Well, if you have a copy of the scriptures, let me invite you to turn to the book of Romans, Romans chapter 9 and verse 6. We're going to be looking at a number of passages later on. We'll be in Genesis 12 and then we'll be back in Romans some and we'll be in Galatians some. So we want to start off, though, by just reading a single verse from Romans 9 and verse 6. I really want the emphasis to be on the second part of even that verse. But as you're able, let's stand in honor of the reading and hearing of God's Word. This is Romans 9, verse 6. May God bless today, again, the reading and hearing of His Word, and let us pray. Gracious and loving God, we thank thee for thy scriptures and for the truth. And as Paul encouraged Timothy, help us to rightly divide the word of truth. We ask this in Christ's name and for his sake. Amen. And you may be seated. So in these afternoon sessions, we have been examining in this year, 2025, the topic of eschatology, the doctrine of last things. And we've talked about personal eschatology, what happens to a person when he dies. And here of late, we've sort of transitioned and we've been talking about cosmic eschatology. What does the Bible teach about how the world will come to an end? When will Christ return, et cetera? And it's a topic related to that overall subject that we're taking up today. Often in times like these, as there have been many times over the decades, when there is trouble in the Middle East related to the modern nation state of Israel, which was founded in 1948, and other nations in that region, Various would-be interpreters of the Bible will claim that biblical prophecy is being fulfilled and that the time of the end is near. Well, the end may well be near. Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 5-2 that the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. And Christ himself said in Matthew 24 verse 36, that no man knows that day or that hour. So the end may well be near. We don't know. It may be decades, hundreds, even thousands of years before Christ will return. We don't know. But the fact that there are another series of conflicts in the Middle East does not justify unbridled speculations and false interpretations of scripture. Another point that often arises in modern times relates to how Christians are to think about that modern nation state of Israel founded in 1948. Must Christians support the modern nation state of Israel? Just this week, a prominent U.S. senator sat down with a well-known journalist to discuss what is now the war between the modern nation-state of Israel and Iran. The senator, who comes from a Pentecostal background, his father, I believe, was a Pentecostal minister, said the following. He said, Growing up in Sunday school, I was taught from the Bible that those who bless Israel will be blessed, and those who curse Israel will be cursed. And from my perspective, I want to be on the blessing side. The journalist then queried, those who bless the government of Israel will be blessed? The senator responded by acknowledging that the text he was thinking of doesn't say explicitly the government of the modern nation state of Israel, but simply the nation of Israel. He added this, that's in the Bible. As a Christian, I believe that. The interviewer then asked the senator where in the Bible this was found. And he responded by saying he didn't know exactly where that place could be found. And the interviewer, in fact, told him, I think you're talking about a passage in Genesis. The journalist then said, so you're quoting a Bible passage you don't have a context for, and you don't know where in the Bible it is, but that's your theology. I'm confused. What does that even mean? I'm a Christian, this journalist said. In fact, he's an Episcopalian. He said, I want to know what you're talking about. The senator responded, where does my support for Israel come from? Number one, because biblically, we are commanded to support Israel. The journalist responded, hold on. We are commanded as Christians to support the government of Israel. What does that mean, Israel? The senator then said, we are told that those who bless Israel will be blessed. The journalist said, hold on, define Israel. This is important. The senator said, you know, the country of Israel. And the journalist said, that's what God is actually talking about? He's talking about the political entity called Israel is the nation of God that God is referring to in Genesis, the same as the modern nation state of Israel. Hopefully that hasn't been too confusing. Basically, the center is saying God blesses those who bless Israel. And the journalist was saying, what do you mean by Israel? You mean the modern nation state of Israel? Is that what's really being spoken of in context? in that passage. On one hand, it is perhaps good to hear discussion about the Bible in a major media interview. On the other hand, this interview and much discussion about this topic reflects the dangers of bad hermeneutics. And hermeneutics is the word that means interpretation, bad interpretation. The journalist was in fact asking exactly the right questions. The senator's response, we must stand with Israel, God blesses those who bless Israel, are actually based on a modern view of eschatology that is called dispensationalism. And we're going to talk in more detail about this in some of the future messages in this series. But dispensationalism, again, is actually a modern kind of view of eschatology. It really only has emerged in the last 100 to 150 years. And it has various expressions. Not everybody teaches exactly the same thing. But in its worst