Is God Finished with Israel? Part 2

but take heart, I've overcome the world. Amen, well, good morning. Would you help me welcome all our campuses today? So great to worship with each and every one of you. Just wanna echo the sentiments for this Easter 7, 9, 11. That's different than what we normally do. Encourage you to try to go to an earlier service if you can. As many times we have visitors that come to the later services. Also, what you heard, bring a friend. People are looking to find answers. This time of year, they're more likely to go to church than any other time during the year. So make sure you invite people and come and let's have a great day that day. Secondly, I want you to know, today we have an opportunity here after services. If you would so desire, my good friend, a friend of our church, Victor Marks, who's running for governor of the state of Colorado, is here with his wife today, Eileen. He'll be here afterwards. If you wanna sign a petition to get him on the ballot so that the people of Colorado can decide who to vote for, you'll have the opportunity today and the opportunity to meet him. So I'd encourage you to do that. And with that, let's continue our worship as we go before the Lord and get ready to hear his living and active word among us.

Would you pray with me? Our Father in heaven, we give you great praise and thanks. Lord, we celebrate with you that we can come into your house, we can worship you, we can pray to you, we can seek your face, we can fellowship with other believers. And we specifically are encouraged this morning, Lord, because we're ready to hear you speak to us. Because Lord, 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 this morning 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. Last week, we started a series on God's plan for Israel. And I told you at the time that I did the sermon last week that this is the key issue in the church today and how we land this issue has implications everywhere. And I told you, I talked to a New York Times reporter about a year ago and told her that, she called me on Monday. And I said, I was just talking about you yesterday.

This is a key issue, how we land this is important. And last week, we went over several different things. We said, God initiated the relationship with Israel. God chose Israel by his grace. God made an everlasting covenant with Israel and God promised to restore the people of Israel to their land and he's gonna redeem them. And then we saw how God brought salvation through the Jews. It's all over the Old Testament. And yet there's many people today that are like, yeah, that's Old Testament stuff, God's done with Israel. So my question today is, is God finished with Israel? Stop, you can't answer yet, we haven't had the class. I'm gonna ask you three questions about that because it's really important to me that you see in the word what God says. It's not so much your opinion, it's not my opinion, they don't matter, it's what does God have to say on this issue. It is interesting to me that after Jesus Christ had been crucified and rose from the dead and his disciples had seen him, they'd spent 40 days with him post-resurrection. So now they spent three plus years with Jesus. In Acts chapter one, before Jesus descends into heaven, there's one recorded question we have that the disciples are asking Jesus. Do you know what it was? I mean, my question would've been, when are you coming back? My question might've been, why are you leaving now?

That's not the question, you know what their question is? Is it at this time that you are ready to restore the kingdom to Israel? Now, after spending three years with Jesus, 40 days after his resurrection, why would that be their question if they weren't talking about it? And if they weren't talking about it, it would be the perfect time for Jesus then to say, what are you talking about? That's never gonna happen. I'm gonna do something totally different. We're done with the Jews. That's not what he says. He said, it's not for you to know the times or dates set by my Father who is in heaven, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And that's what we've been studying in the book of Acts. So even Jesus doesn't say that he's done with Israel. And so I wanna see in God's word, what does it say? And why is this important for us as believers to know? Because no matter who you listen to, I said last week, very rarely will you hear somebody open up the scriptures and say, this is what God says and this is what we must believe. So it's either opinions on love Israel or opinions on, for most people, hate them. But what does God have to say? Wouldn't it be good to know what God has to say?

Because if God's finished with Israel, we need to be finished with Israel too. And if God's not finished with Israel, then we're not finished with them either, amen? And so we're gonna be in Romans chapter 11 today. I'm gonna invite you to turn there, Romans chapter 11. And as we walk through that chapter today, I'm gonna ask you three different questions to figure out if God is finished with Israel. Now, as you're turning to Romans 11, you'll know if you've been a Christian for a while, that this is the Christian. Festo on salvation. I mean the first eight chapters are laced with all sorts of great information about how the gospel works And then as Paul gets into chapter 9, he talks about God's purpose. It's based on his choice and not on merit We don't get saved because we do good we get saved because God selects and his choice was for Israel To be the promised nation to bring light into the world that's what chapter 9 is about chapter 10 is about that Israel tried to gain this blessing by works and not through faith and So it didn't work So it leads us to the question in chapter 11 Therefore since they tried to earn it by works and it was really by faith is God done with them So I'm going to ask you three questions. Here's the first question this morning Don't answer it till we read this aloud. But the first question is has God rejected Israel has God rejected Israel This is what Paul is going to answer see what the text says. I say then God has not Rejected his people has he may it never be for I to him an Israelite a descendant of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin God has not Rejected his people whom he foreknew or do you not know what the scripture says about the passage about Elijah how he pleads with the God Against Israel Lord, they have killed your prophets They've torn down your altars and I alone am left and they are seeking my life. But what is the divine response to him? I have kept for myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal Are you starting to see some answers here?

