God’s Salvation Plan Revealed
Righteousness Revealed: An Exposition of Romans

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Good morning, church! We’re continuing our series through the book of Romans. We’re still in Romans, chapter 11. We have a longer chapter here. We began it last week and still have more to go. We will finish this morning. We’re going, verse by verse, through the book of Romans. We’ve entitled this series, “Righteousness Revealed.” We are now in this segment of chapter 11, verses 11 through 24.

We will be talking about God’s salvation plan revealed; God has a plan. Our history is not circular, as some would claim. It’s not repetitive, although there’s evidence of repetition. It’s linear; the bible declares that from Eden to the new creation, there’s a progression happening that will come to a consummation and a conclusion. God has a plan for our salvation and our redemption. Yet, when we look at the world, we wonder, What’s up? What is going on?

I don’t know if it’s because I’m getting older, but I remember my grandparents talking like I now talk. Things just seem to be getting worse. Things like pandemics, natural disasters, terrorism, wars, economic turmoil, political disunity and on and on, Things are getting worse. We begin to wonder, Have we stumbled so that we might fall?

Paul begins this segment of Romans, ) 11 “So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall?“ Is this the fall of humanity? Is this what we’re looking at? That’s the question that Paul was posing concerning Israel. Is God finished with Israel? Has Israel stumbled so that they might fall? His answer is a resounding No. God has a plan for Israel. God has a plan for the world. He has a plan of redemption and salvation and He wants us to know about it.

What we’re going to be seeing today, as we look at this segment of chapter 11, is the grand narrative of God’s redemption revealed. God’s going to pull back the veil and let us get a glimpse of it. It’s a plan of hope.

As we see Paul’s letter to the Romans in this segment of Chapter 11, he reveals God’s plan of salvation for the world. I believe that we can look at it and we can understand it. We can apply it to our lives.

As we look at it today, I think the text will give us four insights that we might understand and apply to our lives about God’s plan of salvation for the world. Let’s dig in. We’ll be picking up at verse 11. As Paul’s habit has been, he begins with a question that he then spends time answering.

Romans 11:11-24 (ESV) 11 “So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. 12 Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean! 13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry 14 in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. 15 For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? 16 If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches. 17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, 18 do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. 19 Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” 20 That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith , so do not become proud, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. 22 Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. 23 And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.” This is God’s word. Amen.

So, we’re working out this question that Paul asked, 11 “So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall?” Was it God’s plan for Israel to stumble and fall forever from God’s grace to no longer be God’s people? As has been his habit, he begins with the short answer; “by no means.” No, definitely not, but then he expounds on it. Let’s work this out together. We’re trying to understand God’s plan of salvation. Here’s the first insight:

Understanding God’s plan of salvation for the world… 1. We can be thankful that His plan includes us.

When I say, “us,” I’m primarily speaking now of the Gentiles. Who are the Gentiles? It is everyone in the world who is not Jewish. There are two categories of people according to the Jews; you’re either a Jew or you’re not. If you’re not, you’re a Gentile. Now you know what it means when we’re talking about Gentiles. Paul is explaining here why God has allowed Israel to stumble.

First of all, Paul says that it was not God’s purpose that they stumble so that they might fall. In other words, to be forever fallen, apart from God’s plan of redemption. Instead, he offers some other explanations for why God allowed for this and planned for this. The idea of “to stumble” here, is connected to the previous verses, where we learn that there is a stumbling block that they have stumbled over. The stumbling block is Jesus the Messiah, who was prophesied of in the Old Testament. The Old Testament caused them a stumbling block; what it is about Him that causes them to stumble is that He says it’s not by works, but it’s by faith and it’s by faith in Him alone. And then, He is crucified on a cross, which the old testament says that those who have been crucified on a tree or or put on a tree are cursed. Jesus became a curse so that we might be made righteous. They looked at this and it’s a scandal to them.

The Jewish people, the Israelites primarily, mostly rejected Jesus as Messiah. He was a stumbling block to them, they tripped over Him. So, this is what Paul is talking about. Did they stumble in order to fall? He says, 11 “Rather, through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous.”

What is “their trespass?” Their trespass is their failure to believe in the Messiah. The whole old testament pointed to Him. He was their Jewish Messiah, their Anointed One, the Christ. Their trespass was that they failed to follow Him. Salvation, now, has come to the Gentiles as a result. It opens the door for the Gentiles.

