1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,560 Hi, this is Dave Olson. I'm the senior leader of 2 00:00:02,560 --> 00:00:04,600 Heartland Church located in Ankeny, IA. 3 00:00:04,600 --> 00:00:08,039 I hope the following message challenges, encourages and 4 00:00:08,039 --> 00:00:11,120 ultimately changes you. Thanks for joining us. 5 00:00:11,240 --> 00:00:14,800 We are looking, we're going to jump into where we left off last 6 00:00:14,800 --> 00:00:17,480 week. We are looking at the subject of 7 00:00:17,480 --> 00:00:20,320 where is Israel in the economy of God? 8 00:00:20,320 --> 00:00:23,440 Where is Israel and God's purposes in the present hour? 9 00:00:23,720 --> 00:00:25,440 And so we want to continue to look at that. 10 00:00:25,440 --> 00:00:28,040 We're looking at Romans 9 through 11. 11 00:00:28,040 --> 00:00:32,040 And some of you may think like, Pastor, I'm just trying to make 12 00:00:32,040 --> 00:00:34,120 it through the week. What do I care? 13 00:00:34,280 --> 00:00:36,600 You need to care. It's in the Word and it's 14 00:00:36,600 --> 00:00:39,520 important for us to know. And so we're going to look at 15 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:41,520 this subject, Romans 9 through 11. 16 00:00:41,520 --> 00:00:44,680 Father, we ask in these few minutes that you would anoint us 17 00:00:44,680 --> 00:00:49,200 to learn to teach Lord, that you would equip us with an 18 00:00:49,200 --> 00:00:51,920 understanding from your word in Jesus name, Amen. 19 00:00:52,280 --> 00:00:56,320 Turn with me to Chapter 9, Chapter 9, verse one. 20 00:00:57,520 --> 00:00:59,480 I am speaking the truth in Christ. 21 00:00:59,480 --> 00:01:02,000 I am not lying. My conscience bears witness in 22 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:07,240 the Holy Spirit. So Paul says he he enlists Jesus 23 00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:10,320 to validate his sincerity and then enlists the Spirit. 24 00:01:10,320 --> 00:01:12,880 He said, I'm speaking the truth in Christ. 25 00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:15,000 I'm not lying. My conscience bears witness in 26 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:18,960 the Holy Spirit that what I have great sorrow and unceasing 27 00:01:18,960 --> 00:01:22,040 anguish in my heart. So Paul's walking around with 28 00:01:22,040 --> 00:01:26,320 the continual pain in his heart. And what's that pain in regards 29 00:01:26,320 --> 00:01:29,240 to? For I could wish that I myself 30 00:01:29,240 --> 00:01:32,160 were a cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my 31 00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:35,440 brothers, my kinsman according to the flesh. 32 00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:40,760 And so Paul is addressing this problem, this theological 33 00:01:40,760 --> 00:01:45,680 dilemma that he's come to the book of Romans, glorious book. 34 00:01:45,840 --> 00:01:48,640 It's Paul's dissertation on our salvation. 35 00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:52,280 Romans one through 8 is awesome, but it leaves this burning 36 00:01:52,280 --> 00:01:56,640 question, what about Israel? And so he's he's he, he begins 37 00:01:56,640 --> 00:01:59,000 to bear his soul as which is interesting. 38 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:01,560 He's the apostle to the Gentiles. 39 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:05,680 The grace of God on him is to reach the Gentile world. 40 00:02:05,880 --> 00:02:09,720 But yet Paul says he's literally giving his life for that. 41 00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:12,960 But he said I would give my eternal soul to see my 42 00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:15,040 countrymen come back, come to the Lord. 43 00:02:16,040 --> 00:02:18,000 And so Paul is carrying this burden. 44 00:02:18,360 --> 00:02:22,640 And it's Paul Romans Chapter 11. He begins to tell us that this 45 00:02:22,640 --> 00:02:25,960 is a mystery there. This is a mystery that needs to 46 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:29,760 be unlocked. And that's that's a very keyword 47 00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:33,680 for Paul and Pauline theology. A mystery is something that's 48 00:02:33,680 --> 00:02:38,960 hidden that God hides and that we're to it's the glory of kings 49 00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:41,920 to search out a matter. It's the glory of God to hide, 50 00:02:41,920 --> 00:02:43,800 conceal a matter. It's the glory of kings to 51 00:02:43,800 --> 00:02:46,640 search it out. God wants us to look into these 52 00:02:46,640 --> 00:02:49,400 things and there's this mystery around Israel. 53 00:02:49,680 --> 00:02:52,000 And so this is what Paul's going to get at. 54 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:57,280 So he says, he says for they are the Israelite, they are 55 00:02:57,280 --> 00:03:01,840 Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the 56 00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:04,760 covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, the promises. 57 00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:08,400 To them belong the patriarchs from their race according to the 58 00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:12,080 flesh is the Christ who is over all, who is God over all, 59 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:14,920 blessed forever, Amen. And so Paul is laying the 60 00:03:14,920 --> 00:03:18,320 groundwork and saying, listen, we have an indebtedness to the 61 00:03:18,320 --> 00:03:21,120 Jewish people. The Jewish people are those 62 00:03:21,480 --> 00:03:24,560 through whom God brought salvation to us. 63 00:03:24,560 --> 00:03:26,080 And that's a very significant thing. 64 00:03:26,080 --> 00:03:29,440 There needs to be a an appreciation and an honor that 65 00:03:29,440 --> 00:03:32,360 we carry in our heart. And we could look and say, well, 66 00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:35,240 yeah, you know, God chose them. And that's don't give honor 67 00:03:35,240 --> 00:03:39,760 where honors do. God used them to bring the 68 00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:44,040 gospel to us. But so this creates a problem. 