Sermon: The Olive Tree And Baptism

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I am, of course, well aware of the fact that we have a lot left to do this evening, but it is somewhat appropriate that we are continuing our series on baptism.

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And as Jeff mentioned, what I'm thinking, honestly, of doing is, after this evening, opening up an invitation to those of you in the fellowship.

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If there are questions that you still have, maybe we could put together something based upon what those questions are and sort of finish up in that fashion.

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Some of you are going, nope, nope, we're done. Move on. It's okay.

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Maybe that's what we need to do, but we'll see. This evening, please turn your Bibles to Romans chapter 11.

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And if you are one of those who has engaged in this particular debate in electronic format, online, whatever the case may be, you are well aware of the fact that Romans chapter 11 is a key text, and some of you, if you have not, might be going, well, why would it be a key text?

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Because it's not about baptism. The term baptism does not appear. There's really nothing about ordinances or anything like that here.

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But this is a, if you've listened to the presentation from the best of the other side, you will see that the argumentation is based upon an understanding of the covenant.

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And in Romans chapter 11, you have the olive tree, the illustration of the olive tree that the

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Apostle Paul presents. And the argument is, see, here is the covenant of God, the

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Abrahamic covenant. It continues into the new covenant era, and you had branches broken off so the

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Gentiles could come in, and yet we're told that those branches, you know, if they are unfaithful, if they boast against the others, they could themselves be broken off.

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And the whole idea is you have one covenant here, and therefore the mechanism, the idea is that you have this continuity, a continued continuity between old and new covenants.

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And of course, it's not a matter of there being no continuity, because obviously there is only one olive tree mentioned here.

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And as we will see, that is extremely difficult, and I think a strong refutation of a certain form of theology that is prevalent today known as dispensationalism.

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There clearly isn't two different peoples of God. There is one olive tree. But does that mean that the new covenant signs and symbols are to be defined by the old covenant application, or is that actually missing something?

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Is that actually not covenantal enough? Is it possible that our

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Pedobaptist brothers and sisters have missed something in regards to the nature of the covenant as it was experienced by Israel that's laid out here?

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That is not what we have in the new covenant. Is it possible that those who speak so much of the covenant are not being covenantal enough, not being careful enough to see what the

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New Testament is saying? Now it's a long chapter, but I don't know how to skip any of it, I'll be perfectly honest with you. And I know

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I have to be brief tonight, because we have much to do. So let's give it a shot, and I will try to get to everything we need to get to, but it is a single argument, and so it's hard to skip through things.

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So let's try to get through it. Romans 11, 1, I say then, has God rejected his people? May it never be.

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For I too am an Israelite, a seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew.

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Or do you not know what the scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have torn down your altars, and I alone am left and they are seeking my life.

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But what does the divine response say to him? I have left for myself 7 ,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.

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In this way then, at the present time, a remnant according to God's grace and choice has also come to be.

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Now I just need to stop right there. Absolutely key to an understanding, especially if some of the stuff is going to come later when it says all

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Israel is going to be saved. Believe me, a lot of ink has been spilled on this chapter, and I'm not going to be able to answer every question as fully as we might want this evening.

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But I believe that the key central element of this text is found right there in verse 5, and it's the term remnant.

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A remnant according to God's grace and choice has also come to be.

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Because you'll notice, how does he start off? I say then as God rejects his people, may it never be. Then what does he do?

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For I too am an Israelite, a seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin. So he's in essence saying he is one of the remnant.

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And there has always been a remnant. There has always been a remnant. And under the old covenant, that remnant were the people who were actually changed by the

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Spirit of God. They were what we would call the elect. And there were many in the old covenant who were not of the elect.

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You see all those that were not circumcised of heart. They were not spiritually regenerated.

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But there was the remnant. And there it is in verse 5. In this way then, at the present time, so he's using the

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Elijah text as an example of this. At the present time, a remnant according to God's gracious choice has also come to be.

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But if it is by grace, it is no longer of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.

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What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained. But the chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened.

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Now think about that. Were there chosen people amongst Israel? Of course there were. But were there not many others who did not believe?