I mean, it can't get much clearer now in the in the Greek language when questions are asked There's two different participles that can be used one is asked that's always expecting a positive answer and one is used It's always expecting a negative answer. The Greeks talk a little bit like Brits, don't they? I mean, you know how Brits answer ask questions at the end of every sentence like that's a good dinner, isn't it? Or do you believe that you know, blah blah blah I mean they always ask questions at the end This question that he's asking at the beginning is based upon the fact that God chose Israel But Israel failed for their lack of belief. His first question is I say then God has not rejected his people Has he and you know what his answer is? May it never be it's the words of Megan oito. It means God forbid it. It means absolutely not it means by no means a Colloquial way of saying it would be heck. No, he hasn't forgot them. It's the same words that are used in Romans chapter 6 What should we say? Should we go on sinning? So grace will abound all the more heck No, God's not teaching us to sin has God rejected his people Israel. No way Absolutely not. It's it's beyond even fathoming. That's what Paul's saying. And why does he say that he says cuz I too am a Jew I'm an Israelite. I'm part of the promises of God if God's rejected all Israel He would have had to reject me and I'm part of the plan of God. He hasn't rejected it That's why when you see Paul in Rome in Philippians chapter 3 talks about how he's of the nation of Israel the tribe of Benjamin He's proud of his Israel heritage just like everybody should be why because the covenant came through Abraham Isaac and Jacob Genesis 12 Genesis 15 Genesis 17 Genesis 26 Genesis 28 God established a covenant with the patriarchs in Everlasting which means never-ending Covenant so Paul says no way even in Acts chapter 22 that we'll get to in a few weeks when we get back in the book of Acts in Acts chapter 22 Paul talks about His Jewishness, even when he's going to the Gentiles acts 22 verse 3 I am a Jew born in Tarsus of Sicily But brought up in this city educated under Gamaliel strictly according to the law of our fathers being zealous for God Just as you all see today. He still talks about his Jewishness even after his conversion. He's proud of it Paul himself says I'm a Jew now you have to understand something about God's covenant when God makes a covenant a covenant means promise and

promise for this covenant according to Genesis chapter 17 is an ever lasting covenant an ever lasting promise If God breaks his promise to the Jews, why would you think that your eternity is secure? Everlasting is the same word that's used in John chapter 3 16 For God still loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life everlasting life That's how well, how long is that? It's forever How long is the covenant with Israel? It's forever It's the same thing. You can't pitch it. You can't throw it away. God has not rejected Israel Let me just give you some verses and you can look these up later But I think it's important that you hear them. So, you know that it's not me making this up This is right out of the Word of God. How about 1st Samuel chapter 12 and verse 22 1st Samuel 12 22 for? The Lord will not abandon his people on account of his great name, because the Lord has been pleased to make you a people for himself. So why won't the Lord abandon Israel? Because he's awesome, because of his great reputation, because of his great name, because of who he is. Or how about Psalm chapter 94? Psalm chapter 94 in verse 14, hear the word of the Lord. For the Lord will not abandon his people, nor will he forsake his inheritance. Or how about Amos, the prophet? In Amos chapter three, verses one and two. Hear this word, which the Lord has spoken against you, sons of Israel, against the entire family,

which he brought up from the land of Egypt. So he's calling Israel his family that he's protected. He says, you only have I chosen among all the families of the earth. These are God's words, not mine. And you see this all throughout scripture. I mean, even when you get into Zechariah and it talks about the second coming of the Lord. In Zechariah chapter 12 in verse 10, he says, I will pour out on the house of David and on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication. So they will look on me whom they have pierced and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only son. And they will weep bitterly over him like the bitter weeping of a firstborn. God says there's coming a day when the Jews will see the Messiah, the one they crucified and they'll mourn and lament and repent and they'll worship him. Zechariah 13, eight and nine, it will come about in all the land. Remember we talked about last week, God made a promise. The promise was for a land, which means what? Land, yeah, it was land. It was blessing, it was a nation, it was people and it's everlasting. So here he talks about it will come about in all the land declares the Lord that two parts of it will be cut off and perish,