Now, let’s suppose for a second that the Jews had not rejected the Messiah; that Israel, by and large, everyone of them said, Yes, that’s Him and they followed Him. What may have happened to the Gentiles? This is a “what if” scenario.

Here’s what it would’ve looked like; everywhere Paul went, as was his habit, when he would enter a city, he would find a synagogue . If there was a synagogue, he would preach Christ in that synagogue. Invariably, some would believe, but most would not. Those that did not would not only reject Paul and his message, but they would persecute him. They’d want to kill him because they rejected this Messiah, Jesus.

What if that hadn’t happened? What if they would have all believed? Perhaps, it never would have opened the door to the Gentiles because it would have stayed a “Jewish thing.” It would continue just to be a “Jewish Thing.” The Gentiles would have said, Well, that’s what goes on in their synagogues now. They’re believing that this man was raised from the dead. The Gentiles wouldn’t have known that much about it. It would just stay a “Jewish thing in Israel thing.” But, the Jews, by and large, stumbled over it. Paul would preach at the synagogue first, then they would kick him out. Then, he would preach it in the city to the Gentiles . The Gentiles, overwhelmingly from city to city, embraced Jesus as Messiah.

Here’s what it looks like historically: the Jew’s rejection of Jesus became an open door for primarily most of us. I don’t know if there’s anyone here with a Jewish background; most of us are from “the Gentile side of the olive tree,” if you will.

Paul says, in 13 “Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry 14 in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them.” His purpose is, now that the Gentiles have believed in Jesus as Messiah, I’m going to use them to make Israel jealous. The Jews will hopefully say, Wait a minute, He was our Messiah first.

I told you recently that I’ve got a grandson named Ryder, who belongs to this young lady down in the front row here. This is my daughter in law, Caroline. Ryder belongs to Stephen and Caroline. Ryder loves to carry his toys in his hands. If he had more hands, he could carry more toys. He likes to carry things so that someone else doesn’t get them. When we have the other grandchildren over, he’ll go outside and he’ll be playing with them. He will see another toy that he’s not carrying that he wants, but he has to put down the ones in his hands to go get that toy. He puts the toys down and goes to pick up the other toy. Now, he’s got a cousin near his age named Kenzie. Kenzie sees him put those toys down and she immediately runs and picks them up and takes off because he wants them back. Ryder put them down, but they were his first and he wants them back. That’s just human nature.

I’m talking about my grandson, Ryder, but I’m also talking about us because we’re that way too, aren’t we? We don’t really appreciate a thing until we put it down and try another thing and then we wish we could get that first thing back.

Jesus belonged to the Jews first, but now that the Gentiles have embraced Him, Paul is saying God’s purpose is that the Gentile portion of the Church, because the church is made up of both Jew and Gentile who believe in Jesus, will make the nation of Israel jealous. 12 “Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!” If they’re trespass, speaking of the Israelites, failure to believe means riches for the world because it opens the gospel up to the whole world. If their failure means riches for the Gentiles, that’s just a restatement of the same point that the riches of the Gospel has been given to the Gentiles. How much more will their full inclusion mean?

Here’s what Paul is saying ; God’s not finished with Israel. There is going to come a day, but it hasn’t happened yet. There’s coming a day when the vast majority of Israel will believe in the Messiah; they’ll finally embrace Him as Jesus, as the Messiah. We’re starting to see increasing numbers of people in Israel believing, we’re beginning to see that today. And so, it’s already bubbling. Paul is saying that God is not finished with Israel because of their full inclusion. If it meant riches for the world, that they stumbled, how much more is it going to mean when they come to Jesus? It’s speaking of the consummation when Jesus returns again, I believe, and sits on the throne of David, and all the world, in the new creation is under Him.

God has a plan; He’s not finished. We can be thankful in this season. Let’s just pause right here on these two verses. We can be thankful that, however God did it, He included me and you . We can be humbly thankful for that, that He included us.

Romans 1:16 (NIV) “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.” I’m glad He made room for me. I’m thankful for that. It calls us to thankfulness. Are you thankful that He’s made a way for you?

