We are coming today to Romans chapter 11 and five verses, verses 17 through 21. At the end of Romans 11, the elders will decide whether we're going to continue here in doctrine or we will be going back to the catechism as is our custom. But Romans 11, 17 through 21 for today. We'll read together, let's begin. And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, branches were broken off that I might be grafted in. Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he may not spare you either. That is the word of God. A Gentile warning, don't be complacent. Beloved of the Lord Jesus Christ. Have you ever seen someone who came from a very humble, poor background and then given an important job, how he suddenly transformed into a dictator, a power-hungry, power-grabbing person, and then he starts to act like he were the king of Spain, and he was just given a regular job? Come from regular background, given a good job. How quickly he forgets from where he came and acts like everyone must bow the knee to him. That's not a new problem. Even slaves did this. Slaves who were freed in Rome 2,000 years ago and slaves who were freed in the United States less than 200 years ago, one of the things that characterized many of these people is they turned around and owned slaves. What happened? They were from a low position. Instead of being humble and trying to protect themselves and others, they turned around and did exactly what was done to them. And just so, Jewish Christians, oh sorry, Gentile Christians, who were graciously freed by a Jewish man and that gospel was preached to them by Jewish preachers, they turned around and mocked Jewish people as inferior. And this is what the Apostle Paul had to address and he does in our passage today. He tells them, don't be complacent. Don't be arrogant. Don't be boastful. Don't gloat. Because what happened to them could happen to you. Our headings to get to that point. are the Gentiles grafted into the olive tree. Second, the Gentiles gloated about being in the olive tree. And then the Gentiles given a warning about gloating of being grafted into the olive tree. Our goals are that you will be humble before God, knowing that you did not deserve to be saved, and instead that you will produce fruits of obedience to bring honor to the one who saved you and joined you to his family. So you like your position, and serve instead. First, the Gentiles were grafted into the olive tree. Well, Christ's kingdom, pictured by the cultivated olive tree, started with the Jews. But some of the people there called branches by the Apostle Paul, not the whole tree, but just some branches, were broken off because of their consistent rebellion against God. It wasn't because they sinned one time and asked for forgiveness, but they had a pattern of rebellion against God. That olive tree, the cultivated olive tree, was really a picture of Christ's kingdom. It was a tree that was planted in the house of God. You see a beautiful picture of that in Psalm 92. It was nourished by the streams of living water. We see that in Psalm 23, being by that living water, by the river. And then it was established by God. It was made great, it grew. Look at how Hosea describes it. Hosea chapter 14, verse six, together, his branches shall spread, his beauty shall be like an olive tree, and his fragrance like lemonade. And you'd see these pictures, you've seen one of them, goes around on Facebook, this huge tree where a couple hundred people could gather under the shade of the tree in one of those big African trees. A picture of a healthy, beautiful, thriving tree. But some of the branches were cut off from this olive tree because of consistent rebellion. Now, after some branches of the Jewish branches were cut off, some Gentile wild olive branches were grafted in, becoming part of the tree. The new branches, when they were joined, they start to receive the same nutrients that the original olive branches received. Because the root was the same. The root was Jesus Christ. And he doesn't say, well, you're like stepkids. No, when He adopts us, we're given the same nutrients as everyone else. Look at Galatians 3.26-29 together. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ, put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free. There is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. The unity. There's no special privilege in saying, well, as the Mormons, women are lesser than men are. You're fed with the same nourishment. Everyone gets the same. Now, it's an interesting thing to think about, though, because the wild olives, the tree, looks kind of like the same. The leaves are not much different. They look kind of the same way, but they were unproductive. and their future was firewood. There's nothing more for them because they didn't produce a lot. And that's why that was the picture that the Apostle Paul used to teach about the Gentiles. Now, some people fuss about this because they say that while olive branch was grafted into cultivated olive branches, this was not something you would normally do. You would do it the other way. You would take the good branch from the good olive tree and graft it into the wild to make that productive. And it's actually kind of fun to see how plants will take other plants and produce with it when you do graft. Well, others tried to justify what the Apostle Paul was saying. He said, well, the wild branches were grafted into the cultivated tree, really to invigorate the tree. I don't know if that's true. I don't know enough about horticulture to say. It doesn't make sense. But why are they fussing about this? This is not something to fuss about at all. After all, Christ isn't a tree. You aren't a tree. You aren't branches. You're not made out of wood. It was simply an illustration to