Gospel Israel - Galatians 6:11-18 - Sunday Sermon

Welcome to Boon Fairy. If you're new

here, my name is Mati Scaring and we'd

love to connect and we have welcome

cards that you could fill out, hand them

off to our connection table. You get a

little uh gift card. We also use them as

prayer request cards. We pray every

Wednesday for those. So, if you turn

those in, we you'll get prayed for as

well. We are marching right. I actually

do have one more announcement. On

February uh 8th, we're having a

fellowship. We take fellowship seriously

and so that's going to be like an

appetizer style meal right after the

service. So mark that in your calendars.

February 8th, that's two Sundays from

now it looks like. Great time to hang

out after church and get to know people

and um just have some time of

fellowship. So we are marching

continually marching here through

Galatians and we are in our very last

portion of Galatians today and then

there's going to be a break next week

from that and then we're going straight

into Esther uh two weeks from now. And

that break allows me to take a full week

to really study Esther um heavily and uh

the whole thing in advance. So I'm

really looking forward to that. Looking

forward to the Esther study. Um I'm

going to get to use a laser pointer

today, which I never do. And I'm having

some intrusive thoughts about whether I

should point this at John Egg's chest

just to see how he reacts.

Do it. No, it's inappropriate,

especially these days. So I'm not I'm

not going to do it cuz I can't get in

trouble. And I already scratched this

just by saying the joke. So,

he's our resident sheriff and just a

stormtrooper of a man. So, I thought

it'd be funny.

Oh, anyh who. Um,

we're going to be looking into a

metaphor Paul uses today about an olive

tree. And so, I was doing a little bit

of research about olive trees. And

they're the type of tree, and this is

not all that uncommon. At first, I

thought it's pretty uncommon, but

there's plenty of trees that will regrow

from the roots. I really like figs and

so there are these old growth root balls

that and maybe the fig tree got too big,

they cut down and then it just regrows

really fast. Olive trees might not

regrow as fast, but they do regrow from

the roots. So the roots are

regenerative. Um, and this is not true

of every tree. You can cut some trees

down and they're dead. They're they're

not uh going to be growing back up, but

olive trees are not like that. It makes

dating them somewhat difficult, but

according to what I researched, there's

the oldest olive tree. Um, there's some

dispute about whether it may actually be

older, but not much about whether it's

younger, is like about 2,000 years old,

and that's in Greece. Um, people used to

think that the the olive uh grove in the

Garden of Gethsemane was much older. The

prevailing idea now is that they're

about as old as the Crusades. But it's

very difficult to know that because it's

possible they've been cut down, pruned,

all this different stuff happens. We

don't know exactly how old uh the root

system of some of these trees is since

it can just regrow at any time. They're

very very resilient in that way. And I

thought it'd be interesting to talk

about that especially because Paul

mentions the concept of the new

creation. Um, you've heard probably

almost everybody in America has heard

the idea of being born again. That's

also similar to the concept of the new

creation or really the same thing in

different words. Uh, another way that

theologians talk about this is

regeneration. It's the idea that God

regenerates us. And I thought I would

define that for you. And uh, I worked on

this uh, definition. So I want to

actually read it just directly. Biblical

regeneration is the sovereign

supernatural work of the Holy Spirit

that imparts spiritual life to a person

dead in sins, transforming them into a

new creation. There's a lot of different

ways biblical authors talks talk about

this. You can go to Ezekiel and I'm

going to give you a new heart replacing

the heart of stone with a heart of

flesh. Um, but it's not a fleshly heart.

It's a heart that actually desires to do

the things uh that God wants us to do

and is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. So,

and it's also not a literal heart. It's

a spiritual concept of being made a new

creation. New creation, born again, uh

heart of flesh, regeneration, really all

the same biblical idea. And we're going

to be talking about that today because

Paul brings it up um as as the only

thing that counts. It's the only thing

that counts is whether or not you've

been made a new creation. And I'll be

supporting that definition biblically. I

think it's really important whenever we

make claims about definitions of

biblical ideas that we support them

biblically. I won't support it in the

introduction, but when we get to verse

um 15, that's when I'll I'll show you

some scripture to support that

definition. But when it comes to

regeneration and and roots, we're also

going to be going to Romans 11 today.

And I just want to preface this that um

in terms of where we're at, like if I

listen to a sermon that's about an hour

long, anywhere from 45 minutes to an

hour or longer, um there are going to be

times where I'm paying closer attention

and times where I'm paying less close

attention. In fact, sometimes what

happens is something that was said in

the sermon um throws my mind off into

thought about what that's being said.

and then I'm not paying attention to

what's currently being said, but I am

thinking spiritual things about what's

taught that I think that's not only

okay. I mean, you might miss things that

way. So, sometimes maybe it's good to

write a thought down. Let me think about

that later so I can pay attention. But I

actually think the Holy Spirit sometimes

works that way. If your mind gets

fixated on an idea from scripture that

may be challenging, convicting,

encouraging to you, the Holy Spirit may

drive that deeper in your thought even

while the sermon continues. There are

also other times where it's just it's

not easy to have very focused attention

for an hour or any length of time. The

mind wanders. So that will happen. All

I'm going to ask is that when we get to

the place in verse 16, speaking of the

Israel of God, that you try to give your

very full attention to our little

walkthrough of Romans 11. When Peter

talks about Paul teaching complicated

things and people distort them, um,

Romans 11 is in that category. In fact,

I don't want to overstate the case here,

but I think Romans 11 is probably one of

the most complex teachings in all of

scripture. And I do believe you can and

will understand it if you're paying

attention. Uh, it's not so much a matter

of intelligence as it is a matter of

spiritual understanding. Um, but if you

can understand this, you have understood

some of the most complex and also

important teaching in all of scripture

and unbelievably relevant in our modern

times today. And you will understand

exactly what the Israel of God is. And

so I've worked hard with the team and

I'll be thanking them by name when we

get there. Uh, not to simplify what's

being taught, but to put it in the

simplest terms possible for a for the

ability for you to memorize it. I'll

even be showing you an image and I'll

give you access to that image through a

QR code. But uh it's it's the idea of of

who actually is the Israel of God. What

does that mean? And uh in in simple

terms, it's people that God has or will

regenerate, people that have that

newborn life, people that are made a new

creation by God. and talking about um

how that happens and how faith is

related to that is a major part of the

scripture. Um our focus however in

general will not be uh Romans 11. It'll

be Galatians 11 through18. It's just we

need 11 to explain that little

three-word phrase, the Israel of God. Um

and so if you're looking for a main

point, I like to summarize uh every week

uh what is being said in hopefully a

simple way. And the main point today is

that inclusion in the Israel God is

exclusively by faith in the cross of

Jesus Christ and it will cause you to be

persecuted by the world.

I was thinking, you know, there is the

greatest news of all is the gospel, the

real gospel that all that is required of

us is that we would believe and then our

sins are forgiven. We're justified.

We're going to be in heaven forever.

We're saved. We've been regenerated.

It's just uh such good news. But there's

actually some bad news that comes along

with the gospel as well. Even that news,

God turns into good news. But when you

truly live your faith out loud, and

we're commanded to live our faith out

loud, not to hide our light, to

verbalize our convictions, def to defend

the hope that is in us, to do that with

gentleness and respect. But when you

actually are included in the Israel of

God um exclusively by faith in the cross

of Jesus Christ and then you live that

life out in in verbal testimony to

what's been done for you. The world will

persecute you. G Jesus promised it. Um

Paul was persecuted terribly. He talks

about it in this passage. And but you

can avoid that. you can avoid the the

persecution by just not living your

faith out loud, by hiding your light.

