Transcription
Let's stand and open our Bibles to Romans chapter 11. Romans chapter 11. Church, you know, I announced this last week that in Romans chapter 11, we are now coming to the third installment section. Romans 9, Romans 10, Romans 11. Paul the Apostle writes. Remember this now, you've got a little outline already in your head. You know what I'm going to say. That's a good thing.
Romans 9 is about Israel's past dealings with God and God with Israel. Romans 9, Israel's past. Romans chapter 10 is Israel's present-day dealings with God. They have got all the promises, but they've alienated themselves from God because of unbelief. Romans chapter 11, very controversial in a day and age that we're in right now. Romans chapter 11 is all about Israel's future. That the Bible makes it extremely clear. And that, my friend, if you haven't encountered this yet, is a huge dividing issue among churches and among Christians and so-called Christians right now today.
Is the issue of Israel. Does Israel have a future? And God says, yes. But a lot of people are saying they shouldn't. A lot of people are saying, cut ties with Israel. Just know what the Bible says. You cut ties with Israel, and God makes it clear, you're going to suffer for that because you're going to be kicking against God. And God will fulfill His promises to Israel, the only nation on the face of the Earth that He's made promises to. You must say, I thought He made promises to America. Nope. Nope. Israel. God must fulfill the covenant promises that He's made with Israel, or He is not God. That's how serious His promises are made to Israel. He says, if I don't keep my promises to Israel, the sun will refuse to shine, and the moon will not give its light. Israel in its future. So the series is titled, "Is It Time to Give Up on Israel?" A lot of people are asking that question.
I'll begin reading in verse one. If you'll pick it up in verse two, and, uh, we'll take the first section together, verses 1-6. Paul says, "I say then," and that's in light of chapter 9 and 10. "I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, 'Lord, you can hear him complaining, Lord, they have killed Your prophets, they've torn down Your altars.' He's talking about his Jewish brothers and sisters. 'And I alone am left, and they seek my life.' What does the Divine response say to him? 'I have reserved for Myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.' Even so, then, at this present time, there is a remnant according to the election of grace. My grace then is no longer of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if his works, it is no longer grace. Wise work is no longer work." And all God's people said, "Amen." "Amen." You may be seated.
Diving right into this, where we picked off, picked up last time together, we'll do this here, and that is, "Is it time to give up on Israel?" Paul the Apostle makes the overwhelming statement, "Absolutely, certainly not." Um, you could say, "No, no, no, no way, no way, no, no, no." I mean, it's emphatic. It's, it's, uh, a strong declaration. It is a, uh, vehement, uh, condemnation or rebuke of the thought. Has God cast away His people? Paul says, "Don't even think like that." And, and listen, the reasons why it's not that Paul is showing favoritism to his fellow Jew. Paul is showing his commitment to the authority of God's Word. God's Word must be fulfilled. Don't think that God is going to change His Word. He's not going to alter His promises. We saw that in verses 1 and 2, and that's where we left off. We, we got a little bit into this study, and that is how when God has an eternal plan to cast off Israel, is now the time? Never is the time. But we understand the argument. God's got an eternal plan for Israel. And we saw it this way. God's eternal plans are underway. And I love this. When the scripture says here, "I say then, and has God cast away His people? Certainly not." We talked, strong in heart, about the fact that Paul the Apostle is a Jew. He states his pedigree up front. And you heard, you saw that he's from the tribe of Benjamin. He's an Israelite. Paul was a Pharisee. We know from other scriptures. Paul was a Jew who, after the crucifixion of Christ and resurrection from the dead of Christ and the ascension of Christ, the Bible tells us in the book of Acts that it's none other than Jesus Christ who encounters Saul. Was his pre-conversion name. Jesus changed his name from Saul to Paul. Saul is a big deal, and Paul is a little deal. That, by the way, when God gets a hold of our lives, uh, we go from being a big deal to being a little deal. Uh, when God gets a hold of our lives, we decrease, and He, what, increases. And so, uh, God went to work in his life. And God sovereignly, uh, witnessed to Saul of Tarsus on the Damascus Road, and he was converted to Christ. And so, listen, what's fun about this, which again, I want to, I, I'm not going to back off of this. This upsets some people. And, um, I've noticed you. Well, I mean, you're only in one service. You ought to stick around for all three services. You get to see a lot of dynamics. And, um, what happens is when I say things like this, people get up and walk out. And it is this: God has not done with the nation of Israel. And those who embrace replacement theology, that the church is the new Israel, God's covenants to Israel have now shifted over to the church. He, he's washed His hands of the Jew. He's washed His hands of Israel, of its past, of its present, and of its future. Um, when I say that, if you believe that, then you do not believe the Bible. I don't know what you're believing, but it's not in the Bible. That that upsets people because they have been, uh, denominationally tainted. They've been somehow, by their denominational hierarchy or traditions, they've been inoculated against the truth of God when it comes to the issue of Israel. And God says He's going to fulfill His plan for Israel, as awkward as that sounds in this 21st century, right now, this year, when it's very cool and hip to cut Israel off and to protest and to wave flags. Be careful. Be careful. You're aligning yourself against God. And here is Paul, 2,000 years ago, basically, allow me to put it to you this way. Paul is saying, "How can you knuckleheads in the 21st century embrace replacement theology when I, a Jew, got saved after Jesus Christ ascended back to heaven? I'm a Jew. If replacement theology is true, then how is it that I'm saved? How is it that Jews get saved?" The answer is, God is at work, and He's got a remnant. Every generation for the last 2,000 years, there's a remnant of Jews who come to Jesus as Messiah. And that's going to happen. But the Bible says, "Yeah, it's going to happen, but something's going to take place, and there's going to be a great increase." And that's called the last days. Are you guys awake? The last days will see an increase of Jews coming to Jesus as Messiah, says the Bible. And I'm thrilled about that. I'm thrilled about that. I'm excited about that. But there's a great plan that's underway.