but a third will be left in it. And I will bring the third part through the fire, refine them as silver is refined and test them as gold is tested. They will call on my name and I will answer them. I will say, they are my people and they will say, the Lord is my God. What's gonna happen? He's like, there's gonna be some remnant of the Jews that get saved. Two thirds gone, one third is gonna come in. God's gonna refine them and they're all gonna worship him. And even Zechariah 14 verse four, in that day talking about Jesus, his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south. I've been there many times. If you're going with us in October, you'll stand right there. You'll see that place where the Jewish Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ is coming back to step his feet. Everything in the Bible testifies to the fact that God made an eternal covenant with Israel and nothing will ever change that. He even talks, Paul not only says, not only am I a Jew, but you remember Elijah,

remember the story of Elijah in 1 Kings 18, where he called down fire, God brought the fire, they killed all the prophets of Baal and then Jezebel later that day says, I'm gonna kill him. So what does he do? He flees, he's scared and he calls out to the Lord. He said, hey, I'm the only one left in Israel. I'm the only one that's faithful. And what does God say? You're wrong. I've kept 7,000 Israelites that have not bowed their knee to Baal. Friends, even though you can't see it, it's still true. There's always been a remnant of Jewish believers in every single generation. Even when you can't see what's going on in the church, it's true. You may not know this, but since 2020, one of the fastest growing churches in the world is guess where? Iran, China, other places that we would say, never choose to live there, don't wanna live there, totalitarian regime, wrong, bad, the gospel will flourish anywhere where God's people rise up for the gospel, amen? Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Amen. So what Paul is saying is God hasn't rejected Israel, he's never rejected Israel. He says in verse five of Romans 11, in the same way then there is also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God's gracious choice. Paul was part of that remnant. Paul says, I'm a Jew and I believe Jesus is the Messiah. I'm part of that group. He says, but if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works. Otherwise, grace is no longer grace. We're saved by what? Grace through faith. That's the only way we can be saved. It's the only way anybody can be saved. It's the only way that Jews can be saved. Did you know that? Just because you're Jewish, you don't get a hall pass into heaven. You still must repent and believe. The whole New Testament is about Jewish apostles going out and preaching the gospel. to their Jewish countrymen in hope that they'd recognize that Jesus is the promised Messiah. So what can we do to love Jews? We can share the gospel with them. We can love them enough to share the gospel, just like all of the apostles did.

He says in verse seven, what then, what Israel is seeking it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it and the rest were hardened. Just as it is written, he quotes a couple Old Testament passages, one from Deuteronomy 29, one from Isaiah 29. He said, God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes to see not and ears to hear not down to this very day. And David says, let their table become a snare and a trap and a stumbling block and a retribution to them. Let their eyes be darkened to see not and bend their backs forever. He says, there's been a hardening. We're gonna see that in the text to come. He's gonna be specific about it, but you know what? They saw the Messiah with their own two eyes. They knew that Jesus died on the cross. They knew he was raised from the dead and they still didn't believe. There was a hardening in their heart to not believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, even though he was right there before them. And that's what the apostles pointing out. So here's the question based upon what you've heard so far. Question number one, I need a response from everybody out loud and loudly, has God rejected Israel? Not according to the Bible, not according to the Bible. A lot of people think he has, but not according to the Bible.

So here's my next question. Don't answer this yet. Has God replaced Israel? That's my question. Because you'll talk to a lot of born again believers, they'll say this. Yeah, he had a plan for Israel, but they blew it. And because they blew it, all the promises are in the church. They come through Jesus, they come through the church, but he's done with Israel. So let's look at the text to see, has God now replaced all the covenant promises to Israel, which he specifically said he was gonna do, which some of them are specifically future. Has he changed his mind or is he still for the nation of Israel? Notice what he says. I say then, they did not stumble so far as to fall, did they? May it never be. But by their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make them jealous. So what's he saying? Did they stumble so far as to fall? Did they stumble so far as to be down and never ever get back up? Are they done? You know what he gives? He gives the same answer, meganoito,