Um, the false teachers in Paul's time

were intentionally, that's one of their

motives, to avoid the offense of the

cross, to avoid that kind of

persecution. And so, I don't believe or

am even thinking that anyone in this

room is a false teacher.

Even Christians who are saved, who are

included in the Israel of God can become

afraid of the consequence of the

persecution of the world. But Jesus

said, "Take heart. I've overcome the

world." And he also say that said that

when you are persecuted for

righteousness sake, there's a blessing

that blessed are those who are

persecuted for righteousness sake. So

God can turn great injustice and evil

impression of his children into

something good. And so the gospel

actually just overwhelms all the bad

news in the end. Um, but we need to be

honest about the fear that we may face

in living our faith out loud. Again, the

main point, inclusion in the Israel of

God is exclusively by faith in the cross

of Jesus Christ. And it will cause you

to be persecuted by the world.

Verse 11, let's get into it. See with

what large letters I am writing to you

with my own hand.

So this is the third time in one book

that Paul has identified himself as the

author. You know some books it seems he

may have dictated and then someone else

wrote them down. Uh it's not clear to me

whether he wrote every single verse in

this book with his hand or just this

verse. um and speculating on that. Uh

the way in general that authors would

write back then is they would dictate it

and then a scribe would write it down.

But there were times where in prison he

may have just been writing the whole

thing. Either way, his handwriting had

large letters and was very easily

identifiable. And it seems to me like

the Galatians may have known that. And

so he's reminding them, look at this.

This is my handwriting. You know my

handwriting. So for whatever reason he's

saying it, one that is absolutely clear

and that we don't have to speculate is

that he wants to be known as the author

of this book. He wants to be known as

the author of this book. Let's go back

to chapter 1. You don't have this uh uh

AV team but uh as one of the listed

verses but in chapter 1. Paul identifies

himself in verse one of Galatians. Paul

an apostle not from men nor through man

but through Jesus Christ and God the

father who raised him from the dead. So

what he is claiming there and it is true

is that Jesus Christ himself called and

commissioned

um him to be an apostle and that the

words that he is speaking come not only

from his own authority but directly from

God. And so that's that's again what

he's appealing to. If an apostle of

Jesus Christ who's been commissioned and

called and his words are inspired by the

Holy Spirit verbally, every one of them,

every meeting, every verse, then this is

who you need to listen to. That's what

he's saying. And if he's doing it for a

third time, then this must be

unbelievably important to listen to.

He's concluding something in the entire

letter to the Galatians here. And the

conclusion is what you what you need to

have in order to be reject in order to

be able to reject the snare of these

false teachers. Something that he says

if you actually give yourself to and

believe cuts you off from Christ. So

very dangerous false teaching things

that we ought not to even be deceived by

for a moment. And in terms of defining

that in summary, it's any form of works

righteousness or self-righteousness.

You're going to hear about the idea of

self-righteousness versus Christ

righteousness. And there's a line

between those. Those who are Christ

righteous are saved for all eternity.

Those who are self-righteous

are not.

You have to claim Christ righteousness,

and you have to reject

self-righteousness. In this case, he's

talking about a Jewish form of

self-righteousness. legalists,

Judaizers, um, uh, uh, the circumcision

party that's claiming that you have to

keep the law to be saved.

Yes, you have to believe in Jesus. Also,

it seems that they called themselves

Christians, but you actually have to

keep the law to be saved. And Paul's

saying that's an accursed gospel if

you're saying that we have to add works

to our faith. So whenever you hear a

faithful preacher talking about faith

alone, uh what is being excluded in that

word alone is any effort, power or work

that we would try to add to that. See,

you have to do this thing and that's an

addition to being saved. Faith alone

means just trusting the finished work of

Jesus Christ. God does all the work. We

do none of the work. And faith means

trusting that. So faith is not itself a

work. faith is an arrow pointing

exclusively to God with no arrows

pointing back that we believe in his

finished work and that's that's what

saves you. That's what that means. Um

and that's unbelievably important and

that's why Paul is reidentifying himself

as an author again. So let's go on to

see what he says. Verse 12, it is those

who want to make a good showing of the

flesh who would force you to be

circumcised and only in order that they

may be persecuted for the in order that

they may not be persecuted for the cross

of Christ. So he's really mentioning two

motives of this type of false teacher in

context really specifically again

Judaizers uh circumcision party those

who claim that you have to keep the law.

But in principle, anybody that comes up

with any standard of righteousness

that's less than God's,

remember that if you come up with a

standard of righteousness that's less

than God's

and that's what you're saying has to be

kept in order to be saved, that's the

category of false teaching that's

accured, right? Um the reality is even

if you kept the said the standard is

this um and it was actually God's holy

righteous standard which these Judaizers

were claiming they were doing in reality

they were taking a very shallow version

of adherence to the law one like well I

haven't committed adultery but Jesus

says well you've lusted in your heart so

the problem the sin problem is in the

heart that's where justification has to

happen that's where God has to forgive

not just the outwards expression of that

so yes the Judaizers definition of the

law was shallower than the actual

standard. But let's just say your

standard was not shallower than the

actual standard and you were actually

saying no, I've never even lusted in my

heart. So I have kept the law perfectly

like that. Uh that still makes you a

liar because God says that anybody that

says they're without sin makes them out

to be a liar. And you can read that in

first John chapter 1. So there is no

1 John 1 · chapter mention

such thing as someone who who keeps

that. But their motivations are to make

themselves look good through the

manipulation of others. Uh so it's kind

of like uh oh look how many converts we

have. Look how great we've done. This is

just all part of the works that make us

righteous. So they're using you in a way

to display their own greatness. And I

think probably everyone in this room has

experienced the idea of of being used

like that by someone. Uh if you've you

know been a child and been in school,

you'll find social climbers that are

like um relatively nice to you in

person, but then they mock you in a

group because what they want is to look

good over against you in some way. So be

flatterers are like this. People that

flatter you. They have some kind of

motive. Genuine biblical encouragement

is great. Flattering you though has this

has this motive. They want you to think

of them highly. Uh oh, what a nice

person. You know, it's a crooked version

of kindness, isn't it? to flatter

people. It kind of feels good, but then

you realize, oh, there's a barb in

there. It's not good. So, anybody, any

group, any teacher that has any shallow

system or even the same system, but

declares themselves righteous by their

own effort, I did this, has any arrow

pointing back to them, is in this

category of wanting to make a good

showing in the flesh. And not only that,

but they have a second motive, and

that's to avoid persecution, to avoid

the offense of the cross. Why would you

be persecuted for the cross? Why would

that happen? Well, for one, the enemy,

Satan, the archeneemy of God and the

archeneemy of his people is against

anyone actually being forgiven. He's

against the work of the cross because it

frees them of part of the power that he

has, which is accusing people of what

the law actually says. you're a sinner,

you're never going to be saved. You just

keep sinning. God's not going to forgive

you. He does, you know, he can even use

scripture and twist it to accuse the

saints. He is the accuser, right? But

the cross puts that power to open shame.

It disarms that power and puts it to

death. Repentance is not something the

enemy wants because he has no power in

your life as long as you're truly

repentant. And so there's that. There's

the enemy. And he has servants on earth

who who are human beings who ought not

to be identified as the enemy. Although

they ought to be identified at least

when they're captured for a time to be

serving him in some way, but they never

identify themselves or rarely say, "I'm

serving Satan intentionally. It's not

like that." Um, and you'll even find

them in the church in the form of false

teachers or those who are following that

kind of false teaching. And one of their

motivations other than the praise of man

looking good in the flesh and using you

in some way to build themselves up in

that way is to avoid being persecuted

themselves. Right? So instead of just

hammering false teachers constantly,

we're going to talk about how to

identify that and and already are and

then to not be taken in by that because

that's part of God's intent through Paul

here is for the church to be galvanized

against that kind of thing. that kind of

legalism, that kind of thing that

destroys, just poisons the whole gospel

all the way through. Um, but to apply it

in principle to ourselves in thinking

about, you know, is the enemy tempting

us to avoid the persecution that comes

as a result of faith alone and the cross

of Christ alone. Why would you be

persecuted in general if you say that?

