Bible Guys Classics: Romans 11 Part 1

So today, Wes, they were talking about when a wrestler is on the ground and it's that moment where he shouts out mercy, mercy. Well sort of, we're actually talking about God's mercy on Israel. Wesley, this is Chris and this is the Daily Bible Guys. All right, So Wesley, you were a part of our previous podcast title, which is HC Daily, which we've been now swapped over to the Daily Bible Guys for quite some time. And so now today you're officially a Daily Bible Guy. You're a Bible Guy. Yeah, congratulations, but yeah, yeah. This is awesome. As a feel it feels I feel honored. Esteem Actually it feels the same. It's like, okay, so well, Jeff is out of town and so today you know, Wesley is a filling in for Jeff spot and Wesley has been at our church that we serve at much much longer than I have in thirteen twenty thirteen. Wow, so ten years now. Tell us real quick, this would be a great segment today if we got to know Wesley a little bit. Yeah. So for our listeners who've never met you, are new to you, tell us one highlight or funny story or memorable moment in your ministry. Oh man, you've been in ministry for a while, you've got like fifty of those. But I'll just share one really quick. Yeah. So there was this old church that I used to be a part of years ago in Detroit, and periodically we would have to light the boiler. So I go into the boiler room in this huge, heavy door. I open up the door, I go in. You have to first turn the gas on. Wow, grab the matches and light it. Open the door, turn the gas on, open the lid to the huge boiler. But I didn't have any matches, So I walked away and started looking every reware from matches and I'm searching hot yeah you know where this is going, searching everywhere, can't find any matches. Finally I did find one. I walked to the door way of the boiler room, lit the match in. Who like a fireball like shot out. Maybe that's why I don't have hair right now. Wow, that was my funny story. So never turn on the gas and walk away. That's a disclaimer right there. Yeah, I think it was, because that must have been. It was just I just remember just fire shooting out. So yeah, wow, yeah, you know, I lived were you when you did that? Oh? Man? Probably thirty something, wow, like maybe thirty one. And the funny thing is you've never made that mistake again. Never ever again. You have to get your eyebrows singed off once, did you have? Actually that's hilarious. Yeah, that's really great. Yeah, I've done that with like grills. I've done that with grills before, and I've done that with a home fireplace. And yeah, that's just it's not a good day. So that's a life lesson right there. Ladies and gentlemen, do not walk away when the gas is over. Right right, really bad. So today we are actually continuing in Romans, chapter number eleven, and as just as a reminder to our listeners, we're chronologically walking through the Book of Acts even though we're in Romans. And the reason why is because the Book of Acts is a summary, it's an overview of the birth of the Church, and included in that as the life of Paul, who wrote more than half of the New Testament. So chronologically along the way, Paul takes his first missionary journey, his second one, his third one, and then of course he goes around the Mediterranean rim he plants churches, and his whole job, his whole assignment was God had called him to bring the message of the Gospel to gentiles who are non Jewish people. So imagine that. So Paul's main mission or assignment was tell everybody that God's love and that Christ's message and that Christ's sacrifice is not just for the Jewish people, because there's even references today or even this week where God talks about the Jewish people being his chosen people. In the Old Testament, God, you know that God was even known by his people. You know that it was the God of Israel, member and so it was tied to a certain people group no longer after Jesus comes. So anyway, this is Paul's mission. So he goes around planting churches, telling people about the good News, and when those churches start, what he does is he continues to leave and go from city to city. But then he would write letters back to those churches. But in this particular case that Roman says, I believe the only letter where he is writing to a church he's never been at yet. So he's actually writing to a church that he is anticipating visiting, because there was a church that started in Rome that grew to prominence apparently, and he was trying to introduce himself, lay down theology, and let them know just who he is. So he's sort of walking through just what he believes and everything about him and more importantly, what we believe about God. So anyway, so yeah, we're going to go Romans eleven one through twenty four from the New Living Translation version. You want to kick us off. Yeah, I'll kick us off. Yeah. So this is starting at verse one. In verse eleven, it says, I asked, then, has God rejected his own people, the nation of Israel? Of course not I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham in a member of the tribe of Benjamin. No, God has not rejected his own people. He chose from the very beginning. Do you realize what the scriptures say about this. Elijah the prophet complaining to God about the people of Israel, and said, Lord, they have killed your prophets in torn down your altars. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me two verse four. And do you remember God's reply, He said, no, I have seven thousand others who have never bowed down to bail. Verse five. It is the same today. For a few people of Israel have remained faithful because of God's grace is undeserved kindness in choosing them. And since it is through God's kindness, then it is not by their good works, for in that case God's grace would not be what it really is, free and undeserved. So this is the situation. Most of the people of Israel have not found the favor of God they are looking for, so earnestly a few have the ones God has chosen. But the hearts of the rest were heartened. As the scriptures say, God has put them into a deep sleep to this day. He has shut their eyes and so they do not see, and close their ears so they do not hear. Verse nine, blackwise David said, let their bountiful table become a snare, a trap that makes them think all is well. Let their blessings cause them to stumble, and let them get what they deserve. Let their eyes go blind so they cannot see, and let their backs be bent forever God's people stumble and fall beyond recovery. Of course, not they were disobedient, So God made salvation available to the gentiles but he wanted his own people to become jealous and claim it for themselves. Now, if the Gentiles were enriched because the people of Israel turned down God's offer of salvation, think how much greater a blessing the world will share when they finally accept it. I am saying all this especially for you gentiles. God has appointed me as the apostle to the Gentiles. I stress this for. I want somehow to make the people of Israel jealous of what you gentiles have, so I might save some of them. For since their rejection meant that God offered salvation to the rest of the world, their acceptance will be even more wonderful. It will be life for those who are dead. And since Abraham and the other patriarchs were holy, their descendants will also be holy, just as the entire batch of dough is holy, because the portion given as an offering is holy. For if the roots of the tree are holy, the branches will be two. But some of these branches from Abraham's tree, some of the people of Israel have been broken off, and you, gentiles, who were branches from a wild olive tree, have been grafted in. So now you also received the blessing. God has promised Abraham and his children sharing in the rich nourishment from the root of God's special olive tree. But you must not brag about being grafted in to replace the branches that were broken off. You are just a branch, not the root. Well, you may say those branches were broken off to make room for me, yes, but remember those branches were broken off because they didn't believe in Christ, and you are there because you do believe. So don't think highly of yourself, but fear what could happen. For if God did not spare the original branches, he won't spare you either. Verse twenty two. Notice how God is both kind and severe. Is severe toward those who disobeyed, but kind to you if you continue to trust in His kindness. But if you stop trusting, you also will be cut off. And if the people of Israel turn from their unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them back into the tree. You by nature or a branch cut from a wild olive tree. So if God was willing to do something contrary to nature by grafting you into his cultivated tree, he will by far, he will be far more eager to graft the original branches back into the tree where they belong. Okay, well, first of all, I just want to say this, I will never read any passage again compared to your awesome reading. Just great. As soon as you started and you were like, you're like, let's read Roman chapter eleven, You're like, I asked, then has God rejected his own people? And I thought, holy cow, man, I can't even stand up to that. I keep saying, I want that w w J guy's job. It's so incredible. So okay, so we have a pretty. Uh yeah, there's a lot happening in here. Yeah, there's there's a it's a pretty specific and uh in some ways hard to understand type of scripture. Uh. And first of all, the main thing that that encapsulated this whole uh, this whole passage is in illustrate that quite frankly, almost everybody in the first century understood right Like, there wasn't probably a person that was listening to this reading or reading this letter that didn't understand exactly what it means to craft branches into an olive tree or you know, or into a vine or anything else. And the only thing that and By the way, the only context that we have, most of us in the Western world is if you've seen like a TikTok video or a video on Facebook. You know that's spit up in fast motion where they sort of like cut off a branch and they go and they sort of like, you know, piece it together and they put another branch in there. But all of a sudden, they go fast motion that thing. Have you ever seen those, and all of a sudden it just