natural branches, he might not spare you either. This sounds kind of threatening, doesn't it? Well, I'm going to pose a question here. Is this the apostate church to follow? Is this addressed individually, or is this addressed to the body? Well, let me just show a few verses here, and then we can discuss this a little bit further.

In Revelation 3.14, the church of Laodicea, and under the angel of the church of Laodiceans, write, these things saith the Amen.

I think I'm going to read it off here. The faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God, I know thy works that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth.

Now, is that a church that's ultimately going to find itself standing after the rapture? these saved people who will be taken home at the rapture and ultimately their their lukewarmness in fact is just distasteful to God. I'll leave that as a question. Jude 1 5, I will therefore put you in remembrance though you once knew this how that the Lord having saved the people out of the land of Egypt afterwards destroyed them that believed not. And George Gill, I'll just use this as a point of conversation, is he said some churches will meet on the Sunday morning after the rapture, and they won't miss a member.

Your thoughts? This class? Nobody, I hope. I pray, actually. What are your thoughts? Is this some sort of a threat? Is there a threat here? Is there a truth that just needs to be interpreted? What are we talking about here? So if he didn't spare the natural branches, maybe he's not going to spare you. Remember, he's talking to the Gentiles here. This is not directed to the Jew. I was just going to say, we know what the truth is. And if we're not believers, yeah, we'll be here. Like this church that George Gill talks about. I don't think it's a threat. It's just, that's the way it is. It's true.

I thought it was insight and faith. It was faith in the remnant's case. It was faith in Christ's coming. In our case, it's faith in the coming. The principle is always faith, Roger, right? You're just saying, you know, if you haven't exercised faith, then there's an issue. It's like examining yourself to see if you're in the faith, almost.

OK, good. And I think we're going to get to the next verse, which is going to deal with this even a bit more succinctly. Any other thoughts here about this being cut off or ultimately spared? Yes. I think that church will just suddenly become mid-trip. Mid-trip? Let's go on to verse 22 now. mid-trip. The left behind series, right? That's the church here we're talking about. If you think of the left behind series, and that's kind of what was going on there, the left behind a little bit, right? All these people that thought they were right with God and they were left behind and ultimately did become mid-trip believers.

Yes? Well, I mean, the question is, is he writing to the Gentiles as a whole or is he writing to the Gentile believers? And what are your thoughts? I thought it was to the church. Well, it was presumably. But verse 13 says to the Gentiles. So is he writing to the apostate believer or the apostate church here possibly too? I think he's writing to everybody that's the church. But just like the church today, you could be addressing the church. But there are a lot of people in the church that they think they're in the church as a body, but they're not believers. And as I've said so many times here, when you get out a series of commentators and you look at what they say, most of the time, these tough issues, they don't even touch.

I mean, seriously, I didn't find anybody that really had a very insightful interpretation of the story. This is said correctly, but this is in a context of unbelieving Jews trusting in their membership of, I'm part of the Jewish nation, blessed by God, therefore I'm okay. They're not trusting in And God himself, for not trusting in the Messiah, will come and save us. We're going through the motions, but they're not placing the keys to it.

We do that in our fellowships. There are many who come to this fellowship, perhaps, I say not many, but there might be some of them. And I think this warning is to that song, that say, I'm okay, I go to hollyhills by nature. I listen to them teach me.

I believe that Jesus Christ is my Savior, my Sunday. Are they really trusting Christ? Or are they trusting what they believe? Or that they're part of his body in the middle? I think it's a great point, Roy, and I think what we're not talking about here is church membership, right?

Yeah, Carol. Well, I'm thinking that, you know, Paul spent a lot of time and a lot of emphasis on First Saint Timothy and First Saint Peter and Jude talking about the apostate church. And so I'm thinking that that's what it is. So you think George may have this right, right? Okay, now let's go to 22, because I think we're going to allow further conversation on this very important point.

Verse 22, therefore consider the goodness and severity of God. Interesting kind of contrast, isn't it? The goodness and severity. On those who fell, severity. But towards you, goodness. If you, notice the condition, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise, you're also going to be cut off. Tough language.

