Please take out your copy of God's Word and turn to Paul's letter to the Romans, chapter 11.
!
And we did so in this way to talk and kind of to bring to some finality Paul's discussion of the Jews and what's happening with them now and what will eventually be the case for them.
And I don't have time to recap everything that I said last week, but essentially I showed in a pattern throughout chapter 11 that I believe in verse 26 when he says,
And in this way all Israel will be saved, he's talking about the process by which his grace is still being extended to the people of Israel, to the nation of Israel.
That he is talking present day and that this grace has not left Israel as a nation, but that it has been extended to Gentiles as well as Jews.
And so his grace is running prevalent across the earth this day.
Either way, the result's the same.
Some believe that this text is talking about a final, full salvation of Israel.
And we talked in brief about that.
But either way, the point remains that what he's trying to say to Gentile believers, which I will presume that every single one of us are,
is that we ought not be proud.
We ought not become haughty towards the Israelites.
We ought not be anti-Semitic in any way whatsoever because it's by grace that we're saved.
Not works, right?
It's not because we're Gentile that we now have the grace of God.
And so I want to talk about that.
I want to kind of rewind into chapter 11 and talk a bit more about that, focusing on verses 17 through 24 and particularly 20 through 22.
So let's pray together and then I'll begin reading that.
Father God, I love you because you first loved me.
And I thank you for the great grace that you've poured out on my life and on the lives of so many in this room.
Surely, us coming together this morning is a picture of your loving kindness toward mankind.
I pray we don't miss that this morning.
And Father, you know what a mess I am generally.
And certainly this morning, frantic.
Even with an extra hour in my day, I'm running around.
And I just pray, Father, that you will work through my frailty by your Spirit.
That you will be powerful in me.
And that you will work in the hearers of your word.
That they might know and understand who you are.
That they might serve you best this coming week.
And we pray this in Christ's name.
Amen.
Alright, so let's read together.
Beginning in verse 17 through verse 24.
But if some of the branches were broken off.
And you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others.
And now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree.
Do not be arrogant toward the branches.
If you are, remember it is not you who support the root.
But the root that supports you.
Then you will say, branches were broken off.
So that I might be grafted in.
That is true.
They were broken off because of their unbelief.
But you stand fast through faith.
So do not become proud, but fear.
For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.
Note then the kindness and the severity of God.
Severity towards those who have fallen.
But God's kindness to you.
Provided you continue in his kindness.
Otherwise you too will be cut off.
And even if they do not continue in their unbelief.
Will be grafted in.
For God has the power to graft them in again.
For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree.
And grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree.
How much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree?
So Paul uses this beautiful analogy of grafting.
And as I was thinking this week through the analogy.
I actually thought about not talking about it at all.
But then realized that there is a really good chance.
That many of you have no idea what he's talking about.
When he speaks of grafting.
What that means.
It's to cut off a branch.
This happens in cultivation all the time.
You cut off a branch.
And you take another branch.
And you cut it in just such a way.
I almost showed you guys a video of it happening today.
But you cut it in just such a way.
So that it can be inserted into the root, the tree, whatever that may be.
And it will then get its sustenance from the tree.
And you will have then a new tree.
The practice happens as farmers try to cultivate a better product.
So it happens with olives.
Quite often, in fact.
There's a trait in a wild olive that is beneficial.
Let's say drought tolerance to the cultivated tree.
And so the farmer cuts and grafts in the other part.
Now obviously in this case, he's not saying that in some way the Gentiles had something to offer to the kingdom of God.
Therefore, they were a better version.
And he needed to graft them into the old version.
But that's the picture that we're seeing here.
Is that because of their unbelief, because of their unfruitfulness, parts of Israel were trimmed away.
And new, wild olive branches were grafted in.
That they might bear fruit.
And so here's the analogy that he gives us.
And he calls us in this to humility.
And he does it three times in chapter 11.
Look at verse 18.
He says,
Do not be arrogant toward the branches.
Verse 20.
So do not become proud, but fear.
Verse 25.
He says,
Lest you be wise in your own sight.
Do not be haughty.
Just because you're part of the tree now,
do not be arrogant, proud, boastful, haughty towards those who have been cut off.
And why?
It's because you stand fast through faith.
Faith.
Not because of your works.
Isn't that the great message of Romans?
Justification by faith alone.
Not because of works.
Not because of anything we could have ever possibly done to earn God's favor.
But because of the faith that he has given us to believe in his son.
Faith is the opposite of pride.
Thinking that we can somehow do anything is the opposite of faith.
