How Then Shall We Live? Part 4

If I take heart, I will overcome the world. Well, good morning. Would you help me welcome all of our campuses who are worshiping with us? So great to worship with all of you. I have a prayer request for you. Pastor Brian Elrod, our prison pastor, was out in D.C. this last week with the deputy director for the Federal Bureau of Prisons who has informed us everything is a green light. We want you to be in as many federal prisons as you possibly can be in. Which not only means here in Colorado, but even neighboring states, other places across the country, he would like for Brave Church to be a model for how we do that. So that's one prayer request. Secondly, pray this way. We're trying to get all of our messages from Brave put on every iPod for every prisoner in the state of Colorado and around the country. And that's a strong possibility right now. So be praying for that as well. And then my sentiments on Easter. Most people are looking for a place to go to church on Easter, even if they don't tell you that. You'll be surprised if you invite people to come. How many will come?

If you're not bringing friends, come to earlier services. Okay, because most people that are prone to come come later in the day. Come to the seven o'clock service. They're even serving breakfast there. We'll have a good time. But if you're bringing friends, come when they can come. It's a great time to invite people to church. And with that, let's go before the Lord. Let's prepare our hearts for His living and active word among us. Our Father in heaven, we do give you praise, glory, and honor for this very day to gather in your house with your people to sing praises to your name, to glorify you, to seek you in prayer, and to hear your word. Lord, we wanna be transformed. We wanna be more like Christ. And Lord, we wanna hear you and hear you clearly. And we as a people believe that every time your word is faithfully and accurately proclaimed, that it is you who are speaking. So our prayer collectively today and individually today is speak, Lord, for we are ready to hear. And so now for all those who have gathered who desire to hear the Lord Jesus Christ speak directly to you, who will believe what He tells you, and who will by faith put into practice what He shows you,

will you agree with me very loudly this morning by saying the word. Amen. Amen. God keeps His word or nothing else matters. I'll say it again. God keeps His word or nothing else matters. Everything in this book from Genesis 1, 1 through Revelation 22, 21 is God speaking authoritatively to us. And this book is either true or it's false. It can't be kind of true. It's either we believe this book or we don't believe this book. And I find that many Christians even that say, well, I believe in Jesus. I believe He died for me. I believe He rose for me. I even believe the Bible, tend to come to the Bible with a lot of skepticism, like, yeah, but I don't believe that about the Bible, or that one's kind of hard. And so we approach the Bible differently. We can approach the Bible in such a way that says, if it feels good with my spirit, then I'll believe it. Friends, whether it feels good with your spirit or not, if it's in the Bible, it's true. It's God speaking. On every subject that God is speaking, He is speaking with authority.

And the more that you approach this word that way, the more your life is going to change. The more that you see this book as a, when I study it, when I hear it preached, when I hear it taught, I know God is authoritatively talking to me. I wanna know what He means, and I wanna do what He says. The more you do that, the more you'll grow. When you come into the Bible and you're like, well, I don't know if it's true or not. I should probably read my Bible more. I should probably study it more. You can get to a place where this can become religion or routine, because you don't realize this is God who is speaking. And God is the one who tells us everything, even the gospel. The fact that we can believe in Jesus and have eternal life comes from the word of God. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, verses three and four, for I tell you of first importance, that Christ died according to the scriptures and that He was buried and that He rose according to the scriptures. How do we know that God is telling the truth about the gospel? Because it's in the scriptures. So that's not why I believe. I believe because my mom told me about Jesus. Well, where'd she hear?

Well, her mom. Well, where did she hear? You trace it all back. It comes right to this book. The word of God is true. The word of God stands the test of time. And no matter what subject we talk about, we need to let the word of God speak. Pastors do not need to be PR agents for God and step up and just because the culture thinks something's unpopular, say, today's gonna be a hard one. It's all hard because it's all God and He doesn't think like me or you. And so when we read the word, we need to go in and say, well, what does God say? And if God's clear on what He says and this is what He means, then I'm gonna obey what He says and what He means, amen? And so today we're talking about God keeping His word, specifically, as we've been talking about God's covenant with Israel. Now, I spent a lot of time on week number one talking about how God is the one who initiated a relationship with Israel. God, through His grace, secured an everlasting covenant with Israel. God is the one who. made promises to regather and restore Israel, and we celebrate the fact that the gospel comes through the Jews.