which means heck no, absolutely not. There's no way. He hasn't done that. They've stumbled, but they haven't fallen. They've missed the mark, but he's not done. That's the point he's trying to make. He's not replacing them. He says, but by their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to do what? To make them jealous. Now you're gonna see in this section that all the promises that we receive as born again believers come out of the Abrahamic covenant, come out of all the promises to God, and we've been grafted into those. And we should be thankful for all the ones we have. And what the gospel should do as the gospel has gone out to the Gentiles, as we believe in the Jewish Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, it should cause the hearts of the Jewish nation to be jealous for what we have because that is intended for them. And we're the ones who have received it by faith. That's what he's trying to say. He says the gospel has gone out to the world because of their hardening. Isn't that gonna be incredible? Then he says, but I'm speaking to you who are Gentiles. And as much as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry.

I'm a Jew, and I'm taking the gospel to the Gentiles. I know how blessed I am to be Jewish. I know that all God's promises come through the Jews, but I know it's only found in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Jewish Messiah. And I'm blessed by that. I'm blessed by the fact that I'm a Jew. I'm blessed by the fact that I'm a Jew. And I'm blessed by that. And I still preach the gospel to the Gentiles, but I let them know that when you come to Christ, hey, listen, this is a Jewish book written by Jewish people about the gospel of God, and we get to experience all the blessings of it. That's what he's saying. Notice what he says. He says, but as much as I'm speaking to you Gentiles, I magnify my ministry. If somehow I may move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them. And Paul says, as I'm preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, my sincere hope is that my countrymen, the Jews that I grew up with, the ones I know, would see what the Gentiles are receiving. which was promised to them, but they missed it because they tried to earn it by works rather than by receiving it by grace. And I want them to be so jealous of what we have that they would come to Christ. That's the apostle's heart

as he's going out and preaching the gospel. Paul is not done with the Jews. God is not done with the Jews. The Holy Spirit is not done with the Jews, amen. He says, for if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? He's talking about when the Jews accept Jesus. He's saying, that's gonna be like life from the dead. Those who are dead apart from Christ are now gonna be made alive. He's talking about their fulfillment. He's talking about the life that they're gonna receive. Then he says this, if the first piece of dough is holy, the lump is also, and if the root is holy, the branches are too. Now he's gonna go into an analogy here, but what he's talking about is from Numbers chapter 15. He's talking about when you set aside like in this heave offering, the first lump of dough, it was set apart, meaning it was defined holy. It meant that the rest of the lump was holy too. And what he's gonna get into, he's gonna say, if the covenant made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that's the lump, the patriarchs and all that's true, then the rest is holy as well. We don't throw it away. We don't discard it. We don't get rid of Israel. And now he's gonna go into a metaphor about an olive tree.

I'll read it and then we'll come back and unpack it together. He says, but if some of the branches were broken off and you being a wild olive were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches. But if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you. You will say then branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in. Quite right. They were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either. Behold, then the kindness and severity of God to those who fell severity, but to you, God's kindness. If you continue in his kindness, otherwise you will be cut off. Now he's making an analogy of an olive tree and he's talking about a root. He's talking about the tree itself. He's talking about the branches, two different kinds of branches. And he's talking about the root and the root of this tree is the Abrahamic covenant. It's the patriarchal promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It's the land, it's the blessing, it's the Messiah.

That's the root. That's God's eternal everlasting covenant. Then you have the tree which represents the place of the spiritual blessings that flow from covenant promises. Like all the covenant promises that flow from that come right through that tree. And then he talks about some natural branches. Natural branches that were broken off were Jews who refused to repent and believe that Jesus was the Messiah. So the way God designed it was he made the Abrahamic covenant, that's the root. Then the tree is all the spiritual blessings of that. And the Jews were to experience that. But when the Jews rejected the Messiah, he's using the metaphor that those branches were cut off. Those natural branches, the ones that were supposed to be there fell. And then there's a different kind of branch. Wild branches, you know who that is? That's you. There were wild branches, that's the Gentiles that had been grafted in. Now wild branches means you weren't part of the olive tree. So to put a branch on that's not part of the olive tree, it took God's provision to make you a part of that. And now that you're a part of that, you need to understand it's the root, the Abrahamic covenant, it's the root, it's the tree, all the promises of God to Israel that support you.

