I am delighted to be here again. You know, when you come to WA,
it's like no place on earth. And I've been to a lot of
places. Just as Pastor Keith said, just
last month I was in Israel for a short visit.
We had some issues there that we're trying to deal with and
I'll be speaking more about that tonight about what's going on in
Israel and my perspective and also what's going on with our
ministries there and also bringing a message about how
good our loving Father is talking about our Father.
Just before I start this morning, excuse me, I have a
couple of things that I brought here for you.
As I did last year, I bought actually my, my wood maker is
back in business. So I brought you some really
better crosses than I did last year up here and a little prayer
card. And please help yourself after
the service on the condition that you take this.
So that and you'll keep it somewhere that you'll pray for
Israel. And that's kind of our heart is
that we just get people just to pray for Israel.
It is the only really, really viable.
Solution. Also there there's a few maps of
Israel and a few little gifts that we had I brought for the
people that are interested in going on the Israel tour that we
couldn't be here yesterday. And please come talk to me
afterwards. I'll be glad to give you any
information as far as our feelings about going to Israel.
I have a tour in Israel right now as we speak.
I just talked to Garrett this morning.
They're having a wonderful time. The weather is beautiful and
they feel that they're supposed to be there.
So that group is doing well. So you can see that there's
there's some movement forward. Your past is looking at a trip
for January 27. And you know, by that time
certainly we'll know what what's really going on in Israel and
what it would look like. For me, it's been a busy year
this year. Ever since October 7th, I've
really been called to really try to communicate about Israel more
and more. I mean, I love to teach the
Bible as, as, as a coward Chapel verse by verse, but I like to, I
feel the Lord's really leading me to do what I'm doing here
today. Your pastors have invited me to
do specifically what I'm doing today and I'm really encouraged
to be able to do that because I just feel that it's just so
important that we understand why Israel, you know, and my, my
title for you today is actually why Israel and the purpose of
Israel, because I think the purpose of Israel has a great
purpose for all of us as believers in Jesus Christ.
Before I start, I want to just thank you so much for your
commitment to us and to our our well to be a partner with us in
our ministry, your commitment to us, to inviting me here, your
commitment to us and your support of our ministry, our
vision, our purpose. It means a great deal to us.
And believe me, it really does. I look forward to and we're
developing kind of some ideas or maybe doing some other things
together in the next couple of years.
So we're looking forward to that opportunity and maybe I'll
bring. Some more charming personalities
than myself. The anti Semitic anti Israel
sentiments have been growing rapidly it.
Seems monthly. The attitudes are changing every
day. I spent about 45 minutes kind of
reading the papers from from Germany to England to New York
to Los Angeles and to Asia and, and you can see that there is a
thread in there of anti Semitic sentiment that is pretty
incredible and I'll talk to you more about that this morning and
why that has come about. I'll be speaking more directly
about what we're doing and what we can do this evening.
I want to mention to you as I begin this morning that in my 36
years in ministry, difficult times and situations seem to
come to me quite often. But you know, for me, I have
never seen these these situations or circumstances as
nothing more than opportunities, opportunities to proclaim the
message of an endlessly loving God, opportunities to to
communicate that are loving. Saving is the premise and the
priority of life. And the Holy Spirit will always
allow us to be everything we could never be in a very
complicated world. And I think that's the problem
from the mental gymnastics that go on in our world today with
the current events is just incredible.
And I spend much, much of my time speaking to people.
About that but. Hopefully, I'm always bringing
it back to the beacon. The beacon is right here in the
Word of God. So why Israel and the purpose of
Israel? And my message today is I've
been encouraging it pastors, many pastors, to really address
this and use this title. For the message.
It's a little controversial in our culture, but it's something
that basically the church, it needs to address.
It's essential for us as believers to really understand
this issue that has become so prominent and basically.
Is kind of a runaway issue is I would define it.
We need to remember and understand that Israel with a
clear and concise narrative. It's not just a land that's
unique, it's a people. That are unique.
And most of what I'm going to say today is it's, it's not from
my tiny brain, but it's from a lot of study, a lot of research,
listening to a lot of people. I, I really try to digest all
that's going on and come to some conclusions that are accurate,
number one. But #2 follow along with what
the Word of God would say about these issues that have become
such a problem. History can give us nothing that
is even remotely comparable to the history of the Jews.
It is one of wonder. It is one of tragedy.
It is one of defying worldly expectations.
