WEBVTT 00:00:00.340 --> 00:00:04.240 I am going to invite you to Romans Chapter 11 this morning is where we're at. 00:00:04.240 --> 00:00:05.500 Romans Chapter 11. 00:00:05.500 --> 00:00:08.510 And so we've worked through this section of scripture in the in the book of Romans. 00:00:08.940 --> 00:00:13.220 Chapter nine, ten and 11 are sort of a cohesive unit in the in the book of Romans. 00:00:13.260 --> 00:00:20.300 So if you kind of thought of Romans in sections, the first eight chapters deals with our relationship to God, Paul lays out for us what really what 00:00:20.300 --> 00:00:25.100 the gospel is and how our life is transformed in Jesus and the position it gives us in him. 00:00:25.120 --> 00:00:29.040 And it culminates in Chapter eight and describing our identity in Christ. 00:00:29.040 --> 00:00:31.330 And it's a beautiful work that Paul has put together. 00:00:31.440 --> 00:00:34.780 Some say it's the greatest work in antiquity that anyone could ever read. 00:00:34.860 --> 00:00:42.160 And then chapter nine 1011 is this unit that the Jewish people are asking the question, Well, what happens to us? 00:00:42.260 --> 00:00:45.110 And then 12 and on is the application of the gospel. 00:00:45.380 --> 00:00:48.750 And so in chapter 9 to 11 is where we are together today. 00:00:48.800 --> 00:00:51.140 And we're at the tail end of Chapter 11. 00:00:51.140 --> 00:00:54.680 Working through that, we're going to pick up in verse verse 11 of chapter 11 today. 00:00:55.180 --> 00:00:59.340 But Paul is answering the question really preemptively as he's writing this letter. 00:00:59.340 --> 00:01:03.490 He's assuming that the Jewish believers are going to have some question in their mind about Israel. 00:01:04.340 --> 00:01:06.190 Where does where do we fit in all of this? 00:01:06.200 --> 00:01:13.570 And if you think in terms of nine, ten, 11, as the past, present and future, Chapter nine being Israel in the past, the Chapter ten being Israel in the present, 00:01:13.820 --> 00:01:21.320 Chapter 11 being Israel in the future, Today that's what we're going to deal with is how the Lord wants to work through the people of Israel moving forward, and 00:01:21.320 --> 00:01:25.000 particularly knowing the Jewish people by and large have rejected the Lord. 00:01:25.800 --> 00:01:33.040 What is their future hold and what is God desire for them now that they've rejected or fallen before 00:01:33.040 --> 00:01:35.720 the Lord or fallen away from the Lord? 00:01:35.800 --> 00:01:39.980 What can we anticipate for their lives and where do they stand before God? 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:40.260 Is there? 00:01:40.520 --> 00:01:42.220 Is there a way to move forward? 00:01:42.220 --> 00:01:44.080 And if they do, how do they move forward from here? 00:01:45.080 --> 00:01:52.080 And, as we look at this from a particular people group, I think there's also plenty of application for us as well because, well, 00:01:52.320 --> 00:01:59.400 we mess up, too, and we fall on a regular basis or sometimes as it relates to this chapter, it's dealing with a 00:01:59.400 --> 00:02:00.480 people group. 00:02:00.480 --> 00:02:03.260 Sometimes a people group might move away from the Lord. 00:02:03.260 --> 00:02:05.360 And the question is, well, what about our people? 00:02:05.360 --> 00:02:08.380 Is God completely forsaken us or have we been abandoned? 00:02:08.380 --> 00:02:10.570 How do we even get back to where we were? 00:02:10.639 --> 00:02:17.080 How can we even move forward in that position we're in, whether on a on a on a personal spot or collectively? 00:02:17.660 --> 00:02:24.920 That's the question they're asking in this chapter today and so very applicable to our lives and thinking through 00:02:24.920 --> 00:02:27.900 how we might recover from falling. 00:02:29.240 --> 00:02:30.960 And what does that mean for us? 00:02:31.920 --> 00:02:39.040 And point number one is where we start to this morning to answer the first part of this question, how do we recover or how do we succeed after following 00:02:39.040 --> 00:02:42.300 point number one of your notes is this Understand God's heart. 00:02:43.820 --> 00:02:47.260 What is it about the Lord that we need to learn in order to be able to move forward? 00:02:47.360 --> 00:02:51.000 Because God's position will determine where our position can lie? 00:02:51.060 --> 00:02:53.340 Because if there's no hope in the Lord, then there's no hope for us. 00:02:53.340 --> 00:02:58.740 And so we need to know where God's heart is in all of this for us to be able to move forward in him. 00:02:58.780 --> 00:03:00.500 And so this is the question they ask. 00:03:00.600 --> 00:03:05.910 In the very beginning of verse 11, they say, So ask did they stumble in order that they might fall? 00:03:06.160 --> 00:03:13.320 And what Paul is actually applying here with Israel is not just simply falling as if they fall and can get up, but he's inferring forever. 00:03:14.020 --> 00:03:16.660 He's saying, I ask, did they stumble? 00:03:16.660 --> 00:03:18.110 Nor did they might fall forever. 00:03:19.160 --> 00:03:21.280 Meaning is that it for the Jewish people? 00:03:21.400 --> 00:03:25.660 And so God's just going to move on with the Gentiles and leave them with the dust and the dust. 00:03:25.720 --> 00:03:32.720 God's God's chosen people, the ones that he's made his promises through that the Messiah would come and transform the world. 00:03:32.720 --> 00:03:33.290 Is that it? 00:03:33.320 --> 00:03:35.970 Now that the Messiah is here, are they finished? 00:03:36.900 --> 00:03:37.500 And how? 00:03:38.720 --> 00:03:40.680 How do we move forward when we fall? 00:03:42.760 --> 00:03:45.840 Is God for Israel's failure forever. 00:03:47.440 --> 00:03:48.100 Are they done? 00:03:49.300 --> 00:03:52.980 And a related to that, you could ask the question, is God for your failure? 00:03:54.280 --> 00:03:55.880 And when you fail, are you finished? 00:03:57.240 --> 00:04:00.260 I know sometimes as people, we can feel that way. 00:04:01.300 --> 00:04:07.060 When we mess up, we get in that place of brokenness and. 00:04:07.880 --> 00:04:09.320 And shame and despair. 00:04:10.680 --> 00:04:14.180 And we don't really see the light at the end of the tunnel in that moment. 00:04:14.180 --> 00:04:19.760 We just we look inside of ourselves and feel that sense of darkness and like we let people down. 00:04:19.760 --> 00:04:23.480 And so they're asking this question here in the beginning, did they stumble and order that they fall? 00:04:23.840 --> 00:04:31.240 And Paul answers this question the same as he's answered all the questions he's had up to this point, these half a dozen questions Paul has asked in Romans nine, 00:04:31.240 --> 00:04:31.920 ten, 11. 00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:33.380 And Paul says, by no means. 00:04:34.720 --> 00:04:39.180 By no means, but rather to understand the heart of God than he gives us some answers in response to this. 00:04:39.240 --> 00:04:44.720 And really in this next section of this verse, he really gives us three responses to this. 00:04:44.740 --> 00:04:47.160 He says, rather through their trespass. 00:04:47.160 --> 00:04:52.940 That's part one salvation has come to the Jews part two so as to make Israel jealous. 00:04:54.040 --> 00:04:59.060 And so what God is doing here in the beginning, he's acknowledging that Israel has fallen. 00:04:59.060 --> 00:05:05.020 And I really appreciate this about this Lord, this place of transparency in talking about Israel, let's let's say where they're at, right? 00:05:05.020 --> 00:05:07.370 Let's just declare what it is through their trespass. 00:05:07.700 --> 00:05:09.300 Israel has certainly fallen. 00:05:09.540 --> 00:05:16.580 And with the Lord, we get that opportunity to be honest with him and where we are as human beings because of who 00:05:16.580 --> 00:05:17.840 he is in his nature. 00:05:18.040 --> 00:05:18.740 We don't have to pretend. 00:05:18.960 --> 00:05:20.300 We don't have to sweep things under the rug. 00:05:20.300 --> 00:05:21.610 We don't have to act like we have it all together. 00:05:21.800 --> 00:05:22.610 We don't have to be perfect. 