The Mystery of the Olive Tree

This is the Truth Network. To live wisely in God's world, which is the first step towards finding your purpose. . Tonight's message is entitled The Mystery of the Olive Tree. We're going to be looking at Romans chapter 11 verses 11 through 21. All right, so the main theme of Romans chapters 9 through 11 is the spiritual condition of Israel in the past, present, and in the future. So look at Romans 9 through 11 as a unit. In these three chapters, Paul answers one key question, which is mentioned twice in chapter 11. Look at verse 1.

Are y'all with me? Romans chapter 11 verse 1. I ask then, did God reject his people? And what is Paul's answer?

By no means. And then Paul goes on to explain that within Israel is a remnant chosen by grace. Here's what I want you to understand. There's a spiritual Israel within ethnic Israel. And this has been the case going all the way back to Abraham.

Paul explains this in Galatians chapter 3 verses 6 through 9, and here's what he writes. Consider Abraham. He believed God and it was credited to him as what?

Righteousness. Understand then that those who believe are children of God. The scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith.

And then catch this. And he announced the gospel in advance to Abraham. So did Abraham understand the gospel? He did, because God announced it to him. He explained it to him.

How he did it, I don't know. And here's the gospel message. All nations will be blessed through you. Really it means through your seed. And seed is singular with a capital S. So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. Now Abraham no doubt shared the gospel with his son Isaac, who in turn shared it with his son Jacob, who in turn shared it with his 12 sons who became what? The 12 tribes of Israel. So the gospel spread from one generation to the next through the patriarchs and later through the prophets that were chosen by God, and he sent them to preach the gospel to the nation of Israel. Thus a remnant from Israel was chosen by grace during the Old Testament age along with some Gentiles.

Okay? So this was God's plan from the very beginning to choose a remnant from both Jews and Gentiles. In Romans chapter 11 verses 1 through 10, Paul reveals how God by his foreknowledge preserved this remnant of Jews, not only from the past age, but now in the present age. And we're going to see that the present age extends from the ascension of Jesus Christ until now. Look at Romans 11 verse 5, if you're in Romans 11, which I hope you are. Here's what Paul says, so too at the present time. When was the present time for him? The first century.

Okay? So he's saying at the present time there's a remnant chosen by grace. Those who rejected his grace, he says he gave over, that is God gave over to a spirit of stupor.

What does that mean? He blinded their spiritual eyes so that they could not see the light of the glory of Christ who is the image of God because they were blind. And this brings us to what I want to talk about. We're going to look at Romans chapter 11 verses 11 through 21. In these verses, Paul is going to reveal how God's redemptive plan unfolds, okay, throughout history for both Jews and Gentiles. And before we look at the text, I want you to know this about Israel. I want you to know this about the world, about the population of the world. Did you know that if you look at the history of the world and all the people, the whole population is divided up into two groups of people, Jews and everybody else. Too many Jews are alive in the world today. About 17 million and about 8 million live in Israel, which means that the remaining 8.1 billion people are all Gentiles. And how many of those 8.1 billion stand against Israel?

Nearly all of them. That's the way it's always been. Now here's one key truth that Paul wants to convey regarding his people. God is not finished with the Jews.

In other words, there's still hope for Israel's spiritual future. So as we read through these verses, Paul is going to show how God's redemptive plan unfolds in four stages. And John Stott calls these four stages a chain of blessings. And this chain has four links and they unfold in this order. You got to keep this in mind. Here are the four links of this chain of blessing.

Jew, Gentile, Jew, Gentile. Don't lose sight of that. And here's link number one. This is the first link in the chain of blessing. The gospel was first presented to the Jews.

That's what happens first. And since the vast majority of Jews rejected the gospel, salvation came to who? The Gentiles, see, Jew, Gentile. Now look at verse 11. Again, I ask, do they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery?

Not at all. Rather, catch this, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles for what purpose? To make Israel what?

Envious. Now why does God's redemptive plan unfold like this? Well, the Bible says that we cannot fully understand the mind of God. We can't fully comprehend His will. However, we know God's character, and His character is what? He's what? Good.