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All the faithless, circumcised kings who were evil and rejected

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God's ways. Well there you have the return. The chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened.

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Just as it is written, then we have a section from the psalm that was just read. God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes to see not and ears to hear not, down to this very day.

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And David says, let their table become a snare and a trap, and a stumbling block and a retribution to them. Let their eyes be darkened to see not, and bend their backs forever.

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So there has always been in the history of Israel. Remember, chapter 11, 9, 10, and 11 go together.

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And when you go back to Romans chapter 9, which we do not have time to do today, but when you go back to Romans chapter 9, is not the whole point that not all

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Israel are Israel. And that's going to be the real challenge in Romans 11, is when are we talking about Israel as simply an ethnic group, and when are we talking about Israel as the remnant, those who are the objects of the gracious choice of God?

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I say then, did they stumble so as to fall? May it never be. But by their transgression, salvation has come to the

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Gentiles to make them jealous. Now if their transgression is riches for the world, and their failure is riches for the

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Gentiles, how much more will their fullness be? But I am speaking to you who are

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Gentiles, and as much then as I am an apostle of the time ministry, if somehow

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I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them.

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Now, one of the issues later on, we get down to verse 26, and it's going to be all of Israel will be saved.

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And yet here in this context, what does he say? That I might save some of them.

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He doesn't say that I might save all of them. All these things have to be kept in mind.

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That's why this is not a simplistic text. It's not an easy text. I'm not going to try to offer you easy ways out, but I do want to try to at least handle the text rightly and make sure that we understand what's going on here.

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So save some of them, verse 14. Verse 15, for if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?

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And if the first piece of dough is holy, the lump is also. And if the root is holy, the branches are too.

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Now the temptation for us very often is we want to start connecting these to so many other things.

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And that's where, that's why there are so many different interpretations, even among solid reform men, about some of the specifics of this text.

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Because when I see branches and root, I start thinking branches, vine, John 15.

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And I immediately start making connections. We have to allow Paul to be very specific here because he's addressing a specific issue.

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It's one that I'm sure came up almost all the time. He's telling the whole world about this wonderful thing that God has done through the

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Jewish Messiah. And then the people say, so how do the

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Jews, how do the Jews respond to your message? Well, they try to kill me most of the time.

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Not going real well. There's a small remnant, there's a small number that have accepted this message.

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That was a regular thing he had to deal with. That was a major objection to his preaching and to his teaching.

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And that's what he's focusing upon here. That's not the same context as the vine, the branches, and John 15. So we have to be very careful to allow

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Paul to build his own case and to allow him to be as specific as he is.

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That's where I think we get into a lot of trouble later on down the road. So, but if some of the branches, verse 17, were broken off, and you, the

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Gentiles, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became a partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches.

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But if you do boast against them, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, branches are broken off so that I might be grafted in.

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Quite right. They were broken off, please note this, for what reason? They were broken off for their unbelief.

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But you stand by your faith. Do not be haughty, but fear, for if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.

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Behold then, we're going to be coming back to this, don't worry. Behold then the kindness and severity of God, to those who fell, severity, but to you,

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God's kindness, if you continue in his kindness, otherwise you also will be cut off. He's talking to Gentiles as a whole.

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He's saying to the Gentiles as a whole, do not boast against the Jews. May I say something to you?

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Church history shows us that this passage has been ignored over and over again.

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The boasting against the Jews that became prevalent in the tradition of what's called the

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Christian church is astonishing. The things that were done to Jewish people in the name of Jesus are shocking.

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And it just seems to me, this text is prophetic. And when you realize, as I've mentioned,

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I think I've mentioned to you, that people were murdered in the name of Christ.

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Jews were murdered by Christians in the name of Christ. When you recognize that during the Black Plague, one city took all their

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Jews, took them out on an island, locked them in a building and burned the building down. As Christians, when you recognize what has happened in the past, the blood that has been shed, it really makes you wonder, when you look at the people that did these things, were they not cut off?

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Had they not abandoned the gospel? Had they not already developed a false faith?