00:05:23.260 --> 00:05:24.980 God knows that's why Jesus came. 00:05:25.880 --> 00:05:33.080 And God's acknowledging for the for the Jewish people where they are and the rejection of him and turning away from him, which really 00:05:33.080 --> 00:05:36.940 is a fairly wild statement when you consider it in the context of Scripture. 00:05:37.780 --> 00:05:42.940 And the reason is because the old New Testament is written by Jewish people, right? 00:05:42.940 --> 00:05:44.080 By and large, it's Jewish. 00:05:44.460 --> 00:05:47.200 People this morning were studying the Jewish faith. 00:05:47.220 --> 00:05:51.620 And we're learning from really the Jewish language as Hebrew. 00:05:51.640 --> 00:05:54.420 And then they spoke Greek into the time of Christ. 00:05:54.620 --> 00:05:57.070 And we're learning all about their culture and tradition. 00:05:57.300 --> 00:06:02.120 And yet, by and large, they've rejected the Messiah. 00:06:02.120 --> 00:06:09.200 But here we are today learning about the faith that they proclaimed that we have now owned as our faith because the 00:06:09.200 --> 00:06:14.360 Messiah has come to redeem and Gentiles have embraced this message. 00:06:15.840 --> 00:06:19.760 But God has opened about their failure and He acknowledges it. 00:06:20.660 --> 00:06:27.940 But then the next part of this verse he says to us as well, in this difficult moment, even though they've rejected it, God 00:06:27.940 --> 00:06:30.220 has moved it together for a greater good. 00:06:31.040 --> 00:06:37.040 That in our failures, it's important to remember that God is greater than our failures and God can redeem anything. 00:06:37.120 --> 00:06:43.280 Now, I'm not encouraging you to go out and purposely mess up in life to show how great God can make things. 00:06:43.420 --> 00:06:45.090 That's not honoring to the Lord. 00:06:45.260 --> 00:06:52.780 But God certainly within his ability and his sovereignty can take what man might intend for bad or wrong. 00:06:52.860 --> 00:06:55.420 And God can bring a greater story of redemption out of it. 00:06:55.480 --> 00:06:58.080 And that's what he's saying about the Gentiles in this passage of scripture. 00:06:58.760 --> 00:07:05.690 Salvation has now come to the Gentiles that through one people group, all people group have come to be blessed. 00:07:06.380 --> 00:07:12.590 And then he says this in the last part of this verse as to make Israel jealous. 00:07:13.980 --> 00:07:19.600 Now, in most contexts, jealousy is not a good thing, right? 00:07:19.600 --> 00:07:26.260 The idea of coveting or envy or jealousy, we tend to couple those words together. 00:07:26.360 --> 00:07:29.860 But jealousy typically is not a good thing. 00:07:29.860 --> 00:07:36.520 But here in this passage, the Lord intends the idea of jealousy, provoking them to jealousy, to be a good thing. 00:07:37.900 --> 00:07:43.380 Reality is, we often times as people, we learn best in our mistakes. 00:07:44.140 --> 00:07:51.160 I don't know about you, but sometimes, according to my mom growing up, I tend to be one of her favorite in the 00:07:51.160 --> 00:07:52.310 category of stubbornness. 00:07:52.440 --> 00:08:00.080 I don't know if maybe favorite is the right word, but I was I was the head of the class out of all my siblings when it comes to when it came to stubbornness. 00:08:00.300 --> 00:08:00.960 Right. 00:08:01.260 --> 00:08:08.000 But it was for me, my education was making the stupid mistake and then learning from that. 00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:08.180 Right. 00:08:08.260 --> 00:08:09.820 You couldn't just hear someone else say it. 00:08:09.820 --> 00:08:11.210 You had to go find it out for yourself. 00:08:11.940 --> 00:08:13.920 And that was me. 00:08:13.920 --> 00:08:16.540 But I think in this verse he's saying, Really? 00:08:16.540 --> 00:08:18.580 That's a lot of us. 00:08:18.580 --> 00:08:20.900 We tend to be that way sometimes. 00:08:21.980 --> 00:08:26.480 And when we make those mistakes, they tend to be some of life's greatest lessons. 00:08:27.200 --> 00:08:33.919 And God, by bringing Israel to this place of jealousy, he's really putting his finger on where the problem is for them. 00:08:34.659 --> 00:08:41.799 Now, in most contexts, jealousy certainly is bad, but in a general sense, jealousy is when you believe someone 00:08:41.799 --> 00:08:44.680 else is in your place, right? 00:08:44.680 --> 00:08:45.000 So. 00:08:45.540 --> 00:08:52.560 So in some contexts, jealousy, envy, coveting it leads to destruction because your desire is to want 00:08:52.560 --> 00:08:53.900 what someone else has. 00:08:54.060 --> 00:09:01.510 And therefore you look at what someone else has as you look at that person as an obstacle to what you want to achieve or receive. 00:09:01.680 --> 00:09:08.080 And so in order to get there, you even get to the place in that jealousy that you will want to take that person down in order to get what you desire. 00:09:08.600 --> 00:09:11.210 Because after all, you're the most important thing. 00:09:11.560 --> 00:09:16.250 And before you know it, you start treating people like a tool and the object as your place of worship. 00:09:16.380 --> 00:09:19.300 And so you crave those things and it becomes destructive. 00:09:19.540 --> 00:09:19.880 Right? 00:09:19.960 --> 00:09:22.800 You long for something as if it's yours. 00:09:22.840 --> 00:09:24.900 And honestly, it's not rightfully yours. 00:09:24.900 --> 00:09:28.340 In most places, the jealousy envy coveting, destructive. 00:09:30.720 --> 00:09:33.400 Unless it is rightfully supposed to be yours. 00:09:35.820 --> 00:09:44.080 And I think maybe the best example that we could think of in terms of a healthy jealousy would be maybe in the context of marriage 00:09:44.280 --> 00:09:45.620 or family. 00:09:47.180 --> 00:09:50.720 Appearance over your children, your concern and care for their well-being. 00:09:50.760 --> 00:09:54.600 If someone tries to step into their life and it's destructive. 00:09:55.360 --> 00:10:02.620 You could be jealous over that for their well-being, for their protection, because they belong to you. 00:10:02.620 --> 00:10:04.500 The Lord has given them to you. 00:10:04.520 --> 00:10:07.980 They are your responsibility as a as a gift. 00:10:08.140 --> 00:10:13.180 And with that gift, obviously is a responsibility comes along with that. 00:10:13.200 --> 00:10:18.690 And so there is this desire within you to be jealous over what God has given you to protect. 00:10:19.880 --> 00:10:27.020 And the same thing for a marital relationship in terms of this passage, God, God describes our relationship to him in terms of 00:10:27.020 --> 00:10:28.330 a marital relationship. 00:10:28.960 --> 00:10:36.260 And so the Lord is jealous towards us with a godly jealousy because we're designed to belong to him and in relationship to Israel, 00:10:36.260 --> 00:10:38.120 Israel's God's chosen people. 00:10:38.280 --> 00:10:42.820 And He wants Israel to be jealous of that relationship which they were created in Christ. 00:10:42.840 --> 00:10:44.660 It belongs to them or created in the Lord. 00:10:44.660 --> 00:10:45.640 It belongs to them. 00:10:46.860 --> 00:10:48.480 And they belong to him. 00:10:49.980 --> 00:10:51.660 He and they and he belongs to them. 00:10:51.660 --> 00:10:58.160 And so that relationship of jealousy is significant because it is theirs to possess. 00:10:59.340 --> 00:11:02.220 And so the way to determine if jealousy is good or bad. 00:11:03.380 --> 00:11:06.940 Is if your desired outcome is for coveting benefit. 00:11:08.140 --> 00:11:09.040 Or for God's glory. 00:11:11.100 --> 00:11:15.220 Is it really to honor the Lord or is it just about making you the priority? 00:11:16.820 --> 00:11:21.000 And God is saying in this passage what he wants to provoke Israel to is to recognize. 00:11:22.700 --> 00:11:24.520 They were created for relationship. 00:11:24.740 --> 00:11:26.680 That is where they belong. 00:11:26.680 --> 00:11:30.900 That's why God designed them and God desired to work through them. 00:11:31.140 --> 00:11:33.320 And so in this moment, he's provoking them to jealousy. 00:11:33.340 --> 00:11:36.080 Paul said the same thing in second Corinthians 11, verse two. 00:11:36.140 --> 00:11:36.630 Listen to this. 00:11:36.660 --> 00:11:39.790 Paul says, I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. 