Wild Olive Tree Grafted In — What Romans 11 Says About Gentiles

Hello and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, ready to go, and we'll go right back where we left off in Romans chapter 11. And we're going to pick right up in verse 13. We just made our closing comments on it in our last program, and hopefully we can wind up the chapter. No, we won't either. We won't get the whole chapter. We'll get as far as we can, I guess. But I'm going to dispense with any of the announcements this time, and we're going to get right back into chapter 11. We were just commenting verse 13, where Paul writes to the believers at Rome. He's writing to you and I today. I speak to you Gentiles inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles. I magnify my office. In other words, he's never going to take a back seat to anybody concerning his apostleship. Now whenever I teach the other letters of Paul, I always comment on the fact that whether it's Galatians or Ephesians or whatever, Paul is always having to defend his apostleship. And that of course is understandable, because people can readily understand the Twelve and their unique position with Christ and His earthly ministry, and they don't have any problem recognizing their apostleship. But here comes this gentleman who was, as I said earlier, like a raging bull fighting against everything that spoke of Jesus of Nazareth. And then to proclaim Him as an apostle, and especially of the Gentiles, even people today have a hard time reconciling that. And as I've mentioned on this program time and time again, I've had so many people over the years say, Well I had a Sunday school teacher, or I had a pastor, who thought that Paul's letters didn't even belong in the Bible, that he shouldn't even be in here. Well I know that that's evident. But see, he's always defending his apostleship because of his unique calling, of his unique background. In fact, I was mulling it over getting ready for all of these, and I haven't made mention of it in the last three programs. But have you ever stopped to think that no one but Saul of Tarsus could have fulfilled the role of this apostle of the Gentiles? Everything just fits so beautifully. Here he is, a Jew's Jew, as we've already seen, an Israelite, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, of the tribe of Benjamin. And yet he was a Roman by citizenship, fluent in the Greek, fluent in the culture of the then known world. And yet in that man culminated all the things that were necessary to go, yes to the Jew as a Jew, but he could go to the Gentiles as a Roman. And it's just unique. And that's why of course he is the apostle that he is. Now let's go on into verse 14 and see if we can make a little headway. He says, "...if by any means I may provoke to emulation them who are of my flesh." In other words, his fellow Jews. And again he's coming back to that concept of creating jealousy. Oh if he could just make those Jews a little bit envious now of what the Gentiles are enjoying. Oh, he says, "...if I could just bring them to emulation, and might save some of them." Now look at what he said back in chapter 9. This was the man's heart for his kinsmen in the flesh, the Jew. Oh he says, I could wish myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites. He never lost that love for his fellow people the Jew, and even though he recognized himself as the apostle of Gentiles, yet his heart's desire was to see Jews come into this knowledge of salvation. But they were his enemies everywhere he went, they were his constant opposition, especially as he came down the shores of Greece, from Philippi to Thessalonica, down to Berea, down to Athens. They pursued him from city to city, why? Because instead of creating an envy that would bring emulation, they created a hatred. Now then verse 15. Ephesians 4. Now be careful, that doesn't mean the whole world is going to be saved, but let's go to II Corinthians chapter 5, almost identical language, beginning at verse 18, where the apostle writes to the Gentiles a quorum, "...all things are of God, who hath reconciled unto himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation." Now you all know what reconciliation means, it's taking two parties that have been alienated, that are at odds with one another, and bringing them back into a fellowship. That's reconciliation. The world tonight is set aside from God, they're at odds with Him, they're enemies of God, and God has done everything possible to reconcile them to Himself. Now verse 19. Ephesians 4. Ephesians 4. God was in Christ, reconciling not a few, but the world. Now we're going to see this defined a little better when we get back to Romans 11, but I want you to see the language. That God was in Christ when He hung on that cross, reconciling the whole world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, "...and hath committed unto us this word of reconciliation, and as such then we are ambassadors." We are to carry out God's bidding while we are in