We have a Jewish Messiah, Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and rose from the dead so that we can experience the blessings of Christ through him, amen? And then we spent time the following week asking the question. I did an inductive sermon. I asked three questions, and here were the questions. Has God rejected Israel? Okay. We're gonna try again. Has God rejected Israel? Has God replaced Israel? Has God revoked his promises to Israel? And the reason you're saying no is not because I taught you that. The reason you're saying no is because God's word taught us that. Reason you're saying no is because God says no, no, no, all through Romans chapter 11. Well, today we wanna see how God keeps his word, and to do that, we're gonna be in Jeremiah chapter 31. Jeremiah chapter 31. I'm gonna spend time in 35 through 37, but I just wanna set up the text for you. This is really the new covenant language that is coming out and what God is promising, and I want you to see it with your own eyes. So start in verse 33. I'll just read this short passage,

and then we'll unpack it together. He says this, but this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel. Notice who he's making the covenant with. The house of who? Israel. I'll make this with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put my law within them and on their heart, and I will write it, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. This has not happened yet, by the way. Not all of Israel is saved. Not all of Israel is saying he's my God, and he's not saying they're my people. They will not teach again each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, "'Know the Lord, for they will all know me, "'from the least of them to the greatest of them.'" That hasn't happened yet. Nobody, we're not living in the millennial kingdom where everybody knows Jesus is the Christ because he's living here with us, and we don't need to teach anybody anymore because Jesus is here. From the least to the greatest, declares the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquities, and their sin I will remember no more. Notice what he says. Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for light by day

and fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar, the Lord of hosts is his name. If this fixed order departs from before me, declares the Lord, then the offspring of Israel also will cease from being a nation before me forever. Thus says the Lord, if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth be searched out below, then I will cast off all of the offspring of Israel, for all they have done, declares the Lord. And here we're hearing through the prophet Jeremiah, the voice of the new covenant coming through and what God has promised. But I want you to see four truths today, and then we're gonna hammer down on some texts and pound them out so that you can hear the word of God because there are a number of people in our culture that have given their lives to Jesus who are drifting away from the word. And I want to plant our flag in the word of God to see what the word of God says when it comes to Israel and what he means so that you hear God say, this is what I say. The first thing you need to see is this, that God sovereignly orders creation. God sovereignly orders creation. Thus says the Lord. It's the Lord who's speaking, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars by night,

who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar. The Lord of hosts is his name. God sovereignly orders. He sovereignly rules over all creation. Therefore, God defines truth. I mean, it doesn't take you to get past the first page of your Bible to realize that God is the one that created every single thing. Colossians 1 tells us that everything we see or don't see, things visible and invisible, all things were created by him and for him. The fact that you're here, you're created by God. He creates every human being in utero. He's the creator of all things. The sun, the moon, the stars, the planets. The reason that the sun is up in the sky today is because God is sovereignly holding it right where he wants to hold it. If he moved it closer to the earth, we're toast. Moves it further away, we freeze. He puts it right where it needs to be. The reason the stars are out at night, the myriads of them everywhere, ones you can see, ones you can't see, because God is the one that hung them in the sky and God is the one that holds them all in place. The oceans are his, the seas are his, the mountains are his. Everything in the world is his.

He created it, he rules over all of it and nothing ever catches him by surprise, okay? That's what he wants you to know from the first pages of Genesis onward. That's why he says in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. How would we know how we got here? God first tells us, well, in the beginning, it was me and I made it all. And here's how I did it. And there may not be enough detail for some of us. Well, how did he make the trees? And how did he do? Because he's God. There wouldn't be enough books in the universe that would show how God does what he does. Even some of you who are physicians, you know this. If you study a certain part of the body and you're a kidney specialist or an eye specialist, you realize the more you study that part of the body, just how profound that one little part of the body is and how you can't know everything about it. Why? Because God created it. And he has an infinite mind. And he's smarter than you. And he's more powerful than you. And he's more authoritative than you. And what you need to see here is as he's talking about this new covenant,

he's gonna give to the house of Israel. He says, he says this in verse 36. "'If the fixed order departs from me,' declares the Lord, "'then the offspring of Israel will also cease "'from being a nation before me forever.'" Here's what he's saying. As long as the sun rises, Israel's still mine. That's what he's saying. I mean, there's a cosmic certainty to God's relationship with Israel. Now, we went over this, so I'll just take you back there. In Genesis chapter 12, God made the Abrahamic covenant. He ratified it. In Genesis chapter 15, he made it a unilateral universal covenant, which means there's nothing Israel can do to break it. It's not dependent upon their obedience. It's dependent upon God's perfection. It's dependent upon his word, okay? God is the one who made the covenant. God's the one who showed them the covenant. God's the one who established the covenant. Genesis 17 says it's an everlasting covenant. That means it's eternal. It goes on forever. So the only way that that covenant can be broken is if God changes his word. Now you say, well, why is that important? Why do we need to know about Israel? Because if God can change his word for Israel,

then God can change his word for anything else in that book. It means you're born again, but you think you are, but you may not be because God may change his mind. God may say all your sins are forgiven, but he doesn't really mean that. See, we can't take the Bible and piecemeal the parts that we like and take out the others. God wants you to know that as long as the sun, the moon, and the stars are in place, as long as he's the sovereign ruler of everything, he still has a special relationship with Israel and his promises stand. Now today, I wanna hammer down on some passages because even when people hear me preach that, they'll say stuff like, oh, that's just Old Testament, or hey, there's a lot of verses in the New Testament that contradict that, which there are zero of them that contradict it. But I've picked about 10 today just to look through for us. So this may feel a little more teachy than usual. I get that. But we live in a culture where people are drifting from this book by the day in myriads and myriads of people. Friends, this book is either authoritative over you or you're an authority on it, and you get to decide. For me, this book's an authority over me. I wanna let God speak. I wanna let him say what he wants to say. So let's look at some of these passages