make a point. And every time you think of a parable or an illustration, you have to remember, you don't look at the every detail of the parable. We have a number of scriptures talk about the rich man and Lazarus going into heaven. And then in hell, rich man opens his eyes. He sees Abraham in the Lord's bosom. You think that's real? That's not there. The point of that parable was just simple thing, hear the gospel now, nobody will go back to preach the gospel from the grave. Or Jesus talked about the woman who was going to the judge and being persistent and the unjust judge would not give her justice and then he finally says, okay, I'll give you justice. Well, who's the unjust judge here? Who do we pray to God? Is God the unjust judge? No. He was just intending to teach that you must be persistent in prayer. So this isn't about the tree as much as speaking about dwelling in Christ and receiving his nourishment and producing good works, as God, as a sap of Jesus, comes in to us. So we're grafted into Christ. Gentiles are grafted in to the olive tree. What can we learn? First of all, know your unworthiness before God. Don't forget from where you came. What was your home address? Sin? Shame? and misery. That's what characterized your life. Unworthiness. Now to know your unworthiness, secondly, remember the Jews were the first people to be God's people. They were the first Christians. They were the first preachers to the Gentiles. The Gentiles did not give any benefit to the Jews until later. So if anything, we as Gentiles are beholden to them for what they did. And to look down on them would not be appropriate. Galatians chapter 3 verse 14, together. that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." Where did it come from? Abraham. And we are recipients of what Abraham already had. Third, know your unworthiness before God. God had to give you entrance into his kingdom before you could come in. Remember, you weren't even looking for his kingdom. He had to open your eyes and show you your sin, show you the danger you are in, and then show you the way to God. He gave you his word and then his spirit worked through that word and engrafted you into the family of God. Matthew 21 verse 43 says, together, therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. That's the Gentile people will be joined into the tree of Christ. And in this way, Christianity is different from all other religions. We looked at that recently. They all require good work, sometimes a whole long list of good works. Whereas you were as unproductive in your wild olive tree, not knowing anything, not knowing that your future was going to be firewood. And then the Lord comes to you and cuts you out from there and puts you and joins you into the cultivated, productive olive tree. You must have the work of Christ so you would never be grafted in. You are passive. Fourth lesson. Because of Christ then, two nations became one in Jesus Christ. In fact, enemies, read Ephesians 2, there's a beautiful picture of the wall of separation being torn down and the two becoming one in Jesus Christ, being part of the same tree, being part of the same church, being part of the same family of God. And what that means now, enemies are now brothers. You're grafted in together. And it's interesting too, even for us, we see the variety of people who are coming into the church of Jesus Christ. We've got a couple of, we've got one Indonesian to replace the ones who are missing today. We've got Chinese and Koreans and South Americans, North Americans, Africans. What a beautiful thing. You're brought together into family. God does that. Naturally, there are aversions in the way we were raised. Oh, we don't want to mix with those people. Here, no one, I forgot Filipinos. I can't forget them. They're not here today either. All of them. We're all part together as one family. What a beautiful, beautiful thing. But look at what the problem is. Point number two, the Gentiles then gloated about being in the olive tree. Gentiles, wild olive branches, then gloated against the Jews who had fallen into rebellion against the Lord and were consequently expelled. Here's the thing, even some believing Jews started to mock the other Jews who were cut off. This is what we call antisemitism, real antisemitism. They were against the Jews. Laughed at them. Specifically, the Gentiles said, branches were cut off that we could come in. And it's like, you know, the little kids, nana, nana, boo boo. Look at them. They were cut off. We're the special one. I got the candy. You don't have any. But they should not have boasted. Not at all. Why should the Jews not have boasted against the Jews? The Gentiles should have thought about their own deplorable condition before they were engrafted. There was nothing intrinsically special about them. There never is. It's children of Satan before. The scriptures are explicit too. The Jews were the original people to experience God's salvation. Remember what Jesus told the woman at the well, the Samaritan woman. Let me read this, John 4, 22, you worship what you do not know. We worship what we, we know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews. So there's no ground for boasting one, because you're not the source of salvation. Second, he told the Gentiles, you do not support the root. The root supports you. So you have even less grounds for boasting. You don't have any self-sustenance. In fact, firewood was your future. Now you have a future and you're getting sap that comes from me. Then third, the Gentiles were engrafted when the Jews were broken off. But it wasn't because the Jews lacked, but it was because the Jews lacked faith that caused the Gentiles to be included. It wasn't because God just says, well, I don't want these Jews anymore, I'll just