00:11:40.420 --> 00:11:47.700 I promise you to one husband to Christ so that I may present you as a pure virgin in him. 00:11:48.940 --> 00:11:56.000 And so Paul's desire, godly desire, this jealousy is about helping people connect to the Lord and know him because they were 00:11:56.000 --> 00:12:00.260 one created by him and two, Jesus came to redeem them. 00:12:01.060 --> 00:12:02.340 They belong to him. 00:12:03.200 --> 00:12:09.400 You as a creature are created as a worship being the only place that worship is intended to be connected to is in the Lord. 00:12:09.560 --> 00:12:10.660 Anything else? 00:12:11.920 --> 00:12:12.660 We'll sell you short. 00:12:14.200 --> 00:12:16.500 As Paul Tripp says, it'll make you less than human. 00:12:17.640 --> 00:12:19.620 God made you to belong in that way. 00:12:19.620 --> 00:12:26.240 And so in that then verse 12, God says his target here, his target is if their trespass means riches for the world. 00:12:27.460 --> 00:12:34.400 And if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean? 00:12:36.080 --> 00:12:40.120 What God's heart is for every people, group, all ethnicities in this world. 00:12:41.000 --> 00:12:45.180 Jesus came to pursue us all that we might find life in him. 00:12:45.180 --> 00:12:45.360 And. 00:12:45.420 --> 00:12:46.760 And God knows we fail. 00:12:46.800 --> 00:12:46.940 But. 00:12:47.080 --> 00:12:49.740 But in this passage, we start to see God's heart. 00:12:49.740 --> 00:12:50.000 And. 00:12:50.080 --> 00:12:51.360 And that becomes important for us. 00:12:51.360 --> 00:12:58.600 Because when we fall, if we know what God's heart is, it gives us a place not to run in guilt and shame, but rather to turn back to him and seek 00:12:58.600 --> 00:13:03.380 his face and find forgiveness and be reconciled and enjoy that relationship. 00:13:03.380 --> 00:13:10.600 Because it's the heart of God that even in these moments, while Israel has rejected him, God continues to extend his hand to them and his desire is 00:13:10.600 --> 00:13:11.520 to bring them back in. 00:13:13.840 --> 00:13:14.350 Point number two. 00:13:16.500 --> 00:13:18.190 Is to find godly friends. 00:13:19.920 --> 00:13:21.260 To find godly friends. 00:13:21.360 --> 00:13:26.620 Not only do we see God's heart here, but when we fall, it's also important to have a community to encourage you. 00:13:27.720 --> 00:13:29.960 And let me be a little bit clear here. 00:13:29.960 --> 00:13:36.340 When I say find godly friends, I don't mean people that just wear the label Christian and just say, I'm a Christian. 00:13:36.860 --> 00:13:43.860 I genuinely mean people that have a life giving relationship with Jesus people that when you think of, they 00:13:43.860 --> 00:13:45.010 walk with Christ. 00:13:45.420 --> 00:13:51.560 And so they want to not just wear the label of Christian, but they want to encourage you and speak truth into your life. 00:13:53.580 --> 00:13:57.820 And in this passage that that's the apostle Paul for the Jewish people. 00:13:57.820 --> 00:14:01.540 Everyone everyone needs someone like the Apostle Paul's heart towards the Jewish people. 00:14:01.540 --> 00:14:04.220 You need someone towards you in your life in that same way. 00:14:04.220 --> 00:14:08.100 And verse 13, it says, Now I'm speaking to you, Gentiles. 00:14:09.700 --> 00:14:15.840 Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry. 00:14:16.380 --> 00:14:17.880 I know the thought goes on from there. 00:14:17.880 --> 00:14:22.700 Actually, verse 14 is not the beginning of a new thought, but it's a continuation of verse 13. 00:14:22.820 --> 00:14:22.860 But. 00:14:23.200 --> 00:14:30.380 But I want to acknowledge here that the apostle Paul being a being a Jew rejected by his own people, he's still looking 00:14:30.380 --> 00:14:31.500 for God's moving. 00:14:32.340 --> 00:14:39.360 And Paul is saying, look, I just I just want to do what God has called me to in this world with the people that God has brought into 00:14:39.360 --> 00:14:40.060 his fold. 00:14:40.080 --> 00:14:42.800 Let's move forward in ministry and what God desires. 00:14:43.200 --> 00:14:45.120 And He's recognizing his position in the Lord. 00:14:45.120 --> 00:14:47.420 And all of us are given a position in God. 00:14:47.420 --> 00:14:49.100 And so Paul wants to move in that way. 00:14:49.260 --> 00:14:56.360 But then he adds on to that in verse 14, he says, In order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous and thus 00:14:56.360 --> 00:14:57.560 save some of them. 00:14:58.760 --> 00:15:01.360 So Paul is saying the same heart as the Lord is. 00:15:01.480 --> 00:15:07.030 He's not only wanting to do ministry and he's working among the Gentiles, but his heart continues to be for his own people. 00:15:07.320 --> 00:15:15.200 And he's moving forward with the desire that as he sees the success of the Gentiles in the gospel, 00:15:15.420 --> 00:15:17.680 his prayer and hope is that it would make his own people jealous. 00:15:18.220 --> 00:15:25.360 Again, in order to drive them back to the Lord, that they would remember what they had in 00:15:25.360 --> 00:15:28.740 their relationship with God and want to move to that. 00:15:28.800 --> 00:15:36.190 And for me, verse 14 is an incredible testimony to the life of the Apostle Paul when I talk about needing godly friends. 00:15:36.460 --> 00:15:39.420 Verse 14, is that example as to why that matters? 00:15:39.500 --> 00:15:46.620 Because when you think about the Apostle Paul's life, the apostle Paul had every excuse in the world to just be done 00:15:46.620 --> 00:15:47.260 with his own people. 00:15:48.980 --> 00:15:55.990 And when the apostle Paul went on his missionary journeys and he planted churches, he would always start in the synagogues as long as there was a synagogue. 00:15:56.360 --> 00:15:59.210 And in the cities that he would go to, he would start with his own people. 00:15:59.220 --> 00:16:02.480 Part of it, because there was at least a biblical foundation there. 00:16:02.480 --> 00:16:09.640 So it's easy to start with a gospel when you have a biblical foundation, but also because his heart was for his people and after they 00:16:09.640 --> 00:16:12.120 would reject him, he would then move on to other people. 00:16:12.120 --> 00:16:16.160 Some of them would embrace the message, but then he would move on to the other Gentiles over and over. 00:16:16.160 --> 00:16:16.780 Paul did this. 00:16:17.240 --> 00:16:20.560 Paul continuously went to prison because of his faith. 00:16:20.580 --> 00:16:21.870 Do you know how Paul was in prison? 00:16:23.280 --> 00:16:24.540 It's because of the Jewish people. 00:16:25.860 --> 00:16:27.840 They harassed him everywhere he went. 00:16:29.860 --> 00:16:31.380 You know what the Apostle Paul did? 00:16:32.620 --> 00:16:33.970 He never gave up on him. 00:16:36.460 --> 00:16:37.760 Paul never gave up on him. 00:16:37.860 --> 00:16:42.900 He had every excuse in the world to want to give up, to say, You know what, God, I've done enough. 00:16:44.100 --> 00:16:44.480 But he didn't. 00:16:46.220 --> 00:16:47.220 He always showed up. 00:16:48.580 --> 00:16:51.480 He always proclaimed Christ and he always shared the love of God. 00:16:52.980 --> 00:16:54.180 Paul always did that. 00:16:55.400 --> 00:16:58.140 He never deterred from what God called him to do. 00:17:00.620 --> 00:17:01.960 Same is true for us, right? 00:17:03.140 --> 00:17:07.660 When you think in your life, who might you consider to be taboo as it relates to the gospel? 00:17:07.660 --> 00:17:09.920 Someone that just rubbed you too raw, right? 00:17:11.680 --> 00:17:12.119 Okay. 00:17:12.240 --> 00:17:14.660 Where do you think that the gospel shouldn't reach? 00:17:16.060 --> 00:17:18.339 And what political line do you think? 00:17:18.339 --> 00:17:22.099 Well, if they came to know the Lord, I don't I don't think I could go that far. 00:17:22.520 --> 00:17:22.700 Right. 00:17:22.700 --> 00:17:24.960 Like, rather than praise god, you're like not anybody about them. 00:17:24.960 --> 00:17:25.480 Lord l.a. 00:17:25.500 --> 00:17:25.780 Lakers. 00:17:25.780 --> 00:17:26.359 No, thank you. 00:17:26.400 --> 00:17:26.560 Right. 00:17:26.560 --> 00:17:30.540 Like, i could reach any other team, but not not that politician. 00:17:31.060 --> 00:17:32.840 Not not not that part of Hollywood. 