Blessings From A Fall

A few weeks ago, my mother fell late one evening at home and it ended up being a pretty serious fall that hit her head and put her in the hospital for a few days. But as we thought about what could have happened, we realized that we were really blessed by God as a result of the way that happened. She did not lose consciousness and because of the kind of blood loss she had, if she had lost consciousness that time at night, no one would have checked on her till the next morning, the fall could have been fatal. She did not break a hip and that would have been much more difficult to recover from. So we actually ended up counting blessings from that fall. I can remember a man in the church one time falling and breaking his arm and telling me he was grateful for the time of year because it was winter and all the golf courses were shut down. So you know you find things to be thankful for even in the difficult times of life. This morning we are going to look at some blessings from a fall. We are looking through the book of Romans particularly in the last few weeks, chapters 9 through 11, we are looking at the fall of Israel and how God has temporarily set aside his people Israel as far as dealing with them as a nation like he did in the Old Testament, he has temporarily set them aside. The question is, at least in the first century, it was a burning question, it was a very important question in that day, well what does that mean about God's promises? Now probably none of you have ever lost any sleep over this question. What about Israel? But in the first century that was a question that went straight to the integrity of God's character. Is God really faithful to His promises? Does God really mean it when He says I have made promises and covenants with my people Israel? Is God going to keep those? Or did He just forget about them? Is He just going to do away with Israel? I mean that was a burning question in the first century and so it was one that Paul, if he is going to talk about the gospel, he must address that issue. He must answer that question. And we have seen that Paul is describing that God has temporarily set aside his people but he has not set them aside permanently. In fact, he asks the question in chapter 11 of Romans 1, did God reject His people? Meaning did God once and for all? Set them aside. Did He reject them completely? And the answer was by no means. No, not at all. But Paul raises a second question in the passage we are going to look at today. If you look at verse 11, verse 11 of Romans chapter 11, Paul says again I ask, did they, making Israel, did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? In other words, is this a permanent fall? They stumbled over the gospel and over the person of Christ, but is this permanent? Have they fallen so much that they can't recover? This is a fatal blow. In other words, is that the case? And Paul will once again say not at all. Now in this section, which deals primarily with Israel and how God deals with His people is Israel, how He once again deals with them in the future, it may seem like kind of an academic exercise for us to think about Israel and their past and their present and their future. What does that have to do with us? Well I'm very concerned about how this passage applies to us today. And so as we look at what God is doing with the nation of Israel and the fact that although He has temporarily set them aside, that's not a permanent doing a lay with His covenants with Israel. There will be a future for the nation. He will deal with them as His people once again. And even in this day and age, individual Jews are coming to Christ and are a part of that new work, that new body which God is dealing with His church. So even though it may seem like this is just an effort in studying prophecy or in talking about history, there is very much practical application for us today in terms of what God is doing with His people today. So I want us to focus today upon the application to us. We're going to begin with the blessings or the purposes for Israel's fall. Paul outlines three purposes for Israel's fall. They have fallen, they have stumbled, he uses that word back in verse 8 or verse 9. And so we asked the question in verse 11, did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? No, not at all. By no means. In fact there are some blessings that come from their fall. From Israel's stumbling, there are several blessings, three of them that Paul deals with in this passage. First of all, there is salvation for the Gentiles. Look at verse 11. He says again I asked, did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all. Rather, because of their transgression, and the transgression spoken there is spoken of there, is Israel's transgression. Israel's failure to believe in the Messiah, to trust the Savior, their rejection of Christ. That's their transgression. Because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles. To make Israel envious. Now we'll consider those last four words in a moment. But consider the thought that Paul introduces first, the first purpose. That God is working out through the stumbling and the fall of Israel, the first purpose of his is to get the gospel to the Gentiles. So salvation comes to the Gentiles because of what's happened to Israel. That was true, even in Paul's ministry. It's reflected in the book of Acts as Paul