69 00:03:44,040 --> 00:03:48,040 And so Paul says this. Look at verse 6. 70 00:03:49,040 --> 00:03:53,040 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. 71 00:03:53,120 --> 00:03:56,160 Why does Paul say that? Because what he's saying is, 72 00:03:56,160 --> 00:03:58,840 listen, all these great things we just unpacked in Romans one 73 00:03:58,840 --> 00:04:02,080 through 8. Now I'm grieved because the 74 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:06,400 Jewish people through which God chose to bring salvation to the 75 00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:11,040 world have largely rejected the gospel that came through them. 76 00:04:12,720 --> 00:04:17,120 And so it it begs the question, did God's word, did God's 77 00:04:17,120 --> 00:04:19,160 promise to the Jewish people, fail? 78 00:04:19,680 --> 00:04:22,720 What gives? If they were the ones through 79 00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:26,960 whom it came, why have they by and large rejected it as the 80 00:04:26,960 --> 00:04:29,280 Jewish people? And that's the burning question. 81 00:04:29,280 --> 00:04:33,000 And so Paul is going to unpack a mystery here. 82 00:04:33,320 --> 00:04:38,360 And this next few verses is the first volley in that, you know, 83 00:04:38,640 --> 00:04:42,680 it's the first step. He he shares a principle with us 84 00:04:42,680 --> 00:04:46,280 that begins to give explanation to why this is. 85 00:04:46,480 --> 00:04:49,040 Now let me pause there. I told the first service, I'm 86 00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:51,160 going to give you the end from the beginning, OK? 87 00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:53,520 Usually if you're a good preacher, good teacher, you're 88 00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:55,800 going to culminate and you're going to land and you're going 89 00:04:55,800 --> 00:04:58,120 to give this big crescendo at the end. 90 00:04:58,120 --> 00:05:00,280 This is what it is. And I'm going to give you the 91 00:05:00,280 --> 00:05:03,080 crescendo now because some of you are going to feel a little 92 00:05:03,080 --> 00:05:06,560 bit of anxiety where I go with this. 93 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:08,280 And so I just want to settle that now. 94 00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:14,120 There are three theologies, 2 primary ones about the nature of 95 00:05:14,120 --> 00:05:16,840 Israel and the economy of God and the present age. 96 00:05:16,920 --> 00:05:20,000 Okay, there's two theologies there and there's there's 97 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:22,680 variations underneath these two umbrellas. 98 00:05:22,680 --> 00:05:24,920 The first one is covenant theology. 99 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:28,760 Covenant theology says that there is the there's one 100 00:05:28,760 --> 00:05:31,160 covenant God. God had a covenant with Israel. 101 00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:34,480 Now we have become as the church, the Israel of God, and 102 00:05:34,480 --> 00:05:38,480 God has done with Israel as a nation, as a people, the ethnic 103 00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:42,000 Jew, He's done, He's washed his hands and it is largely 104 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:44,520 irrelevant to even talk about them other than in history. 105 00:05:45,240 --> 00:05:49,120 That's covenant theology. And now there's very variations 106 00:05:49,120 --> 00:05:53,240 of that, but that's pretty much it's got, you know, Israel can 107 00:05:53,240 --> 00:05:56,280 be studied as history, but not prophecy because God's done. 108 00:05:56,280 --> 00:05:59,360 That's covenant theology. The other one is dispensational 109 00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:02,480 theology, and this under this one, this one, by the way, 110 00:06:02,480 --> 00:06:05,880 covenant theology is where people talk about replacement 111 00:06:05,880 --> 00:06:07,400 theology. Anybody ever heard that term 112 00:06:07,680 --> 00:06:10,280 replacement theology, that the church has replaced Israel? 113 00:06:10,280 --> 00:06:13,800 So God's done. Then you have dispensational 114 00:06:13,800 --> 00:06:17,680 theology, and this is where people get into one expression 115 00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:21,520 of that would be dual covenant theology, that God had a 116 00:06:21,520 --> 00:06:23,920 covenant with Israel and he's got a covenant with the church 117 00:06:24,200 --> 00:06:26,960 and God is dealing with the church now. 118 00:06:27,120 --> 00:06:29,720 But when the church is raptured out, that's when he kicks in and 119 00:06:29,720 --> 00:06:33,680 begins to deal with with Israel. That's one expression of dual 120 00:06:33,680 --> 00:06:35,960 covenant. That's not the view everybody 121 00:06:35,960 --> 00:06:37,400 has. I know I'm painting with a wide 122 00:06:37,400 --> 00:06:39,560 brush and some of you are wanting to say, wait, pastor, 123 00:06:40,280 --> 00:06:42,800 that's not what I believe. OK, this. 124 00:06:43,440 --> 00:06:47,720 So there's the dual covenant. If you were just to read Romans 125 00:06:47,720 --> 00:06:53,000 9 and Galatians and Ephesians chapter 2, you could really get 126 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:58,280 into covenant theology and replacement theory. 127 00:06:58,440 --> 00:07:01,600 You, you know, replacement theology if that's all you read. 128 00:07:02,200 --> 00:07:06,200 But when you get to Romans 11, we see that God still has a 129 00:07:06,200 --> 00:07:09,560 purpose for Israel. And so how does all this fit 130 00:07:09,560 --> 00:07:14,640 together? So there's, there's truth to 131 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:21,800 covenant theology and there's truth to that God is operating 132 00:07:21,800 --> 00:07:24,360 right now amongst these two people groups. 