Let me give you a reminder and I will do that several times this
morning because we need to remember what we're talking
about here. Stretching back 4000 years to
the patriarch Abraham, it traced forwards in time through his son
Isaac, his grandson Jacob, then Jacob's twelve sons, the years
of slavery in Egypt, the wilderness wanderings unto
Moses, the taking of the promised land under Josiah, the
rise of the monarchy under Saul and David, the splitting of the
kingdoms N Israel and S Judah, the Assyrian, Babylonian
captivities, and the long waited return to the land under Asia
and Nehemiah. The unbroken story of the Jewish
people continued and continued into the days of the Maccabees
and the heroic fight for freedom.
Then came the mighty Roman Empire.
Yet still the Jews remain. During the Roman occupation, as
we all know very well, the birth, death, and resurrection
of our precious Jesus took place.
The story continues with the great Jewish Revolt of AD 70,
when the Temple was destroyed and the Jewish people were
scattered throughout the world. Yet unlike many nations in
history who have been conquered, who have been exiled among the
nations, the Jewish people maintained and basically kept
their distinct identities wherever they went.
The story continues throughout the worldwide diaspora at times
of the great sages of Israel into the Talmudic era.
And now we continue to witness today the story this day with
the reestablishment of the state of Israel in 1948 after nearly
1900 years of exile and the regathering of Jews from the
Diaspora is nothing short of miraculous.
If you kind of look at that timeline all the way from
Abraham right here into 2025, there is no precedent in history
for something like this. In fact, there are really no
earthly explanations, no earthly explanation how this happened
other than the God of heaven is in charge.
God made a covenant with Abraham.
God made a covenant with Abraham all those ages ago, and that
covenant stands to this day. And we'll talk about that today.
Why is it Israel, as I said, is a title that I encourage.
I've seen so many passes being able to do this, embrace this
idea, and really have rectified a lot of questions within
congregations. I don't believe that we're
trying to be anybody that's divisive, but we're trying to
be. We're trying to be people of God
that would follow the Word of God and try to understand what
the Word of God says about this very complicated issue.
It shouldn't. It certainly should cause us to
pause and again to consider the powerful truth that we can find
in this word regarding this issue that has become so
prominent in all our cultures. Paul writes to us in Romans 11,
and my message today will be from Romans 11 chapter, verses
24 to 29. He write.
Paul writes to us in Romans 11. I say then, God has not rejected
his people, has he? May it never be Romans 11/1.
The gentle, the Gentile church needs to understand that this
present state of hardening, the hardening that you see and
people talk so much about in Israel was necessary, is
necessary for the salvation to come to the Gentiles.
Given this situation that Gentiles must be careful not to
become foolish or arrogant about this as we see today as many are
embracing the culture, many are embracing progressive thought
and thinking towards those natural branches.
You know just. Let me a little little.
Side thing here, we got bad people.
We got bad people everywhere. I'm a history nut.
We have bad people since the days of Cain and Abel.
And we can't, because bad people are bad today.
We can't basically dismiss everything that God says about
them. There's bad people within
Judaism, lots of bad people in our history.
You see, the Jews are here for God, then here for God, here for
God, then here for God. But that's, that's who we are.
That's who we are. Think about us.
Think about Christendom for the last 2000 years.
That's who man is. The heart of man is exceedingly
wicked and deceitful, says the word of the Lord.
That isn't that isn't just say speak about us.
It speaks about all, all men, including Israel.
So it's important to understand that Israel is the apple of
God's eye, and understanding and accepting the fact needs to
provoke a response from unbelieving Israel and make them
jealous. You know, because of our
intimate relationship with the loving God, they think they're
the only. Ones that have that intimate,
intimate relationship. And I'll speak a little bit more
about that in a moment, but look at 11, Romans 11 and 11 when
when Paul says that, he clearly speaks it out.
Romans 1111 say then, have they stumbled that they should fall?
Certainly not. But through their fall to
provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the
Gentiles. You, you see this whole thing
and, and it is a reality. It just is a reality today.
I mean, all my life, going to Israel, living, growing up as a
Jew, but as a believer in the last 30 years going to Israel,
I'll tell you, I could feel the antagonism 30 years ago.
I'm a believer. You're what, what would your
grandmother say type of thing. But now, and I really am
purposeful of trying to find Jewish people.
When I'm in Jerusalem, I find 1 taxi driver that I feel I can
connect with. And with that taxi driver,
basically, we eventually get to, you know, if you're a Jew,
where's your mother from, Where's your grandmother from?
Where do they start to live? It's a very common thing.
And then eventually we get to the fact that I'm a believer.
The openness today is 180° to what it was 30 years ago.
And pretty much across the board.
I can talk to hyper religious Jews, black hats, little curls.