foreign territory. But what I wanted you to see is that the work of the cross was the reconciling of the whole world. Hebrews says that Christ tasted death for how many? For every man. He didn't die for just the few believers, He died for the whole human race. In fact I was sharing in the class last night, and I will probably ruffle some feathers. I'm not doing it on purpose, but it just happened to come up in a letter that I received in the mail from a listener, and he was asking about some of these dramatizations of the cross, using ketchup for the Lord's blood. And he said, "...isn't it almost blasphemy?" Well I have to agree. I was sharing with a class last night, and when you really stop to think about it, how in the world can any human hope to dramatize the work of the cross? It is blasphemy because it took the very God of creation to do the work of the cross. That is so far beyond and above human endeavor that we can't even reconcile it. That blood was not ordinary blood, and it certainly can't be described as ketchup or anything that might take its place, no way. That blood was divine, it was holy, it had the power within it to cleanse the whole world's sin problem, and then we think we can reduce it to human endeavor? No way. And I had to agree with him. I wrote right back and I said, you're right on, I agree with you. There is no way you can dramatize from the human element the work of the cross. It took the God of creation Himself to do it. Now then, coming back to Romans chapter 11, it's the reconciling of the world. Christ died for the whole world, not just for the believer, He died for everyone. Now then he says, "...if all this was accomplished because Israel rejected it, and now it has been given over to the Gentile world, what shall the receiving of them be, but what life from the dead?" Now whenever you think of Israel coming back from the dead, I want you to immediately think of one chapter especially in the Old Testament, Ezekiel 37. We won't look it up, because as soon as I give you a little idea what's in it, you'll know it. Ezekiel 37, the dry bones, and Ezekiel saw that valley filled with dry bones. They were very dry, they had been there so long they were white as snow. And it was merely a picture, it was a picture of the nation of Israel who had been out of the land of promise, who had been away from their temple worship, who had been blinded. But now God is going to bring them back to life, and it was just a picture of the nation of Israel coming back to their homeland as we've been seeing now for the last 48 years. They just celebrated their 48th Independence Day last week or the week before, which reminded us that it was a year ago that we were there. But nevertheless, the nation of Israel has been shaking and rattling and coming back to life, coming back to Israel from every nation under heaven. The muscle has come back on the bones, the skin is coming back on, but there's still no life spiritually. They are still spiritually dead. Now this is the same analogy that Paul is using in Romans 11, the same thing that Ezekiel saw in chapter 37. That this is the whole nation of Israel coming back to their homeland, coming back to life, waiting for the second coming as we look at it, their first coming they think. You know I've told you about the evangelical pastor and the Jewish rabbi who were discussing the things concerning the Messiah, and the evangelical pastor of course was trying to convince this Jewish rabbi that Christ was here the first time and would be coming again. The rabbi said, No, He's never been here before. He's coming the first time when He comes. And after a bit of argument, finally the rabbi says, Okay, put it on hold. When He gets here we'll ask Him if He's been here before. Well you see this is the whole mentality of so many people. They cannot reckon the fact that He has been here. He was rejected, He went back to glory, but He's coming again, and we're getting close. Now then Paul in verse 15 is referring to this. If this program of reconciliation that had been poured out on the Gentile world, great as it has been, it's nothing compared to what's going to happen to Israel when God comes back and fulfills His promises with them. And what shall it be but life from the dead? Yes, when the nation of Israel is out in the nations of the world, they're dead. They are not a viable entity, but oh, they're coming back. And that's why we're seeing the little nation of Israel in the news every single day. And I'm always reminding people, look what other little nation on earth comprised of only three or four million people? A geographical area smaller I guess than Rhode Island, and yet in world news constantly it is miraculous, because they're God's people, and He's getting them ready for His soon return. Now then verse 16. For if the first fruit be holy, the lump is also holy. If the root is holy, so are the branches. Oh now we come into an interesting illustration, we're going to go into horticulture. Verse 