I'd like to thank the Chairman very much for leading this meeting today and I'd like to thank indeed Sovereign Grace Advent Testimony for the invitation to come along this weekend and to take these services, to take these lectures, to take these messages and we do pray that the Lord might bless each and every one of us. both here in the building and it's good to see visitors, good to see friends. Whenever they heard that it was coming this direction immediately they inquired about where it was, when it was and all of that and it's good to see friends here. Yes I'm no stranger to this place I've preached here many times, even since the middle of December last, so it's good to be back, and familiar surroundings here in London as well. I'd ask you please to turn to that portion that was read for us by the Sherman this evening, from Romans chapter 11, a great portion of Holy Scripture of course. All portions of Holy Scripture are great in that sense. All scripture is given by inspiration of God. And we do pray that the Lord might bless us as we might consider not only this portion that we have before us, Romans chapter 11, and the brief I was given was Romans chapter 11 verse 12 through to verse 25 for the first meeting, under the subject of breaking off, grafting, and regrafting. But we will not just merely contain our comments to these verses, but rather we'll expand them out way beyond. I'm just going to check my calendar function on my watch here. There we go. I don't want to preach over into the 27th. That would be a bad thing. Well, I've got people there encouraging me to preach on into the 27th. That's OK. We'll have a wee bit of tea later on, but it may very well be breakfast. We'll see how we go. But before we come to this portion, let us still our hearts as we come to the author of the book, And may we ask him, plead with him, never taking anything for granted, but rather that he may bless each and every one of us today, that he may take scales of our eyes. help us to see the plain things that are taught. We believe if God means it, he'll say it and what he says he means and that is indeed one of the key concepts of hermeneutical principle that we must come to as we come to the precious word of God. Let us fill our hearts therefore and ask the author of the book to bless and help for these next few moments. Father, we do thank Thee for Thy presence already this weekend. We thank Thee Lord that Thou art here in our number, Thou art one of our number, Thou art in our midst today. And Lord, we thank Thee that we can depend upon that promise that where the two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. And Lord, we claim that promise today in the knowledge that thou art here. And Lord, our numbers far exceed that two or three stipulated. Therefore, Lord, we can be sure of thy help and thy blessing. Bless us now as we might consider this portion and these portions in particular under that subject that we've been given. It is as always, for thy glory and thy glory alone we do plead. But cry as the reformers did, So lie Deo Gloria for the glory of God alone. To that end Lord I pray that thou would hide us behind the cross that none might be seen save Christ and indeed his eternal purposes and how that is really even at the very center of what we're thinking about today. It is for thy glory to that end we pray and thy precious and holy name we ask. Amen. I'm sure many of you have heard of Frederick the Great. Frederick the Great was the King of Prussia from 1740, the year 1740, until his death some 46 years later in 1786. He was famous for many reasons. In fact, he was noted in many different parts of his life and part of his legacy that he left. But he is also known as a particular skeptic regarding the teaching of this book, the teaching of God's Word, the teaching of Holy Scripture, and indeed specifically to do with the existence of God. Now Frederick the Great was nominally, and we really put that into inverted commas, nominally a Protestant, really by name only in many ways. He really was a Protestant because it suited his political alliances. But in reality he had a very, very little time for anything by way of religion. And he was greatly influenced by the writings of that famous infidel, Voltaire. But, in a now famous discussion on scripture, on one occasion with his chaplain, a faithful man of God, Frederick challenged him. to in a word or in a few words, to give unquestionable proof that the Bible is indeed true, that the Bible is in fact the word of God. After taking a moment to consider his answer, his reply, his chaplain, and I can imagine the scene here, his chaplain looked him in the eye and he said these words, the Jew sire, the Jew. Even as I think of that answer, that reply that he gave that day, the shivers are going up my spine. When we think of the history past that we know of already, about what we know about the Jew, the shivers go up my spine. He knew that was a good answer. And indeed it may not surprise you today to learn that the chaplain kept his job that day. The continued existence of the Jew as a distinct race of people for the last 4,000 years proves, it attests, it shouts, it screams to the unconditional covenant promises of God that he gave to Abram. Throughout the intervening centuries the Jews outlived all the other civilizations and all the other empires that tried to assimilate them into themselves and indeed in many cases to eliminate them. The Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks as well as the Romans subjugated Israel but no one has been able to destroy them and no one ever will. Despite centuries of opposition, enslavement, discrimination, scattering, and genocide, the Jews flourish all over the world. And while they are often a blessing, in fact, a blessing to the nations in which they reside, they have always remained a distinct race of people, no matter where they settled. In World War II, Nazis, Germany's final solution, and you know much about that I'm sure, it saw the death of around six million Jews in murderous genocide that is now known as the Holocaust, yet today finds them thriving as a people, despite rising, as we speak, rising and growing anti-Semitism right across the world. Despite the fact that Jews only make up around 0.2% of the world's population, they have succeeded in almost every area in society. One example of that is of the 700 Nobel Prizes that have been awarded over the years, as many as 164 of those have been awarded to Jews, even though they only make up 0.2% of the world's population. 