Participants: Jeff Zaremsky
Series Code: FC
Program Code: FC000383
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00:30 Welcome to Faith Chapel I'm Jeff Zaremsky.
00:32 Today we're gonna be talking about How bad 00:34 have the Jewish people been as a nation down 00:37 through history. Let's start with prayer. 00:40 Our Lord God King of the Universe, 00:43 speak to our hearts from heaven, 00:44 in Jesus name, amen. 00:48 So, I'm gonna ask you a question, 00:49 lets start with a question how bad have 00:51 the Jewish people been. So what do you think. 00:54 In the history of the Jewish as a whole how 00:57 often have they rejected God? Would you say 01:00 50 percent of the time, would you say 01:02 65 percent of the time or would you say 01:05 80 percent time. Now if you're like most audiences 01:08 you are saying 80 percent of the time, few will say 01:10 65 percent of the time and maybe one or two 01:13 will 50 percent of the time, but the vast 01:14 majority will say 80 percent of the time. 01:16 Now we're gonna go through the scriptures, 01:18 we're gonna look through the scriptures very 01:20 quickly. So fasten your seat belt and in case 01:22 of emergency your seat will double as an 01:24 flotation device. Alright we're gonna start with 01:26 the tour, we're gonna look through the books 01:28 of Moses, The History of Moses and it's 01:31 interesting to find as you read through it 01:33 that of all the rebellions that are mentioned 01:35 in the, in the Deuteronomy and Exodus account 01:38 that only four of all the rebellions mentioned 01:42 take place in the last 39 years of that 40 01:46 years wandering in the wilderness. 01:48 All of the other rebellions take place in 01:50 the very first year of coming out of slavery 01:53 after hundreds of years of being slaves in 01:56 Egypt with no Bible handy and so there was 01:58 some rebellion in the beginning quite a bit, 02:01 but most of it takes place in the first year. 02:03 39 years only four rebellions recorded. 02:07 Now how is your last 39 years been. 02:10 If God was recording your rebellion over the 02:12 last 39 years, where there only before to 02:14 record, so 39 years only four rebellions as a 02:17 history is a whole that's not too bad. 02:20 So then we go to the book of Joshua and in 02:23 Joshua chapter 24 verse 31 it says, 02:26 And Israel served the Lord all the days of 02:30 Joshua and all days of the elders that 02:33 outlived Joshua. So Israel served the Lord 02:35 all the days of Joshua and all the days of 02:37 the Israel, of the leaders that outlived Joshua, 02:39 so about 24 years is what is usually estimated 02:43 for that time period. So between the 39 and 02:47 the 24 years only four mentions of rebellions, 02:50 that's 63 good years in a row and one bad 02:53 year. So we're gonna have to get up to 80 02:55 percent, we're gonna have to pick up the pace 02:57 here on bad years. But we're coming to the 02:59 book of Judges. Well Judges that's a horrible, 03:02 horrible time, just everyone doing what seems 03:05 right in their own eyes. Well let's look at the 03:07 book of Judges and let's go to our first text 03:09 Judges chapter 3 verse 8 and it says, 03:13 Therefore the anger of the Lord was hot 03:16 against Israel, and he sold them into the hand 03:19 of Cush, Cush, you wanna try that, 03:22 I don't know, you can try and pronounce that, 03:23 the King of Mesopotamia. And the children of 03:26 Israel served this guy for eight years. 03:29 Okay so we got eight bad years they're 03:31 serving this, this foreign King and for eight 03:35 so we got eight bad years. Let's go on to our 03:37 next text verse 9 and it says, And when the 03:41 children of Israel cried unto the Lord, 03:45 the Lord raised up a deliverer of the children 03:48 of Israel who delivered them, even Othniel 03:51 the son of Caleb. Caleb's younger brother. 03:57 And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, 03:59 and he judged Israel and went out to war and 04:02 the Lord delivered this guy King of Mesopotamia 04:07 into their hand, and his hand prevailed against 04:09 them and the land had rest forty years. 04:15 So under Caleb's brother as a ruler he had 04:18 rest, we had peace, following the Lord for 04:20 forty years. Judges starts off with eight 04:23 bad years, but then forty good years. 