Well, even if you just give your own

testimony, um if if you're being honest,

what you have to say the cross is about

is the unmmerited forgiveness of your

sins. Even if you don't use those exact

words, you didn't deserve to be

forgiven. You are a sinner. And because

you are a sinner, you sinned and you

could do nothing to forgive yourself.

And so Jesus had to be put to death be

instead of you. Someone had to be

punished. It was either you or Jesus.

God has to hold the guilt accountable.

He's not just going to clear guilt. He's

not an unjust judge. And so the the

offense, if you're really defining it

carefully, is the idea of even just

whispering or giving a vibe out that

everybody's sinful. How dare you? How

dare you say Jesus is the only way?

People are offended in their flesh that

they're even being implied to be

sinners. I'm going to keep this

anonymous. I probably actually said it

by name in the past, but um

as a person that I was that I was

basically preaching the gospel, sharing

sharing my faith, and he screamed at me

at one point, so you think I'm a sinner.

And I know him well. And I was like,

obviously I think you're a sinner.

Obviously, and I don't even think you're

as bad of a sinner as I am. If I'm

thinking about the things that I know

you've done and I've done, I've gone to

a far darker, wild country than you

have. So, I don't I don't think I'm

better than you. That's actually the

opposite of my message. Uh my point is

that yeah, you the only way you're going

to be forgiven is by faith in Jesus

Christ. And if you don't repent, you

will not be forgiven and you will be

condemned. And that made when when he

heard that I thought of myself as a

worse sinner than him, there was like a

moment of calm. But but the flesh

reaction happens. It's and you know that

viscerally.

Oh, you're one of those Bible pounders,

right? Well, maybe you're not in the

category of some kind of legalistic hate

preacher yourself. Uh, but they'll put

you in that category as a Bible pounder.

You believe everyone's sinful by Woos

definition, you know. Um, so there is

this offense in the cross. And the

offense is is specifically the gospel.

It's specifically that idea that you

can't do anything to atone for your own

sin. You can't be good enough. you

aren't good enough. It's why people

react to you're just judging me even if

you're not because you know you can tell

someone they're a sinner that needs the

forgiveness of the cross that comes by

faith alone without judging them. You

know you can do that. But you also know

that visceral sense of the potential

persecution. It comes in lots of

different forms. I've never been

physically beaten for my faith. Paul

was. And he bore the marks of that on

his body. whiplashings, was stoned

basically to death at one point. It

seems like God just revived him from the

dead. Uh you just so much actual

physical persecution. I've been verbally

persecuted. You know, I think it's uh

first and second Peter where a lot of

what Paul Peter is dealing with is

verbal persecution in the culture.

Mocking.

Mocking you for what you believe.

Mocking the things that you believe,

especially the things you believe about

morality. Oh, well, you're a bigot if

you believe that, you know. So, verbal

persecution is very much a real thing in

America. I have not yet been legally

persecuted, but legal persecution is

happening more and more of Christians in

America. And you see that um I don't

know when uh exactly physical

persecution, but I say when because it

seems to me like the culture in America

and across the world is turning against

Christianity more and more. And I think

it's in Timothy where Paul talks about

that because of lawlessness, the hearts

of many will grow cold. You look at

these online forums and you hear what

they think Christians deserve. It's

death and beating. I've seen them say

it, you know. So, um I believe Charlie

Kirk is an example of a modern-day mo

martyr who was I mean physically

persecuted to death, right? And people

cheered that. That's a cold heart.

People cheered that. So, the persecution

is coming and you want to be prepared

for it. You do not So, let's just admit

that there's fear involved. Another one

is like social persecution which is

almost never nonverbal but it's the idea

of that you get become cancelled in your

neighborhood or cancelled online or um

economic persecution which you might be

afraid like if I stand up for this

verbally I could get fired. Yeah, you

could you could definitely get fired. Uh

so the fears are real. The fears are

very real. The false teachers do

everything they can to avoid him by just

changing the gospel beyond a

recognizable and saving point. Um, but

we don't want to be participating in the

enemy's schemes to cause us to be afraid

in such a way that we're not faithful

with our witness. So, we need to admit

the fear. The fear is real. The fear is

justified.

You let you could be killed for your

faith at some future point. It's

probably not realistic to say that right

now that's in America that doesn't seem

to be happening on a regular basis, but

you could be socially ostracized. You

could be legally persecuted at any time.

You won't know when it is. The enemy

could come knocking through your door at

your door with a servant or two and you

all of a sudden become embroiled in a

totally unfair and unjust legal. They

bankrupt you basically sometimes

intentionally. It seems like they picked

the fight.

Physical, verbal, legal. You know, you

could have a very good friend and

they're a non-Christian and you could be

hiding what you actually believe because

you don't want to lose the relationship.

I call that loving the relationship more

than loving the person. If you really

love the person, you want them to hear

the truth in love. You want them to hear

the gospel. And it takes faith to

believe that God could plant that seed

and that not the only result is a broken

relationship, but they might actually

come to faith. And then you not only

have a very good friend, but you have a

friend you're going to spend eternity

with. But that fear can interrupt that.

We don't want to be doing something

basically similar to false teachers by

trying to avoid the offense of the

cross. And it's rampant. I think some of

the worst persecution I've experienced

is from Christians because you think

it's like getting stabbed in the back.

You don't always see it coming where all

of a sudden it's Christians that are

mocking what I believe or what you

believe or mocking the way that I live

out my faith or mocking my moral values.

And I look at them, I'm like, well,

they're very aligned with the world. The

world's not mocking their faith. The

world's mocking my faith. And they seem

to be participating in the way that the

world mocks my faith. What's the motive

there?

In many of those cases, I'm stopping

short of concluding, oh, that's a false

teacher of a Christian or someone that

adheres to false teaching. But man,

this seems the church is is

on mass like in general, the church in

America seems to have been tempted to

the point of failure in their message

and what they actually stand up for in

trying to avoid the persecution of the

cross.

I I'm not called to be a church critic

and so I'm especially not planning on

naming any churches by name today. Not

that that would be sort of biblically

wrong at any given time, but

I went to a church for a year and I

never once heard a call to repentance.

And if there was anything close,

it was

some super popular sin like

child trafficking,

which no one in the congregation was

doing and everyone agrees is wrong and

convicted nobody.

Now, you might say child trafficking is

really evil. Yes, it is. But then what

about the ways that we participate in

that culture by looking at things like

pornography?

Well, that won't get mentioned because

that's offensive to the flesh or any

kind of thing that the church of God or

people actually need to be repentant of.

It's very easy to just mention things

everyone is grieving wrong. Nobody puts

themselves in the category of having

done and then there's no offense. Well,

if I said, you know, child trafficking

is really wrong. How many would be like

deeply personally convicted by that? Oh,

I better stop. If you are, you better.

The wrath of God is waiting for you.

But preachers know exactly how to say

offensive things. And that ought not to

be the goal, just to say offensive

things.

But I I just look at our the church

today and it seems like

intentional avoidance of the persecution

of the cross by the world by not

identifying too much with it, especially

that idea that we're sinners saved by

grace alone. And so we don't have to be

judging, but we can notice the pattern.