133 00:07:24,400 --> 00:07:27,640 What does that look like? And that's the mystery that 134 00:07:27,640 --> 00:07:31,280 Paul's going to unpack. OK, so I, I'm not, I don't 135 00:07:31,280 --> 00:07:34,080 believe in dual covenant and I don't believe in replacement 136 00:07:34,080 --> 00:07:37,120 theology. I believe there is there, there 137 00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:39,600 is one covenant. We've been grafted into the 138 00:07:39,600 --> 00:07:42,320 tree, which is Israel. They have been cut off. 139 00:07:42,320 --> 00:07:46,200 Those who have persisted in their unbelief have been cut 140 00:07:46,200 --> 00:07:49,000 off, but God is going to graft them back in. 141 00:07:49,120 --> 00:07:50,680 That's where we're going with this. 142 00:07:50,880 --> 00:07:54,160 And I want to show you from the word if we have time, but I, I 143 00:07:54,160 --> 00:07:57,400 just want to kind of dial down the anxiety so that you know 144 00:07:57,400 --> 00:08:00,120 where I'm going. OK, All right, So look at what 145 00:08:00,120 --> 00:08:02,880 he says here. So this he's going to unpack 146 00:08:02,880 --> 00:08:05,920 this mystery. What's the deal with Israel in 147 00:08:05,920 --> 00:08:10,440 this hour of human history? And this is the first step in 148 00:08:10,440 --> 00:08:14,480 explaining this mystery because there's all these promises to 149 00:08:14,480 --> 00:08:17,760 Abraham's children. There's all these promises and 150 00:08:18,120 --> 00:08:20,040 and then we look and think, well, wait a minute, we're 151 00:08:20,040 --> 00:08:22,680 enjoying the gospel and they're not what gives? 152 00:08:22,840 --> 00:08:26,440 So Paul tells us, look at what he says verse 6. 153 00:08:26,440 --> 00:08:28,480 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. 154 00:08:28,600 --> 00:08:32,480 Why? 4 Not all who are descended from 155 00:08:32,480 --> 00:08:38,039 Israel belong to Israel, and not all our children, not all are 156 00:08:38,039 --> 00:08:40,360 children of Abraham because they are his offspring. 157 00:08:41,520 --> 00:08:47,160 What he's saying is this, He said God's promise to Israel has 158 00:08:47,160 --> 00:08:53,120 not failed because and what he does is he reinterprets Israel 159 00:08:54,160 --> 00:08:57,760 from the word of God. And So what Paul tells us is 160 00:08:57,960 --> 00:09:02,320 that not all who are children ethnically, biologically, 161 00:09:02,720 --> 00:09:07,680 genetically from Abraham are children of Abraham according to 162 00:09:07,680 --> 00:09:11,120 God's perspective. And not everybody who is a child 163 00:09:11,120 --> 00:09:13,960 of Abraham from God's perspective is ethnically 164 00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:18,280 related to Abraham because the Gentiles have been grafted in. 165 00:09:18,280 --> 00:09:21,920 Well, how does that work? Paul talks about this in 166 00:09:21,920 --> 00:09:25,920 Galatians and he this, let me tell you, this is a radical 167 00:09:25,920 --> 00:09:29,680 statement, OK, When Paul says this Galatians, if this is 168 00:09:29,680 --> 00:09:31,880 radical, Galatians is a slap in the face. 169 00:09:32,120 --> 00:09:35,520 I mean, it'll wake you up. Paul actually says that there. 170 00:09:35,520 --> 00:09:38,000 He talks about there's 2 covenants, 2 mountains, there's 171 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:43,040 Mount Sinai and, and, and he says that the law that was 172 00:09:43,040 --> 00:09:47,400 given, he said Abraham had two children, there was Isaac and 173 00:09:47,400 --> 00:09:51,480 there was Ishmael, right? Isaac or Ishmael rather, was 174 00:09:51,480 --> 00:09:55,880 Abraham trying to fulfill his promises on his own. 175 00:09:56,160 --> 00:09:58,600 So he couldn't have a baby with Sarah. 176 00:09:58,800 --> 00:10:03,800 So he took his, his servant Hagar unto himself and he had a 177 00:10:03,800 --> 00:10:05,960 child through her and that is Ishmael. 178 00:10:05,960 --> 00:10:09,920 Ishmael is a sign of trying to accomplish God's purposes 179 00:10:09,920 --> 00:10:13,520 through the flesh. Isaac is the child of promise. 180 00:10:13,520 --> 00:10:16,160 It took a miracle for Isaac to be birthed. 181 00:10:16,560 --> 00:10:20,960 And and Paul says, I would propose to you that those 182 00:10:21,000 --> 00:10:25,840 unbelieving Jewish people, those who do not accept Jesus as our 183 00:10:25,840 --> 00:10:30,000 Messiah, are actually an expression of Ishmael and not 184 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:36,280 Isaac. That is shocking that he said 185 00:10:36,280 --> 00:10:41,040 that, but what he's telling us is that there from God's 186 00:10:41,040 --> 00:10:42,880 perspective, it's a matter of the heart. 187 00:10:43,080 --> 00:10:47,280 So much so Psalm 73, if you guys can put up Psalm 73, verse one, 188 00:10:47,680 --> 00:10:51,000 it it, this is not a new thing. It was a radical thing, but it's 189 00:10:51,000 --> 00:10:53,560 not a new thing. We have threads of this Psalm 190 00:10:53,600 --> 00:10:58,600 731-GO back to verse one. Truly God is good to Israel, to 191 00:10:58,600 --> 00:11:01,760 those who are pure in heart. In that little verse, the 192 00:11:01,760 --> 00:11:05,400 psalmist reinterprets what Israel is and what he does. 193 00:11:05,640 --> 00:11:12,000 So in Romans he is reinterpreting Israel, and in 194 00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:15,960 this verse he's reducing Israel and saying, listen, a true 195 00:11:15,960 --> 00:11:18,320 Israelite is one who is pure in heart. 196 00:11:18,480 --> 00:11:22,720 It's not about externals, it's about internals so much so that 197 00:11:22,720 --> 00:11:25,360 when Jesus in John chapter 1, remember he when he meant 198 00:11:25,360 --> 00:11:27,640 Nathaniel. That's why I named my youngest 199 00:11:27,640 --> 00:11:30,400 Nathaniel because of that verse. It's a great verse. 200 00:11:30,400 --> 00:11:33,000 He's back there down his head. I love what it says about 201 00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:35,520 Nathaniel. Jesus meets Nathaniel and he 202 00:11:35,520 --> 00:11:41,000 said, behold, a true Israelite and who is without guile. 203 00:11:41,640 --> 00:11:47,800 He's playing off of this verse. He's re quoting that verse in 204 00:11:47,800 --> 00:11:50,760 just a little different way. What he's saying is a true 205 00:11:50,760 --> 00:11:52,760 Israelite. It's not insignificant that 206 00:11:52,840 --> 00:11:54,720 Jesus didn't just say hey you're an Israelite. 