Well, one of the reasons I am talking about this today is because tomorrow marks an important point in world history, the one year anniversary of the October 7th terror attacks in Israel. As we reflect upon these attacks, there are several points which have emerged over time. For instance, we can note the scale and execution of those attacks. If you are not aware, these were unprovoked, unprecedented attacks upon the people of Israel. It involved thousands of militants, breaching the border in numerous locations, using a variety of tactics, including paragliders, ground forces, and massive rocket barrages. This operation demonstrated a level of planning and coordination that caught the Israeli defenses off guard, and it highlighted, obviously, some significant intelligence and security failures there. But it was catastrophic. It resulted in casualties and hostages. In fact, over 1,400 people were killed in the initial barrage, marking it as the deadliest day in Israel's history. Many people likening it to Israel's 9-11. More than 200 people beyond that were taken hostages, many of them from their homes, where they were safe or supposedly safe. Some of those hostages were Americans. Obviously, most of them were Israeli. And many of those hostages remain missing to this very day. The global reaction, thankfully, has been widespread condemnation with over 44 nations condemning October 7th as an act of terrorism. But of course, many have attributed the root causes to this terroristic act as a problem with Israel itself. claiming that Israel is occupying the area and has poor policies toward the Palestinian people. And so many people have taken to blame the victim in this attack. The Israeli military response, of course, has been immediate and sustained, as Israel has engaged in airstrikes into Gaza, destroying Hamas's military capabilities. Of course, Hamas has used humans as shields, As they strike back at Israel, and as Israel then returns fire, it strikes many civilian targets, resulting in Palestinian casualties and destruction. Of course, people are debating whether this is okay for Israel, and it is, of course, winning support for Hamas. Then there's the humanitarian impact because there are people who are non-combatants in Gaza who are suffering. We're seeing the same thing in Lebanon as the terrorist organization Hezbollah is attacking Israel and Israel is retaliating. There are certainly some humanitarian concerns there as well. Hamas, of course, has been reportedly keeping many of its civilians from fleeing and getting out of harm's way, which creates additional difficulties and results in higher innocent casualties. And then of course there are the international implications because this has created a more tense situation between Israel and Gaza and Syria and Lebanon and Iran and perhaps a few other countries. This definitely has the potential of blowing up into a region-wide war which may draw the rest of the world into it. And of course, American forces have been slowly mustering in the region. Many people are trying to say that Israel should take the lead in a ceasefire. So these are just some things to think through as we are thinking through the issues in Israel. There are other issues as well. Should we continue funding efforts in Israel, especially when there are humanitarian needs right here in this country? We just prayed about the victims of Hurricane Helene. Should we be sending more money to places like Ukraine and Israel when we are not able supposedly able to give victims of Hurricane Helene any more than, say, $750 per person to help them supposedly rebuild their lives. What are we supposed to do? Christians have looked at this and they have reacted in a variety of ways. Some Christians, of course, have supported Israel completely and say we should continue to support Israel. Others, however, which may surprise you, have been very unsupportive of Israel. In our background as a church, we may not have encountered many of those, but there is a growing a Christian contingent, and she's saying we need to pull out of Israel. Sometimes it's just from a foreign war perspective. We need to get out of all these foreign wars. We need to just focus at home. Sometimes it is because there is an anti-Jewish sentiment that is growing. I have been shocked to see just how many Christians are beginning to express what is frankly anti-Semitic rhetoric. and that's why they say we should not support Israel. It shouldn't be something that is even worth our comment, but it is something that we are going to talk about. Now that's not everybody's opinion, but the question is still before us, how should we think about Israel, the modern state of Israel, which is not a Christian nation, How should we think about unbelieving Jews by extension, who obviously are not believers? Now, there are some Christian Jewish people, but we're talking about the unbelieving Jewish people. How should we as Christians think about them? Should we support them any more than, say, we support any other group? Should we just see them as pagans and write them off? How should we view this? Well, here in Romans 11, we are beginning to see, in just the passage we read this morning, how we are to think about these issues, how we are to think about the unbelieving Jews and the modern state