What do We do with Israel? (Pastor Jeff Shipley)

The Need for Intellectual and Doctrinal Honesty

Now I want you to pay attention it wasn't anything in Israel wasn't their military.

Church we're gonna be in Genesis 12 today. But we're gonna be in a lot of places, and I'm gonna need you to put on your thinking hats today. I'm gonna need you to face some intellectual honest ease but more importantly some doctrinal and theological honest ease.

Let me tell you something. You don't win a fight by backing up. You don't you don't win by giving up. You don't see the victory that the Lord has for you men and your families. By giving in to selfish lusts and the apathy of our lives.

And it's gonna take. It's gonna take the reality Of our submission to God's Word to see the peace and the victory that he has and I know that's a big Intro with a lot of fancy words, but over the next three weeks.

I pray that you hear God's Word. Yes, it's okay to be skeptical. But also be academically and intellectually honest with yourself as well now. This your papers this morning. I hope all of you got them if you didn't raise your hand, and we'll have some young men come and assist you.

Because they're gonna be very important for you for the next three weeks. I'm not gonna be preaching at you for the next three weeks. I'm gonna be just showing you what God's Word says and you're gonna have to take it on an evidentiary.

Understanding to see whether what I am saying and more importantly what the Word of saying. What the Word of God is saying is either truth or fiction. I told you that this week we begin Talking about the Israel-Palestinian Conflict now there are some of you in this room that are ultra right-wing MAGA.

Whatever and I'm not making fun of you. You're just no matter what man you're there. Then there's some other you that are bleeding-heart liberal hippies. You know and you got your Birkenstocks on and eating tofu, which I do not understand.

But hey more power to you. The reality is that the extremities in our political Ideology in our geopolitical situations are not what we have to focus on. We as believers must always use the litmus test of God's Word the compass of God.

To find out which direction we should go because if we are on our feelings and what our friends think and how we were raised. We inevitably get lost and we're like that little lamb bang out in the woods.

Scared and alone and we have to cry out God come and save us. What's beautiful is in the sanctification process of God if we will grow and learn those moments alone in fear and in destitute become less and less now your little papers give you about a 4 ,000 year history and and I I have 200.

I told Kerry this morning. I have 237 pages of history on Israel that I've accumulated in my research over the last 20 years and I have to convince condense it down to this one piece of paper now. This paper is not for today's sermon in Totality every week that I write these for you.

The idea is for you to take them put them in your little Bible take them home and when you're sitting there instead of watching Fox News or CNN or Whatever you people watch some of those CSI shows turn the TV off turn your phone off.

Well, some of your Bibles are on the phone but turn all that other social media garbage off take the piece of paper out and Study and learn and grow but just real quick. I want to give you some brief outlines number one in Talking about Israel and the Gaza the Palestinian and all this other stuff.

What you have to realize is is this has been going on for about 5 ,000 years. Okay, this is nothing new and I rejoice in that because I don't have to preach to you. Something devoid. I always laugh when I hear pastors say something like this.

Well, that's world history. This is Bible history. Guys, listen to me. There's only history. Okay in time space and matter an event took place that is not devoid or it is not An anomaly to the rest of the world history going on.

It is what is reality just like there's no such thing as secular science and Bible science. They're not in conflict. In fact, they agree one with another. So as we look at this 5 ,000 years of history, here's something else always hearsay.

Let's kill every Palestinian out there. Yeah, Israel's bombing them into the Stone Age. Let's kill them all. Let God sort them out. I.

I.

Just do I just do. I know some of you in here like man. USA Israel. God bless. And I'm not saying you're necessarily wrong. But what I am saying is this your first loyalty and your first submission must be to the characteristics of God and his Word.

Not your political persuasions.

You understand what I'm saying?

And if you're not there you are just as guilty as any other sinner in this world. It is a reality that Hamas is a terrorist organization. There's no two ways about that. But as we face evil in this world We must face it as Micah 6 tells us we are to love mercy.