207 00:11:54,880 --> 00:11:58,520 He said you're a true Israelite, insinuating there are false 208 00:11:58,520 --> 00:12:00,800 Israelites. From God's perspective, the 209 00:12:00,800 --> 00:12:04,840 Israel Israelite, the Jew, the the one who is the child of 210 00:12:04,840 --> 00:12:08,800 Abraham, the child of promise is one who was one in the heart and 211 00:12:08,800 --> 00:12:12,720 not merely externals. And so you can see where people 212 00:12:12,720 --> 00:12:15,160 would get into replacement theology if that's all we've 213 00:12:15,160 --> 00:12:19,360 studied. And it's from these texts that 214 00:12:19,360 --> 00:12:22,400 people say, well, the church is the Israel of God and God has 215 00:12:22,400 --> 00:12:24,840 done with Israel. The first part of that is true. 216 00:12:24,840 --> 00:12:28,920 The church is the Israel of God because we've been grafted in, 217 00:12:29,640 --> 00:12:32,040 but God has not done with the nation of Israel. 218 00:12:32,040 --> 00:12:34,200 We're going to look at that. There's, there's tracks for 219 00:12:34,200 --> 00:12:35,520 that. It's very important for us to 220 00:12:35,520 --> 00:12:38,360 understand because it gives us insight on how we need to pray. 221 00:12:38,960 --> 00:12:42,560 So we have this same dynamic today. 222 00:12:42,560 --> 00:12:45,920 There are people who think, well, yeah, I go to church, I'm 223 00:12:45,920 --> 00:12:49,560 a child of God, my mom and dad raised me in church. 224 00:12:49,560 --> 00:12:53,320 I'm saved. And I would tell you not so 225 00:12:53,320 --> 00:12:57,800 fast, because true salvation is a salvation of the heart. 226 00:12:57,800 --> 00:13:00,080 It's not externals. It's not being born into the 227 00:13:00,080 --> 00:13:02,880 right family or just going to church that might help you. 228 00:13:02,880 --> 00:13:04,840 You might be a little more moral, you might be more 229 00:13:04,840 --> 00:13:07,720 disciplined, you might have help with your marriage, but it 230 00:13:07,720 --> 00:13:11,120 doesn't guarantee you heaven. You must be born again. 231 00:13:11,720 --> 00:13:14,080 You've got to be saved. You've got to have a 232 00:13:14,080 --> 00:13:16,680 relationship with the Lord. It's you've got to be 233 00:13:16,680 --> 00:13:21,520 transformed in your heart. God has no grandchildren. 234 00:13:21,520 --> 00:13:24,400 He just has first generation sons and daughters. 235 00:13:25,120 --> 00:13:26,840 You don't get in because of your parents. 236 00:13:27,480 --> 00:13:29,120 Whether you're a Jew or a Gentile. 237 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:33,520 We have to have a relationship. So the true Israelite is the one 238 00:13:33,520 --> 00:13:36,520 who is pure in heart. We've been transformed 239 00:13:36,520 --> 00:13:40,240 internally at a heart level. I, I, I remember my, my little 240 00:13:40,240 --> 00:13:41,840 brother, my little bald headed brother, Christopher. 241 00:13:42,800 --> 00:13:46,480 We were raised in a good home. My mom and dad are believers. 242 00:13:46,480 --> 00:13:50,040 My dad was a pastor Christopher. He was baptized in the Spirit at 243 00:13:50,040 --> 00:13:51,880 six years old, walking with the Lord. 244 00:13:51,880 --> 00:13:54,840 But by the time he got to junior high, he became quite the little 245 00:13:54,840 --> 00:13:56,080 Rascal. He was getting in a lot of 246 00:13:56,080 --> 00:14:01,320 trouble and just messing around and things didn't get into drugs 247 00:14:01,320 --> 00:14:03,760 like his older brothers, but he was, he was heading in the wrong 248 00:14:03,760 --> 00:14:06,200 direction. And one day he and his buddies 249 00:14:06,200 --> 00:14:09,200 were talking and they were talking about theoretically 250 00:14:09,200 --> 00:14:12,000 about Christianity and eternity and God and all that. 251 00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:14,720 And one of his buddies piped up and said, you know, Christopher, 252 00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:17,520 I don't know about all that God stuff in Jesus and heaven, but I 253 00:14:17,520 --> 00:14:20,680 know this, that if there's a heaven, you ain't going there. 254 00:14:22,080 --> 00:14:27,880 And it kind of rocked him, stepped him back because at all 255 00:14:27,880 --> 00:14:30,560 this time he was assuming why I'm raising a Christian home. 256 00:14:30,560 --> 00:14:32,760 I'm I'm going to heaven, you know, I go to church, I'm a 257 00:14:32,760 --> 00:14:34,840 Christian. I was born into this thing. 258 00:14:35,440 --> 00:14:40,040 And God used the accusation, probably the accurate assessment 259 00:14:40,400 --> 00:14:43,320 of a unsaved friend who said that to him. 260 00:14:43,320 --> 00:14:45,120 He didn't have this. This guy didn't even his 261 00:14:45,280 --> 00:14:48,000 theology figured out, but he said to him, I know one thing, 262 00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:50,480 you ain't a Christian. If whatever a Christian is, you 263 00:14:50,520 --> 00:14:53,160 ain't one of them. And it caused Christopher to 264 00:14:53,160 --> 00:14:56,080 really begin to search his heart, ending up getting saved. 265 00:14:56,880 --> 00:14:59,720 And from that time on, from junior high on, he meant he just 266 00:14:59,720 --> 00:15:01,080 went after God with his whole heart. 267 00:15:01,080 --> 00:15:02,920 He'd spend hours, literally hours a day. 268 00:15:02,920 --> 00:15:05,400 He was kind of a freaky little kid, you know, freak of super 269 00:15:05,400 --> 00:15:06,640 nature. I can say he's my brother. 270 00:15:07,080 --> 00:15:09,320 But there was a real touch of God in his life. 271 00:15:09,320 --> 00:15:12,920 But he spent hours with the Lord every day for years. 272 00:15:14,600 --> 00:15:17,400 But what happened is he had to realize I don't get into heaven 273 00:15:17,400 --> 00:15:18,600 because my mom and dad are going. 274 00:15:20,160 --> 00:15:23,760 So this principle applies to the Jew as well as the Gentile that 275 00:15:23,760 --> 00:15:27,280 the true Israelite. So what Paul says is you're not, 276 00:15:27,680 --> 00:15:30,280 you're not the part of the Israel of God. 277 00:15:30,280 --> 00:15:34,560 If you're genetically from the lineage of Abraham, do you have 278 00:15:34,560 --> 00:15:36,720 a relationship with the Jewish Messiah? 