Participants: Jac Colon
Series Code: RNN
Program Code: RNN000004
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00:18 Israel, what a nation.
00:23 Two times in her past 00:25 she was nearly, totally destroyed 00:29 and once again Israel is a nation in her own land. 00:39 Practically the entire world is looking to the Middle East 00:44 as a sign at the end of this world's history. 00:49 In the Old Testament, the temple was the center, 00:54 the focal point of Israel's worship. 00:58 The temple was the place 01:00 where the sacrifices were offered, 01:03 the temple was the place 01:05 where God was to meet with His people. 01:10 But in the year 70 A.D. 01:12 the Roman general Titus destroyed the temple. 01:19 Prophets predicted it would happen, 01:22 and prophets predicted the temple would be rebuilt. 01:25 One of my very favorite places is in the Old Testament 01:28 Book of Amos 9:11, 01:31 "In that day I will restore David's fallen tent. 01:35 I will repair its broken places, I'll restore its ruins, 01:40 I'll build it as it used to be, 01:42 so that it may possess the remnant of Edom." 01:45 He forced all the time 01:46 when Jerusalem and the temple would be restored 01:50 and today, along with the popular novel series 01:54 left behind, was 70 million people 01:57 are following along the popular Christian understanding 02:01 looking to the Middle East, 02:03 waiting for the temple to be rebuild 02:05 as a sign of a very end of this world's history. 02:11 This is a novel. Now God uses novels. 02:15 He used these books 02:17 to create in people an awareness 02:19 of the seriousness of the times 02:20 we are living in, but this is a novel. 02:23 This is a truth and we find our truth 02:25 in this book, amen. Amen. 02:28 So what does the Bible teach us about the Israel of God? 02:33 When I first started studying this topic, 02:35 I discovered three-- 02:38 I call them curious Bible texts. 02:43 The fist one is in Revelation 2, 02:46 I'm going to show you two of them quickly here 02:48 and then later on, we'll get to the third one. 02:51 Revelation 2:9, Jesus said, 02:55 "I know the slander of those who say that they are Jews 03:01 but they are not, they are a synagogue of Satan." 03:07 Now synagogue is another word for temple. 03:12 So who is it that would say, 03:15 I am a Jew, when they are not a Jew. 03:21 But in fact, they are of synagogue of Satan. 03:25 Now that made me curious. 03:30 And then the second one 03:32 Romans, turn to Romans 2:28, 03:36 "A man is not a Jew, if he is only one outwardly, 03:42 nor a circumcision merely outward and physical. 03:45 No, a man is a Jew 03:49 if he is one inwardly 03:52 and circumcision is circumcision of the heart 03:56 by the spirit, not by the written code." 03:59 Now that's curious to me, 04:02 he says "A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly." 04:07 This means, that a man can be born into a Jewish family, 04:12 and be physically and outwardly Jewish, 04:16 but for some reason, God says he's not a Jew. 04:23 Now that made me curious. 04:29 And I began to wonder. 04:32 Is it possible that these curious texts are telling us 04:37 that may be we are overlooking 04:39 the real significance 04:43 of Israel in prophecy? 04:48 So I began to study from Genesis 04:50 all the way through to Revelation, 04:52 and I found a beautiful thread of truth, 04:56 that focuses and centers on Jesus Christ 05:00 just like the Book of Revelation says it to you. 05:03 I want you to just fasten your seatbelts, 05:06 hold on for dear life 05:07 because we are going to cover a lot of Bible, 05:10 not time for a lot of stories this time, 05:12 we are going to cover a lot of Bible 05:14 from Genesis all the way through Revelation. 05:16 So let's pick up where we left off. 05:18 Adam and Eve had just plunged the world 05:20 into the depths of sin and despair 05:21 when they ate the fruit from the tree, 05:23 that God said they shouldn't eat from. 05:25 And then we learnt that God was there running after them, 05:30 calling after them, where are you? 05:32 When they were fleeing from Him, 05:33 they were running from God 05:35 and He went running after them. 05:36 That's the kind of God that we serve. 05:39 We run from Him, He comes after us. 05:44 And then He gave him a promise, remember in Genesis 3:15, 05:48 "And I will put enmity between you" 05:50 that's the serpent, the devil "and the woman, 05:53 and between your offspring" 05:54 those who choose to follow the devil and hers, 05:58 "And he will crush your head and you will strike his heel." 06:01 The strike on the heel was when Jesus, 06:03 the offspring of the woman died on the cross, 06:06 but it wasn't the final blow, 06:08 because He was raised up again, three days later, 06:11 ascended to heaven and one day soon 06:14 He's going to comeback 06:15 and crush the head of the serpent. 06:19 This is the first prophecy in the Bible. 06:22 All the rest of scripture is unpacking 06:24 that one promise that the seed of the woman, 06:27 Jesus, is going to crush the head of the serpent. 06:30 But we need to understand that when God told Adam and Eve 06:34 there was only one woman living on this planet 06:38 and that was Eve. 06:42 Naturally, they thought that she was the woman. 06:50 And she would have a son 06:52 and her son would be the one 06:54 that crush the head of the serpent. 