would go from town to town. He would typically begin his ministry in a Jewish synagogue. And the reason for that obviously was he had a ready-made audience of people who were already familiar with the Old Testament scriptures. And so he could begin there, had some common ground that he could start with. And he would start by taking the Old Testament scriptures and then showing how they were fulfilled in Christ and leading up to the Lord Jesus. But he had a very mediocre reception among Jews in the synagogues. And so typically Paul would then turn to the Gentiles at some point in his ministry in these different towns. And he found an amazing reception among the Gentiles, already acceptance of the gospel. And so although Paul would often go to the Jews first, he ended up turning to the Gentiles. It was true in Paul's ministry. It's true in God's overall purpose for this age where he's building the church. Because of the Jews' rejection of Christ, Christ, the gospel has now gone out to the Gentiles. You and I in all likelihood would not be saved today. Were it not for what happened in the first century as Israel turned their back on the gospel? So although that's not the optimum situation, although that's not the ideal, that's not what God intended, God intended for Israel to embrace her Messiah and then the light would flow from there to the Gentiles. But even though Israel failed and rejected Christ and stumbled, God still has a purpose. As he always does, even in difficult things, God always fulfills his purpose and his first purpose was to bring salvation to us today, to us Gentiles. We are saved today partly as a result of Israel's rejection of the gospel. But there's a second purpose for the stumbling of Israel, the fall of Israel. At least the second purpose that God is working out in spite of the bad thing that happened in Israel rejecting her Messiah and that second purpose is envy for Israel. You have salvation for the Gentiles, but God's not done with these people yet, Israel, and so there's also envy for Israel. You say, is that a blessing? Envy? Well, take a look at how Paul describes it. Again, they're in verse 11. Rather because of their transgressions, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel in-vious. Let's get down to verse 13. I am talking to you Gentiles. Whenever I read that, I think of that Coke Zero commercial. I'm looking at you, scientists. Forget that. Let's just move on. Okay. I'm talking to you, Gentiles. In as much as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of the ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. What Paul is saying is, my ministry is primarily to go to the Gentiles. I'm the apostle to the Gentiles in the sense that Paul's message in ministry was to take the gospel to the Gentiles. He's not ashamed of that. In fact, he declares that and makes it very clear that my ministry is to the Gentiles, but one of the reasons for that is that will then in turn provoke Israel and cause them to become envious of seeing the Gentiles now turn to God. God's blessing is now flowing to a new people. That might be enough, Paul hopes and prays, and in individual cases it is, enough to bring Jews to a place of, wait a second, God's blessing other people, we want to cash in on that. And so that kind of envy, literally the Greek word could be translated zeal, that kind of zeal for the gospel, that kind of interest in the gospel may then flow over to Israel because they're looking and seeing what's happening with these Gentiles. And by the way, that does happen on a very personal individual basis with many Jews today. Dr. Paul Feinberg was for many, many years, over 40 years, a wonderful professor of Old Testament studies. First of all, at Dallas, theological seminary, and then he finished out his career at Talbot seminary in California. When Dr. Feinberg was a student graduating with honors from the University of Pittsburgh, he was a part of a Orthodox Jewish family. He lived with an Orthodox Jewish family. He himself, obviously, was Jewish. He lived with an Orthodox Jewish family that had what's called a Sabbath Gentile, a lady who would come in on the Sabbath day and do the work for the family. Since in an Orthodox Jewish family, there's no labor to be done on the Sabbath day. So this, what was called a Sabbath Gentile would come in on the Sabbath day and would serve this Jewish family. Old did Dr. Feinberg know that this Gentile woman had taken rights of purification. She had gone through a ceremony of purification to actually serve this Jewish family, this Orthodox Jewish family. She had done it for the express purpose of being a Christian witness to this family. And she saw this as her opportunity to really influence them. Charles Feinberg was so impressed with her life that he began asking her questions. He became in Paul's terminology envious of what he saw in this woman's life. And he began asking questions. She couldn't answer all of his questions and so she introduced him to John Solomon who was at that time the head of the American Board of Missions to the Jews. And John Solomon led Charles Feinberg to Christ. And Charles Feinberg became one of the greatest Old Testament scholars this nation has ever seen. In fact, his two sons, Paul Feinberg and John Feinberg were both Old Testament professors also at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Great men of God. Charles