00:17:32.980 --> 00:17:33.400 Not that. 00:17:33.520 --> 00:17:37.240 Not like somewhere like where is your limitation? 00:17:40.280 --> 00:17:42.600 The apostle Paul in this passage. 00:17:44.100 --> 00:17:51.580 Shows to us over and over just how much the grace of God has impacted his life by his willingness to go 00:17:51.580 --> 00:17:53.180 to the very people that attacked him. 00:17:55.320 --> 00:17:57.760 He knows how God has transformed his life. 00:17:58.600 --> 00:18:00.500 He knows who he was apart from the Lord. 00:18:02.080 --> 00:18:07.520 And because he's recognizing his own brokenness, Paul is willing to just not give up on people. 00:18:09.520 --> 00:18:15.220 Now, I know seasons might look a little different in relationships in your life because people aren't always easy to love. 00:18:16.480 --> 00:18:18.940 But the point is Paul's heart was always for them. 00:18:20.880 --> 00:18:28.040 And when we think about our own lives, the kind of Christians that we should surround ourselves with, knowing one day in your walk with Jesus, 00:18:28.040 --> 00:18:28.740 things may get hard. 00:18:30.700 --> 00:18:32.920 You need the kind of people around you that are going to fight for you. 00:18:35.620 --> 00:18:39.860 And so in this passage, we see it's important to understand God's heart. 00:18:39.880 --> 00:18:41.500 It's important to have godly friends. 00:18:41.500 --> 00:18:43.550 And Paul reminds us, let me come back here. 00:18:43.960 --> 00:18:47.070 Paul reminds us at the end of this verse 13, he says, Now I'm speaking. 00:18:49.160 --> 00:18:50.240 I'm speaking to you, Gentiles. 00:18:50.240 --> 00:18:51.040 Verse 15. 00:18:51.040 --> 00:18:51.840 Let me move on. 00:18:51.840 --> 00:18:56.490 For if their rejection means that reconciliation in the world, what will their acceptance mean? 00:18:56.880 --> 00:18:59.120 But life from the dead? 00:18:59.900 --> 00:19:03.880 If the dough offered as first fruits is holy, so is the whole lump. 00:19:03.880 --> 00:19:05.630 And if the root is holy, so are the branches. 00:19:06.620 --> 00:19:06.820 So. 00:19:07.000 --> 00:19:07.120 So. 00:19:07.280 --> 00:19:09.880 Verse 15, Paul is saying, I carry the same heart as the Lord here. 00:19:10.960 --> 00:19:16.220 As God's desire is really about the world, the reconciliation of the world. 00:19:16.220 --> 00:19:19.820 And his heart is certainly not against the Jewish people. 00:19:20.800 --> 00:19:23.880 God wants to reach all ethnic groups, all people, groups. 00:19:23.900 --> 00:19:27.540 And so, as the Jews have rejected him, Paul has God has not stopped reaching out. 00:19:27.700 --> 00:19:31.920 Paul has not stopped reaching out because the gospel can redeem anybody at any moment. 00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:33.160 And how beautiful it would be. 00:19:33.160 --> 00:19:35.920 All people, groups coming to know the Lord and worshiping him. 00:19:35.920 --> 00:19:43.220 And then and so Paul, then he starts to give us an illustration of verse 16 that'll bring us to this last point and starting in verse 17. 00:19:43.220 --> 00:19:45.160 But he says some interesting things here. 00:19:45.160 --> 00:19:52.180 He starts talking about dough offered to first fruits and the lump of all of that and then talking about a root that 00:19:52.180 --> 00:19:52.880 is holy. 00:19:52.980 --> 00:19:56.190 What in the world is the apostle Paul talking about in this passage? 00:19:56.540 --> 00:20:03.660 Well, what he's starting to build for us is to understand what it means to be healthy in Christ, what it looks for our lives, to be healthy in 00:20:03.660 --> 00:20:04.040 the Lord. 00:20:05.040 --> 00:20:08.220 And he refers to a couple of illustrations in the Old Testament. 00:20:08.340 --> 00:20:10.040 One comes from the Book of Numbers. 00:20:10.140 --> 00:20:14.660 Chapter 11 really is the first time it's mentioned this offering of the dough before the Lord. 00:20:14.700 --> 00:20:21.340 The idea of first fruits and the and the second comes from Jeremiah chapter 11, talking about this idea of a root. 00:20:22.500 --> 00:20:29.500 And these pictures are important because the demonstration of this really is a portrayal of whether or not you're healthy in the Lord. 00:20:30.440 --> 00:20:34.600 This idea of first fruits is a demonstration of whether or not your heart is healthy. 00:20:34.600 --> 00:20:37.190 The idea of a root is a demonstration of whether or not your heart is healthy. 00:20:37.480 --> 00:20:44.500 And what he means is this In Israel's day, they were an agricultural society when the harvest would begin, 00:20:44.520 --> 00:20:51.840 the very first part of that harvest, God called his people at the very beginning of the harvest to always take the first fruits, the 00:20:51.920 --> 00:20:57.080 first things they received from all of their hard work for the year and to give it to God. 00:20:58.160 --> 00:21:05.450 And it was a way of saying to the Lord, Look, God, our heart is aligned with you and we want to make sure that you get the first and the best of everything, 00:21:05.540 --> 00:21:11.640 not the scraps and the leftovers, but also it's saying to the Lord and God, we're going to trust you in giving this to you. 00:21:11.660 --> 00:21:18.720 We're going to trust you to supply all that we need on the back end, we're giving to you first, recognizing, Lord, that 00:21:18.720 --> 00:21:20.460 you sustain us in all things. 00:21:20.700 --> 00:21:26.280 And we're expecting, Lord, that after this first fruit that you're going to continue to provide for us. 00:21:26.460 --> 00:21:29.580 It's a demonstration of a heart that's really given over to God. 00:21:30.400 --> 00:21:32.590 And this is what the Apostle Paul is saying in this verse. 00:21:32.720 --> 00:21:37.750 He's starting to, in this moment now, helping us think through our own hearts as it relates to the Lord. 00:21:38.020 --> 00:21:44.840 He describes the first fruits of your life and also the idea of the root and the branches. 00:21:45.700 --> 00:21:52.700 Meaning if you want to be a healthy tree and you want to produce healthy fruit, you don't you don't look to the fruit to determine if the tree is going to 00:21:52.700 --> 00:21:53.030 be healthy. 00:21:53.140 --> 00:21:54.370 What you look at is you look at the root. 00:21:54.760 --> 00:21:56.370 The fruit is the byproduct. 00:21:57.880 --> 00:22:01.160 The root determines whether or not the tree is ever going to be healthy and produce anything. 00:22:02.000 --> 00:22:09.380 And so you want to make the make sure that the proper nutrients is being received in through the root so that the tree grows in a healthy way. 00:22:10.600 --> 00:22:17.660 And so the Apostle Paul is connecting the dots for us that way, that if your heart is given over to what God has created it to, then your life will 00:22:17.660 --> 00:22:23.820 naturally produce what God desires, which is completely opposite to what religion teaches you. 00:22:24.400 --> 00:22:31.040 Religion looks at the outward performance, and if you're failing, they just drive guilt upon you and tell you to do better. 00:22:31.040 --> 00:22:38.380 And so we try to fabricate these things in our life that give the appearance that we have it all together or that we're performing up to the expectation 00:22:38.380 --> 00:22:39.780 or the standard. 00:22:39.840 --> 00:22:42.240 Meanwhile, the relationship with God is never healthy. 00:22:44.500 --> 00:22:47.280 Because it never dealt with the root. 00:22:47.280 --> 00:22:49.100 It never got to the heart. 00:22:50.840 --> 00:22:55.820 What Scripture actually teaches us is if you want a healthy Christian life, don't look to the fruit. 00:22:57.540 --> 00:23:02.180 Look to what lies within the heart and whether or not it's given over to the Lord. 00:23:02.240 --> 00:23:06.130 And so point number three in your notes is this Examine your heart. 00:23:08.820 --> 00:23:09.980 Examine your heart. 00:23:11.940 --> 00:23:12.720 You. 00:23:12.820 --> 00:23:15.620 We think about recovering after falling. 00:23:16.140 --> 00:23:20.340 You ever mess up in your life or you think of a particular people group that's messed up? 00:23:20.640 --> 00:23:22.060 A few things we need, right? 