You don't support it. So as a believer in Jesus Christ, I should be grateful for the Abrahamic covenant. I should be grateful for the Jews. I should be grateful for my Bible that was written by Jews. I should be grateful that I have a Jewish Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. I should be grateful because that's what holds me in place. Amen. So he said, don't get conceited, don't get arrogant and think, well, we're better than the Jews. Don't do that. If the natural branches were broken off, what would God do to you? We're here because of humility and God's selection of us. He brought us in, praise God, praise God. It was by faith and not by works. And he goes on to say that this is how we should see it. Like to be a born again believer and not have love for the Jewish covenants is to not understand your Bible. I mean, all the blessings that we're receiving, the spiritual blessings that we're getting now, not the future ethnic national blessings that will come to Israel later, but the spiritual blessings we receive right now are all coming from the Abrahamic covenant. He's the God. God of who? The God we say we serve.

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That's who I serve. That same God. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Amen? He said, you're right. They were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by faith, so don't be conceited but fear. Now notice verse 22. I read it. But when the kindness, behold the kindness and severity of God to those who fell severity, but to you kindness. What we read up here, it says, I say then they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be. Who's he talking about? He's talking about the nation of Israel. The nation of Israel hasn't fallen beyond help, but there are individual Jewish people who have rejected the Messiah who have fallen that will experience the severity of God, who had a Jewish Messiah come die for them and rise from the dead, who wanted them to come to repentance but refused. And there's severity of the Lord for anybody who doesn't believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God, but to you, you who know him, you who have repented, you have believed,

kindness, kindness if you continue. Now notice what happens because he still says he's not done, because look at this. And they also, if they continue in their, if they do not continue in their unbelief will be grafted in for God is able to graft them in again. Wait, wait, wait, wait. So there's gonna come a time if Israel stops their unbelief and starts believing that God can graft them back in. Yeah, would it be easier to graft in a natural branch or a wild one? It's gonna be way easier to graft the natural branch back in than it was to take a wild one like a Gentile and put them in. And God says, yeah, they fall, but don't get so arrogant because God's not done with them yet. Let's live in such a way that they're jealous of the promises we have. Let's share the promises. Let's preach the gospel. Let's see them come. For if you were cut off from what is by nature, a wild olive tree and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will those who are the natural branches be grafted into their own tree? Listen, what's he trying to say here? He's trying to say God has not replaced Israel in any way. God still has a plan for Israel.

Even though some of the branches, even though there's many Jews that have a hardening of their heart that don't believe in the Messiah, there's coming a time when their unbelief will end and they will get grafted back in, which is way easier because they're a part of the natural promises of God. I mean, it's amazing what he's saying. I mean, he starts this section by saying, I say then, did they stumble so far as to fall? They didn't, did they? May it never be. So here's question number two. I asked you question number one. I asked you if God rejected Israel. You said no. Here's my question. Has God replaced Israel? No, he hasn't. He hasn't. There's nowhere in the Bible that shows that he's replaced Israel in any way. Let me ask you a third question. Don't answer yet. Has God revoked his promises to Israel? Because I think we need to answer these questions because this is what you hear all the time. That God's rejected Israel, he's replaced Israel, he's revoked his promises to Israel.

So let's keep reading. For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery so that you will not be wise in your own estimation. So he's talking about a mystery. When you talk about a mystery in the New Testament, it's talking about something in the Old Testament that we didn't fully understand or realize until the New. For instance, one of the mysteries is Christ in us, the hope of glory. One of the things that nobody in the Old Testament would have understood that we completely understand now is that when you're born again and you receive Christ in your life, the Holy Spirit comes to indwell you forever. That's a mystery. We didn't know that in the previous dispensation. Nobody lived with the Holy Spirit inside of them. It's why David, after he sends praise in Psalm 51, take not your Holy Spirit from me. Why? Because the Spirit came and went. New Testament, Spirit comes and stays forever. It was a mystery that was realized. So what's the mystery that's realized here? Here's the mystery, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. If you take notes in your Bible, underline partial hardening and underline until, okay?

