"The Glory of Grafting" pt. 2 Romans 11:22-24

Introduction

Remember that Paul is using the illustration of an olive tree to explain how Jews and Gentiles are members of the covenant people of God.

One thing is obvious about this tree, God is sovereign over it and he displays the reflection of His character as He tends to His olive tree. Look at this reflection in verse 22-23:

I. The Reflection (22-23).

The Reflection that Paul is speaking of is on the Character of God regarding His kindness and severity.

When Paul speaks of the kindness of God he is referring to His goodness towards others. In this case he is referring to those who God has grafted into His covenant tree.

The severity of God is referring to His inflexible moral purpose as God is unwavering when it comes to His moral truth. This is seen in the way He acts towards those branches that have been broken off and removed from His covenant tree.

This brings us to not only to reflect on the character of God but it brings us to reflect on the actual validity of our salvation.

We talked last Sunday on the danger of presuming on God. This is where we embrace a form of godliness but deny the true transforming power of the gospel in the heart by the Holy Spirit.

This is the religion that prideful men will embrace in the last days as Paul describes them to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:5 as-- “having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.”

Selfish ambition drives hearts away from the direction of Christ. They may even seem to start out great and by all appearances look like they are genuine believers but external form is no lasting substitute for Holy Spirit empowered transformation through the gospel of grace.

Which can only be initiated by God alone. To us they may look like they are in the tree but in the end God will make it apparent that they are branches that are broken out.

God knows the beginning from the end and we see something that looks like it was and now is not but God sees it as it has truly always been and always will be. And the Bible presents us with both perspectives.

When push comes to shove you may abandon the faith but you were truly never really in the faith according to the divine grace of God.

Humility cultivation is critical because good works will cause pride to swell in us without the gospel confronting it and sanctifying the pride of our hearts out of us.

God’s grace to us through Christ is relentless towards His true covenant children. God doesn’t say after a few years, “Well I might as well give up, this child I chose in Christ from the foundations of the world is just to much for me to handle. If only I had of known ahead of time how it would all turn out I wouldn’t have wasted my time trying to save and sanctify him.”

Such a God would not be Omniscient and Sovereign in His providential decrees in how He exercises those decrees.

Paul is simply reminding us to walk in humility before God and others. Don’t presume upon God regarding yourself and don’t presume that you are above any other person on earth. The elect are only saved by grace alone.

God is the only one who can change people and bring about a recourse of action. Look back at your text to verse 24 at what I am calling the recourse:

II. The Recourse (24).

The Recourse is possible because God’s grace is relentless towards His elect. That applies to the Jews and the Gentiles who have been chosen by Him before the foundation of the world.

The wild olive tree branch who was outside the covenant of Israel by divine grace has been grafted in. The divine olive grower has taken a recourse of action and grafted in the wild branches into His covenant tree.

Paul talks about this with spiritual distinction in Ephesians 2:11-13-- “11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands—12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

Who was it, Gentile believer, that brought you near? It was God who brought you near through the blood of Christ. God changed your course of direction. He opened your eyes, He made you alive, He applied the blood and made you His covenant child. Dead men don’t resuscitate themselves they must be raised from the dead by an alternative source of power and be grafted in by God almighty.

Christian don’t you love being in God’s tree? Don’t you love being in His family as His child and heir of all the covenant promises? God has placed you there.

Divine grace has seated you in the heavenlies in Christ and this is a glorious truth for us to hold on to and it is such a great place to be. And it is such a great encouragement to know this as we live in a fallen world. It is right where God decreed that we would be and it is glorious. Wild olive branch in God’s cultivated covenant tree.

If that is true, how much more would the natural branches be suitable for grafting by the divine olive grower? And a remnant will be grafted back into God’s tree. And they are being grafted in even in our day. Jewish people who believe in Christ are grafted in to the same tree as Gentile believers.

God only has one tree with branches grafted in from all the nations of the world. And all the branches regardless of their ethnicity are one family of God through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Witnessing to Jewish Truck driver moving me in to the parsonage in New Jersey: “Jewish people are God’s chosen people but for Gentiles the law is kept for you by Christ. And that is how you as a Gentile come into the blessings of God.”

He got it right for Gentiles but he believed he earned the blessings of God through obedience to the law. He recounted his prayer life to me and how devout he was at teaching his children. But when I asked him about his consistency, he told me when he fails he just tries harder and harder. He was on the proverbial hamster wheel. It is just as impossible for me as it was for him for we all descended from Adam.

Conclusion

Masking off the accent wall in Brigham city.

The problem with masking tape is that if the surface that you stick it to is not clean and free of dust the tape won’t hold.

So I was taping up masking paper with masking tape and it was a real battle for me all afternoon and even into the evening. Getting it ready for one of the elders to come in later that night and paint it.

I had tape on top of tape. I worked so hard and finally after many hours I got it all up. It was sagging but it was up. I stepped back and looked at my masterpiece and it started to fall first in the center.

And when the weight of the center dropped from the ceiling the weight of it pulled the sides and within 3 seconds it was all in the floor. And I was devastated.

I almost cried. You see no matter how hard we work there is just to much dirt to establish our good works. No matter how much we try the weight of sin will pull them all down in the end.

Unbeliever you need a savior to cleanse you through His precious blood. Believe the gospel.

Christian you ever feel like all your good works are falling in the floor? God is reminding us what the true basis of our hope and security really is.

Christ alone. God’s grace and love towards us is relentless. Confess and receive from Him today.

Let’s pray!