279 00:15:37,160 --> 00:15:41,560 Because there's only one door. No man comes to the Father but 280 00:15:41,560 --> 00:15:46,480 by me, Jesus said, as the Jewish Messiah, all men have to come 281 00:15:46,480 --> 00:15:49,800 through me as the door to be reconciled to the Father, Jew or 282 00:15:49,800 --> 00:15:52,200 Gentile. And once in there is neither Jew 283 00:15:52,200 --> 00:15:55,880 nor Gentile, female or male. We are one body. 284 00:15:57,040 --> 00:16:04,200 And so he reduces Israel or reinterprets Israel as that the 285 00:16:04,200 --> 00:16:07,920 Israel of the heart. And so Paul gets this revelation 286 00:16:07,920 --> 00:16:11,320 because he's he's in agony. He's grieved about his his 287 00:16:11,320 --> 00:16:13,800 countrymen and he's praying and God shows him. 288 00:16:13,800 --> 00:16:15,200 And it to me, it's so fascinating. 289 00:16:15,200 --> 00:16:17,120 It's not Peter who carries this revelation. 290 00:16:17,120 --> 00:16:19,760 It's not James or one of the other writers. 291 00:16:19,960 --> 00:16:24,240 It was Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles that God opened up an 292 00:16:24,240 --> 00:16:28,800 understanding about Israel. And so he begins to unpack this. 293 00:16:28,800 --> 00:16:34,600 So he goes on this. He says, look at verse verse 7 294 00:16:34,600 --> 00:16:38,520 and not all children of Abraham are because of their offspring, 295 00:16:38,520 --> 00:16:41,680 but through Isaac shall your offspring be named. 296 00:16:42,040 --> 00:16:48,120 This means that this means that it is not the children of the 297 00:16:48,120 --> 00:16:51,760 flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the 298 00:16:51,760 --> 00:16:54,080 promise are counted as offspring. 299 00:16:54,680 --> 00:16:57,400 And it was saying that it's the child by faith. 300 00:16:57,640 --> 00:17:02,000 And Paul uses this analogy throughout his theology that 301 00:17:02,080 --> 00:17:05,920 Isaac represents the children by faith, the miracle child. 302 00:17:05,920 --> 00:17:07,880 The only way in is through faith. 303 00:17:08,280 --> 00:17:11,640 Ishmael represents the child of the flesh trying to work it out 304 00:17:11,640 --> 00:17:15,040 on her own. So then he says God's purpose. 305 00:17:15,040 --> 00:17:18,400 Look at verse 11, though they are not yet born, hadn't done 306 00:17:18,400 --> 00:17:20,960 nothing either good or bad in order that God's purpose of 307 00:17:20,960 --> 00:17:24,119 election might continue. We talked about this last week 308 00:17:24,400 --> 00:17:29,920 that the children of Israel, Israel is God's chosen people. 309 00:17:29,920 --> 00:17:34,120 But what does that mean? Chosen people doesn't mean that 310 00:17:34,280 --> 00:17:36,720 it's dealing with the biblical concept. 311 00:17:36,720 --> 00:17:39,440 We just read here God's purpose and election. 312 00:17:39,440 --> 00:17:42,960 The the theological phrase or word is election. 313 00:17:42,960 --> 00:17:46,720 What does election mean? Some people think of election if 314 00:17:46,840 --> 00:17:49,320 if you elect 1, you have to reject others. 315 00:17:49,560 --> 00:17:52,760 That doctrine did not come into the early church until 316 00:17:52,760 --> 00:17:55,560 Augustine. Prior to Augustine, virtually 317 00:17:55,560 --> 00:17:59,480 all the church fathers interpreted Romans 9 through 11 318 00:17:59,520 --> 00:18:03,080 as an expression of free will, not of God. 319 00:18:03,520 --> 00:18:07,800 You know, duck, duck, damn, you know, we're going to choose one 320 00:18:07,800 --> 00:18:10,000 for hell and the others for for eternity. 321 00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:12,080 That's not how this was interpreted. 322 00:18:12,360 --> 00:18:15,040 Augustine brought that into the church later on. 323 00:18:15,520 --> 00:18:20,040 And so election really is synonymous, nearly synonymous, 324 00:18:20,040 --> 00:18:23,920 if not actually synonymous with the idea of the chosen people or 325 00:18:23,920 --> 00:18:26,840 what how we use it called, you know, someone's called. 326 00:18:26,960 --> 00:18:29,960 But here's the thing, you can be called of God. 327 00:18:29,960 --> 00:18:34,040 And what that means is so let me put it this way, election is not 328 00:18:34,040 --> 00:18:37,120 God saying I elect you and I reject you. 329 00:18:37,160 --> 00:18:42,240 It's I elect you so that through you I can bless everyone else. 330 00:18:42,520 --> 00:18:46,000 It's not a matter of electing and rejecting, it's electing for 331 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:49,000 blessing that I will bless you and through you bless the 332 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:52,040 others. But you can persist in unbelief 333 00:18:52,040 --> 00:18:55,160 and God, if you have a call of God on your life, God will still 334 00:18:55,160 --> 00:18:58,480 use you. You just get to choose how 335 00:18:58,480 --> 00:19:04,240 you're going to be used. When you're used, God will use 336 00:19:04,520 --> 00:19:07,840 you as an example of either what happens when you harden your 337 00:19:07,840 --> 00:19:13,960 heart or when you walk in faith. And Israel has hardened their 338 00:19:13,960 --> 00:19:16,360 heart. By and large, the Jewish people 339 00:19:16,520 --> 00:19:18,160 have hardened their heart. And that's not me. 340 00:19:18,160 --> 00:19:21,720 That's not some external sociological assessment of their 341 00:19:21,720 --> 00:19:24,320 acceptance of Jesus. That's from the word itself. 342 00:19:25,960 --> 00:19:31,360 And so it says that God in the sense has reinforced their 343 00:19:31,360 --> 00:19:32,800 decision. OK. 344 00:19:33,240 --> 00:19:37,680 And he uses Pharaoh as an example in the hardening of the 345 00:19:37,680 --> 00:19:39,400 heart. We need to understand even when 346 00:19:39,400 --> 00:19:42,360 Pharaoh, when it says he hardened his heart, you know, 347 00:19:42,360 --> 00:19:44,840 God hardened Pharaoh's heart. Anybody ever had a problem with 348 00:19:44,840 --> 00:19:46,480 that phrase? You know, like what in the world 349 00:19:46,480 --> 00:19:47,760 you do with that? Amen. 350 00:19:47,760 --> 00:19:50,040 I'm not the only at least one, just you and me. 351 00:19:51,200 --> 00:19:53,800 Yeah, I struggled to that. Well, if you look at the text, 352 00:19:53,800 --> 00:19:56,360 it says Pharaoh hardened his heart, Pharaoh hardened his 353 00:19:56,360 --> 00:19:57,800 heart, Pharaoh hardened his heart. 