of Israel. We see that there is a relationship, of course, between Israel and the church, and that God even calls the unbelieving Jews his people. Really? I thought only the church was his people. Yes, but he has another application of the term in the text. And so how are we supposed to think about this? Well, let's begin to go down this chapter, and we're gonna be hitting these points together as we consider how we should consider unbelieving Jews in the modern state of Israel. And I don't have much of PowerPoint for you today. I'm going to just throw up the big points and that's it. Why? Because I want you to see the points right here in the text of scripture. I want you to have an open Bible If you don't have a Bible, by the way, we have plenty of Bibles we can give to you. If you see a Bible in the chairs right in front of you, feel free to take one of those. That is your Bible now. God bless you. That's your Bible right now. If you need to pull up the Bible app, sometimes it's nice to have our phones, especially as the vision starts to go a little bit, because you can make the text a little bit bigger. That's fine as well. However you have your Bible, I hope that you are open to Romans 11 because we're going to see exactly from God's Word how this is applied. The first point I want us to see today is that ethnic Israel is part of the natural branches. It is part of the natural branches. Verse 1, Romans 11. Verse 1, Romans 11. I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? Many may it never be, for I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. Now Paul is beginning this metaphor and he is talking about the natural branches which were broken off of this olive tree. And as I said, they represent the ethnic people of Israel. I'm not talking about the spiritual people of Israel, I'm talking about the ethnic people of Israel. That begins with the patriarchs, that begins with a man named Abraham. how does Paul identify himself in this verse he identifies himself in ethnic terms I too am an Israelite he says a descendant of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin he is identifying himself not spiritually but physically he is identifying himself by blood This is a natural way of speaking. And why Paul identifies himself this way is because it is important to see that the promises that God gave to natural Israel started with Abraham. It began with the Abrahamic covenant that God cut with his people. Now, if you want to know a little bit more about that, Back in May, Pastor Jorge preached a message on the land of promise. And so you can go back into our archives and look that up. It was May 26. I remember that because that was my birthday. I was very thankful that he preached on my birthday. He gave me a little bit of a break there. So that was a good birthday present. If you want to know a little bit more about that, that's a good message for you to go back to and hear about those promises that God gave. But here he says that the promises were given to this people, and this will serve as the root of the olive tree in this passage. This is the root of what will become God's people. And speaking of people, we see him say here in verse two, God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Now, in our minds, our reaction, and I'm not saying this is necessarily a bad reaction to have. In our minds, our reaction when we see a reference to God's people is to think we're reading about us. And amen, we are God's people. We are. If you believe in Jesus Christ this morning, you are part of God's people. But that doesn't mean that that's the only application of the term in scripture. For God has not rejected his people for whom he foreknew. Or do you not know that the scripture says, In the passage about Elijah, when he pleads against God, Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have torn down your altars, and I alone am left, and they are seeking my life. Now, how are we to think about this? How are we to think about this? Well, all of the people in the passages is God's people in one sits. Elijah is also part of God's people. The people who God has preserved, verse four, are part of God's people. The divine response to Elijah was, I have kept for myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal. This is part of God's people. And you might say, okay, this is a spiritual application. This is the remnant. And yes, you're right. These are God's spiritual people. But that does not mean that there is not also a literal fleshly people who are God's people. These are the people that God himself foreknew, who God chose. who God chose, who God chose to make a covenant with, and it is by God's gracious choice. Look at verse five, in the same way then, there has come to be at the present time a remnant according to God's choice. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace. What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened. And so God has made a promise. Where did that promise begin? Look back to chapter nine. Chapter nine. Because we have to see this in context to really understand and appreciate what is being said here. He says in chapter nine, verse one, I'm telling the truth in Christ, I'm not lying. My conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit that I have a great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart, for I wish that I myself were cursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh. Paul says, I hope if it were possible that I could be cut off so that they, my kinsmen, my brothers, my sisters, my parents, my uncles, my aunts, my cousins, all of them, I would like them to come to Christ. If I could be cut off, that would be great. He's talking about something fleshly there, but of course, with a true spiritual yearning. He says, I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart, for I wish that I could be cut off, separated for the sake of my brethren, who are Israelites, verse four. To whom belongs, watch this, to whom belongs, just pause, I gotta pause there for a moment. Sorry, I gotta pause there for a moment. We're talking about unbelieving Israelites, right? The ones he hopes he could be accursed for so that they could be saved. Okay, now continuing, verse four. Israelites to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the temple service, and the promises." Did you know that unbelieving Israel still had, in Paul's day, according to Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they still had access to the promises of God? Now that's something to think about. That's something to think about. Whose fathers, verse five of chapter nine, and from whom, who are the fathers, excuse me, and, or whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is overall God blessed forever, amen. So Paul is talking about Israel, according to the flesh, having certain promises, and they're looking for something, but they haven't obtained it yet. But those who God has chosen to receive a gracious gift, those who are part of the remnant, those are the ones who have seen something the others have not. In fact, the others have been hardened, as it were, There are those who are part of a special remnant. Those are God's people. Those are God's spiritual people. Who are those people? This would include the apostles, right? The apostles Jesus chose, the ones who believed, not Judas, he hung himself. We're talking about all the others, right? Those are the ones to whom God has opened their eyes. And as they went to preach on Pentecost, 2,000 on Pentecost, they opened their eyes as well. They came to Christ. This is the remnant that is moving out among God's people. But God chose the nation of Israel, the physical nation, to be the vehicle of the covenant. Understand this, that when we talk about the spiritual people of Israel, we're talking about people who are grafted in to the promises of Abraham. The book of Galatians says that we are brought in to Abraham by faith, by faith. If you're a Gentile and you're believing in Jesus Christ, you're brought into the root, you're brought into the plant, into the olive tree, by faith, not by works, by faith, by faith. So there is a spiritual people, but God chose to work through the physical nation. Take a look back to the book of Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, the second telling of the law, chapter seven, Deuteronomy 7, verse 6. Deuteronomy 7, 6. For you, the Lord says to Israel, the people of the covenant, for you are a holy people to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. God chose them to be his people and they would have external signs. They would have circumcision. They would have external ceremonies, like Sabbath-keeping and the rest of the law. But it wasn't just about those external ceremonies. I closed it, but I can read it from my notes. If you wanted to look at Deuteronomy 10, just a couple of chapters later, Moses says it's not just about the external ceremonies, though. It's not just about the circumcision of the flesh, by the way. He says, so circumcise your heart, circumcise your heart, and stiffen your neck no longer. Chapter 10, verse 16. Deuteronomy 10 16 circumcise your heart. So he says, okay, you have been chosen. You have been taken out of the nations. You are now the, the nation of promise. Now within that nation, I want you to also become a spiritual people. So God has a physical people. And then he calls that physical people to spiritual life. We can think about it this way. There are people here at this church. You're physically here. Maybe not mentally here, but you're physically here at the very least, right? Okay, well, we are called to spiritual life. Maybe not everybody has that spiritual life in Jesus Christ. And so of the physical gathering of the people, we are called to have a spiritual life in Jesus Christ. We're called to have faith in him for the forgiveness of our sins. We're to rest in his finished work so that we can be justified from our sins so that we can have a hope of new life. In theory, that's all of us, but there may be within the physical gathering a remnant, as it were, a smaller group. That's what we see with Israel. There was the physical nation, these are God's people, but then there was a smaller group who are God's spiritual people. God's spiritual people. These are people internally following God. And it's always an act of grace, by the way, that they follow God. It's not that they follow God and so they get into God's good graces. God's grace is unmerited. It's undeserved. Verse four says, I have kept for myself. God's the one doing this. God's the one doing this. Verse