This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

(upbeat music) - Welcome to Daily Drive Time Devotions. We are in Romans chapter
11 this week. This is day three of our look at that chapter, verses 16 to 21
we're going to be looking at.

Paul is walking us through the fact that God always has a plan and that for
those who will listen to him, that plan of how he works in history can often be
seen. You can't figure out all the details, but you can see the broad sweep of
God's hand at work in human history, how he works. You can know the ways of God.

We looked yesterday at the fact that the loss of the Jewish people has become
the Gentiles gain and the Gentiles gain will result in a sense of loss in the
Jewish people and that sense of loss will become the gain of the Jewish people
and then their gain will become the gain of all people. Now, Paul wants us to
get this and so the Holy Spirit inspires him with two pictures that help us to
understand what he's talking about in the way that God's at work in human
history. He gives us the picture of dough, bread dough, and the picture of an
olive tree and how it grows.

Verses 16 to 18 say this. If the part of the dough offered as first fruits is
holy, then the whole batch is holy and if the root is holy, so are the branches.
If some of the branches have been broken off and you though a wild olive shoot
have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from
the olive root, do not boast over those branches.

If you do, consider this. You do not support the root, but the root supports
you. Dough and olive tree.

And first he says the dough. The first part of the dough is an indication of
what the whole lump of dough is like. The first is an indication of the whole.

It's even an indication of the end. Abraham's faith was the beginning of the
Jewish people, the Jewish nation, and his faith blessed all of that race and all
of mankind. And then he also gives the picture of a root and a tree and he says
if a root is holy, is good, so are the branches.

It'll bear good fruit. Now to understand God's work in history, you have to
understand that he started with a chosen people, the Jewish people. That's the
root, that's the beginning of the dough.

And Paul here says that the dough is good. The root is holy. Some of the
branches he said, yes, they've been broken off.

But because the root is good, Paul says I can see how God's at work in human
history. I know because the root is good, because the first fruits of the dough
is good, that God still has a plan. He is still at work with my people, the
Jewish people.

The good root is an indication of God's future plan. Now if you are not Jewish,
he says here that you were grafted in and that you benefit from the good root
also. In fact, he says an olive tree against nature, against how you would
usually do it, usually you would take a good branch and you would graft it into
a wild tree and that's how you'd get good olives.

You'd never graft a wild branch into a good tree, but Paul says that's how God
did it. And there's an interesting picture here. William Ramsey says it is
customary to invigorate an olive tree which is ceasing to bear fruit by grafting
it with the shoot of a wild olive so that the sap of the tree ennobles this wild
shoot and the tree now begins again to bear fruit.

Interesting picture of God's work in human history. In fact, this whole idea of
a tree, if you really want to do a fascinating study in scripture sometime, look
at the difference between the breaking off of a branch, the grafting in of a
branch, the pruning of a branch, and the bearing of fruit in a branch. I don't
have time to talk about that here.

It is a long lengthy study, but it will bear great spiritual fruit in your life.
Paul talks here about doe, he talks about olive trees. And there's a truth,
there is a point behind these pictures.

The point is we must not become prideful. Those who do not learn from history
are doomed to pride. He said they became prideful and as a nation they lost
faith.

Well, I can too, you can too, we can too. Now remember, as we walk through this
chapter, he's talking about nations here, not individuals. He's not saying
you'll be cut off and lose your salvation.

He's saying as a whole, the Gentiles will turn away from God if they allow
spiritual pride to creep in. Watch out for pride, both spiritually. Hey, I'm a
Christian, so everybody in my family will be a Christian.

And also nationally, as an American, I'm sure that we are a Christian nation.
That's a danger for all of us. Also watch out for pride as a church.

We happen to be in a big church. It's easy to take pride in that and think
somehow that that guarantees some spiritual significance or spiritual
relationship with God. Paul says watch out, watch out for pride.

In fact, he gives us some ways to remind us to not be prideful, to help us not
become spiritually prideful. He says remember this, the root supports you. Verse
18, do not boast over those branches.

If you do, consider this, you do not support the root, the root supports you.
Root supports you, not the other way around. And Paul is saying, I am grateful
for the fact that all of this springs from one common source, our faith in God's
love for his people.

As we talk about this root, God's love for his people, and look to the past,
it's also a reminder to me to be grateful for those who've gone before.
Spiritually, if it were not for the Jews, you would not know Christ. So thank
God for people who helped you to understand that there would one day be a
Messiah.

Nationally, don't forget your spiritual roots. There are those who have gone
before us in our nation who made sacrifices for their faith and allowed us the
opportunity to worship God freely. As a church, don't forget to thank God for
our roots.

For those who first had faith and began this church, and even for other
churches, smaller churches that fought for every inch of their growth, we would
not be here without their faith. The root supports you, not the other way
around. And once you stop remembering that, then the next step is pride, and
it's not very far away.

Paul says, here's another fact, another truth that'll help you to not be
prideful. Remember, they were broken off for their unbelief. Verses 19 to 21, he
says, he will say then, branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.

That's a prideful statement. Granted, he said, but they were broken off because
of their unbelief. And you stand by faith.

Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. For if God did not spare the natural
branches, he will not spare you either. If it happened to God's chosen people,
the Jewish people, it could easily happen to the Gentiles.

This is not a matter of being on the in crowd or the out crowd, it's a matter of
the trust crowd, those who have decided to trust him. One more reminder, it's
very important to remember as we walk through this chapter, that he is not
talking about individuals. He is talking about nations and groups of people
here.

He's not saying that you can lose your salvation, that you will be cut off, any
more than he's saying that someone who is Jewish could not be saved because the
Jews had been cut off. He's not talking about individuals. He's talking about
these groups of people.

And he says, the point is, be afraid. Be afraid. And the point is not be afraid
of losing your personal salvation.

The point is this. Be afraid of thinking that you're a Christian just because
you were born in America. Be afraid of assuming faith instead of choosing faith.

Be afraid of the danger of pride. Do not be arrogant. As we pray, let's talk to
God about our pride.

And in prayer, just for a moment, say to God, God, I admit it, I'm prideful. I
admit it. Even as I pray with you, I am prideful.

And my pride gets in the way of my relationship with God. I become stubborn. I
focus on my selfishness.

God, I admit that I can be prideful about things. I can be prideful about
relationships. And as scary as it is to admit this, I can also be prideful, even
about my relationship with you.

God, keep me from that kind of pride. Help me to remember that it all started
with you. You're the root.

And it all comes from you. You're the strength. And remind me of the fact that I
don't have faith in you because I have some special privilege because of where I
live or where I was born or what family I grew up in.

I have the privilege of having faith in you, Jesus, because you died for me.
Because you were resurrected for every one of us. God, help me to see pride as
it is in you.

Begin to invade even at the corners of my life. And because of my faith in you,
I pray that I would see myself in a new way. Instead of pridefully help me to
see myself as one who is loved by you and as one who is grateful for that love.

I am grateful in Jesus' name, amen. Tomorrow we're going to continue our look at
what Paul has to say about God's work in nations as we look at verses 22 to 32.