We are to love justice and we are to walk humbly with our God. You know, there is a place for hate in this world. There is a place for hate. But I'm going to tell you according to Scripture the only thing we are supposed to hate and that is this.

Our own.

Sin, yeah, some people say sin. No, no, no, not sin.

Your sin.

You see because it's easy to start hating sin and looking at everybody else and going. Well, I hate what they're doing I hate what they're doing and it's okay. But if you sit there and start hating everybody else's sin.

What happens is yours get covered up in the vicarious hatred of others. See that's that's humility is I need to hate my sin. So as we go through this and we look at the history in the scripture of this.

Let us remember that God's Son came to die and he is a propitiation. Not just for our sins, but the sins of the entire world. Let's read Genesis chapter 12. Genesis chapter 12 and. Okay, wait a minute.

No, don't be scared. Oh, man, that didn't turn out right? Well anyways, that's Genesis 12 Verses 1 through 3 you can't see it. I can't see it. But I promise you that's the scripture reference. Let's read this scripture together ready.

Now the Lord said to Abram.

Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to a land. That I will show you and I will make you a great Nation and I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you and him who dishonors you. I will curse. Now listen and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Let's break this down just for a second today before we can talk about the current geopolitical situation in the Middle East.

We've got to actually know by fact not by proxy. We've got to know by fact who is who and what is going on Abram and I need you to hear me on this. Let me tell you Abram who was later named Abraham. Abram was not attending First Baptist Church in the land of her.

Okay, he was not a born-again Christian. Listening to Caleb on his camel. He was not sitting there studying God's Word. He was a godless heathen. Worshiping idols in a foreign land. That's who he was and God Chose him now.

I need you to hear me say that God chose him. Abram did not choose God. God in his grace. Chose Abram and wait and you know why he chose Abram because he could because of his gracious Mercy he could. Now what's important for us to understand about that is this.

God is not a respecters of persons based on ethnicity or Nationality. God's blessing is that by choice because of his grace. I tell you today I am a born-again Christian not because of who I am or what I do.

But I can tell you without blinking. I am a born-again Christian destined for heaven based on nothing, but God's grace. Nothing, but God's grace. Oh, but pastor you're licensed and ordained. That ain't from that that has nothing to do with my salvation.

Oh, but you're a believer now. Oh, but you're this and you're that if you get in that mentality. You're never going to be able to praise and worship God because you're looking at your own works. And you don't understand how marvelous his grace really is.

Now look at this Lord said to Abram go from your country your kindred your father's house to the land that I will show you. One of the things about when God calls you to salvation. It's not just what God is calling you to it's also what he's calling you from in this morning.

I Walked out of the fire doors coming down here and before I even got to these two glass doors I was hit three different times with people going pastor people in tears. I lost my mom. I'm struggling with this.

I'm struggling with this. I'm struggling with it by the time I got down here. I looked up at pastor Josiah, and I was like my brain was just.

I don't know what.

Pastor Steve Gaines don't have to deal with this you know. We need to hire some more pastors. I can be insulated preach a sermon and go back and sit in my air-conditioned office. Which is the way God intended it right?

It's in the book of Hezekiah. Go look it up book of Hezekiah chapter 1. You know it's funny. By the time I got right here. The emotion in me was not I'm frustrated. The emotion was I was hurt. And I'm gonna tell you why once again not because I'm a great guy.

Because I'm a godless heathen just like you saved by grace. It's because I love my family you see. God called me from my self-centeredness. God called me from my selfishness. God called me from what I wanted to do to what he wanted to do.

And When he does that he puts you with like-minded people and he invented this thing called the church. So that you would have the opportunity to love people. Where you can take Jesus as he is to people where they are.

Well, you're not trying to change them. You're just showing them the real Christ so that Christ can change them. That's what God called Abram to do and he said to him. I will make you a great nation. Now some of you fundamentalists in here and some of you theologians.