that people turn to. How about Hebrews 8 in verse 13? Hebrews 8 in verse 13. And while you're turning to Hebrews 8, let me just say this. What you will see in the New Testament and the Old Testament, you'll see God judge Israel for disobedience. You'll see inclusion of Gentiles into some of Israel's promises. You'll see unity of both Jew and Gentile. And you'll see faith alone in Christ alone. But there's not one of these scriptures that ever say that God canceled his promises to Israel. You won't find it. There's not one. In your entire Bible, there is not one. When you hear somebody who seemingly has authority, and by the way, nobody has authority. The book has authority over us. When somebody says that God is done with Israel, they didn't get that from the word of God. Period, end of story. I stand on that truth. So let's look at this, because this is where people will take you. Notice what he says in Hebrews 8, verse 13. When he said, quote, a new covenant, he has made the first obsolete, but whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old

is ready to disappear. So apparently there's a new covenant that's coming, and apparently it's gonna make the first one obsolete, and whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old, it's ready to disappear. So doesn't that mean that God got rid of his covenant with Israel? No, because there's several different covenants. There's the Abrahamic covenant, which God said he made an everlasting promise. There's the Davidic covenant, where God promised a descendant of David to sit on his throne forever and ever, which is going to be the Lord Jesus Christ when he returns to the earth to sit on it. And then there's the Mosaic covenant. We read about in Exodus chapter 19 through 24-ish, right around there, where God made covenant with his people Israel. Now, the first, the Abrahamic covenant was a promise. The Mosaic covenant was law. That covenant was conditional. That was really based upon Israel's obedience. That's why you read in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28-30 and all those different places about blessings and curses. Israel, if you do this, I'll bless you. If you don't do this, I'll curse you. And that's how the Mosaic law played out. When Israel did what God wanted them to do,

God blessed them so other nations would look on and say, we need to act like them because they're God's blessing them. And when Israel acted indifferent to God or belligerent to God or disobedient to God and God punished them, other nations would look on and say, we don't wanna act like them because they're God's most powerful God. God was saying, I'm gonna get my glory either way. That's what the Mosaic covenant did. When Jesus died on the cross, he fulfilled the Mosaic covenant. Romans 10, four says, in Christ is the fulfillment of the law. So when God gave the law to Israel to show his holiness, to show them how to live and to demonstrate that only with God's help could they live it. That was the purpose of the law. Once Christ came, he did what no human being in history had ever done. He fulfilled the law. There wasn't one law that he broke. He kept them all. And so when he died on the cross in our place as the perfect sacrifice for our sin and rose from the dead and we trust Jesus and the Holy Spirit comes into our life, we have Christ, the fulfillment of the law inside of us, which means we're not judged by what we do, we're judged by whom we believe in, amen? So the covenant that's becoming obsolete,

it can't be the Abrahamic covenant because God said that's a unilateral covenant that I'm making with them. They're not making it with me. I'm promising to make it eternal. This is the Mosaic covenant, which was definitely conditional based upon their obedience. And what we find in the New Testament is Jesus came and inaugurated a new covenant where he served bread and wine to his followers. He said, this is my body, which is given for you. This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which was shed for you. And he inaugurated the new covenant. Now, the fulfillment of that hasn't been realized yet. Why? Because the promise was made to the house of Israel that one day all Israel would believe. Now, Romans 11 says that one day all Israel will be saved. So there's seemingly a time in the future where all that's going to come together where the new covenant will be fully realized with Jews and Gentiles together, all believing in the Lord who's living among us, amen? But this is what it means. And so when people just read this stuff out of context, if you read the entire book of Hebrews, I've taught through every verse of this book, by the way, you can go back and hear it.

If you read through it, he's talking about the Mosaic covenant. He's talking about the conditional covenant that Christ fulfilled the law. And so in Christ, we can have the fulfillment of the law and our sins too can be forgiven. That's what that's talking about. How about another one? How about Galatians chapter three? People go to this one all the time, all the time. Galatians chapter three, 27, 28, and 29. All right, let's talk about that. Galatians chapter three, 27, 28, and 29. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free man. There is neither male nor female for you are all one in Christ. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to the promise. Therefore, here's what they say. If I'm in Christ, I'm one of Abraham's descendants. And guess what? There is no Jew or Greek. It's done. God's done with the Jews. That is to take that verse and rip it entirely out of context.

