Book of Romans - Ch. 11, Vs. 5-28 (04/02/2000)

Park Meadows Church

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Chapter 11 in the Book of Romans, verse 6. And if by grace, then is it no more of work.

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Otherwise, grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace.

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Otherwise, work is no more work. Go to Matthew 1 .21,

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please. Read that to us.

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Well, if I could turn pages, sir, I'd be there. Excuse me. Matthew 1 .21.

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And she will bring forth a son, and he shall call his name Jesus. For he will save his people from their sins.

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He shall save his people from their sins. So, I don't want anybody to worry.

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All of his people will be saved because he said so.

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There will not be a single one of his people that will wind up in hell.

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The conscience of a child of God is the voice of God.

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Everybody hear me? Yes, sir. Verse 7. What then?

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Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for, but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded.

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To be blinded means to grow hard, callous, become dull.

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With the loss of power of understanding, this is a passive verb that represents the fact that the subject receives the action.

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They have been blinded. God's grace depends upon what?

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Yes. It does not depend upon you attending church.

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Is that right? Singing in the choir, paying tithes, giving to projects, even the

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Wednesday night service. Even praying, witnessing, teaching, preaching, or any other thing that a man can think of.

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Fred, it doesn't depend on man for God's grace. Verse 8.

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According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear unto this very day.

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By the very fact that the spirit of God has come into this world, blindness has been put on all of the seed of Satan.

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This proves the very existence of the Almighty God. Would you say that last sentence again?

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How much? The very fact that the spirit of God has come into this world, blindness has been put on all of the seed of Satan.

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Without the ability of some to see, there would be no blindness.

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This thing of blindness. If everybody in creation was blind or could not see, would there be blindness?

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No. You wouldn't even know about sight. But the fact that we can see and they can't,

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John proves the very fact that the Almighty God is real. Verse 9 of chapter 11.

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And David saith, Let their table be made a snare and a trap, and a stumbling block, and a recompense.

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Now, let their table, what do you suppose this would mean? Fred, what do you think?

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Everything in front of them. All right. And close to them. The material prosperity of people will become a blindness to them.

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It will be a stumbling block. Recompense, Greg, means what? I thought you'd ask me that.

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A recompense is a debt. All right.

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Payment in return for something. And this recompense is unto them that are blind.

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Let me relate to you a parable. Since our pastor is teaching parables,

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I made up one. A young man who had done his king a great favor, in return the king granted him half of his kingdom, with all of its land, castles, livestock, with the title of Earl of Cassoway.

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Or he could marry the king's ugly daughter. One or the other.

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Well, the young man went away. He studied about it. And he returned, and he told the king that he would rather marry his ugly daughter.

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Well, this astounded the royal court to think that there was such a handsome young man with the opportunity to have the prestige and power all that a man could ever desire.

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And he seemingly had made the wrong choice. But this wise young man knew that when the king died, he would own it all, instead of just having married it.

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That's your earthly story. So be very wise in your choices.

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Look beyond the immediate. Ten, let their eyes be darkened that they may not see, and bow down their back always, this is like slaves under a burden.

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I say then, have they, meaning the kingdom of the nation

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Israel, have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid such a thinking.

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But rather through their fall salvation is coming to the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.

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David, this thing of the fall of the nation

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Israel, and then salvation coming to us, did it come to us because of the fall of the nation?

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No. You know, that's... You talking about our salvation?

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Yes. No, it didn't. It came to us because of the death of Jesus.

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All right. That's true. But he's talking about historically, historical reference in the

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Old Testament times, the oracles of God were with the Jews, and in the dispensations of time, had the

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Jews not been blind to their Messiah, theoretically the kingdom would have been set up right there.

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It would have been a Jewish kingdom. So when they rejected Christ, it opened the gospel up to the

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Gentiles. But that's strictly from Matthew's viewpoint. Right. A historical viewpoint.

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Yes. I say, then, have they, the nation

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Israel, stumbled that they should fail? Salvation has come to the

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Gentiles to provoke them to jealousy. Hard words.

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To provoke them to jealousy. David, how could it ever provoke a Jew to jealousy?

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Well, they... I remember in the early portions of Acts, they didn't want to believe Gentiles could be saved.

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And it kind of reminds us of Jonah, who did not want to go preach salvation to the heathen.

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Made him angry when God saved him. And the Jews were that way. They were jealous of God, jealous of the word of God and the things that they held, the relationship they held.

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They thought they were the only ones and would always be the only ones. And Jonah did not preach salvation to the men of ice.

