Gentile Reinforcements (Part C)

It destroys churches, communities, and countries.

We're watching much of this in our own lifetime. So let's not make the mistake of downgrading the severity of God because of the goodness of God. You can't just say, well, I've got the gospel and I don't really care about the judgment.

They go together. The cross speaks of that. It's the balance. What happens if you lose grace when you're not balanced?

That's a fact physically and spiritually as well. This is Cross Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of Romans.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. And now here's Pastor Rick as he continues in Romans chapter 11 on today's edition of Cross Reference Radio. Christ is the branch of Jesse but that's not how he's applying it here. The root is Abraham, the friend of God, mainly connecting all this to Genesis 12 verse 13. Abraham in the sense that he is the source of human life for the Jewish people, the chosen people. Distinct from all the nations, and they are very distinct from all the nations, Balaam is one of the first to point that out. And he was a Gentile. He was a prophet.

He became an apostate and he's judged and doomed now. So if the root is set apart, so are the branches. They belong together, which is his point.

Gentiles will be grafted into these branches and they don't belong but they're going to be received and this goes against nature. He's very careful to point out a little horticulture knowledge when he starts using this metaphor. He does not want his metaphor to fail because he misapplied something. You can't say something like, I don't know, steering a train as a metaphor. Well, trains have rails. You don't steer them.

They go on the rails. So someone could pick that apart in your metaphor. Well, he's not giving them that shot.

So he's going to cover his bases very well. God accepted the founder of the nation, Abraham, and the patriarchs, Isaac and Jacob, and then the people. God also accepted the people, the lump, the rest of the harvest, and the branches, the offspring of Abraham. Verse 17, and if some of the branches were broken off and you being a wild olive tree were grafted in among them and with them became a partaker of the root and the fatness of the olive tree. Well, the broken branches here in verse 17 refers to ethnic Jews who did not accept Christ, disbelievers. Jesus introduced this type of imagery in John 15 when he talked about, I am the vine and you are the branches.

Without me you can do nothing of yourself. He talked about pruning off the branches that weren't bearing fruit. When God prunes, it's not very pretty at first.

He prunes a church. A good church gets pruned. It cuts out that which is not fruitful and it's ugly for a while and then the fruit comes in and you forget that you even did it. Hopefully if you prune a shrub or something too much you're probably going to kill it.

So you have to know what you're doing. Well, God is the vine dresser. He knows what he's doing when he does the pruning. So where unfruitful branches were pruned so fruitful branches can thrive. That's why you prune. They're taking up energy and blocking suddenly.

Get them out of the way. He uses the olive tree and the olive tree's unfruitful natural branches replaced with other branches. So we kind of keep that as a cliffhanger so you don't fall asleep. You keep waiting to get to that horticulture point that backs up his metaphor which comes toward the end. Anyway, of course I might be impatient and get to it faster but he says here in verse 17, and you being a wild olive tree. Now that's the Gentiles.

You've got to keep up with them, right? Grafting a living branch or a shoot of a wild olive into a cultivated olive to rejuvenate it. That's his imagery. Israel is the olive tree. They need to be rejuvenated concerning their Messiah as a people.

They're not getting it. Bring in that wild olive to bring life. Don't forget, we got a horticulture point.

Say horticulture, it's fun. Anyway, we'll get to that. He wants the abundant harvest, God does. And he has to reinforce his believers and he's doing it with Gentiles because the Jewish people have overall become disbelievers. Paul knows the process is contrary to nature and therefore is a miracle.

And he's going to say that when we finish up. He says, we're grafted in among them. They entered into a relationship with God, the God of Abraham, who is the root, the Jewish people, the branch, the Gentiles grafted in shoots or branches. He talked about this kind of thing in Romans 4 and verse 11 and he says, and with them became a partaker of the root, the fatness of the olive tree.

Equal access to God. Gentile Christians are not second-class Christians to messianic Christians. Now, I've met some messianic Jews and some of them are like, well, I'm a messianic one, get back there. It doesn't work that way.

