Holy Dough, Roots and Branches
Romans 11:16-21
Israel is often in the news today and the Church speaks and wonders about the future of Israel. Evidently the Church at Rome had questions about Israel’s future too, because Paul spends 3 chapters of in the Book of Romans, discussing how God has always included Israel in His Salvation plan, and has not totally rejected them today.
We looked last week at how Israel’s disobedience has led to the salvation by faith alone in the Lord Jesus for us, the non-Jewish people (Gentiles) of the world. Along with the privilege of knowing the grace and unprecedented favor that God has shown to us, He wills that OUR FAITH will cause the Jewish people, as well as unbelievers everywhere, to be JEALOUS of our faith and be drawn to the Love of God in Christ. We saw how God is a jealous God, not willing to share His glory with anyone else: The only acceptable way to serve a jealous God is with a zealous and undivided heart. We could say that you must have a Heart that is HOLY to God and also WHOLLY (entirely) to Him, but NEVER holey to Him. (Sometimes there seem to be "holes" in our holiness.)
The Heavenly Picture of the Holy
We pick up our study at Romans 11:16: “If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is HOLY, then the whole batch is HOLY. If the root is HOLY, so are the branches.”
What are the prevalent words in this verse? Holy, Holy, Holy. We say, “God is Holy”, but many times we don’t know and realize what that REALLY means and what we are saying about Him when we speak the word “Holy”. That’s why I read Isaiah 6:1-13 to begin, as a reminder, that angels who have NEVER sinned, must cover themselves in God’s HOLIEST of all presence. That passage gives us the picture of man’s total Un-holiness set against the enveloping framework of the Heavenly Picture of THE HOLY: "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts.”
“The clearest sensation that a human being has when he experiences the holy is an overpowering and overwhelming sense of creatureliness…in the presence of God, we are humbled and become most aware of ourselves as creatures. This is the opposite of Satan's original temptation, "You shall be as gods.” (R.C. Sproul, “The Holiness of God”)
God is the only one who is, and was and will always be ETERNALLY HOLY. God’s Eternal Holiness is why God IS God, and why I am not, and why I will NEVER BE God, and neither will anyone else! God’s HOLINESS is EXCLUSIVE to God and God alone.
There are other words clearly associated with the Holiness of God in scripture: Holy, consecrate, purify, sanctify, set apart, all are relational to God being HOLY. How important is this concept of “Holiness” in scripture? These words alone are used 1,000 times in the 1189 chapters of the Bible; God IS HOLY, so do you think that Holiness, sanctification, purification, consecration should be important to us as human beings? ABSOLUTELY
In Exodus 33:20, when Moses asked God if he could see His face, God said to Moses: "You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live !" The angels in heaven shield themselves too. Why? Because of God’s “other-worldly” Holiness, which HE ALONE possesses. He is so radiant and perfect in every single way, to such an extent, that CREATURES will disintegrate in His Presence.
Hebrews 12:14 says: “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.” If I am so unworthy and sinful, how can I possibly DO enough, How can I be Holy enough, or righteous enough to enter the Kingdom of God, let alone live and exist in God’s HOLY presence. I am always failing.
This is exactly the point! Without God’s grace to save and sanctify, God’s Holiness would eternally exclude all of us from ANY of God’s goodness, mercy, love, and the benefits of His Kingdom. God’s justice is HOLY too, and without God’s Grace, you would receive God’s wrath. So God says: “You can’t possibly do it, but I can.”
What we cannot do, God accomplishes through the Lord Jesus Christ, and that has been one of the themes of Romans: God’s Holiness is applied to a believer by God: THE JUSTIFIED LIVE BY THE GIFT OF FAITH. Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3:3: "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." The touch of God’s Spirit in the heart and life is by God: It is then that we know that He forgives, He saves, and He sanctifies. What do you do? You receive, repent, believe, confess, trust, and live and love Him.
Holy Dough
Getting back to Romans 11:16: “If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is HOLY, then the whole batch is HOLY. If the root is HOLY, so are the branches.”