06:58 In fact, she did have a son, 07:02 and they named him Cain. 07:05 And when Cain was born, she said in Genesis 4:1, 07:10 she said, "I have brought forth a man, the Lord." 07:17 Adam and Eve thought that Cain was the descendent 07:22 who would the crush the head of the serpent. 07:23 In fact when they named him Cain, 07:25 it means in Hebrew, 'acquired.' 07:27 They thought they had acquired the fulfillment of that promise. 07:31 You see they took and understood 07:34 God's words literally. 07:40 But God meant something much deeper, 07:43 and much broader than the literal word. 07:49 And I've discovered that millions of people 07:51 make a same mistake that Adam and Eve made, 07:55 when they try to interpret God's word, literally 07:59 and God meant something far different. 08:04 They named him Cain, 08:05 because they thought they had acquired the Lord, 08:08 who would be the fulfillment of the promise 08:10 and crush the head of the serpent 08:11 but the only head that Cain crushed 08:14 was the head of his own brother, Abel. 08:21 So they misinterpreted the prophecy, Cain failed. 08:29 And it wasn't until thousands of years later, 08:34 you see that seed mentioned 08:36 again in Genesis 12 chapter 08:44 "The Lord said to Abram" 08:46 whose name was later changed to Abraham. 08:49 "Leave your country, 08:50 your people your father's household 08:52 and go to the land that I will show you." 08:56 So God wanted Abraham to leave his country 08:59 to go to a new place 09:01 and I'll show you where to go, God said. 09:04 In verse 2, "I will make you into a great nation" 09:07 underline that, God's promise to Abraham, 09:10 I'll make you into a great nation 09:12 and look, at the end if verse 3, 09:14 "And all of the people on earth will be blessed through you." 09:19 So God is promising Abraham, 09:20 if you go to the land that I'm going to show you, 09:23 I'll build you into a great nation 09:25 and all the people of the earth will be blessed through you. 09:28 Now the promise of the blessing 09:29 was not just for the nation that comes from Abraham, 09:33 the promise of the blessing was 09:35 that all of the nations of the earth would be blessed. 09:39 Underline those words, 09:41 all the people of the earth will be blessed through you. 09:43 We are going to see them again, 09:45 we are going to comeback to them, it's so important. 09:47 Abraham traveled through the land in verse 6, 09:50 "And he saw Canaanite's living in the land." 09:52 After all, he was in the land of Canaan, 09:54 that's where God brought him. 09:55 Canaanites live there. 09:58 And the Lord appeared to Abraham and He said, 10:00 "To your offspring, I will give this land." 10:05 You see God is the one who owns it all in the first place. 10:08 And He can do whatever as He pleases, 10:10 "To your offspring, I will give this land." 10:14 Now that's a promise. 10:16 I see two promises here, one, the first one is Abraham 10:20 "Through you and your offspring, 10:22 all of the nations of the earth will be blessed." 10:25 And secondly, "To your offspring I will give this land." 10:30 Now the problem is, Abraham had no offspring. 10:36 He's almost 100 years old and so is his wife Sarah. 10:42 So how in fact, she couldn't even have babies, 10:45 Sarah was barren. 10:47 So how is God going to fulfill His promise to Abraham? 10:54 Well Abraham and Sarah 10:55 started thinking about it little bit 10:57 and Sarah came up with a plan. 11:00 She says, Abraham, I have this beautiful young maid 11:03 her name is Hagar, why don't you sleep with her 11:08 and then she can have your son, 11:11 and God can fulfill the promise that He made to you. 11:15 And Abraham said, 11:17 sounds like a good idea to me, 11:23 so he did. 11:25 Abraham slept with her. 11:28 And she had a son, 11:30 and they named him Ishmael...Ishmael. 11:37 Now God could fulfill His promise 11:42 that He made to Abraham, 11:45 through your seed, Ishmael, 11:48 all the nations of the earth will be blessed. 11:54 But God said, no. 11:57 In chapter 17:19, 12:00 "Your wife, Sarah will bear you a son. 12:03 And you will call him, Isaac 12:05 and I will establish my covenant with him." 12:10 Now that's interesting. 12:11 Didn't God said, Abraham, your son, through your son, 12:18 all the nations of the earth will be blessed. He did. 12:21 Wasn't Ishmael Abraham's son? He was. 12:25 He was just as much as Abraham's son as Isaac was. 12:33 In fact, he was Abraham's first born son. 12:39 And the first born is the one that usually gets the blessing. 12:45 So why did God say no 12:49 to Ishmael and yes to Isaac. 12:54 Can't you see that here already in the Old Testament, 13:00 we can discover that God's promise 13:03 was something more than simply to a flesh 13:09 and blood physical descendant of Abraham. 13:14 If all that mattered was flesh and blood, 13:17 then it should have been Ishmael, 13:22 but God said, no to Ishmael, yes to Isaac. 13:27 There's something deeper, 13:28 something broader happening here. 13:31 Let's take a look. 13:33 By the way, Isaac went on to become 13:37 the father of the Jewish race. 13:40 Ishmael, the father the Arab race. 13:47 And Isaac and Ishmael are still fighting today. 14:01 That's what happens, when instead of trusting God, 14:08 who made us, who knows us, 14:10 who knows more about us than we know about ourselves. 