Keyboard theologians who are like Nuts on left behind and how Lindsay and all this. I want to point something out to you real quick. God did not call Israel. Look at the scripture. God did not call Israel to be the church.

God called Israel to be a great nation. Israel is not the object of my worship. Israel is not the object of my concern. Israel is not as a nation something that I held. It's I follow God and God says those who bless you.

I will bless them.

I want in that line.

But it's not because of the moral ethical stances of Israel or their government that I do that. It's because my mind is so focused on trying to obey God. Their credence comes from God's Word not their proof of God's existence.

Or they are something special that I need to bow down to or to support simply because well They're just great people. See they're godless totally depraved these people just like me. They're evil just like Hamas.

They are not morally superior. To other peoples on the planet if we would understand this as a people group now remember. How many races of people are there? There's only one race of people. They're called homo sapiens sapiens.

Okay, there are not multiple races of people. A chihuahua and a German Shepherd are both dogs. Okay. Now you may not be as good-looking as I am. Let's take Pastor John for example. Who he ugly and he from Mississippi actually, he's from Louisiana.

Where are you from? Arkansas. He got web feed and inbred. Okay. But he and I are on the same level that street walking prostitute on sycamore you right now. It's the same worth in the eyes of God as I am.

Let us never forget that people and we forget that what we start doing is segmenting people. Well, that's Israel. They're God's people. So they're perfect. No, they're not Okay. The reality is this is a 5 ,000 year old history that is way more complicated than a 15-minute news segment on Fox News.

This is way more complicated than an article in the New Yorker. This is way bigger than a political situation of who's in charge and this connects it and this prime minister. I tell you what this is all involved in it is the sovereign will and plan of God unfolding right before your eyes.

But we'll get to that in a little bit. I want to make you a great nation. Not a great church a great nation. Theologians by the way replacement theology. But you can look that up later. I Will bless you and make your name great.

Let's stop right there. I will bless you and make your name great you know how many Muslims Jews and Christians there are in the world a.

Bunch.

All three of those religions all called the father Abraham the father of the religion. Okay, we don't we believe in Jesus. Ready?

Father.

Abraham had many sons everyone any sons have father.

Oy.

Right for him is seen as the patriarch of three major world religions. Jerusalem is the Mecca if you will of two of those major Religions, but we'll get to that next week. Watch those. I will make your name great so that you will be a blessing Christians, can we stop right here?

Let me do a little side sermon for you. Please say stop saying may God bless you. When you have no idea what the word bless means. Do you understand what that actually means to bless someone here in the Hebrew that word bless is Barack.

Go ahead and say it.

Right Barack Obama, I'm sorry. Okay. I didn't hijack the word. He did. Okay Barack it means to bless. The Greek word is eulogia. It means to bless now. What does it mean in actual definition. It means this simply to speak a good word of I'm gonna bless shark Weta.

It's gonna take a second speak a good word of shark. Wait, you have a beautiful grandchild. You have a wonderful husband you have a pretty little girl, but you are an awesome stud to girl. I just blessed her.

I just blessed her. That's it. That's what blessing means. It means to speak a good word of do you know that God says when he says I will bless you. It means God's gonna say.

That's my boy.

That's my daughter. Hey all of the heavenly hosts and the cosmos that I've created. Come here and see how beautiful my child is. It's not some silly. Let me slap you in the forehead and say somebody stole my Honda.

It literally is the creator of the universe. Going. That's my baby.

That's my baby.

Look what it says. I Will bless those. I will speak a good word of those who speak a good word of you and Him that dishonors you. I will curse. Now you say well, okay, what's that mean it means this. This has nothing to a politics ideology philosophy ethics Morals or anything else has to do with this.

I am never going To braise my hand against God's chosen people as a nation or as a church. Bellevue is a great church. FACS is a great school. Briarcrette st. Anne's. I am never in. Some of y 'all need to be real careful.