164 of those have been rewarded to Jews for their groundbreaking discoveries and work in whatever field they were involved in. God's promise was that Israel would be a distinct people. And His promise that they would be a blessing to the Gentile nations has been realised time after time after time. Now we've been asked today to deal with the subject of Israel's breaking off, grafting and regrafting. And I'm going to stick as close to that as I possibly can. There's nothing, I don't know about you, but there's nothing annoys me more than someone being given a subject and they take it away and they don't deal with it at all. They preach what they want, maybe an old sermon that they've warmed up, they've maybe brought something in on the introduction to try to make it kind of half that, but I'm going to try to stick as closely as I can to my brief that I've been given. So I want to think of it in the first place. I've got three points. Remember our proposition. Remember our headings of breaking off, grafting and regrafting. And I'm just going to go straight down that line as closely as I can. First of all, Israel's breaking off. We're really thinking here about the dispersion of the Jews. And can I just preface my comments today with saying this. And this is important. God knows exactly what he's doing. And I praise God for that fact. God knows exactly what he is doing. Notice what the apostle is saying here in verse 11 of our reading here in chapter 11. You see we firmly believe in a triune God who has a plan and a purpose in all things and that really means all things. In fact, the same Paul who penned the words that we have here under inspiration of the Holy Ghost, the same Paul that we're going to consider in these Bible studies today, and you've been considering, these letters that were written, essentially, think about it in its context, and context is key, it's vital to any consideration of Scripture. This is written to the Gentile church. This is Paul writing to the church of Rome after all. The church of those believers that were gathered in Rome. The church is not what you see around you as in bricks and mortar and the physical things. It is God's people he's writing to. God's people that were gathered in Rome. And he also wrote earlier in the same epistle, chapter 8, those well-known verses in chapter 8 verse 28, Paul says, and we know that, again that word all, we know that all things work together for good to them that love God and to them who are the called, think of it in the context of what we're dealing today especially, to all to the called according to his purpose. Our brother has mentioned already in the announcements, those little series of booklets, God's purposes for X place, Y place, Z place, A place, B place, C place. God has a purpose for the Jews. God has a purpose for every detail of every one of us. And while we may not fully understand In fact, let's admit it, while we may not even understand at all, for that matter, many of the things that we read and that we come across in God's words, the purposes of God that have been referred to here in Romans 8 and 28, they are nevertheless there. And the question is, I suppose for us, do we have faith to believe that He is? Do we have faith to believe verses like that, that indeed all things really do work together for good to them that love God and are called according to His purpose? Go back to our passage that we're considering now. I've got you to turn to it earlier on there, verse 11 of chapter 11. Think about that verse. In fact, I think it's remarkable whenever we read verses such as that 11th and 12th verse of this great chapter, that of how the Lord uses what is seemingly, at least from our perspective, how the Lord uses seemingly negative circumstances for the greater good. In fact, whenever I read and re-read and studied and really get down to those verses, verse 11 and 12, I simply wrote, and I have it here in my Bible where I've written beside it the word in block capitals, WOW! Because really that's the way it is, whenever the truth of God's word jumps out at us there. Look at verse 11, I say then, says Paul, have they stumbled that they should fall? If you think of a stumble, if I'm walking along here and I stumble over those leaves that are laid across, or stumble at the water that's lying around my feet, or stumble, that doesn't mean that I'm going to go fully down, it means that I almost go down. stumble isn't as fine or isn't as full or isn't as complete as a fall in fact you see that here in the in the way the words are framed in verse 11 have they stumbled the jews have they stumbled that they should fall of course not or in the language of paul he couldn't use any stronger language he says god forbid but rather through their fall is salvation come to the gentiles wow Look at how the Lord uses this for the greater good, for his plan, for his purposes that shall not be dissuaded. Just think about what we read there at the very heart of that 11th verse. Through their fall, his salvation come to the Gentiles. Tell me that that's not something that's amazing, especially for us, especially to Paul's readers here. Remember, he was writing to a Gentile church, writing to those that were outside that Jewish nation. In fact, we only have to read evidence of how this all comes to fruition. We only have to read the early chapters of Acts, for example. There's