Now, if you're building a foundation of a house, would you want the concrete to be fully hardened or partially hardened when you start building the deck? Right, I mean, when you start building on the house, you want it fully hardened. If it's partially hardened, what that means is it's not totally hard yet. It's just kind of somewhat hard. Here's what he's saying about Israel. They have a hardened heart, but it's just partially hardened. They're not fully hardened. It's partially hardened and it will be that way until, meaning there's coming a time where it won't be that way. Well, when won't it be that way? When the fullness of the Gentiles is realized. God is so perfect in his design. I don't know who the person is. It'll be pretty cool to meet him someday, but there'll be a last Gentile that's saved. And I don't know who the last one is. I mean, it makes evangelism kind of exciting. If you got to lead that person to the Lord, that'd be pretty cool. The last one's saved. Then God turns his program back towards Israel and starts working on Israel. Israel again, right? That's what he does. So Israel's partially hardened, not completely hardened. And they're only gonna be partially hardened

until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in, which means there's coming a time where they're not gonna be hardened anymore. And it keeps going. I mean, he's trying to make a case that the gospel's true, but God still has a plan for Israel. And notice verse 26. I mean, read this in your Bible. I don't know any other way to read this, but to read it. And so all Israel will be saved just as it is written. Like, how can you read that any other way? What does Israel mean? It means Israel. How many is all? All. What's saved mean? Saved, delivered from their, I mean, all Israel will be saved. It's future tense. If you don't believe that, it's really hard to read the book of Revelation because you come to about Revelation 7, where he talks about the 144,000 Jews, 12,000 from each tribe. If there's no Israel left, like, who are those? Well, that's gotta be the church. No, it's 144,000 Jews. 12,000 from each tribe. Why? Because it's what the Bible says.

It's just clear, it's clear. Notice what he goes on to say. He says, the deliverer will come from Zion and remove ungodliness from Jacob. This is my covenant with them when I take away their sins. So he's gonna take away the sins of Israel. From the standpoint of the gospel, they're enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God's choice, they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. You should underline that verse. For the sake of the gospel, they're enemies. They're enemies of the cross of Christ. They don't believe that Jesus is the Messiah. They're enemies of God in that way. But from the standpoint of God's choice, his plan, what he wants to do with Israel, they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. Now, as you're answering this question, has God revoked his promises to Israel? Hear this verse, verse 29. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. They're irrevocable. That means there's no cancellations, no reversals, nor changes, no exchanges. If you're a little kid, I remember making deals with my friends. You know, I'd tell them about some piece of old bubble gum to trade for two great baseball cards. We'd make the trade and I'd be like, what do we say?

No takebacks. You made that deal, no takebacks. God is true to his word. When God made a promise to Abraham and confirmed it with him over again and did it with Isaac and did it with Jacob, he hasn't changed. You see it coming through the Davidic promise in 2 Samuel chapter seven, that the Messiah that's coming has to be from the house in the lineage of David. Why do you think that Matthew, like we as Christians do not like Matthew chapter one? Because it's a genealogy. But Matthew, the most Jewish of any of the evangelists is writing to the Jews, telling them from Abraham through David all the way down to Christ, Jesus fits the Jewish Messiah perspective perfectly. It's just all there. It's everywhere. You study this, you can't get away from it, amen? For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. God does not edit. God does not erase. God does not revoke. God fulfills. God doesn't regret it. God doesn't wanna take it back. When I hear people talk about God's done with Israel, my response is read your Bible. You have to do all sorts of spiritual gymnastics

and biblical origami to get to a place where God doesn't love Israel. It's so clear everywhere that he still has a plan and a purpose for them. Notice verse 30, for once you were disobedient to God, but now you have been shown mercy because of their disobedience. So these also now have been disobedient that because of the mercy shown to you, they may also be shown mercy. For God has shut up all in disobedience so that he may show mercy to all. Have you ever watched a movie where you're watching and then you're watching with somebody and they gotta go get popcorn, they gotta use the bathroom and what do you do? You hit pause. Doesn't mean the movie's over. Just means I'm redirecting my attention to get a couple things done before I come and hit play again. This is what's going on here. God is not done with the Jews. There's been a little pause, but God is gonna restore and redeem them just like he promised. Now, if you study Israel, you will see that God's heart is there. I mean, I hear people talk about all the time, like David, have you ever heard this?