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Preached something to them. He preached condemnation to them. Right. And it caused them to think about it.

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Right. It was salvation of fear.

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Man is the object of grace. The atonement is the effect of grace.

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Christianity is entirely independent of man. Christianity is entirely independent of man.

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Some Christians are always trying, all of their days, to lay the foundation of the

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Christian, Christianity, of their salvation. We have this referred to in the book of Hebrews, the sixth chapter.

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We'll just turn over to that. Hebrews 6. I'll tell you to start reading that first one.

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Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms and of the laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead and of eternal judgment.

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And this will we do, if God permits. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the

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Holy Ghost and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come, if they should fall away, to renew them again to repentance.

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All right, let's stop there. What Paul is saying is, look, you should be eating meat by now if you're still on milk.

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Let's get on with the development of our Christian life. Don't try to lay the foundation all of the time.

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Move on, because don't you know that if you could lose your salvation and that's what you're acting like because you keep trying to go back and lay the foundation that if you could lose your salvation, you keep going back to lay the foundation all the time.

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He says, don't you know that if you could lose it, you could never get it back? That there is no place in the

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Bible that explains how to be saved a second time. There doesn't have to be, because it's once and you don't have anything to do with it anyhow.

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And there's lots of people that are just wallowing around in the front end of their salvation.

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That's the reason for this class, is to develop all of us, to get on away from the front.

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We all are eating meat by now, I hope. One of the reasons

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I think that people keep trying to lay the foundation, David, is that they're mixing stones for the foundation that belong only in the building.

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And they're trying to answer questions about end times and different things that only a mature

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Christian could handle. And they keep mixing that in with the foundation, therefore it won't work.

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This Bible is written to us as a letter. You cannot skip around in it and learn.

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You have to take it from the beginning. And that's why I hope next Sunday we're going to start

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Genesis. I'm going to try to finish James today. And I know a lot of you have had

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Genesis, maybe more than once. But don't let that keep you away, because I guarantee we'll all learn something new.

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The foundation is pure grace. If anything, friend, if anything of ourselves is mixed with grace in salvation, it utterly destroys grace.

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Which, if it be not grace alone, it's not grace at all. Verse 12,

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Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, or if their fall increased the salvation to the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the

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Gentiles, how much more, how much more their fullness, is that the end of that verse?

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Let me read that from the Amplified. Now if their stumbling, their lapse, their transgression has so enriched the world at large, and if Israel's failure means such riches for the

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Gentiles, think what an enrichment and greater advantage will follow their full reinstatement.

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The Jewish nation will be reinstated. Now just think how great that's going to be.

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Since the grace of God came to the Gentiles after the setting aside of the Israelites, what about the

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Gentiles after the Jews is reinstated in grace? I believe it will be multiplied.

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In Acts 15 -16, if you want to flip over to that, After this

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I will return and build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down, and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up, that the residue of men might seek after the

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Lord, and all of the Gentiles upon whom my name is called, saith the

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Lord, who doeth all of these things. So I think that it will be a time far greater than we have now.

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For I speak to you Gentiles inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles. I magnify my office as much as to say to people that God has a place for you and you are in your place.

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So rejoice in it. Is there any question about that fact?

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Does everybody understand that when it comes to the movement or the doing,

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God controls it all? We're free to think and say whatever we choose.

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That's another reason, Russell, you've got to be real careful what you say. But when it comes to the doing,

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Proverbs 16 .33 says that everything is at the disposal of God.

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Everything. Fourteen, if by any means

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I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, it might save some of them.

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Paul had such a love for his people, the

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Jews. He was 100%. Every place he went and scattered all through his writings, he refers to the fact of his love for his people.

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Now, they were his people by the flesh, not by the spirit, but by the flesh. For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, and this word for world is cosmos, it doesn't mean just people.

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It means, well, it doesn't mean people. Go back to Acts 3 .21.

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Joy, read that to him. Acts 3 .21? Yes. I'm getting there.

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Okay. When the heavens must receive, of the heavens must receive until the time of restriction of all things.

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Restoration. Restoration of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all the holy prophets since the world begun.

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All right. There will be a time of restoring. Now go to Colossians 1 .20. Let's see if we can understand this a little bit better.

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Before we read Colossians, I want you to understand that our

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Lord Jesus, the Son of God, came into this world to seek and to save that which was lost.

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What was it that was lost? All right.

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His seed. And we do an injustice to the word to stop right there.

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What else was lost? David. The order.

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The cosmos. Like it was in the Garden of Eden. All right.