2. We can be mindful that His plan doesn’t exclude them.

We can be thankful that it includes us and we can be mindful that it doesn’t exclude them. Now, it could have said it doesn’t exclude the Jews and that would have been accurate. But, if we’re going to apply it to ourselves, let’s just call “them” whoever have rejected Jesus. It’s often in the category, in our minds, of the least likely to come to Jesus. You have some of “thems” in your family, you have some “thems” in your neighborhood and you’re thinking, That would be a miracle if they came to Jesus. Well, wasn’t it a miracle when you came to Jesus? It would be a miracle when they come to Jesus, too. Remember this, His plan has not excluded them. You might be thinking, Hasn’t He excluded the Jew? Hasn’t He excluded the Muslim? Hasn’t He excluded the Hindu? Hasn’t He excluded the vast majority of americans that are secular, postmodern pluralists who have a real difficulty believing anything that claims to be an absolute truth? No, He hasn’t excluded them either. God has a plan and that plan is faith in Jesus.

We’re looking now at verses 13 and following; let’s get back to the text. He says, 13 “Now , I’m speaking to you Gentiles.” Well, since chapter nine, He’s primarily been speaking to the Jews, trying to explain to them why they’ve rejected Christ and why God predicted it in the Old Testament. Now, He’s looking at us; Gentiles take note of this. The Jews stumbled so that you can have an open door, but don’t let that go to your head. 13 “Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry.” Paul was specially sent by Jesus to the Gentiles. Remember, that old Paul was on the road to Damascus; he was carrying letters up there to imprison Christians. On the way, Jesus appeared to Him. He was blinded by the appearance of Jesus. He goes into Damascus blind; he’s blind for three days until Ananias comes with a word from the Lord, opens his eyes and tells him that he is going to be an apostle to the Gentiles. “I’m sending you to the Gentiles.” This is Paul’s calling. He says, I make much of it, “I magnify my ministry,” I make a big deal about being an apostle to the Gentiles.

Paul, then, tells us why. 14 “in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them.” Now, how is that a good thing? When we think of jealousy, we think of it as the “green eyed version,” you know, that causes us to do bad things. But, Paul sees this as a good thing; to be jealous for a good thing. That’s more of what he has in view here. He makes a big deal about it. When he is talking to the Jews and preaching to them, he says, By the way, God has called me to preach the same message to the Gentiles. This ticked a lot of the Jews off.

When you go back to the Old Testament, remember how Jonah reacted when God tried to send him to the Gentiles? Jonah books a passage going the opposite direction. Of course, he wasn’t planning on getting picked up by fish, but he did. He was in the belly of a fish and blinded for three days. And then, the fish spit him out and he received his sight again. I bet his skin was bleached out from being in the belly of that fish for those three days. He must have been quite a sight and had quite a smell when he showed up there in Nineveh. God sent him to the Gentiles.

Jonah is a foreshadowing of the ministry of Paul. God’s been trying to do this all along and the Jews resisted it. They stumbled so that God could open the door, but He’s not finished with them. He has not excluded them. He says, “I make much of this to make them jealous.” His purpose is not just to make them jealous, but that some of them might be saved. That’s why he makes a big deal about it because he knows that God is not finished with the Jews. He’s not finished. 15 “For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?” He’s still speaking about the stumbling; if it opened up the gospel to the whole world, then just think how much their acceptance is going to mean when they come back to Jesus as they should have. It’s going to be like life from death; that’s what he’s saying.

In verse 16, Paul starts talking about bread. Out of the blue, Paul is going to give us two images here; two metaphors. If you’re not from a Jewish background, you’re going to wonder, What the what? Verse 16, “If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump.” Why are we talking about this? Paul is referring to something from the tabernacle, from the temple. Whenever they would make the twelve loaves of bread for the showbread table that sat in the holy place, they would offer a small portion of it to God and it would be completely burned up in that first portion. The first fruit of it made the whole batch of dough. So, you’ve got this whole batch of dough, following a certain recipe and then you take a little bit of it and the first fruits of it and you offer it to God. And when you do that, it makes the whole batch holy. This is an image from the Old Testament practice. You can study this in the book of Numbers 15: 17- 21 for those of you that just want to get at it and get at what Paul was talking about. He’s using Jewish imagery here. He begins with something that the Jews would have known. The Gentiles would wonder, What’s he talking about? Kind of like we are right now. It makes the whole batch or the whole amount of dough holy.