00:23:22.060 --> 00:23:24.240 We need to know where God rests in that. 00:23:24.240 --> 00:23:25.860 It's important to know the character of God. 00:23:26.540 --> 00:23:33.660 We need godly people to encourage us on that journey that will fight for us when we struggle, that knows we're not we're not going to leave 00:23:33.660 --> 00:23:36.020 this place and be perfect the rest of our lives. 00:23:36.840 --> 00:23:43.980 But I would say most importantly is what you determine to do because it's not your spiritual life is not someone else's 00:23:43.980 --> 00:23:44.540 responsibility. 00:23:46.280 --> 00:23:48.940 And so examining your heart matters. 00:23:51.460 --> 00:23:53.340 And that's where the Apostle Paul then goes. 00:23:53.380 --> 00:24:00.400 In verse 17, he uses this illustration of Israel and he brings it back to us, he says, But if some of the branches 00:24:00.400 --> 00:24:02.720 were broken off, really talking about Israel. 00:24:04.160 --> 00:24:05.720 They were connected to this route. 00:24:05.960 --> 00:24:07.160 They rejected this route. 00:24:08.020 --> 00:24:08.940 There was no life. 00:24:08.940 --> 00:24:09.700 They were broken off. 00:24:10.960 --> 00:24:18.820 Of some of the branches were broken off and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the other trees and now share in 00:24:18.820 --> 00:24:20.640 the nourishing root of the olive tree. 00:24:20.660 --> 00:24:22.760 Let me stop there and read the next part in a minute. 00:24:22.780 --> 00:24:29.890 But you think about this illustration for a minute what the Apostle Paul is saying, because I think what it produces in all of us is this position of humility. 00:24:33.040 --> 00:24:38.220 Whenever you farm trees and I know this because I'm a tree farming expert, right? 00:24:39.600 --> 00:24:41.520 I have enough sense to know this. 00:24:42.360 --> 00:24:42.780 You don't. 00:24:42.880 --> 00:24:48.560 You don't take a wild branch and graft it into a tree that bears fruit. 00:24:49.440 --> 00:24:49.580 Right. 00:24:49.620 --> 00:24:56.620 Rather, you would take the wild stump or wild root and you would graft in the tree branch. 00:24:56.620 --> 00:25:00.400 That's going to bear fruit In this in this illustration, it's the exact opposite. 00:25:00.780 --> 00:25:07.790 So the way the way it would work is if you want to grow an apple tree, right, you have an Apple branch, but you have this other tree growing 00:25:08.160 --> 00:25:09.840 that's not going to bear any fruit. 00:25:09.840 --> 00:25:17.020 If you've got this branch, you can graft that branch into this tree and the tree now will naturally supply that 00:25:17.020 --> 00:25:18.780 branch and that branch will bear fruit. 00:25:19.380 --> 00:25:20.280 That's usually how it works. 00:25:20.280 --> 00:25:23.660 You take a tree that doesn't bear fruit and all of a sudden you put a right branch and it bears fruit. 00:25:23.920 --> 00:25:26.520 But not in this illustration, this illustration. 00:25:26.520 --> 00:25:27.640 It's the exact opposite. 00:25:27.640 --> 00:25:29.650 Now why in the world would anyone want to do that? 00:25:29.960 --> 00:25:30.360 Right? 00:25:30.360 --> 00:25:32.940 Why are you like, I got this great fruit tree, I know what I want to do. 00:25:33.260 --> 00:25:40.320 Let's cut off all the regular branches and then we'll just graft in a wild a wild branch that doesn't do that doesn't going to produce any fruit at 00:25:40.320 --> 00:25:40.780 all. 00:25:40.880 --> 00:25:45.280 That's what it's saying in this passage is like there was Israel who was this tree that would bear fruit. 00:25:45.300 --> 00:25:48.980 And now God grabbed this wild branch and just popped it in there. 00:25:49.160 --> 00:25:51.320 And that's who we are, right? 00:25:51.320 --> 00:25:58.220 It's this later this thing that came came in later and God allowed it to be a part of part of God's plan. 00:25:58.260 --> 00:26:05.360 And so that's what in the New Testament, when you read about the way God worked with Israel in Ephesians chapter three, it refers to the to 00:26:05.360 --> 00:26:07.200 the New Testament Church, the Gentiles. 00:26:07.200 --> 00:26:14.320 That refers to us as a mystery that was revealed in the New Testament, this unexpected surprise that God was working through 00:26:14.320 --> 00:26:18.710 His Jewish, the Jewish people, and all of a sudden this wild branch got grafted in. 00:26:18.860 --> 00:26:20.980 And you think to yourself, Well, why would God do that? 00:26:21.020 --> 00:26:24.230 And the only answer is not because of you, but because of his grace. 00:26:27.160 --> 00:26:28.960 It's surely by the grace of God. 00:26:29.000 --> 00:26:30.710 So this is what brings us to a place of humility. 00:26:30.920 --> 00:26:32.900 And that is important in your relationship with God. 00:26:32.900 --> 00:26:36.760 In fact, he's going to build on this as he moves forward, but He encourages us. 00:26:36.820 --> 00:26:41.100 Then in verse 18, he says this Do not be arrogant toward the branches. 00:26:42.980 --> 00:26:48.420 When you think about Israel, who's been broken off and then you think about yourself now in the position that you're in. 00:26:48.860 --> 00:26:52.940 Don't look at the branches that have been broken off and tell the branches how much greater you are than them. 00:26:54.020 --> 00:26:55.180 Because you're a wild branch. 00:26:56.200 --> 00:26:59.260 This is not to give you a position over people. 00:27:00.340 --> 00:27:07.520 In fact, one of the interesting things when you read through the Old Testament and into the New Testament, you find with any people group, I don't 00:27:07.520 --> 00:27:08.460 know what it is about us. 00:27:08.580 --> 00:27:11.070 I do know what it is about us as human beings is our sinful nature. 00:27:11.640 --> 00:27:17.560 But in a facetious sense, I don't know what it is about us that causes us to do this as people, right? 00:27:17.660 --> 00:27:24.880 Like we look at other people who have fallen before us and then puff ourselves up as if we deserve the position that somehow 00:27:24.880 --> 00:27:26.850 we're greater than what they were. 00:27:27.060 --> 00:27:27.740 They fell. 00:27:27.800 --> 00:27:28.700 And we're not going to do that. 00:27:28.700 --> 00:27:29.500 We're better than them. 00:27:31.840 --> 00:27:38.480 When you read the Old Testament, you even see this in the life of Israel that this group of people that were slaves, they were oppressed. 00:27:39.000 --> 00:27:40.100 Right? 00:27:40.100 --> 00:27:41.960 Deuteronomy chapter ten, verse 18. 00:27:42.040 --> 00:27:47.300 One of the things God says to them in Deuteronomy chapter ten, verse 18, he looks at Israel after they've been rescued out of slavery. 00:27:48.220 --> 00:27:55.300 And he and he says to them, Look, I want you to remember the widow and the orphan and the 00:27:55.300 --> 00:27:55.840 immigrant. 00:27:57.420 --> 00:28:00.580 Because those flights in life there, they're not easy. 00:28:01.700 --> 00:28:06.350 And when you don't have much in life, you need the help of others. 00:28:06.740 --> 00:28:09.660 And it's God saying to Israel, remember where you were before me? 00:28:09.720 --> 00:28:13.320 You were a group of slaves or a group of slaves. 00:28:13.460 --> 00:28:19.490 And when you honor what's broken, not only are you helping people in your in the need, but you're honoring God who made them in his image. 00:28:20.720 --> 00:28:25.930 And so consider the way that you treat people, because you should know above all else, you were oppressed. 00:28:27.280 --> 00:28:28.060 You've been there. 00:28:28.980 --> 00:28:36.100 You know what it's like for someone to come in and meet your need because God has come in and met your need and so demonstrate that grace 00:28:36.100 --> 00:28:38.290 of God in the way that you care for other people. 00:28:39.800 --> 00:28:46.880 In fact, whether or not you truly understand what your relationship with God, what God has done for your life is seen in how you care for other 00:28:46.880 --> 00:28:49.260 people, even when they're difficult. 00:28:49.360 --> 00:28:56.500 Just like the apostle Paul and loving the Jewish people who rejected him and threw him in prison and beat him and he didn't give up. 00:28:56.720 --> 00:29:01.640 And it was a demonstration of his understanding of who he was because not because of himself, but because of the Lord. 00:29:01.900 --> 00:29:04.380 But here's what you see as you read throughout the Old Testament and New Testament. 