Sermon
Week 23: Introducing Judaism | December 14, 2025 Sunday School
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives.
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The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist
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Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us
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or contact us at mylibertybaptist.org or just
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look us up on Facebook. And now we hope that this
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message from God's word will be a blessing to you.
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We'll go ahead and start our lesson here this morning by
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asking ourselves these question What is Judaism?
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Who is considered a Jew? Is Judaism only religion?
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Is it a cultural identity? Is it an ethnic group?
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Are the Jews a distinct people or are they a nation?
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What do the Jews believe and do they all hold the same beliefs?
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You know, it's interesting that we have much in common with the
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Jewish people in many ways. In fact, you would go back here
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in the United States of America and often times it is said that
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our nation was founded on judeo-christian values, meaning
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that there is some commonalities between those of Judaism and
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between us of Christianity as well.
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But be clear about this this morning, that even as we
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recognize the so-called Judeo-christian values, that
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while we may share a common background with Judaism, we do
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not share a common belief. I think that's important for us
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to understand. Do we share a common background?
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Yes, we do. For instance, the Old Testament,
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we share a common background, but we do not share a common
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belief. The Judaism of today isn't just
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biblical teaching that says, well, they believe everything we
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do except about Jesus Christ. Now, by the way, that would
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still be wrong. Amen.
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You can believe everything that we do from biblical
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Christianity, not believe in Jesus Christ and still be
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hopelessly lost because if you've missed Jesus Christ,
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well, you missed everything. But I would say that Judaism as
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we see it today isn't even simply believing the Bible, but
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not the New Testament and not Jesus Christ.
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That even Judaism today has deviated from that which was
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taught in the Old Testament as well.
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And so we can't simply look as Judaism as they believe like us,
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except Jesus Christ. You know, it is much different
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than that. And so I, I would put it this
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way, that Judaism is an offshoot of the Old Testament, not Jewish
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people following the Old Testament while ignoring the New
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Testament. That even as we look at Judaism,
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we're not looking at what God had commanded the Jews to do in
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the Old Testament. They've even deviated from that.
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And of course, that shouldn't surprise us because what Jesus,
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or rather what God had commanded the Jews to do in the Old
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Testament was pointing them towards who?
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Jesus Christ. And so if they've missed Jesus
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Christ, well, they've missed the mark of the Old Testament.
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And so we're not looking at people who are exactly like us
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minus Jesus Christ. And again, that would still make
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them lost. But what we look at with Judaism
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is far, far different even from that.
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So who is a Jew that that might be the question today.
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Well, who is a Jew? And you might be surprised to
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find that there's even a lot of not controversy, but questions
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about that even amongst the Jewish community.
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Who is a Jew? According to Rabbinical Judaism,
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a Jew is one who had a Jewish mother or has formally converted
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to Judaism. That would be the definition
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according to many, not all. That would be someone who had a
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Jewish mother or someone who has formally converted to Judaism.
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Leviticus 24 verse 10 is often used as the proof text of that
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being the Jewish mother, making someone a Jew.
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Now this is Leviticus 24, verse 10.
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It says this, and the son of an Israelitish woman whose father
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was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel, and the
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son of the Israelitish woman and a man of Israel strove together
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in the camp. I wouldn't say that was a very
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strong proof text for what they're trying to be able to
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convey, but many Jews would point to this verse and say you
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either have to have a Jewish mother or you have to have
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converted to Judaism. Now, some rabbis will say that
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it has nothing nothing to do with what an individual actually
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believes. It's not a belief system to
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some. These rabbis tell us that
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according to the Halakha, the official legal system of
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Judaism, a Jew does not need to be a follower of Jewish laws and
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customs to be considered Jewish. In fact, a Jew can have no
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belief in God whatsoever and still be Jewish based on the
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fact of their lineage. So what makes someone a Jew?
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Well, again, controversially or, or we would say that there would
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be some questioning about this, but it seems to be that one can
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be Jew by ethnicity because of the way that they were born.
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Some can be Jew because of what they believe.
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But someone that is ethnically a Jew may not believe in Judaism
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and someone that is Judaism, someone that believes in Judaism
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may have converted to it and not ethnically be a Jew.
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I don't know if that makes sense to everybody, but the
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understanding is this, that where we as Christians, it is
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not an ethnicity. It is we have come from all
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places and all types and of course we're all one blood under
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Jesus Christ, Amen. But the fact of the matter is,
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is that we come from all different walks of life, but we
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are not ethnically Christians. We wouldn't say that.