17. And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, speaking to Gentiles now, and if you Gentiles are a wild olive tree, and you were grafted in among them, the Jews and the good olive tree, and with them partakest of the root, and the fatness of the olive tree. Now we have to stop there a minute. Do you realize when you study this verse that this is the direct opposite of how we normally graft things? Totally opposite, because under normal grafting you take the old root that is native to a particular area. It has survived the climate, and the soil, and all that. It is native, but it's fruit probably isn't all that good. So what do the horticulturists do? Well they breed up a good hybrid, and of course the only one I'm acquainted with is the pecan tree, because we've done it with one. And so we got the old natural pecan, and then you take a hybrid, which is your big nice soft shell, and you cut off that old original trunk of that native pecan, and you graft in this beautiful paper shell. Now that's the normal way of grafting, but this is opposite. This is taking the beautiful tree, and casting it aside, and grafting in an old wild olive tree. Now if I understand the wild olive tree, it didn't produce any fruit, it was worthless. It was just like a bad weed. But that's what the Gentiles are. We as an old no good olive tree have been grafted in to the beautiful original, which was Israel. And of course when I teach this, I want to make it very plain, we're not talking about the believers here as the ones grafted in, although we are certainly part of it. But we're talking about the whole Gentile system, which has been grafted in to that which was originally Israel. Now stop and think. How and through what man did the nation of Israel come about? Abraham! Now let's go back to chapter 12 in Genesis, and we'll just go right down to verse 3. Genesis 12, verse 3, and remember this has never been abrogated. God has never taken this promise away, Paul has never refuted it, and no one else has. I will bless them that bless thee, God says to Abraham. I will curse him that curseth thee, and in thee, Abraham, shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Not just Israel, all the families of the earth. Now then we know as we had it on the board here a while back, that ever since this promise was given to Abraham until we get into Paul going to the Gentiles, Israel enjoyed the fatness of the root of Abraham. Israel was in the promises given to Abraham, but don't lose sight of the fact, God also told Abraham that He would be a blessing to all the rest of the world too. Now He can't do it two times at once, so what did He have to do? He had to set Israel aside, broke them off from the fatness of the root of Abraham, and He put in Gentile dumb as a group of people. The whole Gentile system has now been by the grace of God, put into the place that Israel enjoyed in that Old Testament. Now wait a minute, did that mean that all those Israelites were believers? No, they had the opportunity to be, they had the Word of God, and they had everything going for them, but again most of them weren't true believers. Most of the Israelites in the Old Testament were renegades in unbelief, but yet they were on the root of Abraham. So now Gentile dumb is in the same situation today, they are resting on the root of Abraham. Now that doesn't make us Jews, we are merely feasting off of that which God had promised the man Abraham. Now then, as the Gentile system has been feasting on all the blessings of the Father of Israel, that means that the Gospel has been going to the Gentile. He's had just as much opportunity at salvation and a relationship with God as Israel did back there. But what has Gentile dumb done with this glorious opportunity of being in the place of blessing that Israel lost? Did the same thing that Israel did, they've walked it underfoot, they have cast it aside, they've said, thanks, but no thanks. You'd be surprised how many people tell me they invite someone to a Bible class, they're good friends, and they're shocked by their answer, oh hey, now wait a minute, I'm not into that kind of stuff. See that's the average person's mentality. Even though they're in that place of tremendous opportunity, they're not going to take advantage of it. So now then, the Gentiles have experienced that position for almost 2,000 years. What's going to happen next? Let's read on. Ephesians 2. Verse 17 And if some of the branches, that is Israel, be broken off, and thou, the wild, no good olive tree, is grafted in, and with them partakest of the root and the fatness, that is the promises of Abraham, thou wilt say, that the branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in, that's the Gentile boast, but because of unbelief they were broken off. They were enjoying the fatness of the roots of Abraham, but what did they do with it? They rejected it in unbelief, and they lost that exalted position that we read about in Romans 2-3. That they had the Word of God, and they