00:29:05.660 --> 00:29:09.580 The oppressed over and over become the oppressors. 00:29:11.180 --> 00:29:12.320 That's somewhere along the way. 00:29:12.320 --> 00:29:14.080 They forget about the grace of God. 00:29:15.240 --> 00:29:17.980 And they start to arrogantly believe that it's because of them. 00:29:17.980 --> 00:29:23.600 They are where they are and it's because they're great and, well, God just can't refuse them because they're so lovable. 00:29:24.640 --> 00:29:26.260 And then they start looking down at other people. 00:29:27.540 --> 00:29:34.540 And so the apostle Paul is warning us here because he's seeing the pattern repeated over and over in 00:29:34.540 --> 00:29:35.220 the lives of people. 00:29:36.000 --> 00:29:43.180 In fact, when you get to the latter part of the Old Testament into the prophets, the major 00:29:43.180 --> 00:29:50.360 minor prophets of the Old Testament, the last 17 books, the prophets really didn't start speaking until the end of Israel's demise as 00:29:50.360 --> 00:29:52.320 they were carried into captivity. 00:29:52.460 --> 00:30:00.400 But the thing that God said to them over and over is that they started to oppress people, the widows, the orphans, the foreigners. 00:30:00.400 --> 00:30:02.070 They started to treat people poorly. 00:30:02.100 --> 00:30:04.220 The oppressed became the oppressor. 00:30:04.440 --> 00:30:11.460 And when you get to the New Testament, like in Mark chapter ten, Jesus says to his disciples, He's walking along with them, 00:30:11.700 --> 00:30:13.320 and James and John look at Jesus. 00:30:13.360 --> 00:30:18.120 And they're like, Jesus, when you get to your throne, let us reign on your right and on your left. 00:30:18.320 --> 00:30:21.640 And Jesus asks, Can you really bear what we're about to go through? 00:30:21.640 --> 00:30:23.900 And they're like, Oh yeah, Lord, we can definitely do that. 00:30:24.380 --> 00:30:27.140 And the disciples get mad that James and John asked that question. 00:30:27.640 --> 00:30:33.580 And Jesus says to him, It's not mine to give you, but He who wants to be great, great in my kingdom must become the least. 00:30:34.600 --> 00:30:39.260 I mean, the way Jesus's kingdom moves forward is not top down, but rather bottom up. 00:30:39.300 --> 00:30:44.720 That to understand who Christ is to become a servant because Jesus was the servant of servants. 00:30:45.580 --> 00:30:51.660 It's not about us getting above anybody else, but to understand the only way that we are where we are is because of the grace of God. 00:30:53.160 --> 00:31:00.280 And so examining your heart and whether or not it's in that position is important because when we fall, we realize the only reason we ever got to 00:31:00.280 --> 00:31:02.280 where we were is because of the grace of God. 00:31:02.400 --> 00:31:04.150 And the only reason we can find ourselves restored. 00:31:04.620 --> 00:31:08.580 Its always been because of the grace of God and God's grace is always extended to us. 00:31:08.620 --> 00:31:14.120 And so if you are, he says, remember it, not it is not you who support the root. 00:31:15.560 --> 00:31:17.340 But the route that supports you. 00:31:18.700 --> 00:31:18.840 All right then. 00:31:19.300 --> 00:31:23.540 Then you will say says as God is identifying for this, he says, I know human nature. 00:31:23.540 --> 00:31:24.920 You guys are going to give a rebuttal to that. 00:31:24.920 --> 00:31:27.100 We do that, the oppressed becomes the oppressor. 00:31:27.100 --> 00:31:28.620 And so here's the rebuttal verse 19. 00:31:28.800 --> 00:31:32.560 Then you will say branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in. 00:31:32.720 --> 00:31:36.740 That's like the thought is this Like they were broken off because, well, something's wrong with them. 00:31:36.740 --> 00:31:37.620 And you brought me in. 00:31:37.620 --> 00:31:38.060 Well, because. 00:31:38.060 --> 00:31:39.220 Well, I'm better, right? 00:31:39.260 --> 00:31:39.740 Like, that's. 00:31:39.920 --> 00:31:40.720 That's why I'm here. 00:31:40.720 --> 00:31:47.080 And then in verse, verse 20, then he gives us really the way to treat the unhealth of the soul, which is important. 00:31:47.480 --> 00:31:49.660 It's important to know God's position. 00:31:49.680 --> 00:31:51.380 It's important to have godly friends. 00:31:51.440 --> 00:31:55.540 And in verse 20, it's important to consider the health of our soul, he says. 00:31:55.560 --> 00:31:56.320 That is true. 00:31:57.240 --> 00:31:59.650 God says they were broken off because of their unbelief. 00:32:01.120 --> 00:32:02.860 But you stand fast through faith. 00:32:04.200 --> 00:32:07.060 So do not become proud. 00:32:08.440 --> 00:32:09.000 But fear. 00:32:11.180 --> 00:32:18.600 God is saying in this passage, Look, there's one thing that destroys your soul and one thing that's going to keep your soul healthy, 00:32:18.660 --> 00:32:20.370 the thing that's going to destroy your soul. 00:32:20.700 --> 00:32:21.180 It's pride. 00:32:22.540 --> 00:32:23.950 It's self autonomy. 00:32:24.040 --> 00:32:28.400 Pride is giving ourselves the credit for something that God has accomplished. 00:32:28.400 --> 00:32:32.680 It's taking the glory that belongs to God alone and keeping it for ourselves. 00:32:33.060 --> 00:32:35.000 Pride Essentially, it's self worship. 00:32:36.560 --> 00:32:39.600 You think you're where you are all because of what you've done? 00:32:41.540 --> 00:32:43.460 In First Corinthians four seven, it says this. 00:32:44.840 --> 00:32:45.580 What do you have? 00:32:46.620 --> 00:32:47.690 That you did not receive. 00:32:48.960 --> 00:32:54.420 And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? 00:32:56.220 --> 00:32:56.900 Do you not understand? 00:32:59.280 --> 00:33:00.440 It's the grace of God. 00:33:02.840 --> 00:33:06.200 It's always been about the grace of God and so and so. 00:33:06.200 --> 00:33:11.660 In the last part of this verse, he encourages us what God's desire for us. 00:33:11.660 --> 00:33:14.660 And being able to walk in a healthy life is this idea of fear. 00:33:14.760 --> 00:33:21.920 And this doesn't mean afraid, but rather it carries better the idea of this reverence, this reverence for 00:33:21.920 --> 00:33:26.160 the root that gives us life that we have the opportunity to rest in. 00:33:27.480 --> 00:33:30.920 Because when we have that reverence, we're truly coming to the one that God has. 00:33:30.940 --> 00:33:33.300 We've been created to worship the Lord alone. 00:33:34.260 --> 00:33:37.420 And we're surrendering to him because we found our identity there. 00:33:38.680 --> 00:33:45.640 Well, what he's saying is if you want to live the healthy Christian life moving forward after you've fallen, certainly God, God's desire is to invite you back in. 00:33:45.680 --> 00:33:46.950 But the way that this continues. 00:33:48.580 --> 00:33:49.260 It's humility. 00:33:51.120 --> 00:33:51.620 Similarly. 00:33:51.620 --> 00:33:56.480 In fact, I often say humility is the language of God. 00:33:58.600 --> 00:33:59.860 You want to connect to God? 00:34:00.480 --> 00:34:01.510 You want to know God? 00:34:01.540 --> 00:34:02.680 You want to walk with God. 00:34:03.340 --> 00:34:04.920 Humility is his language. 00:34:04.920 --> 00:34:06.580 It says to us over and over in the Bible. 00:34:07.520 --> 00:34:08.460 Pride comes before the fall. 00:34:10.600 --> 00:34:11.280 But God. 00:34:11.820 --> 00:34:13.600 God and our humility. 00:34:13.600 --> 00:34:15.900 He will lift us up in Him. 00:34:18.560 --> 00:34:24.040 And so then it goes on and says in following verses note, then the kindness and the severity of God. 00:34:24.380 --> 00:34:25.560 He wants us to take it seriously. 00:34:27.320 --> 00:34:30.239 There is God's kindness and also there's God's judgment. 00:34:31.840 --> 00:34:33.960 Severity towards those who have fallen. 00:34:35.179 --> 00:34:39.800 But God's kindness to you, provided you continue in His kindness. 00:34:39.800 --> 00:34:42.540 Otherwise you too will be cut off. 00:34:43.840 --> 00:34:46.239 He's saying this really to the Jews and the Gentiles. 00:34:48.080 --> 00:34:50.020 God will certainly judge our sin. 00:34:50.940 --> 00:34:51.710 God will judge. 