Because faith in Jesus Christ, the son of God, the person and his work, his death and resurrection for us, brings nothing but humility.
It impedes pride.
You cannot be proud if you truly believe in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
So faith then is set in juxtaposition to pride.
And we stand fast through faith.
So we see then in verse 20 through 22 that they were broken off because of their unbelief.
But we stand fast through faith.
So we shouldn't become proud.
But instead, we should fear.
For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.
Note then the kindness and the severity of God.
The severity of those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness.
Otherwise, you too will be cut off.
You see the warning here.
Is that if we become proud, if we think that we have obtained our justification before God by our own doing, what does that mean?
We weren't Christians to begin with.
Somehow, we made our way into the tree, but we too will be cut off.
The analogy breaks down at that point, right?
But that is what he is saying.
Truly regenerate believers, those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ, will not be proud.
And he calls us to fear.
And the challenge here is putting in proper balance fear and faith.
Trembling, being in awe at the holiness of God.
And then believing that we can stand before him justified.
There's a challenge in that.
And it's a challenge that's talked about all throughout scriptures.
Turn with me, if you will, to Matthew chapter 20.
This is a parable.
Jesus is talking to a Jewish audience at this time.
Those who had the privileges of the Old Testament, the prophets, the temple, the sacrificial system,
had all these things giving them windows into the ultimate and final culmination of God's grace to mankind.
However, I don't want to find myself in this position.
Verse 1, chapter 20.
Jesus says,
The kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.
After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, or a day's wage, he sent them into his vineyard.
And going about the third hour, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace.
And to them he said,
You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right, I will give you a day's wage.
So they went.
Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same.
And about the eleventh hour, he went out and found others standing.
And he said to them, Why do you stand here idle all day?
They said to him, Because no one has hired us.
He said to them, You go into the vineyard too.
And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman,
Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last up to the first.
And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius.
Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more.
But each of them also received a denarius.
And on receiving it, they grumbled at the master of the house, saying,
These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.
But he replied to one of them, Friend, I am doing you no wrong.
Do you not agree with me for a denarius?
Take what belongs to you and go.
I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you.
Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?
Or do you begrudge my generosity?
So the last will be first, and the first last.
And this is Paul's warning, just turned to the Gentile believers.
That we might see that God's grace to people is not deserved, but he pours it out because he's God.
That we might not be proud in any way that we've received it,
but that we pray for those who have not yet received it.
There's another great story, an Old Testament story, of who I don't want to be in the book of Jonah.
Jonah is called and sent to go to the Ninevites, but yet he runs away.
And why does he run away onto a ship to Tarshish?
Because he knows God is good.
He knows God loves even the evil and wicked Ninevites.
He knows that if he goes proclaiming the judgment of God,
that there's a good chance that God's going to pour out his grace on these people,
who in his mind don't deserve it.
And if that's the case, then he did.
In his own mind, he was so proud to think that he deserved God's love toward him.
And so in Jonah 3, 4, he says,
Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's journey.
And this is the message he proclaimed.
So when God finally swallowed him up in a big fish, spit him out onto the beach,
he goes to Nineveh and he calls out,
Yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
He goes proclaiming a message of God's wrath to the Ninevites.
And then in 4, 1 and 2, it's recorded,
But it displeased Jonah exceedingly,
and he was angry after the repentance of the whole city of Nineveh.
And he prayed to the Lord and said,
O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country?
That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish,
for I knew that you were a gracious God and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love
and relenting from disaster.
I don't want to have the heart of Jonah.
I want to believe that God is a good and loving and kind God.
I want to have that type of faith
that properly balances in the case with fear.
So we ought to have fear and faith in proper measure.
And you could put other words on that as well,
like in our text, severity and kindness,
mercy and wrath,
justice and forgiveness.
You can put the two things anywhere you would like to in there,
the words that you prefer.
In this case,
we see both fear and faith,
as well as severity and kindness.
So what is the prescription that he gives to us
to not be proud,
to not be boastful,
to not think in this way
about those who have not yet received
the grace of God?
He tells us
to note.
We're told to note
the severity and kindness of God.
Verse 22.
Note then the kindness
and the severity of God.
That word note
is most commonly
translated in our scriptures
as behold,
look.
In the ESV,
which is the translation I'm preaching from,
it's found 1,061 times.
Look, look, look.
Over and over and over again,
which leads me to believe
that God must think
that we're not very good
at seeing things.
Right?
Note, look,
behold the kindness
and the severity of God.
And if we do this properly,
we have no room
to be proud.
None.
Whatsoever.
