The Job of Grafted Branches
Romans 11:11-25
June 2, 2024
Pastor Craig Ledbetter
Bible Baptist Church of Ballincollig
I. Introduction and Review
A. We are studying through the letter to the Romans – written by Paul around 55 or 56 A.D. (20 years after the crucifixion)
1. Such a marvellous book of the Bible
2. We started back in 2023
3. Currently in Chapter 11, learning about the amazing wisdom of God, as shown in how God has dealt with a nation of people called ISRAEL
B. Last week we learned…
C. God Has NOT Cast Away the Jewish People (Romans 11:1,2)
1. “HIS people” is NOT a reference to Christians, or any religious group even
2. But in context, God is referring to the Jewish people as a nation
3. This was surprising to the Christians in Rome – that God would still want them after what they did to His Son
4. Paul is Proof that God has not turned His back on the Jewish people
5. The nation as a whole was stubborn and unwilling to submit to the righteousness of God. But at the same time, but that was not the whole story. Some remnant or subgroup does respond in faith to the gospel. Paul himself in 11:1b is one of those unbelieving Jews that became a believer!
D. God Knew How Bad Israel Would Become (Romans 11:2,3)
1. God already KNEW – foreknew – just how wicked Israel as a nation would become
E. God Speaks about TWO Israel’s – believing and unbelieving Jews
1. And God is committed to both! That will blow most people’s minds
2. And then there are Christians – a mix of Jew and Gentiles who follow Jesus
3. He is committed to us too! For the reasons we will learn of today
F. There is Always a Remnant of Believers Because of Grace (Romans 11:4-6)
1. The remnant that Paul is referring to are a fragment of Israel (a small number) that believes what God says and follows His words in the Bible
2. We also are a remnant – of Gentiles
G. The Elect Jews (Romans 11:5-8)
1. The elect-elect
2. A Remnant of Jews who believe the Gospel
3. They are the big deal in Gods plan – we are not the big deal!
4. That is why you don’t read about America, or Washington DC, or London, or the Germans, or the Chinese in the Bible
5. Everything in history surrounds that little piece of land in the Middle east, and the people who belong there – the Jews!
6. And yet, the Jews are not followers of their own Messiah – they murdered Him
H. The Story is Not Finished (Romans 11:11,12) – God Still Wants to Save All the Jews
1. Listen to the question…
2. Romans 11:11 Have they stumbled that they should fall?
3. Listen to the answer!
4. No. God forbid.
5. Romans 11:11 God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.
6. And then Paul excites us with what God was working out through Israel’s fall…
7. Romans 11:12 Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?
II. Message
A. The Fall of Israel (Romans 11:11)
1. Romans 11:11 I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall?
2. Paul refers to the people of Israel as a nation that has fallen
a. We would say, “hit rock bottom”, done a face-plant, fallen all the way to the floor
b. It is like when you hear of, “The Fall of Rome”
c. The nation of Israel (as a group) stumbled and fell when they encountered JESUS
3. Why?
4. Israel fell because of a stumbling stone that God put in their path – that stone was Jesus!
a. The stone was “A rock of offense” – an offensive rock – the Rock upsets people when they encounter it
1) Romans 9:30-33 What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? [WHY?] Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone; As it is written, Behold, I [GOD] lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
2) 1Peter 2:6-8 Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture [IN ISAIAH 8], Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner [MOST IMPORTANT], And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.
b. That stone, rock was NOT Peter, but JESUS!
c. How do YOU react when Jesus is preached, and worshipped?
d. It is “Jesus” that is offensive to everyone but especially to the Jewish people
1) He is NOT like they wanted Him to be
2) The same is true for most people
3) People only want a Genie, a servant, an ATM kind of Jesus – one who does what WE want Him to do, not the other way around
4) For Jesus to give us commands instead of suggestions is very offensive to us
5) For Jesus to mainly want to save my soul, not my bank account is very upsetting
5. This fall humiliated the Jews
a. They were brought low – demoted to lower than the Gentiles
b. God warned this would happen back in Deuteronomy 28
1) Deuteronomy 28:7-10 The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways. The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. The LORD shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways. And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee. ...