Earthly Pictures of the Holy
Paul is giving two Earthly Pictures of the HOLY. The two examples are a parable of sorts, demonstrating a spiritual reality. The first example is that of Dough. Now most people in the world EAT BREAD, but very few in our country prepare and bake bread today. If I was preparing a large batch of bread dough, let’s say enough for 10 loaves of bread, I would put all the ingredients together and mix it up well and divide it into 10 equal parts, bake them all, and eventually come out with 10 loaves of the same bread.
This is what Old Testament Israel was told to do after their grain harvest and every time they made dough in Numbers 15:19-21: “When you eat of the food of the land, you shall lift up an offering to the LORD. 20 'Of the first of your dough you shall lift up a cake as an offering ; as the offering of the threshing floor, so you shall lift it up. 21 'From the first of your dough you shall give to the LORD an offering throughout your generations.”
Each time dough was prepared for baking bread, you were to pull off a portion of the dough batch and give it to the Lord. It was a temple offering or it was given to the priest so that the one who was serving them could live; This was a first-fruits HOLY offering to the HOLY Lord. Every time they did this, it was a FIRM REMINDER that EVERYTHING COMES FROM the LORD and BELONGS to the Him, and that an even greater harvest could be expected from the Lord. God IS the ONE who is supplying you from His HOLY abundance; He is the reason for your Bread (Jesus was the Living Bread come down from Heaven!)
But keep this point in mind concerning the dough: If the first Fruit, the first part of the dough, is HOLY to the Lord, then ALL of the BATCH must be HOLY to the Lord. If the small part is HOLY, it had to have come from a larger HOLY batch. You can’t get bad bread from Holy Dough, or good bread from evil dough, and you certainly cannot get bad AND good from the same batch. You can’t get 9 loaves of sourdough bread and one Jewish rye from the same batch of dough. That make sense, doesn’t it? It all has to be HOLY, or none of it is Holy.
Holy Root and Branches
Now look at Romans 11:16b: “If the root is holy, so are the branches.” Now this is teaching the same HOLY principle, but with a different picture. If you plant an olive pit, what kind of tree would you expect to grow? You would naturally expect an OLIVE TREE from an olive pit or an olive cutting (which is how most olive trees are planted; from cuttings). So we’ll apply the same “dough principle” here: If the root (or stump) of the tree is HOLY, the branches of the tree must be HOLY. If you have an olive root, and an olive tree is growing, you don’t expect a branch of poison ivy to sprout out of the olive trunk, nor do you expect to have a WILD OLIVE branch to sprout out. You expect the olive tree to be a WHOLLY (entirely) “olive” tree, and if the branches are attached to the HOLY ROOT, you have every so-called “right” to expect the branches to be HOLY. God expects that too.
Now the ROOT REFERS to the Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob), but what was so special about them? You can read their stories in Genesis 12-50, but the reason they were special is outlined in Hebrew 11: They took God at His Word without ever seeing His promises fulfilled, in other words, they believed by FAITH, that God would provide Salvation for them. They weren’t HOLY because they DID certain things; they were Holy to God because God made them HOLY to HIM, for His purposes. They lived, walked, and died by Faith in God alone, and it showed in their obedience to Him.
We receive a RIGHTEOUSNESS from God by the gift of SAVING Faith, not works. The Root of Righteousness by Faith was initiated by God, through Abraham, and the Patriarchs, prolonged through the prophets (like in Isaiah 6:13,11:10, 37:31, and later in Romans 15:12) who foretold of the TRUE ROOT who is FINALLY fulfilled in Lord Jesus Christ.
The promise that was made my God to Abraham was to him and to His seed after him, and so the BRANCHES are the descendants of Abraham and the Patriarchs. So the two earthly pictures have the same spiritual and Godly principle; When God initiates the HOLY, HOLY will be produced.
As we look at the next verses, remember that we, as Gentile believers, are called to draw ALL unbelievers, to faith in the Living God through our extraordinary relationship with God, in a way to make them jealous of God’s Grace in Christ.