whack them off. They lacked faith. So it wasn't anything on the Gentile part to merit their inclusion. And therefore they had no grounds for boasting. They want the Jews, put it simply, the Jews weren't broken off to make room for the Gentiles to come in. It was because of their lack of faith, their rebellion against God. And even when the Gentiles were brought in, what was the basis? Faith, that's what joined them to the church. Where did the faith come from? God gave them faith. To receive what? The gospel. Where did that come from? God sent the gospel to them. So even their inclusion was purely by the grace of God. They weren't standing in their own strength. Look what happens when you get that way. Jeremiah chapter 11, verse 16, say together, The Lord called your name, green olive tree, lovely and of good fruit. With the noise of a great tumult, he has kindled fire on it and its branches are broken. You see, since when God was warning them about what would happen to them, and this is the same warning, The Apostle Paul is giving to the Gentiles who were brought in. You look good now, you're grafted in, you're getting the sap, but your future could also be firewood, even if you are joined to the people of God. What lessons can we learn here? First of all, never boast that I'm not as bad as other people. That's not God's standard. If you have no faith, you too will be cut off. Just like we've looked at, you can't say, as the Jews did, well, we are part of Abraham's family, therefore we will be saved. Or we're part of the covenant, therefore we'll be saved. You cannot say church membership will save you. Jeans, you can't say the baptism that their baby had today will save them. It saved no one, not adults, not children. You can't boast to and say I'm going to be, I'm not as bad. I've got some things going for me. It must be pure faith in Jesus Christ. Second, Don't be in a rush to condemn your brother when you see some weakness in him. A general principle we can pull from this passage. Look at Romans chapter 14, verse one and three and so on. Together, receive one who is weak in the faith, but not the disputes or doubtful things. "'Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat. "'And let not him who does not eat judge him who eats. "'For God has received him. "'Who are you to judge another servant?' To his own master, he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand. But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Therefore, let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother's way. Let me make a comment about this. This says don't judge your brother. but the Bible commands us to judge. So what is the difference? This is don't condemn your brother for small things. If you look at Matthew chapter seven, judge not that you be not judged. The Lord talked about the speck and the plank. What are you saying? Don't condemn people for small matters. Now, if there's a flagrant thing, you see someone in television preaching or you hear a sermon and the sermon is way off base and it's misleading people, then you need to speak up. You need to be able to condemn that person. But give people a break. We're all sinners. We all have weaknesses. Don't go after them for small things. Third lesson, the Jews who were cut off would be more easily regrafted into the tree as they are the original branches. That's what the apostle Paul came back to them and said, you know, you're quite something to attack these Jewish people. You forget you are wild olive branches. And it takes some adjustment to be a part of that tree. But the other branches Because those people have background and knowledge, they can be more easily brought back in. So don't boast as if you were superior to those people. Remember Romans 11, 24, together. For if you were cut out of the olive tree, which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree? So don't loathe about it. Arrogance. And the lesson for us is Don't think that somehow you're superior to all others because you are a Christian. Of yourselves, you're not. It is Christ who made you who you are. It's Christ who gave you that new name, that new record, that new heart, that new life, that new hope. Nothing originated from you. Now, that's the warning now he's going to give them. The Gentiles were given a warning about gloating, of being grafted into the olive tree. Last part, verse 20, do not be haughty, but fear, for if God did not spare the natural branches, he may not spare you either. Apostle Paul then bluntly warned the Gentiles of the danger they were in for gloating about the cutting off of the Jews and the inclusion of the Gentiles into the kingdom. And instead of gloating, he said, one, you must Fear, God, that is the holy reverence, not an uncertain emotion where you say, I don't know what's gonna happen, I'm afraid, and inflation, job, employment, marriage, all those things can lead to sinful fears. But this is speaking of a holy reverence of God. Good fear, the fear of God protected them from arrogance. And ultimately, it protected them from destruction. Just like you don't go to the edge of a cliff and stand up and wave your hands. You know what can happen. You can fall. And here's the danger. Don't go around boasting because you can fall in the same way they fell. Instead of gloating, they were to remember that they did not deserve to be in the kingdom. And if they rebelled, they too would become firewood. They too will be cut off from the kingdom as some of the Jews were. And ultimately, God will exclude Gentiles who pretend to be part of the olive tree, but did not bear fruit. He went even further, right? That's the idea here. You have to fear God. You have to produce fruit. Because if you're in the tree and you are just getting up and you're producing