And we can look at the pattern in our

own personal lives. Where are you being

tempted to be muted verbally? To not to

defend the hope that is in you verbally

with gentleness and respect to to, you

know, do your do your friends that are

non-Christians know that you're a

Christian? If so, why not? Do they know

what kind of Christian you are? Are you

afraid of them finding that out?

And if so, what are you actually afraid

of? The truth. The truth will set you

free from that fear. And we are going to

talk about by the time we get to verse

14,

what the antidote to that is because

sometimes I think we go wrong by being

like the Nike slogan, just do it. Just

do it. And he's like, yeah, but I'm

afraid.

So, I want to talk to you in a moment

about what it would look like to become

bolder in your witness with your own

personal testimony regardless of the

consequence because Paul is calling us

to that. But let's move on to verse 13

because Paul has more to say about what

these false teachers were requiring of

the flesh. For even those who are

circumcised do not themselves keep the

law, but they desire to have you

circumcised that they may boast in your

flesh. Do you notice what's being said?

They don't actually keep the very law

they're talking about keeping.

Okay. And Paul knows they're only

keeping a shallow version of it in the

first place.

He knows from personal experience how he

declared himself righteous by keeping

the law when he was a Pharisee before

he'd repented. He knows them intimately.

In their minds, there's probably no

greater traitor than Paul. He was one of

us. Now he's calling us false teachers.

He knows how they think because he

thought that way.

And so what's actually being said here

is is not just that they don't keep the

law at the depth or at the height of

what God actually means. You know, lust

is the problem that has to be dealt

with, not just whether you've actually

committed adultery or not. Paul's not

just saying that they don't um even keep

the law. Like they're all literal

physical adulterers. That's not it. They

don't even keep their laws about what

they say.

Their version of the standard of

righteousness, they're not even keeping.

And no human being is even reliable or

consistent enough to do that. Anybody

that comes up with any scheme of

righteousness, you know, uh it could be

as simple as uh just the only rule you

have is I don't mistreat women,

you'll be found to have mistreated

women. That's the way the flesh is.

So, so nobody even keeps their own

standard. And here's the insidious

thing. Insidious thing.

So you, let's say you publicly proclaim

the standard that you keep so that

people think highly of you. And then you

want other people to be included in that

cuz you're kind of ahead on that rat

race of proving that you're righteous in

your own power. And then something

happens in your life where you fail your

own standard. You preach this high

standard. You g virtue signal this high

standard to everybody else. And then you

fail that standard in your heart. What

you'll do is you'll move the goal

goalpost, right? Well, okay. I don't

mistreat women that bad.

I'm better than other people that really

mistreat women, right? I use this

example because that was like one of the

goalposts I had.

And then the prodigal, I'm not like

these football players, these

womanizers. It was one of my

self-righteous rules that I had. And

then I broke it. And that was what God

used to convict me to the bone. But

speaking of these false teachers again,

they will not publicly move the

goalposts. They'll just move the

goalpost in their mind, but they'll keep

the public goalpost exactly the same.

And there enters the hypocrisy even more

deeply. So you are kept to a standard if

you're following these kinds of teachers

or these kinds of influencers that they

don't even keep, but they're still

preaching it even though they know they

don't keep it.

And you see it all the time.

You see it all the time.

God knows. God knows nobody even keeps

their own standard, much less his actual

standard, which is that if you break

even one of these laws in your heart,

you're guilty of all of it.

You would have to be such a truth

suppressor and monster of pride

to say in your heart towards God, I've

never broken any of these laws. He knows

that you have. You know, he knows.

You have to suppress the truth to do

that. So, there's this really dark and

deep pride when it comes to us boasting

in our flesh. But there's another kind

of boasting Paul talks about and this is

the solution for what we ought to do

publicly when we are afraid of

persecution. Verse 14. But far be it

from me to boast except in the cross of

our Lord Jesus Christ by which the world

has been crucified to me and I to the

world.

Paul overcame his fears of being

persecuted

for the Lord Jesus Christ. He had been

forgiven so much. And you know, I don't

know if you would want this. I'm not

sure I would want this, but Paul's sin

is on display for the entire world for

all time in the Bible.

I'm not sure there's anyone else other

than people in the Bible who have had

more people know about their sin.

And what is he boasting in? Did he sin

so much? No, that that would be really

really wrong. He's boasting in how much

he's been forgiven for.

How much Jesus had to pay for his sin.

So there is a great glory you bring to

our Lord when you boast about how much

sin you've been forgiven for. But again,

it's not about the how much. It's about

the how much the work was. So this is

how much Jesus had to pay for. And each

one of us, not just Paul, but each one

of us has a truly unique testimony. You

might look and at a, well, mine's not

really that great. It's the testimony

God gave you, and nobody else has it.

Now, your sin might even be somewhat

similar to someone else's testimony. Oh,

it was just a foul mouth and horrible

evil thoughts and this kind of lust and

that kind of covetousness and this kind

of thing. And it's like, well, that's

not all that uncommon. It's not as

though I'm saying that nobody has ever

sinned the exact sins that you've

sinned. What I'm saying is you are

forgiven individually by Jesus Christ

through faith and repentance. And

he in that in that case, he saved you.

And that's your story. And it's unique.

Nobody else has it.

Nobody else was was saved

personally by Jesus Christ other than

you in the moment that you were saved.

Does that make sense? Even if they were

simultaneously saved, they're also

individually. So you have this this one

testimony.

There's a couple things we have to

overcome to be willing to fears not just

from persecution of the world, but also

just admitting how much we've sinned and

how much we've needed to be forgiven for

is a scary thought. You do that by faith

as well. We don't like to even in the

church admit that we were forgiven of a

lot of sin.

But he who is forgiven much loves much.

And so if you're wondering, man, my

faith kind of seems like it's going

through the motions and I don't

experience the joy of salvation like I

maybe did in a pastime. Maybe it's that

you've started to forgot forget how much

Jesus has actually forgiven you for

and you're a little scared of admitting

that and then even more scared of

admitting that publicly. It's one of the

greatest things you can do. You have to

be wise about it. There are some people

who are not safe to admit that to um you

know pearls to pigs giving what is

sacred to dogs kind of thing. Uh that's

that might sound really harsh, but Jesus

is saying be wise in relationship to

people. Uh you don't want to give people

bullets for ammunition for the gun

they're about to point at you. There's

some people that are like that.

Judaizers, self-righteous. Oh, look.

This is the perfect person to virtue

signal over against because look how

much of a sinner they are. So, I'll use

them as an example in my heart and mind

and maybe in my words of how much better

I am than them.

Those are not the people that you

necessarily want to talk. But one of the

reasons I don't it's not I don't enjoy

talking about my sin publicly. It's not

fun. Especially because I don't I don't

like being emotional in front of people.

You might think, "Oh, well, it happens a

lot." Well, it's my conviction that if I

tell you how much Jesus has forgiven me

for, it glorifies him.

So, I do. I talk about all the horrible

things I've done and how much I've been

forgiven for. And I I can't not be

emotional about it.

I argue with God sometimes in sermons. I

don't want to give that personal

example.

But would you be willing to just tell

someone your story and how much you've

been forgiven for and how much God will

forgive them for too if they just

repent, admit, I need the forgiveness

and only you can accomplish it and I put

my faith in you. Why not?

What could you lose? Your life. You

already have eternal life. You already

have eternal life. So the fear is real,

but you can overcome it, but not by

yourself. It requires the boldness of

the spirit. And so just ask for that.

Lord, I'd like to boast in the cross of

Christ more in my life. Will you make me

bold enough?

That's what you do.