354 00:19:57,800 --> 00:20:00,960 And then it says, and God hardened Pharaoh's heart. 355 00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:07,160 God says, OK, I will reinforce your decision so I see us, Lewis 356 00:20:07,160 --> 00:20:09,960 said. And heaven, there's only two 357 00:20:09,960 --> 00:20:12,960 kinds of people. There's those that said God, 358 00:20:12,960 --> 00:20:16,520 your will be done, and there's those that God said your will be 359 00:20:16,520 --> 00:20:20,080 done. That's why in the language of 360 00:20:20,080 --> 00:20:24,400 Paul, in this passage, it says that they can be grafted back in 361 00:20:24,560 --> 00:20:29,520 if they do not persist in unbelief because they did not 362 00:20:29,640 --> 00:20:33,840 submit to righteousness. That struck me years ago, like 363 00:20:33,840 --> 00:20:38,760 40 years ago, I was reading this passage and it stood out to me. 364 00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:42,200 Persist in unbelief and submit to righteousness. 365 00:20:42,600 --> 00:20:45,840 I'm thinking I, I, I would do that exactly the opposite. 366 00:20:45,840 --> 00:20:48,840 I would say you persist in righteousness. 367 00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:53,160 Oh, I submitted to unbelief like, oh, unbelief came over me 368 00:20:53,160 --> 00:20:56,040 and I submitted to it, but I'm persisting in righteousness. 369 00:20:56,320 --> 00:21:01,040 That's not the language of Paul. Paul said the effort is you're, 370 00:21:01,560 --> 00:21:03,440 you're persisting in your unbelief. 371 00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:07,120 But if you yield to righteousness, I surrendered, it 372 00:21:07,160 --> 00:21:10,000 overwhelms you. The righteousness of God, the 373 00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:15,080 yieldedness is on righteousness. And, and so there's a stubborn 374 00:21:15,080 --> 00:21:18,400 persistence in unbelief. But if they do not, God will 375 00:21:18,400 --> 00:21:21,880 graft them back in. But God will reinforce. 376 00:21:21,880 --> 00:21:25,080 There comes a point at which God says, OK, you will be done. 377 00:21:26,720 --> 00:21:31,200 So is this an irreparable rejection of their Messiah? 378 00:21:31,400 --> 00:21:34,280 That's the question and it's right here in this passage. 379 00:21:34,280 --> 00:21:36,640 We'll look at it. So Oh my goodness, we've got 5 380 00:21:36,640 --> 00:21:40,880 minutes left. All right, so God's purpose of 381 00:21:40,880 --> 00:21:44,960 election. So election is a selection by 382 00:21:44,960 --> 00:21:48,560 God to use a one person to bless the many. 383 00:21:49,040 --> 00:21:52,080 And that's that's a high honor. It's a glorious thing to have a 384 00:21:52,080 --> 00:21:54,960 call of God on your life. And there's a sense in which 385 00:21:54,960 --> 00:21:58,760 we're all called, but there are nations and people that God will 386 00:21:58,760 --> 00:22:03,160 call especially to reach the many through and understand that 387 00:22:03,160 --> 00:22:05,680 when that happens, God's going to use you regardless. 388 00:22:05,680 --> 00:22:08,400 I loved how Tisa said it. She said I wasn't tempted to 389 00:22:08,400 --> 00:22:09,680 give up. And then she, what else am I 390 00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:11,600 going to do? My hands are glued to the plow. 391 00:22:13,840 --> 00:22:16,960 But she was tempted to back off and not take risks. 392 00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:23,760 And if that happens, then we become a message to the masses 393 00:22:23,840 --> 00:22:27,120 of what happens when someone with a call of God on their life 394 00:22:27,360 --> 00:22:30,520 doesn't go for it. God's going to use us. 395 00:22:30,960 --> 00:22:34,680 Our life becomes a message. There's so much in that we we 396 00:22:34,680 --> 00:22:39,320 don't have time to get into. Look at turn with me to Chapter 397 00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:44,480 11. Yeah, so verse 1, he says. 398 00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:48,000 I asked then, has God rejected his people? 399 00:22:48,120 --> 00:22:52,000 By no means, Paul says, For I myself am an Israelite, a 400 00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:54,400 descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. 401 00:22:54,600 --> 00:22:57,520 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. 402 00:23:01,360 --> 00:23:03,280 So Paul is introducing this subject. 403 00:23:03,280 --> 00:23:07,120 Jump down to verse 11. I apologize for rushing so much. 404 00:23:07,320 --> 00:23:10,160 You really need to get into these passages for yourself. 405 00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:14,480 I'm not just trying to skip over problem versus we just don't 406 00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:16,360 have the time. And this is where I want to get 407 00:23:16,360 --> 00:23:23,320 this morning verse 1111. So I ask, did they stumble and 408 00:23:23,320 --> 00:23:28,360 order that they might fall? Did God ordain them to stumble 409 00:23:28,360 --> 00:23:30,120 so they would fall and he could reject them? 410 00:23:30,360 --> 00:23:33,320 By no means. Rather, through their trespass, 411 00:23:33,560 --> 00:23:35,280 salvation has come to the Gentiles. 412 00:23:35,480 --> 00:23:39,240 He's saying that God chose him. And God told Abraham, Abraham, 413 00:23:39,240 --> 00:23:42,080 I'm going to bless you, and through you, you being blessed, 414 00:23:42,080 --> 00:23:43,480 you'll bless the nations of the earth. 415 00:23:43,480 --> 00:23:44,920 You're going to be a father of many nations. 