And then also, this. We saw, and this is where we left off, that God's eternal purposes will be fulfilled. He says, "For I," that's his second "I," by the way, second time he mentions himself. "For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin." When he announces that he's an Israelite, he's announcing that he's a descendant of Jacob. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and who? Jacob. Why Jacob? Because when Jacob wrestled with God, listen, we all go through this, by the way. I, I think this is a beautiful thing. I know you don't like it. I didn't like it at the time. But every believer who comes to Christ at some point in time, uh, you're going to wrestle with God. Jacob believed in God, but he, he didn't have the Lord as Lord over his life. Jacob was still calling the shots, and the Lord allowed Himself to wrestle with Jacob. I love that. And Jacob lost. And so were you. I think it's Isaiah. It's not on the screens. It's in my head. Isaiah 1:18 says, "Come, let us reason together," says the Lord. And I love the word "reason" in Hebrew. God says this, "Come, let us argue together," says the Lord. And the word implies, "You want to argue with me? You want a piece of me? Because if you get a piece of me, you're going to lose." That's what God is saying. "You come to me and you state your argument, and I got good news for you. You're going to lose your argument because you're going to find out that my love and my grace and my blood washes away sin. You may be scarlet, I'll make you as white as snow. You may be tainted with evil. I will remove it from you and put a new heart in you, and I'll have your mind renewed, and you'll become a follower of the light and follower of truth." God will transform. And God, listen, God did that to your life, I trust. And He's done it to some Jewish friends that we know that you know. But boy, is that about to increase. God keeps His promises. He will fulfill them.
And then he says that he's of the seed of Abraham. Abraham. I love saying what I'm about to say. All our Jewish friends, they're big on Abraham. "Abraham, he's our father." "You sure about that?" "Oh, I'm very sure about that." By the way, Muslims will say the same thing. "Abraham's our father." "You sure about that?" "Yes, we're very sure about that." Christians, we're supposed to say the same thing. "Abraham's our father." Did you know that each three of those? I shouldn't say that. Did you know that two of those religions say that as an association, but they're both wrong? What? Yeah. There's another group that's not a religion. We call it Christianity. I don't like they even mention anymore because it's so brutalized and beat up and misrepresented. But listen, Judaism is a religion. It's a man-made effort to reach God by performance. So is Islam. I've studied Islam. Maybe you've studied Islam. It's, listen, with all due respect to, uh, Muslims who may be here or watching right now, my heart goes out to you. It is hard. And if a Muslim's honest, they'll say, "No, it's not hard, it's impossible. We can't make it. We can never make the standard." And even when we die, we don't know if we're going to go into heaven. I, I know the answer to that. You're not. You're not going to go. You want to know why? Because you're not taught that you must be born again to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Listen, my, listen, my Jewish friends who are caught up into Judaism. Judaism is a religious hierarchy, performance, act of doing good to earn God's favor. And you'll say it's hard, and, and we hope to get to heaven. You're not going to make it to heaven. You say, "How dare you say that?" Excuse me, but I'm only borrowing from Jesus Christ Himself. Jesus told Nicodemus, "Unless you're born again." Nick, by the way, he came to Jesus at night. Nick at night came to Jesus, and Jesus said, "Unless you're born again, you're not going to the, you're not going to heaven. You cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven." So, listen, that truth is eternal truth, and that is a promise given by God. And it doesn't matter what color you are, what religion you are, none of that stuff matters to God. None of it. In fact, all of it is a hindrance to you getting to heaven. You've got to come as you are, empty, with nothing but your sin, and say, "God, forgive me of my sins." And Jesus said, "That I will take your sin away from you." The Bible says He'll put His Holy Spirit in your life and make you brand new.