14:14 That's what happens, when instead of trusting God, 14:18 we trust in our own ideas 14:20 and our own thoughts and our own works, 14:24 instead of believing God by faith. 14:26 So every time you see a tank 14:28 rolling through the streets of Jerusalem, 14:30 every time you hear about a missile 14:32 flying over Palestine in the Middle East, 14:35 it's a reminder that we are saved by faith in trusting God 14:41 and not by works. 14:42 Abraham tried it by works and works didn't work, 14:47 only faith works, amen. 14:52 Isaac married Rebekah 14:54 and Isaac and Rebekah had two sons, 14:58 Esau and Jacob, twins. 15:00 Born from the same womb at the same time. 15:03 In fact Esau was born a few minutes ahead of Jacob, 15:07 he was the older. He was the first born. 15:10 He was the descendant 15:11 that should have received the blessing. 15:13 But God said, no to Esau and yes to Jacob. 15:19 Why? 15:23 Can't you see that the promise 15:25 God made to Abraham through your seed, 15:30 all the nations of the earth will be blessed. 15:33 Has to be something more 15:36 than simply being 15:37 a physical descendant of Abraham. 15:41 If that's all it was, then it should've been Ishmael 15:45 and if that's all it was, then it should've been Esau. 15:49 But God said, no. 15:52 There's something more happening here. 15:58 Jacob means a deceiver. 16:04 He was not a nice boy. 16:07 He deceived his brother 16:09 and his father into getting that birth right, 16:13 but Jacob repented of his sins, he asked God to forgive him. 16:18 And God forgives us when we repent, amen. 16:21 That's good news. He forgave Jacob. 16:27 In fact Jacob rassled all night with God 16:31 and finally he got the victory 16:34 and because of that God gave Jacob a new name. 16:40 He called him Israel. 16:46 A name coined by God. 16:50 A name that never existed before 16:53 either in the Bible or outside of the Bible. 16:57 A name that had spiritual significance 17:00 from its very beginning, Israel began with one man. 17:07 And it was symbolic of his spiritual experience of God. 17:13 In fact, I'll tell you a secret about Israel. 17:17 The Hebrew Israel, it's two words, 17:22 'Isra' is to rule or to be ruled. 17:27 And 'El' is God. 17:34 Israel, Israel means 'God rules.' 17:42 And every time you watch the news 17:45 and you hear a news commentator say, 17:48 Israel, he is really saying, 'God rules.' 17:54 Don't tell them that, they will quit saying it. 17:59 Israel was to be a people ruled by God. 18:02 Israel was to be a people who by faith trusted God, 18:07 believed Him to live the way He made us to live, 18:10 they would be ruled by God. Israel. 18:18 Israel began to grow 18:20 to a big family and into a nation, 18:22 then there was a famine in the land 18:25 and Israel found herself in Egypt 18:27 for over 400 years slaves to the pharaoh. 18:31 God raised up a man, Moses. 18:35 And delivered Israel from the Egyptian slavery 18:38 through the waters of the Red Sea, 18:40 where He miraculously dried them up. 18:43 Across the Sinai Peninsula to Mount Sinai 18:46 where there He gave them His law 18:49 and a blue print for the temple. 18:55 And after 40 years of the nation of Israel 18:58 wandering in the wilderness, in the desert. 19:02 We find them about to enter that 19:05 Promised Land and take possession. 19:08 Moses is ready to preach his final sermon to Israel 19:13 in Deuteronomy 28, and here it is, his last words, 19:17 before they entered the land. 19:20 Verse 1, "If you carefully obey the Lord, your God 19:23 and follow all of His commands 19:26 I give you today, and if you love the Lord, 19:28 your God with all of your heart, 19:30 the Lord, your God will set you high 19:32 above all the nations of the earth 19:33 and all of these blessings will come upon you 19:36 and accompany you, if you obey the Lord, your God." 19:41 Five times in this first 16 verses, 19:45 God says, I will pour out all of these blessings upon you, 19:51 if you obey. 19:55 After all, Israel was to be a nation led by God. 19:59 Ruled by God. If you obey I'll bless you. 20:02 Look verse 4, "The fruit of your womb will be blessed, 20:05 the crops of your land, your livestock, 20:07 your lambs, your herds, your cows, your animals. 20:10 The Lord will grant that your enemies 20:12 who rise against you be defeated." 20:14 You will be a wealthy nation, a powerful nation, 20:16 even your babies won't get sick and die, 20:19 your corn will grow taller. 20:22 But why did God want to bless Israel like that. 20:26 You see God wanted to bless Israel, 20:30 so that all of the other nations could see. 20:34 Well, her corn grows taller. 20:37 The cows get fatter. 20:39 And babies don't get sick and die. 20:42 We want to know the secret, 20:46 so they would go to Israel to find her secret 20:49 and when they go to Israel to find her secret, 20:51 they discover Israel's God. 20:55 And all of the nations of the earth 20:58 would be blessed through Israel, 21:01 if she obeyed the Lord, her God. 21:07 You see there was a condition to that promise. 21:14 Well, what would happen if Israel didn't obey God? 21:20 Verse 15 tells us. 21:21 "However, if you do not obey the Lord, your God 21:24 and do not carefully follow all of his commands 21:26 and decrees that I gave you today then, 21:28 all of these curses will come upon you." 21:32 So if you obey the blessing, 21:34 I'll gather you into the land, I'll bless you. 21:37 If you disobey the curse, 21:41 and some of the curses that He mentions, 21:45 some of the curses He mentions in verse 21, 21:47 diseases, cancer, heart attacks, aids, 21:53 bird flu, swine flu. 21:56 All the result of turning away from God? 21:59 Environment even, verse 23, 22:02 "The sky over your head will be bronze, 22:04 the ground beneath you iron. 22:07 The rain of your country will turn into dust and powder." 