The whole book of Galatians is talking to a group of people who need to realize it's through grace alone, faith alone, in Christ alone. It doesn't matter whether you're Jewish or Gentile. The only way that you can be saved is through the person of Jesus. It doesn't matter whether you're male or female. The only way you can be saved is through the person of Jesus. It doesn't matter if you're a slave dependent upon somebody else or a free man. The only way you can be saved is through faith alone in Christ alone in Jesus. That's what it's saying. As a matter of fact, to say it's something else, it means when you get saved, you're neither male or female anymore. Are you kidding me? I mean, the same man that penned this book wrote the book of Ephesians later saying what a man and a woman are in marriage. The same man that wrote this book wrote 1 Timothy chapter two and talked about in the church what men are to do and what women are not to do and what women shouldn't do and what women shouldn't do. I mean, it's all over there. Doesn't mean you lose your gender at conversion. It doesn't mean you lose your Jewishness at conversion. It means only in Christ can we have the fulfillment

of everything that we need. And we know we share in the Abrahamic blessings of that, that what was intended for the Jews through Christ by belief in him, we get the spiritual blessings of that. So we are sons of Abraham because we've been grafted in as wild olive shoots like we've talked about in Romans chapter 11. It doesn't mean there's no Jews anymore. It doesn't mean there's no Greeks. It doesn't mean that God's done with Israel. They do the same thing in this book. Some people, and they go to Galatians chapter six in verse, where is it? Verse... 16, I think it is, yeah, verse 16, and they'll say this. They'll say, and those who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them and upon the Israel of God. Therefore, the Israel of God, that means the church. God's peace is in the church. It's the Israel of God, we're the Israel of God. It's not what it means. There's a word in there, it's the Greek word chi, it means and, it's in your Bible is and. And to those who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them. Peace and mercy be upon who? Those who are living by faith in Jesus Christ. Peace and mercy be upon you and upon the Israel of God. Who's that? The Jews that actually believe that Jesus is the Messiah.

Peace be on them too, right? That's what he's saying. He's not saying anywhere that Jews have been replaced by the church, that's nowhere. It's nonsense, it's not found anywhere. And why do we need to know this? Because this is what the word of God teaches, that God sovereignly orders his creation. I mean, think about it like this, just from a human example. I mean, I won't ask the question. Some of you have been adopted, some of you have adopted children of your own. But when they come into your family, that child's fully loved, that child's fully included, that child's fully part of the family. Child even takes the last name that you have, they become part of it, right? And you're like, this is our child. They may look different, they may have a different skin color, they may be taller, they may be shorter. They're your child, they belong to you, because why? Because you've been adopted in. Do you know what you don't do? I've never heard a family do this. You don't kick out the biological kids when you bring the adopted one in. Oh, you're out, we've adopted now, get. That's not what happened. God didn't kick Israel to the curb. There's been a partial hardening for a period of time,

but you're gonna see even today, how God is going to bring them back in to the family. Every eye will look upon the one that they have pierced, and all Israel will be saved. There's coming a day where that's going to happen. All right, let me tell you this. Not only is God sovereign in the order of creation, God permanently preserves Israel. He permanently preserves Israel. Back to verse 36, when he talks about this fixed order, this creation that I have from before me, if this fixed order departs, declares the Lord, then the offspring of Israel will also cease from being a nation before me forever. So here's what he's saying. If and when the universe collapses, I'll be done with Israel. That's what he's saying. If the universe collapses, you won't be here either, so you don't need to worry about it. It's God's hypothetical way of saying, I'm in control of everything, I'm not going anywhere, and Israel's not going anywhere either. And even if you look at the history of the world, the fact that there's still surviving Jews today is nothing shy of a miracle and the grace of God. I mean, you think of all the people groups in the world that have disappeared that no longer exist, and yet Israel is still recognized. On May 14th of 1948, when they became a state,

that wasn't a fulfillment of biblical prophecy. That's not the fulfillment, but it is a kind of an inauguration or a kind of a start to something that we start seeing in the scriptures that's gonna happen with the land that they're gonna have when Jesus Christ is sitting on his throne in Jerusalem, ruling over all the nations, which the scriptures promise that he's doing that we should be praying for. When we pray the Lord's prayer, let your kingdom come, let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Lord, we want you to get here and rule. We're tired of voting. We think you'd do a better job. That's what we're saying, amen? But just because God punishes Israel, just because there's judgment doesn't mean there's cancellation, right? I mean, parents, when you love your kids, you discipline them. You may punish them. You may remove privileges from them. It's not because you hate them. It's because you love them. You discipline them not to kick them out of the family. You discipline them to keep them in the family. Israel's been disciplined. This entire book is filled with discipline that Israel has had.

Some not so severe, some extremely severe. Being sacked by the Assyrians and then being with the Babylonians as well. I mean, all throughout history, but it doesn't mean just because they've been disciplined or corrected that they've been kicked out of the family. Just like a coach, just because he disciplines a player doesn't mean he kicks them off the team. God hasn't kicked Israel out anywhere. Now, here's some more passages we need to drill down on and just hammer down on so you can hear them. People will sometimes go to Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, 29 and 30 and talk about the curses and the blessings and see Israel was getting all the curses. The reason that they're excluded now is because they sinned too much. Friends, God made a unilateral covenant with them that was everlasting. It wasn't dependent upon their good behavior. It was dependent. upon His grace. It was dependent upon His person. And the reason that's really, really, really, really, really good news for those of you who are believers in Christ, if God can change His mind about Israel, He can change His mind about you. If God's done with Israel because of their disobedience,