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But there are ethnic Jews who also believe in Judaism and then
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vice versa. There is that type of overlap.
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Now, what do they believe now? Or rather, where do they get
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their beliefs? It may be a a way of putting it
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well, we would see that they would find get their beliefs
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from the Old Testament primarily or first of all rather, which is
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called the Torah. We would call the Old Testament,
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well the Old Testament, but they would use the term Torah for the
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Old Testament. In the Old Testament are 613
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commandments found, 613 commandments that the Jews were
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to be able to keep, and they covered all aspects of the
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Jewish life. And we look at some of those
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when we go through the Old Testament, don't we?
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And they cover civil law, they cover the ceremonial law, they
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cover issues with the temple and sacrifices, all of these
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different things, 613 in total. And then those could be in some
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ways distilled to the 10 commandments as it's found in
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Exodus chapter #20 and Deuteronomy chapter 5.
Deuteronomy 5 chapter mention
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Just a brief synopsis, if you will, of the law.
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But you might remember that Jesus Christ even took those 10
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commandments and narrowed it down even further, didn't he?
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Not that he eliminated the commandments, but that basically
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he said really it all comes down to too doesn't it?
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Says you love God and you love others because upon these hang
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all the law and the prophets. He wasn't saying that the others
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were irrelevant. He was just saying this if you
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love God as you ought and you love others as you ought, you'll
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be fine because everything that is in the commandments really
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comes down to this. Love others and love God.
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In fact, the 1st 4 commandments deal with our relationship
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between us to God. The other six which deal with
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our relationship from us to man, but even that can be broadened
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out to the 613 that these are, are found in the Torah.
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However, the Jews also believe in a different sacred book as
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well, which is the Talmud. They have called the Talmud also
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to be their scriptures. Now the Talmud is defined by the
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World Book Encyclopedia as the following, a collection of legal
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and ethical writings as well as Jewish history and folklore.
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It serves primarily as a guide to the civil and religious laws
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of Judaism. Orthodox Jews believe the laws
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in the Talmud were given to Moses by God and passed down
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orally from generation to generation.
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About AD 200, scholars wrote down these oral laws in a work
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called the Mishnah. Later, scholars explain,
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interpreted the Mishnah. Their comments were recorded in
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the Gamera, which was written between 200 and 500 AD.
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The Mishnah and the Gamera together make up the Talmud.
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So it's not just simply that they believe the Old Testament,
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and this is where I would say that again, there's a deviation
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from the Old Testament. They also hold up the Talmud as
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well as the interpretation of the Torah, and they say you
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really need to understand the Talmud to understand the Torah.
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You say now where would all of that come from?
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Did you catch that word talked about the Oral Law for Moses
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being passed from generation to generation and then finally
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being written down around 200 AD?
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Who are the custodians of that Oral Law starting around 100 BC
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or so and into the time of Christ?
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That would be the Pharisees. And the Pharisees were the ones
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that were constantly saying, well sure, the Bible may say
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this, but we have said this and they were constantly taking
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their words. Now they would say it was Moses
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words, but they weren't Moses words.
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They were their own creations. They were their own
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interpretations. In fact, they added to them
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overtime. They would take these and they
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would take them and put them above Scripture, putting them
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above Jesus Christ, which was constantly the clash that took
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place between the Pharisees of Jesus Christ.
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And again, that clash continues today between Judaism and
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biblical Christianity. Because we would say that
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everything that we need to understand comes to us in these
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66 books. Everything that pertains to life
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and godliness is right here. And they are told, the Jews are
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told that they have to not just understand the Torah, but also
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the Talmud, which was passed from generation to generation
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and generation to generation. So what do they believe?
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Now, I will say, because there's so many different groups that
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are in Judaism, it's very hard to be able to just say, well,
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this is what Judaism believes in.
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However, in my study I found that it can be distilled no
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matter pretty much what group you find these basic beliefs of
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Judaism, at least religious Judaism, not ethnic Judaism, can
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be put in these categories #1 God alone exists and is creator
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#2 God is 1 and unique #3 God is incorporeal, meaning without a
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body and incomparable. 4. God is eternal both first and
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last Five. We are to pray to God alone and
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to no other. Six.
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The words of the prophets are true. 7 Moses was the chief
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prophet, and Moses prophecies are true #8 the Torah, the first
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five books of the Bible specifically, and the Oral
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Torah, the Talmud were given to Moses and divinely preserved. 9
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There will be no other Torah, since it cannot be changed. 10
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God knows all things, including the thoughts and deeds of men.