22:12 Even the environment is affected 22:14 when men and women rebel against God. 22:19 Can't you see, look around you, 22:21 there are terrible problems on this planet, 22:24 this world is in trouble? 22:26 But the trouble is not because of the planet, 22:29 the trouble is because of sin and rebellion against God. 22:34 Remember God created the universe 22:36 that function by certain laws 22:38 and when one of those laws is broken, 22:39 the whole thing would crash. 22:41 And He created man and woman 22:43 to live within the circle of the laws 22:45 that He put within them, 22:46 but when we step outside of that circle, 22:49 things go wrong and even the environment suffers. 22:55 Marriages will fall apart, diseases that can't be cured. 23:00 You build a house but you won't live in it. 23:02 Plant a vineyard and you'll not even 23:03 begin to enjoy his fruit, 23:04 and your donkey would be taken from you 23:06 forcefully and not returned. 23:08 That sounds like income tax to me. 23:13 Bad things happen when you turn away from God. 23:17 People that don't know you will eat 23:18 what's in your land and your labor produces, 23:20 there'll be a cruel oppression, abuse, despair 23:24 because they turned away from God. 23:28 So if you bless me, if you obey me, I'll bless you. 23:31 I'll gather you into the land, 23:33 build you into a powerful nation, 23:35 but if you disobey, then I will scatter you, 23:38 verse 64, "The Lord will scatter you 23:40 among all the nations 23:41 from one end of the earth to the other." 23:43 And His curses will come upon you. 23:46 Now the curse is just as much a promise 23:48 as the blessing, isn't it. 23:51 Mean God means what He says. 23:53 If you obey, I'll bless. 23:55 If you disobey, the curse, that's a promise. 23:57 Sometimes we tell our kids, 23:58 if you don't behave it's going to be your routs. 24:02 And they don't behave, and there's never an all routs 24:05 but not with God. 24:08 God speaks the truth. 24:11 If you obey me, I'll bless you. 24:12 If you disobey, you'll be cursed. 24:14 Not because He wants to curse us, 24:16 but because when we step outside that boundary, 24:19 bad things happen and we break. 24:26 Well, we know this sad story. 24:29 Israel disobeyed God, wouldn't listen to the prophets, 24:34 wouldn't even listen to Jesus Christ. 24:36 They crucified Him. 24:40 In 70 A.D. the temple was destroyed 24:44 and Israel was scattered 24:45 among all the nations of the earth 24:46 just the way the prophet said it would happen. 24:52 But that isn't God's final word, 24:55 Moses had a little more to say in chapter 30:1 24:58 "When all these blessings and curses 25:00 that I have set before you come upon you 25:02 and if you take them to heart 25:05 wherever the Lord your God disperses you 25:07 or scatters you among the nations," watch this 25:11 "when you and your children return to the Lord, your God 25:15 and obey him with all of your heart 25:18 and all of your soul, according to everything, 25:20 I command you today, then the Lord, your God 25:24 will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you 25:29 and He will gather you back into the land 25:32 from where you have been scattered." 25:35 So that wasn't a final word 70 A.D. 25:37 Israel was scattered among all the nations of the earth, 25:40 but God says, if you turn to Me 25:43 with all of your heart and all of your soul. 25:45 If you obey My commands, 25:47 then I will gather you back into the land 25:52 and I will bless you, there's hope. 25:57 Israel disobeyed God. 25:59 Israel was scattered among the nations of the earth. 26:04 So what does Israel have to do first, 26:09 before God can gather her back into the land? 26:14 Turn to the Lord with all of our heart, obey Him. 26:20 Well, Israel is back in the land today. 26:24 But the nation of Israel hasn't turned to God? 26:28 She doesn't obey God. 26:31 Even Howell Lindsey admits 26:33 90% of the people in Israel are atheists. 26:37 No less accept Jesus Christ. 26:40 Now we are beginning to see 26:42 more and more Jewish people in Israel turning to Jesus, 26:45 praise the Lord for that. 26:47 But that's not the nation. 26:49 So how could God gather them back into the land 26:53 when he said, if you obey me, 26:56 then I will gather you back into the land. 26:58 Did God's word fail? Of course not. 27:04 That's why we need to finish in the New Testament. 27:07 And here's that third curious text that I promised you, 27:10 Romans chapter 9, 27:12 in Romans chapter 9. 27:20 Verse 6, "It is not as though God's word had failed." 27:26 God's word didn't fail, why not. 27:29 Are you ready for this? 27:32 "Because not all 27:34 who are descended from Israel are Israel." 27:39 Some people have descended from Israel, they're not Israel. 27:43 Watch this verse 7, 27:46 "Not because they are his descendants 27:48 are they all Abraham's children." Wow. 27:52 Abraham has children 27:54 and God says, they are not his children. 