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Maybe there is a fulfillment that takes place in those contexts. Behold, then, the kindness and severity of God, verse 22, to those who fell, severity, but to you,

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God's kindness, if you continue in His kindness, otherwise you also will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in their, what, unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.

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There have been many times in church history where people really adopted the position, Jews could not be saved because they were the

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Christ killers. There would be no salvation for them. And one of the things,

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I know I've mentioned to you before, Martin Luther, before 1525, had this wild and crazy idea that we should evangelize the

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Jews. He eventually abandoned that after 1525, because that was an extremely unusual perspective.

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And yet, right there, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.

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For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?

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For I do not want you, brothers, to be uninformed of this mystery, so that you will not be wise in your own estimation that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the

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Gentiles has come in. Partial, there's a remnant. So all

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Israel will be saved, just as it is written, all, verse 26, so all

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Israel will be saved, just as it is written, the deliverer will come from Zion, he will remove ungodliness from Jacob, and this is my covenant with them when

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I take away their sins. From the standpoint of the gospel, they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God's choice, they are beloved for the sake of the fathers, for the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable.

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For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience, so these also now have been disobedient, but because of the mercy shown to you, they also may now be shown mercy.

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For God has shut up all in disobedience, that he may show mercy to all. Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and unfathomable his ways.

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For who has known the mind of the Lord and who has become his counselor, or who has first given to him that it might be repaid to him, for from him and through him and to him are all things, to him be the glory forever, amen.

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As you can see, we could spend a long time in Romans chapter 11.

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There are so many things that we could camp on. But this is supposed to be a series on baptism.

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And some of you are still sitting there going, yeah, I missed the baptism part. Well, let's see where it comes in.

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So let's mark a few things down. Remember once again, verse 5, remnant.

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Remnant according to God's gracious choice. It's right there, and I think it becomes very important in interpreting what we have that comes after that.

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Then we have the picture of the olive tree. Now, as I mentioned, the commentaries will really spend a tremendous amount of time arguing, you know, obviously the less conservative folks will say that there are inaccuracies in Paul's understanding of how things work and all the rest of that kind of stuff.

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And I think they're missing the point. Paul is not attempting to give us horticultural information and analysis here.

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He's explaining one thing. Why is it that the

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Jews in general are rejecting the message of their Messiah? And he wants us to understand that as the

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Gentiles come in, as we are grafted into this olive tree, what that first tells us is

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God has had a people all along. And under the old covenant, under the old way, and sometimes what happens here, and again, we're not going to get into all of this today, but sometimes what happens here is you start multiplying references to covenants.

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You have the Adamic covenant, and you've got the Noahic, and you've got the Abrahamic covenants, and then there's the

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Davidic covenants, and you've got the Mosaic covenant and the law, and they have relationships to one another, and there's connections between them, and yet there's distinctions, and it gets really, really, really confusing.

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And it's interesting to me, Paul doesn't get in any of that. He uses a fairly basic illustration.

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He talks about the olive tree. You can go back to Jeremiah 11, I think it's Hosea chapter 13.

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There's numerous places where Israel is likened unto an olive tree, but normally in a sense of judgment, but it happens all the time.

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And so here you have this idea that God has been working with a particular people.

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He has a purpose, and He has had this olive tree. Now, was everyone in the olive tree before, before the coming of Christ, was everyone in that olive tree a believer?

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Of course not. Of course not. In fact, that's so often what is said under the old covenant scriptures is, you were meant to be a fruitful olive tree, but look at how idolatrous you've become, and I'm going to cut you down.

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And there's a clear recognition that under the old, there was a mixture, and there were also other aspects of those covenants that had to do with the nation of Israel in the land of Israel.

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Had to do with their kings, had to do with the land and the apportionment of the land and the keeping of the land and allowing the land to rest and the jubilees and the temple worship and everything else.

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There's more to the old covenant than what sometimes our

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Paedo -Baptist brothers will allow because they want to have all the continuity, but they have to recognize, yeah, but there's a bunch there that really doesn't map into the new covenant at all because, you know, we can say, well, the land back then becomes the world now or something like that.

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You can spiritualize things. But look, the reality is everybody recognizes certain levels of continuity and discontinuity.