Listen, Christianity is not a religion. I know we're categorized as a religion, but a religion is man's attempt to reach God. Christianity is not a religion. It's God reaching down to all those who will put their trust in Him. Back to Abraham. Abraham. Abraham was more of a Christian than he was a Jew or for the Muslims, everyone who would be representing the Muslim faith. See, how can you say that? Because the Bible says Abraham was justified by faith. You will not get that in Islam, and you will not get that in Judaism. There's only one place you'll get that, and that is in the teachings of the Bible. And what you need to do is open up your heart to Christ. It's not a religion. Charles Spurgeon said, "Coming to Christ and learning about Christ in His Word and a relationship with Christ is the intercourse of God with man." And I love that. It is absolutely true. God's eternal promises will be fulfilled. And listen, he's not only the seed of Abraham, that is the posterity, the descendants of Abraham. The fact of the matter is, and this is what I was going to say earlier, uh, the fact that Abraham was a Gentile. What? The Bible lists. The Bible says he was a pagan, worshiping Gentile from Ur of the Chaldees. He became a Jew when he put his faith in the Lord. If you're not careful, you'll say, "No, no, no, he became a Jew when he got circumcised." Did you know that God declared Abraham righteous and and faithful before he was ever circumcised? Oh, he, he kept the law. Nice tribe. The law wouldn't come for about 400, 30 years after Abraham. Moses hadn't even been born yet. There was no Ten Commandments. There wasn't even five. And then he's of the tribe of Benjamin. Oh, my goodness. If you're Jewish, oh, wow. The tribe of Benjamin. That's the tribe that's the one you want to be from. Paul is saying, "I got it all, man." But it's his faith in Christ, as it is your faith in Christ, that matters.
Philippians 3:3. We'll start here together. Big chunk of scripture, but it's so enlightening. Paul is speaking to the church at Philippi, and he says, "For we who worship by the Spirit of God, there you go, are the ones who are truly circumcised. We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort. Though I could have confidence in my own effort, if anyone could indeed, if others have reason for this confidence in their own efforts, I even more." Here he goes. "I was circumcised when I was eight days old, that's prescribed in the scripture." And Paul could say, "When were you circumcised?" "On the 11th day." "I'm, I'm such a Jew. I was circumcised on the day that you're supposed to, on the eighth day." Which is, by the way, another whole fun thing, uh, with hematology. If there's any nurses or doctors in here, why the eighth day? Pretty incredible. That's, I'm not going to tell you why it's the eighth day. You need to go find out. It's pretty, uh, pretty doctor-like of God to do that. And so he says, uh, "On the eighth day, I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin. A real Hebrew if there ever was one. I was a member of the Pharisees, who demanded the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault." Can you imagine? "I once thought that these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake, I have been discarded, uh, or for this sake, I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage so that I could gain Christ and become one with Him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law. Rather, I become righteous through faith." Sounds like Abraham. "In Christ, for God's way of making us right with Himself depends on faith. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that God raised Him from the dead. I want to suffer with Him, sharing in His death, so that one way or another, I will experience the resurrection from the dead." That is a Jew telling you how to be an actual follower of Jesus Christ. It's awesome, liberating, glorious. Do you have a personal relationship with Christ? That's what you want to ask yourself.
First Kings 8:58 begins by saying this, "And so it was when Solomon had finished praying all this prayer and supplication to the Lord, that he rose from before the altar of the Lord, uh, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to heaven. Verse 55, then he stood and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying, 'Blessed is the Lord, who has given rest to His People Israel, according to all that He, uh, promised. There has not one, there has not failed one word of all His good promise which He promised through His servant Moses.'" God keeps His promises. Mark it down.
Hebrews chapter 6:17. "Thus God, determining to show His abundantly, uh, abundantly to the heirs of the, of promise, the immutability." Big word. God's inability to change. God cannot change. That's what that word means. God cannot change. What God told you, if God showed you or told you something in the Word, He won't change His mind. Isn't that comforting? Yes. By the way, if God says yes, then do it. If God says no, don't do it. He knows what He's doing with your life. "And of His counsel confirmed it with an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, He might have strong consolation, who have fled." That's this. Is us. Anyone who believes, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. God's keeping His promises. You might remember some of these verses from last week. Titus 1:2 says, "We in hope of eternal life, which God who cannot lie," say amen to that. "Amen." "Our God can't lie, promised before time began." And then Hebrews chapter 10:23, "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering." Why? How come? What's the deal? "For He," God, "who promised is faithful." Notice, even when we're not faithful, He's faithful.