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11 God will reward the righteous and punish the wicked. 12 The
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Messiah will come. 13 The dead will be resurrected.
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Now, if you consider the 13 points that I've just read and
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that you're looking at on your screen right now, we would say
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in our studies so far of the Muslims and of Jehovah Witnesses
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and of the Mormons, we would probably agree with more of
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those 13 points than we would with any of those three other
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groups, yes, including the Colts, Jehovah Witness, and
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Mormons. However, again, we do not agree
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with all thirteen of those points.
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There are some very key different differences we
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disagree numbers with #8 of the Talmud being of divine origin.
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We would say the New Testament would be of divine origin.
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The Torah sometimes called the first five books, sometimes
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called the entire balance of the Old Testament.
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What do we find that we would believe in Old Testament and New
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Testament? They say that they would believe
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in the Torah and the Talmud. We would look at #12 where they
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say the Messiah will come, and boy, this is a big one.
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We'll say this. He has come.
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He has come. They are looking for him to come
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and we are looking for him to come again.
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That's the difference, isn't it? We are looking for him to come
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again. They are still looking for him
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to come. And again, one of the saddest
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parts of any type of Passover feast that your Jewish friends
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will hold in the usually around April time of year, one of the
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things that they will do is at the very end, they will all
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stand at the door and they will wait for Elijah to come.
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They will, they will say Elijah come.
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Now, why will that be? Well, because we'll see in the
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book of Malachi that Elijah was to be the forerunner of Jesus
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Christ. Well, who was that?
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Elijah? That was John the Baptist.
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We'll look at all of that this morning.
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I'm kind of getting ahead of myself of over going to be at
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11:00. But the fact of the matter is
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they look for him to come. And it's so sad that they would
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stand there at the door and wait ceremonially, of course, for him
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to come. It's just part of the feast that
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they have. But we would look at them and
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say you're waiting for someone who's come. 2000 years ago.
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So we would disagree on #12 on #11 we would agree God will
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reward the righteous and punish the wicked.
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Here's the difference. The Bible says that, well, all
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of sinned and falling short of the glory of God, you will find
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that Judaism basically teaches that mankind is inherently good
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and starts from that point where we would say the word of God
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teaches well that mankind is inherently sinful and needs
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redemption. A huge difference.
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And so we can see that out of 13, we probably agree with ten
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of those points, but boy, those three, yeah, we need to be able
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to be in agreement in all 13 and we cannot agree with all 13.
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Those are some very, very large differences, including the very
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difference between salvation and being lost, the fact that you
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don't know who the Messiah is. That's what salvation is all
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about, knowing who Jesus Christ is.
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Now, the modern groups within Judaism are primarily born out
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of the Pharisaical teaching that held the Old Testament and the
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Talmud as the supreme authority. But even in modern Judaism,
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Judaism, and I would say particularly modern American
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Judaism, it seems that there are three religious groups.
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The first would be Orthodox Judaism.
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Orthodox Judaism is a movement holding traditional beliefs and
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practices such as kosher diets, Sabbath rest, distinctive dress
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codes. Now, if you are in our area and
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you're driving around on a Saturday, Saturday would be the
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Sabbath day. And if you were driving around,
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as I was just a few weeks ago going through Sharon, for
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instance, Sharon has a large Orthodox Jewish community.
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As I was driving through town, I saw that there were families
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that were walking to go on Sabbath, to be able to go to the
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temple. They were dressed in a very
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particular way, both women and men.
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They were walking because they could not drive because they
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that would be considered work on the Sabbath day.
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The kids had their scooters and they were out there on the
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scooters and mom and dad were walking.
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I'll be honest, he's very impressive in some ways to see
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them going and doing what they are doing it.
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And in some ways you admire the fact that they are so very
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dedicated to that which they believe.
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But I would say this, they are dedicated to that which is not
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the gospel. And so we look at those, but
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those would be what are considered Orthodox Jews.
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We could also look at Reform Judaism.
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This is a modern movement begun in the 1800s, takes many liberal
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viewpoints and does away with conservative values and
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practices that are inherent to Orthodox Judaism.
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You will find that many Jewish temples today, the large
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majority of Jewish temples would fall under Reformed Judaism that
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they have basic Jewish beliefs, but they are very liberal in
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every way that are so contrary to the word of God.
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Not just in their beliefs but also in how they handle
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themselves as opposed to Orthodox Judaism.