nothing, guess what will happen? That's the pruning time. You're cutting off of the branches that are unproductive. And here's the thing. This is what the Lord did in AD 70. There was a final culmination of the destruction of the Jewish people. who had rebelled against God. God had warned them and warned them and warned them. That's when the Northern Kingdoms, AD, sorry, BC 722, when the Assyrians came, it was a warning to the tribes. Then God took away 10 and a half then and left one and a half, but they still didn't listen. And then God had to send up one and a half tribe called Judah into Babylonian captivity. And then they finally came back during the days of Haggai and Zechariah, but they still didn't listen. And God had to send Antiochus Epiphanes from the Greek empire, and he caused so much damage there, and they still did not respond. And what was the result? When Jesus came, they loved the money. The Jewish people loved financial success, and that took over their lives. When Jerusalem was destroyed, it wasn't because of poverty. They loved their money. Remember, Jesus went into the temple and upturned the tables. Those people had so much business going. It was one of the thriving metropolises of the time. Metropolite, whatever they say. And the Lord had to turn and upside down, get their attention, and they still didn't listen. And Jesus said, you know, within this generation, you'll see the destruction that will come. There'll not be one stone left on top of another. And that's what the, in the temple. And that's what God sent with the Romans. They spent the greater part of a year breaking down the temple to make sure that it was not there anymore. He had to cut them off. And that is the warning that we must look at today. You know, in the West, we are sort of going that way. We think that if we continue to, but we have a Christian heritage, we have Christian background, we can live however we want now. But we are indeed going on fumes. Orthodoxy has gone. The churches are not faithful like they used to. And we have to watch and see if we don't get excised from the tree and suffer. Let's look at some lessons before we close. Learn from the mistakes of others. Jeremiah chapter seven, verse 12 said, together, but go now to my place, which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel. Shiloh was known as a place of total destruction. It should have been a good name. That was a name for Jesus related to Solomon. This is the promise of Jesus coming. If you look at Genesis, when Jacob was about to die, he blesses his children. He blesses Judah with giving birth to Shiloh, Jesus Christ. but destruction would come instead. See, God will not automatically save you because you're in a Christian culture, in a Christian church, or you've got Christian traditions. He's looking for real faith, real trusting faith. Second, what you need to do then is simple. Nourish your faith so it does not die, so you do not become firewood. like Israel did under Rome. Interesting that when time people left, whether the Assyrians or the Babylonians or the Romans, it was always fire, destruction by fire. You need to nourish your faith so you don't dry up. How do you do that? Reading the word of God, being nourished by the sacrament. Take the time to meditate on God's word. Take the time to pray. Take the time to worship. Encourage each other. That's how you'll be strong. You'll stay in the olive tree and you'll bear fruit. And then third, stop thinking. proud thoughts of yourself or your abilities or of your intrinsic value. You see, we're learning you've always got to empty yourself of the bad and fill it with good. Apostle Paul talks about that so much detail in Ephesians chapter five. All you are now is because of the Savior and let us humble you. 1 Corinthians 10, 12 says together, therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. That's the warning. If God would excommunicate, surely you do the same to people who are of a greater distance from him. That's us. Let's conclude. Gentiles wild uncultivated olive branches were graciously grafted into Christ. They had no ground for gloating because of this. Their position was number two at best. So God gave the Gentiles a warning not to gloat, but to receive his benefits and produce fruits that are worthy of repentance for the glory of the Savior. Brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, thank God that you were cut off from the old stock and grafted into Christ, not through any work of your own, but through the gracious work of God's Spirit. Then humbly serve the Lord. All you are and own is because of him. You aren't better than non-Christians because you are special of yourself. Without Christ, you're nothing. Third, one of the most significant ways you can serve the Lord is bringing others into the olive tree so they too can grow and flourish and cause men to praise God. That's why we were made. That's why you're in church. That's why you get married. That's why you work. That's why you do everything. It's about ultimately the glory of God. And finally, unless you're grafted into the tree, you'll be fit only to become dried and put into the furnace of hell for eternity. Won't you ask God to pluck you out from there? where you are now and graft you into himself and place you, put you in a place where you can be nourished and secured and continue to produce fruit for eternity. That's what God wants. Let's pray. Thank you, Lord, for your words today and for helping us to reflect upon the precious position we have in Jesus Christ. wild and yet made tame and productive because of the work of the Savior. May we then live worthily, producing good fruits, even as we continue to be nourished by your word and sacraments. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.