So friends, I want to remind you, the church is the church, Israel is Israel. In this passage below that I'm about to read, should get you excited about this reality. This is a Jew who's been born again, talking to a group of Gentiles who have been born again. Galatians chapter 3, verse 24. "Therefore the law was our tutor." The word in Greek, "tutor," is "paidagogos." Look at me. I'm going to show you what a paidagogos looks like. A paidagogos is a schoolmaster. So, a schoolmaster, uh, the wealthy would hire for their children, uh, a schoolmaster, a paidagogos. Why? Because the paidagogos was like this in the classroom, or a paidagogos was assigned to the child, making sure the kid did his homework. Nope, it's not time yet. No, you can't quit. No, you can't have a fruit cup. No, you got to finish this. You got to do this. You can't get up from here. You got to answer that. Now, you can't eat. You can't eat tonight until you get this right. The, listen, the parents hired the paidagogos to make sure the kid grew up knowing it's a big deal. And by the way, the paidagogos also was, uh, given up the, uh, responsibility to chastise the student, the child, on behalf of the parents when they did wrong. Paidagogos. This will make sense now. "For therefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ." Isn't that amazing? Wait a minute. I thought the law was to make us righteous. The law was to show you that you're not getting your homework done. You can't do it. You can stay all night. You can stay into the next day. You can't do it. The schoolmaster was to drive you and drive you. That's what the law does. The Ten Commandments drives you and drives you until you come to the point of, "I can't do this." And that's the day of victory. My Jewish friends, that's the day of victory. Having all these other things go on in your life, but you say, "You keep the Sabbath." And then you'll say to us, as followers of Yeshua, "Don't you keep the Sabbath?" "You mean like, do we take one day from sundown to sundown, a particular day of the week?" "We do not." They freak. "No, because the Bible tells us that in Christ Jesus, He is our Sabbath. Every day is our rest. We don't work to be saved. We don't work to earn God's favor." And we can't keep the law to earn His favor, or else He wouldn't have mentioned that we've got to get animal blood to cover the day that we break the law. In this case, Paul is saying, "The law drives you to Christ that we might be justified by faith." Verse 25, "But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. We're set free. For you are all sons of God." How's that? "Through faith in Christ Jesus." "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ." This has nothing to do with water. Write that down in your notes. Somebody's going to say, "You got, you can't go to, unless you're baptized in our water." Did you know this is true? There's, there's, there's a group of people, mainly they're in LA. They're a bunch of cooks. They'll tell you, "Do you believe in Jesus?" "Yes, I do." "Do you believe He died on the cross?" "Yes, I do." "You rose again from the dead?" "Yes, I do." "Then you need to be baptized." You say, "Man, I got baptized. I went down to Pirate's Cove. I got, I went, I went to the Jordan River. I got baptized." Nope. Not good enough. You're not going to go to heaven until you get baptized in our water. And we have it in LA. You need to come." No, I'm serious. You have to be baptized. And, and you say, "Why?" "Because it's been made holy." "It's holy water." The, the length people will do to control other people in the trappings of religion. Can I say this? Anybody remember Dr. Walter Martin? Or else I won't say it. Raise your hand if you remember. Is it worth me saying this? Of course. You say, "Yes, but it's my life on the line here." Dr. Walter Martin said, "There's only one way." With all of his great research, with all of his education, and all of his research, there's only one way that he has been able to determine how you get holy water. He said, "You take water right out of the tap, and you put it on the stove." And he says, "You have to boil the h-e-double hockey sticks out of it." He said, "You have to boil the hell out of the water to make it holy." And then you can baptize somebody in it. He was mocking that, of course. There is no holy water. "Come, child, let me sprinkle you with the holy water." "Where'd you get the water?" [Music] Costco? Arrowhead? This? The, and if you know, if you, Avon? For some, you know, no, it's ridiculous. Ridiculous. This word "baptism" is the Holy Spirit baptizes you into the body of Christ. Amen. I got good news. Read later. This is your homework. 1 Corinthians chapter 12. The moment you say yes to Christ is when the Holy Spirit takes your life and baptizes you into the body of Christ. And it's singular. It's never to be repeated. Did you know that? You're saved once. You're born again once. You're not born again twice. Oh, Pastor, I got saved last week, but I had a rough week. I need to accept Christ again. No, you don't. You need to repent, get in the Word of God, and get up and get somebody near you to help you walk your walking discipleship. You get up and you go. You don't get saved again. Some people think all their lives, "I had to get saved again." That's insanity. That word is singular. The Holy Spirit of God baptizes you into the body of Christ. "Having put on Christ," verse 28, "there is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free." Now, can you imagine if you are a, a person somewhere in the world right now that's enslaved, feeling like you're a nobody and a nothing, and you read this and you find out, "What? You mean I have a position of worth and value to Christ?" "There is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ. And if you are in Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise." Oh, my goodness. That's awesome. That is absolutely thrilling. I love that.