416 00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:47,760 That's the covenant of Abraham. He's going to bless him and 417 00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:50,880 through him bless others when when the children of Israel, 418 00:23:50,880 --> 00:23:55,040 they can walk in that and you and I as believers in Jesus 419 00:23:55,040 --> 00:23:59,560 Christ, the door into the covenant that God made with 420 00:23:59,560 --> 00:24:01,760 Abraham. It's all through Paul's writings 421 00:24:01,760 --> 00:24:05,440 that we have been grafted in. We enjoy the blessing of 422 00:24:05,440 --> 00:24:07,360 Abraham. That's what we're enjoying here, 423 00:24:08,120 --> 00:24:10,600 even though we're largely disconnected from our Jewish 424 00:24:10,600 --> 00:24:12,760 roots. And, and, and I'll just tell you 425 00:24:12,760 --> 00:24:17,760 that there's, there's Jewish theology and all of this is good 426 00:24:17,760 --> 00:24:20,920 as a lesson. But when you, when people begin 427 00:24:20,920 --> 00:24:26,280 to study Jewish roots so that they can then begin to feel 428 00:24:26,280 --> 00:24:30,280 obligated to come back under the law, that is contrary to the New 429 00:24:30,280 --> 00:24:34,520 Testament. We're not under the law, that is 430 00:24:34,520 --> 00:24:36,680 Ishmael. That's what Paul says. 431 00:24:36,680 --> 00:24:40,760 Paul attributes that belief system to trying to work it on 432 00:24:40,760 --> 00:24:42,800 in your own. He even says because there were 433 00:24:42,800 --> 00:24:45,360 Judaizers that were going to be circumcised so they could be 434 00:24:45,360 --> 00:24:47,600 right with God because that's what the law mandated. 435 00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:51,160 And Paul says that this bluntly, if you are circumcised, Christ 436 00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:57,120 is of no effect to you. Christ is useless to you because 437 00:24:57,120 --> 00:24:58,720 you have already stepped on a path. 438 00:24:58,880 --> 00:25:02,080 I'm going to try to work this out on my own works and I would 439 00:25:02,080 --> 00:25:07,920 add good luck with that. It's only by faith in Christ. 440 00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:11,520 But when we come into faith, the blessing, the covenant, the 441 00:25:11,520 --> 00:25:15,480 relationship that we enjoy is the blessing of Abraham. 442 00:25:16,720 --> 00:25:20,840 And so the picture is that the Jewish people had these, what he 443 00:25:20,840 --> 00:25:23,200 said in nine. They have the covenants, the 444 00:25:23,200 --> 00:25:26,360 promises, the patriarchs, all these wonderful things. 445 00:25:26,560 --> 00:25:29,800 And they tripped and they're, they spilled the bowl of these 446 00:25:29,800 --> 00:25:32,840 gems, all these things. And we as the Gentiles, then 447 00:25:32,840 --> 00:25:35,520 therefore we're able to come in and we picked them up and we 448 00:25:35,520 --> 00:25:41,080 have them. But Paul says, listen, I carry 449 00:25:41,080 --> 00:25:44,000 around in my heart a continual anguish. 450 00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:47,800 That's what he said. I'm continually in anguish that 451 00:25:47,800 --> 00:25:50,600 my countrymen would realize what they've given up. 452 00:25:52,920 --> 00:25:57,040 Jesus himself looked over Jerusalem and you can hear the 453 00:25:57,040 --> 00:26:00,160 pain in his heart. He said, Jerusalem, Jerusalem. 454 00:26:00,400 --> 00:26:04,480 I longed to take you on to myself as a mother, hand with 455 00:26:04,480 --> 00:26:07,400 her chicks and protect you, but you would not. 456 00:26:08,200 --> 00:26:10,880 You've missed the hour of your visitation. 457 00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:15,560 If for no other reason, we should enter into the anguish of 458 00:26:15,720 --> 00:26:19,320 Jesus over this thing. Paul, who's pointing out to us, 459 00:26:19,320 --> 00:26:21,880 listen, we are the beneficiaries. 460 00:26:22,080 --> 00:26:25,360 God chose them. Through them came all these 461 00:26:25,360 --> 00:26:29,280 riches that they've rejected and we're to incite jealousy in the 462 00:26:29,280 --> 00:26:31,320 heart. We have a vested interest in 463 00:26:31,320 --> 00:26:34,480 them coming back in and getting their inheritance. 464 00:26:35,600 --> 00:26:40,600 So this is where Paul is going and he says, did they stumble so 465 00:26:40,600 --> 00:26:44,640 that they could never, you know, that they might fall, but by no 466 00:26:44,640 --> 00:26:48,480 means rather that the trespass by their trespass salvation has 467 00:26:48,480 --> 00:26:50,720 come to the Gentiles so as to make Israel jealous. 468 00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:55,880 Now here listen to this. If their trespass means riches 469 00:26:55,880 --> 00:26:59,560 for the world, if they're stumbling and they're falling 470 00:26:59,560 --> 00:27:03,840 and their their rejection of the gospel resulted in riches for 471 00:27:03,840 --> 00:27:08,080 us, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how 472 00:27:08,080 --> 00:27:12,960 much more will their full inclusion mean? 473 00:27:14,800 --> 00:27:19,040 So he's prophesying about a time when they're going to be swept 474 00:27:19,040 --> 00:27:23,000 back in to the Kingdom. Now make no mistake about it, 475 00:27:23,400 --> 00:27:25,840 the only way they're going to be swept back in the Kingdom, 476 00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:28,880 they're Jewish Messiah, our Messiah. 477 00:27:29,120 --> 00:27:33,280 They're Jew, our Jewish Messiah already told him no man comes to 478 00:27:33,280 --> 00:27:36,280 the Father, but by me. I am the door. 479 00:27:36,280 --> 00:27:38,600 I am the way, I am the truth. I am the life. 480 00:27:38,840 --> 00:27:41,040 Nobody can come to the Father but by me. 481 00:27:41,360 --> 00:27:44,160 They've got to come through the Messiah, just like you and I 482 00:27:44,160 --> 00:27:47,640 did. But what he's saying is if it 483 00:27:47,640 --> 00:27:51,480 was a blessing to us that they were cut off as a branch, that's 484 00:27:51,480 --> 00:27:55,040 what he goes into later, then how much more when they're 485 00:27:55,040 --> 00:27:56,800 grafted back in? What's that going to mean? 486 00:27:57,000 --> 00:28:00,640 If it meant salvation that they were cut off, then when they're 487 00:28:00,640 --> 00:28:04,840 grafted back in, it's literally life, it's eternal life to us. 488 00:28:05,320 --> 00:28:08,040 It's going to be a great blessing. 489 00:28:08,280 --> 00:28:11,960 So if for no other reason that you pray for the salvation of 490 00:28:11,960 --> 00:28:14,880 the Jewish people, do it from a selfish perspective. 