04:28 As we continue on in Judges chapter 3 04:30 verse 12, And the children of Israel did evil 04:32 again in the sight of the Lord 18 years. 04:36 Verse 15, But when the children of Israel 04:38 cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised them 04:39 up a deliverer, Ehud and the land had rest 04:43 80 years. So 18 bad, so we have 8 bad, 04:47 40 good. 18 bad, 80 good and the children, 04:52 in verse, chapter 4 verse 1, And the children 04:54 of Israel again did evil in the sight of the 04:56 LORD. And the LORD sold them into the hand 04:58 of Jabin King of Canaan 20 years. 05:01 So 20 bad years and then Deborah arose 05:05 and the land had rest forty years. 05:09 And so during the time of Deborah we had 05:10 rest for 40 years, the prophetess and Judge 05:14 Deborah. Then going on to chapter 6, 05:17 And the children of Israel did evil in the 05:19 sight of the Lord: and the Lord delivered them 05:21 into the hand of Midian seven years. 05:24 Then chapter 8 verse 34 and we are just 05:26 moving through very quickly and just hitting 05:28 the highlights. But the Spirit of the LORD 05:30 came upon Gideon, and the country was in 05:32 quietness 40 years in the days of Gideon and 05:36 so what we're seeing is kind of like your stocks. 05:38 It might say hey I wouldn't want a stock 05:39 that's going up and down and up and down 05:41 all the time, but it might not be too bad if 05:43 I told you that one of you had a stock that 05:45 had 39 up then 24 up and then just has eight 05:50 down, but then goes up again another 40 05:52 and then maybe goes down 18, but then 05:54 goes 80 and so there's this up and down, 05:57 but the ups are much higher than the downs. 06:00 And are more often then the downs and 06:02 last longer and are higher then the downs. 06:04 Then you say hey that's a great stock, 06:05 it's going on up and yeah, it has some lows, 06:08 but its going up and that's how the stocks 06:10 work and that's what we're seeing, 06:11 that was in the book of Judges. 06:13 Now we're not done with the book of Judges. 06:14 We're gonna go to Judges chapter 10, 06:18 verses 1 and 2 and the text says, And after 06:22 Abimelech there arose to defend Israel Tola 06:25 the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, 06:27 a man of Issachar, and he dwelt in Shamir 06:30 in Mount Ephraim. And he judged the Israel 06:34 twenty and three years and he died and was 06:36 buried in Shamir. Now in that text, 06:39 it mentions this Judge, this Tola the son of 06:42 Puah, the son of Dodo that he judged Israel 06:45 23 years and then he dies. It doesn't say 06:47 whether they had lent at rest, whether he 06:50 did that which was right in the sight of the 06:51 Lord, whether they did that which was evil. 06:53 It doesn't say either or it just says that 06:56 he just reigned 23 years. Can you imagine 06:58 if you reigned over a whole nation for 23 07:00 years and the only thing that's recorded is 07:04 that you are the grandson of Dodo. 07:06 I mean maybe that's, you know pretty playful, 07:08 but I guess the only thing worse than that 07:09 is being Dodo yourself or being the father 07:12 of Dodo, but anyway that's all that Bible says 07:14 and so that's kind of just a neutral time. 07:16 Technically probably if it was bad the Bible 07:19 would have said so, but its neutral and so we 07:21 just leave that as neutral. Alright, going 07:23 pass the book of Judges, we come to the 07:25 time of Eli, Eli ruled over Israel for 40 years 07:29 basically doing that which was good 07:31 followed by Samuel for 46 years also basically 07:35 doing that which was good. And so lets 07:37 look at our totals together now. 07:38 The totals for the book of Judges during 07:41 plus the time of Eli and Samuel we have a 07:44 total of a 113 bad years, 312 good years and 07:52 70 neutral years. That's pretty amazing to me, 07:56 I mean you know we were all saying that 07:57 it was gonna be 80 percent of the time was 07:59 bad and already we are seeing that its only 08:01 about less than 30 percent bad and most of 08:05 the time good. And all this through the book 08:07 of Judges. Let's go on and look at the Kings. 