It's not just do it. It's God just do

it.

And then we could be a church that's

extraordinarily bold in an age that's

speeding towards hatred of those that

are.

You can do it, kids. You can do it.

Nobody's saying it's not fearful. You

can get persecuted at a Christian school

by Christians for saying certain things.

It happens. You can get persecuted from

all sides. That's promised. It's also

promised that Jesus will overcome the

world and that there's great blessing in

being persecuted for boasting in the

cross.

Paul goes on for neither circumcision

counts for anything nor uncircumcision

but a new creation.

This is the moment where it begins to

become

somewhat complicated but not by by far

not the most complicated part. Sometimes

students of the Bible, good humble

students of the Bible, that's what I

think of you guys. By the way, I don't

even think I necessarily know more about

the Bible than some of you. Some of you

have been walking with the Lord for so

long that uh you know, I'm still

learning things that are somewhat brand

new to me at times. I don't mean to say

I'm younger than I actually am in faith,

but uh I had never seen from Galatians

ever that Jesus was promised directly by

God and actually before Abraham because

Jesus said before Abraham was I am. And

it says the promise was to Abraham and

to his offspring. What promise? That any

of them that would have faith in him

would be in his his inheritance, his

internal eternal inheritance. That they

would all be sons of Abraham because

they believed in him.

To be honest, I didn't know. I have not

found anybody that discovered that

scripturally in this generation. I don't

mean to say there's anything special

about me because it was the Holy Spirit

that showed me. I'd glossed over that

verse so many times just thinking,

"Yeah, it's a promise to Abraham

fulfilled in Christ." Never seen that

though. But so so I I think highly of

you guys as students of the Bible, but

we do sometimes get confused. He says

circumcision counts for nothing.

You know, neither circumcision counts

for anything nor uncircumcision but a

new creation. The way to clear up

confusion about that biblically when you

read other verses is Paul is talking

about physical circumcision with a heart

devotion to keeping the law for the sake

of righteousness. That counts for

nothing and neither does uncircumcision.

Um what counts for something is a

circumcision that the Bible calls not

made by hands. So Paul would never say

and he teaches this that that

circumcision doesn't matter. physical,

legalistic, self-righteous, works

righteousness type of circumcision,

something you're claiming you did that

somehow gets you a leg up in salvation

doesn't count for anything. But what

Colossians chapter 2, I'll just have the

Colossians 2 · chapter mention

team go. Coloss Colossians 2 11-14 says

this.

Um, in him also you were circumcised,

speaking of Christians, with a

circumcision made without hands, by

putting off the body of the flesh by the

circumcision of Christ. So who did it?

You, a doctor, a rabbi, anyone? No, it

was a rabbi and his name is Jesus Christ

and he is a high priest and in a way he

is our great physician too. But it's God

that did it, right?

And and that circumcision,

is it really that much different

biblically than regeneration, being born

again, ma being made a new creation?

Let's just go on here. For as for all

who walk by this rule. So, actually, it

says it right here, verse 15. For

neither circumcision counts for

anything, nor uncircumcision, but the

new creation. Okay, I think we had more

verses there. That's only 12. Let's go

to 13. For neither circumcision counts

for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a

new creation. Um, I meant I meant verse

13 of Colossians. Uh, so let's go back

to Colossians 2:1 there. And you who

Colossians 2:1

were dead in your trespasses and the

uncircumcision of your flesh, God made

alive together with him, having forgiven

us our trespasses. Who made you alive

together with him? God made us alive

together with him. Next verse. by

cancelling the record of debt that stood

against us with its legal demands. The

law stood against us stands against

every human being ever with the only

exception being Jesus Christ. And this

he set aside nailing it to the cross.

What legal demand? That you would be

condemned for your sin even if you only

sinned once. As if anyone ever only

sinned once. But that

the righteous decree that people who

break the law deserve condemnation. That

was nailed to the cross when you

believed. I think we have one more

verse. No, that's the last verse there.

Um, so we're really talking about when

it comes to the circumcision done

without hands, the very same thing we're

talking about when we're born again, the

very same thing we're talking about with

the new creation, and the very same

thing we're talking about regeneration.

And I I am hammering this home. And I

want to give you three more verses. You

cannot find scriptures that say that

this new creation was done by human

beings in any way. No arrows pointing

back to you. Let's go to James 1:18. And

James 1:18

I could go to so many other scriptures.

We're just going to do three. Of his own

will he brought us forth by the word of

truth that we should be a kind of first

fruits of his creatures of his own will.

John 1:13.

John 1:13

who were born not of blood, nor of the

will of flesh, nor of the will of man,

but of God. Philippians 1:6, one of my

Philippians 1:6

personal favorites because it just

encourages me. And I am sure of this,

Paul says, that he who began, who began?

He began a good work in you will bring

it to completion at the day of Jesus

Christ.

>> God regenerates. God makes us a new

creation. God gives you new birth. God

does the circumcision without hands.

All arrows point to him and none of them

back to us. And who gets all the glory

when you believe like that?

>> He does. So it is good to believe this

way.

So now I talked about an olive tree and

this we're coming to that point. It's

11:35. We've got time. Wonderful. We are

going to go to some of the most complex

teaching in all of scripture. I know you

can understand this. I've been praying.

The elders have been praying for you.

I'm excited to talk about this. It is

the exact kind of thing that if you

agree with my convictions, you will be

persecuted by the world and you will be

persecuted by the church and the

so-called church.

this. If you believe this and you're

willing to live this out loud, it'll be

all the more scary.

I'm not going to pretend like it's not,

but it is so true and it is so good. And

it it is the joy of my salvation that

I've been included in this olive tree

that Paul's about to talk about. Okay.

Even before I'm going to do a read

through of most of Romans 11. Um, and I

want to thank um I want to thank Vern

Crowley. I want to thank Rebecca Egg. I

want to thank Ben Jansen. I want to

thank Greg and also other people. You

know, I'm a verbal processor. Sometimes

I'll call you and just try to talk to

you about stuff that I'm trying to

process. And anybody that's willing to

listen and sometimes they have to listen

for too long. I'm aware of that.

Um and uh but so helpful to me. And so,

um,

large portions of the church have been

involved in helping me think through

this to make sure this is really

absolutely in line with scripture. And

also, Ben used AI. Go ahead and put up

the image. Um, I've never seen an image

done this well to help you understand

something really important. Um, you may

already be able to look at that like, I

know what that represents. And I think I

know even what those individual things,

the the olive trees that are black or

the olive uh fruit that's black, the

olive fruit that's green here. Now I got

to use my laser pointer

right there and then here. And then the

graft. And then I I think I know what

this cross represents in the middle. Oh,

I think I know why Jesus is at the base.

And I even know what these broken

branches are. If you can understand what

why this image shows Jesus at the base,

he's the root. Um what this entire trunk

actually represents, what these olives

and these olive leaves and branches

represent, and what this grafted tree

and the olive represent, and even what

these dead trees represent, then you

have understood Romans 11. Okay.

I thought about calling Ben the prophet

of AI, but I figured that would be

basically like calling him a new age

heretic. So, I'm going to stop that. But

since the Antichrist is not entirely in

charge of AI yet, I think it's okay to

use. And it produced an amazing image.

Knowing you guys, you probably want this

image, right? Well, we thought of that.

Go ahead and go to the QR code. If

you've got your phone, point your phone

at this QR code. This one has the

scripture references on it, which I

think is important. We're going to walk

through those and then you can have

this. If you don't have a phone that

will do that, we are sending an

ebulletin out. Um, if you're not signed

up for the e- bulletin with this image,

we'll send it out. Do that. And if you

still can't get it in those means, then

just email the church and ask for it. We

want you to have this. Um, but this is

an awesome image. Um, so let's read

through Romans 11. Actually, let me go.

