Romans chapter, let's do Romans chapter 11 first and let's look around a little bit. Lord, we thank you for your word tonight. We thank you that we've got something to preach, to read, to meditate upon, to believe, to lay it to our hearts, to anchor our souls, to guide us, direct us. form our belief system, Lord. And God, we thank you that it's supernatural from heaven. Lord, we know that your ways are not our ways, your thoughts are not our ways, and that your ways are past finding out, Lord. And I am nobody, I'm nothing, Lord, and the older I get, the more I realize, God, that I am just so finite, Lord. And I don't understand a lot, but Lord, I got enough sense tonight just to trust you. And Lord, I do trust you, and I have faith in you, and I have faith in your word. And I have faith, Lord, that when I don't understand, you're still in control, and you're still good, and you're still Lord God. And so, Lord, tonight we pray that you'd open our eyes a little, help us to see, Lord, your ways. And I pray, God, that you will cause this message and these teachings to be a blessing to these people and their descendants, that we will lay this to heart. And Lord, that we would take this into our workplaces and into our lives, and that we'd not be ashamed of the truth of thy word. Lord, we just love you tonight and thank you for being so good to us and loving us, not just before we were sinners, but after we're saved and sinned. Lord, send against light. We thank you, Lord, for the great love that you've loved us with and that your promises are just as sure tonight to us as your promises are to Israel. So thank you, Lord, in Jesus' name, amen. Romans chapter 11 tonight, I would encourage you to read Romans 9, 10, and 11 in the context of this, but in Romans chapter 11, the Bible said, I say then, hath God cast away his people? God forbid. That ought to be enough to tell anybody that God's not done with Israel. For I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. Paul claimed to be an Israelite, a Jew, and he at least had his lineage. He could tell you where he's from. Amen. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. That's as plain as you can get it. Watch ye not what the Scripture saith of Elias, how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets and digged down thine altars, and I am left alone, and they seek my life. But what saith the answer of God unto him? Elijah was having a pity party, thought he was the only one left, and God replied, I have reserved to myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. God's always got a remnant. And he said, even so then at this present time, there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then it is no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace. You ought to mark verse six in your Bible, just getting away from our subject. What this teaches you is the essence of grace. Grace is diametrically opposed in the sense of works, in the sense that if it is of grace, it cannot be part works. If it's of works, it can't be grace, because they are not the same. They are absolutely different. It's like daylight and dark, okay? God is teaching you a doctrine of salvation there. For if it be of grace, it is no more of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace. Otherwise, work is no more work. What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for, but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded. Now God is getting into His sovereignty about the whole situation here. According as is written, God hath given the spirit of slumber eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear unto this day. That's why Jewish people, they just cannot, they're blinded to the gospel, they're blinded to who Jesus Christ is. And that, by the way, that blindness is part of the sovereign act of God. And man, I'm telling you, this is where my, I told you that I don't need drugs to blow my mind. Just think on God. David saith, let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling block, and a recompense unto them. Let their eyes be darkened that they may not see, and bow down their back always. I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Talking about Israel now, the Jewish nation, God forbid. But rather through their fall, salvation is coming to the Gentiles. Now that is an humbling statement. to provoke them to jealousy. Now, if the fall of them be the riches of the world and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentile, how much more their fullness. By the way, their fullness will come at the millennial reign. Okay, when they see Christ at the end of the tribulation, and they're turned to Christ, and then the fullness. For I speak to you Gentiles insomuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my office. And he goes on down through there, but I want to cut down to just to save some time to verse 25. For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceit, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles become in. And so this chapter 11, now I want you to finish up on this morning, I want you to go to Jeremiah chapter 31 and we'll just have some fun in the Bible tonight. Jeremiah chapter 31 to kind of put the lock on the message this morning about the restoration of Israel. And if you want to really see it in fullness, read Ezekiel 36 through Ezekiel 38, 39 right in there. That's the valley of the vision of the dead bones. And it'll tell you, it interprets itself. You don't have to even go to a commentary nowhere. It just tells you what the dry bones are and the whole thing. But Jeremiah here is prophesying In chapter 31, verse number 35, look at this. Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for light by day, an ordinance of the moon and the stars for light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar, the Lord of hosts is his name. If these ordinances, what ordinances? If the sun quit shining and the moon and all that and the whole galaxies go out of their course, he said, these ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel shall cease from being a nation before me forever. God says, until you see the sun, the moon, and the galaxies, and the stars go out of socket, that's going to be a nation forever. Basically, what he's saying, you're not going to see that. OK? Thus saith the Lord, verse 37, if heaven can be measured, and the foundations of the earth. You know what? Somebody says, Reggie, they can be measured. No, every time they think they've got it, they find more out there. They have not found. They have not been able to measure the heaven. Amen? God said, if the heavens can be measured, and then the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, we may have went a way down, but we ain't searched out the foundations. By the way, do you know the Bible talks about the earth and the pillars in the earth? Wow, I mean, there's some stuff in there. There's some secrets in there. He said, if the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all they have done, saith the Lord. If somebody can measure the heavens, and somebody can find out the foundation, he said, then you could say, well, it's possible Lord cast off. And what God knows is that mankind has not done that, is not going to get that done. And so he's kind of just locking this thing. He said that the seed of Israel for all they, and by the way, that little phrase for all that they have done, why is God saying that? Because he knows that people would say, well, as wicked as Israel was, they worshiped idols and they renounced God and they did all this wicked stuff and they're evil and all this kind of thing. He said, you know, in man's mind of rationalization, God ought to be done with Israel. See, God says, I made a promise. I made a covenant. It's an I will unconditional covenant. It's not conditioned on how good they do. It's on conditioned upon my character and who I am. Now there's a parallel between God, the Father, and Israel's Brother Sharp mentioned last week and Christ and the church. And that is that God's nature is saying then the three are one, right? The whole thing I'm trying to really hammer in tonight in the church is this, that the reason you cannot swallow replacement theology and all this junk going on about Israel, because if God breaks His promises and His word about Israel, how can we expect Him to keep His word to the church? and to you as an individual believer. And so it's very encouraging to me. It's a blessing to me and it's encouraging to me. You know what? My God doesn't lie. And old Reggie, he may tell you something and it not happen or come to pass or he may not keep his word, but that ain't the way God is. God will fulfill his word. And I'm thankful to have a God who is faithful, steadfast, who does not lie, who fulfills his word. Now I want you to go to Jeremiah chapter 46. Go to Jeremiah 46 and I love this chapter. And you know, the Jewish people, they're a mystery in a sense in that God's special work with them down through the ages and Abraham and stuff. I mean, just the study of the history of them is amazing. Here's something that's been said, that Israel, the Jewish people, have walked on top of the grave of every nation in history. Nations come and go, rise, live, die and are buried, and the Jew just keeps walking down through the corridors of history. And by the way, every, every people in the world, every nation group gets assimilated. How many of you are of Irish descent? You know, how many generations are going to be until you don't even know, they won't even know what descent they're from? Assimilation. Every people group in the world has been assimilated except the Jew. didn't even have a nation, but he just kept walking down through the centuries. And they've walked on top of the grave of every nation. By the way, they're going to mess around and walk on top of the grave of America if it keeps going like Ben said. Now, watch verse number 28 of Jeremiah. Look at this prophetic statement that God makes, verse 46, verse 28, chapter 46, verse 28. Fear thou not, O Jacob, my servant, saith the Lord, for I am with thee. Watch this, for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee. Uh-oh. Did you read that? Do you know what that's telling you? That God will make an end to America. He will make an end to every nation for which he drove those people, but watch the statement, but I will not make a full end of thee. but correct thee in measure, yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished." God said, I'll punish you. I'll chastise you for your sins. and I'm gonna make a full end to every other nation that ever exists, but I will not make a full end to the nation Israel. I'm telling you, you better get yourself right about this thing of God here, because God's there. And by the way, the Bible says that Israel is the apple of God's eye, and whoso toucheth the apple of God's eye and so forth, you know what that statement is? I'll walk up to you and poke you in the eye. That's pretty sorry, and it's fixing to get yourself in trouble. And what God says, if you touch the apple of his eye, Israel, you're going to get in trouble with God. Can you imagine? What it's saying is you're poking God in the eye. Don't do it. Stand by Israel. You do what God's doing. You don't have to approve of their wrongdoing. How many is aware of the pedophile problem that Clinton's been connected with? This guy down in Florida, he's a super rich guy. What's his name? Somebody tell me. They're into a real big mess, underage children stuff. He's actually a registered sex offender. He's one of the richest guys in America. He's a Jew, okay? And anyway, it's in the news right now. And I'm telling you what, Hollywood is, how many knows that Hollywood and the film industry is run by Jews? I mean, I could give you a list of perversion and deep, Wretched depths of Satan wickedness that that Jewish