expressions, dispensationalism suggests a twofold plan of God's salvation. It says there was one plan of salvation for the physical seed of Abraham, the Jews, who are God's chosen people, simply by virtue of their physical descent. And there is another plan of salvation for the church, which they see as an unexpected parentheses. That's actually a term that's used by them. in God's plan of salvation that involves primarily Gentiles who are saved by faith in Christ. So two plans of salvation. You receive God's favor if you're simply Jewish. And you can receive God's favor if you believe in Christ. This has led, for decades, in many evangelical Christian circles, to believers who espouse uncritical support from the modern nation-state of Israel, and even suggest that this is a biblical requirement. It has resulted from poor interpretation of the Bible, with many wrongly reading every mention of Israel, especially in the Old Testament, as a reference not to the ancient, historical, theocratic kingdom of Israel, led by men like Saul and David and Solomon, but to the modern nation state of Israel, which only appeared in 1948. So let's look briefly at the passage that the senator was sort of citing, but didn't know where it was. It's in Genesis 12, 1 through 3. And we looked a lot at this passage, or often at this passage, when we were doing our series in Genesis, because it's a really key passage for understanding the Old Testament, and really for understanding the New Testament too, because the Apostle Paul especially appeals to this passage. But it's about the call of Abraham. And in Genesis 12, verses one through three, it says, Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house unto a land that I will show thee. And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee and make thy name great. And thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee. and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." So indeed, Abraham was told, by God I will bless them that bless you, I will curse those who curse you, and through you all the families of the earth will be blessed. What was the Lord promising exactly to Abraham? Remember, it was through Abraham that God's plan of salvation would be worked out. That it would be through Abraham and through his seed that there would come the twelve tribes of Israel. One of those tribes would be Judah. From Judah would come King David. And then from the line of David in the fullness of time, who would come? The Lord Jesus Christ. And so historically, the seed of Abraham was blessed and protected by God, especially to bring about the arrival of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. With the coming of Christ and the accomplishment of his mission, his death on the cross, his glorious resurrection, his ascension, we see the definition of the seed of Abraham begin to be radically altered in the teachings of the apostles. And so we're going to look at a couple passages in Paul, and let's start off looking at Galatians 3 verses 26 through 29. Galatians 3 verses 26 through 29, wherein Paul said, writing to the churches of Galatia, writing to Christians, he said, for ye, y'all, remember ye in the King James Version is the second person plural. Southern speak, it'd be y'all. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. He's writing to Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians. And he says in verse 27, For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ, then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. It's a very important verse. Paul says that now that the Messiah has come, Christ has come, there's no longer Jew or Greek, bond nor free, even male or female. But you are all one in Christ. Now, this does not mean that in this age, we're living in what Paul calls in Galatians 1, this present evil world, the time between Christ's first advent and second advent. What he did not mean by this was that ethnic distinctions are done away with. That's true. There are still people who are ethnic Jews. There are people who are Gentiles. There are people who come from different nations. And he's not saying, for example, that the distinction between men and women are done away with. God has still made us male and female, and social status has not been done away with in this present evil world. But what he is saying is that now that the Messiah has come, what really matters is faith in him. And it doesn't matter if you're a Jew or a Gentile. whether you're slave or free, whether you're a man or a woman. Just that last part. Sometimes we forget how radical and liberating it was for women, for the gospel to come and to say that spiritually speaking, there's no distinction between men and women. We're made in the image of God. Women believers are as valuable in God's sight as male believers. In the Old Testament, just the males were circumcised. Under the New Covenant, men and women are baptized upon the profession of their faith. So, he wasn't saying these distinctions are done away with, but he's saying what matters now is faith in Christ. And if you pay attention to that last part of it, in verse 29, if ye, y'all, Jewish and Gentile believers who are in the churches of Galatia, if ye be Christ, then are ye Abraham's seed. That means you could be a Gentile, and you're part of Abraham's seed. You are part of the covenant people of God, and you've been made part of the covenant people of God by grace. not by having a physical connection to Abraham, but by having a spiritual connection to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so what matters now is faith in Christ. Christ alone, as He declared it in John 14, verse 6, is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but by Him. There is no salvation apart from faith in Christ for Jew or for Gentile. As Peter said in Acts 4.12, there is no salvation given among men whereby we must be saved, except the Lord Jesus Christ. And we see this reflected elsewhere in Paul's teachings. Let's look at Romans. We'll start with chapter 2. Romans 2 and verses 28 and 29. Romans 2, 28 and 29, where Paul writes, For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh. So there's a whole redefinition of what it means to be a Jew and the seed of Abraham. It's not who you are outwardly, physically. It's not whether or not you've been circumcised. And then he says, well, who is a Jew then? Verse 29. 