Feinberg was aroused or provoked to envy to use Paul's term. He saw something in this Gentile Christian that he wanted about her lifestyle, her testimony or witness for Christ, and that ended up bringing him to Christ. That happens quite often among Jewish people who see the reality of Christ being lived out in Gentile believers. And God is bringing Jews to Himself through the testimony of Gentile believers. That's exactly what Paul's talking about here. Paul uses the term of becoming envious or zealous for the gospel as a result of what they see in believers' lives. But you know what I ask myself the question? When I see that, and I want to ask all of us here this morning, is anybody around us envious for Christ because of what they see in us? Is anybody looking at my life? Is anybody looking at your life and saying, you know, that person has such an attractive lifestyle that the person who's watching you, the person who listens to you speak, the person who hears you when you talk about life events, the person who sees you responding to life's challenges. Are they seeing such a difference in the way you respond, the way you talk, the way you live from what the ordinary run of the mill person does? Are they seeing such a difference that there's some thirst being created there? There's some envy, if you will, some jealousy to have that kind of lifestyle. Is anybody looking at me and getting thirsty for Christ? Is anybody looking at you and getting envious for that kind of a lifestyle which is only possible through the Savior? That's what Paul's talking about here. We ought to all be living the kinds of lives that create envy and thirst, spiritual jealousy in the hearts and lives of other people around us. So one of the good purposes that God is working out through the catastrophe of his people rejecting the Messiah is not only salvation going to the Gentiles, but also envy for Israel resulting in individual Israelites, Jews coming to know the Lord. But there's also a third purpose and this one has yet to be accomplished. This is the best one of all. And that's blessing for the world. You see the third purpose that God is working out through this whole thing and God's purpose is wide, it's broad, it spans from eternity past to eternity future. And this one reaches into eternity future. And that is that blessings will come to the whole world through what's happened with Israel, even in their rejection of the Messiah. Look at how Paul says at verse 12. But if their transgression means riches for the world, in other words if Israel's stumbling over the Messiah means that the gospel has a wider audience throughout the world to Gentiles and their loss, he says, means riches for the Gentiles. Now look at this. How much greater riches will their fullness bring? And then skip down to verse 15. He says, for if their rejection, the Lord's God temporarily laying aside his dealing with the nation is Israel, if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, if the gospel then goes out to the world because of that, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? So let me say first of all that Paul speaks of a time here of fullness and acceptance for the nation of Israel. It's the future. It's clearly still talking about the future because we're still in this time period now where Israel as a nation is rejecting Christ and so the gospel is going out to Gentiles, creating some envy on the part of individual Jews who are coming to Christ. But this blessing for the whole world is still future. But it happens when there is a fullness once again for Israel and when there is an acceptance among Israel. When that happens, then blessing just explodes to the whole world. And the Bible talks about a specific time when that will happen. It's called the millennium or the thousand year rule of Christ. The Old Testament prophesied it. The New Testament talks about it, especially in the book of Revelation chapter 20, but in other places as well, the Bible explains this time of great fullness upon the earth and great blessing in all the earth because there will come a day when Israel does turn back to her Messiah. If we were to go back to the Old Testament prophet Zachariah and chapter 12 of his book, he would find him describing a time when the Messiah will come to the earth a second time, the second coming of Christ. And Zachariah says that in that day, Zachariah 13.1, he talks about a fountain will be open for cleansing for the nation of Israel. Chapter 12 verse 10, he says that all the nation of Israel will look upon him whom they have pierced and they will weep as one meeping for his own son and they will embrace the coming of Christ, his second coming, as their Messiah, they will turn to him as their Savior. And when Israel, Paul, we'll talk about that by the way in the last part of chapter 11 here in Romans, he will say there will come a day when all Israel will be saved. That's the fullness he's talking about. That's the acceptance he's talking about. It's coming a day when Jesus will return to this earth and Israel as a group, as a nation will turn to her Messiah in faith and Christ will set up his kingdom on this earth. A thousand year rule of Christ on this earth with Israel as a favored nation status. Israel once again in her land as God's people, Christ ruling from David's throne in Jerusalem. Not a glorious time that will be and the way