had everything else going for them. See that? Now then Paul says, be careful, be not high minded as a Gentile, but fear, for if God spared not the natural branches, if God didn't spare that good tree, then what's He going to do with the no good tree? Take heed, lest ye also spare not thee. Verse 22 Behold therefore the goodness and the severity of God on them who fail, Israel, severity, Oh absolutely He's been dealing with them severely, because they had rejected so much, He had offered them so much, but what's the lesson? We Gentiles are fast approaching that same place where God is finally going to get fed up with the Gentile world system, who are rejecting His offer of grace, who are rejecting His blessings, who are rejecting believing who He is and what He is, and what's He going to do? He's going to do the same thing, He's going to break off the Gentile, and when He's through with the Gentile, who is He going to put back? The Jew. See how beautiful it is? See what I meant 4 programs ago when I said, anybody who maintains that God is through with the Jew, that there's no more fulfilling of Old Testament promises, they've got to take this chapter and tear it out. They have to throw it away, because it just sits here and it trumpets, it just screams at us that God's not through with Israel, God is yet going to fulfill all the promises made to Abraham. We've just been fortunate enough that in the interim, while they've been blinded, we've been brought into the place of blessing as Gentiles. I'm not talking about believers necessarily, I'm talking about the whole Gentile world. We've been brought into the place of having the simple requirement of believing the Gospel. Let's read on, we'll at least finish part of the chapter. Verse 22, continuing on, "...upon them who fell severity, but toward thee Gentiledom, goodness, if thou continue in His goodness." In other words, respond to this offer of grace, and recognize all of His blessings that have been showered upon us. Verse 23, "...otherwise thou shalt be cut off, and they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in," in other words, one day their unbelief is going to be removed. I haven't got time, but I'll take you back to the Old Testament and show you how that works. Will a nation be born in a day? Absolutely! Absolutely! Oh when they see Him coming in the clouds of glory, that remnant of Israel I think down there in the mountains that went out in Matthew 24, and God has protected them down there now for 3.5 years of the horrors of tribulation. He keeps them just like He did Israel in the wilderness under Moses, and that remnant of Israel when they see Him coming in the clouds of glory, in power, crushing the Gentile world that has taken over the Middle East, then they will recognize who He is. They'll see Him, and the nation, the remnant will be saved in a moment, and they'll be grafted in. Now look at the last word of verse 23, "...and they will be grafted in," what's the word? Again! Again! God's not through with Israel, sure they've been set aside for over 1900 years, but that's nothing in God's program, that's just a flick of the eye lid, and He's going to graft them in again. Now then verse 24, "...for if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature," It's unproductive, I think the name of it was the old oleander tree if I'm not mistaken. It was an olive tree, but it didn't produce any olive. And so that's the analogy of Gentiles, they were no good, they were pagan, God had no reason to go to them, except by grace. And so He took the no good Gentiles, and He brought them in and made them a part of the fatness of the Abrahamic promises. Oh, but He says, be careful, if you reject all this like Israel did, you're going to be cut off just as well as they were, and it's going to happen. It's going to happen. The day is coming when God will stop the age of grace, and He's going to set the Gentiles into the horrors of the tribulation, and He's going to turn again to His covenant people. Now let's finish verse 24, and if you were grafted contrary to nature, just opposite of what we normally do when we graft, if you were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree, how much more shall these, the nation of Israel, who be the natural, be grafted in to their own olive tree? Oh, now listen, just stop and think. If God took that which was natural, broke it off, set it aside, and grafted in an old, wild olive tree, the Gentiles, and He's been letting them enjoy all the possibilities of salvation and blessing that Israel at one time had, but when they have rejected it and rejected it, then God will do the same thing with the Gentiles as He did with Israel. He will cast them aside. He will set Israel back on that root of Abraham, and Israel is going to go into the Kingdom of God, and they're going to go into the Kingdom of God, and they're going to go into the Kingdom of God, and they're going to go into the Kingdom of God, and they're going to go into the Kingdom of God.