Paul uses the word, holy, as the bible primarily uses the word, holy, as it refers to the temple worship. It means more about being “set apart” for special use than it does perfection. This bread can’t be just eaten at home. This bread belongs to the priest at the temple. It follows a certain recipe, it’s “set apart.” And so, the word, holy, has this idea of not for common usage. It is for special use; for holy use.

Paul is speaking in this imagery. I think he’s talking about the remnants of the Jews who have already believed: the first fruits – Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David and Moses. Also, the ones like Paul; Paul is part of that remnant. They’re the first fruits. There’s coming a day when the whole batch we’ll be “set apart,” but not yet.

In the same verse, he says, 16 “and if the root is holy, so are the branches.” Now, there’s no branches in this dough. Paul is not talking about dough anymore. He’s talking about a new thing here; he’s talking about an olive tree, which is what he’ll talk more about in just a minute. Paul is staying if the first fruits of the dough is holy, so is the whole batch. If the root is holy, so are the branches in the whole tree, it’s from lesser to greater. It’s an image Paul is offering and he’s restating that the root is the Old Testament: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, and so forth. He’s reminding us of the source and where the Messiah comes from.

Here’s the question: How do I apply this? The tension for me throughout this segment of Romans is we’re talking about something that God is revealing to us about Israel and the Gentiles, but how do we apply it? How can we be mindful that His plan doesn’t exclude them. I would think about it like this: are we making anybody jealous for what we have? Are we making the Jews jealous, the Muslims jealous, the Hindus jealous or the pluralist secular postmodern jealous?

I look on facebook sometimes and read what church people write. Does it make you want to have what they have? Listen to what Christians are saying in the break room at work and how they’re complaining. Look at how the church has divided over the pandemic instead of being united by it. Does anybody want what we have, Christian? The plan is that we will be so transformed that our lives would be so unworldly, so new and so attractive that the world would be jealous for what we have. Are people jealous for what we have?

Look what Paul wrote to Titus, Titus 2:10-13 (NIV) 10 “… so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive. 11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” We are to live “set apart” lives, we’re part of the first fruits. We are to be so attractive in the transformation of the new creation of our lives, so marked by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. So marked by that that the world says, I want some of that, I’m jealous for that. Where can I get some of that? Especially for the Jew’s sake.

Now, some denominations have embraced what is called “dual covenant theology.” Have you heard of this “dual covenant theology?” It’s this idea that the Gentiles have a covenant and the Jews have a covenant but they have different covenants that lead them to pleasing God and going to heaven. The Jew has the old testament and the Gentile has the New Testament and both of them can please God without coming to Jesus. This “dual covenant theology” arose as a response among liberal theologians after the holocaust. The view was, if we tell the Jew that they have to believe in Jesus, it’s just like the holocaust all over again; we’re putting to death their “Jewishness.” And so, it was a response to that.

May I ask, do you think that’s a loving response to the Jew, or would it be more loving to do what Paul did, and that is, to make much of Jesus, so that they would be jealous. So that they would desire for something more and would come to faith in Christ. Can you imagine what Paul would say if he had encountered this “dual covenant theology? I guarantee that there would have been a new letter in a book of the New Testament, addressing this hypocrisy and this heresy.

There’s only one way, my friends. Regardless of your background, whether you’re Jew or Gentile. No matter who you are, Jesus says to you, “I am the way the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father except by Me.” There’s only one way. Now, this flies in the face of the Jew, but it also flies in the face of our culture today. Our culture says that there is no absolute truth. Truth is whatever you believe. Whatever you think is true. We all seem to know in our heart of hearts that that couldn’t be so, but yet, we do live according to it and it has infected the church.

According to Probe Ministries who recently did a survey, nearly 70% of Christians who claim to be born again say other religions can lead to heaven, that Jesus is not unique, that there are other ways. This trend is very disturbing to me. I’ve been pastoring for almost 30 years, church. If anyone in my hearing right now, whether you’re watching online or here in person, doesn’t understand that we claim Jesus to be the absolute truth, please make an appointment to get with me. The truth is not a proposition; the truth is a person. If you want to know God, you must know Jesus. To say otherwise to people who are far from God, is to lead them to be further separated from God. If we really love people, if we really love Jews, if we really love Muslims, if we really love people far from God, we will introduce them to Jesus. He is the way, the truth and the life. There’s no other path to heaven except through Jesus.

