All right, let's take our Bibles and go to John chapter 15. John chapter 15. I have a lot of verses on the screen because I have a lot of verses. And if you want a handout of this, you know, a copy of the verses, I'll give them to you later. This is being recorded, so you should be able to obtain the recording of it if you'd like. I know that what I'm gonna tell you is big, important stuff, and I'm only nervous because I wish I was better at telling it to you. And so I would just ask that you would listen fast while I talk fast, and that you would just allow the Lord to help you to concentrate on this and to think about what's being said in the verses that are being used. This is a huge deal, and it's a very misunderstood doctrine has to do with one of the questions that were asked me recently concerning the subject of Israel and Jews and things like that. I've written a book just recently and I really recommend you read it whether you borrow it and read it or buy it. That's not the point. It's not about selling the book but It's much easier for me to write a book than it is to try to explain it to people because it's so deep. But I'm going to do my best to answer a question that I think more than one of you have about this. And I think it will help to at least get the ball rolling. And so let's just pray and then we'll go on and we'll start in John 15. And I've got some verses behind me after that. You can go to Isaiah chapter five after we're done with John 15. But let's pray first. Lord, we thank you for the Bible, and we thank you that we have the Word. Help us to hear from the Word through the Spirit. Help us to allow your Word to speak to our hearts and minds, we ask, and that you would use your Word to explain your Word, and that I would just be a useful tool in that direction, we ask in Jesus' name, amen. The question had to do with, I'll tell it to you when we get there, all right? But yeah, I was asked a question about this and so we're looking at it tonight. Two situations here. We have on one hand, you know this especially in certain parts of America and around the world, you have a religious person, someone who would call themselves a Christian denomination or whatever, and they come across this young person down the streets of New York City and this young person might have a little round cap on their head or or they might be a little older, and they might have a box tied to their forehead, or something like that, and the Christian with their nose in the air, the quote-unquote Christian, I don't believe real Christian, but the quote-unquote Christian, looks down their nose and says, get out of here, you dirty little Jew, or you kike, or something like that. Then on the other hand you have the Christian who is totally opposite of that other Christian but instead when they see the Jew they see them as someone special, someone extra special, someone that is Beloved of God and chosen of God and and they almost fell down on their knees and they almost Do obeisance to them. They just they talk about them. How wonderful are you're the chosen people of God sort of type of a thing? Guess which one of those two individuals I'm opposed to both They're both wrong. I'm opposed to both Both of them are anti-semitic on one hand you have the hateful spiteful who are giving a bad name to the Lord Jesus Christ. On the other hand, you have people who are basically telling them, you're fine as you is, and you don't need born again. When I went to Israel last year, I was told after we got there, don't hand out tracts, you'll just upset people. Guess what I did? I handed out tracks. I didn't try to upset people, but every time we left the place we stayed, I left a track on the pillow after I made the bed very nicely. I left a track on the pillow. Who is Israel? Not you, dirty, rotten, whatever. No. Just who is Israel? Or who is the Messiah? That's what it was. Who is the Messiah? and with Bible verses inside. And we were on the train in the middle of the city, and there was a young man, I think his name was Matthias, and we were talking to him for a while, and the guys, we were very cordial, and we just, you know, not all of them, but I pulled out and said, here. And the other guys, you're not supposed to do that. What do you mean I'm not supposed to? I have a higher mandate than whoever told me not to do it. Preach the gospel to every creature, correct? And so understand that I'm opposed to both camps, opposed to both sides, because both of them are anti... You say, how can these people be anti? Because if they're telling them that they don't need Jesus, that after the rapture, then they'll... What if there isn't an afterwards after the rapture? What if it's a big lie? What if they're telling them and setting them up not for Christ but for the Antichrist, the false Messiah that is to come? I think that there's a doctrine that is being swallowed by sincere Bible believers that is actually damning a whole group of people to hell. There's a guy named John Hagee, he's not a stripe that we are of any kind, but he said this, it was in the Houston paper, Chronicle, years ago. He said, it is high time for people to quit trying to evangelize the Jew and get them to join their Baptist church down the street. And yet he has a ministry called Christians United for Israel. Excuse me. He also said, we are not trying to proselytize them or to make them Christian. Then you don't have a ministry. You don't have a Bible-believing ministry if you're not trying to proselytize them. I want to go on record tonight, right now, as saying that if we can find a bible-believing christian who is a called missionary to the jewish people whether it's in jerusalem israel or anywhere we will gladly support them as long as we know that they are not worshipping them or treating them or have the attitude that i'm only called to the jews and so i'm gonna just walk right on by the chinese and the italians no no no preach the gospel to who? Every creature. And so we should understand that a missionary should not be called to a certain ethnic people. They should be called to a location and reach all the people that they're surrounded by. That's how a missionary should think. And so I found one family, but when I emailed them, they said that their support was fine. And they gave me a name of someone else, but that person has not responded to my email. I would love, whether it's Jew or Gentile, and really I don't think there even is a difference anymore, I would love to support anyone in the Middle East, to reaching people with the gospel, but not humanitarian aid. Not just patting them on the back and tell them they're wonderful the way they are. No, preaching the gospel, using the word of God, and clever ways of getting the gospel into those people. And I'll show you the testimony of a Jewish man before we leave tonight, but I got a lot, so let's get started. John chapter 15 and verse one. I am the true vine and my father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit He taketh away, and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine. No more can ye except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered. And men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. if you abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you." When I was a teenager I was reading that and I thought, well it almost sounds like you can start abiding in Jesus and then you can kind of stop and lose your salvation and end up thrown in the fire. And it bothered me to read that until, because I've always been taught eternal security, once saved always saved, so what is he saying here? What's he talking about? And unfortunately a lot of times when we read the Bible we tend to forget who It's written to who it's talking about, the context of it, who he was talking to when he said these words, and also comparing Scripture with Scripture. Psalm 80 verse 8 is right above me. It says, Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt. Thou hast cast out the heathen and planted it. God brought a vine out of Egypt. Out of Egypt have I called my son, the Bible says, and planted it in the promised land. God planted a vineyard. Look with me in Isaiah chapter number 5. Isaiah chapter 5. I have verse seven behind me but not the whole thing so Isaiah five and verse one now will I sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard my well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill and he fenced it and gathered out the stones thereof and planted it with the choicest vine and built and planted it with the choicest vine and built a tower in the midst of it and also made a wine press therein and he looked that it should bring forth grapes and it brought forth wild grains. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard, what could have been more to my vineyard than I have not done in it? Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes, and now go to, I will tell thee what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up. and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down. And I will lay it waste, it shall not be pruned nor digged, but there shall come up briars and thorns, and I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant. And look for judgment, but behold oppression, and for righteousness, but behold a cry." That last verse says something interesting. The vineyard is the house of Israel. and the men of Judah his pleasant plant. The vineyard started going sour. Instead of south it went north. I'll explain that in a minute. Israel split. The northern kingdom and the southern kingdom used to be one house of Israel, but they split after the days of Solomon and Rehoboam, and during his time they split into two groups. The majority was the ten tribes, and they were considered the northern kingdom. And they were still called Israel. Although they were far from the Lord, and they never really did have a good king, they were known as Israel. and Isaiah refers to them as the whole vineyard the whole thing was the vineyard Israel was the vineyard but southern kingdom was basically two tribes Judah and Benjamin and uh... there were some others in there but basically Judah is the main tribe of of the southern kingdom and that's why it says Judah the men of Judah my pleasant plant alright so within a vineyard of course you have several plants but apparently he's saying here that the whole vineyard is falling apart, but my pleasant plant is still intact, but the vineyard itself has been destroyed or is dispersed. And this is a picture here, and of course, Isaiah when he's writing this everyone who's living at that time understands and can see the visual picture here It's harder for us to to see it It's been thousands of years since and we're not as close to it and it's not as local in our Minds and our thinking and there are some people in here that you haven't gone to Sunday school. You didn't grow up with it So you don't have as much maybe as the information but if you if you just go on mr. Pryor's or mrs. Adams or Charts in their wall up on top. You see the timeline of Bible history and you'll see in about 722 BC that all of a sudden Israel, the northern kingdoms, they're done. And the first mention of Jew in the Bible is not until after the split. It's not until after the days of Rehoboam. It's in 2 Kings chapter number 16. A lot of times, unfortunately, when we say Jew, we think Israel, but technically speaking, Jew was referring to the southern kingdom, the Judah people, Jew, all right? And the word Jew came only after the split between the two kingdoms. The Jew refers to the southern kingdom, the two tribes basically, Judah and Benjamin. And 2nd Kings 17.6 explains the northern kingdom became the ten lost tribes. The Assyrians came in, they took them captive, they took them and they dispersed them and they assimilated them, meaning that they purposely intermarried them, and they became a mixed multitude. And that's why they were called lost. They're lost. They're not intact. Of course, you have the Samaritans during the time of Christ, and they were also a mixed race as well. but they're lost, they're not of the pedigree, they can't prove their lineage from Abraham on down. And so the northern tribes, lost is what you hear them referred to. Judah remained to fulfill the promise seed. See, God wouldn't allow Judah to be lost, physically speaking, God wouldn't allow Judah and the southern kingdom, the Jews ultimately, to be completely decimated and assimilated. Why? Because Jesus was promised to come through the lineage of David who was of the tribe of Judah. And that is the reason why God's, the apple of God's eye was on those people. Because of the seed singular. that was to come. And after He came, the Word of God says, don't pay attention to endless genealogies anymore. Because the lineage was only to Christ, and the last lineage you read in the Bible is His. So the remaining two tribes and some other remnants that trickled down from the north, from the lost tribes, were known as the Jews. And they did their best to practice the word. I think there were some Levites there. I believe John the Baptist's parents both were of the tribe of Levi, and they still could trace their lineage back. And he was in the temple when the angels told him to name him John and not something else. But that's who were on the scene when Jesus came to earth. That's who it was that was here, the Jews, basically the southern kingdom. The pleasant plant was all that was remaining from the original vineyard that had been planted out of Egypt, the choicest vine that God originally had planted. So Judah was the pleasant plant that was left of that original vineyard, but look at Jeremiah chapter 2 with me, Jeremiah chapter 2. Jeremiah prophesied during the time of Judah. You can look on the chart in their Sunday school rooms, you'll see that Jeremiah's time was mainly, and his focus, was towards the people of Judah, right before Nebuchadnezzar came and captured Judah, the southern kingdom. Verse 21 of Jeremiah 2, Yet I have planted thee a noble vine, holy right seed, How then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me? For though thou wash thee with nitre, even if you took nitre and washed yourself, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord God. God is referring now to even their vine as degenerate and strange. In other words, most of them were not even truly following him anymore. Thus, When Jesus comes on the scene, he says to them, if you abide in me, otherwise you're just a branch. If the branch doesn't abide in the vine, he's talking to the nation of Jews there and he's saying, if you abide in me and my words abide in you, for without me you can do nothing. You know, Abraham rejoiced to see Jesus' day, and Abraham abided in the true vine, but if you're not abiding in him, you're gonna be cast away. Thus, John 15. I no longer am puzzled why he used the vine and branches illustration, because now I realize that he's talking to people who ought to know their own history about being a vineyard. They ought to know their own history about being a pleasant plant. They don't understand what he's telling them. And I think they did understand. He gets even a little more detailed in Matthew chapter 21. And I'd like for Ron to read Mark chapter 12 in just a minute. But Matthew chapter 21. Matthew chapter 21. We're going to basically read the same parable three different places concerning Vineyard. Matthew 21 and verse 33. Here they're another parable. There was a certain householder which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and led it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. And again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did unto them likewise. But last of all, he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, and they cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. When the Lord, therefore, of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits of their season. And Jesus saith unto them, Did ye ever read the scriptures, the stone which the builders rejected? The same has become the head of the corner, and this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. Therefore say I unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. Let me read verse 43 again. Therefore say I unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof. Verse 45. And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parable, they perceived that he spake of them. But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet." I'm going to ask Mr. Spear to read Mark 12 and ask Mr. Adams to read Luke 20 in just a minute. Luke 20, verse 9. All right, we'll stop there. And then John chapter 8. If you go to John chapter 8, You see Jesus talking to some Jews, and we're not going to read all of it, but just 33, they answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and we're never in bondage to any man. How sayest thou, ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily I say unto you, whosoever commit a sin is a servant of sin, and the servant abideth not in the house forever, but the son abideth forever. If the son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. I know that you are Abraham's seed, and let me just say, physically, But you seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you. I speak that which I have seen with my father, and you do that which you have seen with your father. They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, if you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham, but now you seek to kill me. And by the way, and we'll see in a minute, he means if you were Abraham's spiritual children, you would do the works of Abraham that he did spiritually. Now you seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth which I have heard of God. This did not Abraham. You do the deeds of your father. They said unto him, we be not born of fornication. We have one father, even God. Jesus saying to them if God were your father you would love me for I proceeded forth and came from God neither came I of myself but he sent me why do you not understand my speech even because you cannot hear my word ye are of your father the devil and the lust of your father you will do he was a murderer from the beginning and a boat not the truth because there is no truth in him when you speak of the lie he speak of it of his own for he is a liar and a father of it because I tell you the truth you believe me Not. And we'll stop there, but in the end they wanted to stone him. He's saying, you're not who you think you are. Your physical pedigree is not what makes you a child of God. You might physically be a child of Abraham. but you are degenerate, you are a degenerate plant, you are a strange plant unto me. And physically speaking, they were intact for the elect's sake. And who is the elect? Jesus Christ and everyone who is in Jesus Christ. So physically they were intact, but spiritually, the majority of them, not all of them, obviously not all of them, because James and John and Matthew, they were Jews, but they got saved. And so not all of them, but certainly not all of them, because we have a New Testament written by Jews practically, all of it. And yet, that's what the message was to them at that time. So, here's the question, and so all Israel shall be saved, Romans 11, 26. You are wrong, pastor, because the Bible says all Israel shall be saved. Well, you can't cherry-pick a verse out of some middle of the context. You have to go back and read the whole thing. And I'm not blaming anybody in here of cherry-picking. I'm just telling you that even if you had a pastor that taught it this way, he got it from a professor at a school that was taught that, from a school that taught that, from a school that taught that, and it goes all the way back to about a hundred years ago or so. That can't possibly mean what people are trying to say it means, that all Israel shall be saved, because there are certainly some Israelites that were not saved. Even in past, you know, I mean Judah, Judas. And the Bible calls him the son of perdition. Judas refers to him, you know, one of you has a devil. You know, and no, all Israel cannot be saved. That's not what it's saying physically. We have to understand who Israel is, and so let's talk about that for a little bit. Romans 11 is in the context of Romans 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. Obviously, it's in the context of Romans, and so we need to see it that way. But before we get there, let's just look at some other things. A physical Israel versus a spiritual Israel. The true Israel of God is not the physical one. The physical one was simply leading up and an illustration of the true Israel. The true Israel of God and the Word of God is indicated and alluded to, and we can see that this is the direction God is headed, and in the end, the spiritual is the real, not the physical. The physical illustrates the spiritual, and we'll show you that. In some of these verses, this is just some examples. John 1, verse 46 and 47, someone brings Nathanael to meet Jesus. And Jesus says, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile. An Israelite indeed. Why would he say an Israelite indeed versus an Israelite? Did he mean because Nathanael carries papers? No, because Nathanael wasn't just born in a Jewish family. Nathanael was spiritually an Israelite indeed. We'll keep going. 1 Corinthians chapter 10. It says, Paul is talking, he says, behold Israel after the flesh. And I wrote in my margin, in other words, there's another kind of Israel that we could behold? In other words, behold, take a look at Israel after the flesh. In other words, take a look at the Israel, the fleshly Israel. In other words, there's another kind of Israel. Alluded as well. Go with me to Galatians chapter three and see these verses in Galatians chapter three. Galatians is a book that certain people just stay away from because it's so, it reveals so much that they don't want to talk about. Galatians 3 and verse number 7, we're just going to pick some verses out of here because of time, but you can read it all in context and find it to say the same thing I'm telling you. Galatians 3.7, know you therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. Verse 14, that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Verse 26, For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ and put on Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek. there is neither male nor female, there is neither bond or free, excuse me, bond or free, male or female, for you're all one in Christ Jesus, and if you be Christ, then are you Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. Chapter four talks about some more of this, but we'll go back to chapter four later. Now let's go to Romans, where the context of Romans 11's at. So let's go to the book, Romans. Romans chapter two. Romans chapter 2 and verse number 28, For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God. With your finger in Romans chapter three, go to Philippians chapter two for just a moment. By the way, Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness. And that was when Abraham was about 75 years old or so. But the Bible says that Abraham didn't get circumcised until he was about 100 years old. So it's not circumcision. that makes someone a believer or a Jew inwardly, maybe outwardly, but not inwardly. Philippians chapter two, uh-oh, chapter three. Philippians chapter three and verse two. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision, for we are the circumcision. which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh." That's a weird word. Beware of the concision. In other words, beware of the outwardly circumcised but not inwardly circumcised as it says back in Romans chapter 2. And then he goes on to say, because if anyone could have confidence in the flesh, it's me, Paul. I was of the stock of Israel, tribe of Benjamin, which is part of the tribe of Judah. I'm a Jew. A Hebrew of the Hebrews touching the law, Pharisee, as far as confidence in the flesh, man, I can trace it all the way back to Abraham. But that's not what makes me a believer in Jesus Christ or a child of God. Beware of the concision. Now back to Romans chapter 3, verse 22. Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe, for there is no difference. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. I think I saw that verse in Mrs. Adams' classroom today. that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also the God of the Gentiles? Also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, seeing it is one God which shall justify the circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision through faith. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid. Yeah, we establish the law. In other words, they're saved and it doesn't matter if they're Jew or Gentile. There's no difference. It just doesn't matter. They're all saved by grace through faith all the same way. Then Romans chapter 9 verse 6. We're going to jump ahead for the sake of time. We could read every chapter and it wouldn't matter, but Romans chapter 9 and verse 6. We're going to jump right in the middle of this chapter and go back and look at it in its context. Now there's a pretty obvious verse there. They're not all Israel which are of Israel. They're not all spiritually Israel which are physically descended of a group of people called Israelites or Jews. They're not all Israel which are of Israel. So let's stop right here and take out our songbook, because we sing these songs. Let's go to number 229. 