I can. And they and they talked to me.
I sat with next to one on an aeroplane 2 trips ago.
We talked the entire time about his faith and my faith.
Never before have we seen this. But basically what what?
Is this it? Is this jealousy?
That Paul has talked about is this jealousy because you have
to be blind to see, not to see what's going on in the world of
Christendom today. I mean, there is a revival going
on in the world today. Everywhere I go in Germany, in
our congregations, I see it in churches and what it is, it's
young people. Young people like this are
finally seeing that this world is hopeless and Jesus can bring
the response with this response in mind.
What Paul was just saying, it's important to understand how the
church has become foolish against the natural branches
because Israel in their unbelief has caused them to think they
don't exist, they don't matter anymore.
And this actively promotes a theology that is anti Semitic,
stands little chance of provoking Israel in a state of
jealousy. You know, Pastor Keith was
telling me this this week that you know what's happening, What,
what, what that is. And there's many, many
congregations in my city. We have 160 congregation.
I would say that basically 90% of not not pro Israel, 90% are
either pro Palestinian or don't want to talk about the issue
anymore. They're totally replacement
theology. It's interesting how often
unintentionally we don't as a body of Christ recognise these
issues. We just turn a blind eye to it.
And this jealousy, basically this jealousy of the Jews is
part of end time scenario. It will usher in, as I would
demonstrate this morning, it will usher in the Kingdom.
And yet the church has some for some reason taken this position
that is really very problematic. Israel that remains at the elect
nation beloved by God for the sake of the fathers on account
of the promises of God were made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The dual status of Israel is key to understanding the the mystery
that we talked about in the Scripture.
Let me give you a couple of wonderful quotes that I
discovered Mark Twain. I don't know if you in Australia
you know Mark Twain, but he's one of the phenomenal writers of
of my lifetime. I maybe one of some of you young
people don't connect with Mark Twain, but I would suggest he
wrote some things that would really, really delight you.
Mark Twain. Miss Arthur wrote the Egyptian,
the Babylonian and the Persian rose, filled the planet with
sound and splendour, then faded to a past dream and passed away
to nothing. The Greek and the Roman followed
and made a very vast noise, and they are gone.
Other people have sprung up and held their torch high for a
time, but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or
have vanished. The Jew saw them all, beat them
all, and is now what the Jew always was exploiting,
exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening
of its parts, no slowing of its energies, no dulling of his
alertness and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the
Jew. All other forces passed, but he
remains. What is the secret of this
immortality? We will consider this today
because I think we need to really understand these people
have been around for 4000 years and my friends, I will tell you
these people will be around till the day that the Lord comes back
and claims His Church. The controversy surrounding is
it will continue, it will continue in a world and it will
continue in the church. This I can tell you.
I'm not a prophet, but I can tell you it will continue.
Politically, the nation of Israel remains in a very
precarious position, surrounded by all sides, by those who want
to eradicate them. We see that Israel is surrounded
by hundreds of millions of people who desire this
eradication. And Israel still stands as a
nation with only 7 million Jewish people in this country.
The remainder is 8 million Jewish people around the world.
So we have a world today that has 15,000,000 Jewish people.
Friends, this is extraordinary. We live in a world today with
8.26 billion people. You can never pick up the news
any day. You could not pick up the news
where there's something isn't about Israel.
I was talking to one of your cognizants outside before and
they said show me that I just picked up.
I had this this thing on my phone which has a headlines of
that day. Two things about Israel in there
8.26 billion people 15,000,000 people.
Why is this such a such a prominent issue in our news
religiously within Jerusalem's wall.
They are eclectic mix of ancient traditions.
Jerusalem is the epicentre of three monolithic faith and the
home of a largely secular population who simply desire to
live in peace with all their neighbours.
We need to clearly understand that the security concerns are
enormous and basically the attempted political situations
are enormous, the solutions are not coming and the inevitable
clashes from time to time. Will continue.
This I'm sure of. I've seen it for 30 years.
We've gone here, we've gone here, we've gone here, we've
gone here. The influence of opinions, of
people's opinions matter. But there is something here far
larger than man can control that doesn't actually make sense.
And I'll talk more about that tonight.
What is the essential task of the church?
It's to make sure that we can see all this with spiritual
eyes, and it means that we understand the role of Israel is
to play in God's larger redemptive plan for the
nation's. Only then can we truly interpret
the world around us and basically what Scripture is
trying to tell us. Let me just remind you again
what Moses said in God's Word about Israel in Deuteronomy
11/8. Observe therefore, all the
commands I have given you today, so that you may have the
strength to go in and take over the land you are crossing the
Jordan to possess, and so that you may live long in the lands
of the Lord, swore to your ancestors to give to them and
their descendants a land flowing with milk and honey.