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The question is how you define them. And my assertion to you is this.

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We've already looked at the text of Scripture that define what the new covenant is all about. We spent some time in Hebrews chapter 8 to understand how that functions in the book of Hebrews and what it says about the fact that those that are in the new covenant have their sins forgiven.

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They all know God from the least to the greatest of them. And our dear brothers, and we love them, they truly are our brothers, but they struggle with that.

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They struggle with that because they are bringing the old way of understanding entrance into the covenant into the new covenant.

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We went through every single reference to baptism in the New Testament and the consistent constant element of each one was the delivery of the message of the gospel, faith and repentance on the part of the person who hears that message who is then baptized.

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That is the new covenant documents description of what baptism is. And so our friends go to passages, mainly

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Colossians chapter 2, which is why we spent so much time there as well and say, see, here's where the connection is.

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We discovered that that connection is not there at all. And so by the time we get to Romans chapter 11, our brothers have put together this system and then they bring it in here and go, ah, here you go.

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You have the one olive tree. And that one olive tree was entered into under the old covenant in a particular fashion.

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And therefore, since you had some branches that were cut off under the old way, and there's the threat that, hey, if you boast against the branches, you too can be cut off.

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Then there is this perfect continuity. And so the way of entrance back then becomes the way of entrance today via Colossians chapter 2, which we saw doesn't actually work.

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But that's the argument. Well, does it, does it hold up? Well, I think you've already seen one of the problems.

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Why was it, what was the mechanism by which branches are cut off?

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It's always the same thing, unbelief, unbelief. What does the specific teaching of the new covenant about the new covenant in Hebrews chapter 8 tell us?

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If you're in the new covenant, you know God. Your sins are forgiven.

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You have true and abiding faith. So when it talks about being cut off for unbelief, we're not talking about the elect.

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That means we're not talking about the people that are in the new covenant. Whatever else you do with this, you cannot take

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Romans chapter 11, which is addressing, why is it that there are so many Jews who knowing the

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Old Testament scriptures don't embrace Jesus? You can't take that and transport it over and say, okay, we're now going to redefine the nature of the new covenant based upon the implications we think we see here.

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That's where the error comes in. That's where the error comes in. So with that in mind then,

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Paul says, you know, I'm speaking to you who are Gentiles, and you've now been grafted in.

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That is by faith, you're now part of this grand work that God has been doing all along.

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And that grand work was always the living branches, even under the old covenant were what?

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Believed. They were the remnant. They were the remnant.

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They were rarely the majority. I mean, how many times, even in the story of the

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Exodus, just think about it. You go walking between those walls of water.

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You see Pharaoh and his armies floating, dead. You've been delivered.

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How long is it before the people are grumbling and showing unbelief? Not long at all.

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Not long at all. You can see all sorts of things, but if the heart has not been changed, that's really what the book of Jeremiah is all about.

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When you listen carefully to it, Jeremiah, he understands the deceitfulness of the heart amongst quote -unquote covenant members.

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They may have been circumcised, but their heart wasn't. Their heart wasn't. So it's always been this way.

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It's always been this way. So what he says is, he's striving to bring about jealousy amongst his fellow countrymen.

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The idea, and this idea also occurs in 1 Corinthians when talking about the issue of tongues.

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There is multiple places, indication that from Paul's perspective, what he sees is that the work of the

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Spirit in the New Testament church, if you just look at the Old Testament, if you'd listen to the prophecies, that should cause the people of Israel to see, like Anna did, like Simon did, that should cause the people of Israel to see, here's the fulfillment.

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These have been prophesied to us. And so he proclaims the Messiah. He proclaims this fulfilled

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Scripture, and he wants to bring about jealousy. If somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them.

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Because their rejection is the reconciliation of the world. The message is now going out to all.

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What will their acceptance be but life from the dead? So he has not lost his desire.

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He started in Romans 9 when he says, I testify that I want to see my fellow

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Israelites saved. And if that attitude ever stops, if the church, and I think you have to admit today, the church today looks at Jewish evangelism as something sort of freaky.

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It's just for a special group of people. Well, it does take special training, there's no two ways about it.