other places as well of the accounts there of how they converted Jews initially, of how they wanted to add to and add to and add to the simplicity of the gospel message that was being preached that they received in order to make it really palatable to them as Jews. They wanted to put their own conditions, their own add-ons in place to make it essentially, think of this, to make it a gospel to the Jews. Not to spread out wider to all of the world, to the Gentile nations as well, but very, very simply, God used their breaking off as the means that the Gentile nations and Gentile individuals such as you and I hazarding a guess here that this is a Gentile congregation here, just as it was when Paul was writing to the church at Rome, that the likes of you and I might have the gospel delivered to us. In all its simplicity, remember those chapters, those early chapters of Acts, of how the early church presbytery met and how those early churches had to keep bringing the message back to the simple word, the simple word, stop adding things to it. In fact, that's what the church has done through every reformation ever since. Actually, I prayed there about how the early church, the reformers, in the 1500s, the 16th century, how the reformers came up with those five solas. Because yes, the apostasy-sized church believed in Christ, believed in scripture, believed in faith, believed in grace, believed in the glory of God. The solar element of it was so important. The church had to keep bringing it back to the simplicity that the early church taught. And so it is with this. They kept putting their own conditions in place, kept adding on to it. In fact, we see in those examples of how the Jews very often were deliberately, those believing Jews, those Christian Jews that had received the Gospel, were deliberately slow, were deliberately hesitant in allowing the spread of the Gospel to the Gentiles. If, humanly speaking of course, now the Lord knows exactly what he was doing and he overruled in a sense. But if the gospel had been kept with the Jews, it would have been a merely national religion. I want you to turn to a portion. We're going to get you to turn to a few portions today. Keep your fingers warmed up. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. Verse 15 and 16. Now here is a reference about the Jews. Now he was writing here to the church of Thessalonica. But I want you to notice exactly what Paul wrote here to the Jews. Especially verse 16, but we read verse 15 for its context. This is Paul writing here. Again, Paul was really the principal writer of the New Testament. Fourteen books were attributed to either have been penned by him directly or dictated by him. And of course, he wrote as he was inspired by God to do. I trust you've found the place by now, 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 15 and 16, the spicy verse 16. But he was speaking of the Jews here who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets and have persecuted us. He's speaking of the Jews, not speaking to the Jews, but speaking of the Jews. But look at what it tells us at the close of that verse and into the next. And they pleased not God and are contrary to all men. Look at the spicy verse 16, forbidding us. to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved. You see how they tried to keep the gospel to themselves? But yet here the apostle tells us and in fact we know through history how they were cut off, how they were broken off. In fact that is precisely because of the Jews casting off in the language of scripture, because of their casting off that the gospel spread like wildfire to the Gentile nations. And for that we can say a hearty amen and a hearty thank you God to that. I want to quote someone, an eminent individual, Charles Hodge. Charles Hodge said the following in commenting on this very theme. Now listen to this. The Jews, even those who were professors of Christianity, So these are the Jews that were believers, which you would have thought would have tried to reach out to the gospel. But listen to what he says, the Jews, even those who were professors of Christianity, were in the first place very slow to allow the gospel to be preached to the Gentiles. And in the second, they appear almost uniformly to have desired to clog the gospel with ceremonial observances of the law. That's what I mentioned earlier on. They kept adding to and adding to. It's the gospel plus this. The gospel plus that, that's what the Jews were doing, to clog the gospel in the language of Hodge with ceremonial observances of the law. This was one of the greatest hindrances of the cause of Christ, and I'm quoting Hodge directly, one of the greatest hindrances of the cause of Christ during the apostolic age, and would in all human probability have been a thousand fold greater, and we're really getting to it now, a thousand fold greater had the Jews as a nation embrace the Christian faith. Now that's from Paul. In fact he goes on, he continues, he says this, on both these accounts the rejection of the Jews was incidentally a means of facilitating the progress of the gospel and by that he meant into all of the gentile nations beside the Jews. Now that's what Hodge said about the subject that we're thinking of here, about how they tried to keep it to themselves. To put it very simply, God cut off the Jews or caused them at least to stumble in order to reach the Gentiles. Let me underline this truth once again to every one of us, as if there's any doubt within our minds whatsoever, let me be abundantly clear, 100% clear, God knows exactly what he is doing. And what an encouragement that is for every child of God, for every believer. Yes, the Jews were cut off, the good Jews were broken off, and can I say that they were cut off not arbitrarily, But for their sin, which was great. For the rejection of God and his law. Turn to Ezekiel chapter 36 please. God didn't just cut off the Jews because it was part of his master plan or part