08:11 We have King Saul. King Saul reigned for 08:13 39 years and you know, we don't know how, 08:16 when he started going bad. It might had been 08:18 20 years into his reign, we don't know and, 08:20 but he did do some that was not good. 08:22 We'll just play that one neutral just to play 08:24 it safe. David reigns 40 years and of course 08:27 he had some of his problems, but certainly 08:30 I think I will record him as having good years 08:32 and Israel doing good under that time, 08:34 so 40 years. Solomon comes along and 08:37 Solomon starts off real good, he had some 08:38 problems, but then he ends real good, 08:41 so we'll count him as neutral as well. 08:45 And so during the, and so far more we all 08:47 know what we've seen that there are seven 08:49 good years, good reigning Judges and Kings 08:53 that last 40 years. 40 years in the Bible is 08:55 a generation and so we have Caleb's brother, 08:58 younger brother Ehud. Ehud had a double 40 09:01 had 80 good years. Deborah had 40 good years. 09:03 Gideon had 40 good years. Eli had 40 09:06 good years. David had 40 good years. 09:08 Solomon had 40 good years, so there's a 09:10 generation of good years, sevens of them 09:15 and one was a double. Now Soul only had 09:18 39 years, God only allowed him to be King 09:20 39 years, God allows him to die just before 09:23 he reaches that 40th year, that total of 09:27 generation, that total of goodness because he 09:29 didn't, he rejected, God gave him that much 09:31 time to repent and turn and so he gets 09:33 cut off before he reaches the 40th year. 09:37 So, lets look through the rest of the book 09:39 of Kings and King Solomon dies and it's in 09:43 First King chapter 14 and verse 21 and 22 09:46 it talks about: Rehoboam his son and he 09:49 reigned seventeen years and Judah did 09:52 evil in the sight of the Lord, so that 09:53 would be on the bad side specifically tells 09:55 us they did evil in the sight of the Lord 09:56 seventeen years. Now, at this time Israel 09:59 and Judah splits, there is a civil war and the 10:02 Northern tribes of Israel never have a good 10:04 King from thereon, never do any good. 10:06 And so we would count them as 100 percent 10:08 bad the rest of the time, but we're gonna 10:10 focus on Judah and that's where the Jews 10:12 come from, through the line of Judah. 10:14 Jews come, the term comes from Judah to 10:16 shorten derivative of Judah Jews. And, and 10:20 so we're gonna follow the line of Judah from 10:22 here on out. And so, chapter 15 verses 2 and 3. 10:27 Abijam reigned over Judah three years and 10:30 he walked in the sins of his father. 10:32 So, it's seventeen bad years and then his 10:34 son three bad years. And then chapter 10:37 15 verses 10 and 11, Asa reigned over Judah 10:40 forty and one years doing that which was 10:44 right in the eyes of the Lord. So, again we 10:46 see the same pattern, a few bad years but 10:48 then many good years, forty one good years. 10:51 Jumping to chapter 22 verses 42 and 43, 10:56 Jehoshaphat reigned twenty and five years, 10:59 twenty five years doing that which was right 11:02 in the eyes of the Lord. Second Kings chapter 11:04 11 verses 1 and 3, Athaliah, the mother of 11:09 Ahaziah destroyed all her heirs. 11:11 This queen mother decides that she is going 11:13 to kill all her children, so that she can be 11:15 the queen and it's a horrible time and she 11:17 does this and she reigns six years. 11:20 It's all that God allows her to reign. 11:22 All the bad Kings God cuts off very soon, 11:24 very short amount of time only six years 11:27 and in chapter 12 verses 1 and 2 picks it 11:29 up saying, Joash reigned forty years, 11:32 as a boy King, eight -year-old boy King. 11:35 He reigns forty years and he did that which 11:38 was right in the side of the Lord. 11:41 And after her it continues on for a hundred 11:43 and thirty seven good years in a row after 11:47 that wicked queen. She only got six years 11:49 and then we go hundred and thirty seven good 11:52 years. How are your stocks doing? 11:54 Hundred and thirty seven up, only six down. 11:57 And that's what we see happening. 11:59 When we get to chapter 21 of Second Kings 12:03 verse 1, Menasseh's talked about and it says 12:05 Mennasseh reigned fifty five years. 12:09 And he did that which was evil in the side 12:13 of the Lord. Now, Menasseh is the only bad 12:18 King. The only bad King that reigns more than 12:20 twenty years. Most bad Kings don't even 12:24 make ten years. While, most of the good 12:28 years are more than twenty years. 