what about you? I mean, I listen to people all the time, like that Old Testament, I mean, Israel was so rebellious. Can you believe that? To which I always wanna say, have you ever looked in the mirror? I've looked in the mirror. I've seen how rebellious I've been since becoming a believer. Not just before, but since becoming a believer, there's a lot of rewinds I would love to do. Shouldn't have said that, shouldn't have thought that, wish I would have known better, shouldn't have done this, done that, all sorts of things since becoming a believer. Praise God that my eternal security is not based upon my performance, it's based upon what Christ did for me, amen? Praise the Lord that God's love for Israel is not based upon their obedience, it's based upon His unconditional love and the fact that God keeps His word. And even when you go through the Bible and you look at passages like Deuteronomy 28 and 29, you get to 30 where restoration is promised, people skip that. I mean, God promises right in the same section He's gonna restore the entire nation, He's gonna bring them back in, He's gonna do that. Let's look at a couple others.

Matthew chapter 21, this is one people love to go to. Matthew chapter 21, this is Jesus speaking. He's just told the parable of the land owner. And in Matthew chapter 21, starting in verse 42, Jesus quotes Psalm 118. He says, did you never read the scriptures? I mean, that's pretty offensive to the Pharisees and the scribes because that's all they did was read the scriptures. Did you never read in the scriptures the stone which the builders rejected? This became the chief cornerstone, this came about from the Lord and it's marvelous in our eyes. Now notice this first, therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing fruit in it. See, therefore, there you have it. It's gonna be taken away from you and given to a people. He's done with the Jews. He's told Jesus that He was done with the Jews. That's what people say. It's hard for Jesus to be done with the Jews because Jesus is Jewish. But what I love about the Bible is if you just keep reading, it will explain what it's talking about. Jesus says, and he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but whomever it falls on it will scatter him like dust.

So who's he talking about? He's gonna take the kingdom away from us. Is it all the Jews? Is it the nation of Israel? Look at verse 45. When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they understood that he was speaking about them. Who is Jesus speaking to? Wasn't talking about Israel. He was talking about the hard-hearted leadership of the nation of Israel that he was going to replace so that he could give it to people who would actually believe in him. And even if you could bring the chief priests and the scribes back from the dead and they stood here right now, they would say, we knew he was talking about us. He wasn't talking about Israel. He was talking about us. He was talking about our hard-heartedness. That's what he was talking about. The Bible makes that clear. There's no scripture in here that says he's done with Israel. It's quite contrary to that. Or how about this in the book of Revelation? Revelation chapter three and verse nine, we read. Now in Revelation, if you're not familiar with it, the first three chapters are really a picture of Jesus and then him writing to seven churches

and instructing them on what to do. This is the church he's writing to in Philadelphia, the church of brotherly love. And he tells the angel or the messenger of the church in Philadelphia to write this. He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens, says this. I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut because you have little power and have kept my word and have not denied my name. So this is one of two churches that Jesus just gives commendation to. He doesn't say they're doing anything wrong. As a matter of fact, he tells them, I know your deeds. You're doing all the right things. I'm gonna put an open door before you that no one can shut. And then he says this, verse nine. And this is where people go. Behold, I will cause those of the synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews and are not but lie. I will make them come and bow down at your feet and make them know that I have loved you. And then people say, see, Jews are a synagogue of Satan. All synagogues are synagogues of Satan. That's what it is. He hates the Jews. It's not what he's saying. It's not what he's saying at all.

Here's what he's saying. He's saying there's a group of Jews who are not believers who are meeting in a synagogue outside who are saying, we know the way, y'all are wrong. The Church of Philadelphia, you're wrong. Jesus is not the Messiah, we're right. He was calling them a synagogue of Satan. And here's what he said he was gonna do. He was gonna bring them before that church. And he goes, because you've been honoring me, I'm gonna let you go. let them see that I'm the one that's honoring you. They're gonna know that you're serving the real God. That's what he's saying. He's not calling Jews a synagogue of Satan that's nowhere anywhere in our Bible, amen? This is what's going on. And this is what people try to do. When you hear somebody that just pulls one verse out of context and says, this is what it means, be very careful, because words have meaning in sentences and sentences have meaning in paragraphs and paragraphs have meaning in pericope. So that's how you learn what it says. Just keep reading it, keep seeing what it says. And there's nothing wrong with reading it and saying, I have some questions. There's nothing wrong with reading it and saying, I don't understand.

There's nothing wrong with reading it and saying, I think I need some further help in revelation. God has gifted some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, some to be pastors, and some to be what? Teachers, to do what? To equip God's saints for the work of ministry. God raises people up to help you grow. It's why you need to be part of a local church so you can be the fullness of what God wants. You don't have to know everything. You don't need to be a Bible expert, but just be careful when somebody's using one verse out of 66 books in the Bible to say, this is the way it is. Just be careful, because that's not at all what it's saying there, amen? What you see is that Jesus is permanently preserving Israel. There's nowhere, anywhere in the scriptures that says he's not. Let me give you a third one. God secures his covenant, God secures his covenant. He promised Abraham he was gonna make an everlasting covenant with the nation of Israel. He was gonna give them land. He was gonna give them a people. He was gonna bless them. He makes it clear how big the land is in the scriptures, how big that's gonna be. He's gonna be able to put all that together when he gets back.