sort of grafts in and you're like, wow, they just it's amazing, Like I didn't know that, you know, people could do that. But every gardener understands that. Everybody everybody knows what it means to prune, everybody know what it means to graft all those things, and so you know, it's hard for us to understand. But basically what he's talking about is he's talking about how dead branches need to be removed, and how some branches, even from from a different root system, can be made to be a part of a plant by by by grafting it. Right. So so that's things that we don't necessarily relate to. But if you think about it, it was a perfect word picture or exactly what was happening. So, uh, you know, there are other parts of the scripture where Jesus talks about him being the vine. Right, what is that? That was the first one that I thought of. I'm the vine, you are the branches. Yeah, yeah, Matthew five. I think it is where Jesus talks about how he is the root, He is the He is the vine where the branches and every branch that is not a part of me will be cut off, you know, and and and he talks about all that stuff and pruned and everything else. But the point of the of the pick of the word picture is that Jesus is the root and we are the ones who are getting life from him. You know. This reminds me of how often in ministry has anybody ever come to you and they've asked you the question like which churches are cults? Which churches are like like, you know, affiliated with us? Which churches are would you consider are Christians versus other ones? And are the other ones good? Are they bad? You know? Do all religions lead to heaven? Do all faiths lead to heaven? You know? You know, don't we all just can't we just all get along and all be the same the different faiths and belief systems. Have you found that difficult to navigate throughout your ministry because there's a lot of nuances out there. Yeah, there are a lot of nuances, and people have lots of different questions about even within what we would consider Christian denominations. You know, what's the difference between this one and that one? Well, it sounds a lot alike, where it might be one small thing that's different. But the beauty in all of it is that for all those different Christian denominations, we have one central thing in common. So, yes, there can be some differences on the edges over here, and maybe this particular denomination adheres to this verse more is their key like foundational verse. But there's one thing in common, Jesus Christ. That's the central theme with all the Christian denominations. That's exactly right. And it's also important to understand what Wesley was just saying, which is there are faiths out there that do not recognize Jesus as the Son of God. They don't recognize Jesus as the way to heaven, and that really is what defines any church as a church that's Christian because Christian, of course means little Christ. Yes, and so little Christ, you know, means we believe, we are imitators of Christ. We follow Christ, we hear, we believe in Christ. And so just understanding what the Bible says about how to get to heaven, and the Bible says we don't get to heaven by ourselves, get to heaven by believing in the gift given and you know, aid for by Jesus sacrifice. So that's what makes a religon and actually a religion is any any person who actually says, yeah, I know exactly how to get to heaven. And to your point, there's a lot of nuances about people, you know, saying well I think that. You know, in fact, I remember growing up as an independent Baptist and and people would say, well, is that like Southern Baptists. I'd say, well, yeah, it's almost exactly alike. And they would say, what's the difference, And I'd say, Lottie Moon, And if you if you know anything about something Baptists, it's like it's really how they just choose to do their missions. Right. So an independent Baptist, we would just support missionaries by ourselves, and Southern Baptists just gives money to the Southern Baptist Convention and they have a self governing board that sort of you know, has their own system, and so really that's just about it, you know. So it's pretty crazy how similar they are and yet they seem different. Anyway, all that to say, you know, think about this other scripture that came to mind. Do you remember when Jesus asked Peter, uh, you know, who do you say that I am? Remember that? And it was getting irritated, like no, and Jesus often did that with where he's really pressing in and that like well when he had when Jesus asked him, also, do you love me? You love me? And you know, he's. Pressing into him, and Peter's almost why are you even asking this question? Right? Peter did not say that I'm pure forre you right? Right? Yeah, well you're right. It's very similar because he says, who do you say that I am? And then and they all responded and he says, well, some say you're Elijah and some say you're you know this other prophet And he says, okay, now who do you say that I am? Jesus Like I got that, But he. Continues to press in and then Peter comes up with the right answer. And Peter says, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. And it's like