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We have a Jewish temple in town. It is a Reformed Judas, Reformed
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Judaism temple where they hold certain beliefs but in many ways
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are unrecognizable to Orthodox Jews.
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But there's also part of Judaism which is a little bit of a
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misnomer because it's a group that tries to balance between
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Orthodox and Reformed. However, they have a lot of the
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liberal tendencies of the Reform Judaism while still trying to
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hold to the Torah and understand that it is the Scriptures where
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Orthodox Reform Judaism would not say that the that the Torah
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is absolute scripture. And so there are again, some
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different flavors between them, but this is the three Orthodox
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Reform and Conservative tries to be right in the middle, but
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again falls more to the liberal side towards Reform than it does
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for Orthodox. And there's one more group that
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it also is prominent but is not a religious group, and that is
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this. It is secular Judaism, secular
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Judaism, those who still identify as Jews mostly by
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heritage, but are actually secular humanists, the popular
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religion of today. In many ways, they have taken
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one more step beyond Reform Judaism, and they are purely
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secular in their religious outlook.
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They retain the name for the sake of their ancestry.
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They may even celebrate some of the feasts like the Passover,
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just because it's part of their national heritage, But they are
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not celebrating it for a religious reason.
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You say, well, why would somebody do that?
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I don't know. Why does all the United States
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celebrate Christmas but have nothing to do with Jesus?
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So it should not surprise us that there would be some that
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would do the same thing as a way to be in touch with their roots,
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but really have no connection with God whatsoever, probably
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don't even believe in God, and would certainly not hold to
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those 13 points that we just put up a few moments ago.
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So those 13 points would really in many ways encompass the top
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three. And then secular Jews, those who
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want to connect with their ethnic roots but yet do not
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believe in God, would fall under the secular Judaism category.
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And I will say in my interactions with many people
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here in Easton and the surrounding area over the years,
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I have met several in each of these categories.
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I have met several of them. And one of the things that I've
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loved for us to be able to do in the past is to be able to have
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one of our missionaries, Sam Wilson, come.
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Some of you remember him and he was a missionary in Israel for a
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short time, then had to come back to the States and now
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ministers to Jews here in the United States, has been here
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before a couple different times and taught us.
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How to better relate to our Jewish neighbors and friends and
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really showed us some really, really interesting things.
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Not to start a Jewish ministry within your church, but to just
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equip the people within the church to be able to reach Jews
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for Christ. And so I think it's a very
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important thing and it's important for us to be able to
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brush up and understand more about these things for
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ourselves. So here's the question that we
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must ask ourselves today. It's why we're in Romans chapter
Romans 10 chapter mention
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10. And I think we've already asked
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it and answered it in some ways. But I want us to look at what
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the Bible says about this. Are the Jews saved?
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Are the Jews saved? Now, here's the answer to that
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question. I know I just asked the
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question. I said we're gonna look at the
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Bible. But the answer to that question
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is this is that people are not saved by what ethnicity they
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are. People are not saved by what
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people group they belong to. People are saved one way and one
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way only, the Bible way. And so we cannot say that the
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Jews as a group are saved or unsaved, other than we recognize
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that there will be a time that at the end of the Tribulation
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period where they as a group will accept Jesus as their
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Savior. But in the meantime, we look at
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them and say this by and large the Jewish people have rejected
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Jesus Christ. There is there's no denying for
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us to be able to say this morning that by and large the
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Jewish people have denied Jesus Christ.
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Now listen carefully to what I'm about to say.
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The Jewish people and I think of the nation of Israel in
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particular loves to be able to have evangelical Christians to
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come and to go into their nation and to be able to take tours and
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do those types of things are very welcoming to evangelical
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Christians doing so. Why?
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Because of the Christian heritage that we have there that
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we share in our roots with them. And so they.
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Love to have us to be OK. I've never been to Israel.
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I'd love to visit Israel someday.
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Never have been the Bible. I've heard people say that it's
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like going to Israel's, like seeing the Bible in color after
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seeing it in black and white before, because you get to see
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the very places that you read about in the Gospels and other
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places. I can't imagine what that would
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be like. I hope someday to be able to do
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so. But I will say the Jewish
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government is very welcoming for those tourism dollars to flow
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into Israel to allow people like us to be able to come.
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But there's also something they would like us to do as well.
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Leave. And I'm not trying.
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To be unkind about this, I'm not trying to be snide or smart
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aleck about this whatsoever. What I'm saying is this is as
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welcoming as they are to evangelical Christians to be
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able to come and visit, they are also very closed as a country to
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the gospel. Meaning this that if someone was
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to come as a missionary and to try to start a church, very
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quickly they would be asked to leave Israel.