five, we see that it is based on God's gracious choice, it is not of works, lest any man should boast. That's true of Old Testament Israel, that's true of the New Testament church. Verse six, we see that it is by grace no longer on the basis of works, in chapter 11 here. So those of us who are circumcised of heart, the remnant, whether we're talking Old Testament, New Testament, are this way because of God's gracious choice. It's not because you ate kosher all your life or because you didn't wear the cross-threaded garments or something like that. It's because the Lord is your God, because you have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now obviously we're beginning to consider the church here. But in Romans 11, Paul does not present it as though the church has replaced physical Israel. I want to repeat that because this is where we would differ. I consider myself somewhat reformed, but I do differ with some of the reformed brethren on this issue. The church does not replace Israel. Okay. The church is grafted in to the promises given to Israel. And so he says here, verse seven, what then? What Israel is seeking, it is not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened. So there are some within Israel who have obtained the promise, that's the remnant, and then there are some who were hardened. There are some who are unbelieving. And he goes on, verses eight through 10, to describe that hardening. It's not the believers who are hardened, it's the unbelievers. It's the unbelieving Jews. And so at that point, Paul returns to his original question. Verse 11, I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? We're not talking about the church, right? We're talking about the natural branches. We're talking about ethnic Israel, as far as the unbelievers go, as far as the unbelieving Jews go. They did not stumble so as the fall, did they? And by the way, whenever you see a question framed like that in the English, that's because in the Greek it is a question that expects a negative answer. Always expects a negative answer. Not only does he imply it by asking a question that in its grammar Expects a negative answer. He then follows it up with one of the strongest negations in the Greek language Which is translated here as may it never be And so he is saying no, it's not happening. No, they have not fallen. So it's a symbol. No, it does not work that way It does not work that way But by their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles. And then he says, to make them jealous. To make them jealous. Who? The unbelieving Jews. The unbelieving Jews. So their failure to believe opened up an opportunity for the Gentiles. And Paul explains that God is now showing grace, his riches, to people who are not Jews. because of the unbelieving brethren. Now Paul is not saying that they're always gonna be unbelieving. I mean, that's what he's saying there. They have not stumbled so as to fall. And here he is saying that there is going to be a restoration. We're gonna talk about that in just a moment. There's going to be a fulfillment for them. There's gonna be life from the dead, verse 15. That's something definitely to keep in the back of your mind, because we're gonna revisit that. What does it mean that there's gonna be life from the dead? Well, we're talking about branches being broken off. Branches that are broken off die, and yet there's gonna be life from the dead. Ooh, there's gonna be something more here. Verse 16, he also calls them holy. So God has not rejected his people according to the flesh. People wanna get around it, they wanna do mental gymnastics, they wanna say, well, the Israel that's there is not the Israel of the New Testament, of the Old Testament, it is. Think about the crazy fact that you have a people who have been displaced for some 1,900 years and they still retain much of their genetic purity. They still retain much of the traditions that they have, not that those traditions are all godly, but they maintain as a people. How is it that a people can be removed from their homeland for 1,900 years and still survive? and then come back together and reconstitute and call themselves once again Israel. That's got to be a move of God. That's got to be a move of God. God's not finished. We're going to talk about that more in just a moment. But I hope that it's clear that it is still proper to refer to natural Israel as God's people because they were always God's people and they remain God's people. Again, verse one, Paul calls them God's people. This is his people. He's talking about unbelievers when he says that. This is not true of all unbelievers. Unbelievers in the United States of America, Gentiles, are not God's people. Unbelievers in Europe who are Gentiles are not God's people. Unbelievers in Africa who are not God's people, or who are not believers are not God's people. We can go all the way around the globe. Only one nation has that designation given to them, even though they're not believers. Does that mean they get to go to heaven when they die? No, because they have to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved, but there's still something special about this people. These are not yet converted sons and daughters of the king, but they are still God's people, even being in unbelief. And so what happens