12:32 Most of the bad years are less than ten years; 12:34 most of the good years are more than twenty 12:37 years. Now, God allows Menasseh to have 12:39 fifty five years because God loves us. 12:43 God loves the sinners and God's gonna give 12:45 us opportunity after opportunity after 12:46 opportunity to accept him. And Menasseh 12:48 eventually does turn to the Lord at the end 12:51 of his life. That's why he was allowed to 12:53 reign fifty five years until he finally gives 12:57 into the Lord. Otherwise he probably would 12:58 had short under twenty like all the other bad 13:01 times. So, how does our picture look, 13:03 how does it look for the, for the, for the time, 13:06 the total for all the books of Kings of 13:08 following the, the, the Kings of Judah, 13:10 how does it look? Let's take a look at our 13:12 screen here. And, and we have our totals 13:15 for the Kings, the time of the Kings Bad time 13:18 118, Good 303, Neutral 79. That almost parallels 13:28 what it was in judges. Just a hundred or so 13:32 bad, over three hundred good and 70 something 13:35 neutral. So, again we're seeing the bad 13:38 years only amount to the, to about less than 13:42 one third of all the bad time. And we were 13:47 thinking it was 80 percent. Now, let's look 13:49 at our totals then from the time of Moses all 13:51 the way to the time that we're taking captive 13:53 in Babylon. Let's count up our figures here, 13:56 where does it come to our totals from Moses 13:57 to Babylon, 232 bad years, good years 678, 14:03 neutral years are 149, that amounts to only 14:07 232 bad years out of over a thousand 14:12 years of good years. Or of, or, or of total 14:15 including neutral years. So, only 232 that the 14:18 Bible specifically says was bad years, 14:21 that's only about 25 percent less than 25 14:24 percent of the time. And again I, 14:26 if I look over my life I wish I could say the 14:30 only 25 percent was bad. And so, what we're 14:35 seeing how about during the time when we 14:37 have the time of Babylon and, and till the 14:39 time of the Messiah. We have many good times, 14:40 we have Daniel, we have Mishael, Hananiah, 14:44 Azariah, that's their Hebrew names, they're 14:46 known often by their Babylonian names. 14:48 Then we have also Esther and Mordecai and 14:50 Nehemiah and Ezra and, and the coming back 14:53 and the rebuilding of the second, the building 14:55 of the second temple. We have Maccabees 14:57 and so we have many, many good years in 14:59 the time between the, before the Messiah 15:02 comes. And now how about the time, 15:04 during the time of the Messiah? How did the 15:06 Jewish people rate during the time of Messiah? 15:10 We still haven't come anywhere close to 15:11 reaching that 80 percent of bad times. 15:13 So, let's see here during the time of the Messiah. 15:16 Acts chapter 2 verse 31 tells us that three 15:19 thousand Jewish people became believers 15:21 and were immersed, were baptized at that time. 15:25 Acts chapter 4 verse 4 says that, five thousand 15:29 Jewish people plus, actually Jewish men plus 15:33 women and children became believers in the 15:36 Messiah and Jesus as the Messiah. And so, five 15:39 thousand plus women and children, well that's 15:40 got to be at least ten thousand there plus the 15:42 three thousand before. And so you're talking 15:45 many thousands. Jules Isaac in his book Jesus 15:49 and Israel, page 101. He's quoted as saying 15:52 within three and a half years about 25,000 15:57 Jewish people in and around Jerusalem believed 16:01 in Jesus as the Messiah. Twenty five 16:04 thousand, that's a pretty good number, 16:06 That's a lot of people. Some estimate that might 16:08 have been a good 25 percent of the population 16:11 at that time that be a good number today 16:14 to have a city and around city of 25,000 16:17 believers. Let's go to Acts chapter 6 verse 7 16:21 and let's, let's read that one together, 16:22 let's take a look at that. Acts chapter 7, 16:24 And the word of God increased; and the 16:27 number of disciples multiplied in Jerusalem 16:31 greatly; and a great company of the priests 16:36 were obedient to the faith. So, we see 16:38 here right there in Jerusalem and Jewish 16:40 people great numbers, great multitude in 16:43 Jerusalem, greatly plus of the priest as well. 16:46 Of the spiritual leaders of the Jewish people, 16:49 a great company the text said. A great 16:52 company of the Jewish priests were obedient 16:55 to the faith became believers in Jesus as the 16:57 Messiah. In acts chapter 14, well, sharing this, 17:03 this message one time at a, at a, at a place 17:07 in a sermon. And right afterwards a man came 17:09 up to me and he opened his Bible and pointed 17:11 to Acts chapter 13 verse 46 and he read it 17:14 to me. That it was necessary for the Word 17:16 of God to be spoken to you. But seeing you 17:18 put it from you, we turn to the gentiles. 