the Old Testament describes it is the curse will be lifted from planet earth. Earth will once again be productive as it was intended to be in the original creation. Gentile nations will come to Jerusalem to worship Jesus and bring their gifts to a rejuvenated temple at the center of Israel's religious life. I mean, this will be a time of great blessing for the whole world. You see, that's the ideal. That's what God intended it to be. It's very much what we're seeing here is very much like a family that tragically has a loved one to die. The other family members may survive that. They may learn to adapt to a different life without that beloved family member. They may even grow in Christ's likeness as a result even of that tragedy in their life. But it's still not the ideal. It's not the way God intended it. Think of what will happen when there is a reunion with that loved one who's gone on to be with the Lord. That's the ideal when everybody is together again. When everybody is one as God intended it to be, that's the ideal. And that's exactly what Paul's talking about here. Think of what blessing will come to the world when the ideal is realized, and that is the nation of Israel does embrace her Messiah, blessings flow out to the whole world from that. That is the ideal. That's the way God intended it to be. And if he's doing such great things through a time when Israel has rejected her Messiah, just think of what it's going to be like when they finally do receive Christ. Think of the blessing that's going to come to the whole world then. So God has a purpose that he's working out. You see, God's purposes are never defeated. And even though Israel rejected Christ at his first coming, it's not like God threw up his hands and said, wow, plan A failed. What am I going to do? No, no. God always has purpose. God always has a plan that he's fulfilling. And though Israel and her responsibility will reject the Messiah, God says, I've still got a plan. I'm going to use that tragedy to get the gospel to the Gentiles to take the gospel to other people because of that. Some Israelites will be drawn to the Savior and there will come a day when the ideal will happen when both Jew and Gentile will once again embrace the Messiah, will embrace the Savior and the whole world will be blessed. God always fulfills his purposes, even though it looks like man messes things up. That's what we call the providence of God. That God works all things together for good. And you know what? He's doing that in your life and my life too. No matter what happens in our lives right now, no matter what tragedies may occur, no matter what hardships may come, God's still working out his purposes. And God will take even the difficult things that happen, the bad things that happen and work good purposes out of them and through them. I just love and I know I reference it often but it's my favorite biographical story in all the Bible. And that is the story of Joseph in the Old Testament. He to me is the greatest example of the providence of God taking bad things that happened to us and using them for good purposes. Because of the hatred of his brothers, he is sold into slavery. But that's how God gets him to Egypt where he has a special plan for Joseph all along. And then Joseph ends up a slave. But that's how God develops his character. For 13 years either in slavery or in prison, God is developing that man's character to prepare him for a position and a ministry and a work he has for him. God's always fulfilling his purpose. But then Joseph gets thrown in prison, falsely accused. And it looks like things are still going south downhill for Joseph. Every step is a terrible mistake it seems like. How could God be in that at all? And yet him being thrown in prison is the very way that God gets him in touch with Pharaoh. He brings him to Pharaoh's attention. Oh, there's a lot more to that beautiful story. But on every page of Joseph's story, you can see the hand of God, providentially working out his purpose to put Joseph in a position where he would be God's instrument to save the people of history from extinction during a famine. God had that in mind all along and all the bad stuff that was happening to Joseph over a 13 year period of his life. One tragedy after another, one hardship and heartache after another, all of it. God was using to fulfill his purpose and he'll do the same with you and me. Not only does it do it on a national level, Jew, Gentile, Millennial Kingdom. He also does it on a personal level with you and me. So whatever's happening in your life right now, whatever's going on, trust that God ultimately has some good purpose to bring out of that and he will fulfill that. The purpose for Israel's fall. But notice Paul goes on to describe more about Israel's fall and what that means and what it looks like. And he'll begin to draw some principles from Israel's fall in verses 16 through 24. I want it just to read those verses and then we'll make a few comments about what this is all talking about. Draw some principles from it. Number 16. If the part of the doe offered his first fruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy. If the root is holy, so are the branches. If some of the branches have been broken off and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not boast over those branches. If you do consider this, you do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in. Granted, but they were broken off because of unbelief and you stand by faith do not be arrogant, but be afraid. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you either. Therefore the kindness and sternness of God, sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in His kindness. Otherwise you also will be cut off and if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in. For God is able to graft them in again. After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? You say what in the world is that all about? All these olive trees, wild branches, natural branches, grafting taking place and then you got a polydough that is a little bit good and what is Paul talking about? Paul is using two illustrations, a minor one, then a major one, to describe exactly what he is talking about with God temporarily setting aside his people, bringing in a new people, Gentiles into his place of blessing to establish the church, but assuring us that he will once again bring his Old Testament people Israel back into his place of blessing. Now let's figure out the symbolism here, then we'll draw some principles. In verse 16 Paul, first of all, talks about an offering, the grain offering. He talks about the first fruits. You see, when Israel's crops first started coming in, they would take the first fruits, the first part of their crops and offer them to God as a sacrifice. Those would be holy and devoted to the Lord, and indication that the rest of the harvest also was considered a blessing from God. They would do the same thing when they would make bread, the first little bit of a lump of dough, they would take out and consecrate that to God as an indication that the rest is holy also. We recognize it's all a gift from God, but we're going to offer him the first part of it as a means of saying thanks. Kind of like what we're supposed to do in the church today as God's people, when the New Testament describes us taking the first fruits of our income, our resources and offering them to God as a sign that we recognize everything he's given us is really his, and we're just stewards of it. We're going to offer the first part of it to him as a way of saying thanks to him for providing for us and taking care of us. You see, that was written into the Old Testament law. They did that routinely. The Paul's point here is if the little lump that you take out of the dough is holy, if that's consecrated to the Lord, well then the whole thing is too. Then he starts into this root and branches thing at the end of our 16. If the root is holy, so are the branches, and they turn to this olive tree that has root, it has natural branches, and then these natural branches are broken off, and wild branches are grafted in, and he says that's contrary to nature. You don't usually graft the wild into the good, usually the other way around, but he's saying that's what God's doing. He's grafting the wild branches in, but he's going to bring the natural branches back. Now everyone in Israel's day would have understood that imagery, but here's what Paul's telling us. The root is Abraham. Abraham is the root. He's the one that began the tree. The tree, the olive tree, is the place of God's blessing and privilege. Different people groups are brought into this place of God's blessing and privilege. It's not just salvation that he's talking about here. It's the place of God's blessing, the place of privilege, the natural branches that come from the root of Abraham are Jews, obviously, but now they've been broken off. You see, they've rejected their Messiah. God has temporarily laid them aside, and he's put wild branches grafted them in to that place of his blessing. This is Gentiles, consistent with what he's been talking about in these three chapters. We Gentiles who did not naturally come from the root, we've been brought into the place of God's blessing, but make no mistake about it. God's going to bring his natural branches back into that place of blessing someday. Now that's the picture, that's the imagery that Paul is using to describe God temporarily setting aside the nation of Israel, bringing into Gentiles, but he's going to bring his own people back someday, the people of Israel once again into his place of blessing and privilege. Now that's the theology of it, but I want us to focus up on some of the practical principles from what Paul is teaching here, and there are four of them that he describes quickly. Let's look at them. The first one is, faith brings us into the place of blessing. If you look at verse 18 again, do not boast over those branches. In other words, the natural branches that were broken off, you're a wild branch, you're in the place of blessing now, don't boast over those branches. He says, if you do consider this, you do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say, then, branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in, and Paul says granted, yes, that's the case, but now here it is, verse 20, but they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. You see, the reason for Israel being set aside, temporarily rejected in the symbolism here, broken off of the place of blessing, the reason for that was unbelief. The reason for God's judgment is unbelief. The reason why anyone stands in the place of God's blessing is faith. Now when you apply that to the way of salvation, the reason Israel has been