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But how often do we not pray for the nation of Israel, that we pray for the salvation of Jewish people?

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There's a difference between the two. You don't have to hang an Israeli flag on your wall to fulfill

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Romans chapter 11, but you do need to be willing to introduce your Jewish friend to Isaiah 53. There's a big difference between those two.

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So he says, if the root is holy, the branches are too.

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And his whole point is the root comes from God. If you've been grafted in, that's by grace.

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And you've been grafted in by faith and those branches that were broken off to allow you to be grafted in their place were broken off because of unbelief.

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That's always what the issue is. Unbelief, unbelief, unbelief. Faith, faith, faith.

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That is what the issue is. And so we do have a very strong warning.

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You will say then, branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in. Quite right. They were broken off of their unbelief, verse 20.

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But you stand how? By your faith. Do not be haughty but fear.

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For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either. And so, look, our

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Presbyterian friends will say to us, I'm not sure if you Baptists really believe that.

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And in my response, which I gave briefly to one of my Presbyterian brothers a couple months ago, up in the great state of Idaho, but was very, had to be very brief.

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This is not, I do not believe what Paul is talking about here is what we have, for example, in Hebrews.

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This isn't one of the warning passages. He's talking to groups of people here. That doesn't mean that we should not be fearful of what he says we should be fearful of.

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But what is it we should be fearful of? A haughty attitude that fundamentally says that God has rejected the

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Jewish people for what? For us. There is a haughtiness in those words.

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Do not be haughty, but fear. You see, what is the opposite attitude of saving faith?

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Haughty self -reliance. Haughty self -reliance. And once again,

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I just, I just say to you, sadly, as a professor of church history,

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I cannot escape the reality that in what is called church history, which

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I recognize is not always the record of true people of God, but those who call themselves

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Christians, the record of the Christian church at this point is not good.

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And there have been many who I think were cut off in their haughtiness and allowed to go their way because they did not take seriously the warning of this text.

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So he says, behold, then the kindness and severity of God to those who fell severity. But to you,

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God's kindness, if you continue in his kindness, otherwise you also will be cut off. How do you continue?

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Is this, do I have to work really hard? Is this work salvation? How do you continue in his kindness?

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Faith. Faith. That's what it's all about. That's what he had said in chapter 9, chapter 10.

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Why didn't Israel find what it was searching for? Because it didn't, it wasn't looking by faith.

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It thought it was based upon genetics, upon who my mommy and daddy was.

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There is a constant bent toward that in mankind's heart.

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And so you continue in his kindness, otherwise you also will be cut off. And they also, Paul wants to make sure to the

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Jewish people. It seems to me to be an echo, honestly, of what the people said a day of Pentecost.

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Remember what happened at Pentecost? When, when Paul preaches, when Peter preaches, they are pierced to the heart.

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And when they say, what shall we do? I think what they were saying is, we've killed our Messiah. We've killed the promised one.

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What can we do? We're guilty. We're righteously to be condemned.

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What does Peter say? There is salvation for you. Repent and believe.

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That's what Paul is saying here. He says, and they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.

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This whole idea that did develop in church history, Christ killers, God's judgment upon them.

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It's not what Paul says, it's not what Paul says. God can graft them in again, and he will do so by grace.

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So, what is the mystery then? Verse 25, for I do,

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I do not want you, brothers, to be uninformed of this mystery.

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Now normally that term mystery is something that has been hidden from ages past, but now is being made known by the continuing revelation of God in what he's done in Jesus Christ.

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So that you will not be wise in your own estimation that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the

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Gentiles has come in. Now again, lots of interpretations of exactly what that means.

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But you have to recognize the term partial. A partial hardening.

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That's the point that Paul makes at the beginning of the chapter, he says, I'm a Jew. So it's not a complete hardening, it's not a complete casting off.

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Here I am, a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the

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Gentiles has come in. Now here's, let me give you some of the major interpretations here, because it's all one sentence.

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And so all Israel will be saved just as it is written, the deliverer will come from Zion, he will remove ungodliness from Jacob, and this is my covenant with them when

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I take away their sins. Now please notice, where's that language? Where have we heard that language before?