of the master plan that it had to be that way. Rather they deserved every single thing that happened and much much more besides. Look at Ezekiel 36. Ezekiel 36, especially verse 17 down to the end of verse 20 here. Maybe read further, we'll see how we go with the contacts here. We need to get contacts into our mind. But look at verse 17 of Ezekiel 36. Son of man, we read here, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own way and by their own, by their doings. Look at verse 18, wherefore I poured my fury upon them for the blood, for, that word for in scripture means because of or for the blood. Ezekiel 36 verse 18, for the blood that they had shed upon the land and for their idols wherein they had polluted it. They deserved everything. In fact every one of us deserved nothing but the wrath and curse of God. They sinned greatly. They were not just cut off because it was part of God's plan, but because it was deserved. They sinned greatly. Look at verse 19 of Ezekiel 36. It goes on, and I, this is God speaking, in the first person, I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through their countries according to their way and according to their doings. I judged them. Do you see how it's so clear here in scripture? They were judged for their own sin. But God knew exactly what he was doing, and God knows exactly what he's doing right now. Look at verse 20, and they entered into the heathen, whether they went. They profaned my holy name, even though they were among the heathen, among other nations. You know, you can do things at home that you mightn't get away with in public. They were doing it everywhere, at home and in public. And they were judged for their sin. They profaned God's holy name, even though they were amongst the heathen. You know, even in all of this, even in all that was said so far, even in their judgment, God's judgment for their sin, we can mark God's grace and mercy toward them and preserving them and giving them a future. God's promises will stand forever. God's purposes will stand forever. Again, God knows exactly what he's doing. Just think of the grace and mercy of God for a moment here. If we had even 1% of 1% of the wrath and curse that is due us, we would be in hell already. But for God's grace and God's mercy, it spares us from what we rightly deserve. Whenever God looks down he sees not my sin but he sees Christ's imputed righteousness which is given to my account. Oh I thank God for the cross work of his dear son that avails for me and will throughout eternity. I thank God for his grace and for his mercy. What is grace? Grace is getting what we do not deserve. All the good things that God affords us. What is mercy? It's the opposite side of the same coin. It's not getting what we do deserve. And God's grace and mercy are met in Him at Calvary. Let's think of something else here. We've thought really about the Gentiles grafting in. The times of the Gentiles. We've thought really about the Gentiles being cut off. We're moving on to the next part now, which is the Gentiles grafting in. Think of what we read here in Romans 11, 11. Especially think of the last part of that verse. I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid. But rather through their fall, and look at this next part, this next little clause. But rather through their fall, salvation is come to the Gentiles. For to provoke them to jealousy. Look at that little part there especially. Salvation is come to the Gentiles. In fact, read on down that chapter to verse 19. Now this is Paul. Remember the context here. This is Paul, a Jew. In fact, one of the most Jewish Jews that you can come across, if you want to put it that way, before the Lord revealed himself to him and showed him exactly who he was. And here he is writing and preaching to the church at Rome, the Gentile church. What's he saying here? Thou wilt say then. The branches are broken off that I might be grafted in. He's writing here to the Gentiles, that the branches, the Gentile branches might be grafted in. But you know whenever we think about these verses and specifically the subject of grafting in, it really humbles us, it really humbles me. Think of what we read there in the next verse, verse 20 and 21. Well, says Paul, because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. In fact, that's what these chapters are all about, about faith, the importance of that gift of faith. Be not high-minded. In other words, do not be proud. He's calling for humility here. Be not high-minded. That's a good word that some sainters use. They weren't wrong here. Be not high-minded, but fear, verse 21, for if God spared not the natural branches, that's the Jews, God spared not the natural branches, take heed, there's a warning here, take heed, lest he also spare not thee. This thought really ought to humble us and to make us at the same time so, so thankful. You know it reminds me of the doctrine of adoption. In adoption, think of adoption in the natural sense, think of adoption in the family sense, think of adoption even in the legal sense today. In adoption, a child whose parents perhaps are not fit for whatever reason, maybe they've been killed or they're not fit for whatever reason to care and provide for that child. But in adoption, someone else who doesn't have to takes that child in. In fact in UK law, and I'm no solicitor, and I'm not a barrister either, but in UK law an adopted, do you realise this? That an adopted child has more legal rights in UK law than a natural child. And you think about that spiritually speaking. If you want to, for whatever reason, disinherit your natural children or your natural child in your will, you have every legal right to do that. However, that is not the case with the adopted child. They are not only your legal child, but they're protected over and above your proper flesh and blood children by the laws of the land. You think about the illustration that the Holy Spirit here employs through Paul, the secret