Anyway, you know, you want to bring somebody down to earth, you just flatten it, car tires. The Gentile does not become a Jew, nor does the church become the nation of Israel. And verse 18 now, do not boast against the branches, but if you do, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. So he says to the Gentile Christians, who might be getting a little uppity, watching themselves starting to love the scripture and the Messiah and see all these Jews not doing it, he says you should know your roots as Christians, how God set this up. He's warning them against what we call anti-Semitism. Zechariah 2.8, for thus says Yahweh of hosts, he sent me after glory to the nations, now that's the messianic part, which plunder you, for he who touches you touches the apple of my eye. Those who are messing with Israel are messing with God, to his face, and it will end tragically for them. I don't have the list in front of me of all the nations who were once superpowers in the world, who are no longer superpowers in the world. Look at the Ottoman Empire.

They were rotten through and through anyway. Any idea of turning against the Jewish people can never be biblically justified. It never means we support sin, the sin of a Jew or anybody else. But as peoples go, we know that anti-Semitism is something that has a sole source manufacturer.

The original equipment manufacturer of anti-Semitism is hell, Satan, every time. He can't stand the Jewish people. As Christians, we're not supposed to despise any particular people, but especially the Jew. That doesn't mean we have to like their music or their wardrobe or their cuisine. I'm not crazy about Jewish food.

Hummus is okay, to a point, but I'd rather Italian food. It's not anti-Semitic, it's not against them, I'm not trying to embrace their culture, but I know who they are and I know where they're going, and I know what's going to happen to their enemies, and I side with God. Israel is now God's time clock, and it is one of the greatest single sources that verifies your scripture as being from the hand of God, that Israel is a nation. So the next time you get doubts in your head, I want to have the Bible's truth, because there's a lot of people out there, don't know what they're talking about, and that doesn't stop them from talking about it.

They think they know all the arguments, and it's just a very simple comeback. Number one, you are a sinner, and you are accountable, and you know it, and the only way you don't know it is if you lie to yourself and then lie to me. And number two, you can't explain Israel's presence unless you come to the scripture, their entire existence, their survival, and their future. The only place that calls it like it is is God's word. Anyway, verse 19, you will say then, branches were broken off that I might be grafted in. Verse 20, well said, because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith.

Do not be haughty, but fear. And so he's addressing the Gentiles, he's addressing the Gentiles and the Jews back and forth in front of each other. They're getting all the same information. He's not saying, well, don't tell the Jews, but dang it. So he says, yep, disbelieving Jews are branches broken off. That was their choice. Remember, it's a metaphor.

It runs parallel, but it's not absolute. They are removed from Messiah's work to this day. So personifying Israel to make his point, showing that God's mercy is not random. His judgment is not random, it's attached to disbelief. His favor is not random, it's attached to faith.

Disbelief has temporarily forfeited their role, but not their destiny. Romans 9, he said, why? Because, speaking of their unbelief and their loss of position, because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law, where they stumbled at the stumbling stone, and that is Christ.

They would not receive Christ over the law, even though he was pointed out in the law. He says, and you stand by faith, do not be haughty. Faith, not self-importance, don't blow it, he's telling them, but fear. Biblical humility, that's born of awe for God and not for self. That's biblical humility.

It's not self-impressed, God-impressed. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord and he will exalt you in due time. Well, you get to that by faith. Verse 21, if God did not spare the natural branches, he may not spare you either.

Wake up call. God can also judge the Gentiles, and he's going to judge the Gentile apostate church. We've covered that already, so I won't take any more time with that. He says he may not spare you either. Don't be a presumptuous Christian.