2) Deuteronomy 28:13 And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them:
3) Deuteronomy 28:15 But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:
4) Deuteronomy 28:43,44 The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low. He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail. [BOTTOM]
5) Deuteronomy 28:48,49 Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee. The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand
c. All of which is exactly what happened time and again, and especially in Jesus’ day when ROME put a yoke of iron on the necks of the Jewish people
d. And yet, THAT is a good thing – to be brought low
B. The question Paul wants to settle is, Was This Fall Permanent? And Forever? (Romans 11:11-15)
1. Romans 11:11 I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.
2. Was their blindness their ruin as God’s elect, peculiar nation?
3. Have the unbelieving Jews stumbled so that God would completely abandon them?
4. No! God forbid!
a. God uses even the worst disasters to make things work out for good
b. Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
5. Paul begins to explain a series of events to show God's hand in the judgment upon Israel
6. A Bigger Plan was in motion… (Romans 11:12) Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?
7. Israel's Fall
a. When Paul wrote this letter to the Romans in 55 AD, it was obvious that Israel was not an independent nation any more – they hadn’t been an independent nation since the Maccabean period 100 years earlier
b. Israel was oppressed and dominated by a wicked Gentile empire - the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire was a very wicked, sex-crazed culture, and a very oppressive European power. And Israel had to live surrounded and dominated by Rome’s culture.
c. To the Jews, their fall was a disaster. They had missed the opportunity to own the greatest of God’s riches – Imputed Righteousness!
d. Their fall was complete in 70 AD when the Roman general Titus completely destroyed Jerusalem and the second Temple, and drove Israel in every direction for the next 1800 years!
e. Jesus described this fall in several parables:
1) Matthew 21:33-36 Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen [FARMERS], and went into a far country: And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise.
2) Matthew 21:37-39 But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.
3) Matthew 21:40,41 When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.
4) Matthew 21:42 Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?
5) Matthew 21:43-45 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone [POINTING TO HIMSELF] shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them.
6) Jesus just told everyone standing there how that the Pharisees were about to KILL the Son of God so that they could have the kingdom themselves, and that God the King will totally destroy them, AND THEN GIVE THE KINGDOM TO ANOTHER NATION! Gentiles!
8. It Led to the Gentiles Getting Saved
a. Good came out of Israel’s rejection of the Son of God
b. To the rest of the world (to us Gentiles), the fall of Israel was an opportunity for riches beyond our wildest dreams
c. Their stumbling opened up the opportunity now for all nations and tribes and people – Not just the Jewish people, but all non-Jews, Gentiles, to get saved!
1) Reconciling the entire world of sinners back to God! (Romans 11:15)
2) Remember Cornelius? Lydia? the Philippian Jailer? All Gentiles!
3) Gentiles means “nations” and people, other than Israel
4) So, YES, when Israel rejected Jesus, the nation was diminished, but nor destroyed
5) They were Humbled but not hated by God
6) Their loss meant riches for the whole world – not financial riches, but riches of:
a) Forgiveness of sins like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had – now the world had it
b) Eternal life like Abraham had
c) Closeness to God like Abraham had – not down at a church or temple
d) Perfect laws of government and to society end of worship – of which most western laws were based up until the last 100 years
e) A perfect Bible - The holy scriptures, all of them – written by Jews
f) A perfect faith – no need for good works, or sinless perfection – just faith and trust in the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Jesus
g) God's blessings (just like Joseph brought God’s blessings everywhere he went)
h) And ultimately, the gospel and Christ were poured out upon the world, like water on thirsty soil!
d. Again, the Fact that Gentiles were now getting into the kingdom of God was obvious to anyone who would watch as Gentiles repented and believed the gospel
1) Proven by their ability to speak in tongues just like the Jews had in acts chapter 2
2) Proven by them abandoning idols, and living by the Bible all their lives
3) The transformation of Gentile cities and cultures into scripture-loving and obeying homes and families was undeniable
e. OUR salvation works to provoke the unbelieving Jews to repent and get saved themselves!
1) Ungodly Gentiles we're getting converted and we're worshipping their God... Better! With heart, NOT empty ceremonies, traditions and empty gestures
2) The Jewish people started yearning for God because they realized they were missing Him – only had traditions, and ceremonies, and rules and expectations – no relationship, and no forgiveness, and no perfect righteousness!