27:58 What's going on here? 28:00 You see this is more than just flesh and blood children, 28:06 Not because they are his descendants 28:08 are they all Abraham's children." 28:09 Watch "On the contrary, 28:12 It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." 28:17 Not Esau but Isaac. 28:20 Notice that your offspring will be reckoned. 28:23 You see, it doesn't mean that 28:26 there's no such thing as a physical Jew, 28:28 there is, but the offspring, 28:31 the promise is not reckoned as a descendant, 28:35 it's only through Isaac, 28:37 that his descendants are reckoned. 28:40 In other words, if you haven't got it yet, 28:41 He's as going to make it clear. 28:42 Now watch this in verse 8, 28:44 "It is not the natural children who are God's children." 28:49 Not the natural children, 28:52 "but it is the children of the promise 28:54 who are regarded as Abraham's offspring." 28:59 That means, Abraham has children that are not his children. 29:03 Why not? 29:05 Because it's only the children of the promise, 29:07 that are regarded by God as Abraham's offspring. 29:10 What seems to be right to us, 29:12 is not always what is right with God, remember. 29:16 And just because he had a physical son, Ishmael, 29:20 just because Isaac had a physical son Esau, 29:24 it doesn't mean that they were descendants. 29:27 Because only children of the promise 29:29 are regarded by God as Abraham's off springs. 29:31 So who are the children of the promise, 29:33 that's the big question? 29:35 And it takes us to one of my very favorite little books. 29:38 The little Book of Galatians. Galatians 3. 29:42 Who are the children of the promise? 29:47 Now if you have to take a little nap, don't do it now. 29:52 Wake up anybody next to you 29:53 that might be sleeping a little bit 29:55 because you don't want to miss this, 29:57 this is the best part. 29:58 Who are the children of the promise? 29:59 Remember, it just because Abraham had descendants, 30:02 that doesn't mean they were his children. 30:05 It's only the children of the promise 30:06 that are reckoned as his children. 30:08 Who are the children of the promise? 30:09 Here's the answer. 30:10 Verse 7, "Understand, then, that those who believe 30:17 are children of Abraham." 30:21 Who are the children of Abraham? 30:22 Those who believe, you see Jacob believed, 30:25 Isaac believed, 30:27 Esau didn't believe, Ishmael didn't believe. 30:31 So the deciding factor, isn't their physical descendancy 30:36 the deciding factor is, do they believe or not? 30:40 That's not all though, it gets better. 30:42 Here we go verse 8, "The Scripture foresaw 30:46 that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, 30:50 and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham." 30:53 Let me explain that a little bit. 30:55 'Justify 'is a technical Bible word, for 'save.' 31:00 When we are justified we are saved by faith, 31:05 the Bible says, not by works. 31:08 We are saved by faith. 31:10 So the Bible says 31:12 "The Scripture foresaw that God would justify 31:15 Gentiles by faith.'' What's a Gentile? 31:18 A Gentile is simply one who is not born a physical Jew. 31:25 I'm a half Italian, half Puerto Rican, 31:30 I am a Gentile, and so God is telling us, 31:36 the Scripture foresaw that God would justify, 31:39 Italians, Puerto Ricans, Germans, 31:45 English, African no matter what, 31:51 He would justify us by faith. 31:56 Now where did the scripture say that? 32:03 "And He announced the gospel in advance to Abraham." 32:08 What's the gospel? 32:09 The gospel is the good news 32:11 that you're not saved by being good, 32:13 you're not saved by obeying the commands, No. 32:16 We are saved, because we trust God, 32:18 because we have faith in God. We are saved by grace. 32:21 Unmerited, we don't deserve it through faith in Jesus Christ, 32:25 that's how we'll say, that's the gospel. 32:27 Jesus died on the cross in your place, 32:30 and if you accept Him as your Savior, 32:32 God gives you the free gift of eternal life. 32:35 That's the gospel. 32:37 But where did God preached the gospel 32:40 in advance to Abraham? 32:42 Here's the surprise, 32:44 when He said, "All nations will be blessed through you." 32:51 So I don't understand that, 32:54 what does that mean? 32:56 When God said to Abraham, 32:57 "All the nations of the earth will be blessed through you." 33:01 He was really preaching the gospel. 33:06 Let me help you understand that. 33:08 I will paraphrase it a little bit. 33:11 God said, Abraham, one of these days, 33:16 I'm going to send through your line, my son. 33:26 And Abraham, my son who comes through your line, 33:33 is going to die on the cross. 33:36 But that won't be the end, Abraham. 33:39 Three days later, He's going to be raised up again, 33:45 and Abraham anyone who believes in My Son, 33:51 will be saved. 33:54 Through My Son, 33:56 all the nations of the earth will be blessed. 34:04 How can you just say a weak amen. Amen. 34:07 Amen, oh that's so much better, this is good stuff. 34:11 And it gets even better, watch this verse 16. 34:14 Now this blows some people away, they don't even like it. 34:18 But I like it because it's in here. 34:21 Verse 16, "The promises were spoken 34:23 to Abraham and to his seed." 34:26 Now watch, "Abraham and his seed" 34:29 Paul says, "The Scripture does not say 34:32 "and to his seeds," with a S on the end, 34:36 meaning many people, 34:37 no, no, he says, but and to your seed, 34:41 singular, meaning one person, who is Christ. 