God's goodness we know, or a question I've paused, or do we? God's goodness. I mean, it seems so simple, and we reflect on it frequently. And when I wrote the little line, I thought, then I had to ask myself, do we really know his goodness? I think we're touching the surface, aren't we, about God's goodness and what it really represents. But anyway, ponder that for a second.

But what about his severity? How much do we know about that? The Greek term is apoptomia, and it's from the base apotemus, which is figuratively meaning decisiveness and rigor. I mean, another is severity. We think of punishment, but I think it really relates to kind of God's God. and he's very rigorous in his truth and he's very decisive in the way he acts.

And doesn't the world think that God is just not fair? How dare the Bible say that people who don't believe that are going to hell? Absolutely. Do people consider Christianity fairness? What is fairness? What is fairness? Is that a godly concept or is that an earthly concept? Is that humanitarianism? This wasn't part of the lesson today, but I think it's fairness. You know at work, and I talk to people sometimes about the Lord, but in a sense their comment is it's narrow-minded. It doesn't leave room. But then you can look at John 14, 6, and it doesn't lead room. That's the only way. Bob, great point.

Let me share just a recent example, and I'm maybe going to ask the group to pray about this. And Margaret and I have discussed it a little bit. I know she's mentioned it to a few people in the body. We had the opportunity to kind of be at a table with a bunch of very skeptical people a few years ago. And one of these, she's an academic physician, and she's a lesbian. and admitted at the table she's a lesbian. We probably hated her. That's what she said, that she knew we hated her when she realized we were Christians. She said, I'm sure you hate me. And so we let her know that that was just a choice of her behavior, but ultimately the cross. Think about this for a second.

What is the greatest equalizer of all humankind of all time? Isn't it Calvary? Everybody is made equal at the cross. And so Margaret and I reflected on us being sinners saved by grace. And it wasn't her behavior we were condoning, but the fact that her sin was no different than ours in terms of California and what it represented. And so we had a long conversation that evening with two atheistic Jews.

They fit into that third group, by the way. And her, who had this kind of glimpse that maybe she was seeking a little bit. So my last meeting with her was in Philadelphia a couple of weeks ago. We were writing questions for the American Board of Internal Medicine. But to cut to the chase, this was her last meeting. She's going off the group, off the committee, and she's been there for six years.

And she said to me, Bob, I'm getting married. And I said, oh, really? And she said, yes, I'm moving from New York to Massachusetts, going to Harvard. She's at Columbia now. She's switching institutions. And her lady friend is still in New York, but she's moving to Massachusetts in part because the state of Massachusetts legislates lesbian and gay marriages.

She said, I'd like to invite you to the wedding. She said, I know how you feel about this, but I've never met anybody like you who we've been able to talk. And that my lesbianism doesn't keep you from having a conversation about your faith. The reason I bring this up, this narrow-mindedness, is clearly what the world sees. But yet, my love for her is Christ's love for her, right? It's not her behavior, it's the fact that she's a sinner who needs to be saved by grace like all the rest of us.

So the question, if we get invited, do we go to this wedding? What are your thoughts? Do we go to this wedding? Nobody would go. You say yes. Oh, because we we've been given advice by others to not to go. That would be, you know, condoning a gay marriage. And I said, when's the wedding? Hoping it's going to be a long time from now. And she thought she thought maybe in the fall this next year.

So in fact, In fact, let me just tell you something else. She left the meeting a little bit early to get a flight to San Francisco to support lesbian rights. There was a huge meeting apparently in San Francisco last weekend. She left early to get there and make sure that her voice was heard in fear of lesbian rights in California. If you go, Robert...

Art, I'm listening. Your presence would be considered approval by so many. It might not be by her, but obviously your efforts thus far with her haven't been successful. She, in spite of your conversation and your willingness, and the only person that will talk to her about this, that's been good. She hasn't accepted it, so I don't know. It's funny, every time I'm with her there's an opportunity to kind of, not every time, but many times there's been opportunity to further the conversation. So it's a tough one and it's a theoretical thing right now because we have no wedding invitation yet. All right, so by the way, this term severity, I found it kind of interesting. This is the only time this word is used in the New Testament, this right here, this term decisiveness or rigor on God's behalf. I found that kind of interesting.

