Video Notes: 

• The cultivated olive tree – Israel. The roots are the patriarchs and the branches the Jews. The wild olive shoots are the Gentile who, by faith, have become part of God’s chosen people.
• Some of the branches have been broken off. – Some of the Jews have rejected the promised Messiah, Jesus, and have been broken off (though not necessarily permanently).
• Wild olive shoots do not bear good fruit, however, when they are grafted into the cultivated tree and benefit from the nourishing cultivated root, they begin to bear fruit.
• The original branches can be grafted back in.
• So, the gentiles (this probably includes most of you) need to recognize a few things and not become arrogant.
  • Just as Israel didn’t deserve to be chosen and cultivated, the Gentiles didn’t deserve to be grafted in. You and I didn’t either.
  • The fruit you now bear is not because of you, but because of that which nourishes you, God and the salvation He brought through the Jews. So, even as Christians, we have nothing to be prideful of in our works. Those works are God’s Spirit working in us to will and to do them (Philippians 2:13)
  • If you start thinking too highly of yourself and become proud in yourself apart from God, you too could walk away from God and be cut off from the tree like the Jews who rejected Jesus.
• On the positive side, though, we remember two things…
  • You Gentiles who heard the Gospel and believed, though undeserving, have been grafted into the true Israel. You are now God’s chosen people, a holy nation of priests, by the grace of God and will bear fruit for God.
  • For those Jews who have rejected Jesus as the promised Messiah and have looked for righteousness through your own obedience or lineage, God still holds out His arms for you. Your rejection has cut you out of the true Israel, but God will graft you back in if you receive Jesus as the promised Messiah and receive the righteousness that comes by faith apart from works.
• God’s salvation is for all people. Jesus died on the cross to forgive your sins, make you righteous, and reconcile you to God. No one deserves it or earns. It is always a gift by God’s gracious choosing and work. It is a gift you receive by faith and that gift is here for you, today.