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And that's a story over and over again that it is a closed
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country to the gospel, as closed as many of the common countries
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we would think of as being closed to the gospel.
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But we don't think of that because they are so welcoming to
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us to be able to come and visit. They just don't want you to go
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into proselytize and they do not want anyone to go and to start a
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church. And I say that for no other
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reason, just to say that that is what the fact of the matter is,
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that by and large that they have rejected Jesus Christ.
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That does not mean that all Jews have.
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You may have heard of Messianic Jews.
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These are those who are Jewish, of ethnic origin, and they have
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come to understand that Jesus is their Messiah, not that he will
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come, but that he has come and he will come again.
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And they are out there. I have met them before.
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They are some lovely people. Many of them will hold the
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feasts during the year, not because they have to.
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We're not required to hold the feasts anymore.
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It's Old Testament, they pointed Jesus Christ, but they use them
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as very vivid ways within their communities to be able to show
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Jesus Christ through their own heritage.
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And I think that's a wonderful thing for them to be able to do.
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I encourage them to do that. We're not biblically told to do
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that. We're cold told to take the
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Lord's Supper. We don't have to take the
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Passover. Remember, we just saw in First
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Corinthians chapter #5 that Christ is our Passover, That we
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understand that He was the sacrifice, the Lamb of God to
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take away the sin of the world. But yet we understand there are
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some Messianic Jews out there. So what does?
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What do we see about this? Well, I will tell you who had a
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great burden to reach the Jews for Christ, and that was Paul.
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Paul had a great, great burden to see the Jews reached for
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Christ. But why?
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We think of him as the missionary to the Gentiles.
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And he was. But I will say this, in every
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city he went to, he always went to the Jews first.
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In every city he went to, he always went to the synagogue and
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was always trying to present Jesus Christ to those in the
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synagogue. Sometimes people believe and
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there were places where people would believe.
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Ephesus is one of those places that comes to mind.
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However, many times he was expelled from the synagogue,
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sometimes was beaten by those who ran the synagogue, and
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sometimes was run out of town before he even got to talk to
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the Gentiles. But many times he would give the
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gospel to the Jews. He would shake the dust off his
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feet after they were rejected and then would go and give the
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gospel to the Gentiles. This was what he did.
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What was his heart? Well, chapter 10, verse one says
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this, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for
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Israel is that they might be saved.
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For I bear them record that they have a zeal for God, but listen
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not according to knowledge. When I think of Orthodox
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Judaism, when I think of those, particularly of that group of
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which Paul would have been very acquainted as a Pharisee
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himself, when I think of that group, they have great zeal.
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Often times they have greater zeal than we do as Christians,
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that they are strict in their diet.
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They are strict in their timing of their of, of their
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scheduling, of their week. They are strict in what they
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wear. They are strict in every single
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way. They've got a zeal.
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But here's what Paul says, but not according to knowledge.
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They are zealous, but they know not what they are zealous for.
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For their being ignorant, verse 3 of God's righteousness and
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going to establish their own righteousness have not submitted
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themselves unto the righteousness of God.
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Saying this because they don't truly understand who God is.
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They have tried to make themselves righteous.
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But what do we find in chapter 3, verse 20 of Romans?
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There is none righteous. No, not one.
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They are trying to, through their works, to be able to
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purify themselves unto righteousness.
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And this, this is folly. Verse 4 For Christ is the end of
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the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth.
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For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the
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law, that the man which doeth those things shall live by them.
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If you were to save yourself by the law, then you must hold
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yourself to the law your entire life.
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You can be saved by the law. In theory, we could put it this
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way. You could be saved by the law.
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You'd have to keep it your whole life.
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So here's the thing. You can't be saved by the law
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because we know that we cannot keep it our entire life.
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I always laugh when I talk to people.
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Not laugh in their face, but I laugh when I talk to people and
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I'm witnessing them and I ask them if they're a Sinner and
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they have to think about it. It's like how far back you got
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to go in that Rolodex of your mind to figure out.
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Most people I talk to will say, Oh yeah, they know they're a
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Sinner. I don't have to convince them
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that they're a Sinner because we understand that if we've broken
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one of the 10 commandments in our life that we're a Sinner.
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You're done. That's it.
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He said, well, do I get a do over?
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Do I get a Gimme? Do I get a Mulligan?