Third consideration, verse two, is this: that God's eternal prophecies will come to pass. Oh, we could, we could have fun with this. Eternal because He has made them. Prophecies are interesting things because God is the only one who can prophesy. God's the only one. There are false prophets, but that's a person being manipulated and used by Satan. The Bible is full of warnings of false prophets. God is the only one who can prophesy 100%. Your Bible is the only book in the world. Hope you appreciate this. Your Bible is the only book in the world that is perfect, perfect regarding prophecies. All, listen, this is fun. All the prophecies that have been fulfilled, that were said to be fulfilled, that were coming, the ones that have been fulfilled, every one of them have been fulfilled literally. And the ones that remain, you can then conclude will be fulfilled literally. God does it literally. When He says He's coming back, He's coming back. When He says He's going to reawaken Israel in the last days, bring them back in their own land, and then they're eventually going to cry out to Me in faith, it's going to happen with or without the USA, EU, uh, what elemental P thing, EU, EW. God will do it. His prophecies. And verse two says, "God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew." That's right. That's the word. Cry, kick all you want. "I don't believe this. I don't believe that. I feel this. I feel that." Listen, tough. God said, "This is the way it is." And when the Bible says to us, "He foreknew," we can't even scratch the surface of that. We can simply understand this: before anything ever was, including time itself, in the eternal mind of God, this was already determined. You're not going to change it. It's the God of prophecy. No wonder why, mark this down, it's not on the screen either. Revelation 19:10 says that Jesus Christ is the Spirit of Prophecy. It's part of God's nature. The Lord God of the Bible alone possesses this foreknowledge. Biblical pro-, pro-, biblical prophecy is His predictions before they're in advance. Uh, Isaiah, mark this down. Isaiah 46:9. Love this. We all love this passage. It's God just being so bold. It's beautiful. Isaiah 46:9 starts there, saying, "Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other. I'm God, and there is none like Me." What makes them different? What makes Him unique? Verse 10, "Declaring the end from the beginning." Is that cool? "And from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.'" This is the God of the Bible. He's prophetic in nature. And God's prophecies about Israel will last. God's people, Israel, will begin to reawaken. God will begin to stir them. Ladies and gentlemen, church family, you're starting to see or experience in this time frame that you exist, that very awakening. Now, yes, it happened in, we saw signs of it in 1880, 1890, and then there was a big deal in 1948, and it's done nothing but go hyperspeed forward as more and more people are not only becoming followers of Christ in Israel, Yeshua, Jesus as Messiah, Yeshua HaMashiach, but since, as I told you, October 7th, 2023, I had a friend tell me that from what he's hearing, there's more people now coming to Christ in Israel since the day of Pentecost, 2,000 years ago, since October 7th. So many, those who claim to know God, don't know God. Coming to know Christ because He's God the Son, their Savior, their sacrifice.
I want to have your eyes, uh, look to the screens for this video for a moment, okay? Listen closely. "He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed." By His wounds, we are healed. So, where is this from? The Old Testament or the New Testament? I'm going to say the other one because it doesn't sound like the T, New Testament. The Old Testament? No way. Old Testament. Why do you think that was from the New Testament? It sounded like they were talking about Jesus. I, I don't know why. It's a feeling. I don't, I can't say why it's one. The oldest, although I knew the trick. It's not a trick. I'm telling you, it's so similar. People think that it's like a Western religion and it has nothing to do with Judaism, but this is so close to Judaism, it's crazy. So, the next one, you ready for? "To us a child is born, a son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder. Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." New Testament again? I would assume that this one is from the, the New Testament. I think the other one, what's it called? New Testament. The New Testament. Something about the Prince of Peace, right? Like, it, it got me right away. No, I mean, uh, yeah, it definitely sounds like New Testament stuff. Excellent. Tanakh? Really? Yeah. Wow. Well, they will look on Me whom they have pierced, and they will mourn for Him. Watch His face. I'm going to say, "as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him, like the bitter weeping of a firstborn." Um, I mean, I'm going to say New Testament, but it's probably Old Testament. Yeah, that's right. Can I ask you, why did you think that the parts sounded like New Testament, even though it sounded like He was getting, uh, pierced to the cross or something? And this is 700 years before Jesus is born. All right. Um, who was He talking about? Last one. "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." I mean, I'm going to say the new again, but is it the old? This is the New Testament. Oh, this isn't the, okay. I don't think they were talking too much about Greeks in the Old Testament. Yes, really. You got it. You got it. The New Testament. Yeah, you're right, bro. We got four for four. Four for four. You win. You win. [Laughter] The, you initially thought it was from the T, and why? You know, we are the, the chosen ones by God? Yes. And something about talking about the non-Jews, right? Is more modern. That's a great point. Did you know that that God told Abraham that from him, from His seed, will become a great blessing to all the nations? Wow. I didn't know that. Yeah. So this is why we're here because we want people to understand that