Paul singles out individuals and groups on the subject of arrogance. Matthew 8, Jesus talked about the Jews forfeiting their position, and Paul is saying he can do the same to you, and I say to you that many will come from the east and west and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that's the first fruit, that's the root, goes with this metaphor, in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Not teeth, but teeth. Anyway, Jesus was saying that to the Jews who had decided, well I'm Jewish so I'm good with God automatically, and he was saying, no you're not, you can blow it, you can be judged, and Paul is saying to the Gentiles, don't think that you're in this, you're isolated from God's judgment. Verse 22, therefore consider the goodness and severity of God on those who fell, severity, but toward you, goodness, if you continue in his goodness, otherwise you also will be cut off. I mean what part about that is not, is difficult to understand? Well if you have biases, theological biases, you're going to shut down on that verse.

I choose not to shut down on any verse as best I can, got to be careful right here, I'm real proud that I don't do that. His severity is manifested in cutting off the natural branches because of their unbelief, or disbelief. They had the information and they rejected it. His goodness is evidence in the reception of the Gentiles on the basis of their belief, their faith. And so he says, on those who fell, severity. Well is there a precedence for that before the Jewish people came along?

Absolutely. How about the antediluvians, those in Noah's flood, Sodom and Gomorrah? All wrongdoing is dangerous. It destroys churches, communities, and countries.

We're watching much of this in our own lifetime. So let's not make the mistake of downgrading the severity of God because of the goodness of God. You can't just go, well I've got the gospel and I don't really care about the judgment, they go together. The cross speaks of that. It's the balance. What happens if you, you lose grace when you're not balanced? That's a fact physically and spiritually as well. Second Corinthians five, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we persuade men. Paul said we're not joking because God's not joking. There is a hell, people are going to it. This is real. We know about this, it's terrifying.

Why do you think I'm catching these beatdowns all the time? And then in Romans he says, or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance. So there you have the terror of God and the goodness of God. We're supposed to behave as though we understand both of these are part of our theology, our learning about God, and then it's supposed to flow through us at some point. At some point when do we get to tell people this? It's like a guy that buys all this ammo, has a room full of ammunition. He's just like, when am I going to get to shoot it? Well, when you come and you get a Bible study, and there's nothing better than this, when you get one, what are you going to do with it?

Well, it's really not too much of your call if you're doing what you're supposed to be doing. It's up to the Lord. The just shall live by faith. The book of Numbers, that fourth book of the Bible, illustrates the kindness and the severity of God.

It teaches that the people, God's people, can move forward only as they trust and depend on Him. And they were halted when they would complain, they would whine, God had to deal with it. Finally, there was a generation raised up, didn't have so much baggage, and that was the generation that crossed into the Promised Land and began to purge the land of the evildoers.

And that's, it was a dual thing. God was saying, hmm, I've got this people here, but I have no land for them. But over here, I've got these really sick people that don't deserve a land and need to be taken out of that land, lest this stuff gets out of hand and spreads everywhere. And God has done that in the Garden of Eden. He got Adam and Eve out before things got worse. And so God said, I'm going to take these people, they're going to be my people, and I will use them as a sword of judgment on the people in this land, and as a prize, they get to stay in the land. So let's not make the mistake of downgrading the severity of God because of the goodness of God.

But let's look for the balance. He says, but toward you, goodness. Well, he's saying, God grafted you Gentiles then. He could have left you the pagans you were. He could have left the Jews in Egypt.

But he did not. And so let's, but toward you, goodness. All thoughts of God not being good in a cursed world come either from hell, humans, or hurt. When you say, God hates me because you're being crushed by something, it's not true. The world is cursed.

And we all got some of that on us and in us. And so watch out in those moments. Just, I can only advise you as what I do, and I feel that God is withholding something from me that is good, even if it is just relief. I just choose not to believe that lie because I know it's a lie. Theologically, I know it's not true. God is not trying to hurt me. God does not hate me.

I just got to take the pain. And one day, there'll be no more. And that's how Christians have done it since the cross.