17:20 And he closed his Bible and he said, see the 17:22 Jews were rejected, Paul then turned to the 17:24 gentiles and that was the end for the Jewish 17:27 people and he turned away from me and he 17:28 walked away. Now, if he would have just read, 17:33 just seven verses later. That was in Antioch. 17:36 And, and the Bible says that in Antioch there 17:38 were many Jewish believers, but what had 17:40 happened was some or maybe even the 17:43 majority of the Jewish people in that city, 17:46 everyone who had the opportunity to hear it, 17:47 everyone who wanted to receive it, 17:49 received it, everyone who didn't, didn't. 17:50 And Paul said, okay I'm done here in the 17:52 synagogue. I'm going to now go to the 17:53 gentiles in this city. We go just seven verses 17:57 later to chapter, Acts chapter 14 verse 1 and 18:01 we'll read this together. Acts chapter 14 verse 18:03 1, And it came to pass in Iconium, that they 18:06 went both together into the synagogue of 18:09 the Jews, and so spake that a great multitude 18:14 both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed. 18:18 And so Paul right after he's done in Antioch, 18:20 and after he had done taken it to the gentiles, 18:22 he then goes to this next town, he goes to Iconium 18:25 and he goes into the synagogue of the Jews 18:28 and he's preaching again to the Jews, 18:29 so he hasn't now rejected the Jews and 18:31 cleansed his hands of the Jews and gone only 18:33 to the gentiles. He goes back to his, 18:35 his routine of going to the Jews first and 18:36 then also to the gentiles. And he shares 18:38 with the Jewish people there and a great 18:40 multitude of Jewish people and Greek people 18:42 believed on him there. In chapter, Acts chapter 18:46 17 verse 6, the Jewish people said that they, 18:49 they have turned the world upside down, 18:51 these Jewish missionaries have turned the 18:52 world upside down. Paul and Barnabas and Silas 18:55 they've, they've turned the world upside down. 18:57 Now, they weren't so concerned about the 18:59 whole gentile world. They're talking about hey, 19:01 our religious structure, they turned the Jewish 19:03 world upside down, Jewish believers are believing 19:06 in him. We look in Acts chapter 17 verses 10 19:10 and 12. And it talks about the Bereans and 19:12 maybe you remember the Bereans they're known 19:14 for being more noble then the Thessalonikis 19:17 because they searched the scriptures to see 19:19 if what Paul said was true. Well, the Bereans were 19:22 Jewish. It says, he went into Bereans, 19:25 he went into the synagogue of the Jews 19:26 and many of them believed. So, the Bereans 19:29 were Jewish believers, that was searched the 19:32 scriptures to check and make sure that what 19:35 Paul said was true and they believed. 19:37 So, we don't see a massive rejection, 19:40 we see actually in all the places Jews, Jews, 19:43 Jewish people coming to the Lord and accepting 19:44 the Messiah even during the time of the Messiah 19:47 and even after the time of the Messiah. 19:51 And Paul points this out in Romans chapter 11 19:54 verse 17, when he says, if some of the branches 19:59 were broken off, and you were grafted in among 20:04 them being a wild olive branch were grafted 20:06 in among them. And so he says, some were 20:09 broken off, it doesn't even say many were 20:11 broken off, it doesn't even say most are broken 20:12 off. Paul says, some were broken off and then 20:16 the gentiles are grafted in among them, 20:19 among the Jewish believers. So, we don't 20:22 see doing away with the Jews and a bringing 20:24 in of the gentiles we see a uniting of both 20:27 together and that is God's plan. So, how would 20:32 we rate this today as far as missionary success, 20:36 if, if we sent a missionary, if you went 20:40 or someone went to, to some place where there 20:42 was no