He's gonna set it all up. It's what Jesus is gonna do. It's what he promised he's going to do. So notice this, and back in Jeremiah, verse 37, thus says the Lord, if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth searched out below, then I will also cast off all of the offspring of Israel for all that they have done, declares the Lord. So he says this, if you can measure the universe, which goes on and on and on, almost to infinity, because God's infinite and he created the universe. There's things that we discover all the time and we think we're so smart because they're 93 million light years away or so. You don't even, we haven't scratched the surface of how big our universe is. We have no clue. However big your view of God is, it's too small. That's all I would say. I mean, I tell people all the time, you've heard me say it from this pulpit. I mean, every time I'm driving up I-25 to come to church and I look out at the mountains, I'm always picturing like if Jesus had an eyelash and opened it, it would cover the whole front range. I mean, so when people talk about it, I'm not afraid when Jesus gets back. I'm like, you haven't read Jesus. You haven't read Revelation 1. You don't know how big he is.

You don't know how powerful he is. Yes, he came as a humble servant, meek and mild the first time. That's not how he's coming back. He's coming back as king of kings and Lord of lords to rule, amen? So here's what he's saying. He's saying this. He's saying, hey, you cannot, you can't measure the universe so you can't cancel Israel. If there's one of you that can measure the universe, I'll cancel Israel. That's what he's saying. Not just the earth, but all the heavens that you can't see too. Once you can measure that, then I'll cancel it. It's his hypothetical way of saying, I'm not canceling my covenant with Israel. He's not. There's nowhere in the Bible where God's canceling his promises to Israel. Friends, listen, listen, listen, listen really closely. I mean, next week, I'm gonna do practical applications for this as we close out this series. It's gonna be really important that you're here to hear what I have to say, but just pay close attention this week when you hear people. It's big talk in the news right now. Israel, I like him.

Just listen. How many open up their Bible and talk about the Abrahamic covenant? How many talk about Jeremiah? How many talk about the Davidic covenant in 2 Samuel 7? How many are talking about all the passages we're talking about? I've heard zip, which is the English ideation of zero. None, nobody's talking that way. You're getting this. You can go back and read this. You can go back and look at this. God cares about what people say about Israel. Let me give you a few more. How about Isaiah chapter 65 in verse one? It says this, Isaiah 65 one. I permitted myself to be sought by those who did not ask for me. I permitted myself to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, here I am, here I am, to a nation which did not call on my name. So here what we see in Isaiah chapter 65, Paul's actually gonna quote it in Romans chapter 11, or Romans chapter 10 rather. He's saying this. He's showing Gentile inclusion one day. He's showing the fact that Gentiles are gonna be added. It doesn't erase Israel.

Just because God adds other nations, it doesn't erase Israel. Israel's plan. from the beginning was to be a light to the nations. So that as people looked on Israel, they would know who God was. If Israel was obedient, they'd act like that. If Israel was disobedient, we don't wanna act like that. That's what Israel was to do. Just because God's adding Gentile nations doesn't mean he's replacing Israel with Gentile nations. As a matter of fact, you can read about it in Romans chapter 10, 9, 10, and 11, give that whole story. Or how about Ephesians? Let's go New Testament again. Ephesians chapter two, verses 14 to 16. People like to turn here and say, oh, look, look what he's doing between the Jew and the Gentile. For he himself is our peace who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall by abolishing in his flesh, the enmity, which is the law of commandments contained in ordinances so that in himself, he might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross by having it put to death, the enmity. So people read that and say, oh, look, Jews and Gentiles are united in Christ. Being united in Christ does not erase all the distinctions of future roles.

Yes, there's unity. If you're Israeli, if you're Jewish, I have great news for you today. You can have eternal life by repenting and believing that Jesus is the Christ. He came, he fulfilled the Mosaic law. He died on the cross in your place for all your sins. He rose from the dead three days later. He's in heaven now coming back soon and you need to be ready for him. And the way you can be ready is to repent and believe that he is the Christ. If you're a Gentile, I have good news for you today. Jesus Christ came for you. He died on the cross for you and for all your sins. Three days later, he rose from the dead. He's in heaven now, he's coming back. And the only way you'll have eternal life is by believing in him. And by believing in him, there's no distinction whether you're Jewish or Gentile, we're all one in Christ Jesus. But that doesn't, amen, we can clap on that. Amen. But it does not remove the future promises to Israel. It just means as we're brothers and sisters in Christ, if we've trusted in Jesus, that's what that means. I'll give you one other. First Peter chapter two, people like to turn here. First Peter chapter two in verse nine.