Good. Therefore, everything that He does is good. When you come to realize that God's character is good and that everything that He does in the world, all He's accomplishing is good, then all you have to do if you don't understand it is to trust God's word, knowing that one day, I think it's going to be when we step into heaven, He will give us full understanding so that we will no longer question Him. And from the beginning of time, God's redemptive plan, I'm going back to before creation, in His mind, the will of God was to announce the gospel in advance to the Jews. And listen, He did this knowing that the vast majority of Jews would reject it. And to see this, all you have to do is read through the Old Testament, and you'll see that time and time again, in spite of God's goodness towards the Israelites, they rebelled against Him. They did this by not keeping His laws and commands. Remember, He said, if you keep these laws and commands, you will be my treasure and possession, and I will bless you.

And I will give you all these things. But instead, they rejected God and turned to who? False idols. Therefore, God judiciously hardened their hearts.

You know what that means, judiciously? God never hardens first. The Israelites rejected God in their rebellion and hardened their own hearts. This is what happened to Pharaoh. And as their rejection continued and their rebellion continued, God judiciously came along and made their hearts even harder. When you get to the point where God hardens your heart, that is a dangerous place to be.

This brings us to link number two. Since the Jews reject the gospel, salvation came to the Gentiles. You see, Israel's loss was the Gentiles' gain. And again, this was God's ordained order, to the Jew first and then to the Gentile. And we learned that in the very first chapter of Romans. Romans 1 16 says, Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the God because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. The Jew first, then the Gentile. And listen, you can see this pattern all throughout the book of Acts.

For example, Acts chapter 13. This is Paul's first missionary journey. And he's just arrived in Perga, which is in Pamphylia, which if you don't know where that is today, that's in the southwestern part of Turkey.

Back then it was called Asia Minor. Look at verse 14. On the Sabbath, they enter the synagogue and boldly sat down. So where did Paul go first? To the synagogue and preach the gospel there. And they sat down and then they asked him, which is what they would do visiting rabbis, to give them a message. But jump down to verse 38. So Paul says to them near the end of his message, my brothers, now listen to how he shares the gospel.

I love this. I want you to know that through Jesus, so he's taking them right to who? Jesus. The forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.

See, they didn't think they were sinners. And then he says through him, everyone who believes is justified. What does that word mean, justified?

Declared what? Righteous. Everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses. Does that apply to today? In other words, you cannot be saved by what?

Works. And then it says the next Sabbath, the whole town came out to hear the apostle Paul preach because he was a great preacher. And when the Jews saw the crowds and he summoned the religious leaders, it says they were filled with jealousy and talked abusively against what Paul was saying.

In other words, they were beginning to persecute him. And here's how Paul responded. Look at verse 46. We had to speak the word of God to you first.

Why? Because that's God's ordained pattern. Since you rejected and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to who?

The Gentiles. For this is what the Lord has commanded us. And he's quoting here Isaiah chapter 49. Again, this shows you God's pattern. I have made you a light for the Gentiles that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.

And then it says when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord and all who were appointed for eternal life believed. What's he teaching there? Exactly what we've been learning. Election. Election. God's foreknowledge. His predestination.

So you see God's redemptive order at work. Jew, Gentile, Jew. John Stott says, what Paul does here is he turns history into theology by implying that the first event took place with a view to the second. The first event was the gospel going to the Jews. The second event was that it went to the Gentiles. And then John Stott says, thus God overruled the sin of Israel for the salvation of the Gentiles. What do we learn from Romans 8 28? God works out all things together for good. And he did that with the cross. He takes the greatest evils in the world and he works them out for good.

And this brings us to link number three. So with their envy aroused, salvation then came back to the Jews. Look at verse 12.

But if their transgression means riches for the world and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches would their fullness bring? You see, the mystery concerning Israel is unveiled when we come to understand God's redemptive plan. And we're going to see this plan in a few minutes when we look at the olive tree.

So here's the plan. First, Israel's rejection of the gospel brought salvation to the Gentiles. I know this is repetitive, but I want to make sure you remember it. The salvation of the Gentiles aroused the envy of Israel. And this envy brought salvation to the true Israel within Israel. And guys, look, we can see this plan of God all the way back in Deuteronomy where Moses, who wrote Deuteronomy, is speaking to the nation of Israel. And listen to what he says, Deuteronomy 32 verse 21, basically speaking for God. So when it says I is talking about God or the Lord, I will make them Israel envious by those who are not a people, who were not a people of God, Gentiles.