The land you are entering to take over is not like the land
of Egypt in which you have come when you planted seeds and
irrigated it by food, as in a vegetable garden.
But the land you are crossing the Jordan to take is in
possession of its land. There are mountains and valleys,
and that drink the reign of heaven.
It is the land of the Lord your God.
And the land the Lord your God cares for, the eyes of the Lord
your God are continuously honoured from the beginning of
the year till the end of the year.
And I would suggest to you the eyes of the Lord on that land
from the beginning of the time of Abraham till the end of all
time as we know it. There's another powerful
statement that I'll share with you.
I don't know if you have ever read Leon Tolstoy.
He's a quite a renowned Russian author and it's I was kind of
digging around looking to many, many different things, but I
found this very interesting and so complementary with his
perspective. He says the Jew is the sacred
being who has brought, who has, who has been brought down from
heaven, the everlasting fire and has illuminated it with the
entire world. He is the religious source, the
spring, the fountain out of which all the rest of the
peoples have drawn their beliefs and their religions.
The quote from Tosa basically praises Jewish people for
several quantities, qualities that we need to really think
about. The source of divinity describes
a Jew as a sacred being who was brought down from heaven, like
everlasting fire to illuminate the world.
The moral source It portrays Jews as a religious spring from
which other people have drawn their beliefs.
A symbol of eternity. The text emphasises the Jewish
nation was a remarkable nation that would survive despite
centuries of persecution, murder and oppression.
A guardian of prophecy. It highlights the role of the
Jewish people in persevering and transmitting prophetic messages.
Now I'm going to given a great deal of thought to people's
writing and people's opinion. I've given, given a great deal
of thought to toast those words. And I was thinking where, where
does he come from this? Where does that all come from?
Well, obviously it's not all inclusive, we know that.
But it was his observation with a very large, large Jewish
communities within the Russians. He observed this, what he
observed in those communities, many dating back all the way to
the diaspora in 70 AD. So this morning I'm going to
focus on 4 verses. This is the biblical theology of
Israel in my opinions, Romans 1125 to 29 Romans 11/25.
For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of
this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion.
The blindness in part has happened to is until the
fullness of the Gentiles has come. 26 And so we all, and so
all Israel will be saved, as it is written, The Deliverer will
come out of Zion, and he will turn away ungodliness from
Jacob. 27 For this is my covenant with them when I take
away their sins. 28 Considering the gospel, they are enemies for
your sake, but concerning the election, they are beloved for
the sake of the fathers or the patriarchs.
And finally, 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are
irrevocable. 29 The gifts and the calling of God are
irrevocable. This section of Romans is the
final. Portion of a much larger.
Communication through chapters 9 through 11, which expounds on
the subject of God's dealing with Israel.
But let's consider these 4 verses quickly this morning,
verse 25, and I will read this a few times because I think it's
pretty predominant in these 4 verses.
For I do not desire whether that you should be ignorant of this
mystery. Let's you should be wise in your
own opinion. The blindness in part has
happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has
come. Excuse me?
As I mentioned before, the text states that the Church must be
careful not to display an attitude of ignorance concerning
Israel's current position of blindness.
Now are we to allow this position on an attitude?
To show us that we're superior, that we have some kind of
knowledge with God that basically they've lost.
No, never be its soul. Unfortunately, today as far as
Israel's concerned, the ugly mixture in my opinion of
foolishness, arrogance and ignorance is part of this.
The attitude of the church with Israel.
Much of history indicating that Paul's writings here in these 4
verses have basically gone unheeded and you can see that if
you study church history. The theologic position that
replacement theology has been a majority view.
Since the 4th century. Creating quite a problem within
Christendom. This changed around the 8th
century and now basically the idea that the Church has
replaced Israel in the future of God's plans is a debate with
many, many congregations and many, many congregations are
going on the move that the Church has replaced Israel.
Those who hold this view believe that the promises regarding
Israel's future has been transferred to the Church or the
of Christendom. It has become the new spiritual
Israel. The position quickly became
dominant in the stance post Apostolic times and the
influence of super replacement theology gurus.
They brought it into a shameful legacy of Christian anti
semitism that persisted and some would say culminated in the
terrible events of the 20 and 21st century.
Confronting the theological anti semitism today is a very big
issue, for it tells us especially that there is trouble
here. See it, there is trouble here.
If you're a war student, there is trouble here.