00:34:53.639 --> 00:35:00.740 But God also always leaves the door open for us to turn to him, to be forgiven, too, 00:35:00.800 --> 00:35:01.460 to be reconciled. 00:35:01.940 --> 00:35:05.180 And he warns us, if we don't do that, we're going to be cut off now. 00:35:05.600 --> 00:35:11.570 Let me explain this word cut off for a minute because I think some some people can approach this passage and apply it the wrong way. 00:35:12.400 --> 00:35:14.920 Paul in this section is not referring to an individual. 00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:17.320 He's not saying, look, follow Jesus. 00:35:17.760 --> 00:35:22.960 And if you stop following Jesus, then God's going to completely cut you off and cast you out, right? 00:35:22.960 --> 00:35:24.980 Like you're going to burn in hell forever. 00:35:25.080 --> 00:35:27.320 That's not what this passage is saying. 00:35:27.320 --> 00:35:27.800 Okay. 00:35:28.240 --> 00:35:30.960 Rather, what he's what he has in mind here is a people group. 00:35:31.780 --> 00:35:36.560 He has in mind the Jewish people group and the Gentile people group, a Gentile people group. 00:35:36.580 --> 00:35:38.500 Is everyone else in the world that's not Jewish. 00:35:39.240 --> 00:35:42.760 And he's describing us this way that a people group can reject God. 00:35:43.280 --> 00:35:46.000 Now, there can always be a remnant within that people group, right? 00:35:46.040 --> 00:35:47.590 We've looked at that in chapter nine and ten. 00:35:47.920 --> 00:35:49.480 Among the Jews, there was always a remnant. 00:35:49.500 --> 00:35:50.900 The Apostle Paul was a remnant. 00:35:51.140 --> 00:35:52.200 His faith was in Christ. 00:35:52.200 --> 00:35:53.220 He was not cut off. 00:35:53.240 --> 00:35:53.500 Right. 00:35:53.620 --> 00:35:55.180 He followed after the Lord. 00:35:55.380 --> 00:35:59.840 But when we think in terms of Jew and Gentile, he's talking about people groups and he's warning both Jew and Gentile. 00:35:59.840 --> 00:36:07.060 If we don't align our heart with the Lord, if we don't come to Christ, if we don't surrender our life and ask the Lord for forgiveness, that those people groups can be cut 00:36:07.060 --> 00:36:14.140 off, that if a if a generation rises up and they reject the Lord, that it not only has consequences for that generation, but the 00:36:14.140 --> 00:36:21.160 lineage that comes forth from that generation, that not only could that generation be lost, but so can the next generation, that it's a people group by and 00:36:21.160 --> 00:36:23.740 large, that are cut off because they've rejected the Messiah? 00:36:25.720 --> 00:36:27.600 How important it is. 00:36:29.240 --> 00:36:30.520 Your walk with Jesus. 00:36:31.980 --> 00:36:33.540 To understand the condition of your heart. 00:36:34.620 --> 00:36:39.920 To think about why you are where you are in him and how you follow after the Lord. 00:36:39.960 --> 00:36:40.980 And then he goes this way. 00:36:41.000 --> 00:36:41.740 Verse 23. 00:36:41.740 --> 00:36:46.440 And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in. 00:36:47.400 --> 00:36:50.630 For God has the power to graft them in again. 00:36:51.600 --> 00:36:54.660 This is that reminds me of the great theologian Mariah Carey. 00:36:55.060 --> 00:36:56.220 We belong together. 00:36:56.440 --> 00:36:58.690 If you know that song, you listen to it later today. 00:36:59.660 --> 00:37:06.680 But God is saying like that, even if they continue in unbelief, God, God in his power, He can graft and 00:37:06.680 --> 00:37:10.300 he can bring what's broken and he can always restore at any moment. 00:37:11.400 --> 00:37:12.880 Beautiful thought in the Lord. 00:37:12.980 --> 00:37:15.860 You think about your own failures and you're like, How could God love me? 00:37:15.860 --> 00:37:22.380 And God's just saying, Because I'm full of grace and I'm for you and I want to bring you into me because you were created for that. 00:37:22.440 --> 00:37:25.860 And I can graft you in no matter how many times you feel like you fall or you get back up. 00:37:25.860 --> 00:37:27.410 And we can continue this race together. 00:37:27.640 --> 00:37:34.760 Verse 24, If you were cut off, cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree and grafted contrary to nature into a cult 00:37:34.760 --> 00:37:42.160 of cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree? 00:37:43.220 --> 00:37:48.420 And God saying If the Lord can do this with you, Gentiles, you wild olive branches. 00:37:48.420 --> 00:37:50.920 God can certainly bring his people back again. 00:37:50.920 --> 00:37:53.060 The chosen people, the Jewish people. 00:37:53.060 --> 00:37:55.580 God can bring them into relationship with him. 00:37:57.020 --> 00:38:04.100 Now, in terms of this passage of Scripture, many Christians, we don't struggle to remember what I told you. 00:38:04.100 --> 00:38:04.240 Right. 00:38:04.920 --> 00:38:12.020 We generally, I think, know if we read read through the Bible or read portions of the Bible, what the nature of God is and the importance 00:38:12.020 --> 00:38:16.280 of godly relationship and examining my own heart. 00:38:16.280 --> 00:38:18.660 But reality is sometimes we get distracted. 00:38:20.820 --> 00:38:23.820 And sometimes we lose our passion for the things the Lord. 00:38:25.580 --> 00:38:27.100 I think it's important. 00:38:27.160 --> 00:38:31.560 Even when you walk with Jesus to always rub shoulders with new believers. 00:38:32.640 --> 00:38:36.240 Sometimes they remind you just what God has done in your life. 00:38:36.240 --> 00:38:36.460 You. 00:38:37.060 --> 00:38:44.800 You get around a new believer sometimes, and when their life is radically transformed and they for the first time, their eyes open to the love of Jesus and knowing him and forgiveness and 00:38:44.800 --> 00:38:47.700 they start talking about it, there's this excitement about them. 00:38:47.700 --> 00:38:49.780 And you think, Man, I used to talk like that. 00:38:50.140 --> 00:38:51.460 Like I forgot. 00:38:51.540 --> 00:38:53.340 I forgot some of the stuff. 00:38:53.340 --> 00:38:59.220 But their passion is contagious and I love what God is doing in the life and we can get like that. 00:38:59.220 --> 00:39:03.620 Sometimes we get to the place where just following after the Lord just feels like a humdrum task. 00:39:04.400 --> 00:39:07.540 And it's just the same old hat that we've worn over and over. 00:39:07.540 --> 00:39:10.640 And we forget just how good God's been to our lives. 00:39:10.740 --> 00:39:14.830 And so can I just encourage you, as we leave today with just a couple of thoughts? 00:39:15.480 --> 00:39:22.560 A couple of things to practice in your life that just churn the beauty of a godly heart in your life as you 00:39:22.560 --> 00:39:28.580 think about surrendering to him and in humility rather than walking in pride. 00:39:29.320 --> 00:39:36.440 The first is this the apostle Paul says this in Philippians chapter four, verse four, actually later today, if you want to read this passage, starting in verse 00:39:36.440 --> 00:39:39.740 four to the to the end of the chapter, it's a beautiful section of scripture. 00:39:39.740 --> 00:39:40.720 It deals with anxiety. 00:39:41.580 --> 00:39:44.360 It talks about whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure. 00:39:44.420 --> 00:39:45.540 Think on those things. 00:39:46.340 --> 00:39:47.920 But Paul says this in verse four. 00:39:47.920 --> 00:39:50.370 He says, Rejoice in the Lord always. 00:39:51.200 --> 00:39:52.090 I will say it again. 00:39:52.720 --> 00:39:53.400 Rejoice. 00:39:54.400 --> 00:40:01.580 And one of the most incredible things for me about this chapter is when I when I consider where the apostle Paul was 00:40:01.580 --> 00:40:02.300 when he wrote this. 00:40:04.300 --> 00:40:05.280 Paul is in. 00:40:05.800 --> 00:40:06.320 He's in jail. 00:40:07.580 --> 00:40:09.280 He's been beaten and he's thrown in jail. 00:40:09.300 --> 00:40:10.560 And you know what Paul's talking about. 00:40:12.040 --> 00:40:12.600 Rejoicing. 00:40:14.520 --> 00:40:15.600 Rejoicing in the Lord. 00:40:17.460 --> 00:40:19.340 And rejoicing carries this idea. 00:40:19.360 --> 00:40:22.280 You know, Paul, if you ask Paul, Paul, do you do you like being in prison? 00:40:22.280 --> 00:40:23.100 Isn't this awesome? 