3) Like jealousy in a marriage when there's been a fight and the two people are not close. But when someone is getting close to your man or to your wife, you become jealous
9. Which Will lead to Israel's future return to fullness – restoration (Romans 11:12-15)
a. Paul is writing to us Gentiles (Romans 11:13) For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:
b. He says plainly Israel is coming back
1) Romans 11:12 Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?
2) Their fullness refers to their RESTORATION and SALVATION as a people
3) But until that day, unbelieving Jews are asleep, blind, deaf, and lost
4) And need to be prayed for, and upset and provoked to believe the Gospel
c. Wait, What? This was an unexpected statement made by Paul
1) It is so natural to think that God has just simply moved on from rebellious Israel
2) To think that God abandoned and divorced himself from Israel and now was in love with someone else and committed to someone else… “us Gentile believers”
d. That may be natural, but that is not scriptural
1) Romans 11:13 For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:
2) Yes, Paul loved winning Gentiles to faith in Christ
3) But he loved the fact that by winning Gentiles, he was helping to turn Israel back to God!
4) Romans 11:14,15 If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them. For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?
5) Paul so desperately wanted his people, the Jewish people to emmulate/copy what the Gentiles were doing
6) And was willing to win every Gentile so Jews would also get saved!
e. Israel cannot stay down as a nation. Israel is going to seek God again!
f. The Jewish people will seek God the right way one day!
g. The Bible predicts a national resurrection (Ezekiel 37,38)
h. That they will be saved, born again in one day!
i. Before Armageddon – we learned a bit about that last week!
C. The Importance of Israel to God’s Plan (Romans 11:16)
1. Paul gives illustrations / word pictures to try to explain the wisdom of God in all of this
2. Romans 11:16 For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.
3. He starts with a simple reference to bread – a lump of dough
a. If the first bit of dough (first-fruit, first portion) is good, then you can trust the rest is good quality too
b. Referring to Israel – whatever was good for them, is good for all people
c. The Old Testament and the New Testament are both part of God’s one great plan!
4. Then he speaks of an olive tree… “if the root [OF A TREE] be holy [HEALTHY], so are the branches”
a. The root is the most important – supplies the entire tree with water and nutrients
b. The branches cling to those promises and covenants
D. God’s Olive Tree (Romans 11:17-21)
1. Romans 11:17-21 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.
2. Paul uses a very special symbol – an Olive tree
3. Not just a symbol of Israel, but much, much more
4. Take note of all the parts of an olive tree, from the base upwards…
a. Roots
b. Trunk
c. Branches
d. Fruit - Olives
5. Each part is easily identified
a. Roots tap into the nutrients of the soil – the promises and power of God in His covenants and words
b. The Trunk constantly carries those nutrients to the leaves – the historical record of God’s hand and work in lives of believers throughout history, especially of the Jews
c. The Branches are each generation of God’s People – that must cling to and believe/receive the promises of God and the power of God in their lives
d. The Fruit (olives) is the abundant life of the believer. We were saved to produce fruit
1) Olives produce the best oil in the world - Olive oil
2) As well as Natural beauty oils and skin creams
3) Medicines from the leaves
4) Chapped lip lotion
6. And Paul points out what happens to the branches of the Olive Tree
a. SOME branches are broken off and thrown away
b. Romans 11:17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;
7. Mentions another tree – a wild olive tree
a. Romans 11:24 For if thou [GENTILES] wert cut out of the olive tree [THE WORLD] which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?
b. Looks similar to a good olive tree
1) But has bitter, inedible olives
2) It is unusable, except as firewood! OUCH!
c. The natural olive tree is Israel
d. The wild olive tree is all the Gentiles as a group of people
e. That says a lot!
f. By-the-way…
1) The apostle Paul speaks about people groups not individuals in this chapter.