So the point here is not only the unbelief of both Jews and Gentiles, but for Israel as a nation, did Paul really anticipate the events that were going to follow? Is that God's severity? Is that what we're talking about here? And you know, of course, the temple was destroyed in 70 AD. I mean, was Paul kind of looking forward, not really being sure what was to follow? Are we talking about a different kind of severity? Don't really know. Yes, Gail.

I'm interested in the fact that you said this is the only time this word is used. I think as Christians, we hang a lot and depend a lot on grace, which we should. We almost get an idea, or could, that God is different from what he was in the Old Testament. We've heard that God's the judge there, and now he's the God of love. But God doesn't change. And I think as Christians we need to remember that grace comes from him, and he is not going to share. anything with us by letting us get away with, well, you know, I was really good that day, or I'm a good person, I don't know how he is. We can take no credit. Thank you. God is who he is. And that's where boasting, no boasting, right? Right. Great point. Great point.

Roy? Can you hear, can you hear? This is an unbelieving man talking to my supervisor, and I just overheard it, how he hates Christians because they're so proud. They think they're better than me. Yeah. And that builds upon what we've been talking about. Here at Archdiocese, we can be so proud of a part of our church. No, that's a very appropriate comment. We have no right to have that type of pride. There's nothing about self that has any merit at all. Nothing. It's all God.

Again, it's funny, as we walk the real paths of life, every day we get up, most of us have an alarm clock, have a job we get up to, we go, we serve in that occupational environment, come home to our families, our wives, our husbands, our children. We operate in a real world system, remember always. This is not our home here. This is God's grace in performing his will and expressing his truth through us.

But bragging and boasting, no room for. So what about this if he continues in goodness? This is a conditional participle. This is a little bit different than the other if. but it's often used in connection with other participles, to note indefiniteness or uncertainty. So we're not sure here. So if you continue in this goodness, the possibility is here you may not. This isn't since you continue in this goodness. This is if you continue in this goodness. What does continuing in His goodness mean to you?

Well, to persevere, continue, I like abide. That's used in Thayer's dictionary to describe this verb. I mean, abiding, in my opinion, is not quite like necessarily Persevering in the strength of the old man, for sure. Abiding is kind of a more restful dependency by faith. And I like that a lot. Of course, that's my interpretation.

How is this initiated? How is His goodness initiated? Think about it. How is His goodness initiated in our life? By our faith. Right, Jim. Yeah. So we begin our salvation by faith, don't we? So, how is it accomplished? I mean, if you're saved by faith, you know, I was saved, I'm being saved, and I will be saved. I love the three tenses of the verb salvation. So, if we're saved by faith, His goodness by faith is sustaining in the life.

If you're not saved by faith, then this is a tough act, isn't it? So I'm not saying it's since you continue as goodness, but if in fact we've been saved by faith, the Holy Spirit doesn't give us much of an opportunity to move into an atmosphere of no faith. Now that doesn't mean we don't sin, we don't have problems. And the other challenge here is let's not look horizontally here. You know, the metric is between God and us, and that metric is 100% you've been saved. And by great grace, I've been saved, I'm being saved, and I will be saved.

So His goodness is our responsibility to live by faith. And what is living by faith? What's faith? Schofield, what's faith? Believing what God has revealed. I have tried to improve on Schofield's definition, but I can't. Faith is living or believing what God has revealed.

So you're going with a Hebrews 11.1 passage. That's much too long. No, I like it too. But I think Scofield has attempted to reduce it to a very simple principle.

And I think really 11.1 gives us that same message, is believing what God's revealed. For the New Testament believer, what do we believe? What is our ongoing salvation or His goodness all about in our lives? What is our faith? How does that happen by our faith?

Is it getting Adam to work a little bit harder here? No, it's not, is it? We've been buried with Him with baptism unto death, and risen with Him in newness of life. Amen? I mean, His goodness, by our being here today, by your Bible studies, by even your absence here today, is being manifested in His life through extenuating grace that we respond by faith, that we're new creatures in Christ Jesus, and everything is fine. We're fully positioned in the below. And boy, when you start putting a metric on it, looking at those signs, seeing who's living by faith and whose goodness is being perceived, we're making a big mistake. The threat here is very succinctly stated.