Bibles, they didn't believe in the Bible 20:44 at all, they're, they're eating one another and 20:46 doing all kinds of sins. And you go there 20:49 with your Bible, not one of them is a Bible 20:50 believer, not one of them has ever heard of 20:52 God and you go there with your Bible and you 20:54 start sharing and preaching and, and, and, 20:56 and services going on. And you comeback to, 20:59 to the, to the home country and they ask 21:01 how did it go? And you say, oh well the leader 21:03 of the tribes there they, they, they rejected 21:06 it, they tore down my posters, they, 21:08 they broke up the meeting continually, 21:10 we had such problems; they tried to kill me 21:12 a few times, oh it was miserable. And, and 21:15 the people say, oh well that's too bad. 21:17 So, yeah they rejected it all. And they say, 21:19 you say, they say, well that's too bad, boy did 21:21 anybody believe, did anybody come to the 21:23 faith at least even just one story. 21:25 And you say, well yeah actually about 25 21:27 percent of them believed. Actually 25,000 of 21:30 them believed. Actually many of their leaders 21:32 and many of their, their teachers believed. 21:35 And all within just a short period of time, 21:38 three and a half years or about 25 percent. 21:41 Would you call that a rejection? Would you 21:43 call that a failure or would you say, hey that 21:45 was a victory, 25 percent of this country, 21:48 of this nation, of the city are now believers 21:51 that's a victory. So, that's funny how we 21:54 look at history and we look at the past. 21:57 So, well how about in the last 2000 years? 21:59 How are the Jewish people rated over the 22:00 last 2000 years. Well, let's look at what choices 22:04 they had after that early first hundred years 22:08 where the Bible was being spread and the 22:09 gospel was going forward. Let's look into the 22:11 dark ages, it really the last one thousand 22:13 nine hundred years. Let's take a look at what 22:15 their choices were as we look at what they had 22:18 to choose from? Where most of the people and 22:20 the only choice they had was to possibly bow 22:23 down to a statue. And so, which would you 22:25 choose, what would you choose? If this, 22:27 if you were living let's say a thousand years 22:28 ago, and these are the choices you have. 22:31 You have to bow down to a statue, you're 22:33 gonna be a Christian, you're gonna believe in, 22:35 in, in, in, in, in Jesus. You are gonna have to 22:38 bow down to a statue, you're gonna have to 22:40 pray to a saint, you're gonna have to reject 22:42 the Bible, stop reading the Bible. Bible is 22:45 outlawed, you can only read the catechisms 22:48 and you have to break the Sabbath and you 22:51 have to start eating pork. You have to do 22:52 those things. That's your only choice or 22:55 would you choose, that's your only choice 22:57 or you can continue to worship God, 23:02 pray to God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and 23:04 Jacob, pray to the creator, praying to him, 23:08 continue reading the Bible even on the pain 23:10 of death, even though it's outlawed, 23:13 even though many of your relatives have 23:14 been killed for doing the very same thing, 23:15 you are reading the Bible, you are keeping 23:17 the Sabbath and eating Biblically. 23:20 Which would you choose? What would you 23:22 choose? Would you choose to bow down 23:24 to the idol, pray to the saint, reject the Bible, 23:28 stop reading the Bible, break the Sabbath and 23:31 start eating pork and other unclean foods? 23:34 Or would you continue worshiping God? 23:37 Praying to God and get they did have the 23:38 New Testament outlawed. They weren't able 23:40 to read it. Well, there was the Torah continue 23:42 worshiping God, praying to God, 23:43 even though you're gonna killed and many 23:46 of them, many of them did for reading the Bible 23:48 and worshiping God and praying to God and 23:51 keeping the Sabbath and eating only those 23:53 things that the Bible says are appropriate to 23:55 eat. That was the choices they had. 23:57 And for the last nineteen hundred years, 23:59 many of the Jewish people chose to risk and 24:03 die, to follow what the Bible says. See the only 24:08 picture that they had of Jesus was a picture of 24:11 him as a law breaking, Torah breaking, 24:16 Bible annulling, pork eating, Sabbath breaking 24:21 pagan. And Jew killing pagan, that was the 24:25 picture that was presented to them, 24:27 that was the only choice they had, 24:28 if you want Jesus this is the Jesus that is 24:30 presented to them. And that's what they 24:32 were rejecting, they weren't rejecting the 24:35 Jesus that maybe you and I know in reading 24:37 the full word of God. They were rejecting that 24:39 false picture of Jesus. So how will God judge 24:42 in the end? How will He judge you, 24:44 what would you have chosen? How would you 24:47 judge if you were God judging those people? 