I will make them angry by a nation that has no understanding. So in verses 11 and 12, which you just read, Paul has explained God's redemptive plan in general. And so now when we get to verses 13 through 16, Paul is going to show how God used him specifically to arouse the envy of his people. Look at verse 13. I'm talking to you, Gentiles, Paul says, and as much as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry.

Not that he was bragging, but he saw that his ministry was so important for his own people. Verse 14, I make much of my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. For their rejection is the reconciliation of the world.

What will their acceptance be but life from the dead? And he says, if the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy. If the root is holy, so are the branches.

Kind of hard to understand when you first read it, isn't it? I'm not bragging, but I spent the whole weekend pretty much reading through five commentaries on Romans 11 to make sure this guy understands it. So what do we learn from these four verses? First, we know that Paul loved his fellow Jews. And his great hope was that his preaching would stir the hearts of some of his fellow brothers, the Jews, to desire what the Gentiles possessed.

What the Gentiles possessed, those who believed, eternal life. See, in Romans 9 to Paul writes, I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ. What's he saying there? I could wish I'm going where?

To hell. Would you say that about anybody? But he's saying this about just fellow Jews. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ.

For the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel. When you read through Acts, you will see that several times, many Jews actually believed when they heard Paul's preaching. For example, in Acts chapter 14, verse one, it says, at Iconium, this is right after they went north from Perga.

At Iconium, Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue. And it says, there they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed. So we see that there were times when a great number of Jews believed. Secondly, as we've already said, God used the Jews' rejection to bring reconciliation to the Gentile world. Again, this reconciliation, what does that mean? It means that we're restored into a right relationship with God. We're reconciled to Him. We're made right with God. And this happens to Gentiles the same way it happens to Jews.

By what? Faith. Now look at verse 15. Paul puts forth this hypothesis. Look at what he says. The fullness of the Jews, that's going back to verse 12, that is their acceptance, that's verse 15, of Christ.

Let me read it again. The fullness of the Jews, that is their acceptance of Christ as their Messiah, will usher in something great for the world. What do you think this is going to be? Just so you know, next week, I'm going to get to the link number four, where we're going to look at what could possibly be in store for the spiritual future of the 17 million Jews that are still alive today. And I'm going to cover, next week, we're going to still be in Romans 11. And I'm going to talk about the mystery of Israel's future. Doesn't that sound good?

Come back. Look at verse 16. If the part of the dough offered as first fruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy. If the root is holy, so are the branches.

So what you're going to see is that the first part of the dough, which you can go back to Numbers and read about it, the first part of the dough and the root of the olive tree represent the same thing. It represents the patriarchs who believed the promise of God that God would send a savior from the seed of Abraham. You see, that was the gospel in a nutshell. They didn't have the understanding that we do today about the gospel, but they had enough of it. So they knew that God one day from Abraham's seed was going to send this savior into the world known as the Messiah, the anointed one. And since the patriarchs were holy, they were set apart for God and by God. That's what holy means. It means to be set apart. Satan is the same thing.

It needs to be set apart. And they were set apart because they did good works? No, because they believed the promise. They believed God's word and therefore he credited them with righteousness. So since the patriarchs were holy, that is credited with righteousness because they're fake.

Catch this now. The final healthy branches of the tree, the olive tree, is the true Israel will also be holy. That is, the Israel within Israel is going to be credited with righteousness because of their faith in Jesus Christ. See, there is no difference between Jew and Gentile as far as the way we're saved.

They're not two programs. God is not dealing with the Jews differently than he deals with the Gentiles. There are how many ways to heaven?

One. And we all come the same way, Jew and Gentile. It's by faith in Jesus Christ.

By grace alone through faith alone. So this concept of the dough and the roots is going to become much more clear as we dig now deep into the mystery of the olive tree. I probably have read Romans and taught Romans more than any other book in the Bible. And I learned something new this weekend by digging deeper. And that's the way the Bible is, to dig a you deep. I don't, listen, I'm 70.