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. And then you can connect that to the verse that I read earlier. Look at Romans nine. Now, one of the interesting things about Romans is Romans is a letter that Paul's writing to the church at Rome. But one of the things that's at the heart of his thought is a challenge that he apparently received from some skeptics who were saying, well, if Jesus is really the Messiah, and Jesus came for all men, Jews and Gentiles, why is it that more Gentiles than Jews are becoming believers? Now, obviously, there were Jewish believers, the 12 apostles. Paul himself is a Jewish believer. But as time went on, it seemed there were more Gentiles. And it's really, really interesting here in the opening of Romans nine, where Paul is talking about his fellow Jews. And he says in starting in verse one, 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. Why is he sorrowful? Because his fellow Jews, many of them are rejecting Christ. And he says in verse 3, For I could wish that myself were a curse from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh, his fellow Jews, his fellow ethnic Jews, his fellow descendants of Abraham, who are Israelites, to whom pertaineth the adoption, the glory, the covenants, and the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises. He's saying, as my fellow Jews, my fellow kinsmen, according to the flesh, we have great advantages. We know Jehovah. We know we have the Bible. We know the covenants that God had from the covenant of works with Adam in the garden, to the covenant with Noah, to the covenant with Abraham, to the giving of the law to Moses. We know about these things, whereas these pagans know nothing about it. Verse 5, he continues, whose are the fathers, we have the patriarchs, including Abraham, of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, the Lord Jesus Christ came from the seed of Abraham, the physical seed of Abraham, who is overall God, blessed forever, amen. And then he said, it's not as though the word of God had taken none effect. There have been Jewish believers. But then, this is his insight, for they are not all Israel which are of Israel. See, he recognizes that there's been a change. Now, you're part of the people of God, not because you can trace a physical line of descent to Abraham, but by whether or not you have faith in Christ Jesus. That's the distinguishing factor. And so he continues, verse 7, neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children, but in Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, they which are the children of the flesh, merely because you're a descendant of Abraham, these are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. Whether you're a Jew or a Gentile, you are the seed of Abraham You believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. I know we're ping-ponging back and forth, but let's look at another passage in Galatians. Look at Galatians 6, verses 15 and 16. Galatians 6, verses 15 and 16. Paul says, For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. Basically what he's saying is, It doesn't avail you if you are a physical descendant of Abraham has been circumcised or whether you're a Gentile who hasn't been circumcised. What matters is, are you a new creature in Christ? And then he says in verse 16, and as many as walk according to this rule, peace beyond them and mercy and peace. And upon the Israel of God, And there's a big question of interpretation there. What does he mean by the Israel of God? Is he asking for God's blessing on the nation of Israel, the physical descendants of Abraham? In fact, I believe what he's doing, what he's done here is He said, now the Israel of God means believers in Christ, whether they are Jews or Gentiles. God's blessing be upon the Israel of God. The people of God are now those who are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. And our dispensationalist friends will say, aha, you're a supersessionist. You believe that the church replaces Israel. And we say, you're right. That's what we believe. But the church consists of Jewish believers and Gentile believers. There's only one way to come to the Father, and it is through the Lord Jesus Christ. This also does not mean that there will not continue to be, to the end of the ages, many Jews who will come to the faith, just as Peter and Paul did. Praise the Lord, there are many Jewish believers who are coming to the faith. all over the world. Evangelism is taking place in Israel. Evangelism is taking place in New York City and London and Paris and many other places all over the world where there are Jews. They're hearing the gospel like everyone else. And thankfully, many are coming to the faith. And in fact, some people believe that on the basis of scripture, particularly what is described in Romans 11, that before the end of the ages there may well be a