229. We sing these songs and we believe that our songs are Bible-based, so let's just see what we sing. 229. O come, O come, Emmanuel. By the way, I found out that even though maybe it was compiled in the 1800s, this song actually has tradition that goes back 800 years. O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel. that mourns in lonely exile here until 1948 when they get their own land. Rejoice! No, that's not what it says. The songwriters had an advantage over us. They weren't confused with a physical Israel that they see on TV. They believed that Israel was simply people who get saved. Until the son of God appear, not a physical inheritance of a land that's now being fought over and exploding people everywhere and bombs going off and $4 million a year from, no, $4 billion a year from America gets dumped into it. That's not what it was. $11 million a day. I told you last week or the week before it was 8 million. It's 11. It jumped up per day. We have a goofy foreign policy because we've had a goofy theology that influences sincere Americans who put pressure on their politicians to be nice to a physical group of people, when even if we are nice, and even if we spend $11 million every day on them, if they don't trust in Jesus Christ, they're gonna burn in hell. It's horribly wicked. Go back to hymn number 12. Hymn number 12. You look down at the bottom. The words were written in the 1700s. All hail the power of Jesus' name. Second verse. Ye chosen seed of Israel's race, ye ransom from the fall, ye ransom from... Hail Him who saved you by His grace. Listen, the chosen seed of Israel's race. Israel. Not a physical group of people. In the 1700s they weren't even thinking of a physical group of people. They were thinking spiritually. You'll find as you read different and pay attention to the hymns of the old hymns, the old hymns, you'll find that their doctrine is different. They're thinking about Israel's different. But we're carnal, we're human beings, and we tend to get mesmerized by what we can see. And after the 1940s, a physical Israel captivated our attention, and we stopped believing what our Bible was telling us. And it was easy to calm the Christian, it was easy to calm the churches, because it looks so realistic, it looks so authentic. So back to what we're talking about in the book of Romans. Romans 8-12. Notice Paul's use of the pronouns like we and us throughout these chapters. And we're not going to read every verse of every chapter for the sake of time, but Romans talks about being adopted Verse 15, we have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Notice the pronouns we and us throughout this passage and how that Paul is referring to we. Verse 28, we know that all things work together for good. And verse 31, what shall we then say to these things of God before us who can be against us? And who shall allay anything against the charge of God's elect in verse 33? Who is he that condemneth, verse 34, it is Christ the dead, yea rather it is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Us, us, we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. And in all these things, verse 37, we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. We, us, we, us, we, us. The context, he's writing to a certain group of people and he's including himself. I, Paul, you people, us, we. Who is he talking to? Save people. He's talking to Christians. There's no doubt about it. By the way, you don't ever meet a Jew named Paul. They don't like Paul. But wasn't Paul a Jew? He was a Hebrew of the Hebrews. They hate this guy. This guy was raised in the Word of God, but like a Catholic, he was still lost. But when he got saved, all that knowledge could get plugged into the right thinking. And he was able to explain the Old Testament and take and interweave it with the present day and the future. And God used him greatly and he's certainly an enemy of Judaism. But let's go back to what we're talking about, chapter nine. I say the truth in Christ, I lie not. My conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh. Now, which brethren is he talking about now? Physical brethren. He explains that in detail. My kinsmen according to the flesh. Not you, not us, not we anymore. He's talking about them. who are Israelites physically, to whom pertains the adoption, the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises, whose are the fathers, and of whom is concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is overall God blessed forever, amen. So he says, I wish I could be counted accursed for their sake. But then he stops and he says, but not as though the word of God had taken none effect. Not as though the word of God, he's not kept his promise. Not as though the word of God has failed because I also understand that they are not all Israel which are of Israel. In other words, they're not counted physically, they're counted spiritually. So he's not despairing, he's not ashamed or afraid or upset or mad at God for breaking his promise, no. He says in verse 7, neither because they are the seed of Abraham physically are they all children, but in Isaac shall thy seed be called. And what he means by that is, that is they which are the children of the flesh. These are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. He said that Isaac is an example of being a child of promise versus Ishmael, which is a child of the flesh. You say, pastor, you're stretching it, you're filling in the blanks there. No, I'm not, because he said it in Galatians. Compare it with Galatians chapter four. Let's just look at it. Galatians chapter four, keep your finger in Romans chapter nine. Galatians chapter four and verse 22. For it is written, this is Paul still, for it is written that Abraham had two sons, The one by a bondmaid, the other by a free woman. But he was of the bondwoman, was born after the flesh. But he of the free woman was by promise. Which things are an allegory. In other words, they're a picture. They're demonstrating something. They're a real living person. But they are also a teaching tool. They're an object lesson of something deeper, and actually a more real meaning. So they're an allegory. For these are the two covenants. The one, in other words, these two sons represent two covenants. The one from Mount Sinai, the law, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem, which now is, and is in bondage with her children. This physical child, Ishmael, represents the Jerusalem that now is. Oh, don't say that to them. You'd start telling the Jew that they're representing... That's why they don't ever name their kids Paul. We're not of Ishmael. We're of Abraham. Ishmael is a type of you physically, the Jerusalem that now is, and is in bondage with her children. But, verse 26, the Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. What does that mean? Well, does the Bible talk about a new Jerusalem? Does the Bible talk about a new Jerusalem? And is it just a coincidence that it happens to be towards the very end of the Bible? No, because that's the one we should be looking forward to. The mother of us all. In other words, the real birthed children are born from above. Verse 26, but Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice thou barren that bearest not, break forth and cry thou that travailest not. For the desolate hath many more children than she which hath a husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. We, brethren, Talking about the Christian, as Isaac was, are the children of promise, but as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit, even so it is now. So back to what we're saying in Romans chapter nine, verse eight, the children of promise are counted for the seed. For this is the word of promise that at this time will I come and Sarah shall have a son. Not only this, but when Rebekah also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac, children being not yet born, either having done any good or evil, for the purpose of God, according to the election, might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger. Just like Ishmael was