Why? Why are we talking about Romans 11

Romans 11:16

verse 16? and all as all for who walk by

this rule. Peace and mercy be upon them

and upon the Israel of God. What rule?

That circumcision counts for nothing nor

uncircumcision, but only a new creation,

only being born again, only being re

regenerated, only having been

circumcised, not by hands directly by

God. So only the idea that God does

everything for your salvation and you

did nothing. That's the rule.

all who walk by that rule, peace and

mercy upon them and the Israel of God.

Who is the Israel of God? Well, there's

no better place to go than to Romans 11

for Paul to define that. And we're going

to go there right now. Um, and I'm going

to go ahead and read through this. And

then I'm going to I'm going to stop as

I'm reading through it because some of

these verses are right here. Like we

stop at Romans 11:1 to be able to define

Romans 11:1

uh Go back to the image real quick,

please. Sorry. um to to be able to find

these branches and uh the complex of

these olives. So now you can go ahead

and go to uh to Romans 11:1. I ask then

Romans 11:1

has God rejected his people by no means,

for I myself am an Israelite, a

descendant of Abraham and a member of

the tribe of Benjamin. Remember in the

context of Galatians, Paul's already

said it's those who believe in Jesus

Christ who are sons of Abraham have to

believe in the one to whom the promise

was made and to into in the promised

one. There will be nobody that get

included is included in the Israel of

God except by faith in Jesus Christ.

That's a biblical absolute. There's no

other name by which man can be saved.

That's an absolute. Uh but what he's

saying here is has God just totally

rejected his people? Well, I'm an

Israelite and I believe. So, no. Right

off the get-go, he's saying, "No, by no

means I, for I myself am an Israelite, a

descendant of Abraham, a member of the

tribe of Benjamin." So, he's saying,

"I'm an ethnic Jew. I'm an actual

descendant of Abraham,

and I believe God regenerated me.

God saved me." And remember, Paul was

doing the exact opposite of repentant

belief

when God saved him shows up in blinding

light. Revelation of Jesus. Paul, why

are you persecuting me?

So again, Paul would never said he did

anything. God did something. Verse two,

God has not rejected his people whom he

forneew. Do you not know what the

scripture says of Elijah? how he appeals

to God against Israel. Lord, they have

killed your prophets. They have

demolished your altars and I alone am

left and they seek my life. But what is

God's reply to him? I have kept for

myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the

knee to Baal. So too, Paul says, at the

present time, there is a remnant chosen

by grace.

There's a remnant chosen by grace at the

present time. What is he talking about

in terms of that remnant? He's talking

about people who were actually

ethnically descendant from Abraham and

also believed.

So God has not actually even rejected

his people. Remember that the church was

exclusively Jewish at the beginning and

it was a shock to the apostles that God

would include the Gentiles without them

having to become Jewish just by faith.

And Peter initially rejected in the

vision of the of the blanket coming down

with take and eat of all these unclean

animals. But then he went and saw he

trusted in it because God said it three

times. And he goes and sees Cornelius be

saved by faith alone

and received the Holy Spirit. So he

believed that and Jerusalem council like

we went through they reaffirmed that and

you can look at that in Acts 15. The

idea that Gentiles would be included by

grace alone. But there is this remnant

being talked about that is ethnically

Jewish as well. It's undeniable. Um

verse 6, but if it is by grace, it is no

longer on the basis of works. Otherwise,

grace would no longer be grace. What

then? Israel fain failed to obtain what

it was seeking. The elect obtained it,

but the rest were hardened. Okay. One

person that you could put in that

category of elect as well that he's

talking about here that's an ethnolic

Jew would be Peter or John or James

or the people in the early church that

were Jewish. And remember the Jew the

the church started as exclusively

Jewish. So that's a really important

thing.

As it is written verse 8, God gave them

a spirit of stuper eyes that would not

see and ears that would not hear down to

this very day. who

the ethnic Jews he hardened that won't

at the current time when Paul was

writing this believe in Jesus Christ and

be saved.

God gave them a spirit of stuper. That's

what it says. And he has a purpose for

hardening them and he has a purpose for

giving them a spirit of stuper. Verse 9.

And David says, "Let their table become

a snare and a trap, a stumbling block

and a retribution to them. Let their

eyes be darkened so that they cannot see

and bend their backs forever." Verse 11.

So I ask, did the stumble, did they

stumble in order that they may fall? Who

again, the people that God gave a spirit

of stuper? The people that God hardened

for in earthly terms, the people that

refuse to believe in Jesus Christ,

refused to receive him by faith. Did

those people stumble in order that they

may fail by no means? In Greek, meoto

in what do we call the new generation?

Zoomers. Hard no. Okay. hard no did they

stumble that they might f fail forever.

Rather through their trespass salvation

has come to the Gentiles so as to make

Israel jealous. Now if their trespass

means riches for the world and if their

failure means riches for the Gentiles,

how much more will their full inclusion

full whose full inclusion?

That's a really important question.

We're still in this place talking about

ethnic Jews that are currently hardened.

People who have not believed in Jesus

Christ even though they had every

advantage, Paul says in Romans 9, we had

Abraham Lincoln. They had Moses.

They had every advantage to believe in

him. They had the scripture as their

history book.

But that's who we're talking about. And

we're talking about their full

inclusion. This is where Paul begins to

get into the metaphor of the tree. Verse

13. I didn't skip a verse, did we? Oh,

verse 13. Now I am speaking to you

Gentiles in as much then as I am an

apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my

ministry in order that somehow or in

order somehow to make my fellow Jews

jealous and thus save some of them. For

if their rejection means the

reconciliation of the world, what will

their acceptance mean but life from the

dead?

If though if the dough offered as f

first fruits is holy, so is the whole

lump. And if the root is holy, so are

the branches. All right, we just got to

the point where the root is mentioned.

Um, fast forward real quick with me to

Romans 15 because Paul defines exactly

who the root is. And this is in Romans

15.

Um, verse 12. We got that up. Okay. And

again, Isaiah says, so yes, this is a

New Testament verse, but it's quoting

the Old Testament. So I already know

it's said in two places at least.

There's lots more. And again, Isaiah

says, "The root of Jesse will come, even

he who arises to rule the Gentiles. In

him will the Gentiles hope."

Who's he talking about? He's talking

about Jesus Christ. Just look at the

context. It's so obvious to a church

like this that I'm not going to go back

to the context to show you, but that's

who's being t who's the root. Let's go

back to the image.

The root right down here. as soon as we

get back. This is not meant to say that

Jesus is the dirt. We're actually going

to be talking about if the dirt

represents something as well, but he's

the root. He's the one that regenerates

our faith. Just like the regenerative

roots of an olive tree, Jesus is the

root. You have to be connected directly

to him if you want to be part of the

Israel of God. Okay. So, now we have one

thing to find and go ahead and put the

image up with the scriptures.

If you were looking for scriptures, some

of which I just read.

Um, yeah, not the QR code one. Not There

we go. Um, the, uh, there we go. Romans

Romans 15:12

15:12. I'll remind you in this image,

Jesus is the root. He's the root system.

You got to be included in him. Back to

Romans 11. Um,

and we just got to the root. Yes. I'll

I'll I'll read it again. If the dough

offered as first fruit is holy, so is

the whole lump. And if the root is holy,

so are the branches.

Okay? So, anybody included in that root

in this in this moment is is holy.

That's what he's talking about. Again,

the root, however, is Jesus Christ. But

if some of the branches were broken off

and you, although a wild olive were

grafted in among the others, and now

share in the nourishing root of the

olive tree, do not be arrogant toward

the branches.