writer, in employing the picture of that horticultural practice of grafting another branch in, one that is not naturally there, one that you could say in many senses doesn't deserve to be brought in. to that place. You think about the blessing that's associated with that. You see, in grafting, and I don't know much about these things, there's maybe people here that do, whenever I look around and see all these plants and the way they're sustained and fed, there's people in this church that know more about horticulture than I do, but in grafting the sapling or the branch or that little branch that would otherwise be cut off and die. has all the benefits because it's brought in. It is all the benefits of the parent tree. And I thank God today that we as Gentile nations have had that provision made for us by God for the fact that we've been grafted and we've been adopted, we've been brought into the family of God with all of its associated benefits. Whenever the branch is grafted into the main body of the tree, initially that bond is tentative. Initially it has to be tied in and held physically in for physical strength. It must have that great care and attention for fear of it breaking off. The cuts have to be precise, made with hands that know what they're doing, with a short knife. It has to be performed with great care and attention. But after a very relatively short period of time, maybe only a few weeks, that bond is as strong as if it grew there naturally. That's grafting in. In fact that's a lovely picture of the gentile believer. That's a lovely picture of us today. A lovely picture of the Christian being grafted in to the very family of God. In fact whenever we think of it all in the cold light of day. We don't deserve a single thing except that is God's eternal wrath and punishment. He is a holy. He is a just God who must see justice done. That's why Christ had to do what he did. That's why he went all the way to the cross of Calvary. That's why the wrath and curse of God was poured out upon him for those three hours of darkness. That's why he cried. In those hours of darkness, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? That's the answer given to that question a way back in Isaiah of how and why did it please the Father to bruise him. Because when he looked down the passage of time he would see the likes of you and I that would be in his providential plan. Remember he knows exactly what he's doing and he is known from day one. He has looked down the passage of time and he saw you and I been grafted in. Oh, what a wonderful Savior we have. What a wonderful plan of redemption was hatched in eternity past, and I say that as reverently as is possible for me to say, that plan that was wrought in eternity past and performed in time. In fact, what a future prospect we have as very real members of God's own family. I used to sing in a wee gospel group In fact, there was one piece that we sang more than probably all the rest put together in that group as we went around various churches across Ulster and Scotland and other places. So much so that people started to give us a nickname. We were called the Skake and Burn Gospel Singers, and you'll wonder what that means. I can see puzzled looks there from your secretary and others. That's the two town lads that the group members came from. But it wasn't long before people started to call us the what a day singers. You know that hymn I'm sure, what a day that shall be. When my Jesus I shall see, when I look upon his face, the one who saved me by his grace, when he takes me by the hand and leads me through the promised land, what a day, what a glorious day that shall be. We sung that nearly everywhere we went. Why? Because of that future prospect that we have as believers. You know it's a beautiful thing to be brought in, beautiful thing to consider this doctrine of how we're grafted in to the family, to the promises of that covenant-keeping God. Oh yes, there is that breaking off, that grafting, And indeed we'll want to think now about Israel's regrafting in. We'll want to think now really essentially about the restoration of Israel. Look at Romans 11 again, look at verse 23 and 24. And they, that is the Jews who were cut off, that's the they that's referred to there in verse 23. And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall, I praise God for this, shall be grafted in. Why? For God is able to graft them in again. Now I want you to notice that Israel's breaking off by God was neither total nor complete nor final. It wasn't permanent. Look at verse 24. For if thou wert cut off, or cut out of the olive tree, which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary by nature into a good olive tree, how much more shall, I love the shalls of scripture. I love the wee words. I love the monosyllabic words. What's that big word mean? It's a big word that describes a small word. Monosyllabic, single syllable words. I was teaching the kids in my bus the other day. If you want to know how many syllables is in a word, you count the vowels. And really, this is a small word, a simple word. For thou wert cut out of the olive tree, verse 24, which is wild by nature, and wert grafted contrary into nature, into a good olive tree. How much shall these, this is Israel as a nation, the Jew, how much shall these, which shall be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? These things shall happen. Very often God speaks about what he's going to do in the future and he even uses past tense language. So sure is he that these things are going to happen. Have we the faith, have we the confidence in scripture that we claim to have, that we say we do, that we ought to have as Christians? Do we have that confidence that every single word that he says, not a jot, not a tittle, not a word, not a letter, not even a part of a letter, shall remain unfulfilled. God knows what he's doing and he's doing it. Now for today's study we're going to have to give a wee caveat