the Tanakh gives a promise, and the New Testament fulfills that promise in Yeshua. Like, Yeshua, He's the only person that can fit the description of the Messiah. Only person. And so we're trying to teach people that, "Open the eyes and look for yourselves. Read some of the Tanakh. Read the New Testament. You can see for yourself what it's talking about because we feel that our life is on the line here. And so if people aren't thinking about how they can secure their future with God, and their last day comes, it's scary." Yeah, it is. So we just want to share with people where they can find eternal salvation and forgiveness. Wow. That's nice. Yeah. So if you're interested, we have a New Testament in Hebrew. We can give to you for you to read. Really? Why not? Okay. I'd love to. Cool. Let me get it for you. You might want to actually start in the, in the Tanakh, on the last book, and go right into here. All right. And you'll see a narrative that takes you from here to there. It's very smooth. It's a smooth transition. It's, uh, wonderful. And read this because this is for our Jewish people. If you, if you open it up and you read the first verse, open it up, read the first verse of the New Testament. Okay. So, does this sound like something foreign to our Jewish people? No. Does that sound like something, uh, not at all, something, uh, foreign, something from the Christians? It's theirs. It's not ours. No, it sounds mine. Sounds, it sounds mine, right? And all you needed to do was look at the very first sentence to find out. Yeah. So, so look through that, and you can contact us if you want to, if you have any questions. Amazing. All right. Thank you very much. You are amazing. Thank you. Is that, I think you need a lot of faith to say that this has nothing to do with Judaism. Yeah. And it's important for us to be able to share with our Jewish people the Jewishness of the New Testament, and not the fact that it's just Jewish, but that it, it, it delivers on the promises of the Old Testament. Yeah. I loved how people were so surprised to see prophecies that were happening 700 years before Jesus and think that it was written in the New Testament, right? And we didn't even tell them that it was Jesus. They just said, "This looks like Jesus. How can this not be Jesus?" That needs to be the question. Exactly. Exactly. I hope you guys enjoy this type of video. If you guys like this type of video, don't forget to like, share, subscribe, and comment. And comment. And you can actually connect with us down in the description. We have our email down there. That's great. Thank you. So guys for watching. Pray for the Jewish people here in Israel. God bless you all. Isn't that great? Those guys, that was in, uh, that was in, uh, Tel Aviv. They do this all over the country. These are Jews who found Jesus, Yeshua, as Messiah. And so now they're going to their Jewish brothers and sisters. Eyes are being opened. This is happening on a grand scale.
What does it mean? Isn't it remarkable that here we are in Southern California, going through the Word of God, Romans chapter 11, and you're watching it in real time, almost, on this video where this is taking place today? That should be a wakeup call to all of us to be excited and to be thrilled about these things God is doing. A tremendous thing. Let's do a little bit of this. I'm going to, I called it in my notes, uh, "Let's play Family Feud." "Survey says," um, except that's not a survey. Bible says. So, first verse. Let's see this. You guys should should know this. "But moreover, I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; and I will establish them and multiply them, and will set My sanctuary in their midst forever." Old or new? Old. Ezekiel 37. Boom. Old.
Next verse. "Behold, the days are coming," says the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand and led them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them," says the Lord. "But this is the covenant that I will make with them with make with the house of Israel after those days," says the Lord: "I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people." Survey says? Old or new? Old. Jeremiah 31:31.
Next verse. "For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared before the face of all nations, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles," wow, "and the glory of your People Israel." Old or new? Raise your hand. Old. Raise your hand. New. Which one is it? New. Woo! One more. No, no, a few more. This is fun.
Next one. "Behold, the days are coming," says the Lord, "that I will perform that good thing which I promised, which I promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause to grow up to David a branch of righteousness; He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell safely. And this is the name by which is, uh, by which she will be called: 'The Lord our righteousness,' or Jehovah Tsidkenu." And is that old? Raise your hand. Any old? How about new? Why are some of you not voting? You cowards. Which, survey says? Old. Jeremiah 33. Okay.
Next. You, you like this. [Applause] "And for this reason, He is the mediator of the New Covenant, by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance." Old or new? Pretty obvious. New. Hebrews chapter 9, verse 15.
One more, final one. This is, this is tricky. Ready? "It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they have pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn." Raise your hand if you think it's new. Raise your hands. Raise your hands if you think it's old. Okay. Old. Old it is. Yes. Old. Zachariah 12.
So to you, you know the Word of God. You saw those kids on the screen a moment ago. You know more about their God. Listen, we'll see later on in our studies that we've been grafted into the initial promises that were theirs and are theirs for these last 2,000 years. The gospel has gone to the Gentile. And the Lord is almost done in our time frame as church goes, and He's going to catch us up. So get the book of the month. You'll learn all about that.