David was a man after God's own heart. Do you believe that? Three of you do. The Bible said David was a man after God's own heart. Do you believe that? Okay, thanks. He was, but why was he? I was asking some of my fellow pastor friends this week, why was David a man after God's own heart? And they said, well, he followed God very early in his life. He was selected by God. I'm like, well, there's other people that have followed God early in their life that were selected by God. Yeah, but he was faithful even against enemies of God. I know people that have been faithful against enemies of God. Yeah, but he sinned grievously, but when he sinned grievously, he repented strongly. Well, I know some Christians that have sinned grievously. I'm one of them who've repented strongly. So what makes this David so, well, he did worship. He wrote a lot of Psalms that are inspired. Totally agree. But what makes him the man after God's own heart that's so distinguished? Do you know in the Bible, there's only one city that we're called to pray for the peace of? You know what that city is? It's Jerusalem. I wanna read you the scripture from Psalm 122, verse six,

says, pray for the peace of Jerusalem. May they prosper who love you. It's a direct imperative. What are you called to pray for as a believer? Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Now, God tells us in other places, like in Jeremiah 29, seven, seek the welfare of the city where you've been sent into exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf. I mean, wherever you are, pray for that city. I pray for Denver. I pray for our state of Colorado. We should. But every Christian everywhere in the world is called to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. There's even a sign down near Monument on I-25, pray for Jerusalem. If you see that. I mean, everywhere God calls us to do that. Why? Because God's heart is in Jerusalem. All of the future focus of everything that's going to happen takes place around Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the center because it's the place of God's heart. What did David do that nobody had done up until that time? He brought the tabernacle where? He brought it back into Jerusalem

because David was a man after God's own heart. Where's God's heart? God's heart's in Jerusalem. When Jesus comes and steps on the Mount of Olives, do you know what city that's in? It's in Jerusalem. When he reigns worldwide, do you know what city he's reigning from? Jerusalem. Do you know in the Davidic covenant where they said, someone will sit on the throne forever and they're gonna reign from? Jerusalem. Why do we pray for the peace of Jerusalem? Because Jerusalem will never have peace until Jesus is sitting on his throne there. So we pray for that. We pray for that nation. Okay? Now listen to this. Jerusalem's unique because God chose it. Our Messiah was crucified there. Jesus will return there. The kingdom will center there. But I want you to see another scripture too. This is so important to see, especially in our day and age where I find it growing more and more antisemitic by the day and even people that say, well, I'm not antisemitic take shots at Israel all the time

and say they're the biggest problem in the world. The Jews make up only about 16 million people in the entire world. And some people think they're the problem of everything. As I told you last week, we need to share the gospel with them. As I told you last week, the state of Israel is not the Israel that God is talking about here. It's the people of Israel that are going to establish his kingdom that he's talking about here, which means you can disagree with heads of state of Israel. You can disagree with Benjamin Netanyahu. You can disagree with Mossad. You can have this, that's fine, but you can't stop your love for Israel. Why? Because God's heart is with them. In Zechariah 2 verse eight, he says, "'For thus says the Lord of hosts, "'after glory he has sent me against the nations "'which plunder you, for he who touches you "'touches the apple of his eye.'" Who's the apple of God's eye? It's Israel. And the Bible makes clear to touch Israel is pictured as poking God in the eye. To speak bad of Israel, poking God in the eye. To harm Israel, poking God in the eye.

That's what you're doing when you talk that way. You say, well, where does all this anti-Semitic language come from? Can I tell you? Straight from the pit of hell. That's where it is. Because think about it. God created the whole world in Genesis chapter one and two. God told Adam, you can eat anything, anywhere, at any time. I made this whole world for you. Only have one thing I don't want you to do. Don't eat off the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The day you eat off that tree, you will surely die. When Satan shows up, what's his first question? Did God really say that? He just doesn't want you to be like him. He knows that you'll have all power, you'll have all authority. They saw it was pleasing to the eye and delightful, so they took and ate it and sin entered the world. Was God true to his word? Yes. In the very same chapter, after sin enters the world, in Genesis chapter 3, 15, God promises that through the seed of the woman, he would crush the devil's head and that the devil would bruise his heel. So what's the promise? The promise is this. I'm bringing my Messiah through the Jewish people.

All the way back in Genesis 3, 15. So what's been the devil's strategy from the beginning? Kill all the Jews. Because if there's no Jewish nation, you can't have a Jewish Messiah. So let's kill them all. And the history of Israel is a group of people that have always been trying to kill them all. Whether it was Pharaoh in Egypt drowning the young infants, whether it was him trying to kill them all when they were stuck between a rock and the Red Sea. I mean, just let's wipe them all out. Whether it was the time of Queen Esther and Mordecai. when Haman wanted to kill all the Jews, whether it's Jesus when he's alive and Herod wants to kill all the babies under the age of two. I mean, there's always been this assault against the Jews and it's never stopped. It didn't stop last century with Hitler and it still hasn't stopped now. Now you may ask, well, I understand why Satan was against the Jews so that the Messiah couldn't come because if there's no Jews, there's no genealogy, there's no way for the God-man to arrive on the earth. But what about now? Well, because Israel has a future and God's coming to redeem Israel and Jesus Christ is coming back to Jerusalem, if there are no more Jews, there's no Jews to come back for. So he still hates the Jews.