And for messianic believers like myself and Jewish believers, we
see trouble, we feel trouble. It's it's it's disheartening.
It would not be accurate to characterization to imply that
everyone who holds some sort of replacement theology is guilty
of anti Semitism. This is definitely not the case.
Yet at the same time, as biblical scholar Michael Vlog
concludes, it's undeniable that anti Jewish bias has gone often
hand in hand with replacements theology views.
As Jewish authors Prager and Toskan have written no,
Christianity did not create the Holocaust, but it made it
possible. Without Christian anti Semitism,
the Holocaust would have been inconceivable.
They continued that for nearly 2000 years the Christian world
dehumanised the Jew, ultimately helping lay the groundwork for
the Holocaust. Much of the external imagery
that is associated with traditional anti Semitic actions
are a tragedy, but they owe their origins to the Third Reich
and the Muftis, the Islamic Jewish but not the church.
We have a wonderful ministry in Germany.
I love it. I I revived it in my January is
my 2520 fifth year at AEBM and over the years I've been able to
revive that ministry. It was really big pre World War
2 and we have a wonderful ministry there now.
But what's incredible to me as I travel and see the endless
number of cities around Germany as we minister to is the endless
number of churches. There are churches.
Practically on every square mile you'll find a church, old
churches, church buildings that have been there forever.
And you have to ask yourself, and I do often, what happened
for nearly 25 years, 1923 to 1947, for 25 years.
Whatever was going on in those churches seem to change in a way
that should be very sobering for us as we Live Today.
The ghettos in reinforce the meaning of what it meant to be a
Jew, the yellow star. And by the way, let me just show
you something. I brought this the yellow star
was a badge that you were Jew and you would separated from
society. Here's one my mother's and
before the yellow star there was this emblem was before this
became the prominent symbol. But they still had to wear this
before that, and I bought that because I want to really speak
to Holocaust deniers. You cannot deny the Holocaust
when you see this. And when you touch it, you'll,
when you see it, you'll see that it is 70 years old.
What went on after that? Pointed hats?
Segregation banishment, job restrictions?
Synagogue booth burnings all had distressing historical
precedence throughout Christendom, but it happened
slowly, slowly, slowly. It progressed from 1923 until
the horrors of the late the mid 1940s.
After the tragic events of the Holocaust, many churches
actively sought to remove any trace of replacement theology
from their myths, and in the most part, they let a successful
reappraisal of Christian theology in many areas.
However, Christians need to be aware that there is a new form
of replacement theology and it's gaining popularity all over the
world and especially in the evangelical church in recent
times. They run the risk of reviving,
as I said, the shameful legacy of Christian anti Semitism which
will affect the entire world. One social commentator suggests
that the ancient doctrine of superseding, superseding Israel,
which has only been suppressed after the Holocaust, has now
been revised under the influence of the Middle East conflict.
And that's the elephant in the room.
The Middle East conflict, the resurgence has been inflamed by
the ongoing Israeli Palestinian conflict and the support of
those advocates imposing social justice and a narrow social
justice narrative that basically supersedes scripture.
It puts it portrays the Palestinians as helpless
underdogs trying to resist the mighty power of Israel and their
imperialist overlords. In Israel.
The moment the movement is known as the new superseding Israel
and fuses together traditional replacement documents with
Palestinian nationalism and Palestinian liberation theology.
The move is unapologetically anti Zionist.
It is politics and their new problems have arisen.
Listen, I work with Arabs, we work with a lot of Arabs.
We have a big heart for Arabs. I work in Jordan, I work in
Syria, I have friends in Saudi Arabia.
I'm not an anti Arab Jew. I love Arabs.
I preach in Arab churches. They welcome me, but there is a
big, big issue going on here, not only with the idea of what's
going on in Palestine, but what's going on in the world
around us as we see this. But there are many, many Arabs
that we need to really, really be sensitive to, and that is the
Christian Arabs. They have the worst of the
worst. The majority of the help that we
were able to provide this lat this last two years went to Arab
congregations because that's where we felt the majority of
the need was. Because in Israel, the Arab
congregations that we work for, and I've been working with some
of these congregations for 15 years, the Jews hate them, the
Muslims hate them, and the secular people hate them.
So they get hate them. They get 33 bangs.
And hopefully I'm going to be taking your pastor to Israel
soon. I'm going to have them teach at
the biggest Arab congregation in Jerusalem.
These people love Jesus, but the politics of course is something
that makes life very messy. The line between anti Zionism
and anti semitism has quickly become blurred and dangerous.
Too often the 2 are seen as one in the same.
My cousins in England were very prominent Jewish people.