First Peter two, verses nine and 10. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. For you were once not a people, but now you are the people of God. You had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. So when people see that Old Testament language that they're a chosen race or a royal priesthood, that's how he used to talk about Israel. Now he's talking to us. So the church has obviously replaced Israel. Just because he's using covenantal language for the blessings that we receive does not mean there's been a cancellation of Israel. He's transferred spiritual blessings through Israel to those who believe in Christ, that's true. But he hasn't gotten rid of Israel. You won't find one shred of evidence anywhere in your Bible. We can have shared privileges in Christ, but that doesn't mean anywhere at any time that God is finished with the nation of Israel. I mean, think about it like this. Parents, fathers, if you have a will, and if you don't, you should get one. But if you have a will, and you write out what you want your kids to have, what you want your surviving spouse to have, you name your kids, you promise them an inheritance,

it's legally binding. It doesn't matter if later you decide to be more generous in your life and bless other people. That document, once it's signed, is unchanging. And the only way it can change is if you change it. The only way God can change his covenant with Israel is if he changes it, and if he changes it, I'm done with him. Because it goes against everything he said he'd ever do. I won't lie, I don't change. I'm the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Now I'm not, I've decided to become something else. Well then, he's not the God I thought he was. He doesn't change. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever, amen? And so just because you see that we receive spiritual blessings in Christ that came through Israel, doesn't mean that God is done with Israel. Let me give you a final one, and it's this. God speaks with authority. We've kind of gone over that, but I want you to see it. Because in this passage in Jeremiah, it starts out by saying, thus says the Lord. The Lord of hosts, the Lord is his name. That means that he has authority, and his identity is the Lord over all. He's the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He says, thus says the Lord, thus declares the Lord. What is he saying?

This is me, God, speaking to you, telling you how much I love Israel. I'm God, I love Israel, that's what he's proclaiming. When we say something opposite, we're not saying what God is saying, you understand? God speaks with authority. He speaks with authority on every single topic in your Bible. He speaks with authority on marriage, did you know that? He speaks with authority on marriage. The husband is the head of the wife and she is to submit to him in everything. It's not a suggestion, it's command. Husbands ought to love their wife like Christ loved the church and to lay down his life for her. It's not a suggestion, it's a command. God shows us this is, if you're a wife, this is what you do. If you're a husband, this is what you should do and we like to do the opposite. You should read this, right? Honey, you should read what he's saying about you, right? No, it's authoritative. God's authoritative over how the world was created. I mean, there's so many things. The word is an authority over my life. I'm still growing, I'm still fascinated by what I'm learning from the word of God. I'm not done learning, I'm still growing.

I mean, even when we started this church, if you would have asked me when we started this church, do I believe that God created the world in six literal days, I would have said, of course I do. But if you would have said, I don't know that I believe that, I think it was millions of years, I would have said, okay, but I don't, but you do and that's cool. Now I'm like, you can't believe that. You can't believe it from the word, you can believe it, but it's just not true and we're still gonna be friends, but you're wrong, right? God speaks authoritatively about money. He expects you to give your first fruits to him. Expects it to come through the local church. He doesn't mince words. He teaches you how to spend less than you make. He teaches you how to have contentment, teaches you how to be generous. He doesn't mince words. He said, this is how it is, you can walk in this. If we would open our Bibles and read it as if to say, God, this is authoritative, you're telling me what to do, I wanna know what you mean and I'll go do it, our lives would change. There'd be a new trajectory, but for many of us, especially for those who would say, I need to read my Bible more.

I probably should read it more. I don't read it that much. Here's what you're really saying. I don't wanna hear what the authority of God has to say to me because I like my life the way it is. That's all that means. Because if you wanted to know what God says, you couldn't get enough of it. You'd wanna know it more. You'd wanna make sure that this is what it means and this is what it says and so I wanna walk in that and God speaks with authority over all of it. And just because he brings unity, doesn't make individual identity any less. I mean, think about the body of Christ. For those of you who have been born again, you all have different measures of grace, you all have different types of gifts and God makes distinction, but he brings it all together so that it's a beautiful unity. If you're a woman before you got saved, you're still a woman. If you're a man before you got saved, you're still a man. There's distinction and uniqueness. He uses it all for his glory. There's nowhere in the Bible where you see any ethnic erasure of the nation of Israel. Let me give you just a couple more. We'll drill down just a few more. How about Romans chapter two?

People like to go to Romans. Romans chapter two, 28 and 29. Listen to this. For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew who is one inwardly and circumcision is that which is of the heart by the spirit, not by the letter, and his praise is not from men, but from God. So people turn here and say, oh, look, a Jew isn't one who's one outwardly. So if they're a Jew, that doesn't mean anything. Again, he's talking about what? The context of salvation. A true Jew with all the privileges of a Jew is one who has repented and believed that Jesus is the Christ. Not all Israel is Israel, Romans nine. That doesn't mean that God doesn't have a plan for Israel. He just means there's a believing remnant within Israel. There's always been a believing remnant within Israel. There always will be until the whole nation is saved, but not all people that are Israel, just because you're Israeli outwardly doesn't mean you're a true Jew. A true Jew is one who trusts Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior, amen. That's what he's saying. Again, you will not find one shred of evidence that God has done with the Jews, not one.