set aside is they did not believe in the Messiah, they did not trust Christ. He's been saying that all through these three chapters. The only way we get into the place of blessing is through faith. It's not because we're any better than anybody else. It's not because we Gentiles are more worthy than the Jewish nation. It's not that because we know Christ we're any better than anybody else. It is simply by faith we have been united with Christ in this place of God's blessing. And so it is faith that brings you into a living union with Christ. It is unbelief that causes one not to be in that place of blessing. So never forget that. Salvation being in the place of God's blessing, being in His program, if you will, is simply because of faith. It's not because of anything we have to offer Him. Salvation is through faith in Christ. Being out of the place of God's blessing, being under His judgment, being rejected by Him is because of unbelief. So they've been caught off because of unbelief. You've been brought in because of faith. Don't ever forget that. Place of God's blessing is because of faith. Second principle that Paul makes clear. Watch out for pride and arrogance. Watch out for pride and arrogance. Verse 18, he says, do not boast over those branches. Again, don't look at the fact that Israel has been temporarily laid aside. And now we, as Gentiles or as the church, are in the place of God's blessing and kind of think, wow, you know, look at them and look at us. Don't boast over the fact that someone else has been set aside and you're now in the place of blessing. And he says, well, you might say branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in. You know, God put them aside so that he could have me. Oh, really? Paul says in verse 20, they were broken off because of unbelief. You stand by faith. Do not be arrogant. Couple of things, these verses are telling us. Number one, there is no place for anti-Semitism in the body of Christ. There is no place for any believer in Jesus Christ to have anti-Jewish feelings. Quite often, those who at least claim the Christian faith have been opposed to the nation of Israel or to Jews ethnically, you can trace that through history. And what Paul is saying is there is no room for anti-Jewish sentiment on the part of any believer in Jesus Christ. We have no room to boast over our position and to be arrogant as though we've been lifted up higher than the nation of Israel or Jews in our day. And by the way, anti-Semitism is a very subtle thing. Be careful about jokes, ethnic jokes, any kind of ethnic jokes, but particularly those that put down God's chosen people, the Jew. Be careful about that. You say, well, that's just in fun. Be careful. There is no room for anti-Semitism among believers because God will bring His people back into His place of blessing again, the Jewish people. Mark it down. They're going to be back in His place of blessing some day. But Paul is also saying there is no room for pride or arrogance on the part of those of us who are now in God's place of blessing. We have been given that as an act of God's grace. It has come to us by faith. It's not because we're any more worthy than anybody else. It's not because we've proven ourselves superior to anybody else. We are in the place of God's blessing strictly by His grace through faith and Christ. There is no room for any believer to have an attitude of pride. Now watch this. This is very subtle. Be careful. Because it's very possible that sometimes we as believers look at unbelievers, those outside of Christ. And we look at their lifestyle and we begin to think of ourselves as better. There is nothing about any of us that is any better than anyone else in this world. We are where we are in the privileged place of God's blessing solely because of His grace. God didn't look down and see you in me and say, well that's a mighty fine person. I think I'll save them. No. We are saved and in the place of God's blessing solely because of His gracious gift. And we received it by faith. There is no room for us to look down our nose at any unbeliever or his or her lifestyle and have a super or have a super pious self righteous look down my nose that you kind of an attitude. There's no place for that in the family of God. There's no place for that in the church. Paul says, don't be arrogant about where God has you. He said, you ought to be afraid. You see that in verse 20? Don't be arrogant but be afraid. There is a healthy fear of God. And that is a reverence of Him that recognizes I don't take for granted His kindness and His pleasure in having me where He has me. I better not take that for granted. I better not be arrogant and think that I somehow deserve this or I'm worthy of this. Be careful. Have a healthy fear of God. An awe, a respect of Him that does not take Him for granted, does not take His blessings for granted and does not think lightly of His displeasure. Because Paul is going to give us a warning. This leads me to the third principle that He draws from Israel's Paul. And that is God is both kind and stern. God is both kind and stern. Look at verse 22. Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God, sternness to those who fail, but kindness to you. Provided that you continue in His kindness. And we're going to talk about this possibility of being cut off from the blessing in just a moment. But we need to be reminded that God's nature is balanced. God's character is twofold. God is both kind and God is stern. There are some people who only like to think about the love of God, the kindness of God, the grace of God, and certainly all of that is true. But God's righteous character is perfectly balanced. God is not only a God of love, He's also a God of wrath. He's not only a God of kindness, He's a God who can be stern, severe. God is not only a God of love, He's a God of light, as John says it in his epistles. Light indicating He obliterates darkness. He cannot stand the presence of darkness. There's that side to God's character as well. Not only does God reward and bless, God also condemns and judges. Not only is there a heaven for those who are in the place of His blessing, for those who are in His family, there is also a hell, a place of eternal condemnation for those who reject His Son. And that shows the other side of God's character that many people don't like to think about. It is His sternness, His justice, His holiness. Yes, God is a God of grace in the love, and we're all the recipient of that blessing. If we know Christ, but if you do not know Jesus Christ, you will see the other side of God's character. And that is that He is so holy, He cannot endure sin. And He will sternly, righteously, and in all justice, judge sin. So God is both kind and stern. I like what Paul says earlier in this book about not taking for granted the kindness of God. He says in chapter 2, in verse 4, He says, or do you show contempt for the riches of His kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance? You see, God's kindness, His tolerance, His patience, His designed to give us the opportunity to turn from our sin, to repent, and turn to Him in faith. If we do not do that, then we will experience the other side of God's character and nature. And that is His justice and righteousness and holiness and sternness. There is that side as well, His wrath, as well as His grace. God is both kind and stern. It leads me to a final principle. And it's one that's a little difficult to get your mind around. It's caused some people confusion. And that is that we may be cut off from God's blessing. Now, I want you to see how strongly Paul says this. Verse 21, If God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you either. In other words, if the natural branches have been cut off, there's a possibility you can be cut off too. Verse 22, Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God's sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you provided that you continue in His kindness. Now that little provided phrase there is what theologians call the perseverance of the saints. Now that is fancy terminology, I guess, but basically it means this. If you are genuinely saved, you will show a change in your life and evidence that you truly follow Christ that will generally be the pattern of your life. If you turn your back on God and walk away with Him without any conscience about that whatsoever and continue in that lifestyle and do not continue to walk with Him, that indicates that you never were saved to begin with. Theologians call that the perseverance of the saints. True saints will persevere. Like Jesus said, My sheep hear my voice and they follow me and I know them. Then He says, and I give them eternal life. They shall never perish. You see, there's a twofold truth here, not only eternal security, which the Bible plainly teaches that you cannot lose your salvation, but it also teaches that if you are genuinely saved, you will show generally over a period of a lifetime a walking after God, a follow following of Him. Sure, all of us are going to mess up some. Some of us for maybe extended periods of time will turn our back on the Lord, but a true believer always comes back. That's the perseverance of the saints. And that's what Paul's talking about here. You will show yourself to be one who has truly grafted in if you continue. He says. Otherwise, he says at the end of verse 22, you also will be cut off. And if they, speaking of Israel, do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in for God is able to graft them in again. What he's saying is that those who have turned their back on the Lord Israel in this context will be grafted back in again. They will be brought back into the place of blessing. He says, they're the natural branches, verse 24. After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, contrary to nature, were grafted into a cultivated olive tree. How much more readily will these the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree? Now, let me say this about this troubling passage. Paul is speaking of people groups, first of all. He's not speaking of individuals who are saved and then get cut off and maybe get brought back in again. The Bible very clearly teaches eternal security that you can never lose your salvation. The Bible clearly teaches that. If I had the time, a couple more hours, there are plenty of ways to see that. Remember preaching a message a number of years ago, 12 reasons why I believe in eternal security. And those are 12 of only about 100 that you can find in the Bible. The Bible clearly teaches that if you truly know Christ, you will never lose your salvation. Remember in the context, Paul is speaking about people groups here. Gentiles, Jews. God may temporarily set aside the nation of Israel as a