If you continue in his goodness, same terms as Israel, you don't want to be a broken branch, we'll continue, bear fruit. To deflect this from applying to individual defectors from Christ is to ruin the warning. Why warn anybody if there's no danger? If you, look, it's not advisable to take a scripture verse that is a clear warning and say, I'm going to move this sign. You go to the beach and the sign says no swimming, rip tide. Well, I'm going to move that sign. Well, then you end up harming people. And if you're dumb enough to swim out there, you're going to harm yourself. Don't mess with the alarm.

People have done that, and they have paid. And so theological bias is not a virtue. You say, what are you talking about?

I don't have to tell you. It's funny. Anyway, theological bias is, you know, you've got a doctrine and you won't listen to anything else. There has to be a peer review. You have to have equal verses ring in to challenge. You can't just, you know, be unafflicted by your biases.

I mean, there are things that I don't like, but that's not good enough. So, and what I'm saying is there are theologians that say this can't mean what it means when it says just what it means. Colossians 1, verse 23, I don't want to stay on this too much because I've hit it so much over my years in the pulpit.

It doesn't seem to make much of a difference sometimes. If indeed you continue in the faith, Colossians 1, 23, grounded and steadfast and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard. What does that mean? It means just what it says. You don't need a pastor or a theologian or a popular celebrity minister to tell you what it doesn't mean.

It says it right there on the surface. So Paul says here, bottom of verse 22, Romans 11, otherwise you also will be cut off. I believe planes speak scripture over sacred Cal theology. He just said the branches were the Jews that didn't believe. Well, what are you going to do with that, Christian?

I'll leave it for you. Verse 23, and they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in for God is able to graft them in again. Well, if people repent salvation, if people defect condemnation. Paul knew this from firsthand experience because he too at one point was cut off, but God grafted him back in. Though he's not applying it identically in the same sense because he's not a Gentile, but still the basic idea is the same. He was outside, God got him inside. The Gentiles were outside, God has a way to graft them in. Verse 24, for 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? So he is saying if you were cut, back to verse 24, the first sentence or clause, if you were cut out of the olive tree, which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature. So I mentioned he's using the olive tree as a metaphor, and he is saying the horticulturist might object. If you take a good olive tree, a cultivated olive tree, and you take off a shoot, you can graft it into a wild olive tree, and a wild olive tree will do well. But if you reverse it, if you take from the bad olive tree, and you put it in a good one, you're going to mess up the cultivated olive tree. That's why he says contrary to nature.

Be very careful to put that in, because some horticulturist will come out after service, you know that doesn't work. So he's ahead of them, and he's saying, this is my point, it's supernatural. There are known laws, and there are unknown laws. And when God uses an unknown law to overcome a known law, we call it a miracle. Jesus walked on the water. He defied the law of gravity with another law, aerodynamics.

Every time you see an airplane, you're seeing one law overcome another law without violating any laws. And that's what Paul is saying. Salvation is miraculous. God did this. He overcame the resistance of the cultivated tree, so that he could have more fruit. And that explains the Gentiles coming into the church, reinforcing the numbers of God's people on earth, and that is the Gentile reinforcement that we began with.

So how much more will these who are natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree? The Jews will receive Jesus, ultimately. And he's going to get to that in the next session of this chapter, when we get, if we're still here next time, he'll cover, all Israel will be saved, as I read from Zechariah earlier in the service. And we close with this verse. Revelation 1, verse 7. The book of Revelation is just that, is God showing you what's happening in the future. Behold, he is coming with clouds, and every eye will see him.

Even they who pierced him, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of him. Even so, amen. Thanks for joining us for today's teaching on Cross-Reference Radio. This is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia.

We're currently going through the book of Romans. If you're in need of hearing this message again, or want to listen to others like it, head over to crossreferenceradio.com. We encourage you to subscribe to our podcast, too, so you'll never miss another edition. Just go to your favorite podcast app to subscribe. On our website, you'll be able to learn a little more about the ministry of Cross-Reference Radio, so make a note of it, crossreferenceradio.com. That's all we have time for today, but thanks so much for listening. Pastor Rick will be back next time in the book of Romans, here on Cross-Reference Radio.