Many of you have read this before, know

your mind on it, and so this is nothing

new. If you haven't, what Paul is saying

here, let's go back to the image, is

that there are uh native olive tree

branches. They belong to that species of

tree. And we could call this the tree of

salvation, the olive tree of salvation.

And these are those native branches with

olives. Peter would be one of these.

John, Paul

in and around the time of their vis

visitation, whether they were far off or

not, they believed in Jesus Christ and

were included in the root and they're

ethnically Jewish. They're not the wild

olive branches. However, there is this

thing as a wild olive branch. I don't

know if you knew this, but you can graft

in other olive tree branches into an

olive tree. You can actually do that.

They do that all the time and you can

see the graft right there. Okay, so

that's what we're talking about by the

time we get to this verse 16 and 17.

I'll read 17 again. But if some of the

branches were broken off and you see

broken branches right here. Okay. So,

Jews who believed, Gentiles who

believed, natural branches,

unnatural or wild olive branch, but

grafted in both connected by faith alone

in the root Jesus Christ. All part of

the Israel of God. I think you're

following along. Okay. Verse 18. Do not

be arrogant towards the branches. So,

this is us, right?

And if olive trees had eyes or olives

had eyes, we're looking over at these

other branches that are part of the same

tree of salvation that we are rooted in

Jesus Christ by faith alone, through

grace alone, and Christ alone, in the

cross alone. And Paul wants us not to

have a certain attitude with our eyes

towards these branches.

And what does he say? Do not be arrogant

towards the branches. If you are, if you

remember, it is not you who support the

root, but the root that supports you.

And there here, this this is what we're

talking about. It turns out Jesus Christ

is ethnically Jewish.

This is an obvious fact. One not so

obvious fact that people don't think

about is, is he still fully human seated

at the right hand of God? Yes, he is.

And can you still be fully human being,

but not have an ethnic origin? No, you

can't.

So he's still ethnically Jewish. Okay,

that's a fact biblically unarguably. So

the root is in fact ethnically Jewish

because Jesus Christ is ethnically

Jewish.

Not everyone included him is ethnically

Jewish. But God said to the Jews first

and then to the Gentiles. He made this

very special promise to Israel. chose

one nation

and so there's some special promises of

them and special ways to think about

them that are not true for any other

nation. It is true however that there is

no person of any ethnicity gets included

in this tree except by faith in Jesus

Christ and that includes Jews. What

verse did we just leave off? Was it 18?

Yes. Do not be arrogant toward the

branches. If you are remember it is not

you who support the root but the root

that supports you. Then you will say

branches were broken off so that I might

be grafted in.

Is that true? Paul says that is true. We

just got over that. That's the way God

decided to do it. Save a certain amount

of Jews, then harden a large group of

Jews. Probably more people than uh

didn't believe than did believe at that

time. That's what Paul is anguishing

about in Romans 9. Why are there so many

Jews, my kinsmen, that don't believe?

Jesus is a descendant from them. They

had everything, all the advantages.

They were hardened. Gentiles were

included. And then something is going to

happen to a still future remnant of

Israel, ethnic Israel. Remember you,

what Paul is talking about here is

ethnic Israel in part.

So verse 19, I hope you're still

following me. I'm also very willing to

talk about this in person or you could

come meet with the elders if there's

something you don't understand. This is

really important to understand. So that

is true. They were broken off because of

their unbelief. But you stand fast

through faith. So do not become proud

but fear. For if God did not spare the

natural branches back to the image.

I might be pounding a dead horse here,

but this is these identify. If God not

did not spare the natural branches,

there they are. Okay. See the natural

branches broken off.

Neither will he spare you. Note then the

kindness and severity of God. Severity

toward those who have fallen.

The branch is broken off. But God's

kindness to you, provided you continue

in his kindness. Otherwise, you too will

be cut off. So don't have an arrogant

attitude towards these broken branches.

He says God has a plan for them. And

here in verse 23, it talks about it. And

even they, if they do not continue in

their unbelief, will be grafted in. For

God has the power to graft them in

again. Do you see it? Who does he have

the power to graft in again? Ethnic Jews

that are currently hardened in unbelief,

who have rejected Jesus Christ at any

time if they repent and believe, they

can be returned to that tree of

salvation, nourished by the root. That's

what it says. Let me read one more time.

Even they if they do not continue in

their unbelief will be grafted in for

God has the power to graft them in

again.

That's that's still a different concept

that what God is going to do in the

future. We're talking about anytime

today if a Jewish person comes to faith

they get reincluded. God has the power

to do that. Verse 24. For if you were

cut from what is by nature a wild olive

tree, one of these dead trees, you were

cut from that wild olive tree and

grafted in contrary to nature,

right? What kind of black olives,

contrary to nature? Green olives. That's

what that represents. into a cultivated

olive tree. A tree with all the

advantages, all the law, the teaching,

the prophets, Moses,

and from their own uh ancestry, Jesus

Christ, who is God cultivated olive

tree. God cultivated Israel. How much

more will these the natural branches

right here be grafted back into their

own olive tree?

So, I I think everyone's following it.

It's complex, but it is understandable

what's being talked about here. Verse

25, lest you be wise in your own sight.

I do not want you to be unaware.

Christians, Christians are not supposed

to be ignorant about this, Paul says, of

this mystery, brothers, a partial

hardening has come upon Israel. And

until the fullness of Gentiles has come

in, has the fullness of Gentiles come

in? No. So now we're caught up all the

way to the present day.

Fullness of Gentiles has not. And until

the fullness of Gentiles has come in,

something's going to happen. And in this

way, all Israel will be saved. As it is

written, the deliverer come from Zion.

He will banish ungodliness from Jacob.

What when God talks about all Israel

will be saved, he's talking about the

remnant of those ethnic Jews that have

currently been hardened. But someday

when his plans for the Gentiles are

finished and completed, he's going to

save that entire remnant.

I I honestly don't think it's that

complicated. You just have to carefully

study it and read it and hopefully the

image helps here. Okay?

And this will be my covenant with them.

The deliverer will come from Zion. He

will banish ungodliness from Jacob and

this will be my covenant with them when

I take away their sins. As regards the

gospel, they are enemies for your sake.

Who? Hardened ethnic Jews. They'll spit

on Christians in Jerusalem. They don't

like the gospel. Hard people don't like

the gospel. That's just a fact. We don't

that that is what he says. There's an

enemy status there spiritually. But as

regards election, they're beloved for

the sake of their fathers. Who? the

ethnic Jewish hardened remnant.

For the gifts and the calling of God are

irrevocable.

As Rebecca said, I want to give her

credit for this because it was a very

cool sentence and I not thought about

this. Salvation begins with the Jews,

then continues with any Jew that comes

to faith, continues with the Gentiles,

and then ends with the Jews. It's

bookended by God's plan. He didn't make

a mistake. Oh, I started with the Jews.

Now I'm going to reject to them. Brand

new plan. Gentiles. The whole thing was

written before the foundation of the

world. He knew exactly what he was going

to do.

For the gifts and the calling of God are

irrevocable. He knows who was included

in that promise to Abraham and to his

son Jesus Christ. And he has a plan. And

he's not done with ethnic Jews. For just

as you were at one time disobedient to

God, but now have received mercy because

of their disobedience, so they too have

now been disobedient in order that by

the mercy shown to you, they also may

have now receive mercy. For God has

consigned all to disobedience, that he

may have mercy on all. Oh, the depths of

the riches and wisdom and knowledge of

God, which if you just understood what

was being taught, you understand some of

those depths. How uncarchable are his

judgments and how inscrutable his ways.