to them? What happens to them being in unbelief? They get broken off, and that's where verses 17 through 24 come in, what we read a little while ago. They get broken off. That's why I said earlier, if they don't believe in the Lord Jesus, they don't go to heaven, they don't get their sins atoned for. It's not like, well, they kept Moses, they tried to keep the Sabbath laws as best as they could in a modern context. No, that's not enough. We can never do enough works to work our way into heaven. It has to be through Jesus Christ. It's not like you can say, well, I don't wanna believe in Jesus Christ, but I'm gonna convert to Judaism, and then I'll keep all the law, and then I can get to heaven that way. No, there's not a second way to heaven. There's not a back door. It's only through the Lord Jesus Christ. But that doesn't mean that we get to say that they're no longer God's people. And I'd say, well, yeah, but the majority of Israel today is made up of unbelievers. Sure. That was true of Jesus' day as well, and Paul's day. And we see how they are still being referred to. This illustrates that the people of God is not just merely a people of faith, or not just a people of faith, it's also an ethnicity here in this case. But it is also that we are a people of faith. And that's the next point I wanted to look at the grafting in of Gentile believers. We already started looking at this. So I don't need to belabor this too much. There are other branches in this tree that that have been grafted in. It is the divine gardener going out, and he has seen a wild olive tree, and he says, okay, these branches will work well where I broke off branches from the cultivated olive tree over here. And so he has taken from this tree, this wild one, this volunteer olive tree, I guess, over here. He breaks off those branches, and then he grafts them in to the cultivated olive tree. the one that is chosen for his purpose. He has taken Gentiles out of the world and he's brought them into the promises of Israel. Does that make sense? These are the Gentile believers who have been brought in by faith. And he says here that they have been grafted in among them, verse 17, meaning now they share the blessings of the covenant. Now this is a theme that Paul revisits in other letters. In fact, take a look at Ephesians two for just a moment. Ephesians chapter two, so to the right, we've got to pass the two Corinthian letters, Galatians, and then we get to Ephesians. Ephesians chapter two, Verses 11 through 13, Paul writes this. Therefore, remember they formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by the so-called circumcision. See, there's that fleshly look at it. which is performed in the flesh by human hands, remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who were formerly far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Think about that, so we were foreigners, we were the strangers, and we are brought near by the blood of Christ. We are grafted into this community, to this commonwealth. He goes on to explain that the two groups, now the believing Jews and the believing Gentiles, become one new man in Christ. Verses 14 and 15 discuss that. The Gentiles that Paul writes to in the book of Ephesians, verse 19 says, are no longer strangers and aliens, but fellow citizens with the saints and are of God's household. So God has grafted them in, or in that case, he has brought them in, he's adopted them, he has brought them into the family. We see different images that talk about the same thing. Gentiles are brought into the believing church. And they form the church. They're brought into Israel. This is a continuation of the true spiritual people that have taken root in Israel. Now, I, through a little shade, I guess, at some of our reformed brethren or towards some of our dispensational brethren. There are people who say, well, the Old Testament, that's one group of people of God, and then the New Testament, there's another group of people of God. No, when we're talking about the spiritual people of God, there's only one group. There's only one group. Why? Because there's only one way, it's through Jesus Christ. You say, well, what about all the sacrifices in the Old Testament? They didn't take away their sins. That's what the author of Hebrews argues, right? It's not through the blood of bulls and goats, it's only through the blood of Christ. So the Old Testament's saying, say, we're looking forward to Christ, just like we today are looking backward to Christ. It's like Christ is right in the middle, right? Where he should be. He's the one who holds it all together. And so there is one spiritual people of God. And here we see that the New Testament is teaching that this spiritual people now includes Gentiles with full participation in the church. It's not like when you have a Jewish Christian, that's like a super Christian, and then there's the rest of us, we're like the unleaded Christians, I guess, you know, we're not the, no, we're full participants. We're all brothers and sisters here. We're all brothers and sisters. So the root, the root is that we are brought into the promises of God through Abraham and the patriarchs, and that root supports this whole tree, both Jews and Gentile believers. And so this represents the continuity through the testaments of