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That's Jeremiah, that's the covenant language, that's the new covenant language that's being used there.

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This is my covenant with them when I take away their sins, that's Jeremiah 31, fulfillment of Hebrews 8.

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It's other places too, but I'm just saying that's the language of the forgiveness of sins. So what does it mean, so all

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Israel will be saved? Well, all right, real quick, well actually

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I should preach a little bit longer because, by the way, I don't want to be taking a bath up there, the water is really warm.

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I mean it's as in standing and sweat warm, so I should actually preach longer to let it cool down for a little while before we all go in there.

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But it is nice to have controls now, we joked for a long time that the

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Paedobaptists were torturing us for certain reasons, but we do have other things to do, so I want to try to summarize this for you.

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There are many who believe that eschatologically there will be a mass conversion of Jews at the end of God's appointed times in this age.

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And so, now it obviously can't mean all

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Israel as in every single genetic offspring of Abraham over time because there would be many who already have passed away outside of Christ and we know what

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Paul said about them. But there are those who would say that what it is is there's going to come a time and all the

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Gentiles have now come in and so there at the end

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God is going to turn his spirit toward the ethnic people called

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Israel and there is going to be a massive conversion. So that would interpret all

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Israel as all ethnic Israel alive at the time of this special event.

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So there's a lot of people that have taken, you'll find a lot of commentaries that will take that viewpoint. Another perspective is that what you have here when it says all

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Israel will be saved is that you have the elect of the nations, the

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Gentiles that have been being gathered together, that's the mission of the church, and the elect amongst the people of Israel and they will all be saved and therefore all

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Israel will be saved and now Israel is being used of the

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Israel of God in a way that Paul does use that in Philippians he describes the church as the

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Israel of God. And so Jew and Gentile together, all the elect brought together in one consummation of God's purposes and the salvation of all people, all people that he has chosen.

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And then there are multiple breakdowns as to how it can be seen otherwise as well but one fits more into the idea of a non -post -millennial sort of historic, pre -tribulational, sudden bringing about of the end of all things type of a cataclysmic event type thing.

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And the other would be more commensurate I guess with where we would come from in seeing a process of time and a bringing about of God's salvation of his people both from the

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Jews and from the Gentiles. So all Israel does not mean every

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Jew that's ever been born. There are those who do believe it means all alive at a particular time but then there are others who would see it being used here basically as definition of the olive tree because what's the olive tree going to be made up of in the end?

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Both natural as well as engrafted branches. That's what the whole church age is all about is that instead of having the olive tree just over there in Israel and that's pretty much geographically all it is, now the gospel is going everywhere and it's

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God's purpose to now graft into that holy root all these

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Gentiles that God is drawing to himself from around the world. It must have been a little bit hard for people that day to have even imagined how many millions and millions and millions of people that would include.

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But that's what's taking place. And so from the standpoint of the gospel, verse 28, they are enemies for your sake but from the standpoint of God's choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers.

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The gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. So the fathers, the patriarchs,

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God made promises but isn't it interesting one of the very first promises is made to Abraham is your descendants shall be what?

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As the sand of the sea. And how is that fulfilled? Genetically or by faith?

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And where does that faith come from? That faith comes from the sovereign working of the decree of God.

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So there you have its fulfillment and God's gift and calling are irrevocable even if those to whom the promise was first made could not possibly have fully understood how grand

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God's fulfillment would be. How massive and awesome God's fulfillment would be.

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Now let me just make one quick comment before I make some application in regards to baptism and then we close up and have the supper and get ready for baptism.

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Notice that it says for just as you once were disobedient to God but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience.

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Again Jew -Gentile thing here. And that again I want to emphasize that. That's what makes this different than the warning passages.

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He's talking to Jews and Gentiles. He's talking to groups here.

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And when we make application outside of that we have to ask does

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Paul do that elsewhere or are we now going beyond him? That's I think an important issue. So these also now have been disobedient but because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy.

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Paul wants his Jewish brothers and sisters to experience the mercy of God in Christ Jesus.