So when I hear talking heads on social media and I won't mention any names and all this kind of stuff that are anti-Jewish or the Jews are the problem, I'll tell you where they're getting all their information, the pit of hell. They're not getting it from their Bible because to be a Christian means this, I believe that the book, the word of God, all 66 books are true. At least 64 of the 66 books were written by Jewish authors. At least I stand in all the promises of the Abrahamic covenant that were delivered to the Jews and my Bible tells me that Jesus is coming back to redeem the Jews. So I believe in a Jewish Messiah. Friends, listen, when Jesus came, he was born of a Jewish woman. He's the Jewish God-man. He fulfilled the law as the Jewish God-man. He died on a cross as the Jewish God-man. He got up out of the grave as the Jewish God-man. He left this world as the Jewish God-man and he's coming back to this world as the Jewish God-man. And so for me, I worship that Jewish God-man. I want him to be Jewish. If you're looking for any other Messiah than a Jewish Messiah, you're gonna be so grossly disappointed on judgment day, amen? So here's the question, out loud and loudly, has God revoked his promises to Israel?

No, I mean, just because you can't see it all fully doesn't mean it's not there. If you've ever flown on a cloudy day or a rainy day, once you get up above the clouds, you're like, ah, it's a sunny day. I just didn't know it was a sunny day because the clouds were in the way. God still has a plan for the Jews. I mean, the whole Bible points to it. Jesus is coming back. He's coming back. He's coming back. He's coming back. Jesus is coming back for them. And for those of us who believe, who have been grafted in to the promises of God, thankful to the Jews ahead of us that have received the covenant, amen? So you might ask me, well, why is this important? Here's why it's important, because you're gonna deal with it. You'll probably deal with it this week. I know in first service, when I was asking these questions, I was getting golf claps, because you know there's all sorts of people that disagree with this truth. I don't really care for people that disagree with this truth. Just read your Bible. If this is what the Bible says, then we'll stand on it.

If it's not what the Bible says, then we won't. Now, some of you may be here like, oh, what about the other passages? Oh, we'll get there. I just wanted to lay out the case. I want to lay out the case clearly, but I'm not afraid of any part of the Bible, because it all testifies the exact same way. There's no quote, troublesome passages. I'm happy to talk about five of them, I think, next time that are like the most troublesome ones and people say this. We'll go through them. I want you to know as believers in Christ that God stands with Israel. I learned this in 2020. God loves His church, you know that? God loves His church. God will protect His church. God will defend His church. We don't need to defend the church. We don't need to protect the church. That's God's job. We need to be faithful in the church. But can I tell you this? God loves Israel the same. He will defend her. He will protect her. They will be around. He will come back, and His eternal promises are true.

Amen? And here's why I tell you this, just so you know, as your pastor, as an elder at Brave, and for our church, I just want you to know, unapologetically, we stand with Israel because God stands with Israel. Amen in the sword. Okay? And if His promises aren't true to them, they are no longer true to you either. You cannot pick and choose which promises to keep. God's either telling the truth or He's a liar. There's no middle ground. Amen? So I encourage you, go back and read those scriptures for yourself. Ask the Lord, I'm kind of troubled by this, or this makes sense, or help me out, because it's important that you understand how much God loves the Jewish people. Amen? Because we're living in a world, especially in the church, I get it outside, but even in the church now, it's getting divided across our culture. Like, should we stand with Israel? Should we not? Yeah, it's crystal clear in the word of God. If you believe the word of God, you will stand with Israel because Jesus stands with them. Amen?

Amen. Would you stand with me? Our Father in heaven, we give you all the glory, honor, and praise for who you are. And Lord, we ask you to continue to grow us. Teach us and help us understand that you, Lord Jesus, are the Jewish Messiah who grafted us into all the covenant promises because of your grace and that you still have a future for Israel. God, we love you, we bless you, and we praise you because you're the same God. You're the same God yesterday, today, and forever. And we praise you that you never change. And it's in Jesus' name we pray, amen and amen. Can we give God praise for his work?