people have involved themselves in and that's not to say Gentiles have not done the same There's no difference. They're sinners just like Gentiles that need to be saved, but it's amazing they seem to specialize sometime in perversion and and dragging a nation into depths of sin and depravity and But God and God's going to punish and God's going to chastise and he has But you know what? They're still God's people as a nation and as a people. Well, that gives you a deal on that. Let's go to Galatians. I want to show you that. Why would anybody think... Now, some of you say, Reggie, where would anybody get the idea? Go to Galatians chapter 3. Would anybody get the idea that the church has replaced Israel? Where would anybody get that idea? Well, I'll show you because I want to teach you this night in case you're sitting somewhere Visiting with some friend you're getting acquainted with a new friend and you're visiting all of a sudden He says to you or she says to you like a guy did at me one time at my dinner table Reggie there's something I want to tell you and I said what's that? He said I do not believe Israel is Israel and I am NOT I do not believe the Jews in the land of Israel are Jewish people. And I'm not pro-Israel. And he's a nice guy. I have nothing against him. And he had been coming here to church a little bit. And I said, well, I'm just telling you now, I'm going to preach exactly the opposite of that, so you need to know that. And he said, well, it might be better if I didn't come to church here. And that's probably true. One time we had a lady back when we were in the old, I don't know if I should call her a lady or not, but she, We were still over in the other building, and she had been coming to church here, and one Sunday morning, just as we had dismissed Sunday school and were singing, getting ready to move into the service, she took a songbook, and the floor was concrete in there, okay? It was concrete. She took her songbook, and she slammed it against the floor in there, and I mean, it went off like a 12-gauge shotgun. I mean, everybody in the church house thought the gun went off, and she cursed. And about seven or eight guys escorted her out. And she was what was called nowadays an Aryan. Anybody know what I'm talking about? British Israelite Aryan. Hates Jews, believes all Jews should be killed, and so forth. And so I just told her, I said, I don't want you coming around here no more. I said, I ain't going to have God cursing this church, trying to minister to you. You got your mind made up. I visited with her about it. I said, you hate the Jews, ain't going to happen. So just go your way. And so you have to deal with that. Now, you may be busy with someone who says, well, I believe that the church has replaced Israel. By the way, if you'll get some of your some of your Bibles that you might pick up and I'm talking about King James Bibles now, many of them years ago. I don't know. I haven't went out and researched it a long time. You'd be in the Old Testament. And it would at the top of the chapter, it would say this about the church, this and the church, this and the church, that what were they doing? Can you tell me? They were trying to convince you that you were reading about the church and not Israel. Now, you can take the Word of God. For instance, let me give you this. Isaiah, how many knows my favorite verse, life verse, Isaiah 41, 10? Fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee, I will help thee. Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. But you know who that was written to primarily? Israel. But see, I can take an application of that as a child of God, that the same God of Israel is my God, and I can apply His promises and His protection and His provision to me, and as long as I'm not trying to say, well, but why, I don't have to say Israel's no good and gone for me to take that verse. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, that's Old Testament. Anything you read back there, I mean, that was the Hebrew book. And so, but still, I'm just saying this, just because it's addressed to Israel does not mean you can't take one of God's promises and apply it to your life, as long as you understand that it may be directly, primarily addressed to Israel. So now, let's back to this question. How would somebody get the idea that Israel had been replaced with the church. Here's what they'll take you to, and here's the scriptures they'll use on you. Galatians chapter 3, verse number 6. Galatians chapter 3, verse number 6. Right there. They will take that and say that if you were saved and you were born again, you became a child of Abraham, you are the true children of Abraham, not the people who claim they're Jews now. Okay? Y'all see where they get that at? You see how they take that scripture? Let's continue reading down to verse number nine. It says, in the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preach before the gospel unto Abraham. By the way, that's why I tell you, people get saved. There will never be any other way to get saved except through the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel was in Abraham's day. Don't let people tell you they got saved by the law in the Old Testament. They did not. The law never saved anybody. Saying, in thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. Look at verse number 29 of that chapter. Verse number 29 of that chapter, chapter 3. And if ye be Christ, then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. So what they do is they take those verses right there and they move themselves into a position of replacing Israel by using those verses and say, Israel is cast away. And by the way, can you imagine how hard that was to argue with before May 14th, 1948, because Israel was not a nation. It wasn't till the latter part of the 18th century that Jews and Zionist movement, Jews started moving back into Israel. and it kept increasing, increasing, increasing, and