In London they could see that there was always a big
difference between the whole position about Israel and
Zionism and them as Jews. Now it's all in one.
Basically, they are enabled just as well as anybody in Israel
regarding those issues today. Anti Semitism sheltering under
the banner of anti Zionism is now referred to as the New Anti
Semitism. Israel is now seen as the
collection of Jews that can be hated there or anywhere in the
world. This is not my opinion, this is
a general consensus among those I read.
The late Professor Robert Welsh Dick was the world's foremost
authority on anti Semitism as the head of the International
Centre of Anti Semitism at Hebrew University.
Here's the way he put it. You have the denial for
instance, that there is any relationship between the so
called criticism of Israel and anti Semitism.
But in fact, most of what goes by the name of criticism of
Israel is feeding on a daily basis the growing demonization
of the Jewish state and Jewish people, which in turn spills
over, I would say, almost with mathematical inevitable
inevitability into the form of dislike, of hostility, and even
today of loathing of Jews. But regardless of this,
regardless of the culture, regardless of progressive
thoughts and thinking, God's plan for Israel includes the
restoration of Israel. Psalm 251125 to 27 says that the
promises for that all Israel will be saved.
Again. Romans 11/25 For I do not
desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this
mystery, mystery, let, lest you should be wise in your own
opinion. The blindness in part has
happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has
come in, and so all Israel will be saved as it's written.
Isaiah wrote that so clearly in Isaiah 5920.
The delivery will come out of Zion, and he will turn away
ungodliness from Jacob for this. This is my covenant with them
when I take away their sins. Looking at these few verses,
let's just unpack them a little bit more.
But think about this, lest you be wise in your own opinion.
This is a warning. It's a warning to be sober as
Christians, and we must not be ignorant of this mystery,
because it is. It is a mystery, and we need to
really consider it and think about it.
We live in a world today which is driven by events, which is
driven by this. What happened October 7th has
forever, forever changed the feelings about Israel and the
Middle East. For the rest of my life.
The entire question of the Israel Palestinian conflict is a
monster. The first week of that horrific
event, many comments I made to Israel, to others.
Here's my heart. I am the son of a survivor.
I have lived with the memories of what these people went
through my whole life, killed 13150 Jews.
Hell will visit you because as I told you, the population
numbers, just think of what 13150 represent to that
population number. And secondly, the majority of
the people that make the decisions in Israel are me.
They're children of survivors and I don't want to go into the
whole thing, but being a child of a survivor was not an easy
life. My sister and I am the only
believer in my family. My sister and brother, they
still live in the bitterness of our childhood to this day, 70
years later. So we need to understand that
these people that are making these decisions are people that
are products of parents who've suffered under the Third Reich.
I have lived and heard so much of the strong sentiments of my
life. It is really big.
And I also will say the response from Israel was also horrific
and has renewed a hate for Israel and Jews, which is
considered unprecedented since the 1930s.
We as believers must embrace this precious word regardless of
the world events. That never changes God's plan
for Israel and for Jews. In spite of the foolishness of
man. The Scripture goes on to tell us
blindness in part has happened to Israel.
Paul summarises this in Romans 1111 through 24.
God's purpose for allowing blindness in part to come to
Israel is for the fullness of us, for the fullness of the
Gentiles to come in. And I love what the pastor Keith
was telling me this week, but he could considers as there are
those that are for and those that are against and this this
is really setting the stage for what it's basically talking
about in my opinion, in New Omens 11.
In part the idea of temporary blindness is there.
It's temporary blindness. One day the Jew will realise
that their blindness and folly and they will accept Jesus
Christ as Lord and Saviour and the the glorious national
restoration that is written here in the word will bring about the
Kingdom age. So the more we understand these
things, we're moving forward the Kingdom age, the more I think we
what are we doing? Going the other way is a good
question that we should ask yourself.
So until the fullness of the Gentiles has come at that time,
God will once again restore Israel to his attention.
Think about this. God's full attention will be on
these people for His plan for the ages, specifically for
Israel again, so that all Israel will be saved.
Basically, we need to see that God has a plan for Israel and
the Jews will be saved. We read in the text that in the
text that all Israel will be saved.
This all is not spiritual Israel.
It isn't spiritual Israel as we read in Romans 1125.
You have heard this verse many times.
It's purposeful that I read it to you, that it speaks loudly
for our, for our attention. For I do not desire, brother,
that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be
wise. In your own opinion, that
blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of
the Gentiles has come. We can see so clearly because
Israel is spiritually blind. They are spiritually blind.
You know the way I love the Lord with all my heart.