I've been reading it since I was 25, pretty regularly. And I just learned something new this week. So I learned the mystery of this olive tree. So look at verses 17 through 21 and let's dig into this in our last few minutes.

Look at what he writes here. If some of the branches have been broken off the olive tree and you though a wild olive shoot have been grafted in, who's a wild olive shoot? Gentile. If you though a wild olive shoot have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, the root again, the patriarchs, the prophets in the Old Testament who believed, that's the root. Do not boast over those branches.

If you do, consider this. You, talking about Gentiles, do not support the root, but the root supports you. Remember, it went to the Jew first. The Jew brought us the Bible, the promises, the covenants, Jesus, pretty much everything. This is a Jewish religion, if you want to call it something.

You do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in. Granted, Paul says, but they were broken off because of unbelief. And you stand by faith. And who gave you that faith? God, it's a gift. Ephesians 2, it's a gift. So do we have anything to brag about as Gentiles? No, it's all grace.

We have nothing to brag about. He's basically saying, don't become an anti-Semite. And you want to know why there are only 17 million and why Satan has been out trying to destroy them all the years? Because the patriarchs were the descendants of Abraham. These prophets were the descendants of Abraham. Jesus was Jewish. And by the way, in heaven, I believe he's still Jewish. We'll check that out when we get to heaven. But they were broken off because of unbelief and you stand by faith.

Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either. Now listen, we should have a healthy fear of God. But if you're in Christ, you can never be broken off, okay? God would only break you off if you don't continue in the faith. Read 1 John 2.19, which means if you don't continue the faith, if you're not persistent in your faith and you leave the faith, then that means you are never part of Christ to begin with.

Now what I want us to understand tonight is the relationship, guys. Here's where it gets a little complicated between ethnic Israel, spiritual Israel, or true Israel and the church. And I personally believe that we can understand this complicated relationship when we begin to understand the mystery of the olive tree. So what I want to do is I want to try to, with the Holy Spirit's help, I want to try to unveil the olive tree to you. But first we need to understand this question.

What is meant by the olive tree? Well, let me take us back to Jeremiah 11, verses 16 through 17. And by the way, Jeremiah here is speaking about the nation of Israel.

Look at what he says. The Lord called you. Who did he call? Israel. He called you, he named you, a thriving olive tree with fruit beautiful in form. So the olive tree represents who? Israel. But with the roar of a mighty storm, he will set it on fire and its branches will be what?

Broken. The Lord almighty, see how that links to Romans 11. The Lord almighty has decreed disaster for you because the house of Israel and the house of Judah have done evil and provoked me to anger by burning incense to Baal.

We're going to talk about this a lot when we get to Hosea. See, Jeremiah lived in this sixth century BC. He lived, and here's what he said. By the time that he was alive, both Israel and Judah had committed egregious sins and they rebelled against God by worshiping false gods such as Baal and Moloch. And God punished them.

How did he do that? He brought the Assyrians in 722 BC and basically destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel. And then Jeremiah lived at a time when the Babylonians were getting ready to come in and destroy Judah and take them back to Babylon. So Israel began as a thriving olive tree.

Do you get that? But at the time of Jeremiah, the wrath and judgment of God bore down upon them because of their idolatry. Therefore, all Israel, with the exception of the believing remnant, were cut off from the olive tree. No longer could these broken off branches ensure the nourishing sap from the root, the patriarchs, the prophets. So at the time of Abraham, catch this now, the olive tree represented ethnic Israel, okay? However, over the course of time, as the descendants of Abraham, the Jews began to reject the gospel that was given to them through Abraham in advance, okay? They rejected it along with any Jews who have lived since the birth of Christ until now who reject the gospel. These are all represented by the branches, all of which have been cut off, okay?

You got that? So the olive tree began as representative of ethnic Israel, but then branches were broken off because they rejected Christ. And so now the olive tree no longer represents ethnic Israel. Instead, you need to understand this, the olive tree at the time of Paul represents true Israel.