ding ding ding ding. And then Jesus responds to him and says, you know, this answer was not given to you by men, given to you by God the Father, you know, and you have a divine answer here. And then he makes this incre to a proclamation and he says, and on this, I'm going to build my church. And there's a lot of debate about what the word this is. Yeah, I did a lot of studying about that. I did too, And you're looking in the Greek like, okay, exactly what was Jesus saying, right and. The word this? Some people say, well that that's based on a person, you know, like it's based on Peter and his answer, you know, the gates of hell and the keys of the kingdom will be given to this one person. But you know, I very firmly believe after my study as well, when he said and on this I will build my church, I believe this is the answer that he was asking the question to. He said, you know, who do you say that I am? And it's the only thing that really theologically makes any sense. And Peter says, you know, you are the Christ. He says, on this, I will build my church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. So here's here's the point. I'm coming full circle on this. So think about this. So the church movement was started in a circle with a group of guys. Right, there's just a group of guys just sitting around in the middle of Israel. They could have never imagined and. They were like unlikely characters, you know what I mean. I don't know if if Jesus put me in that group, I don't know if I wouldn't have felt qualified. These were just normal fishermen. These were normal dock workers, normal and. Centers, like tax collectives everybody despised, right, So these were broken, ordinary men. And he says, in all this, I would build my church and the gates of Elchera pavail against it. And here we are, two thousand years later, and we're connected to this one moment, the birth of the church. And yet there's just a group of guys, like there's like twelve of them. They're sitting around and like a dusty field, you know, all of them with the same beard and haircut, you know, just thinking like, how's this going to happen? And yet here we are two thousand years later and we are very very different, right. We have different denominations, different styles of buildings of churches, different ways of worship, different ways of communion, receiving communion, we go to we send our kids to different colleges. Uh, There's different methods of baptism. There's different opinions on salvation in terms of you know, one saved, always saved. There's there's debate about predestination. There's all these different different, different, different, different different that we dress different, we respond different, we worship different. Everything is different, different, different. But you put us all in a room together that are Christians, and what is the one thing that we have in common. We all believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of the Living God. And on this statement, I will build my church. And I think that's the heart of this passage because he's talking about Jews and Gentiles, and he's talking about different cultures and they could not be more different, and their histories are different, and they're coming together and they're in there and they're a part of this church. And now there are some Jews who paulicying clearly who don't believe. And there are Jews who says, no, no, Jesus is not the Messiah. No, we're waiting on our other messiah. Right, we're gonna we're gonna hold out for the real guy because Jesus wasn't the real guy. And Paul's clearly addressing that, and he's saying, they're part of there are people the part of the Jewish faith that do not believe. They're part of the gentiles that do believe. And so these guys are pruned off, these guys are sort of grafted in, and then they start growing. But don't be proud because you've taken the place of some who don't believe of that reputation or category or faith, or you know, just because they're Jewish. He says. Remember the focus is we're all connected to the route. Yeah, and that's a key point you just made. I think it's dangerous territory for us to step into. Once we get to the point where we believe, now we feel like we've got it all together, and then you see some others over there, and well, they're not like me, you know, I've got it all together. I've got it right. You know, I'm leaving in Christ. I'm looking down on them. They're of another denomination, and Paul is warning against doing that here. You know, we're all one family in the Body of Christ. Many members, they all those members serve specific functions in the body. But it's not for the thumb to look down upon, you know, the toe and say, well, you know what, I'm better than you, which sometimes can happen in religious circles. But we're being warned against that there because you can be plucked off the branch just as easily. What's reference. Yeah, that's great. Well, you know what, I think that's a really great place to end. I think it's a good talking. Here. You're officially as of today, so hey, we are excited for you to join in and tune in tomorrow as we continue on the Daily Bible Gush