here. For today's study we were given the subject of breaking off, regrafting and regrafting and we're thinking now of that final point of regrafting. Think of the final point of that proposition that was given, the regrafting. That's what I was asked to deal with at the outset and I want to think about the subject of regrafting. Now first of all we want to define our terms. Very important to define our terms. Very important to be talking about the same thing really. Now in thinking of this, we want to think about Israel's re-grafting but not only the fact that it applies to Israel who was once cut off but re-grafted in that sense. Now properly speaking here, and I could be wrong here because I was wrong one time before. I'm only joking there, you're supposed to laugh there. There, thank you. But properly speaking, whenever we think of that subject of regrafting, the whole gamut of subject of regrafting, we are thinking of Israel's regrafting in that spiritual sense. Now that's the way I take it to be. in the sense of their spiritual conversion of them coming to Christ spiritually, as is of course clearly taught in scripture. And I would love to, and I would in fact naturally deal with that subject right now as the third point of that subject. However, as you know, My subject for this evening's meeting in about two and a half hours time is the subject of all Israel shall be saved. So I don't want to go over the same ground. I don't want to steal my own thunder for that meeting because I want to consider that really and onto the gamut of that second subject Rather, for the reasons that we've already mentioned here, we're going to consider something else. We're going to consider really the regrafting of Israel in that physical sense and the political sense just now. Even though in the correct sense, and I'm giving this caveat again, this really is a reference to their spiritual conversion at the end of this present Gentile age. Now many of the things that we have prophesied in God's Word have been and are being fulfilled right now under our very noses. In fact many of the things that we see in the Word of God prophesied concerning Israel has been happening in living memory. And I say that today in the knowledge that there's people here that are well into their 10th decade. So in living memory in that sense. Now the world has changed a lot in the last 5 years, never mind the last 100 years. The world has changed a lot in the last 100 years. I've done a bit of research and study and looking at this. The Ottoman Empire, we're talking about this around the breakfast table a little bit this morning. The Ottoman Empire was founded in the year 1299 by Osman I. was a vast empire at its height. In fact, it was a world superpower that crossed continental lines at the peak of its existence. It was at the centre of trade and commerce between the Middle East and Europe for over 600 years. And it finally came to an end just over 100 years ago. It ended in 1922. Really, recently, in relative terms. In fact the Turks, who were at the heart of the Ottoman Empire of course, the Turks were so confident that their empire would never end that they took the motto, and it was in Turkish, I'm not going to attempt to speak Turkish today, I'm not going to bamboozle you enough with English, but in the English it's translated as the Eternal State. That's how confident that they were that it would last forever and of course it didn't, it failed. 1922 it fell, but crucially the Ottoman Empire also included at its very heart, at its very core, the land of Israel. But it is no more. It has been assigned to the pages of history, the Ottoman Empire. But you know the world has changed a lot in the hundred years even since. the Ottoman Empire come to an end. And to repeat the phrase that we've used already today, and I want to hammer this home, if you leave those double doors with nothing else in your mind today other than this, God knows exactly what he is doing. Exactly what he is doing. He makes no mistakes. I thank God today that he is not the God of plan A, which fails, and then he goes to plan B. And C, and D, and E, and F, and G, and keeps going on to all these different plans. Some call them different dispensations. That is not, that is a false and a fake hermeneutic of this book. That is not the God that we find in the pages of Holy Scripture. We find a God who knows exactly what he is doing from day one, in fact from before day one, eternity past. I thank God today for the fact that he is that covenant making and covenant keeping God, the one that is revealed to us in the volume of the sacred, plenary, inspired, that means all of it, inspired book, the precious word of God. He is the one that causes empires to rise and fall. Whenever Britain declared war on the Ottoman Empire in November 1914, It immediately, I have read this past week, it immediately began to consider the future of Palestine. The Balfour Declaration, you know about that, the Balfour Declaration was a letter sent from a man by the name Balfour, Arthur James Balfour, in fact he was a British Foreign Secretary to the, and that was a letter that was sent to the leader of the Anglo-Jewish community. A man by the name of Lionel Walter Rothschild, I didn't know him personally. But that letter was sent away back as far as the 2nd of November 1917. And against all odds, many years later in 1948, against all odds, and I've read a lot of the history and a lot of the wranglings and a lot of the backs and forwards and a lot of the discussion over the wording of that document and all the rest of it. And you can see and trace God's hand in it all. Because against all odds in 1948 the State of Israel was founded. I've read a lot to do with the political wranglings and the correspondence, in fact, many of the letters from the various interested parties at that time. And in reading that and studying that and trying to get to grips with that, all we can do is to stand back in awe and wonder