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For God has shut up all in disobedience. Where have we seen that? That's the conclusion of Romans 3, remember?

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319? All those quotes from the Old Testament. And he wants everybody to understand

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Jews and Gentiles together stand guilty before God so that Jews and Gentiles together can be justified by the one mercy of God in Christ Jesus.

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So there's only one way of salvation. By faith in Christ Jesus. There can't be two ways.

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There can't be multiple ways. For God has shut up all in disobedience so that he may show mercy to all.

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Mark that one. I know we don't run into a lot of them but they're out there and they're a challenge.

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This is one of the favorite passages of the universalists. Universalists that believe that everyone will be saved.

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And here, right there, you have the text. For God has shut up all in disobedience so that he may show mercy to all.

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Well if all have sinned, disobedience, well he's going to show mercy to all.

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All will be saved. That's the argument. Now hopefully you can see that what has been the key issue all the way through, well all the way through Romans up to this point, but even in this immediate passage, why have branches been cut off?

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Unbelief. Why does anyone have salvation? Belief. It's the issue of faith.

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And so the idea that you have to embrace if you're going to be a universalist is that eventually everyone is going to believe.

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And so there are many people who do promote the idea of post -mortem evangelization.

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That you can die and you go to a place of holding, in essence, and realize, oh goodness,

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I blew it. I didn't believe. Well, you can believe now.

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And so that's not only a common view amongst universalists today, that was a common view in the early church as well.

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There has always been, and it's not inappropriate that there is this when you think about it, there has always been a struggle with the idea of punishment.

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Because when you think about it, it should never be something we joke about. It should never be something we joke about.

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But at the same time, if you want the balance, because our tendency is to be merciful to ourselves, but if you want the balance, look to the cross.

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If the son has to give himself in that manner, how serious must be the penalty of sin outside of himself?

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Much more can be said about that. It's a big topic. It's a big issue. But they go to this particular text to do that.

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Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and unfathomable his ways.

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For who has known the mind of the Lord and who has become his counselor? Drawing from Isaiah, these tremendous texts, it was first given to him that he might be repaid to him, for from him and through him and to him are all things.

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To him be the glory forever and ever, amen. This is Paul's concluding of the specifically doctrinal section of Romans chapter 12 begins the practical application.

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Therefore, I exhort you brothers by the mercies of God, present your bodies as a sacrifice. So here is a major, major transition.

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And if I was going to be a Puritan this evening, you could have done three or four sermons on each one of those last verses, because believe you me, they did.

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They did. But what does all of this have to do with baptism?

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If you start with the assumption that the new covenant documents are insufficient to define the nature and application of the new covenant signs, baptism,

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Lord's Supper. If you start with the idea that the continuity of the covenant overrides the specificity of what the new covenant says about baptism, then you can try to hook together texts such as Colossians 2 and Romans 11 to try to say, here is a foundation for why, though all the examples in the new covenant scriptures all say the same thing.

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And some, most of them will admit this. They will admit that when you look at baptism in the new covenant, that's what it says, but they'll say, but see, that's the problem.

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You're only looking at that rather than looking at the big picture.

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Then you look at a passage like Romans 11, Romans 11 does say God has had one purpose and one people, but even then, that's ignoring the purposes

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God had in having unregenerate Israelites, because there sure were a lot of them.

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The remnant concept was there all along, and it's ignoring the nature of the covenantal texts regarding the land of Israel and all the things associated with that.

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All we do is, what we're saying is, when you allow

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Paul to speak in toto, and again, my theory being that Paul is behind Hebrews, Luke is writing it, but it's his theology, so let's say for a moment that is

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Paul's theology. Then he's the one who has laid out the supremacy of the new covenant over the old, and that is that those who are in it know

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God, they have saving faith, their sins are forgiven. Those are the ones to whom you give the covenant sign of their union with Jesus Christ.

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That's where we start, and that's what causes the division. That's what causes the division.

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That's why we looked at Colossians 2. That's why we looked at Hebrews 8 so closely, because a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.

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And when you see a text like this, which isn't even talking about baptism, you recognize that there is a lot of assumptions having to be brought into the argumentation here, and those assumptions simply do not stand up to examination.