I love the Lord. I could never be here today
without the Lord. I can't imagine what I who I
would have been. And my family sees this always.
We have we go to annual Shabbat celebrations in London blind,
blind, blind. It just is like these verses
come alive. Woman's 1126.
The delivery will come out of time and he will turn away
unguarded. This from Jacob.
This is a distinction between national and ethnic Israel and
spiritual Israel. Paul makes it clear in Galatians
37. Therefore, know that only those
who are faith are sons of Abraham, and we see this in
Paul's writing and other passages.
Nonetheless, God, God still has a purpose and a plan for ethnic
Israel and salvation for them all.
We also note that the spiritual Israel, because Paul says that
it is a mystery, it's a mystery and it is now mystery that
basically spiritual Israel will be saved.
We don't know. Speaking of all Israel, it was a
view of Calvin, for example, that the entire company of the
redeem, both Jew and Gentile, is intended but Israel.
And as you read the Scripture, it's not use of Gentiles.
It's basically Paul's talking to Jews.
These chapters in the Scripture are to Jews.
And such is the case in the majority of Paul's writing.
He's not talking to Gentiles. The no Gentiles.
It's practically at that time it's impossible to entertain the
idea that the X to Jesus understands Israel in a
different sense that we read again and again from Romans
1125. So they will be saved as we
finish here today. Think of this.
This states clearly for us that God is not finished with Israel.
And if you don't leave with anything else here today, leave
with that. God is not finished with Israel
as a nation or as a distinct ethnic group.
And I know it. I mean, it's hard.
You watch these things that are going on.
It's hard. But if you want to put some
credibility to it all, start watching some of the October 7th
clips that are coming out and watch it this way.
I've seen clips from October 7th.
I don't wish anybody to ever see never you want to see.
But look at those clips for one reason.
Your parents, you have brothers, you have sisters, you have
mothers, you have grandmothers. Look at those clips and just
imagine what that would do to your heart and your mind and put
on top of that 70 years of life that has been less than
wonderful as a result of the last great horror to God has
turned His focus on saving mercies from us right now.
Israel specifically will be saved because He will turn them
back as He says in His Word. The simple passage refuses those
who insist that God is forever done with Israel, and basically
it is. But let me remind you just one
more time before we finish it today in Genesis 1315, for all
the land which you see is given to you and your descendants
forever. Secondly, Romans 17, seven and
eight, and I will establish my covenant between me and your
descendants after you in their generation, for an everlasting
covenant to be God, to be God to you and your descendants after
you. Also, I give to you and your
descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger.
All the land of Canaan has an everlasting possession, and I
will be their God. God is not finished with Israel.
Israel is not spiritualized as the church.
What we see and rejoice in God's continuing work in the church,
God will do such a marvellous work with Israel that it will be
incredible in Matthew 2329. For I say to you, you shall see
me no more till I say, blessed he who comes in the name of the
Lord. And basically the Scripture is
telling us that until these things happen, we won't see him,
we won't see Jesus. And we need to really consider
what's our role in this. Zechariah 12/10 and 12 says, And
I will pour out on the House of David and the inhabitants of
Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplication.
When they look on me whom they pierced, we're talking about
Jesus whom they Pierce. Yes, they will mourn for him as
one mourns for his Son, and grieve for him as one grieves
for a new first born. And verse 11, In that day there
should be a great morning in Jerusalem, like the morning of
Haddad Haman and the plain of Megiddo.
Jesus will not return again until God turns the focus of
saving mercies on Israel again. And Israel responds only one
way. Only one way.
Not this religious Israel, only one way.
Salvation only comes through God, through the salvation of
our Lord Jesus Christ. They must confess Jesus as
Deliverer. The Deliverer will come out of
Zion is a scripture that we've had.
The questions from Israel show that God has a redeeming work to
accomplish yet in Israel and it will not be left undone.
Finally, Romans 11/28 and 29 for God's love and calling for
Israel is still endures. Considering the gospel, they are
the enemies of the gospel. I would suggest these guys that
talk to me most are secular. They're the enemies.
They just want to know they they're jealous.
They want to know how we can live this kind of life when they
don't see it within Judaism, this kind of life.
But they're the enemies for your sake, considering the election.
They are the beloved for the sake of the fathers, for the
sake of the patriots. We can never forget.
They are the beloved for the gifts of calling of and calling
of God are certainly irrevocable.
So what should we do? Well, let me share with you, I
think it's imperative that the church models the heart of the
Apostle Paul for Israel. And listen what Paul said.
Do you know that in Romans 9, three, he said, for the sake of
my brethren, cut my, cut me off, God be done with me for the sake
of Israel. I mean, think about that.