by May 1948, he had a nation established, and they're still coming in. I was asked this morning after church about this. It's not all happening at one time, and it won't be fulfilled in completion until the millennial reign. Okay, it's taking, we know at least we're involved now probably 140 years in the Jewish remnant, the Jewish people coming back to the land, fulfilling the Old Testament prophecies of returning. And so it's not just something that all of a sudden happens. But anyway, now I give you another verse in Galatians chapter four and verse number 11. Let's see. Oh my. That's not right. And I wrote that down myself. Okay. Anyway, there's another verse in there that pertains to that and so they, hang on just a second. Huh? That's not it, it has to do with that. I'm so sorry about that. But I sure wrote down and I wrote my own reference sitting there at the kitchen table doing my study and I wrote the wrong reference. Anyway, but this is where they get the idea. But this outline tonight I'm gonna give you will explain this. What you're dealing with is the Jewish people, the nation, the race is the physical seed of Abraham. The people who are saved are the spiritual seed of Abraham. And that's the difference. So they try to take the spiritual seed, move it into the physical aspect, and make themselves physical Jews, replacing Israel. when all the time it's simply the spiritual seed descendant, okay? We'll look at this. Let's go with the outline, and then we're gonna run to the ice cream. The differences between Israel and the church. Number one, and by the way, I expect you to go home and read these scriptures out so I can kind of save some time tonight. Their origins are different. Israel began with Abraham. Now this is just so simple, it's really good, so simple. Israel began with Abraham, Genesis chapter 12, one and two. Israel increased by natural generation. In other words, by physical birth. Abraham had children and it's a physical descendant, okay? Those are your Jewish people. The seed came from Isaac, not Ishmael. In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is a very important statement in the Bible. The church began at Pentecost. Now there's an argument on that, that the church began when Jesus had his disciples over. I don't want to debate about that. But generally speaking, most people take that the church started at Pentecost. The church is increased by supernatural conversions. It's a spiritual birth, OK? Not a physical. And it's the incorruptible seed of the Word of God that we're born in the family of God with. So here's a very clear difference between Israel and the church. Israel was founded by the physical seed of Abraham. That's its origin. The church is founded by the Holy Ghost of God, birthing the church, the day of Pentecost, and those people being born again in the Spirit of God. One is a spiritual seed, the other is a physical seed. Difference between Israel and the church. They are not one and the same. Second thing, their natures are different. Israel And I want you to key in here. Now, this is a big subject. Israel, they are God's earthly people, and they constitute a political state. It's governed. They made war and so forth. They were a political state, as opposed to the church is God's heaven. And that word earthly, and this is so critical in understanding this, Israel is an earthly people. The church is a heavenly people. And this has to do with the earth in eternity, and that's a wonderful study, okay, and about he shall fold it up and change it as a vesture is changed, and the new heaven and the new earth. But Israel, it's a nation, and it's a political entity, and they're governed by laws and statutes and so forth like that, and they have their kings and so forth. The church doesn't have a king but Jesus. God's, the church is God's heavenly people. Now watch this. It has no political work or governmental authority at all. Now this is what made America great. You see, America, a lot of us don't know and they're not teaching history books. That most of the European people, the background of your forefathers, came out of Europe. They came out of a political church state situation. England still has a state church. The Anglican Church is the state church. Paul Bunyan, Paul Bunyan. Too many logs. That's bad. What's his name? John. Huh? John. John Bunyan. Mercy. I've been cutting too many trees. Goodness sakes of life. You're telling fairy tales. Yeah, I'm telling fairy tales now. He's preaching myths and fables. John Bunyan was imprisoned 12 years wrote Pilgrim's Progress because he would not, he knew the Bible and he would not allow the church to license him to, the state to license him to preach. And he preached without the sanction of the, he knew that the church was not a political entity, that it was independent of all political structures. Your forefathers carried that great Bible-believing principle to America. There were early Baptist preachers who preached out of jail cells who were locked up in early America in some of the British colonies because they were still under the authority of England. And they would not accept a license nor establish a state church. This is why in your founding documents, They do not establish a state. They wanted God in government, but they did not want the church running the government. They wanted to keep the church and the state separated in that realm. And that's what Jefferson's letter was. But separation of church and state has been taken to mean that we don't want God in culture or God in society. That's not what they intended at all. But it's been used that way. But you don't want and I don't want and you shouldn't want a state church. All right. Let's say this church. All of a sudden, United States Congress said, all right, the Methodist is going to be the church. If you're not a Methodist, you won't you can't preach. You can't meet together for worship or anything else. You wouldn't