great number of Jews who will come to the faith. Many of our Protestant fathers taught this, that there will be, before the end of the ages, a great revival, and there will be many Jews who will come to the faith. Look at Romans 11. Let me just read the opening of this. Really, Romans 9, 10, and 11 is about the doctrine of election. And it's really dealing with this question of, why have not more Jews in Paul's time come to the faith? and he uses it as a stepping off point to teach the doctrine of God's sovereign election. He saves, he chooses whom he will, he has mercy on those whom he will, those whom he wills, he hardens. But in Romans 11, Paul writes, I say then, hath God cast away his people? God forbid, for I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin, God hath not cast away his people, which he foreknew? What, or know ye not what the scripture says of Elijah, how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets and dig down thine altars, and I am left alone, and they seek my life? He uses the example of the prophet Elijah who despaired, perhaps, but then he was told that God, he was not the only one who believed that God had kept back choice men who had not bent the knee to Baal. And then he says in verse four, Paul does, but what sayeth the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. Even so, then at this present time, Also, there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And indeed, Paul's time, there were many Jewish believers, not as many as Paul would have liked for there to have been, but there were many. And Paul, even in Romans 11, very pointedly says to the Jewish believers, listen, Do you think that maybe God has allowed you Gentiles to come in so that He might provoke the people of Abraham to jealousy? That they might see the value, the riches of Christ? And He even says, in another controversial verse, in verse 26 of Romans 11, He says, And so all Israel shall be saved. And some of our dispensationalist friends would say, that means everyone who's a Jew. But we would take that all there to mean all the elect, whether Jews or Gentiles, those who are the Israel of God, all Israel, all the elect shall be saved. Well, friends, if we just touch briefly on this topic, this controversial topic, what can we say in conclusion? I would say to my fellow believers, You may choose to support the modern nation state of Israel for political reasons. You may think they're on the right side in this current conflict or some other conflict. But I would say also you are not obligated to support the modern nation state of Israel for spiritual reasons. We are to be diligent to rightly divide the word of truth. And we are not to confuse historical Israel with the modern nation state of Israel. Our politics is not to be guided by bad theology and bad hermeneutics. I've told you guys the story before. Maybe some of you remember a few years back, my family went on vacation out West and we were away on the Lord's day. And we wanted to go to church on the Lord's day. And that's what practice we should do on vacation is we should find a church local church to attend as we travel. And we wanted to go to church and we were going to this good sized town. We didn't know any churches there. There were no reformed Baptist churches there. And we just just looked it up online. There was an evangelical church, something or another community church. And so let's just go there. Believers there. We're just going to go there. So we went and we came in. They were handing out at the door flags for the nation of Israel, the modern nation state of Israel. And it was a special day, and we found out it was actually a dispensational church. And they were handing out flags, and they were urging people to pray for Israel, meaning pray for the modern nation state of Israel. And so they did. They prayed for the political flourishing of the modern nation state of Israel. And maybe they did talk about this at some point or another, but I didn't hear it that day. I didn't hear any prayers for the conversion of its inhabitants, that they would come to know the gospel, whether they be Jews or Arabs living in that land. What we are obligated to do as Christians is to be good citizens of our own nation. We are obligated to pray for our leaders and those in authority, and we are to pray for the salvation of all men and for the evangelization and discipleship of all nations in obedience to Christ's great commission, Matthew 28, 19, and 20. Go. And teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all the things that I have commanded you. And lo, I will be with you all way, even to the end of the world. And so that's our obligation. That's what we're obligated to do. We know that one day, as Paul put it in Philippians, One day, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Amen? We invite you as you're able, let's stand together. Let's join in prayer. Gracious and loving God, we give thee thanks for this time of worship and this time to give ourselves to the public and private exercises of thy worship. We pray that you would give us a zeal for studying the scriptures and a zeal for prayer for the nations and for the great commission that you would Be pleased to bring all of thy elect unto thyself, and that Christ then would return with great power and glory, and all nations will bend the knee before him. As we come to the Lord's table today, prepare our hearts for this sacred meal that our Lord has instituted. And as we take again the bread of the cup, help us to renew our communion, our fellowship with Christ and with one another. We ask this in Christ's name, amen.