491 00:28:15,680 --> 00:28:18,880 It's going to be great when they come back in there's, I don't 492 00:28:18,880 --> 00:28:20,800 know what that means, what Paul's getting at. 493 00:28:20,840 --> 00:28:23,760 I don't fully understand what he's saying, but he's saying, 494 00:28:23,760 --> 00:28:29,680 hey, it's going to be a huge upgrade for all of us in 495 00:28:29,680 --> 00:28:34,240 Ephesians where it talks about the 1 Newman, both Jew and 496 00:28:34,240 --> 00:28:42,120 Gentile in Christ, the Puritan scholars, the the Puritans, that 497 00:28:42,120 --> 00:28:45,080 era of human history, that was a high watermark of biblical 498 00:28:45,080 --> 00:28:48,720 scholarship. And many of them believe those 499 00:28:48,720 --> 00:28:52,400 verses in Ephesians were not just teachings, but they were in 500 00:28:52,400 --> 00:28:57,920 actuality a prophecy of a coming influx, a great harvest among 501 00:28:57,920 --> 00:29:00,960 the Jews, something that we're still looking forward to. 502 00:29:00,960 --> 00:29:03,840 And based upon this verse, I would have to agree with them 503 00:29:06,200 --> 00:29:07,520 that there's going to come a day. 504 00:29:08,480 --> 00:29:10,760 Well, let's look here. Let's let Paul say it. 505 00:29:10,960 --> 00:29:22,850 You can believe him. Look at look at verse 25. 506 00:29:24,410 --> 00:29:28,370 Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be 507 00:29:28,370 --> 00:29:31,050 unaware of this mystery. This is where Paul says this is 508 00:29:31,050 --> 00:29:33,770 a mystery. Guys, add to that that Paul, 509 00:29:34,130 --> 00:29:36,050 according to Peter, is hard to understand. 510 00:29:37,090 --> 00:29:44,000 Brothers, a partial hardening. It's partial, not full, has come 511 00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:48,720 upon Israel until so it's temporary and not permanent. 512 00:29:49,560 --> 00:29:53,120 It's partial and temporary, not full and permanent. 513 00:29:53,720 --> 00:29:57,440 A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness 514 00:29:57,440 --> 00:30:01,520 of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will 515 00:30:01,520 --> 00:30:04,840 be saved. So there's coming a day, he 516 00:30:04,840 --> 00:30:07,760 says, that there's going to come a time where that's going to 517 00:30:07,760 --> 00:30:09,960 lift. There's this period where the 518 00:30:09,960 --> 00:30:12,040 fullness of the Gentiles come in. 519 00:30:12,240 --> 00:30:15,400 I don't fully understand. We don't know what does the 520 00:30:15,400 --> 00:30:18,200 fullness of the Gentiles? When does that mean, you know, 521 00:30:18,360 --> 00:30:22,080 what's the number? We don't know, but we're to pray 522 00:30:22,560 --> 00:30:25,360 for the peace of Jerusalem and we're pray for the Jewish 523 00:30:25,360 --> 00:30:27,440 people. We pick up the burden that was 524 00:30:27,440 --> 00:30:30,880 in Jesus heart as he looked at Jerusalem and Paul's heart as he 525 00:30:30,880 --> 00:30:34,200 grieved for his people. And Paul gives us motivation to 526 00:30:34,200 --> 00:30:38,440 do so because he says when this happens, it's like life from the 527 00:30:38,440 --> 00:30:47,160 dead for the church. We are not complete as New 528 00:30:47,160 --> 00:30:53,880 Testament believers until the Jewish people begin to cry out 529 00:30:54,800 --> 00:30:58,360 for their Messiah when they recognize who He is. 530 00:30:59,120 --> 00:31:02,960 Jesus said you will not welcome me again until you say, blessed 531 00:31:02,960 --> 00:31:04,720 is he who comes in the name of the Lord. 532 00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:08,400 Speaking to the Jewish leaders, the Jewish people themselves 533 00:31:08,640 --> 00:31:12,760 have to welcome their Messiah, and so does God still have 534 00:31:12,760 --> 00:31:15,440 planned for Israel? Absolutely, according to Romans 535 00:31:15,440 --> 00:31:18,360 11. If I only had Romans 9, I could 536 00:31:18,360 --> 00:31:21,920 be replacement theology. You are the Israel of God 537 00:31:23,960 --> 00:31:26,360 because God has grafted you into that tree. 538 00:31:27,440 --> 00:31:30,440 There's one tree. It's God's chosen people. 539 00:31:30,680 --> 00:31:36,920 And we have been included by faith and grace, not because of 540 00:31:36,920 --> 00:31:40,160 anything we did and not because of our bloodline, but because 541 00:31:40,200 --> 00:31:45,040 Jesus made room for us, but he longs to make room for the 542 00:31:45,040 --> 00:31:48,160 Jewish people. And you and I need to pray in 543 00:31:48,160 --> 00:31:50,560 that regard. Now, listen, what this does not 544 00:31:50,560 --> 00:31:53,800 mean is that you sign off. You, you have, you're obligated 545 00:31:53,800 --> 00:31:58,360 to sign off on everything that the Jewish people do that 546 00:31:58,360 --> 00:31:59,760 everything that their government does. 547 00:31:59,880 --> 00:32:03,120 I would caution you, be careful where you get your information 548 00:32:03,640 --> 00:32:07,200 because the, the media, they can't do anything right. 549 00:32:07,680 --> 00:32:10,960 And there is a lot of propaganda out there if there's ever a time 550 00:32:10,960 --> 00:32:13,840 in human history where the people of God need discernment, 551 00:32:16,120 --> 00:32:18,760 not just in regard to the Jewish government, our own government 552 00:32:19,200 --> 00:32:20,680 and all the governments of the world. 553 00:32:20,680 --> 00:32:25,400 We need discernment. But that doesn't mean just 554 00:32:25,400 --> 00:32:28,320 because we believe they're God's chosen people doesn't mean I got 555 00:32:28,320 --> 00:32:30,280 to sign off and say, oh, everything they do is good. 556 00:32:30,440 --> 00:32:35,680 They get a pass. No more than me being a child of 557 00:32:35,680 --> 00:32:39,280 God gets a pass on everything. Hopefully you love me enough to 558 00:32:39,280 --> 00:32:43,400 call me on things. OK, that's another sermon, so go 559 00:32:43,400 --> 00:32:45,920 ahead stand. Thanks for listening to our 560 00:32:45,920 --> 00:32:47,640 podcast. If you'd like to help more 561 00:32:47,640 --> 00:32:50,240 people hear this message, you can get the word out by 562 00:32:50,240 --> 00:32:52,600 subscribing and sharing it on social media. 563 00:32:53,040 --> 00:32:55,440 If you'd like to support the ministries of Heartland Church, 564 00:32:55,640 --> 00:32:59,200 you can do so at Heartland Church online.com/give.