believers. Now, we can look at that, we can say amen, and we could probably end right there, but there's a problem with some Gentile believers. We've seen it today, I've already introduced it. Some of us get arrogant. We begin to look down our noses. Look at what he says here. Do not be arrogant. Verse 18, that's a command. Do not be arrogant toward the branches. Which branches? The ones which are broken off. Wait a minute. If I can look down my nose at anyone, I would think it's unbelievers. Nope. Nope. You don't look down your nose at other unbelievers. Your neighbor down the street, you're getting ready for church, you put on your tie or whatever it is that you put on. You don't have to wear a tie, but you get ready for church, you go to walk out the door, you see your neighbor down the street, he's starting to mow his grass. You're like, oh, pagan. No, that's not supposed to be your attitude at all, right? Should that be your attitude with unbelieving Jews? Well, obviously not. But even more so, don't become arrogant toward the branches that have been broken off. There are Christians who feel like they can demean the Jewish people today. They like to say things about the Jews taking over the world or something else. There's a warning here in this passage that we need to consider. That's actually where I'm moving next, the warning against pride. Verse 18, he says specifically, do not be arrogant. Whether Jew or Gentile, we must remember that we are all here by God's grace and God's grace alone. It's not like you're here because you're a little bit better. No, in fact, if it were up to just a fair assessment, none of us would be here. We're only here by God's grace. And so he says, remember, if you're tempted to be arrogant, he says, remember, if you are arrogant, remember that you, that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you. You have been brought into this. You have not taken over the Abrahamic covenants. You have been brought into it. Some might say, well, this is too much focus on the flesh of the promise. If we're being brought into this, it's only spiritual. But no, that's not how Paul argues here. He anticipates that. He says here, but you will say branches have been broken off so that I might be grafted in. Quite right. They were broken off for their unbelief. But you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited. But fear, for if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either. Behold then the kindness and severity of God, to those who fell, severity, but to you, God's kindness. For if you continue in his kindness, if you continue in his kindness, otherwise you will also be cut off. We should have reverence for the fact that God has broken off branches. We need to say, oh my. I need to make sure I'm continuing in what God has called me to. He can break us off too. Look at revelation. He warns the church, I will remove your lamp stand. That's just another way of saying you're going to get broken off if you don't continue in what I've called you to do. Our faith is seen in our attitude toward unbelievers, especially and even the Jewish people. We should not be engaging in anti-Semitic propaganda. Christians should not be engaging in anti-Semitic propaganda. And don't tell me, oh, lots of things get called anti-Semitic these days. You know what is true anti-Semitism. There are people who complain about a post-war consensus where supposedly the allied nations chose to all lie about Hitler. And Hitler was really the good guy somehow. He was just trying to defend his people and then it was really Churchill who wanted to create war. Listen, Hitler wrote down exactly what he thought in Mein Kampf. And you know what he said there? He wanted war. You know what he said there? We need to get rid of the Jews. He said exactly what you have been taught and he said are there just a few details that could be Massaged out sure. I'm sure that we always have a very simplistic way of telling history I'm sure there's a few details there that could be worked out but Hitler was the bad guy That shouldn't be that shouldn't be anything controversial Hitler was the bad guy If there ever was a bad guy in a war And it's not like this was a complicated thing. No, this wasn't complicated. Here's a guy who's over here murdering people by the millions. He's the bad guy, all right? We can talk about Russia and the Soviet Union too. I'm not saying they were the good guys there. But no, the rest of Europe had the right to defend itself against Hitler's onslaught. against the Nazi march across Europe. But people say, no, no, no. Listen, you're just, you're falling for it. Hitler didn't have all those concentration camps in the Holocaust. This is the Jews making all that up. Really? Because I have whole history books in my office with pictures. They have pictures of them. That makes it easy. I don't think they're making that up. Really, I don't think they're making that up. And it is just absurd to hear some of these things. And folks will say, okay, well maybe the Holocaust happened, but there are unbelieving Jews today who are in finance, who are in entertainment, who are in key sectors in the United States, and they are moving our country in a bad direction. There are some unbelieving Jews, I can see that. Just as I also will add to that, there are