Number two, in our time remaining, we got a little bit of time. Number two is this: verses 2 to 4. "Is it time to give up Israel?" I would say, "Why?" When God has a forever family for us. And the first thing we see in the latter end of verse two is that "the Lord will defend His own." Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against." Circle the word "against" in your Bible. This is remarkable. Elijah is a Jew, and he's arguing against Israel. He's had enough of them. Elijah is saying, "That's it. I've had enough. I've been prophesying, laboring to these people. I've been doing miracles. They're not listening. I've had enough." If, listen, if Elijah had it his way, he would have Israel just washed away. Start over. God. He's fed up with them. By the way, you know Moses did the same thing. It's amazing when you read the Old Testament in the Exodus. Watch this. On one day, Moses says, "God, I've, these people drive me nuts. Kill them all." And God says, "Moses, if I were to do that, what would the nations of the world think that I wasn't able to protect them?" Moses walks away. Next day, Israel rebels against God. God says, "Moses, get out of the way. I'm going to kill them." It's true. And Moses says, "God, remember what you said yesterday?" By the way, that's the ministry, first time ever, of intercession. God did that to Abraham, to Moses, to create the ministry of intercession where Moses says, "Lord, don't do it. Don't do it." Then the next day, I'm not kidding, read Exodus. God waits. "Remember what we said yesterday? I change it. Kill them all." God says, "Remember what I said the day before that day?" Amazing. No, God will defend His people. And listen, if you're trusting Jesus as your Messiah, Jew or Gentile alike, it doesn't matter. God will defend you.
Luke 19, verse 12. Luke 19:12. Jesus says there, "He said a certain, no, a nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom." He's speaking about Himself in this parable. "And to return. So He called ten of His servants and delivered them ten minas and said to them, 'Do business till I come. Occupy till I come.'" That's what we're supposed to be doing right now. We are living in verse 13. "But His citizens hated Him and sent a delegation after Him, saying, 'We will not have this Man to reign over us.'" Jesus goes on in that teaching to say that it's the Jewish leadership, the hierarchy, that was forbidding the nation to come to Him.
John 3:19. We're going to go fast, people. John 3:19. "And this is the condemnation, that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." They love evil. People who do evil, they love it. They'll run for office to preserve it. They'll get involved in school boards. They'll take over your company. They'll, what? They love evil so much, they'll do anything. It's their mission to advance evil. "For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light." Isn't that amazing? Listen, we've all done evil, but come to the truth. Come to the light. Don't hide it.
John 5:37. John 5:37. "And the Father Himself who sent Me," Jesus says, "has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe." Jesus is speaking to the professional religious hierarchy, the Pharisees, Sadducees, the religious leaders. "You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which do testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life." Verse 41. "I do not receive honor from men. But I know you, that you do not, uh, have the love of God in you. I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another," here's a reference to the Antichrist, future, "comes in his own name, him you will receive." How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God? Powerful.
Matthew 23:37. Jesus speaking. "Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted." Notice, He, He puts Himself in the place of God Almighty. "I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing." Luke 13:34. "Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together as the hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing." Two Gospels, same statements.
The warning we next see on this part is that the Lord will burn away our cloud of darkness. It's not over. Elijah is what I wanted to shout. This great prophet of old, look what he says in verse three. "Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life." The great prophet became discouraged. Elijah, the great prophet, most revered prophet in all of Israel's history, he became discouraged. Do you ever get discouraged? Do you ever feel like you're the only one? "I'm the only one. I'm the only one in my family. I've come from a long line of non-believers. I'm the only one." I'm convinced right now, and you're going to need to remind me of this when I get down, I'm convinced now that when we have, as believers, these dark times in our lives where we should just quit, that we're right on the brink of something amazing about to happen by the hand of God. You want to shout and and say, "Be encouraged, Elijah." But you know what I wrote this down? If I was in Elijah's shoes, I would.
Put it like this, your honor. May I approach the bench? On the count of Israel committing premeditated murder, I find them guilty. You say, "Where? Where do you get that from?" He says, "Lord, they have killed your prophets." Your honor, on the account of sacrilege in the first degree, I find the nation of Israel guilty. Elijah, where do you get that from? They have torn down your altars. Your honor, on the count of just them freaking me out, I find this nation guilty. Why, Eli? Why, Elijah? Are you saying that I alone am left, and they seek my life? And God says to him in the scriptures, you can read it later in First Kings, "I have 7,000 believers just like you who have not bowed the knee to the pagan gods." Elijah, just suck it up. Just suck it up. Stand up. Stop whining. You think you're the only one? You're not the only one.
We often feel like we're the only one. Notice that when something happens in life, we're the only one. Man is a weird creature because when we are, when we are without God, we have a tendency to radically elevate ourselves into some narcissistic universe, or we dive headlong down into the state of near-fatal depression. Both are wrong.
And then when we be, when we become a believer, this is what happens. Is we get saved, we hear the gospel, wow. And our, listen, everything about us shoots to the sky. Like you saw the clip by Barry Maguire? Yes, that guy's been a believer. I think he's in his, yeah, I know this, he's in his uh, early 80s. He's always been like that. And uh, it, it's, he doesn't get that excited about car wax, I guarantee you. I promise you, he doesn't. I've been with him all over the place. It's not, it's whatever. But listen, he'll, he'll use, he'll use his trade to pivot right to the gospel, every time. And uh, you weren't even thinking about signing up for that class, and now it's like, man, wow, really? You know what? That's what sharing your faith does to you. You get thrilled. You saw those two brothers in the Lord excited. Why? They're sharing their faith. That's what happens. Very important.