Otherwise, you're going to be cut off. Who is you? Is this collective you? Does it talk about the body or the individual? And got into it a little bit further, this is used a second-person singular. So this is talking about the individual you, Becky and Gail and Roger and George, you. But could it also mean the quote church, that church that George Gills may be talking about that's going to be left behind?

What's it mean to be cut off? Well, Literally, it's to cut down and therefore meaning spare life. So if you think of the, again, the horticultural lesson here today, if you're a branch in the roots and you've been cut off, it won't be long. In fact, this snowstorm we had a few weeks ago when we were out of town, I mean, I must have 40 trees down. unbelievable. The branches broke off off the top, there's a lot of snow, and I got a lot of work to do up there. Anybody need wood, by the way, just let me know.

Let's look, yeah, Luke 13, 7 and 9, I think reminds us, then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, behold these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why cumbers it on the ground? And he answering said unto him, this is the response of the Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it and dung it.

And if I bear fruit well, and if not, then after that it shall be cut down. So the concept here is something that's not rooted, doesn't have the life of the root ultimately, and doesn't bear fruit, has no source. it's cut down. That, in a sense, is a perfect interpretation here. If there's no goodness in his life, which again is a sustaining act of grace by our faith, then ultimately it'll be cut down. And that's true of us as much as it is for the branches of Israel. Verse 23, And they also, if they don't continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. Notice the key word here is again. And we don't have time now to look at the Jeremiah passage, but it's the promises to Israel that they will be, again, grafted in.

Zechariah 12.10, I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplications. And they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him as one mourns for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. Why if conditional participle again?

I thought this was a fact. I was asking Roger before the class about that. And I think here yet still the abiding and unbelief must be historic. So we've got to see that this act of God for the entire nation of Israel is still going to be one that's based on faith. and exactly how that's going to transpire at this point. Maybe next week I'll have perfect insight about this, but that's the topic for next week.

Oops, wrong direction. Verse 24, to finish up very quickly, and if you were cut out of the olive tree, which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree? And this raises lots of interesting questions.

Remember the basic principles of this text. Number one, the olive tree is rooted in the Israel of the patriarchs by faith. Secondly, some of the branches were cut off and the nation rejected. The third point is God grafted in the Gentile the wild olive tree believers. and included the Jews who believed. They're already there. They're in the original olive tree. And now we, as Gentile believers, have been grafted in. And for the Gentile, the purpose is not to make Israelites out of us. The root is the Lord Jesus Christ. And the church has really been grafted in with the believing Jew to sustain that olive tree. And God remains more than capable of grafting these branches in again. Now, the question here is, can we distinguish between a good olive tree versus their own olive tree? And is there really a difference? Does anybody have any thoughts about that? Look at verse 24 again.

They were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree. And then we have talked about They're grafted into their own olive tree. Let me make sure I'm reading this correctly. So they're grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree. Those that were cut out of the olive tree, which is by wild in nature, were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree. How much more shall these, who are the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? Is this important for us to distinguish these two different olive trees?

Isn't the good olive tree the same as their own olive tree? That's the question. I'm okay with that. You don't think we have to really dissect this any further. I couldn't really adequately separate the good olive tree from their own olive tree. Are we talking about one and the same, do you think? Everybody okay with that?

I think it's just a fullness of an Abrahamic covenant. Okay, David. I've always been taught that the Jew would have second chance. The Jew would have what? Second chance, and God says it right here. Do it again. Regraft them back in. And I think to close today, let me just kind of remind you to whom God speaking again, verse 13, for I speak to you Gentiles as much as I am the apostle of the Gentiles. and I magnify mine office." We, as Gentile believers, as New Testament Gentile believers, need to be able to put this into perspective in terms of where God has the nation of Israel. And that's why Paul has spent chapters 9 through 11. And by the way, much of the book of Galatians and others, 1 and 2 Peter, we really need to have this together. This is part of the knowledge God has called us to and his truth is revealed repeatedly to us about Israel and where that nation stands.