Where do we do that?
Where do we look?
Where do we behold?
How is it that we note this?
From our scriptures.
Isn't this the record
of God's,
both His severity
and His kindness
toward mankind?
It all culminates,
it all comes together,
converges
in the personal work of Christ
as Christ bore
the full wrath of God
for the sins of the church,
giving to them justification,
giving to them the grace
because of what He did.
It all comes together.
We see that
in the scriptures.
the Bible
in its entirety
speaks of Christ.
I challenge you
in your reading of it
to see that
to be the case.
Shows us
who we are
and who God is.
And that in the middle
stands in that
vast, vast,
unfillable gap
the one who could,
Jesus Christ.
That is how
we note.
That is how we look.
That's how we gaze upon
the severity
and the kindness
of God.
Do you do that?
Do you value
your scripture?
Do you read
your scriptures?
One of the great challenges
of the American church
is that we are
biblically illiterate.
We are at a place
in American Christianity
much like the days
of the Reformation.
Reformation.
Recently,
as a nation,
we celebrated
Halloween.
It's also known
as Reformation Day.
October 31st,
1517
is when Martin Luther
nailed the 95 Theses
to the door of the church
in Wittenberg.
That's when it happened.
October 31st.
And what was happening
at that time
is that the church at large,
the Catholic church,
had led the people astray
because the Bible
was only written
in Latin.
In fact,
the priests preached
in Latin.
And nobody knew
what was going on.
In the same way,
we now have the scriptures
in our own language,
in multiple translations
with study notes.
Right?
And yet,
many people this morning
sit across our country
entirely biblically illiterate.
A pastor can stand up
and because of his position
can say anything he wants
and it's swallowed
hook, line, and sinker.
And many people
are going to be dragged
onto shore
and they're going to die
because he's not
preaching the truth.
God himself
has penned words
for our lives.
Why do we not
read it
more?
Right now,
our Sunday school class,
the men's and the women's,
are reading through the Bible
in a year.
And that has
posed itself
as a challenge
for people to
spend the time
it takes
to read
the assigned reading
to get through
the entire Bible
in a year.
I put myself
in the same boat.
I'm not judging you.
Right?
It can be
a challenge.
Can't it?
We're so busy.
We have so much
going on.
Will you get
less done
if you read
your scriptures more?
Quite possibly.
But I believe
you'll get the right
things done
and they'll be done
well
if you read
your scriptures
more.
That you will be
properly fueled
by a proper
balance of
fear and faith,
severity
and kindness.
Let me give you
an example.
If you've been
around here long,
you know that
George Mueller
is one of my heroes.
A man who
pastored a church
in England
as well as
ran an orphanage.
Reached
thousands and thousands.
He ran a missionary
society,
funded all kinds
of mission efforts
around the world.
In his last days,
he spent his time
traveling around
the world.
An amazing man
of faith.
And this is where
it kind of all
rooted in.
It was in his
diligence in
studying the
scriptures.
Four years
after he became
a believer,
this was written
of him by A.T.
Pearson,
who wrote the
best biography
on him.
It says,
after a true
relish for the
scriptures had
been created,
he could not
understand how
he could ever
have treated
God's book
with such
neglect.
It seemed
obvious that
God,
having condescended
to become
an author,
inspired holy
men to write
the scriptures.
He would in
them impart
the most vital
truths.
His message
would cover
all matters
which concern
man's welfare,
and therefore,
under the double
impulse of duty
and delight,
we should
instinctively
and habitually
turn to the
Bible.
Moreover,
as he read
and studied
this book
of God,
he felt
himself
admitted to
more and more
intimate
acquaintance
with the
author.
During the
last 20
years of
his life,
he read
it carefully
through four
or five
times annually
with a
growing sense
of his own
rapid increase
in the knowledge
of God
thereby.
In the last
20 years of
his life,
George Mueller
lived,
I'm pretty
sure,
to the age
of 92.
At the
age of 71,
in his own
writing and
his journaling,
he said that
he had read
the scriptures
through a
hundred times.
So in the
last time of
his year,
it increased
even,
even more
so.
It's a great
story of Mueller
when he was a
young Christian
who went to
a meeting
and spoke
about infant
baptism.
You know,
we're not on
board with that
here as a
Baptist church.
We're credo
Baptists,
and he
spoke in
defense of
infant baptism
and afterwards
an old lady
sitting in the
group said to
him,
Mr. Mueller,
I would
encourage you
to never
speak on
such a
topic until
you've
searched the
scriptures in
regards to
it.