people group and turn his attention to the Gentiles, grafting them in. But be careful if the Gentiles do not recognize that place of blessing and begin to turn their back as a people group on God. God will turn away from them too. And by the way, the New Testament indicates that will happen. In the last days there will be a great falling away from the Lord and the apostasy the Bible calls it. That's one of the reasons Jesus will come back and turn his attention once again to the nation of Israel. So he's really talking about people groups here. Please don't miss this. The most normal person in the world is a converted Jew. C.S. Lewis once said it this way in a letter that he wrote. He said in a sense the converted Jew is the only normal human being in the world. They're the natural branches. You see, only normal human being in the world. Everyone else is, and that includes every Gentile here today. Everyone else is, from one point of view, a special case dealt with under emergency conditions. That's why C.S. Lewis said it. You know, we're wild branches that have been grafted in. We're special cases. The way God intended it to be was for his people Israel to be the very center of his program through which blessings would flow to the whole world. And that will happen again someday in the millennium. But every one of us here is a special case. You get too proud. You're a special case. You've been taking into emergency conditions the most normal person in the world that fits into what God intended in his purpose and program all along is a converted Jew who has been grafted back in as a natural branch. So God may turn away from those whom he's blessing and put his attention on another people group. Now let me apply that to us today for just a moment. Sometimes we get awful smug in the United States of America thinking we are God's favorite nation. You know, we're the place. We're a missionary sending nation. We're a Christian nation. We've really, we're God's people, aren't we? You know, any time a people group begins to take for granted the blessings of God. God sometimes says, I'll just turn to another people group. And what we're already seeing in the world today is that more missionaries are beginning to come from third world nations than from the United States of America. Happening in Africa, it's happening in Central and South America. It's happening in Asia, it's happening in the Philippines. Where there are other people groups that God is turning to to raise up a great missionary force because our nation has become so smug in our self-righteous Christian nation status that we've forgotten what it means to really be an object of God's grace and to be humbly serving Him. So God can turn away to another people group. God can do that with churches. Sometimes churches become kind of smug, complacent, sitting, soaking and souring. And God says, I've got other people who are more responsive. I'll use that church over there. I'll use this group over here because they're more responsive to me. You see, the warning for us in this illustration is to never take for granted the blessings God's given us and never become content and smug in them. But to realize that if we do, if we become arrogant and proud and complacent about our position and turn our nose down at other people, God will very quickly wipe His hands of us and say, I'm going to bless this group over here. This church over here is going to be the one I'm going to use now. This group of believers and another part of the world is going to be the people I'm going to use now. Be careful. Be careful of the blessings God has given us. That's the lesson we need to learn from the olive tree. It's not only a national blessing, it can happen to other people groups like churches and nations as well. You see, God doesn't want us to forget that we have been blessed to be where we are by His grace and it is through faith in Christ that we have everything we have today. Don't ever forget that. Don't ever think that somehow we're better than anyone else. Look down our nose at someone else. May God help us to always keep a humble, gentle perspective recognizing that we are the recipients of His grace. And once we think we're deserving, then God will say, okay, you're no longer usable. I'm going to work with these people over here. That's the danger. That's the danger. May we never lose sight of that danger. Would you pray with me, please? God will help us to realize that once we've been given a favored status by your grace, that's not automatic. You can take it away anytime you choose. And although our salvation is secure, being in the center of the place of your blessing and the kind of people you use can be taken away from us, I pray Father that we will never lose that sense of your grace and of your kindness to us. May we never become proud of what you've given us, that always be humble, kind, gracious, loving, Christ-like stewards of the blessings you've given us. Father, I pray that there's anyone here this morning that's never trusted Jesus. And never come into that place of your blessing that they would come to Christ today. And I pray for those of us who are there that we would never think of it as a sense of entitlement. That we're entitled to certain blessings of yours. Oh God, keep us humble before you. Keep us looking up to you for your grace every day. In Jesus' name we pray to name that.