When you start slamming your brothers and sisters in Christ based upon a pre Conceived idea that because you white anglo-saxon Baptist Protestants and Americans in the south. You have a higher moral eligibility to be able to speak a negative word against somebody else.

Now we are to call out sin, but make sure it's sin. You're calling out and not just preferences. Not just preferences. I remember a lady years ago that used to go to church here. We had a young man who was not a believer at the time, but he is in this room today and a Christian.

But he in his shock value. He used to wear this stocking hat with two horns out of it. He actually sewed him. I thought it was quite creative if not dorky. I thought she thought it was demonic in my head.

I think I was thinking about was Viking. You know, I want to like, you know clash the shields, you know. But he came in here one Sunday night. Some of y 'all know who I'm talking about. He came in here with a stocking hat on with these two horns sticking out of her head and she freaked out.

Instead of coming to me and letting me handle it. She decided on her own arrogant idea that she was going to walk up to this young man and in a polite way. Caring him by saying would you please take off that hat?

It's offensive. You know what that kid did? Walked right out them doors. I had been praying for this kid for like 10 years. That he would become saved. And I wanted to choke her. I'm not lying. I wanted to choke her.

Was his hat really that important to you. We're dealing with an eternal soul. In hell, there's no recess. There's no second chance. There's no parole. There's no time off for good behavior guys. Make sure you're careful what you speak against.

Especially that which God has ordained to be his last thing and All of your families of the earth shall be blessed and in you All of the families of the earth shall be blessed now. Here's something that's really weird in the past tense of that word blessed there.

There's a difference than in the barak of earlier. Yes, it means to speak a good word of but what it actually means here is to kneel in subjugation. That's what it means in worship in an honor. Do y 'all know Abraham?

I Don't know and Bill. I'm sure knows him. Bill Maddie. But I personally don't know Abraham. I don't know him. I don't know him. How has Abraham blessed me? How has Abraham blessed you people from Bartlett?

How is Abraham blessed you Mississippi folks.

Hmm, huh?

Obedience to God, okay, okay. Abraham was the father of what nation. Well, no, he's not the father of all nations he's he's he's the father of three religions, but. Who said that? Israel. Thank You pastor.

And What came out of the nation of Israel? God chose them for a specific purpose to be a lampstand for his word to a lost and dying world. But he also chose them to this. Have you ever on every Christmas had a pastor get up and read the genealogy of Jesus Christ?

Oh my god. It's like Leviticus man. I'm like this guy begat this guy that begat that guy and I'm like, oh my god. Can we just get to the end? I know we're talking about Jesus. Snoopy's talking about Jesus.

Can we just get to Jesus? You know through the line of Abram who later became Abram. Abraham who had two sons? Ishmael who is the father of all Arabs and Isaac who is the father of all? Jews or Israelites.

And God said you two and your descendants are gonna be like this to each other until I come back. We're gonna get to this next week. I'm gonna do a lot of prophecy next week. So some of you like rubbernecking revelation people are gonna freak out for next week.

But listen, I am blessed. I Am in subjugation to the descendant of Abraham. Because that's where my Jesus came from. Was that bloodline. God promised Adam Jesus. God promised Abraham. Jesus in all the Old Testament.

God kept saying but wait, there's more.

Call now.

Put your faith in now because one is coming who is going to crush your sin and take your sin away. And on that day on that day a Star was shining the angels were singing and men who were wise bowed down for the descendant of the Lion of Judah was born in Bethlehem.

And As John said behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. So, let's talk a little bit more. We need to understand the promises of God to Abraham. And you got to remember this is about 2200 BC for you Kentucky folks.

That means before Christ. So 2 ,000 years now you got to remember Abram is as far away from Jesus as we are from Jesus. Here's Jesus right here Abraham was. Where are you people. Abraham is 2 ,200 years that way we're 220 we're 200.

That way.