Go to oneforisrael.org. Hear their testimonies and watch the new trend, the growing phenomenon in Israel today. Jews are believing Jesus as their Messiah. Let me tell you, when they come to Jesus, it kind of makes me jealous a little bit because they recognize things in Him that I haven’t noticed. They see His “Jewishness” in the gospels. They teach us things as they embrace Him. Go to this site; this is a new thing that God is doing, which I think points to the consummation and the end of days when Jesus will return. Be mindful; He’s not finished with Israel. Here’s number three:

3. We can humbly remember that His plan is received through faith.

We are now at verse 17. Paul introduced the root and branches and now he’s going to make much of it. He’s going to tell us now that he was talking about an olive tree. He, perhaps, recognized that only the Jews will understand that ceremonial use of dough, but everyone in the Roman Empire knows about an olive tree. Olive trees were all over the Middle East and they still are today. Paul uses a metaphor now, that everyone can understand, the Gentiles can understand. It is found in verse 17 “But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree,” He’s talking to the Gentiles, “although a wild olive shoot.” How many of you werewild before God got a hold of you? That is what he’s saying. Basically, the Jews have been cultivated for centuries given the word of God. He’s cultivating this olive tree that’s called Israel. God is the farmer. He’s shaping Israel that’s cultivated, he’s used all 39 books of the Old Testament to shape them.

The Gentiles are the vast majority of humanity. They’ve just gone wild, they haven’t had any of that revelation, they’re just sitting out there. Paul basically says that the Gentiles had all of this and they stumbled over what all that pointed it to, which was Jesus. So, don’t get all uppity, because you came in as a wild branch. He is the only reason you’re in here; it’s by faith. He grafted you in by faith. Paul is talking to us Gentiles now and he tells the story about this tree.

Now, you don’t even want to know how much about horticulture that I studied this week. I spent some time on olive tree grafting and there’s a lot to know about this. May I first make this observation; the Jews were familiar with the olive tree imagery. Jeremiah says this in Jeremiah 11:16 (ESV) The Lord once called you ‘a green olive tree, beautiful with good fruit.’ Israel was accustomed to being called an olive tree. Now, Paul is talking about grafting the Gentiles into this thing. Here are a couple of photos of olive tree grafting for your information. We have an olive tree that’s been cut back. It was no longer providing fruit. We see the cultivated base. What’s grafted in are these new shoots. You make a cut in the bark, insert the shoot and then wrap it. They would use different things to cement it in place. There’s more modern means today. It would result in this next photo. You can see that the tree was pretty much finished but, because of grafting, had a second life. Some people have pointed out that to graft in a wild olive shoot to a cultivated route is the reverse of what you would do for an apple tree. You would start with a wild root and a cultivated shoot because the root is stronger if it’s wild.

Paul reversed it; normally they would start off with a wild olive root and graft it into a cultivated shoot. Ithink this would be a good observation. It means, by God’s grace, he reversed the horticulture truth of it. It’s not normal, but Paul is going to graft in these Gentiles. So that would be one takeaway you could say.

Others have reported that there’s a practice that’s still used today that was less common. When an old tree stops bearing fruit, they graft in some wild olive tree shoots in order to rejuvenate and reinvigorate the tree, so that it would come back to life and start bearing fruit again. And so, apparently there was an opposite practice.

I told you that I studied horticulture this week; there’s a lot here. Here’s the thing: he’s saying that he has grafted the Gentiles into that which was God’s people. The olive tree is an image of God’s people. We’ve been grafted in. He broke some branches off; why did he break them off? Well , let’s just keep reading. I’ve told you a lot about olive trees.

Let’s move on verse 18, “Do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.” That’s a word to us, church. You got drafted in. You didn’t earn it. It was by faith. So don’t be arrogant towards the Jews who have stumbled. Don’t be prideful about it.

This would have been a good word back during World War II. This is still a good word today; the church should recognize that we shouldn’t be prideful. The Gentile part of the church was grafted in as a result of the stumbling. Remember that and do not be arrogant because you’re nourished by the root. What’s the root? The root is the Jewish believers. If it weren’t for the root, the Jewish believers, you wouldn’t have Jesus. By the way, most of the New Testament came from Jewish believers too. The only question might be Luke. Luke has that Greek name, so maybe he was of Gentile lineage, but many think even he was a Jewish man who took on a Greek name. For most of the bible, the root came from the Jews who believed, so don’t get prideful. Don’t get arrogant. It is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.