For who has known the mind of the Lord?

Or who has been his counselor? Or who

has given a gift to him that he might be

repaid? For from him and through him and

to him are all things. To him be glory

forever. Amen.

>> Amen.

>> I just have four more verses that will

inform our worldview.

Can you see the remnant of ethnic Jews

that God will someday unharden, bring to

faith, and graft back into the tree? Can

you see them? Do you know which ones

they are? No.

I hope Netanyahu is. I don't know if he

is.

God knows. Not all Israel is Israel. And

then Paul talks about that there's a

difference between God's saving plan for

Jacob and for Esau. So it's not like

every single Jew who's ever lived is

going to be because again it's not about

your descendancy. It's about God's plan

of salvation and it's about faith alone.

So since we can't see who is part of

that remnant and since we know that

scripture has commanded us to bless um

those who were included in this promise

to Abraham, right?

How do you bless them without blessing

all of them simultaneously?

You can't because you can't identify the

ones that are going to be grafted back

in compared to the ones that may not be

grafted back in. You can't. It's really

no different with Gentiles in the sense

that you just preach the gospel to

everyone. You don't know who God's going

to save through your message. It's not

different. We're also not responsible to

identify the individuals. But that's one

thing that to what I consider modern

unfaithful eyes and ears just doesn't

make any sense. And you will get mocked

by Tucker Coulson and you will get

mocked by Candace Owens who claimed to

be Christians for believing that this

has anything to do with modern Israel.

But you just saw the fullness of

Gentiles has not yet come in.

It would be asinine to argue that it

has. So that's the first thing. The

remnant is invisible.

So the way that we bless is shotgun

approach.

Every Jew who ever lived who's living

right now and who's living in Israel,

there's an attitude we're supposed to

have to them of love, special love,

because we know some of them will be

part of the remnant. Okay. But there's

another thing. What about the land? And

this is where this gets really

controversial. Um I don't care if it's

controversial. I don't care if, well, I

do care if people disagree with me. I

don't care about being mocked. I don't

care about any of those things. Not that

it doesn't hurt my heart. Uh, but this

is just something that's anchored so

deeply in my heart because I've seen the

words and they're simple and I want it

to be anchored in your heart and you see

the words so that it's simple.

Deuteronomy 4:40.

Deuteronomy 4:40

Therefore, you shall keep his statutes

and his commandments, which I command to

you today, that it may go well with you

and with your children after you, and

that you may prolong your days in the

land, that the Lord your God is giving

you for how long? For all time. Hard to

understand? No, not hard to understand.

Everybody in this room knows what it

means for the Lord to make a promise of

ethnic Jews to live in that land for all

time.

Okay, so that's not complicated. But

someone might say, "Yeah, but they

didn't keep the commandments, so they

got exiled." Also true. However, let's

go to Ezekiel 11. I'm just going to go

here. Ezekiel 11, starting in verse 16.

We'll just read verse 16 and 17.

Therefore say, thus says the Lord God,

though I removed them far off among the

nations, and though I scattered them

among the countries, yet I have been a

sanctuary to them for a while in the

countries they have gone.

Therefore say, thus says the Lord God, I

will gather you from the peoples and

assemble you out of the countries where

you have been scattered, and I will give

you the land of Israel.

Just because for a long time there

wasn't such a thing as as a nation of

Israel does not mean that God broke his

promise.

There was an unfaithfulness. They got

exiled. They got scattered. But God is

always faithful his promise. It is

indeed for all time. And he brought them

back.

Now,

this is where we get into end times

theology, and it's just a very short

treatment of that, not a long one. But

let's go to Zechariah 14 3-4.

Jesus, still Jewish on the throne, but

the Lord of the Gentiles and the Jews

alike who have faith in him. Then the

Lord Jesus will go out and fight against

those nations as when he fights on the

day of battle. In context, the all the

nations have arrayed themselves against

Jerusalem. On that day, his feet will

stand on the Mount of Olives

that lies before Jerusalem on the east.

And the mount mount of olives shall be

split in two from the east to the west

by the very wide valley. So that one

half of the mount of mount shall move

northward and the other half southward.

Where is the king of the Jews and

Gentiles alike by faith in him? Where is

he returning to? Jerusalem, Mount of

Olives. I've been there. I've seen it. I

know what it looks like. That's where

he's returning to.

So there's only one nation in all the

world that has a divine right to their

land and is Israel. And it's an eternal

covenant. It's eternal even past the old

earth and old heavens into the new

heavens and the new earth. It's not

called

the new Boston. It's not called the new

Dubai. It's not called the new Moscow.

It's called the new Jerusalem.

It's embedded in the root

because God's gifts and promises are

irrevocable.

So since we can't see the remnant, since

they actually have a right to the land

that no other nation does, according to

simple and easy to understand promises

of God in scripture, what ought our

attitude to be towards the nation of

Israel? Blessing, not cursing.

Do we have to say everything they do is

good? Is it because of their sinless

righteousness that we support them? Not

even God supports them from that reason.

Do not say in your hearts that it's

because of your own righteousness that

I'm bringing you to into the land. God

says in Deuteronomy again, it's God's

grace.

So, I don't see how you can get around

the idea that we are not supposed to

bless ethnic Jews now in modern times

and the nation of Israel because the

promises are irrevocable both for the

land and for the salvation of that

remnant which we cannot see.

and you will be persecuted even by other

Christians for that belief. And I'm not

talking about other Christians that may

interpretationally disagree but not mock

you. I'm talking about Christians who

will make you feel like an absolute

stupid idiot for believing the Bible at

face value. I'm believe I'm talking

about that kind of person. We ought not

to mock each other about these kinds of

things. And so, no, the Israel of God is

indeed the church. And you now know what

I mean. I mean what Paul means. Rooted

in a Jewish savior

and a Jewish nation that we got included

in by faith in Jesus Christ, including

Gentiles and including a future remnant,

also only saved by faith and the action

of God to unharden them. And we don't

see them. So, you can't just pick and

choose which ones you're going to

support. and they have a promise. And so

you call me a Christian Zionist, I don't

care. I don't know if I am based on what

someone might define that. I am just

believing what scripture teaches me. And

I'm believing that with a good

conscience and I'll stand before my Lord

at the end saying, "This is why I

believe this." And here's the verses.

And I believe he will say, "Well done,

good and faithful servant." And the same

thing to you. So back to Galatians to

finish this out.

Nobody is saved except by includion

through faith in the cross. Nobody is

saved by any other name. Doesn't matter.

Not Gentiles nor Jews.

And the church does indeed include

ethnic Jews and ethnic Gentiles.

Lots of different ethnicity of Gentiles,

but they're all made one. And so then

once we're included, there is now

neither Jew nor Gentile or barbarian or

schizian or slave or free or male or

female. So much does our new identity in

Christ define us that we are to stop

defining ourselves by those ethnic

boundaries once we're part of the tree.

And that's the gospel we preach at Boon

Fairy. That's the gospel I believe every

church should preach. And that's what

Paul's talking about when he says, "From

now on, let no one cause me trouble. For

I bear on my body the marks of Jesus,

whiplashings,

scars from being h having rocks thrown

at him for actually preaching the

gospel." And he says, "The grace of our

Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit,

brothers. Amen." And you're going to

need it if you stand up for what the

gospel actually says. That no one can

earn it and that only God did it and

that he did that through the work

finished work of Jesus Christ and

believe that and you too are included in

this tree forever.

Let me pray. Father, thank you for this

message.

I'm not smart enough to understand these

things except by your spirit. I'm just

not. I never have been. But I understand

them. You've revealed them to my heart