This brings me to my next lesson the sermon. Don't smoke crack because it will. You will pay for it when you get older.

Alright, so watch this.

Man, Jeff make them black. Alright, anyways, all these verses are on your little sheet or no, they're not. No. They're not but copy these down and I'll give them to you real quick so you can write them down.

Let me see, where's your paper? Yeah, there you go. Let me write them down for you. Psalms 106 27 Ezekiel 2023 and This is Leviticus. Hold on. They use my lightsaber. Yep. This is Leviticus 26 33. This is Deuteronomy 4 27 and this is Ezekiel 12 15.

God's Discipline and the Scattering of Israel

Okay. I want you to understand something. You know where our God is great at being a parent. He really is and he never counts. 1 2 3. God never enables children to continue to be wrong. You see God loves so much.

He does something that we sometimes fail to do because of our emotions and our feelings. He actually disciplines those whom he loves that's actually in Scripture if you love them, you'll discipline them.

This is what God said to his chosen people. I Will scatter you among the nations now. I want you to understand this was written in Leviticus Genesis Exodus. God said in the future. I'm gonna scatter you to the winds.

But God what have we done? Hey what you've done is what you're going to do. God is so powerful and so Omniscient he knew the very people he called we're gonna rebel against him and God said I will Scatter you among the nations and will draw out a sword after you as your land.

Listen as your land becomes desolate and your cities become waste. They ain't got land yet. They don't even have cities and God is already prophesying. God is already saying this is what's gonna happen.

I'm gonna make you a great nation. Oh, yeah I'm gonna make you a great nation there. I'm gonna whip your rear end. Because you're rebellious. But you're still mine. Look at this. The Lord will scatter you.

This is in Deuteronomy the Lord will scatter you among the peoples and you will be left few in number Among the nations where the Lord drives you. Now the pastor Jeff side of me is trying to get you to understand the total depravity of all people and the eventuality of God's Discipline on those whom he loves but the other side of me is saying this do you people not get this?

This wasn't written by a guy named Bob last week in CNN. This was written and we have proof to the Septuagint the Dead Sea Scrolls that 2 ,200 years before Christ was even born God was saying your cities, which you don't have yet your land.

Which you don't have left will become destitute in your cities waste because of your rebellion towards me and I will Scatter you among the peoples of the old earth. You can't go to a country without swinging a dead cat hitting a Jew.

Can't do it. Yes. That was the humor relief their part. There's no other people group in the world like them. They're everywhere. They are not centrally located before 1948. Anywhere you got Russian Jews Greek Jews.

You have Arab Jews you have Egypt Jews, you got American Jews. You got Canada Jews. You even got Colombian Jews. They're so confused. I don't know whether I have a Torbread or a burrito there. No, there are Jews Everywhere.

Okay. Yeah, I got to do that because some of y 'all are floating stay focused. But God already prophesied all this look what he says here so they now let's look at this verse. So they will know that I am the Lord when I scatter them among the nations.

He's talking from a past tense about a future tense. So that they will know he's really God record this now so that when you're sitting in the middle of nowhere in Siberia Russia going I don't know what we're going to do.

Remember I told you this is going to happen. You can trust me about the negative, but now you can also trust me about the positive. See because that's the next thing God says. He says when I scatter them, this is a Zechariah chapter 10.

I can't read what verse but I know it's Zechariah 10 9. Is that what it says? It says when I scatter them among my peoples now, wait a minute the same emphatic way he's saying it they will remember me in far countries and They with their children will live and come back.

You know, what's great about our God and grace. I love the book of Jonah for this one verse God said go left. Jonah said and went right. God literally. Jonah literally looked in the face of God and in pure Ava fashion went.

Yeah, all of a sudden Jonah is on a ship somewhere in a storm going. Where am I how did I get here and what am I gonna do and then this verse happens and the Word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time.

You know what grace is. It's not forgiveness. Grace that is a total separate doctrine. You know what grace is? Grace is this you do nothing yet. I still come and call you my own. You continually screw up.