older than Isaac, Esau was older than Jacob. The purpose is showing that the natural, the firstborn, is not necessarily the heir. The original firstborn, physical firstborn is not necessarily the heir. I think that picture there becomes obvious. We see this and we read through chapter 9 and we see again still Paul is using us and we. So we get to verse 24. Romans chapter 9 verse 24. Even us. talking to the brethren, not talking about Jews, but talking about Christians. Paul himself and all the other believers, even us whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also the Gentiles. As he saith also in OC, and who is OC? That's the transliterated word Hosea. He's quoting from Hosea. As he saith also in Hosea, I will call them my people which were not my people, and her blood which was not beloved. It shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them, ye are not my people, there shall they be called the children of the living God." Let's stop and see what he's saying here. We need to go back to Hosea. Keep our finger in Romans chapter 9 and go back to Hosea chapter 1 and chapter 2. Hosea chapter 1. Hosea is being taught a physical example, another allegory if you will. It says in verse 6, and she conceived again and bear a daughter and God said unto him, call her name Loruama. For I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel. Who is the house of Israel? The ten lost tribes? I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel, but I will utterly take them away. But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the Lord their God. I will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen. Now when she had weaned Lerumah, she conceived and bare a son, and then said, God, call his name Luamai. Lo, am I, for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God. Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered. And it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them, ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, ye are the sons of the living God. Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together. There's going to be a gathering back together. And appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land, and for great shall be the day of Jezreel. Very strange, but it's picturing the two houses of Israel now. It's picturing the ten lost tribes, and they are not my people. I will not show them mercy. They are no more. They're gone, but I will have mercy on Judah, and I will show them mercy, and I will save them. This is what it means when it says, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. Jews would have first access to the gospel, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. To the Jew first and also to the Greek. Eventually though, Paul said in the book of Acts, I've shaken the dust off my feet and from here on I'm going to the Gentiles. But he was going to the Jews first. The gospel was given to them, presented to them. through Peter's preaching and the tongues that took place Jews from all across the globe heard the gospel that's what tongues was about was the Jewish people and that spread throughout the land but it wasn't just for the Jews. Acts chapter 10 shows that the gospel was for the Gentiles as well and they could become a part of the church. They were also welcoming to the family of God. Years ago we had a missionary come through here and he said to the Jew first, to the Jew first, we shouldn't even be preaching the gospel to anybody else until we've reached the Jew first. What did you just say? Come on, mister. We need to preach the gospel to every creature. But God made sure that he did give the gospel to the Jew first and that they received, but they did reject it. And he said, as a hen would gather her chicks and you would not. And he said, your house is left unto you desolate, but let's not leave Hosea yet. Because when Paul quoted Hosea, he wasn't just quoting In general, he was quoting a specific verse in chapter 2, verse 23. Now, Leruamah represented the house of Israel, which God will not have any more mercy on, chapter 1, verse 6. But now, chapter 2, verse 23, notice what it says. And I will sow her unto me in the earth, and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy. And I will say to them which are not my people, thou art my people, and they shall say, thou art my God. I will not forsake them forever. They stopped abiding in me. They became a dead branch. This branch came off of my plum tree out in my yard. I walked out in the yard, and I saw these branches laying out there, and here's this one laying out there. I think the wind knocked some of them off. Some of them might have been pruned from last year because they were dead, but this branch used to be a part of a plum tree, and had this branch kept growing and kept maturing, it might have produced plums. Ha ha. But how many of you would vote it's dead today? It's dead. Only God could take a dead branch and make it alive again. Now this verse, Hosea 2.23, is what Paul was quoting in Romans 9.24, but before you flip there, Who was he talking? Who did he say? I will say to them, thou are not my people. Thou are not my people. And I will say that thou are not my God. But then it says in chapter two, verse 23, I will say to them that they are my people and I will be their God. He's talking about the people of Israel. He said it back in chapter one, verse six, that they were no longer be a people, but now he's giving opportunity to them to be a people again. Look at what it says back in Romans chapter nine, verse 24. I want to show you what Paul did. Romans 9.24, even us whom he hath called, even us whom he hath called, Christians, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. For he saith also in Hosea, I will call them my people, which were not my people, and her blood, which was not beloved. It shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them, ye are not my people, there shall they be called the children of the living God. You know what Paul is saying here? He's saying the Jews, even in his day, still could prove their pedigree. But the Gentiles were the people that were not a people. What did Israel become? The northern 10 tribes that became assimilated into the world. And if they became assimilated into the world, what would they be? They would be Gentiles. if they lost their pedigree, they're not Jews, so if you're not a Jew, you're a Gentile. So what is Paul saying here? He's saying that God is not just going to be calling the Jews, but He will call the Gentiles, and that's why he says, even though you were lost, even though you were lost, amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a Gentile like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found, was blind, but now I see. I believe with all my heart that the DNA of Abraham is probably in everyone's bloodstream in this room. Because if you watch that video that they did, the DNA of people from, we funnel back and we funnel back. How many wives did Abraham have? He had more than just Sarah and Hagar, he had several. And how many wives did David have? And how many wives did Solomon have? I mean, the DNA of the descendants of Abraham, I believe it's probably in all of us, and I don't even care to prove it or not. That's not the point. The point is that God is not being unfaithful to his promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. There will be a remnant, and he will reach to the lost, to the Jews, and also to the Gentiles, to the southern kingdom, and also to the lost tribes. They're lost, but God still knows where they are. And if they're intermixed among, no wonder Jesus said, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Because all the world contains the DNA that needs to be saved. I mean, they're all needed to be reached. They're all needing to be brought into the fold. Will they all be saved? Of course not. But the saved will be called the children of Abraham, the Bible says. So, chapter 10. Romans chapter 10. Brethren, who's he talking to there? The Christian. Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, and who is Israel? His physical brethren. His physical kin. But spiritually, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer is that they will be saved, for they have, I bear them record, they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge, for they, being ignorant of God's righteousness, going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. They just don't understand. But then it goes down and it says here in verse 9, that thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, real righteousness, his righteousness, and with the mouth confessions made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, whosoever believeth in him shall not be ashamed, for there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek. For the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Stop paying attention to endless genealogies and just preach the gospel to every creature and don't treat one any better than the other. It doesn't matter if they're a Muslim or a Jew, we should be polite and kind to them and reach them with the gospel, not blow up some of them and pamper the other side. But they blow us up. I would argue that. Because if I was a Jew and I wanted you guys to fight, I'd dress up like one of them and bomb you and then make you mad at them. Don't doubt that happens. It does happen. Let's not get off on that rabbit trail. Stop sending one side money and sending the other side bombs. Let's send them the gospel. That's what we're supposed to do. Preach the gospel to every creature. That's what we're supposed to be doing. Stop picking sides. No wonder one side doesn't like us. No wonder one side keeps talking about Christians and Jews, Christians and Jews, because all they can see is Christians and Jews standing together in arms in arms. And they're like, these guys aren't Christian. What makes you? Ooh, I know Baptist preachers that went over to Israel, took out a Sharpie and signed the name on the missiles headed to Iran and Iraq. I wanna tell you something right now. I don't ever want any Muslim to associate me with that Baptist preacher. We're supposed to preach the gospel to every creature. Not getting a carnal fight, we're not wrestling against flesh and blood. Are we? American politics are messed up. And Christians have gotten in the middle of it. We're so goofy, we're voting for, we're all excited about a guy with his hairspray hair and his third wife who poses nude, and we think that that's gonna fix something. We are messed up. All right, get off that for a minute. He's still talking to brethren. In fact, chapter 12 verse 1, I beseech you therefore brethren, he's still talking to Christian brethren. So obviously chapter 11 is still in the same context. We're still in the context. And so Paul was not just a negative guy, he was also a positive guy. And he says that the lost tribes are Gentiles, and the Gentiles are being saved. And Paul himself was a Jew, he was not a Gentile physically. But he kept saying us, as if Jews and Gentiles were now the same family of God. And so being graphed in, being graphed in. He warns us, and he says, out of hope and love and optimism for the Jewish people who are still unsaved, that some of them will get saved, or they can get saved. Don't think they can't, and please don't treat them dirty and ugly. And so he starts to preach to that one side I was talking about at the beginning of my message, who was calling them kikes and spitting on them and saying nasty things about them and derogatory things. Don't you do that. They were the originals. So it says here, verse 15, For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall be the receiving of them but life from the dead? If they got saved, it would be like life from the dead. For if the first fruit be holy, the lump is also holy. And if the root be holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree, boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. You're not, you have nothing to boast. The only reason why you are grafted into the tree is because of the vine who gives you the life. Verse 19, thou wilt say then the branches were broken off that I might be grafted in well. Because of unbelief they were broken off and thou standest by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear. For if God spare not the natural branches, the Jews, take heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God on them which fell. Severity, but toward thee goodness. If thou continue in his goodness, otherwise thou also shall be cut off. And let me just stop right there for a minute and say, that there are people in religions today that agree with what I'm telling you. But they're as dead as a doornail. I talked to a Catholic man in this town, and I said, I don't believe that the Catholic Church is the whore of Babylon. He said, neither do I. We're taught that it's Israel. And I said, I would agree with that physically, the unregenerate and spiritual Israel. Physically speaking, I would agree with you. But I don't think that Catholic man is saved because he has the correct information about that. And here's what I'm telling you, Catholics, Lutherans, Martin Luther wrote a book called The Jews and Their Lies. I don't wanna write a book called The Jews and Their Lies. We're supposed to preach the gospel to every creature. But I will write a book called Who is Israel? Because you know who needs to know who Israel is? This book would be good for an honest Muslim to read. It would be good for an honest Jew to read. It would be good for an honest Protestant to read. It would be good for an honest Catholic to read. Because in the end I point to who the original Israel is. And who is allowed to be called Israel are they who are in Christ the same are the children of Abraham. the Gospels in here, and it's because the desire is to reach them. And my heart goes out because I know that, especially over in the Middle East, these people are angry, and they're upset, and they assume that all Christians in America are taking sides with this other side that they're fighting with. And I just want to say, I'm not taking either side. I just want to point you to Jesus. But at the same time, I believe the Scriptures tell us that there is a whore coming. and the whore is going to be great and wonderful and everything, but she will be the whore, and she is anti-Christ. And if I lived on a desert island, and I never had the news, and I never had one commentary, and I never had one book in the library except for the Bible itself, I could figure out who the whore was. And you know why people can't see it clearly? because the carnal mindedness causes us to say, as they used to say 500 years ago, it's the Pope, it's the Pope, he's the Antichrist. The Geneva Bible notes said the Pope was the Antichrist. And so for years, I mean, you used to hear it on the radio and all the time, and even lately, David Jeremiah and others, they believe the Catholic Church is the Antichrist, the Catholic Church is the horror Bible, it's the horror, because it came from the Schofield Reference Bible. and the teaching of the Dallas Theological Seminary and places like that. Now lately with all the bombings and terrorism and stuff like that and the whore and the, it's the Muslims, it's them, it's them, and other people are saying, it's America, America, and I can see why they would go. But if I lived on a desert island and I never had one newspaper, I could still read the word of God and come up with one conclusion. And if you think about it, God's not telling us that we have to know the current news to get it. He's just telling us to know what the Bible says. But just because I believe that doesn't mean I'm anti-Semitic. I'm not anti-anybody. They all need to be saved and the only ones that will be lost are those who reject Jesus Christ and in the end it won't matter what ethnic background they are. They need to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. Jew, Gentile, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, or Samoan. So Paul says to the denominational established religions, don't you think that just because you understand this that you get to keep it? Because you look at most of the denominations in America and they're dead as a doornail. They're just as dead as the Jews are. They have a form of godliness to it, but they deny the power thereof. So Paul warns us in verse 23, And they also, talking about the Jews, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in. For God is able to graft them in again. By the way, only God is able. No husbandman would tell you, if I said, sir, I'd like to regrow this. Mr. Pryor, dude, burn it, it's done. It's toast. Can my God do the impossible? When the story of the prodigal son ends. And by the way, a prodigal son's another