34:46 So when Abraham, when God said Abraham 34:48 'through your seed, singular, 34:51 all the nations of the earth will be blessed. 34:52 He wasn't talking about many people, 34:54 He was talking about one person, 34:56 and that one person is Jesus Christ. 34:59 It was singular, not plural. 35:02 Now that's exciting isn't it? 35:06 Well, if that's the case, then how all the nations 35:08 of the earth going to be blessed. 35:10 What about the promise, is Jesus the only one 35:12 that's going to be blessed and saved, 35:14 well it gets even better. Galatians isn't over yet. 35:19 In Chapter 3:26, 35:21 "You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus," 35:26 because verse 28, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, 35:30 slave nor free, male nor female, 35:33 for you are all one in Christ Jesus." 35:36 And if you belong to Christ then you are Abraham's seed 35:40 and you are heir to all the promises." Amen. 35:46 Do you belong to Jesus, if you do, then you are 35:49 a descendant of Abraham. Amen. 35:53 And it doesn't matter what kind of blood 35:55 flowing through your veins. 35:57 It doesn't matter how your mom and dad 35:59 spelled their name. 36:00 It doesn't matter what country you live in. 36:03 It doesn't matter what your blood is. 36:05 The only blood that matters 36:06 is the blood that was shed for you 36:08 on Calvary 2,000 years ago. 36:11 You believe in Jesus, 36:12 you are a descendant of Abraham. Wow. 36:18 All the promises, I can claim. 36:23 All the promises you can claim. 36:27 The promises were never based on flesh and blood descendancy 36:32 not even from the beginning 36:34 they were always based on faith in God 36:38 and trust in God through Jesus Christ. 36:41 It's always been that way. 36:43 So you see in the New Testament, 36:47 the Israel of God 36:49 consists of those who believe in Jesus Christ. 36:55 That's why Paul closes his letter 36:57 to the church at Galatia, saying in Galatians 6, 37:03 "Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything 37:07 what counts is a new creation." 37:09 And the new creation is you and me 37:12 in born again in Jesus Christ. 37:16 So it doesn't matter if you circumcise, 37:18 it doesn't matter if you are not circumcised. 37:20 What matters is, are you in Jesus Christ, a new creation. 37:24 And then verse 16, 37:25 "Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, 37:28 even to the Israel of God." 37:32 See the Israel of God 37:34 consist of all who believe in Jesus Christ. 37:37 The church has picked up the mantle of Israel 37:42 and is carrying it on all the way through to the end. 37:48 You are a part of the Israel of God. 37:53 It doesn't mean, there's no such thing as a Jew, no. 37:57 But it does mean that a Jew is no more accepted by God 38:01 because he is a Jew than I am accepted by God 38:04 because I am an Italian, a Puerto Rican. 38:08 The only way we are accepted by God, 38:10 Jew or Gentile is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. 38:17 But what about the Jews now are they finished? No. 38:22 In Romans 11 Paul tells the story. 38:24 He tells a story of an olive tree. 38:27 And he said, some of the branches 38:29 of that olive tree were cut off 38:31 because they didn't believe in Jesus, 38:34 some of them stayed in, the disciples were Jews. 38:37 They stayed in the tree. 38:40 And that was Israel. And Jesus is the tree. 38:44 And then he said, the wild olive branch, 38:46 that's me and you, Gentiles. 38:48 Wild olive branches are grafted back in, 38:51 grafted into the same tree that the Jews, 38:54 who didn't believe were cut off of. 38:58 And then those Jews he said, 38:59 finally when they believe in Jesus, 39:01 they're going to go graft it 39:03 back into the same tree with the Gentiles. 39:06 The tree is the church of Jesus Christ 39:09 when a Jew accepts Jesus Christ, he becomes a true Jew. Amen. 39:13 And so when he says I am a Jew, 39:15 he's not telling a lie. 39:17 He is not the synagogue of Satan, 39:19 he is a Jew, because he is in Jesus Christ. 39:24 And I believe Romans 11 shows the time coming 39:27 when many Jews will turn to Jesus Christ. 39:30 Because that's the only way we can all ever be saved. 39:37 Is this true? 39:40 You're saying, pastor that's not what I keep hearing out there. 39:44 Well, I don't care what's happening out there, 39:46 all I care about is what's in here. 39:49 Is it true? 39:50 Every word has come from in here. 39:52 But let's just check it out. 39:54 Let's ask Peter, Peter! 39:58 Is Jac Colon telling us the truth? 40:00 Well, turn in your Bibles. 40:04 To Peter and I am finding, 40:08 he was here this morning. 40:11 1 Peter 2:9, 40:14 "You" he is writing to the church now 40:17 watch this, you church, 40:18 "You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, 40:22 a holy nation, a people belonging to God." 40:26 That's exactly what God said 40:28 to the nation of Israel in the Old Testament. 40:33 Now he is calling this church by the same titles. 40:37 He said, God called you 40:39 so that you can declare the praises of him 40:41 who called you out of darkness into his light." 40:44 Once you were not a people" 40:45 You were Gentiles, "You were not a people 40:48 but now you are the people of God, 40:52 once you had not received mercy, 40:54 but now you have received mercy." 