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He came to redeem everything that belongs to God. That includes all of creation.

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Not Satan's seed. They don't belong to him. But everything else. Now in Colossians 1 .20,

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and having made peace through the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things unto himself.

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By him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven.

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So we see that the salvation is not just his people.

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It's the entire creation. The entire universe. Everything that is here.

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By his blood, he restored all of that. See, the world is waiting for a new body just like we are.

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It tells us that. So what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead?

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That's exactly what it is when someone becomes saved. It's life from the dead.

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For if the firstfruits be holy, the lunk is also holy. And if the roots be holy, so are the branches.

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Now, the firstfruits be holy. What do we think?

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Roger, what's he referring to in the firstfruits? I don't know what firstfruits are, but I don't know.

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Bill, what do you think? I think it's best off what we have.

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Alright. Clarence? Well, I think at one time it was the harvest offering which he gave the first portion.

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In this sense, I think it probably means your first, as you're saved, your salvation.

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But what is he speaking of here in this section? Would it be the first Jews who believed in Jesus that he was the

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Christ? Yes. If the Jewish nation be holy, those that accepted or received

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Christ, then the lunk is also holy. And if the root be holy, which is

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Christ, so are the branches. So he's comparing the former state of the

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Jews to the Christian. And if when they were saved, if they were holy, then so are we.

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And if the root, which is Jesus Christ himself, is holy, so are all of the branches.

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And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou being a wild olive tree were grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and the fatness of the olive tree, boast not against the branches.

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But if thou boast, thou boastest not the root. There is not the root, but the root bears you.

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Now, we're going to find in the next few verses several terms like broken off, were grafted, were broken off, and so forth.

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What kind of grammar is this, Greg? Oh, we're past perfect.

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Thank you, Fred. Past perfect. What's that mean? Completed in the past.

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It's literally completed. All right. But is it passive or active? Passive.

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What's that mean? It's already done. I don't mean past.

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I mean passive. It's done to.

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All right. It's done to them. So, and if some of the branches be broken off, in other words, they didn't do it, who did?

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God. God did. Be broken off, and you being a wild olive tree were grafted in.

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Now, who did that action? God. God. Let's talk just a minute about the olive tree.

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It's much like the pecan tree in this world. The native olive does not produce a very large olive like the native pecan.

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And most of the olive denizens here, most of the pecans are from a graft.

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Now, the good or person -type pecan is grafted into a root.

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Well, the olive tree were the same way. And most of them just come up wild.

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In Psalms 1 -1, where it talks about being planted by the rivers of water.

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Well, you can't plant a tree. You have to transplant a tree. So, we being a wild olive were transplanted into Christ.

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Grafted into Christ. The olive, well, there's such a beautiful sermon in just the olive tree.

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Alright, wild olive were grafted in. You and I benefit because of the nation

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Israel. This is another reason that we should never be anti -Semitic.

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Because we benefit from it. In other words, if you boast, then you are none of his.

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If you're boasting about the fact that they were broken off and you were put in, you don't belong to God.

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Thou will say then the branches were broken off that I might be grafted in. That's the wrong attitude.

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Well, because of unbelief they were broken off and thou standest by faith.

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Be not high -minded, but fear. Grave, what's high -minded mean?

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Thinking that you're better than others. Right. So, we should do that. For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not you.

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Just as the Jew boasted that they belonged to God because they descended from Abraham.

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Don't think that you're saved because you're a Gentile. Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of God on them which fell.

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Severity, but toward thee goodness. If thou continue in the goodness, otherwise thou also shall be cut off.

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Notice there's a part in there that we know here, there seems to be emphasis and a severity part.

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We're skipping that. That's so true,

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Greg. Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of God.

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Both sides now, goodness and severity. On them that fell it was cut, but toward thee, and who is thee?

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A Gentile. That is us. Goodness. If you continue in his goodness,

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David, what's the meaning here? Well, it's referring to,

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I think, to the Gentile nations referring in the truth,

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I mean remaining in the truth, which they will not. Have all my blessings if you continue in that dispensation, which was the law.

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This says you'll have all my blessings if you continue in grace. All right. Is it saying that if you do not, that the grace afforded you depends upon you?

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No, it's not speaking to individuals. The Jewish nation versus the

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Gentile, predominantly Gentile church don't boast about the fact that they adhere, but that's what the if means.

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It's when time goes by and the church becomes lukewarm and then cold and then rejects all the truth and rejects

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Jesus himself. Where the Jews, predominantly the tribulation will be

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Jewish. All right. Do you all see how important it is to know who's speaking and to whom?