Godly Sovereignty to Save
Now look at Romans 11:17: “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, 18 do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do NOT support the root, but the root SUPPORTS you.” (You don’t CARRY the root of God’s righteousness, It carries you!)
Romans 11:19: “You will say then,(there’s a touch of pompousness,) "Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in." 20 Granted. But they were broken off because of UNBELIEF, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will NOT spare you either.”
22 “Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. 23 And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!”
The stark reminder of God’s Sovereignty to save some and not others appears again in these verses, as it has in Chapters 9-11. The most obvious point in these verses is what Paul stated earlier: Not all of Abraham’s descendants remained in the righteousness that God provided. God’s STERNESS is seen in His powerful pruning of unbelief: It is a chilling reminder of God’s punishment against unbelief. These branches did not just fall off, but they were CUT OFF (is what the Greek word means), not because of their national, ethnic, economic or religious status, but they were cut off on account of their UNBELIEF. They would not believe God.
Paul later warns the Galatians in Galatians 5:4: You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. 5 For we through the Spirit, BY FAITH, are waiting for the hope of righteousness…6 faith working through love. (CHRIST’s Love and His gift of Faith.) 7 You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth ? 8 This persuasion did not come from Him who calls you. 9 A little leaven (evil influence) leavens the whole lump of dough.
God’s sternness to Israel and all unbelief is not surprising to God: National Israel is really a picture of the severity of the sin and destiny of the ENTIRE human race without the intervention of the Lord Jesus Christ’s life, death and resurrection to SAVE and justify sinners: for God’s Spirit to step in and CHANGE HEARTS.
We see that God’s purpose goes beyond merely extricating unbelieving Jews; His purpose is to make room for unbelieving Gentiles. His KINDNESS IS seen in His Gracious and generous grafting by Faith of those outside of the Jewish nation, including some from every nation of the world. If you are a branch, or a part of a branch, could you somehow jump up and graft yourself into the root of God’s righteousness by faith? It would be difficult to say the least, but all things are possible for God.
You and I, who have no “natural” or national heritage are like “wild shoots”. It is “contrary to nature”, it is contrary for ANY SINFUL HUMAN BEING to be grafted into the HOLY root of saving faith, but God is GRACIOUS to save some. What a miracle of His Redemptive Power for sinners!
R.C. Sproul, in his book, “The Holiness of God” says: “When God's justice falls, we are offended because we think God owes perpetual mercy. We (as believers in Christ) must not take His grace for granted. We must never lose our capacity to be amazed by grace”
We must NEVER stop being amazed by God’s Grace. Ephesians 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—9 not by works, so that no one can boast.” I Timothy 1:14 The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners--of whom I am the worst. 16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.”
OUTLINE: Intro: The acceptable way to serve a jealous God is with a zealous heart: With a Heart that is HOLY to Him, WHOLLY (entirely) to Him, but NEVER holey.
I. The Heavenly Picture of Holy
A. God’s HOLINESS is EXCLUSIVE to God and God alone.
B. Without God’s grace, God’s Holiness would eternally exclude us from ANY of God benefits: You can’t do it, but I can.
C. God’s Perfect Holiness applied: THE JUSTIFIED LIVE BY THE GIFT OF FAITH
II. Earthly Pictures of Holiness
A. Dough: If the first part is HOLY to the Lord, then ALL of the BATCH must be HOLY to the Lord.
B. A Holy Root and Holy branches: If the root of the tree is HOLY, the branches of the tree must be HOLY.
1. The Root of Righteousness by Faith, initiated by God, through Abraham, fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
(Isaiah 6:13, 11:10, 37:31, Romans 15:12)
2.The BRANCHES are the descendants of Abraham
3. When God initiates the HOLY, HOLY will be produced.
III. God exercises Sovereignty!
A. God’s STERNESS is seen in His powerful pruning of unbelief.
B. God’s KINDNESS is seen in His Gracious grafting by faith.