And finally, we end with this verse. Four, "The Lord has a reservation with his people." But what does the divine response say? That is say to him, Elijah, "I have reserved for myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal." And I needed to hear this personally because you can feel like you're standing alone, or you're doing something alone, and God says, "No, I got this." I'm inviting you in. Church family, I want to encourage you with this. Has God called you to be his child? Do you love him? Do you want to love him more? Do you want to follow God? Listen, can we say it this way? Heaven is now a given because of what Christ has done for us. It's a given, people. It's a given.
Now watch this. This is where the rubber meets the road. There are those of you within the hearing of my voice, you're saying, "I hope so." Oh, I hope so. Yeah, man, when my day comes, I, I hope to go to heaven. And then there's the believer that goes, "That they'll say, 'I'm going. I'm going.'" And, and listen, the world looks at them and thinks, "What an arrogant person." They can't understand us. And then they, they think that we're like holier-than-thou. Oh, no, no, no, no. We are very aware that there's even non-believers that have a greater morality than we do. Look at the people of the cults, they're way more externally righteous than we are. Paul says, "It's all rubbish." You have to come to faith in Jesus Christ, to what he's done.
And so for us, when Satan says to us, does he say this to you? Like he says to me, "You're a bum." I've heard that before. You know what? "Jack, you didn't pray long enough today. You're a loser. You shouldn't even be reading this Andrew Murray book." You know what? "Jack, you didn't lead anybody to Christ today. Don't you care about people?" You hear that enough? If you let those thoughts go without being challenged, they start to lodge in your head like a bird lands in a tree. And if you let them stay there, uh, they'll start to mess things up. You can always see it because a, a Christian who's starting to come under the condemnation of the wicked one, remember, condemnation is not from God, it's from Satan. You'll be, which is impossible, the believer becomes defeated. How is that even possible? The believer becomes defeated because we listen to the lies of the enemy. We can never be defeated because Christ Jesus has set us free. Our names are written down in heaven. The reservation's been made. Your name is there. It's not going to go anywhere.
Listen, for those of you who are born again, your name is written down to never be removed. It cannot be removed. The Bible makes it clear. You say, "Wait a minute, the Bible says though that my name could be blotted out." Whoa, whoa, wait a minute. There's the Book of Life, and then there's the Lamb's Book of Life. Every human being has been given life, and their name, your name, my name, all who have lived, their name is in the Book of Life. Everybody since Adam, there on God's spreadsheet. Number one, Adam. To keep your name in The Book of Life, you have to allow something to happen to you. You have to allow your name to be written in the Lamb's Book of Life. It's a different book. For example, the Bible teaches us, everybody's in The Book of Life, but not everybody's in the Lamb's Book of Life. So how do you keep your name on the day of judgment in The Book of Life? Goes like this. The moment you have come to Christ, allow me to make it like a cartoon because that's how I see it. Your name is there. You accept Christ. The angel comes over there and highlights your name, hits copy, goes, goes over to the other spreadsheet labeled the Lamb's Book of Life, and hits paste. Watch. Once your name is pasted in the Lamb's Book of Life, it's forever stuck, reserved, printed in The Book of Life. In other words, your name appears in two places. To get your name blotted out of the Book of Life in the day of judgment, when the books are opened, and your name is not found written in the Lamb's Book of Life, the Bible says your name is erased from the Book of Life, and you're carted off into hell. Why would you do that to yourself? Why would you do that? Don't do that.
Father, we come before you and we ask, Lord, in Jesus' name, that we right now would be a people of faith. Faith, true faith. Not faith in our actions, not faith in anything that we have sought to perform, not faith in any effort. If somebody stopped us in the parking lot today and said, "You know, what are you?" "Well, I'm Calvary Chapel, or I'm Lutheran, or I'm, I'm this or that." That is not the right answer. If somebody were to ask us today, "What is your association?" My association is Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, Savior of the world. Right now, wherever you're at, I'm asking you to surrender all of your morality, or the lack thereof. I'm asking you to surrender all of your self-righteousness, or the lack thereof. I'm asking you to surrender all of your goodness, or the lack thereof. You may be watching right now or listening right now, and you're the most wicked person on your block, and you know it. We're here to invite you, Jew and Gentile alike, to put your faith in Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for you and rose again from the dead. Surrender your life to him and say to him right now, "All of this makes sense. I believe this. There's something inside of me that rings true to this. Jesus, I want to follow you now as my Lord and Savior. Forgive me of my sins. Write my name in your Lamb's Book of Life, and I want to be in heaven forever. And in the meantime, I want to live for God." Say that to him. He's waiting. He's been waiting to hear that from you. And not only will God never give up on you, God will never give up on Israel. There's a remnant because God keeps his word. And all God's people said, amen. God bless you all.