And he
felt so
pricked by
that that
he spent
his studies
from there
reading the
entire
scriptures
with
baptism in
mind.
At the
end of that
process,
he was a
credo
Baptist.
Praise God.
As you
should be.
And he
began a
habit of
doing that
with any
topic that
vexed him.
He would
read the
entirety of
the scriptures
with that
topic in
mind,
trying to
search the
counsel of
God in
regards to
that.
A man who
loved the
scriptures,
read it
through over
200 times
in his life.
And we're
challenged to
even get
up and
spend any
time in
the word
of God
in the
morning.
It's worth
the sacrifice.
It's worth
the sleep.
It's worth
putting something
else off.
You know
what?
The dishes
can stay
dirty.
We must
know our
scriptures to
see these
things in
proper
balance.
Fear and
faith,
severity and
kindness.
God
proclaims his
name when
Moses is on
Mount Sinai.
He says,
the Lord
passed before
him and
proclaimed,
the Lord,
a God
merciful and
gracious,
slow to
anger and
abounding in
steadfast love
and faithfulness,
keeping steadfast
love for
thousands,
forgiving iniquity
and transgression
and sin,
but who will
by no means
clear the
guilty,
visiting the
iniquity of
the fathers
on the
children and
the children's
children to
the third
and the
fourth
generation.
So in
God's very
presentation of
his own
character,
he says,
I am
merciful,
I am
good,
I am
kind to
thousands,
I'm
forgiving
iniquity,
I'm
being
gracious
to
sinners,
yet,
I'm
also
wrathful,
I'm
vengeful,
I will
punish
sin.
And we
see the
two things
together,
severity of
God and
his kindness.
Matthew
10,
28-31,
Jesus said,
and do
not fear
those who
kill the
body but
cannot kill
the soul,
rather fear
him who
can destroy
both soul
and body
in hell.
Are not
two sparrows
sold for
a penny?
And not
one of
them will
fall to
the ground
apart from
your father,
but even
the hairs
of your
head are
all numbered.
Fear
not,
therefore,
you are
of more
value than
many sparrows.
Interesting
language.
Jesus
says,
do not
fear
those who
kill the
body but
can't kill
the soul,
rather,
fear him,
being God,
who can
destroy both
soul and
body in
hell.
The severity
of God,
right?
Fear God.
He can
destroy you.
That's what's
due you
because of
your sin.
He can
destroy you.
But then
look at the
kindness.
Are not
two sparrows
sold for
a penny,
and not
one of
them will
fall to
the ground
apart from
your father?
Even the
hairs on
your head
are numbered.
So,
fear not
the severity
and the
kindness
of God.
We are
owed
destruction.
We were
enemies
of God,
but now
we're called
his friends.
So,
we ought to
both
fear
and then
be comforted
by his
kindness
to us.
Romans
chapter 2.
verses 4
and 5.
Paul wrote,
Or do you
presume on
the riches
of his
kindness
and forbearance
and patience,
not knowing
that God's
kindness is
meant to
lead you
to repentance,
but because
of your
hard and
impenetent
heart,
you are
storing up
wrath for
yourself on
the day of
wrath,
when God's
righteous
judgment
will be
revealed.
Again,
the kindness
of God
to us,
meant to
lead us
to repentance,
set against
the wrath
when God
will judge
the world
and those
who are not
found in
him.
So,
it's a
simple
gospel message,
right?
The faith
that should
be preventing
us from
being proud.
We ought
not be
proud,
but we
should fear
because if
we continue
in the
kindness
of God,
we are
his.
You see
how the
two things
can live,
exist
together,
that we
can both
fear him,
but continue
in his
kindness,
because we
are his.
So,
then how
do those
two things
kind of
press
together?
How do
they increase?
How do
they cause
us to
live
rightly?
And this
is the
practical.
Number
one,
fear
causes
your
faith
in the
kindness
of God
to grow.
It
causes
your
faith
in the
kindness
of God
to grow.
Verse 22,
provided you
continue in
his kindness,
severity
is meant
to lead
us
to
kindness.
Understanding
the weight
of our
sin
leads
us
to
understand
the
kindness
of
God
to
us
in
Jesus
Christ.
It's
a fear
of mine
that the
church,
that even
our
church,
doesn't
quite
understand
their
just
condemnation
before
they were
justified
by Christ.
That we
think,
well,
I mean,
I wasn't a
good person,
but I wasn't
really a
bad
person.
Compare me
to the
others
around
me.
I was
doing
okay.
Many of
us probably
grew up
in Christian
homes.