40:59 He is calling the church a holy nation, royal priesthood. 41:06 The people belonging to God. 41:11 In fact he goes on to say 41:15 and now we're getting to another good part. 41:17 Don't sleep. 41:20 "As you come to him, the living stone" 41:24 Jesus is the living stone. 41:30 "As you come to him the living stone 41:33 rejected by men, but chosen by God 41:37 and precious to Him. 41:39 You also like living stones 41:43 are being built in to a spiritual house." 41:48 So Jesus is the living stone 41:51 but we too are living stones. 41:54 The bible says, and we too 41:57 are being built in to spiritual house. 42:01 Now when we go to Ephesians 2:19, 42:07 he says "Consequently, 42:08 you are no longer foreigners and aliens," 42:13 that's us, Gentiles, that He's talking to, 42:15 the church in Ephesus consisting of Gentiles, 42:18 he says, you Gentiles, you are no longer foreigners, 42:23 you're no longer aliens, 42:26 "But you are fellow citizens with God's people 42:31 and members of God's household." 42:34 Watch this, "Built on the foundation 42:38 of the apostles and the prophets, 42:41 with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone. 42:47 In him the whole building is joined together 42:52 and rises to become a holy temple." 42:59 You are the stones of the temple. 43:04 I promised you, I'll bring you a piece of the temple 43:07 turned to the person to your left and to your right 43:10 and say, welcome to the temple of God 43:14 because you are the stones of the temple. 43:21 I told you that I was on a committee 43:23 to rebuild the temple. 43:28 You can be on that committee. 43:38 When you tell someone about Jesus Christ, 43:40 you are on the committee to rebuild the temple. 43:45 Sometimes people get mad at me, 43:49 and they say, "Pastor, 43:50 I thought I was going to see a brick here tonight." 43:53 One lady sitting in the front row in Alaska, 43:56 had her camera there, 43:57 ready to take a picture of the stone. 44:00 I said, I'll smile for you. 44:03 She got mad. 44:05 Dot get mad at me, 44:07 get mad at whoever is telling you 44:09 that it's going to be real stone 44:11 because you are the stone. 44:14 Jesus is the cornerstone, you are the temple. 44:19 But what about the land? 44:20 God said, He promised the land to Abraham's seed, didn't He. 44:23 In Acts 7, we find a surprise there. 44:27 Acts 7, Steven in his last sermon before he died, 44:33 told the story about how Abraham, 44:35 verse 4, "left the land of the Chaldeans 44:39 and God sent him to this land that you are now living in 44:42 and He gave him no inheritance here, 44:47 not even a foot of ground. 44:49 But God had promised him that he and his descendants 44:51 after him would possess the land." 44:55 Now did God's word failed? 44:56 God said you would possess the land 44:58 and now Steven says, 45:00 that he didn't even get one square foot of God, 45:02 did God's word failed. No. 45:05 Because Abraham understood exactly what God meant. 45:09 In Hebrews, you can read that, 45:11 in Hebrews 11, 45:13 look in Hebrews 11 the faith chapter. 45:15 It says in verse 9" By faith he, 45:18 Abraham made his home in the promised land 45:20 like a stranger in a foreign country, 45:22 he lived in tents, like Isaac and Jacob, 45:25 who were heirs with him of the same promise. 45:27 For he was looking forward to a city with foundations, 45:32 whose builder and maker is God." 45:35 Abraham knew that God was not talking 45:38 about that land in Palestine. 45:41 Abraham was looking to the New Jerusalem, 45:44 to the new heaven, to the new earth. 45:46 In fact Paul himself even wrote that 45:49 God promised Abraham 45:51 that he will be heir even of the world. 45:55 You see God promises the land, 45:57 but He always gives us more. 46:01 Then what he says, he's going to do. 46:03 What a God, amen. Amen. 46:08 Abraham saw it. 46:14 In Revelation 3:12, 46:21 Jesus writes to the church 46:24 "Him who overcomes I will make a pillar 46:26 in the temple of my God. 46:28 Never again will he leave it." 46:30 You see, the church He overcomes 46:33 I'll make a pillar in the temple of my God. 46:36 You'll never leave it. 46:37 "I will write on him the name of my God 46:40 and the name of the city of my God. 46:41 The New Jerusalem is coming down 46:44 out of heaven from God, 46:46 and I will also write on him my new name." 46:49 He who as in let him hear what the spirit says, 46:51 to the church. 46:54 The New Jerusalem is the home for the church of Jesus Christ. 47:00 And you are citizens of that city. 47:03 He even says as much in Hebrews 12:22, 47:07 he says, "You have come to Mount Zion, 47:09 the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God." 47:12 We are now citizens of that New Jerusalem 47:15 even though we are here in this old world 47:17 but one day soon, 47:18 He's going to come down to this earth 47:20 and we're going to be in it 47:21 and that'll be our home for ever. 47:25 Oh, what a promise. 47:28 I know some of you are struggling. 47:31 Some of you are saying, pastor, 47:34 that's not what it says in the left behind book. 47:38 No, it's not what it says in the novel. 47:43 But it is what it says in God's word. 47:47 And you know, even in Jesus' day they struggled with this. 47:55 They had a hard time 47:57 accepting what you're hearing right now. 48:00 The Jews were stunned. 