2) He speaks of Israel as a nation, a people-group, and of the Gentiles as a people group. Not as individuals
8. Mentions “Grafting”
a. Romans 11:17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;
b. Special cutting and placement of a branch from another tree – not easy to do
c. Bound into a single branch – the binding is never removed
d. The natural Olive Tree decays and becomes old over time
e. Grafting in from the wild olive tree revitalises the natural tree
f. Does not REPLACE the tree, just revives it – “graffed in AMONG them”
g. Causes the tree to thrive again
9. What is God Saying?
a. Some of the branches (generations of Jews) were broken off – by God
b. Why? Because of unbelief in their Messiah, and in God’s way of salvation
c. The Gentiles now stand in the graft, simply because we believed
d. And a New Covenant is active, that now includes both Jews and Gentiles!
e. The plan and work of God continues now, revived by saved Gentile believers!
E. The Responsibility of Gentile Believers – “grafted branches” (Romans 11:18-25)
1. Romans 11:18-25 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again. For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree? For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
2. So what are WE supposed to be doing?
3. Stay Humble (Romans 11:18)
a. Romans 11:18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
b. Do not believe that you are more important than unbelieving Israel
c. You and I are blessed by God because of faith alone – not worth!
d. You started low, so stay low in attitude
e. Don't ever become arrogant and self conceited or high minded about yourself
4. Draw from the Roots, not from Branches
a. Romans 11:17,18 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
b. The curse on modern Christians is this teaching and idea that we all need self-help, and visualisation techniques, and technology, and self-appreciation, and sel-actualisation, and things that promote our SELVES!
c. When God already gave us all we need in the tree we are now part of!
d. Study your Bible from start to finish so that you can know your roots as a Christian came from Israel
e. Came from the promises that God made to and through the group of people called Israel
f. Romans 15:4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.
g. Always be in awe of God's hand and work
h. Remember that the entire New Testament comes from Old Testament promises and foundations
5. Be Worthy of Jealousy
a. Romans 11:11 I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.
1) It is a big ministry provoking unbelieving Jews to jealousy
2) It is why Paul did what he did all his life - sought to save Israel
b. When a dumb, ignorant Gentile worships and loves and obeys the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, it makes a Jew very jealous of what they don’t have – a close relationship with their God anymore!
c. When a sin-loving-Gentile gets converted and gets serious about living a clean, godly life, worshipping God, it makes an unbelieving Jew jealous! It makes them go crazy!
d. We need to live worthy of being jealous of
1) Paul says in Eph 4:1 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,
2) THAT is a call to us Christians – to live up to the new life we now have
3) Col 1:10 That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;
e. It certainly helps soul winning of a Jew
f. So, Live clean and pure now as a Christian
g. That's why the rules were made in acts chapter 15 (no fornication, no idolatry, no eating of blood). Why? For the benefit of unbelieving Israel who would notice!
6. Pray for Israel
a. Psalm 122:6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.
b. Psalm 129:5 Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion.
c. Pray for peace there, for protection, for God to open their eyes, for God to give YOU the chance to witness to a Jew
d. God loves them! He still does!
a. Israel is supposed to get saved. This is one prayer that will come to pass
7. Produce Good Fruit in your Life
a. Just like an olive tree is no good if it can't produce good olives… neither are we
b. Apple trees are no good without apples
c. Christians are kind of worthless if they are not producing spiritual fruit!
d. God tells us about 9 fruits that a Christian is supposed to be producing for the world to enjoy! (Gal 5:22,23) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
8. Fear for Your Generation (Romans 11:20,21)
a. So, Fear God, because the Gentiles could be broken off next, and thrown away by God!
b. Romans 11:20,21 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.
c. This is referred to as both the goodness and the severity of God!
d. Romans 11:22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
III. Conclusion
A. Time is running short – God is about to turn Israel back to Himself, and the entire world is going to go loopy
1. Everyone will completely fall away from God and turn to following the antichrist
2. Covid, WWII were nothing compared to what is coming
B. Everyone now is invited to receive the promises of God – by faith
C. Unfortunately, Not everyone responds
D. Jesus may be offensive to you, but He is your only hope!
1. You must repent - turn from your sin to almighty God
2. And believe and trust Jesus as your Saviour - not as your religion, but Saviour of your soul
E. And Christian, you and I have a lot of work to do, as part of a grafted in branch in the perfect power and plan of God