one of those passages that's puzzling because they're both sons, but he's lost and now he's found. It's a picture of the Jewish people again. It's a picture of the Gentiles who took off and were scattered and the Jews who stayed home. And in the end he says, rejoice with me because he's come from death to life. He's graphed back in as a Gentile. But I stayed here the whole time. Yeah, but don't you see he's come back? John the Baptist said, you say your father's Abraham. Got news for you guys. God could raise up sons from the stones right here. God can do the impossible. God can make rocks come to life. Don't tell me you're of your father Abraham physically. That's not what it is. Romans 11, Paul says he can do it with dead sticks. Nobody else could possibly graft in like that, but God can. God can do the impossible. God can take the dead branches and graft them back in. But how's it gonna work? Are the Jews gonna be able to come in and say, I'm keeping my Jewishness? No, you're not, sir. You're gonna say goodbye to that, and you're gonna say I'm born again. You're going to kiss your old birth goodbye, and you're going to admit you need to be born again. And you're going to submit to that one called Jesus Christ, who your people crucified. And you're going to say, He's my Savior. And if you do that, you will be a miracle, and you'll be graft in. That's what it's saying here. Verse 24, for if thou were cut out of the olive tree, which is wild by nature, and were graft contrary to nature into a good olive tree, how much more shall these Jews, which be the natural branches, be graft into their own olive tree? For I would not, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles become in. In other words, God is waiting for all of the believers to believe and to get saved. And when the fullness of the Gentiles is in and all the lost are gathered, then it says in verse 26, "...and so all Israel shall be saved." All physical? No. All spiritual Israel shall be saved. when the fullness of the Gentiles come. Because today they're all, the scattering is complete. There is nobody on planet earth that can prove themselves authentic without any blood-taintedness to Abraham. There's nobody. There's no genealogy that's out there anymore. And the Bible tells us not to pay attention to it if there was. So it doesn't say, and then after the Gentiles come in, then all Israel shall be saved. That's not what it says. It says, and so all Israel shall be saved. The true Israel shall be saved. That's all it's saying. See, the reason why I can say that is because in the end, Israel is only the saved. When all the flesh is, see flesh and blood does not inherit the kingdom of God. So when all the flesh and blood stays here, the spiritual is the real. And all Israel is all the saved. That's why it goes on to say, quoting from Isaiah, there is shall come out of Zion a deliverer and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. This is my covenant to them when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they're enemies for your sake. But as touching the election, they are beloved for the Father's sake. What does that mean? It means that concerning the gospel, they're your enemy. But physically speaking, as touching the election, Jesus came through them And it was for the father's, not God the father, through Abraham, Isaac, it was for the father's sake that he kept the promises. That's why Judah was kept and not scattered until he showed up. The gifts and calling of God are without repentance. For as ye in time past have not believed God and yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief, even so have these also now not believed that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. God is able to save the impossible. God is able to take a dead branch and graft it back in. God is able to take the dead and make them alive. You have the quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. God is able to do it. But the promise to them is conditional because, verse 23, if they believe. Verse 31, they may. It's their choice. It's their decision. Just like it's anyone's decision. And the devil, through misunderstood doctrine, has got Christians to take sides. And instead of winning them to the Lord Jesus Christ, we're sending them millions of dollars. We're damning them with our gifts. We're damning them with our treatment of them. Just as the mean people are damning them by being ugly to them, we are damning them by giving them gifts instead of giving them the gospel. I have a book. Famous Hebrew Christians. But every one of those famous Hebrew Christians lived before 1947 in that book. You ever heard of Solomon Ginsberg? Last summer, our vacation Bible school was about Solomon Ginsberg. A Jew who lived in the 1800s who got saved in Europe and tried to reach his Jewish brethren and his Jewish family and they tried to kill him and he went to Brazil to reach the Catholics instead. They weren't quite so hard on him. There are Jews that have gotten saved, and God has used them tremendously, and they are still getting saved, and I believe that, and it's a trickle, it's a remnant, but I do not believe in this physical concept of restoring a physical people for a land that's gonna melt anyway, and for a people who are not turning to the Lord Jesus Christ, and because they're rich and powerful, and they receive lots of welfare, they don't need God, they don't need Jesus. And then it stirs up the Muslims that are over there because they see the favoritism and they, and, and Satan laughs and says, I'm beating both sides while Christians wrestle against flesh and blood. The message to every person on planet earth, no matter what their Jewishness or their Chineseness or their Italianness, even if they're from Mars, no, just kidding. The message to every person on planet Earth is, you must be born again. Doesn't matter where you came from. You must be born again. So how did Romans chapter 11 verse 23 get so goofed up? I'll blame this guy. I told you about his Bible, came out about 100 years ago. A lot of suspicion as to how that came about. You'd have to read about it. But here's what, if you have a Schofield Bible, there's a few rebels in here like Mrs. Adams, but if you have a Schofield Bible, she's actually got the new Schofield, so maybe they fixed it, but I don't think they did. This is what Romans 11, 22 looks like in the Schofield Bible, excuse me, verses 25. For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And on the old school field, that's the end of the page, and there's lots of notes, and then you have to turn the page, and at the top of the page, before you read verse 26, this is what you read. Point 10, Israel is yet to be saved nationally. So you are brainwashed. You're not allowed to read verse 26 until you get it straightened out from Mr. Schofield, even though the Bible says, add not to the word of God. Excuse me, but this isn't a Bible verse. It's been added to the word of God. Anybody have a Bible that has a split between 25 and 26? If you had a Schofield, you would. And here's the deal. It doesn't need to be in the Bibles anymore because it is so firmly fixed in the minds of the professors at college and the preachers behind pulpits and teaching that goes on today. And it's a warped view. Now the anger that I have about it is only that it does no good for the Jewish people to think that way. Because like I told you, even if we gave them all the land that they wanted, and we bombed every Arab that they didn't like, and we built the biggest temple that they wanted to have, they would still die and go to hell without Jesus Christ. Who is behind that? But good news, some of them are slipping through the cracks. God is still reaching. people who are Jewish, just like he's reaching Arabs, just like he's reaching Chinese, just like he's reaching a boy named Andrew at Star Academy, just like he's reaching Tony down here a month ago. God is still reaching people. So I want to show you a video real quick and ask if Caleb will turn that on for us. Oh, oh, sorry. I flipped it to the wrong one. This is what knowing God is about. You gotta do this, you gotta do this, you gotta do this, you gotta wear the right shoes. That's what God is concerned about. It'll drive you crazy. Can I, can I choose the background music? I think for a big chunk of the first, I don't know, 20 years of my life, when I could start thinking, if there was a