like that, would you? No. And the church is not that, never was that. Bible never indicated that at all and never taught that. And you ought to be thankful that somebody, a lot of people suffered and died just for that freedom right there that you have. You know, you can be called to preach out here and the Lord leads you to Timbuktu, start a church and you rent a site. By the way, you know what? If you get called to preach, I would just suggest that you go rent a building somewhere for about the first five years and don't, you know, just start, just start. Don't think you got to have everything on the ground. We need some pioneers in this country, but anyway, It's a heavenly people. Now, that does not mean that we cannot have political influence. We are to be salt, and we are to be light, and we ought to vote, and we ought to run for office, and we ought to influence the culture. By the way, you know, we don't kill people because they don't convert. Amen? Oh my, that ought to tell you all the difference in the world between, and I hate to tell George Bush this, but the God of the Muslims is not the God of Christians. And I think he brought a curse on America for making that statement. I really do. Well, anyway, let's get on down the road. It is a spiritual, where theirs is a political situation, ours is a spiritual in character. Number three, their blessings are different. Israel was promised prosperity if they obeyed God's word. What's the church promised? Persecution. Yea, all that shall live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. The more you stand up for Jesus Christ, the more you publicly and literally stand for the Lord Jesus Christ, the more heat you're going to take in this whole world. Ain't that right? Jesus said, if they hate the master, he said, they'll hate the servant. And you need to expect marvel not if the world hates you, for it hated me before it hated you. And the church has never been accepted by the world, never will be. In fact, it's an enemy toward it. Number four. The guides of, now that does not mean just because we're gonna suffer persecution that you cannot be blessed physically. Prosperity is wise. But that's not the goal of Christianity. That's not the ultimate, but the real deal is spiritual blessings in heavenly places. That's God's blessings to us. That's why the Bible said that the poor are usually the rich in faith. true riches, and so forth. Number four, their guide of conduct are different. Under the law of Moses, they're guided by the commandments. Under church, we're not under the law, but led by the Spirit of God. Now, that does not mean that we're released from the law. It actually means that instead of feeling like we have to obey the law, that we want to obey the law. Watch this, we've moved from a servant to a son situation and we're operating in grace, not law. In other words, don't you like your kids to do right because they want to do right, not just because you're watching? Grace is a higher level of living than law, I'm telling you. You have far greater responsibility under grace than they had under law. You have the Spirit of God living within you. You have born again the Spirit of God. And we live by grace and led by the Spirit. Number six, their ministries are different. Israel was to witness to the nature of God. They were to be a light to the nations. And that was their purpose, was to be the light to the nations. The church is to witness to the work of the gospel. and get an individual saved to bring Christ to all the world, go into all the world and preach the gospel. Israel was to be a light to the nations. If you've ever heard the message I preach on Job and the geographical location of Israel, And how Israel is a land bridge between Europe, Africa, and Asia. And all the traffic goes right through Israel. There's the Kings Highway and the Trunk Highway. Job was in that. That's why he had all those camels. He had all those asses. He was like Job's truck lines, I'm telling you. And he was a just and upright man. And he was a light to the nations. And that's what Israel was about. That's why Satan hated him so bad. And the more you try to be a light, the worse attack you'll come under. You say, well, I'm trying to live for God, and look what happens. That's exactly what you should expect. OK. All right. But you know what? You ought to be a happy warrior. Don't feel sorry for yourself because you get hit. Be thankful God put you in the battle. Be thankful that you're in the fight. The greatest cause there will ever be in eternity, the cause of Jesus Christ. Number seven, their future positions are different. Israel is to be the subject of the king, Now, I want you to look at this. They will be ruled by Christ as an earthly entity. They're awaiting the visible appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ, and they will see him whom they've pierced, and they will be ruled by the Lord Jesus Christ. He'll be their king upon the throne. Look at the church. The church is the bride of Christ. We will rule with Christ. And they were cut off that we might be grafted in. We await the coming of the Lord Jesus. Trumpet God shall sound, the dead in Christ shall rise, and with which your live remains shall be caught up together. You know, the dead in Christ shall rise, and we wish the live remains shall be caught up together. And we don't know the time or the hour that's going to happen, but he's going to come for his bride. The conclusion of our lesson here tonight, number one, Israel and the church are distinctly different bodies of people. Number two, the church has a place of its own in God's program, but it has not taken the place of Israel. Number three, the past age, your Old Testament, was peculiarly Israel's time. The present is the church's time or age, but in the future, both Israel and the church will be prominent. Israel will be the head of the earthly nations, and the church will be God's heavenly people.