If you get that in your head, if you’re not prideful, then you’ll say this in verse 19, Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” And so, you believe that by faith and you wouldn’t be arrogant about it. Verse 20, “That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. they were broken off because of their unbelief.” They weren’t just randomly broken off. They did not produce the fruit of belief. They rejected their Messiah who was born to them. They rejected Him and so, because of their unbelief, the landowner, the Father, pruned those branches off and grafted in the Gentiles.

How did they get in? Was it just random? No, the Jews that didn’t believe were broken off because of their unbelief. But you, speaking of the Gentiles, stand fast through faith. So they were grafted in because of faith, faith in Jesus as the Christ. The gentile portion of the church has been grafted in by faith.

Paul, then repeats it, “So do not become proud, but fear. they were broken off because of their unbelief.” So, do not become proud or arrogant; instead, fear. Be aware of how thin the threat was that included you. That idea of fear is the Greek word, phobeō. That’s where we get the word, “phobia.” Here, it has more in view of reverence and respect for God, that He made room for us and we should be humble about it that we received it by faith. We didn’t earn it by merit. It was my faith.

1 Peter 5:5-7 (ESV) 5 “… Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” We are to live a life of humility, not thinking ourselves superior to those that have not believed, but instead to just tell them the way to receive. This is not by merit, but by faith. Don’t make the mistake the Jews made. They became arrogant and prideful about their place in their book. Instead of believing in the Living Word, they decided that they could earn God’s favor by trying to keep the written word, not recognizing that the only way to keep the written word was to believe in the Living Word and have Him live His life through them. The Living Word is Jesus. They were arrogant; Paul is saying, don’t be like them. That’s what got the Jewish people cut off, the large majority of them. Don’t be like them; don’t be arrogant. Instead, be fearful and humble according to what God has done for you.

Verse 21, “For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.” Now, he’s not talking about individuals as much as he’s talking about his vast overarching plan of how he’s moved from Israel to the Gentiles. So don’t make the same mistake they’ve made. Now let’s look at the fourth insight, we can humbly remember that his plan is received through faith. And then finally, here’s the fourth insight:

4. We can take note that His plan reveals both His kindness and severity.

We’re in the final verses of our reading today. We’re in verses 22 through 24. Paul says in verse 22 “Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.” He wants us to understand something about God. God is not a two-dimensional figure. He’s not a saccharine, milk toast, limited God who has only one side of the attributes necessary for the full revelation of God. The liberal Christian and the unbelieving world that would believe in a God, made in their own image, would make a God that just accepts and tolerates everything. They would do away with the sight of God, that’s holy and righteous. They would only want God’s kindness.

Paul is reminding us here that our God, the God revealed in the bible, is not made. We didn’t make Him, He existed before us. He’s the creator and we are the creation. He’s both loving and holy; He’s both righteous,just and gracious, he’s both kind and severe. I would not want to know any other God than the true God.

If you see something that’s wrong in our world, there’s not many things we can agree on today, that’s right or wrong. If someone was murdered or someone was raped and they go before a judge who just lets everybody off, we would agree that’s a bad judge. We wouldn’t want a judge that was so kind that he lets everybody off. No, we want a judge that did what was right. We still have some inkling of that remaining, even in our pluralistic postmodern thinking. But, as we look at God, God knows exactly what’s right and wrong, He knows it exactly. He’s both severe and kind. He’s both at the same time, so note that. Be aware of that. His severity is toward those who have fallen, those who have decided not to believe in Jesus and, instead, have decided to live life on their own merits. God is going to be severe toward them. The bible says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” He will judge you based on that if that’s what you want. He is kind towards those who believe in Jesus.

Verse 22, “… but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness.” Does that mean there’s something you’ve got to do? What it means is, you’ve got to continue to walk by faith. So, you believe by faith and keep walking by faith. Don’t believe by faith and then start trying to walk by legalism. You were saved by His kindness; continue to throw yourself upon His kindness and live according to his kindness and grace. The end of verse 22 says, “otherwise you too will be cut off.” This refers to us as a people, not so much specific individual members. This is talking about Israel and Gentiles. This is a big fly over 35,000 ft, talking about the trajectory of time here of Jews and Gentiles in God’s redemption plan. Otherwise, the Gentiles will be cut off. The Gentile segment of the church will be cut off if they start thinking it’s by merit.

