Olive-tree-or-Apple-Tree-Part-3

Mathew 5:8

God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.

God has many attributes, but this one is counted on all the time by Christians: Mal. 3:6 “For I am the LORD, I do not change.” This attribute is expressed by Christians regularly in associating His sovereignty over them and His faithfulness to them. If we truly believe God does not change then we cannot at the same time believe He will cast away His chosen people in favor of another people. Romans 11:29 tells us the gifts and callings of God are irrevocable. All of Psalm 89 extols God’s faithfulness to His chosen people. God clearly repeats His covenant in verse 28 that He made with David and his generations is forever. Then again in verse 34 God repeats that He will not break His covenant nor alter His covenant with David.

(V28 “My mercy I will keep for him forever, and my covenant shall stand firm with him.” V34 “My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out from My lips.”)

Keeping in mind God’s faithfulness there are two important questions before us:

The first question: If God has not and will not forsake or discard His covenant people should we as Christians? Should we boast against the natural branches? If we take Paul at his written word, clearly “NO” we should do neither.

The second question: Why should this matter to Christians? It should matter to Christians because without the Jews we have no Patriarchs, no Prophets, no Apostles, no Bible, no form of worship or prayer example, no idea of one God, no concept of faith and no Savior. Without all of these, how do we partake of God’s salvation? We can’t. Without all we have from the olive tree we become an apple tree with no roots. These were all blessings to the Christians and gifts and blessings from the Jews, and we partake of these gifts and blessings by becoming part of Israel just as Paul clearly explained in his letter to the Romans.

ROMANS 11:17-30

1. Who is the olive tree: Israel

A. Jere.11:14-17 B. Hos. 14:1-6 C. Ps. 52

2. Who are the patriarchs of Israel: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob

A. Acts 3:13

B. Acts7:32

C. Gen. 32:28 Jacob renamed Israel

3. Has God castaway His people?

A. Rom. 11:1-2a

4. Paul uses a visual of how Gentiles partake of salvation.

A. Rom. 11:17

5. Gentiles and Jews come together.

A. Rom. 11:17, 19, 23, 24

6. God's mercy on both Jews and Gentiles

A. Rom. 11:28-32

7. Abraham's seed Gal. 3:29. A. Blessings through Abraham's seed.

A. Gen. 12:2-3 Blessings to the nations

B. Acts 3: 19-26 Salvation

C. Rom. 4:1-22 Justification, faith, salvation

8. God's immutability.

A. Malachi 3:6 B. Rom. 11:29 C. Ps. 89

9. Why our Jewish spiritual heritage matters? Without the Jewish spiritual heritage we would have no patriarchs, no prophets, no apostles, no Bible, no form of worship or prayer example, no concept of one God, and no Savior. Without all of these we would have no salvation.