You with me? Spiritual Israel, it represents the Israel within Israel. So going back to the days of Abraham, there were Gentiles who believed too, okay? You can read this in the Old Testament. And they believed the gospel in advance, just like the Jews. And then you have the Gentiles today who believe the gospel. And so all these believing Gentiles are represented by the wild olive shoots, which are grafted into the olive tree.

True Israel, you got that? So we're grafted into true Israel by the grace of God. So what does Paul mean by a wild olive shoot?

Well, I'm not gonna get into the agricultural analysis because I don't understand it. But look, let me give you the spiritual meaning. Gentiles are not the natural descendants of Abraham.

You know that, right? Moreover, the Jews in the Bible considered Gentiles, they looked down at Gentiles, they were not coming to a Gentile's house. They considered them dirty, unclean pagans, and sometimes they even refer to them as wild dogs. So Jews, listen, considered it outrageous and unnatural that any Gentile would ever be included in the family of God. And since the Jews in mass numbers broke God's covenant, promises to Abraham, they were cut off.

Therefore, this is what I want you to understand. The promises that were given to Abraham, even of land, bypass ethnic Israel. A lot of theologians would disagree with that, but this is what I think it means. Those promises bypass ethnic Israel and they are applicable now to true Israel, spiritual Israel. So if the Gentile, if you're grafted in, these promises now apply to you.

Remember what Paul said in Romans 9-8. It's not the natural children who are God's children, but it's the children of the promise, in other words, who believe the promises of God by faith. They're the ones regarded as Abraham's descendants. So anyone who believes the gospel, whether Jew or Gentile, are regarded as the true children of Abraham. Moreover, believers, whether Jew or Gentile, form the natural and the unnatural branches of the olive tree, the true Israel. Do you follow that? So those branches now on the olive tree are all the believing remnant of Jews and Gentile. You all believe that? Does it make sense? Paul explains this in detail in Ephesians 2-3.

Look at what he says here. You can take your Bible and turn to Ephesians 2 if you haven't. He says, remember that at that time, he's talking about Gentiles, you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ, you've been brought near through the blood of Christ.

So that's the way a lot of your friends are right now. They're without hope and without God in the world. Verse 14 says, for he himself is our peace. Who is the our? Jew and Gentile. Which means all believers. Who has made the two one, Jew and Gentile, and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations.

Which by the way, no one can come by way of the law. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two. Thus making peace. And in this one body, which is the church, to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. And look at this. He, Jesus, came and preached peace to you who were far away.

Who is that? Who is far away from the law? Gentiles. And peace to you who were near. See, the Jews should have recognized their savior more than the Gentiles. And then Ephesians 3, 6 says, this mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, spiritual Israel, and share us together in the promise in Christ. Are you starting to understand the olive tree? It represents all who believe the gospel whether Jew or Gentile. And all of the covenantal promises which were first given to ethnic Israel are now applicable to those who belong to the olive tree. So where does the church fit into this?

Here's where. The Jews and Gentiles of this present age who look back to the cross and believe the gospel are part of the same body, the church, which came into existence when? Pentecost. So Jew and Gentile, through faith, we belong to the church, okay?

The invisible church. However, we relate to the olive tree differently. Jews are grafted into the olive tree as the natural descendants of Abraham.

Do you follow that? They're not only the physical descendants of Abraham, but now in Christ they're the spiritual descendants. And then Gentiles, we are grafted into the tree as the unnatural descendants of Abraham.

Why? Because we're not his physical descendants. So we're both grafted into the olive tree. So Jews are, listen, they are members of the church, but they're grafted into this olive tree differently, naturally. They're basically returning home like the prodigal son. We are wild olive branches and we are grafted in unnaturally.

The good news is what? We're grafted in. And so we now, listen, we are the olive tree with all the believing Jews and all the promises of God are given to those branches on the olive tree. And I believe the land that's promised to the Jews and Gentiles, it's not the physical land of Israel. It's the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven.

And that's where we're going to live one day. But that's another sermon. I guess next week we're going to look at the mystery of Israel's spiritual future.

So I hope you'll come back. You've been listening to Finding Purpose with Russ Andrews. This broadcast is made possible because of the prayers and financial gifts of listeners like you. If you want to learn more about our ministry or support us as we reach others with God-centered Bible teaching, please visit us at findingpurpose.net. .