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No, that's it, you get nothing. And so we can't be saved by the
-
law. Christ is our righteousness.
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Christ was the one who lived the life that we could not live, who
-
shed his precious blood so that we could be saved.
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And so it says that the man which doeth those things shall
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live by them. And we would not be something
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that we could do. But yet there are many in those
-
groups that believe that this is what they must do to be able to
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be saved. Now we're kind of go backwards
-
through the book of Romans. I know this kind of the
-
backwards way of doing it, but look at chapter #9 verse #1 it
-
says this. I say the truth in Christ.
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I line up my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy
-
Ghost. So Paul is saying, I kind of put
-
it this way. He says what I'm about to say.
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You're not going to believe, but I'm telling you the truth and
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I'm telling you that I'm telling you the truth through the Holy
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Ghost and we understand that because he's speaking in
-
Scripture and scriptures are inspired by the Holy Ghost.
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But to those he's writing to, he's saying this I'm going to
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say something you're probably not going to believe, but but
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I'm serious about this. Well, what could he possibly
-
say? Well, verse 2 that I have great
-
heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart for I wish that
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myself were cursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsman
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according to the the flesh. He says that saying what I think
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it's saying it absolutely is saying what you think he's
-
saying. Paul said this if I could cash
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in my salvation. To be able to cover my brethren,
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the people of Israel, I'd do it, he says, if that meant that I
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had to go to hell so that everyone else would be saved.
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He said I would do this. He said I don't believe it.
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Well, he didn't think he'd believe it.
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That's why he said verse one. That's why he had to make clear
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what he says there. But you know, he's not the only
-
one who felt this way. I think of Moses in Exodus
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chapter #32 you know, Exodus chapter 32 goes up in the
Exodus 32 chapter mention
-
mountain, comes down the mountain.
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Joshua says, hey, there's a noise of war.
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And he goes, that's not war. He's that's the sound of people
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playing. What kind of playing were they
-
doing? Well, it wasn't courtyard
-
playing. Let me tell you this.
-
There wasn't playground playing. It was people that were in
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their, in their very state of undress, who were engaging in
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paganism around a golden calf 40 days before.
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They had heard the voice of God and now they have gone to this
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debauchery. And so all of this takes place.
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We understand what Moses does that he he he breaks the
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tablets, he grinds them into powder, he puts it in the water
-
supply. He's like, this is going to be
-
bitter and you need to drink it. You need to understand how
-
bitter you have made your life by what you have done.
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But then he goes back to the Lord and he actually becomes a
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an advocate for the people of Israel to the Lord is as the
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Lord says, says, you know, move out of the way.
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They're gone. I'm starting over with you,
-
Moses. And basically Moses says the
-
same thing. He says I would be accursed.
-
He says for you to save them. And of course the Lord doesn't
-
do that, that the Lord's not interested in making deals with
-
humanity. Let's make that quite clear.
-
But the idea was the heart of Moses was this.
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He says it, the service that I provide to these people is
-
greater than myself. He knew that what he was doing
-
was greater than self. Here's Paul.
-
He says this, and what I'm doing is greater than myself.
-
If the Jews could be saved and that meant I had to go to hell,
-
I'm willing for that to happen. And again, humanly speaking, I
-
don't understand it other than I know it's true because the Bible
-
says it's true. Verse four Who?
-
Are Israelites to whom pertain the adoption and the glory and
-
the covenants and the giving of the law and the service of God
-
and the promises. He's saying this.
-
The Jews have a rich history. He's looking back at the rich
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history that they have, the adoption meaning that they were
-
God's chosen people. By the way, that doesn't mean
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Israel's better than everyone else.
-
Let's make that clear. It just means it's that God had
-
chosen them for a particular task.
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I have four children. If I've chosen one of them to go
-
take out the trash, that doesn't mean that they're the best.
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In fact, they might think they're the worst.
-
If I'm the one that chose to take out the trash, it just
-
means that they have a purpose of which I as a father have
-
chosen them to do. The people of Israel as God's
-
chosen people are not more beloved by God than you.
-
God had given them a specific task to bring through the very
-
oracles of God, the word of God that we have through the Jews.
-
And I remind you, even in the New Testament, what is the
-
church primarily made of the Jews, and that we as the
-
Gentiles are grafted in after that, as we are one church.
-
But yet we find here that we are blessed by the Jews as the
-
chosen people, but they are not the best people, these superior
-
people to anyone else. Listen, we are all, all people
-
created in the image of God, and we're all people.