Verse 23 says, “And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again.” “They” is talking about the Jews again. “And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief will be grafted in.” Israel is not just stumbling, so they might fall; all they have to do is believe and they’ll be grafted back in. “For God has the power to graft them in again.” Well, certainly He does. He has the power to graft them back in.

Verse 24, “For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.” Some of us are wilder than others. If you got grafted in by the father because of your belief, even though it’s contrary to nature. Perhaps Paul here is referring to the horticultural upside down approach he used earlier. It is contrary to nature to graft in a wild shoot into a cultivated olive tree. How much more will these, the Jewish believers that will come to faith, the natural branches, those that already understand some things about Jewishness that we don’t? How much will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree? When they get back in, it’s just gonna be a perfect fit because the whole thing was always pointing to Jesus and they missed it.

Go to some of those videos I’m talking about on oneforisrael.org. It’s astounding how happy they are to find that Jesus has always been for them and for us too, because He’s made room for us. It’s important that we take note of His kindness and His severity.

In Psalm 85, we see both sides of God; a description of God. It says in Psalm 85:10 (ESV) “Steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other.” The psalmist is describing how the whole revelation of God is described; He’s both loving and just. He’s both kind and severe. Unless we fully understand this about God, we will miss the meaning of the cross of Christ, because at the cross of Christ, we see the mingling, we see the intersection of God’s justice and God’s love, God’s severity and God’s kindness. You won’t understand the crucifixion of Jesus unless you understand the character nature of God. “God so loved the world that he gave his son.” We see it on the cross that God sent His Son. But then, we also see at the cross that God must judge sin. If He judges us according to our merits, then all of us have fallen. But, if we believe in Jesus by faith, we see the intersection now of His justice and his love. We see it mingled together. It’s severe, because Jesus cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” He took our separation and our sin upon His own shoulders. God turned His back on Him. The severity that was meant for us, He expressed toward His own Son. Unless you understand that God is both and not either, He’s both kind and severe, you’ll not understand the cross. But, understanding that the cross makes perfect sense. It’s a stumbling block to the Jew. It’s foolishness to the Greek, but its life, faith and salvation to those who believe.

We’ve been studying God’s grand narrative of redemption, His salvation plan for the whole world. God is still on the throne, regardless of what the world looks like today. The timeline goes from Eden to the new creation. It’s not a straight line; it’s kind of got some ups and downs. There’s sorrow, suffering and sin along the way, but there’s also love, kindness and grace. God is not finished.

How will you respond? Are you wrestling with the nature of God? Run to Jesus. If you’re trying to understand God, look at Jesus and get to know Jesus because if you know Jesus, you’ll know the Father and you’ll understand. If you’re wrestling with God’s plan, run to Jesus. He’s coming again soon.

Let’s pray. Lord, I pray that You would take my humble expression of this passage, my humble attempt to expound on it, Lord, and that You would make up the difference by Your spirit. We know that Your word never returns void . I pray right now that people are doing business with You and that they’re hearing from You. That You’re speaking to hearts from Your word. I pray for that one that’s far from you. They came in far from you today, but today they’re ready to commit their life to Jesus, they recognize that He is the way, the truth and the life. If that’s you, my friend, right now, you can express your faith through prayer. Prayer is just talking to God. Pray with me right where you are. Dear Lord Jesus, I’m a sinner. I need You. I believe You died on the cross for my sin, that You were raised from the grave that You live today. Come and live in me, forgive me of my sin and make me the person You want me to be. Make me a child of God. Adopt me into your family. I I say that You are my Lord. I put You in charge of my whole life . Now, come and be my Lord and Savior. If you’re praying that prayer right now, believing, He’ll save you and He’ll make you a child of God. Others are here and you’ve prayed and you’ve received. You believe, but the Word has been applied to your heart now and there’s someone that’s far from God that you’ve been thinking was excluded from God but they’re not. God has a plan. They won’t hear unless we tell them. Lord, break our hearts. Give us zeal. Some of us have been delaying turning our whole life wholly over to You. We believe, but our lives don’t look like something that others would be jealous of. Lord, reveal to us that area that we’re still hanging on to. We’re still trying to be the Lord of our life. Help us submit it to you right now so that we’re holy and set apart unto You, so that those that are far from God will be jealous for what we have. We pray these things now in Jesus’name. Amen.