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Grace Grafted into the True Olive Tree

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[Romans 11:17-18]
“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.”

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The nation of Israel, whose ancestor was Abraham, was a nation that received special love from God. God sent the promised Messiah, Jesus, to the land of Israel.

But the Israelites did not accept Jesus as the Messiah. Rather, they crucified Jesus, the Messiah.

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After Jesus was resurrected and ascended into heaven, the gospel of salvation began to be preached throughout the earth. Amazing things started to happen.

People from foreign countries believed in Jesus, whom the Israelites did not accept as the Messiah, and began to receive salvation.

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The Israelites still did not accept Jesus as the Messiah.

Rather, he harassed those who believed in Jesus and did all kinds of evil to prevent them from preaching Jesus. They even did the terrible thing of stoning Deacon Stephen and making him martyr for the sake of preaching the gospel.

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The Apostle Paul was also a person who thought that those who believed in Jesus, like other Israelites, should disappear. Jesus appeared directly to Paul, who was going to Damascus to arrest those who believed in Jesus. Paul, who met Jesus there, believed in Jesus and was saved.

From then on, Paul worked hard to preach the gospel to the Gentiles that Jesus had entrusted to him.

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Thousands of Gentiles who heard the gospel preached by Paul were saved.

Among the Gentiles, the number of God's people who are being saved has greatly increased.

The saved Gentiles thought that Israel, the people of God, had been abandoned.

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But Paul said they were wrong.

He explained that God had never forsaken the people of God.

He said that the Gentiles became the new people of God because the Israelites refused to

become God's people by not accepting Jesus.

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However, Paul was convinced that one day, the people of Israel, his homeland,

would also have an opportunity of salvation.

This is because they are a nation built on the strong foundation of the faith of Abraham, the father

of faith. It's like a tree with healthy roots,

he thought, and over time a strong tree grows from its roots.

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The Apostle Paul used the example of the olive tree to explain the people who became God's people as Gentiles. There are two different types of olive trees.

One of them is a true olive tree and the other is a wild olive tree.

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Some of the branches of the true olive tree did not grow properly.

The branches did not properly absorb the nutrients provided by the fresh roots.

The olive tree did not improve over time.

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The owner boldly cut off the branches.

Then he grafted in the cut-off place with branches of wild olive trees.

The wild olive tree branches absorbed the nutrients of the true olive tree root and grew very healthy. The branches were no longer the branches of the wild olive tree,

but the branches of the true olive tree.

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The Israelites received special love from God on the basis of the beautiful faith of their ancestors. However, they did not accept Jesus, who is the root of true faith. As a result, they became like branches that were rendered useless by rejecting the nutrients supplied by the root of faith.

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They boasted that they were physically descendants of Abraham, but did not receive faith in Jesus. God cut off the branches of Israel, which do not have the life of faith.

In its place, God grafted in Gentiles like wild olive branches who had faith in Jesus.

They were grafted with true faith and their status changed as God's people.

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As Gentiles who are not descendants of Abraham by blood, we are all wild olive branches.

We have all been grafted onto the true olive tree through faith in Jesus, who died on the cross for our sins. Through grafting, our identity has been changed to that of God's people, that is, children of God.

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The condition for grafting into the true olive tree is faith in Jesus.

If the cut off Israelites only have faith in Jesus, God's love will restore them.

The Apostle Paul was confident and hoped that one day God would come when the people of

Israel would be restored by believing in Jesus.

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We must listen to the Word today and always live a life of faith with humility.

It was not through our efforts or merits that we were grafted into the true olive tree and became God's people. God has planted faith in us as a gift through one-sided love.

We should always give thanks to God for making us His people and giving us eternal life.

We must become God's people who walk with the Holy Spirit and follow the example set by Jesus.

(This is the sample conclusion provided by CTM. Please feel free to change the conclusion to best suit the listeners of your sermon.)