-
Listen, who needs salvation? And so he says this, but you as
-
Jews, they have the adoption, they have the glory, the
-
covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God and the
-
promises. Verse 5, whose are the fathers,
-
and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over
-
all God be blessed forever. So not only did the Jews have
-
all of verse 4 and even in verse 5 it mentions the Father's.
-
We think of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and others that are so
-
revered, but he says to them, listen, more important than any
-
of those things, Christ came in the flesh through the tribe of
-
Judah as a Jew. So that was the greatest of all.
-
These people have all of this, but yet they don't understand.
-
And Paul and his heart was. Burdened.
-
For them, because they did not get what was right in front of
-
their nose. Now go back to chapter #3.
-
All right, Romans chapter 3, you might say, well listen, Jews and
Romans 3 chapter mention
-
Gentiles are the same pastor. Then what does even matter if
-
you're a Jew or a Gentile? Well, Paul covers that as well.
-
Again, I know we're going backwards is not the normal
-
direction we would go, but as Paul is building a case, we're
-
kind of deconstructing the case, going backwards.
-
Look at what it says. What advantage then hath the Jew
-
or what profit is there of circumcision?
-
I just mentioned this a moment ago.
-
Much every way chiefly because that unto them were committed
-
the oracles of God. God chose Israel as the people
-
He would reveal His word to. Verse 3.
-
For what if some did not believe?
-
Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without a fact?
-
And so he even says this. Well, does the fact that many
-
Jews have rejected the faith meaning Jesus Christ, does that
-
mean it's not so? Does that mean it's not the
-
case? And the answer is, well, without
-
going into the rest of the chapter, the answer is, well,
-
they may have rejected, but that doesn't make Jesus less God.
-
That doesn't make him any less the Messiah.
-
And so they may not believe in him, but he is who He is whether
-
they believe in Him or not. And so you can see kind of over
-
and over chapter 10, Chapter 9 and chapter 3, what is Paul
-
saying over and over again? By and large they are lost.
-
By and large, they do not believe in Jesus Christ their
-
Savior. But any single one of them could
-
be saved by believing the gospel.
-
The gospel is just as true for them as it's true for us.
-
And we pray that they come to understand the knowledge of the
-
truth. Now, some of you may know the
-
conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, and he is a very famous
-
Orthodox Jew. And I have a very short video
-
that I'm going to show here in just a moment.
-
And in this video, I think it best articulates the differences
-
between Judaism and Christianity.
-
It's only about 4045 seconds. But I don't know that I could
-
have said it any better. You know, the videos that I
-
choose, I always try to choose people who are speaking from
-
their own mouth, not someone who agrees with me, who is saying
-
because if they agreed with me, then I'll just say it.
-
I don't need someone else to say it, but someone from a different
-
group saying something that highlights something we're
-
talking about biblically. I think this will be a help to
-
you to understand really the very basis of the difference
-
between biblical Christianity and Judaism.
-
So if you had that Brother Scott, let's go ahead.
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When when you talk with people who are Christian and Jewish and
-
you have sort of interfaith conversations, the original 1
-
sentence can see the difference between them is that what you
-
hear from Jews is Judaism is Acts based and Christianity is
-
faith-based. Christianity is about the
-
acceptance of Christ. When you accept Christ, then
-
you've accepted what you need to accept and everything flows
-
therefrom. And Judaism says it's not just
-
about accepting God, it's all these myths vote, right?
-
There are all these commandments that you have to do.
-
And these are what perfect you as a human being.
-
It's the, it's the performance of these commandments accepting
-
God's sovereignty because he's the one who gave the
-
commandments. But you actually have to act in
-
the world. And if you don't act in the
-
world, then you haven't fulfilled your responsibility in
-
the world. I think that says it pretty well
-
right there, doesn't it? The differences.
-
I also appreciate there's someone on Earth who talks
-
faster than I do, so that's good.
-
But you know, that's really what it comes down to.
-
Is that that one? I have to agree.
-
With Him, we have to accept Christ our Savior, or you have
-
to believe in the Bible. But you got to do a bunch of
-
stuff, and then you have to. And again, good works are good.
-
We're not against good works here.
-
In fact, as believers we ought to be for good works.
-
But again, the difference is where do good works come from?
-
They flow from a heart that has already been saved and out of
-
love for Jesus Christ. That is where that comes from.
-
Not that we do that to be saved. But once again, what have we
-
found about Muslims? Works based What have we found
-
about Jehovah Witness? Works based?