and amazement at how the Lord's plans are never once thwarted. That's what I believe. That's what this book teaches. That's what we're seeing. Play it out before our very eyes. It really is of God that the state of Israel was founded again as a nation 76 years ago this very year. Prior to the publication of the declaration, the Balfour Declaration in 1917. Here's some numbers for you. There's some for your notebook now, brother. Prior to the declaration, the Balfour Declaration, less than 60,000 Jews lived in that area that later became the homeland to over 700,000 in 1948. It grew exponentially from 1917, 60,000, up to 1948, just really a few years, to 700,000 Jews. In fact, today, this is from, I produced these notes on the 21st of September, just a few days ago. Today, Israel's population stands at almost 10 million. As of last week, the 21st, 9,416,062 Jews inhabit that land. Isn't that amazing? That really is amazing. And you tell me that God doesn't know what he's doing? the God of this book. I'll tell you what, I heard, this just comes to mind now, I'm thinking of an eminent man who was a big study of prophecy. And he was asked on one occasion, what thing have you discovered? And what subject have you studied? And what message have you heard? Or a very wide-ranging question, what have you studied that has helped your faith, your Christian faith, more than anything else? And he thought for a moment, I can still see him in my mind's eye, he's now going to be with the Lord, but I can now see him in my mind's eye thinking about that answer before he looked up from his thoughts. And they said this, prophecy. I don't know about you, but I can attest to that as well. You feel your faith weakening, you feel yourself wondering about these things that happened hundreds and thousands of years ago that you read of in the sacred volume of the scriptures. And then you look at prophecy and you look at how, you look at, you read your, as Spurgeon used to say, who wasn't too far from here, the first time I come here to preach, that no evening service, we went down to the Metropolitan Tabernacle, not too far away, same line down there, down the train tracks. And as he used to say, you should read your Bible alongside your newspaper. And how prevalent that, how true that statement is, especially whenever we get to the subject of God's dealings with, God's future dealings with, God's present dealings with Israel. You only have to flick on the television, we're talking about that around the dinner table today, about how God is richly blessing Israel as a nation. That's what we're considering now. Of course, whenever we consider prophetic scripture, we find that it is full, it is replete of this very thing. We've been told over and over again in the word of God, we've been assured about God's future dealings with Israel. Much of what has already been fulfilled, much of what is coming to pass, right now with Israel. Let us consider some of the scriptures. Turn to Ezekiel 36 for example. There's many scriptures, there's many in fact that we'll not turn to today, but allow us to consider some of those. Look at Ezekiel 36 first of all. Verse 24, very clear reference. Clear reference that many want to ignore, but we can see it happening, see it played out right before us now. Look at Ezekiel 36 verse 24. I'll give you a second to find the place. Ezekiel 36 verse 24. God is the speaker. He makes us promise. I love the I wills of God because they're as good as done. He says here, for I will take you from among the heathen. He's speaking of his own people here, the Jew. and gather you out of all countries and will bring you into your own land." Could it be any clearer than that, men and women? In fact, if this wasn't what the scriptures were trying to say, what other language would the sacred writer have to employ to convey that truth? We could say the same about many things. The latter chapters of Revelation, those multiple references, six times and six verses to the thousand years and yet still some will tell us that it's to be spiritualized, it doesn't really mean what it says. Look at Hosea for a moment. Hosea chapter 3 in your Bible, Old Testament. Hosea chapter 3 verse 4 and 5, especially verse 5. For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, without an ephod, without a terapim. Verse 5. Afterwards, after that period where they're cut off, we've considered that period. Afterwards shall the children of Israel return And it goes on there to something that we'll consider this evening. Return and seek the Lord their God and David their King and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days. Look at Isaiah chapter 11. Isaiah chapter 11 verse 11 and 12. And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people. which shall be left from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea, and he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall, oh the shalls of God, verse 12, Isaiah 11 and 12, and shall assemble, look at how clear the language is here, in black and white in your Bibles, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah, from the four corners of the earth. How clear is that? Isn't that wonderful? Isaiah 11 verse 12. Turn on through Isaiah to chapter 27. And it shall come to pass, verse 12 reads, that the Lord shall beat off from the channel of the river to the stream of Egypt And ye, again speaking to the Jew of the Jew, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel. If there's any doubt as to who the Lord is referring to here, he nails it down in the last little phrase in that 12th verse. Ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel. Verse 13. And it shall come to pass in that day that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which are ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem. Yes, they will come back to their homeland. They have been re-established as a nation. They're coming back to their homeland. Look at Isaiah 66, verse 20. Isaiah 66, verse 20. And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord out of all nations, upon horses, and on chariots, and on livers, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, as if there was any doubt as to where they were brought back to, right to the very heart of their homeland. And who's the speaker, saith the Lord. He was on as the children of Israel bring an offering and a clean vessel unto the house of the Lord. That's Isaiah 66 verse 20. So clear, so plain. We also have references there in Jeremiah 16 verse 15. I'll not ask you to turn to all these references for the sake of time. But in Jeremiah 16 15 and I'll read it for you. But the Lord liveth that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands whether he hath driven them and I will bring them again unto their land that I give unto their fathers. their ancestral homeland, they're restored to it again. Jeremiah 16, 15 that is. And a few chapters later, Jeremiah 23, verse 8. I'm showing you these multiple references to show you how clear it is and that we're not building a whole doctrine on one verse. Because in Jeremiah 23 verse 18 we read, but the Lord liveth which brought up and which hath led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country and from all countries whether I had driven them and they shall dwell in their own land. How clear is that? Now of course we don't need to preach these things as strongly now as we did before 1948. But it's good to reinforce them that this is of the Lord's doing. This was prophesied. This was forecast by the Lord. Look at Ezekiel 34, verse 11, 12, 13. In fact, even into verse 14. Ezekiel 34 reads, For thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep and seek them out. Isn't that lovely? A lovely, warm, endearing term there of how the Lord will go after the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Behold how I, even I, will both search my sheep and seek them out. We're in Ezekiel 34 verse 12 we're about to read now. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered, so will I seek out my sheep and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered. Verse 13, And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel. So specific, can't be anything else. By the rivers, and in all the inhabitant places of the country. Verse 14, I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall be their fold. There shall they lie in a good fold, and a fat pasture shall they feed. And again another reference, because if we need that repetition, it's there, it's there, it's reinforced over and over again, verse 14. The last word in fact, upon the mountains of Israel. That's Ezekiel 34, a couple of pages over, Ezekiel 36 verse 24. For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out from all countries, and bring you into your own land. The next chapter again, Ezekiel 37 verse 21 and 22. Time after time, proof after proof. We're not building a doctrine on a strong man here. Every doctrine is built upon scripture. Thus saith the Lord God, behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen. That's Ezekiel 37, 21. and bring them, the last line, the last few words of that verse says, and bring them into their own land. Verse 22, and I will make them as one nation. There's another divine truth revealed there that they'll be brought into one nation. At the minute they're still separated, still split into the different tribes, the two tribes and the ten tribes, but they'll all be brought into one nation. They shall, look at the in fact the specific nature of what Ezekiel reveals here as he's inspired to do at the end of verse 22, and they shall be no more two nations, and we could spend a message on that alone, they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all, they'll be brought into one in their own land. In Hosea chapter 1 we read further evidence to that. Verse 11 we read, then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together. same truth brought through and appoint themselves one head and they shall come up out of the land for great shall be the day of Shea Israel. You know it all seems amazing it all seems maybe even fantastic in the correct sense of that word that term that Israel has been and is returning to her ancestral and prophetic home again but after all we should never really be amazed. We should never be amazed if what God said would happen is happening. When we think of it, think of the Balfour Declaration of 1948, that's just one thing we've mentioned. Think of the Six Day War of June 1967. You Google and YouTube and you search out those things and it really is amazing how against all odds, God not only gave the victory, but gave the increase. Think of the Yom Kippur War of October 73. Think indeed of the more recent attacks of the only ones in my lifetime as born at the end of 77. Think of the attacks of the 7th of October last year and what we're witnessing again and again with all these events of how the Lord is working out all things according to his providential will and purpose. You think about those terrorist attacks on the 7th of October last year. You know if that was us we'd be looking at the TV saying isn't that terrible what's happening over there. But what were the Jews doing all around the world? What were the scattered sheep of the house of Israel doing all around the world? They were going straight to their apps and straight to their phones and straight to their computers and straight to their travel agents to book flights home. And they've been doing that. They've been flocking back home. They've been chartering flights back home. You see God knows exactly finish where we started. God knows exactly what he is doing and I trust that we indeed might be encouraged today as we might think upon these wonderful truths. We'll leave it there please. We'll close our time in prayer. We'll let you get a quick bite to eat and then the evening meeting is a little over an hour. Let us pray. Father,