bubble coming out of the back of my head telling me what I was thinking, it would probably be something like, really? That's it? There's gotta be more to life than this. I was raised in a Jewish home on Long Island, suburbs of New York City, and our family was very strongly culturally Jewish. We went to Hebrew school, we learned about Jewish culture, we learned about participating in Jewish worship. I love the music, I love the sound, I love the prayers, what they meant. And I really wanted to learn all that I could about it because it was so pleasant and it promised to connect me to God and yet it never did. It was always a disappointment. My family was not necessarily all that religious, but I started taking Judaism really quite seriously. And so I started studying Judaism a lot on my own. And when I was 15, I remember Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. This was the day that I was going to finally connect with God. I was going to fast. I was not going to drive in the car. I was going to say all of the prayers. I was going to confess. all of the sins. I was going to get it right so that finally I would connect to God. I did everything exactly the way you're supposed to do it. And it didn't work. I was walking home and I thought, it didn't work. God seems just as far away as he was 24 hours ago. And I was walking along, and I looked down, I was dressed up in a suit, and I wore dress shoes, and I went, oh no, you're not supposed to wear leather shoes on Yom Kippur. That's what the rabbis taught. And I thought, ah, that's it. That's why it didn't work. I wore the wrong shoes. I got to wait another whole year to get this right? It's crazy. OK, God, you got to show me how this works, because I can't remember all of these millions of rules. This friend of mine invited me to go to his church youth group. I thought, I'm Jewish. We don't do church anything. We don't do church youth group. He said, listen, it's not a religious thing. It's just a fun thing. High school kids from our church get together. We do lots of fun things. And he said, the girls are cute. So I said, OK. So we're on this bus, and we're going to the beach, and some guy gets up at the front of the bus and says, Hey everybody, quiet down, we're going to pray. And he prays that the bus doesn't break down, that we have a great time at the beach, and that nobody gets badly sunburned. And then he says, In Jesus' name, Amen. And I thought, These people are crazy. You don't bother the Almighty with things like sunburn. They talked a lot about knowing God. They used this phrase about a personal relationship with God. And they prayed as if he was right there and that they knew him. But I just had to keep pushing it off because, no, I'm Jewish. We don't do this Jesus stuff. First year of college for me was lots of fun, lots of parties, lots of beer, until this terrible, terrible night in the middle of my sophomore year. I lived in a high-rise dorm at college. I was up on the sixth floor, and I knew the guys on the floor. And one of the guys crashed through a window in a lounge, and he fell to his death. And it was just so crazy. It was so upsetting. I remember sitting at his funeral thinking, OK, I can't just keep joking around. I've got to get some serious answers. And so I decided to read the Bible again. Not just the Tanakh, but this time also that New Testament that those friends gave me. I thought it was going to be this totally foreign, Gentile book. It was very Jewish. This Jesus claimed to be God. He claimed to be the Messiah. He claimed that he always existed. He claimed that he could forgive sins. And his death was not just some martyr's death, but his death was to pay for sin, to connect people to God. I remember reading in Isaiah, that was my favorite book in the Tanakh, that it's not that God has separated himself from you. You've separated yourself from God. Your sins have made a separation between you and God. And when I read that when I was a sophomore in college, it all started making sense. And I remember sitting at my dorm room desk, and it was something like a prayer. I didn't really quite know how to pray, but it was, thank you, God, that life is not pointless and meaningless and absurd. Thank you that there is meaning, and it's in you. It's found in you. When my mom was 71, she sent me this email, kind of out of nowhere, I think I'm going to read the New Testament. Okay. And she starts sending me all these emails with questions about Jesus, and then I send her a book, Betrayed, by Stan Telchin. Five years later, we're talking on the phone, she says, you know, I think I'm going to have the same problem that that guy in the book that you sent me had, Stan Telchin. When I tell my Jewish friends that I'm a believer in Jesus, I think they're going to reject me. And I thought, did my mother just say I'm a believer in Jesus? She did. My mother said that. Turn on the light. There's another one of those dead branches. I got graft back in. By the way, I searched Betrayed by Stan Chilchen, and I didn't read the book, but I listened to him tell his story on YouTube. It's not video, it's just audio. It's 55 minutes, it's worth listening to. There are Jews getting saved, but we don't go, oh, Rosi, I mean, you're Jewish Christian. You know what we say? They're Christian. And we praise God that they're saved, because it's a miracle, miracle, miracle, just like it would be for an Arab to get saved, or a Chinese, or anyone else. We need to stop playing favorites. God is no respecter of persons. We ought not be either. We need to just see what he said, and that is preach the gospel to every creature. At the same time, know what Revelations is talking about. Recognize that there is a wickedness, there is an antichrist movement that is moving forward and progressing rapidly. But the point is, who is Jesus? Who is Jesus? He's the Israel that we need to be saved through. When we get in Christ, the same are the children of Abraham. He's the husband, we're the bride. The bride takes the name of the husband. Who is Israel? It's they that are in Christ. It's because Christ is Israel. And that man is now part of the true Israel. That man is an Israelite indeed. just like Paul and just like all the others that got saved. If you have questions, please ask, but we're gonna stop tonight. The question was about Romans chapter 11 concerning, you know, doesn't that talk about graft in, you know, that there'll be a future remnant? Well, you have to have a pre-tribulation rapture with a seven years for them to get saved for all that to work. But who would concoct such a lie? And who would get Christian preachers to tell them, your time's coming after the rapture, that's when your Messiah's coming. And all they're doing is setting them up for the Antichrist. Oh my, it's a lie. It's the most anti-Semitic thing they could do. It's horrible. And it's happening. That's why I think it's a big deal. It's a huge lie going around the globe, and it needs to be shouted from the housetops. It won't be popular, but it needs to be shouted from the housetops that Satan is lying because he's the father of lies. And many will believe it, but there are a few that are saying, no, there's too much truth in that book, and I'm gonna turn to Jesus Christ. So I apologize if I wasn't clear on that, but I didn't have it written down, I just was asked, and I tried to explain why I think Romans 11 is simply telling us that they can be grafted in, but it doesn't mean that we're going to have a national resurgence. You saw where the national resurgence idea comes from. It comes from Schofield's Bible. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for the Word. We thank you for what the Word teaches. Help us to understand and not just be understanding for knowledge sake, but to understand for the gospel sake, to reach people, to preach the gospel to every creature. Lord, if it is your will, send us someone that would be a missionary to the unthought of, the unreachable, the hard, those who are blind to truth and stooped in their own self-righteousness. But Lord, help us to never become ethnically focused, but just simply preaching the gospel to every creature. And yet help us to stand with truth and know what your word says, and rightly divide it and separate it from error. And thank you, most of all, that by grace, you saved lost people, lost people like us. And we thank you and praise you in Jesus' name, amen.