-
What have we found about the Mormons?
-
Works. Based.
-
What are we finding about Judaism?
-
Work Based. That's why every other religion
-
in the world says do, but Jesus Christ says done.
-
That goes all the way back to the very first week that we were
-
here. The difference between God and
-
not God for religions that there's really two God and not
-
God, those are the only two religions in the world.
-
But every religion in the world says do.
-
Jesus Christ says done. Now again, that doesn't mean we
-
don't do after we're saved, but it means that we do it from a
-
whole different perspective than any other religion that has ever
-
existed that we do it from this. I know I'm saved and from that
-
heart that has been changed by Jesus Christ that now I'm going
-
to do right because of what he's done for me.
-
Let's turn to Romans Chapter 11 very quickly and we'll be done.
Romans 11 chapter mention
-
Romans Chapter 11 popping back forward here in the book of
Romans 11 chapter mention
-
Romans. Just read a few verses here and
-
then we will be done with this lesson this week.
-
Romans 11. What I say then, Hath God
-
castaway his people? Is he done with the Jews from
-
what we've read? Well, God forbid, for I also am
-
an Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of
-
Benjamin. God had not castaway His people
-
which He foreknew. What he not what the Scripture
-
sayeth of Elias, 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.
-
But what excuse me, what sayeth the answer of God unto him?
-
I have reserved to myself 7000 men who have not bowed the knee
-
to the image of Baal. Even so, then at this present
-
time, all also there is a remnant according to the
-
election of grace. Now hear that word election.
-
You might get concerned about Calvinism and those types of
-
things. But listen, God has not elected
-
certain people to salvation. That's what Calvinism teaches,
-
that God has chosen certain people to salvation.
-
He's also chosen certain people to damnation.
-
And there's nothing you can do about it.
-
That's not Bible teaching. The Bible is a book full of
-
choices that we must to choose to do right and not and choose
-
not to do wrong. But what it is saying is this is
-
God has chosen to still extend grace to the people of Israel.
-
He has chosen to still give grace despite the fact that they
-
have over and over and over again rejected them.
-
He still will give them grace. They'll drop down to verse #25
-
For I would not, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this
-
mystery, lest you should be wise in your own conceits.
-
That blindness in part is happening to happen to Israel
-
until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.
-
And so all Israel shall be saved, as it is written.
-
There shall come out of Sion the defender, the deliverer rather,
-
and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.
-
For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away
-
their sins. So what's going to happen?
-
There will be a time when they call upon Christ together.
-
When would that be? Well, that will be at the end of
-
the Tribulation, The time the Gentiles is over.
-
What's going to happen? They're going to see their
-
Messiah and understand how incredibly wrong they were.
-
And what are they going to do? They will accept Christ.
-
By the way, there are a lot of people, there will be a lot of
-
Jews even before that will though, accept Christ because
-
there's going to be 144,000 Jewish witnesses that will be
-
presenting the gospel during the Tribulation.
-
It won't just be at that last moment, it will be during the
-
Tribulation, but they as a nation will do.
-
So there will be a restored Jewish Kingdom during the
-
Millennium with Jesus Christ as the head.
-
And you see how all this kind of even goes together.
-
First Corinthians chapter 6, we were talking about the Saints
1 Corinthians 6 chapter mention
-
who were going to be able to make judgment.
-
If you can't judge in the church, then how are you going
-
to be able to judge later on and judge angels?
-
Well, that all goes together with this during that millennial
-
reign. Say, pastor, I don't know that I
-
understand all this. Well, here's what you do need to
-
understand because I know I'm giving these very quickly, but
-
here's what you need to understand.
-
God is not done with the Jewish people.
-
God is not done with the Jewish people, but the Jewish people
-
must get saved like the Gentile people, and that's through the
-
gospel of Jesus Christ. There is no other way.
-
And in the meantime, there are Jewish friends, they're Jewish
-
neighbors, There might even be family.
-
You might even have someone that I believe we're all Gentiles
-
here this morning, but you might have had someone even marry into
-
your family as as even I could attest here this morning that
-
needs Jesus Christ. Well, what do you need to do?
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We'll talk about how we can best show him to these people here
-
over the next few weeks. Thank you for listening to the
-
sermon from the pulpit of Liberty Baptist Church.
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If this message was a blessing to you, or if there's any way we
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can serve you, please let us know by contacting us at
-
[email protected]. Or you can visit us this Sunday
-
at 800 Washington St. in Easton, MA.
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May the Lord bless you as you grow in His Word.