We were
moral,
but we
were not
righteous.
Understanding
God's
severity
towards
sinners,
how much
he hates
sin,
leads you
to increase
your faith
in the
kindness
of God,
cause you
to hold
fast to
that love
towards us.
I'm
familiar
with 1
John 4
18 that
says,
perfect love
casts out
fear.
I know
the text.
I understand
it.
Do you?
If there's
a question
in your
mind,
this side
of heaven,
this side
of glory,
none of
us will
experience
love
perfected.
fear.
So fear
will always
play a
part in
our
living.
After our
death,
glorification,
one day,
it will no
longer anymore,
but for
now,
fear and
faith must
combine that
our faith
in the
kindness of
God will
grow.
Number
two,
fear brings
joy to
our faith
in the
kindness of
God.
So if
we're further
believing that
this is true,
that the
severity of
God is
what was
due us,
and yet
the kindness
of God
is what
we've
received,
we will
find great
joy in
that.
The
doxology
found here
at the
end of
chapter 11,
which I'm
looking forward
to preaching
on next
week,
we read
the scriptures
so horribly
at times,
and it's
difficult,
of course,
to read
tone and
inflection
into things.
I think we
all experience
that to be
true with
text messages.
What did he
mean by
that?
But the
translators have
helped us,
they've given
us punctuation,
they've helped
try to emphasize
some things,
and many people
read this,
oh the depth
and the riches
of the wisdom
and knowledge
of God,
how unsearchable
are his
judgments,
and how
inscrutable
his ways.
But they're
ignoring the
exclamation
points on
the end of
this type of
thing.
Paul, as he's
talked through
us, this
whole process
introduced the
doctrine of
election to
us in
chapters 8
and chapters
9, and
moving through
what's going
to eventually
happen to
his people,
the people
that he
loves and
desperately
wants to
see come
to Christ,
he finally
at the end
of all of
that says,
oh the
depth of
the riches
and the
wisdom and
knowledge of
God, how
unsearchable
are his
judgments and
how inscrutable
his ways,
for who has
known the
mind of the
Lord, or
who has
been his
counselor,
or who has
given a gift
to him that
he might be
repaid.
For from
him and
through him
and to
him are
all things,
to him be
glory forever.
Amen.
I think that's
how Paul would
have read it.
Right?
Moved to
joy because
he understood
the severity
of God, the
fear that he
should have in
his relationship
with God, and
therefore he was
moved to joy in
the kindness of
God.
And those two
things, our
faith increasing,
our dependency
on God, and
our joy increasing
in his kindness,
should move our
faith into action.
So fear, thirdly,
fear moves our
faith into action
for the sake of
others.
For the sake of
others.
If you have
wrapped your mind
around, as much
as you can, the
severity of God
towards sinners,
sinners, you
know that you
stood in that
place, but
because of the
justification of
Christ, you no
longer do, because
you've experienced
his kindness, you
no longer do, it
will grieve you
that others still
stand in that
place.
Knowing what
their final
destination is,
knowing how
severe the
severity of God
is going to
be, he hates
sin.
He's going to
pour out his
wrath on
sinners.
It's going to
be bad.
It's going to
be really, really
bad for those
who don't have
faith in Jesus
Christ.
Understanding that
should move our
faith into action.
How selfish of
us, how
Jonah-esque
to sit on our
hands and say,
these people don't
deserve the grace
of God.
God, I
deserved it.
They don't
deserve it.
God is loving
and kind and
wants to pull
people into
his hand where
he can hold
them for
eternity.
Fearing God's
retribution,
his wrath on
those who don't
know him ought to
move us to
share our faith.
2 Corinthians 5.11,
Paul wrote,
therefore, knowing
the fear of the
Lord, we
persuade others.
Is that true of
you this morning?
Do you have a
proper view of
the fear of God
and your faith,
the severity and
kindness?
righteousness?
And are these
things working
themselves out into
increasing your
faith and bringing
you great joy and
moving your faith into
action for others?
If not, some
self-examination is
necessary.
Some time spent in
the scriptures that
you might see who
God is and who you
are and see that
Christ comes in the
middle of all of
that.
Christ.
It's a great
adage.
I can't remember
who said this.
I'll just take some
credit for it this
morning.
We have been saved
from God, by God,
to God.
Isn't that good?
We've been saved
from God's wrath, by
God's work in Jesus
Christ, to God.
He himself is the
end goal of the
gospel, that we
might experience him,
enjoy him,
forever.
Are you being
shaped in this way
as a Gentile
believer?
If not, let's pray
together.
Amen.