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We do recognize that what Paul is saying is,

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God has always had a people, but in the working with that people, and working out his purposes in this world, and in even delivering them through the exodus, and even the show of unbelief and faithlessness, what does

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Paul tell us a few chapters later in Romans 15? These things were written for our edification, including those places where the unbelievers were exposed.

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We live in a day, we're about to do baptisms. Do I have some special capacity to look into the heart of each person that's going to walk into those waters of testimony with me?

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No. We've talked to each one. I will ask certain questions.

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Could I be deceived? Of course. And so that's why we want, we ask of those who are being baptized, a credible profession of faith, because we believe that the new covenant is marked by faithful people who are following Jesus Christ and saying,

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I have been crucified with him, buried, and now I walk in newness of life.

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There were other aspects to circumcision under the old that are not a part of the new covenant.

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That's why we do baptism the way that we do it. We look at Romans 11.

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We see that God has always had one people. He is working out his purpose. He is going to bring all the

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Gentiles in and all of Israel will be saved, however you understand that to mean.

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But none of that means that you should give the signs of the new covenant to unbelievers in hope that they someday will be fulfilled.

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In hope that someday they will be fulfilled. Romans chapter 11, the olive tree.

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We have some of those around here. It's a fascinating illustration.

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But when we look at it, it should lead us not to a dispute about baptism, but the same place where Paul ended.

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Oh, the depths of the wisdom and power of God. It should lead us to worship.

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So today, here in this room, we're going to have the opportunity of experiencing both of the ordinances, if you want to use the old term, sacraments of the new covenant.

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The supper, the reminder of the mechanism by which we are saved.

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And then we are going to be able to watch as boys and girls, men and women walk into the waters of testimony and say,

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I believe in Jesus Christ. He is my Lord and Savior. I am going to walk in newness of life in service to him.

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My hope and prayer is if you're a believer, as you watch, you'll remember.

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You'll remember. You'll think back. I was just back in Pennsylvania a few weeks ago, and I went by the little

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Baptist church that I was baptized in. And it's now a school, and one of the teachers was walking out, and so I said, excuse me.

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I sort of gave him a little background, and I said, would the baptistry happen to still be in there?

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And he said, actually, that's probably right about where my desk is now. So it's not there.

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That baptistry was not something special about that particular place, but I remember it.

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I remember what the choir sang. I remember that they could only see the top of my head, but I know

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I was there. And I know what my testimony was. And as you see these people being baptized, you think back and ask yourself the question.

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As I came out of those waters, the discussion was raised to walk in newness of life.

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How often have we allowed that newness to slip back into the oldness of the world?

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How often have we allowed that flame of passion to burn very low?

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May this supper and this baptismal service be a time for each one of us to pray to our

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Heavenly Father, Lord, renew in me the commitment that I made.

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And if you're here this evening and you have not repented and turned from your sin, maybe you were baptized as a child, but you had no idea what you were doing, and you're not walking into the

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Lordship of Christ. We want to call you to repentance and faith, to understanding that there is no way of salvation outside of Him.

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He is the only way you can ever have peace with God. You know the weight of your sin, and it's just punishment.

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He bore that for everyone who would believe in Him. He is a perfect Savior to every person who has ever called upon Him for salvation.

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That's what we want you to know. But for those who have, I pray that tonight you will truly think about your baptism and ask that God would renew in your heart and mind and in your life in this coming week your passionate desire to live in a way that glorifies

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Christ. If that means getting rid of certain sins that have entangled you, recognize those things can only kill, they can never give true joy.

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So let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father, we are thankful that You have had that olive tree down through the centuries, down through the millennia, and that olive tree stood in a small portion of the

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Mideast for a long, long time, but now its branches have spread across the entire world and here we are.

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Here we are so far away, speaking a language unknown at the time of the writing of Your Scriptures, and You're building

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Your church. You're changing hearts and minds. You're giving life.

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Father, we thank You that we are a part of what You're doing. Let us never be haughty.

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Let us never look to ourselves. Instead, Father, we pray that we will be steadfast in our faith, glorifying