And to kind of put the final nail in, let's turn to the book of Revelation. In Revelation chapter seven, this is really hard for people to get around that believe that God's done with Israel. They do all sorts of biblical origami and gymnastics around this. But after God raptures the church, here's what you hear. I heard the number, this is Revelation chapter seven, verse four, and I heard the number of those who were sealed, 144,000 sealed from every church. tribe of the sons of Israel. So before God pours out his wrath, after the church is raptured into heaven, God is going to seal or mark 144,000 Jews, people from Israel. When I've listened to people say God's done with Israel, they make Israel mean the church. Israel doesn't mean the church. Israel means Israel. God has a plan for Israel. He has to, if he's faithful to his word. He has to, if he keeps his promises. He has to, if he is who he says he is. And I'm telling you, he has to, because I know my God and he never breaks a promise. Amen? So he's going to seal 144,000 Jews, 144,000 men from Israel. Well, I don't think Israel means Israel, but it does.

It just does. And if you want to go even further, in Revelation chapter 21, when it's talking about the new heavens and the new earth, when things have been established and set, talks about this in Revelation 21 in the middle of verse 11, her brilliance was like a very costly stone as a stone of crystal clear jaspers, talking about the new Jerusalem, the new city. It had a great high wall, a great and high wall with 12 gates and at the gates, 12 angels. And the names were written on them. Notice these names, which are the names of the 12 tribes of the sons of Israel. So even in the new heavens and the new earth, Israel is still recognized. Just so you know. If you drop down, we're talking after it gets done talking about the gates, verse 14, and the wall of the city had 12 foundation stones and on them were the 12 names of the 12 apostles of the lamb. So what do you have? You have the 12 apostles names too. So what do you see? You see a unity of everything that God's doing. You see his love for Israel. You see his love for the church and all is one forever and ever, amen. For people that say God's done with Israel,

it's kind of hard to explain how in the new heavens and new earth, you have the names of every one of the 12 tribes of Israel that you will see for all eternity. If God's done with Israel. He's not done. He's not done. Now, why are we spending time on this? Why are we spending time on this? Because it's really important you understand what God cares about. And it's really important when you look on at our world and you see things unfolding, you realize everything in world history, even in the book of Revelation, all centers around Jerusalem and the nation of Israel and it always will. And to say God doesn't care about that, you can have different opinions. You can be like, I'm America first. I love America. I think we live in the greatest country in the world, just so you know, and there's nothing wrong with being a patriot and I salute everybody that supported us in the service and I love our nation. I just do. But I'm telling, amen. We can clap for that. We live in a great nation.

But God has not made a unilateral covenant with the United States like he has with the nation of Israel. It's different. Does God love Americans? Yeah. Does God love Israelis? Yes. Does God love Iranians? Yes. Does God love Indians? Yes. Does God love people from every tribe, tongue and nation? Yes. Did Jesus come for everybody? Yes. Why is this so important? Because his word is true or nothing else matters. His word is true or nothing else matters. Now we read earlier today in Jeremiah chapter 31 about this new covenant that was gonna be established and Jesus inaugurated it. On the night he was betrayed, he sat his disciples down. He talked about bread. He talked about wine. He said, this is my body. He said, this is my blood. This is my promise. And he inaugurated the new covenant.

The fullness of that new covenant is going to come someday when Jesus Christ returns. We've been transformed into his glorious image. People from every tribe, tongue and nation will be worshiping him. And we'll understand that the centrality of everything we believe comes down to the covenant promise he made with us, which was his body and his blood that was given so that you could have life. Now if you're visiting our church today, you came on an interesting Sunday, I'll tell you that. But I wouldn't want you to go away from here without knowing this. If you're here and you came looking for hope, the hope you're looking for is found in the person of Jesus Christ in him alone. He loves you with an unconditional love. He came here for you. He fulfilled the law for you. He did what you couldn't do. He didn't sin. And instead of wanting to punish you, he was willing to take the punishment for all your sin. That's why he willingly went to the cross and was nailed there. He died on that cross. He said, it is finished. It's paid in full. I'll pay for all your sins.

Then he rose from the dead, validating he's indeed God's one and only son. And through repentance of your sin and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. you can have life in his name too. And so today we as a church are gonna celebrate that meal. We'll take it together on our campuses after the singing of this song. But I want you to prepare your hearts any way that you want. You can prepare it by sitting, you can kneel, you can stand, however you wanna prepare your heart. But I want you to think about this. How much Christ loves you? How much Christ has forgiven you? And if you've never trusted Jesus, make this moment the moment you give your life to the Lord Jesus Christ, amen? Father in heaven, we give you glory and honor and praise for who you are. And Lord, we pray as we prepare to take this meal, we'd be reminded of how much you love us. And the centrality of everything we believe comes down to this element of the body and blood of Christ. Thank you for dying for our sins. And thank you for rising from the dead. And if you're here today and you wanna trust Jesus, you can just say this, Lord, save me. Change me, make me yours. I turn from my sin and I trust you.

And Lord, we just give you all the praise as we prepare our hearts to take this meal. And it's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.