00:40:23.200 --> 00:40:28.410 Paul is going to be like, No, if I had to choose between prison and not prison, I'd choose not prison every time. 00:40:29.160 --> 00:40:36.300 But what Paul is saying is this idea of rejoicing is a rejoicing in the things of God that 00:40:36.300 --> 00:40:38.500 remind you of his good hand in your life. 00:40:40.020 --> 00:40:41.540 What makes the Lord so good. 00:40:41.580 --> 00:40:44.200 Sometimes as people, we tend to just focus on the negative. 00:40:44.200 --> 00:40:45.860 Our culture does that, right? 00:40:46.280 --> 00:40:46.990 Mean turn on the news? 00:40:47.200 --> 00:40:49.600 They just they live on the fear. 00:40:49.600 --> 00:40:50.560 All the problems in life. 00:40:51.880 --> 00:40:58.980 But what Paul is saying is it is important to the health of your soul to constantly be rejoicing in the things that 00:40:58.980 --> 00:40:59.740 you have in the Lord. 00:41:00.500 --> 00:41:06.960 And the way that you do that is you look back over the good hand of God in your life and you remind yourself every day of that God. 00:41:08.180 --> 00:41:10.080 Because it's the same God who walks with you. 00:41:10.080 --> 00:41:13.240 Now you rejoice in that. 00:41:13.360 --> 00:41:15.170 And at the same time, while you rejoice. 00:41:15.300 --> 00:41:17.980 The Bible says over and over that his people are to sing a new song. 00:41:19.040 --> 00:41:21.100 And the Psalms mention this multiple times. 00:41:21.100 --> 00:41:22.060 Sing a new song in the Lord. 00:41:22.520 --> 00:41:23.820 Psalm 96, verse one. 00:41:23.820 --> 00:41:24.980 Sing a new song of the Lord. 00:41:25.860 --> 00:41:30.080 This idea of a new song is to recognize that in our life and God keeps working. 00:41:31.160 --> 00:41:38.420 That God's story as we walk with him, continues to paint beautiful things in our life, that our soul, as we continue in that journey, get 00:41:38.420 --> 00:41:39.780 to rejoice in Him. 00:41:39.860 --> 00:41:46.980 It's not to come to Jesus once and your relationship with God is done, but rather continue close to the Lord and give him the opportunity as 00:41:46.980 --> 00:41:54.060 you walk close with him to continue to write that new song of great things that he's doing in your life, that you can sing and the great things of God as 00:41:54.060 --> 00:41:54.840 he moves forward. 00:41:54.880 --> 00:41:56.660 It's important for the soul to be refreshed. 00:41:58.220 --> 00:42:05.580 Not to just live in your past and your relationship with God, but to enjoy the joy of that relationship every 00:42:05.580 --> 00:42:06.880 day as you walk with him. 00:42:07.440 --> 00:42:14.220 So not only does God give you a reason to rejoice as you look at the things of the past, but he gives you a reason to sing because you're looking at the great things in the future that God has for you. 00:42:14.460 --> 00:42:18.680 Because wherever you go in the Lord, His hand is going to provide whatever you need. 00:42:19.680 --> 00:42:21.060 And so you can sing before the Lord. 00:42:22.120 --> 00:42:22.850 Let me close with this. 00:42:24.080 --> 00:42:25.340 George Schmidt. 00:42:26.580 --> 00:42:31.820 George Schmidt was actually considered the first Protestant missionary to ever go to Africa. 00:42:32.960 --> 00:42:34.500 He went to South Africa. 00:42:34.500 --> 00:42:38.760 He beat David Livingstone by a number of years, I think almost 100 years. 00:42:38.760 --> 00:42:41.390 He was ahead of David Livingstone and in Africa. 00:42:42.020 --> 00:42:49.100 But George Schmidt went to South Africa and ministered to a people group down there that there was a Dutch colony that already existed 00:42:49.100 --> 00:42:51.540 there, but they were treated poorly by the Dutch colony. 00:42:51.700 --> 00:42:54.320 But George Schmidt went ahead and ministered to them anyway. 00:42:54.320 --> 00:42:56.640 He didn't care how the people were treating them. 00:42:56.760 --> 00:42:59.120 He desired for them to know the Lord. 00:42:59.360 --> 00:43:06.460 And as he ministered there, he was there for about seven years and he saw his first few 00:43:06.460 --> 00:43:08.910 converts come to know the Lord and were baptized. 00:43:09.060 --> 00:43:09.850 I think it was five total. 00:43:10.240 --> 00:43:14.080 People came to know the Lord and were baptized and it angered the Dutch people. 00:43:15.560 --> 00:43:18.200 And they actually kicked out George Schmidt. 00:43:19.720 --> 00:43:23.660 And he left after seven years of doing ministry there, he left feeling defeated. 00:43:23.660 --> 00:43:26.420 He thought after seven years, all all he saw. 00:43:27.820 --> 00:43:29.220 There were five converts. 00:43:29.220 --> 00:43:31.760 Five people come to know the Lord and were baptized in him. 00:43:31.760 --> 00:43:34.230 And he just thought he just felt broken. 00:43:34.480 --> 00:43:34.960 Here he is. 00:43:35.360 --> 00:43:37.560 He tried his best for the Lord. 00:43:37.600 --> 00:43:37.700 And. 00:43:38.120 --> 00:43:39.710 And it just didn't work the way that he wanted. 00:43:39.820 --> 00:43:43.120 And he had to be sent home and just felt defeated. 00:43:43.160 --> 00:43:45.880 It was over 50 years before anyone went back to Africa. 00:43:48.100 --> 00:43:51.680 1944, I believe it was when he was kicked out or 1744. 00:43:51.680 --> 00:43:52.690 It was when he was kicked out. 00:43:53.320 --> 00:43:54.940 And 50 years later people returned. 00:43:55.120 --> 00:44:02.860 And when they finally returned, the first thing that they did is they went to the place that George Smith had done ministry and 00:44:02.860 --> 00:44:04.260 they found the ruins of his home. 00:44:05.520 --> 00:44:11.040 And while they were there, someone came up to them and greeted themselves and they were asking about the work that he had done. 00:44:12.160 --> 00:44:12.640 And they took him. 00:44:13.420 --> 00:44:19.340 They took this these group of missionaries to a home of a of a lady who was now much older. 00:44:20.080 --> 00:44:22.740 But she was one of the people that George Smith had baptized. 00:44:23.600 --> 00:44:26.210 And they asked her, do you do you read the Bible? 00:44:26.240 --> 00:44:26.990 Do you know the Bible? 00:44:27.420 --> 00:44:30.840 And she took them over to the corner of the place where she lived. 00:44:30.900 --> 00:44:34.840 And she uncovered in this goat skin a copy of a Dutch New Testament. 00:44:36.220 --> 00:44:43.240 And she had been reading it to her family every day since George Smith had been kicked out 100 years to 00:44:43.240 --> 00:44:47.020 the day after he was removed from Africa feeling like a failure. 00:44:48.580 --> 00:44:54.760 They did a study on how many people came to know the Lord off of George Smith's ministry of just seeing five people converted. 00:44:55.400 --> 00:45:00.860 100 years later, over 13,000 people had come to know Christ through that ministry. 00:45:03.640 --> 00:45:05.540 Because sometimes when we serve Jesus. 00:45:06.880 --> 00:45:07.540 It feels hard. 00:45:08.740 --> 00:45:12.040 And sometimes we don't get the results that we expect or want. 00:45:13.740 --> 00:45:15.030 What can I encourage you this morning? 00:45:16.580 --> 00:45:19.260 God's desire for your life is not about results. 00:45:21.860 --> 00:45:25.500 God's desire for your life is simply that your heart would be connected to him faithfully. 00:45:28.220 --> 00:45:32.480 It's when your heart is connected to him faithfully that he produces the fruit. 00:45:34.400 --> 00:45:34.860 Fruits. 00:45:34.900 --> 00:45:35.400 Not up to you. 00:45:37.540 --> 00:45:39.620 But God won't work in your life. 00:45:40.960 --> 00:45:43.540 Unless your life is truly surrendered to him. 00:45:45.440 --> 00:45:50.610 But it's when we have that opportunity to give our lives to the Lord that he can do great things beyond our imagination. 00:45:51.400 --> 00:45:53.800 George Smith never lived to see those results. 00:45:55.280 --> 00:45:57.300 But the ripple effect was huge. 00:45:58.660 --> 00:46:00.680 If the people were willing to recognize one thing. 00:46:01.800 --> 00:46:03.660 He's the root, not me. 00:46:04.560 --> 00:46:07.040 I'm just the wild olive branch grafted in. 00:46:08.380 --> 00:46:10.940 But it's him that produces the beauty. 00:46:11.400 --> 00:46:13.780 If my heart would surrender in humility.