48:02 In John 2:19, when Jesus said, 48:07 pointing to the building to the temple, 48:10 he said, "tear down this temple 48:12 and I will raise it up in three days." 48:18 They thought He was talking about the building, 48:22 and He knew they would think 48:25 he was talking about the building, 48:27 but in fact He was talking about Himself. 48:32 And they were stunned. They couldn't accept it. 48:35 They couldn't make a shift from the bricks 48:38 and the mortar to the living stone of Jesus Christ. 48:43 We can't afford to make the same mistake 48:47 that they made back then. 48:51 In fact they missed it so badly that in Mathew 27, 48:57 when Jesus was on the cross, they said, 49:01 "You who are going to destroy the temple 49:03 and build it up in three days, save yourself! 49:07 Come down from the cross, 49:09 if you are the Son of God!" 49:11 They missed it so badly 49:14 that they didn't understand 49:16 that the only way for Jesus 49:17 to truly rebuild the true temple was to die on the cross. 49:21 He could not come down from the cross 49:24 and rebuild the temple. 49:28 They missed it. 49:30 Let's not make the same mistake. 49:33 Now we can understand why Jesus said, 49:36 when He went into the temple, Mathew 12:6, 49:40 I tell you one greater then this temple is here. 49:47 But they missed it. 49:49 They kept looking at the building, 49:52 instead of looking at the man, Jesus Christ. 49:58 And no wonder when Jesus went into the temple 50:01 for the last time... 50:06 and left, He said, your house 50:13 is left unto you desolate 50:18 because the presence of the living God 50:21 was leaving that temple for the first time, 50:25 for the last time to build His new temple 50:29 by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. 50:34 No wonder, He said, your house is left desolate. 50:39 But what about the antichrist, what about the antichrist? 50:43 Doesn't he rebuild that temple in Jerusalem 50:46 and then go over there and destroy it? 50:50 2 Thessalonians, 50:52 2 Thessalonians makes it crystal clear Chapter 2:4, 50:58 "He will oppose and will exalt himself 51:01 over everything that is called God." 51:04 This is anti-Christ. 51:06 "He will oppose and will exalt himself 51:08 over everything that is called God or is worshiped, 51:12 so that he sets himself up in God's temple, 51:17 proclaiming himself to be God." 51:21 Every place in the New Testament 51:23 where Paul uses the word 'God's temple' 51:26 He is talking about the church of Jesus Christ. 51:32 Antichrist sets himself up in the church 51:38 and he does his dirty work in the church. 51:45 When the whole world practically 51:47 is looking to Israel, 51:50 waiting for the mosque to be torn down, 51:52 so they can build a temple for antichrist to come. 51:57 Antichrist is doing his dirty work in the church. 52:03 What's he doing there? You want to know? 52:07 Because you're going to see 52:09 some things that are going to make your eyes 52:10 turn as big as saucers. 52:13 He would set himself up in God's temple 52:15 proclaiming himself to be God. 52:20 Revelation 21. 52:24 I want to close in Revelation chapter 21. 52:33 Verse 9, "One of the seven angels said, 52:36 "Come, I will show you the bride, 52:40 the wife of the Lamb. 52:45 And he carried me away in the Spirit 52:46 to a mountain great and high, 52:48 and he showed me the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, 52:53 coming down out of heaven from God." 52:57 Verse 12, "It had a great high wall 52:59 with twelve gates 53:01 and with twelve angels at each of the gates. 53:03 And on the gates were written the names 53:05 of the twelve tribes of Israel." 53:08 Only the Israel of God can enter that city. 53:16 Won't you walk through those gates with me... 53:21 with Israel of God? 53:30 Several years ago, 53:33 my wife and I went to a religious convention 53:37 in Toronto, Canada. 53:46 And one day a Jewish man 53:51 dressed in his black Jewish robes, Jewish hat, 53:57 and his Hebrew books and Bibles, 54:01 was walking down the hallway. 54:05 When he looked ahead and he saw an Arab man, 54:12 dressed in his traditional Arab headdress 54:18 with his Arab books in his arms, 54:22 walking right towards him. 54:27 And the Jew was afraid 54:34 and the Arab was afraid 54:41 as they approach each other closer and closer 54:46 and then they both stopped outside the same door, 54:52 about to go in. 54:55 Jewish man looked at the Arab man 54:59 and he said, are you a Christian? 55:05 The Arab said, "I am a Christian. 55:09 Are you? 55:12 And the Jewish man said, 'Yes, I am a Christian. 55:18 And the Arab and the Jew embraced. 55:26 You see the solution to the problems 55:30 is not going to be done in Washington D.C. 55:34 or by any diplomat, 55:38 the problem can only be solved 55:40 by lifting up the cross for Jesus Christ. Amen. 55:46 The true Israel of God. 55:50 Oh, Lord, God, we thank you and we praise you, 55:54 in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, for having a plan. 56:01 Sometimes men fail, 56:04 they did all the way through the Bible times, 56:07 but Your plan never fails. 56:10 And Lord, we want to be part of Your plan. 56:14 We want to walk with You. 56:16 And we want to walk through the gates of that city 56:19 rejoicing as the bride of the Lamb. 56:24 And we thank you and praise You 56:26 in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and our Lord, amen. |
Revised 2014-12-17