24:49 Be careful with that because as we judge, 24:51 so will we be judged. In the Book of Romans 24:55 chapter 11 verse 25, let's read this together. 24:58 For I do not desire brethren, that you should 25:00 be ignorant of this mystery. God doesn't 25:02 wants to be ignorant regarding this. 25:03 Lest we become wise in our conceits. 25:07 We maybe wise, you know, would be proud 25:08 and think we know it all, but that blindness in 25:12 part only partial blindness happened to 25:16 Israel until the fullness of the gentiles is coming 25:21 in. Paul says that there was gonna be a blindness 25:24 in part on partial blindness, just missing 25:26 that part, but still keeping the rest of it. 25:28 A blindness in part until and then after that 25:32 until obviously then the blinders come off. 25:34 And that's what happening right now. 25:35 Jewish people are accepting the messiah 25:37 again because the blinders have come out, 25:38 because the fullness of the gentiles are 25:40 coming in. The gospel is going to the fullness 25:44 the station and the gospel, when missionaries 25:47 are taking the Bible and the, and the word 25:49 of God to all the world. So, the fullness of 25:51 the gentiles and in the fullness of the message. 25:54 Not just the partial gospel, but the whole 25:55 gospel, the whole Bible, not just one third 25:58 and New Testament, but the whole Bible is 26:00 being presented until the fullness of the 26:02 gentiles is coming in. And we're seeing that 26:05 and so blindness, is blindness had been taken 26:08 away and Jewish people are coming in. 26:11 In Romans chapter 11 verses 1 and 2 Paul says, 26:16 I see then, Has God cast away his people? 26:18 God forbid. God has not cast away His people 26:22 which he for knew, that's the words of Paul. 26:24 Romans chapter 11 verses 1 and 2. 26:27 In the time of Galileo, there was the Tower 26:30 of Pisa and they were teaching at that time 26:32 that if you drop two weights of, of different, 26:35 two objects of different weights they would 26:37 fall at different times. The, the bigger one, 26:39 the heavier one would fall first. 26:41 Galileo said no they would fall at the same 26:43 exact rate. And so to prove his point; 26:45 he went up to the top of the Tower of Pisa. 26:47 And he, and he pushed off a little pebble and 26:49 a refrigerator at the same time, well maybe it 26:51 wasn't a refrigerator, but a big object and a 26:53 small object, he pushes them off at the same 26:55 time and all the other teachers are there, 26:57 some are on top, some are at the bottom and 26:59 they both fall and they fall boom at the same 27:01 exact time. They all see it, all the teachers 27:04 see it. And they all go back to their students 27:07 and they all go back and say, if you push two 27:11 weights off different weights, two objects 27:12 of different weights, the heavier one is 27:14 gonna fall first. They saw it with their own eyes, 27:18 but they went back to teaching what they 27:20 always taught. What have you always believed, 27:22 what have you always taught regarding what 27:23 we have just looked at today. That the Jews 27:26 have been bad 80 percent of the time, 27:27 that they bad over and over and over again. 27:29 We've seen that there were only bad about 20 27:31 percent of the time. And that God has not 27:34 rejected His people. So, what are you gonna 27:36 do with this, what are you gonna do when 27:37 you go back and teach Sunday school or Sabbath 27:39 school or teach your children. How are we going 27:41 to look at the Bible from now on? 27:44 We're going to allow it to impact our lives. 27:46 I pray that as we've seen this today, 27:48 you will have a deep impact on how we relate 27:49 to one another and God's mercy 27:51 and His love, God bless you. |
Revised 2014-12-17