He he offered to separate himself for the love of God, for
the sake of Israel. In the same way that Jesus wept
over his people's unbelief in Jerusalem in the Mount of
Olives, we should weep over unbelieving Israel at this time.
The Church should have a theology that acknowledges the
future role of Israel in the plan of God and actively
promotes Jewish evangelism while simultaneously standing against
both theological and political anti Semitism.
A rich, robust theology needs to take place and it will
contribute to the global health of the Church of Jesus Christ,
which is a larger picture of what will happen.
How can you bless Israel? The Gospel in light of theology
is what I discussed today. It is important that the Church
thinks clearly of what it means to probably bless Israel and the
people of Israel. Unfortunately, we've seen this
command as simply a call to support Jewish charities, many
secular, many secular initiatives.
This may be commendable. It causes many worthy of worthy
support that they cannot be seen as the primary fulfilment of
what the Church needs to do to bless Israel.
We must avoid any simplistic understanding which causes some
kind of blind allegiance, that everything that is overtly,
overtly Jewish. As often is the case with many
evangelical churches supporting causes in Israel that have
nothing to do with the gospel and Jesus Christ.
We need to be clear that the greatest need for the people of
Israel is only one need. We will always have the hungry.
We will always have the poor. But the one need that we need to
recognise is we need to recognise the people of Israel
need the Lord Jesus Christ as their Messiah.
That was the heart of Paul and that's what he said in Romans
10/1. My hearts desire and my prayer
to God for them is for their salvation.
They should not be our attitude. That would entail
acknowledgement of rabbinic or Talmudic Judaism.
It's not sufficient. This religion, Israel, is not
sufficient. The Rabbi and the Talmud,
Talmudic scholars will not bring Jesus in.
We will bring Jesus to them. We have the message, the only
clear message. That means that the church
should be supporting those ministry who are actively
involved in taking the good news of the Messiah in, even in the
sense of their humanitarian help.
Listen, we've given a tonne of humanitarian help for this over
20 years, once a year we do it, we do.
It's what it's called our food project.
But every bit of food, every cent we give goes with the fact
this is from believers in Jesus Christ, with tracts, with
survivals at times. We don't want to alienate that.
We've been able to penetrate places in Israel that you would
think it was an exaggeration if I told you this morning.
So this is a biblical mandate. It's a biblical mandate for
supporting Israel. We see that in Romans 15 as we
see the contributions that came from Macedonia for the poor
Saints of Jerusalem. And believe me, the Saints in
Jerusalem, the Saints in Israel are persecuted for the cause of
the gospel. This is a good model.
Thank you. I went a little over, sorry.
Thank you for honouring me this morning.
Thank you for invited me again this year.
It's really a pleasure, a delight.
I'd love to be here, love to be here.
There's nothing as peaceful for me as being here.
This is just WA is like Chillville.
It's it's it's very, very nice just to be down about four
level. Very dear to my heart to be
here, but very dear to my heart to be able to share with you
this message. And thank you, Pastor Keith and
Pastor Israel for inviting me to TUSO.
I basically told them that this is kind of what it was my
thinking before I did. So I hope that you can really
understand that what I'm trying to bring is the gospel of Jesus
Christ. In the midst of all this
confusion. I just want to share with you
that the Lord has shown me, my wife and with the blessings of
our Governing Board of ABM, that I will continue in this message
and will continue to teach His precious word until I fail or
have my last breath. Let's pray.
Father, thank you for your love today.
Thank you for for your mercy for each one of us today.
Thank you, Lord, that you, you, you sought us, Lord, if you, you
found us, Lord, then Lord, we're, we're, we're yours, Lord,
we belong to you. We belong to the Kingdom of God.
And Lord, thank you that we can address these complicated
issues. And our heart, Lord, is that
just? Lord, your word would speak to
us the truth, and Lord, we would not be impacted or moved by the
world that endlessly promoting culture in a way that conflicts
with you. So, Lord, I pray for each one
here today. Lord, I pray that you've spoken
to them in some way in this issue.
Lord, I pray you just give them wisdom and guidance.
Fill them with your spirit. Lord, I pray for each one in
this congregation. Lord, bless them.
Lord, bless. Bless this congregation as they
move forward. Lord, bless them in their plans
for their expansion. Lord, bless them in their
ministry. Lord, bless them, especially
Lord, as they bring the good news to children.
Father, Lord, thank you. Thank you for Calvary Chapel WA
Lord, give them, give them, give them the power to make a
difference in their community. We love you in Jesus name, Amen.