other unbelievers who are not Jewish who are doing the same thing. They are happy to move that direction. So let's not, let's not engage in partiality as believers. I think James has a word to say about that. We should not engage in partiality. We need to treat people with equal weights and measures. Now there's my point to theology. They just say, well, listen, we have a right to look down upon the Jews because they have rejected in their arrogance Jesus Christ. And it's true, many did reject Jesus Christ. It's true that the traditions that they built up rejected Jesus Christ. You know, the Talmud, the Jewish rabbinical writings on the Old Testament, that was in production in Jesus' day, a couple hundred years before Jesus, and they were continuing it on. After Jesus Completed his ministry on the earth. They had a lot to say about Jesus and it's not very nice. That's true and The Jews today as you witness to them if they are Talmudic Jewish individuals, they will be pretty hostile to the idea of bowing the knee to Jesus the Messiah because that is the tradition that has been passed down to them over 2,000 years. And you say, well, see, there it is right there. We should look down on them. Listen, don't all unbelievers have reasons for being unbelievers? Don't all unbelievers have reasons for being unbelievers? Some of them are unbelievers who have nice things to say about Jesus, and some of them are unbelievers who have mean things to say about Jesus, but guess what? They're all unbelievers. Do not be arrogant to the branches that have been broken off. Paul, a Jew, by the way, Paul reminds us here in Romans that they were indeed broken off for unbelief, but verses 23 and 24, and they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in. Oh, they can be grafted back in, for God is able to graft them back in again. Well, yes, there's nothing impossible with God. God can open up someone's heart, even if they've been receiving 2,000 years of tradition that Jesus isn't the Messiah. They can just suddenly say, you know what? Maybe Jesus is the Messiah. Can God do that with people? Yeah. Yeah, in fact, since they are the natural branches, there's a sense in which, of course, kind of speaking down a little bit on God, but it's almost as though it's easier for God to graft that back, graft that branch back in, because it's a natural branch. So yeah, no, we should not be looking down upon the Jewish people. That brings us to the final point. We should not become arrogant against the Jewish people because God might use us to bring them to him. And in fact, there's coming a day when most of them will come to believe. That's the future restoration of Israel. Well, some of Israel's branches were broken off. Paul makes it clear later in this chapter that God is not finished with ethnic Israel. We've already started to see this. And back in verse 12, we saw now if their transgressions were richest for the world and their failure is richest for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be? There's gonna be a fulfillment of them? Yes, yes. Verse 15, what did I say to keep in the back of your mind? Life from the dead. That's coming. That's coming. There is a future restoration. And Paul makes it clear here. Look down to verse 25. For I do not want you brethren to be uninformed of this mystery so that you will not be wise in your own estimation. Oh, we don't want that. Okay. So what's the mystery, Paul? that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. It's a partial hardening. It's partial in two ways. It's partial in one way in that only some of the Jewish people get this hardening. Paul is a Jew. All the early Christians, they were Jews. So obviously not all Jews rejected Christ. But it's partial in another way. The hardening comes to an end, and it comes to an end when the fullness of the Gentiles come in, the fullness of the Gentiles come in. At that point, the blinders come off for the unbelievers. Look at verse 26, so all Israel will be saved. I've talked to some brothers who I love, Reformed brothers, they're like, yeah, all Israel, all spiritual Israel. Yeah, yeah, sure, I agree with that. All spiritual Israel will be saved. There's coming a time when it's not just spiritual Israel, but it's also going to be the branches that were broken off. It's also going to be ethnic Israel. All Israel one day will become spiritual Israel. How wonderful will that be? We don't have to make this distinction anymore. All Israel one day will be spiritual Israel. He goes on to talk about this. Yes, there's gonna be a spiritual Israel, verses 25, 26, 27. Here it talks about the removing of their ungodliness, the taking away of their sins. But the two Israels will be saved one day. There are physical aspects to this. He continues on, verse 28. From the standpoint of the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. Now, wait a minute. Are we talking about the church? If the church has replaced Israel, or the church is just the continuation of Israel, then we're saying that some of the church is the enemy of the gospel. That doesn't make sense. We're talking about the ethnic branches that were broken off. They, yes, true, are enemies of the gospel for your sake, but From the standpoint of God's choice, they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. What? How