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I've heard people take this and says, it says right there, if you continue, meaning we could lose it.

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That's not what it's talking about. Now, it does mean that if you do not continue, then you were never is, if you want to put it down on a one -to -one basis, but it's talking about the nation.

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And they also, if they abide not, if they abide not still in unbelief, well, that's backwards.

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If you do not stay in unbelief, shall be grafted in.

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There we are again. For God is able to graft them in again. So we're told who does the grafting.

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For if now were cut out of the olive tree, which is wild by nature and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree, how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?

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Brother Otis. Yes. That phrase, grafted contrary to nature, shows that it's not natural for a man to get saved.

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That's right. There's nothing natural about it.

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That's why you'll be aided by all those that are natural. And that's why this is passive, not active.

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They could never be active. Has everybody read the little bulletin

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I put on? For I would not, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part is happened to Israel until the fullness of the

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Gentiles be come in. Now, Bill, when is the fullness of the

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Gentiles going to be? Well, now, God decides that.

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Oh, whatever time God will deign for it to be. You mean we don't know?

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No. You mean we can't find out? No. Well, I guess she is.

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That's a good, great answer to that question. Yes, we cannot. Yes, we cannot.

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We're in the negative. All right.

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Mystery. What is a mystery in the Scripture? Diane, what is a mystery to you?

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It's a series of events that follow the calendar.

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All right. Fred, what is a mystery?

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Well, it's a mystery occurs when your conceit gives you the wrong answer. Well, that's two good answers.

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A mystery in Scripture is something that in the past was not revealed, but is now revealed.

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A mystery doesn't mean that it's mysterious and that it doesn't occur.

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It's not a whodunit. Big bird? It's not a whodunit. That's right. So, the mystery is what most of you have said, including

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Russell. It's something that the Old Testament saints looked for.

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They knew it was there, but they could not solve it. Well, it was the church. I like this one.

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Paul says, I will have you ignorant. And so all

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Israel shall be saved. Oh, there's an argumentative statement.

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As it is written, there shall come out of Zion the deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.

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Now, would someone care to explain to me about so all

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Israel shall be saved? Or is there anyone that would not care to explain it to me?

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Well, I have an idea. That all Israel shall be saved when, as this is talking to this nation, after the ungodliness has been removed.

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So God is doing that. All right, when will that be? That will be during the tribulation.

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Because the ungodliness has been removed. All right, it will be taking place during that time when all

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Jews will be saved. Psalm 14. Oh, that the salvation of Israel will come out of Zion when the

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Lord bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.

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What's that mean? It means what it says.

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They will rejoice and be glad. Doesn't it have to be the same as it is with us? All that is in Israel will be saved as it is with us, all that is in our nation.

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At the beginning of the millennium, every Jew will be saved.

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Everybody will be saved at the beginning of the millennium.

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Now, why will he have to rule with a rod of iron if all are saved?

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Well, Adam. When Adam and Eve started, you didn't have any bad seed yet.

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So there will be some more terror -type seeds that are born into the world during the millennial period.

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That's right. And that's why Satan has to be turned loose. That's why we have the tremendous battle.

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Even though we start the millennium with all saved people, there will be others born. Very good.

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Brother Owen, this part of the way the ungodliness of Jacob, does this have to do with the destruction of the

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Jews that are received by the anti -Christ? I understand that when the abomination of desolation sets up in the temple, that there will be those who will follow him as the

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Christ. Yes.

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For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sake.

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But as touching the election, they are beloved for the Father's sake.

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For the Father's sake. God is called Father of the stars, of the heavenly planets, luminaries.

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Why? Why would he be called Father of the stars? That's scriptural. I didn't get it.

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Why would he be? Where are you getting this,

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Brother Otis? This isn't printed in here. Because he created them.

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So they belong to him. A little observation here.

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This verse happened to be in my sermon this morning. I figured that. I was studying it this week.

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If you'll notice how fathers is spelled. If the apostrophe were before the

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S, it could be talking about the Father, God. But it's after the

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S, so that's talking about several fathers. And it's possessive, but it's also plural.

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And then the word sakes has an S at the end of it. So this is talking about the

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Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob fathers. That's right. And so what this has to do with...

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Don't give us your sermon. Well, it'll save some time later. I don't have time to put this in a sermon anyway, so I'm glad it came out here.

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Back in Deuteronomy 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7,

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That's right. And that's what this is talking about. For the father's sake. He had promised the fathers that the elect would be saved.