can we hate people that God calls beloved? There are people who hate the Jews today who claim Christ. That should not be. That should not be. They are God's beloved. God has a plan for ethnic Israel. What does he say next, verse 29? For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Let me tell you something. Praise God for that. Because sometimes I sin, y'all. Right? Sometimes I sin. I'm not pointing anyone out, but I suspect And sometimes you sin too, just every once in a while. Hopefully it's not too much, but just every once in a while you sin. Are the gifts and the calling of God on your life irrevocable? I hope so. I hope so. When he says that he will keep you to the end, I hope that's true. But you know what, for ethnic Israel, the people who have rejected the Messiah, God still has a plan for them. God still has a plan for us, too. And praise God for that. Praise God for that. And Romans 11 here makes it clear that ethnic Israel is going to believe one day, and ethnic Israel is going to have a key role to play in the coming messianic kingdom. As Jesus Christ comes down and he sets up his throne, you know where he's going? He's not going to Washington, D.C. He's not going to Brussels. He's going to Jerusalem. You say, really? The people who rejected him, Jesus is going to come down and set up his kingdom there? Yes. Yes, that's the point of all this. Don't think of it as such a strange thing. Jesus will set up his kingdom one day there. And he will reign the nation. He will reign over the nations. He will rule the nations. And so ethnic Israel is going to receive something from God one day. This is all part of God's plan. It's part of God's plan for restoration. This is part of God's plan so that all Israel will be saved one day. We're gonna see that Israel one day will turn back to God in faith. Now there's a lot more that we could say with that. I even brought this up at the risk of getting into a deep eschatology discussion, but you guys have been very patient with me today up until this point, so I won't do that. Let me go ahead and start to wrap this up. There are other things we could discuss as well. Should we continue giving funding to Israel? That would be something to consider. Well, I will say this. We should be taking care of people who are in need here. And that should be our priority. If there are people here who are dying because of natural disasters and we don't have the money to give them, we should be focusing on that. But the truth is that our government is wisdom. Wastes a lot of money, including FEMA funds and everything else, and we couldn't manage our money better as a country. If we have money left over for foreign relations, I would say it is good for us to support Israel. I would say it is good. Because even if you reject the future restoration of Israel, you have to admit, They have a right as a people to live in their land in peace. And those who are attacking Israel are typically those who want to attack us too. So it is worthwhile to support them in their efforts because it helps us out in the long run. But I hope that most of all, because that is a political point to discuss and to ponder, but there's something more important I want you to consider there. Unbelieving Jewish people remain, they remain as God's beloved. I hope you see them as that as well, especially if you're going out and you're sharing the gospel. I hope you're not making cartoons about Them being long-nosed or, you know, having rat-like features, you know, scurrying away with money. I've seen lots of sick things that have been passed around. And that's just dehumanizing the people in general. It's also not the way that we should be thinking about the people that God calls his beloved. Even as unbelievers, he calls them his beloved. We need to check ourselves on that. Because I have seen Christians sharing stuff like that. Scripture says, Psalm 122, 66, pray for the peace of Jerusalem. May they prosper who love you. I think that implies where our affections should be. And I hope as you are seeing Israel bomb tunnels, to take out Hezbollah, as you see them have a response to Iran's missile attacks on their civilian population. I hope that you see, yes, they have a right to do that. Because they are God's people. But I hope also that you see the importance of faith in God. because this is a temporary life. Whatever happens in the next few weeks, that is nothing in comparison to what happens in eternity. If the promises of God are irrevocable, then that means that when he says, if you call upon the name of the Lord and be saved, he means that to you as well. You who struggle with your sin, you who realize that you have not always obeyed the Lord of creation, know that He can save you, and He can save you to the uttermost. If He can have such a loving devotion to people who so often spurn Him in His ways, He can have a loving devotion to you too, right? And so I hope that you see that you can trust in the Lord Jesus Christ if you have not done so, and you can be saved as well. And you can know that your salvation is safe and secure in him until the day when it is revealed. You don't have to fear closing your eyes and seeing the Lord Jesus. You can know that you will be well received because of your faith and trust in the Messiah of Israel.