Remember the little prayer you prayed down here. I'm gonna start doing my devotions. I'm gonna quit drinking. I'm gonna stop doing that and 24 hours later. You just a bum again. Remember that God already knew it and still chose to die for you before you were even born.

In fact before the foundation of the world God chose you. Romans 5 8 God Demonstrates his love for us and that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. God sat there and saw the people of Israel all the way back in Adam's time all the way back in Abram's time.

Knew they were gonna mess up. He said so that you will know that I'm God. I'm gonna scatter you remember I told you this but also remember this I will bring you home. Now here's the problem in this time just.

Sorry.

Good or all. Right, if you don't know history, this is not amazing to you, but if you actually know history. This is amazing to you. Okay, it's just absolutely amazing. Watch this.

Guys.

I'm gonna go to Spain next week. I am I'm gonna get in my car. I'm gonna drive south I'm gonna hit I 10 Turn east and I'm gonna go to st. Augustine. That's Spain. That's where you went on your honeymoon.

Really?

Did Sue come?

Yeah.

Was she had disappointed in the city as much as she was in the honeymoon.

All right, so.

Please feel free to heckle. All right, so so am I wrong in saying st. Augustine is Spain. I Am. It was founded by Spain it was lived in by Spain. Wait a minute it was built by Spain. But it's not Spain no more.

But what if what if? Tomorrow at 1201 a .m. By declaration of the sovereignty and power the United Nations in the United States St. Augustine became Spain again. What are the chances of that happening?

Flip your paper over you'll see a map on the back of your little paper. And as I know all of you are going to do this week. You're gonna actually study so that you can appreciate the power of God's sovereignty.

I know you're gonna do that. I'm gonna give you just a brief and we're almost done. Just relax. I'm gonna give you a brief history lesson in 67 AD during the time of the Apostles the New Testament's being written.

67 AD the Jews that were living in Jerusalem and there was no Israel, but there was the city of Jerusalem. That one city was the last holdout they got invaded by the Romans and in 70 AD the Romans came in and Whooped them and when I say whooped them the Romans just went.

Absolutely ham-lit fire all over every Jew they could find. They were crucifying and killing them left and right wholesale Jews are like, all right, y 'all win we give up for 60 years and in 130s, they went to war with Rome again and They got whooped again.

Then the Jews decided you know what? Teachers leave us alone. We aren't going to take this anymore. They went to war again, and the Romans whooped him again. Now this time when the Romans whipped him.

They unleashed the dogs of war and the Romans were very good at this. You can't go see Carthage today because Romans literally when they destroyed the city They had slaves remove every brick so that not one brick would be left standing on another.

Then they took all those bricks and put them in buildings all of the city of Rome and then what they did is they actually troweled and plowed up the land and Insulted it so that nothing would grow there.

So the whole world for in perpetuity would have a scar on the continent of Africa showing Roman dominance. That's who came against the Jews the last time and they laid waste Rome went one step further they renamed Jerusalem they renamed Israel.

They called it Syria.

Palestine.

That's the name they named it. That's the name they named it. This is in 300. I'm sorry. This was 135 onward. They renamed the place Israel and Jerusalem ceased to exist. But here's a problem guys. They will live and come back to.

Where.

Now remember.

Zechariah is written hundreds of years before Jesus was born the Romans destroyed Jerusalem hundred years after Jesus died and Then Romans sold Jews into slavery to every dealer that came through Rome.

Russians.

Ethiopia whatever they were selling Jews. They're all over the world now. Hmm. What's really cool is this? If you go to Isaiah, which is written 400 years before Jesus it says this. And I want you to focus.

Before Zion was in labor. She gave birth before she was in pain. She delivered a boy who has heard of such a thing who has even seen such things. Can a land be born in one day or a nation be delivered in an instant?

Yet as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her sons.

For.

2 ,200 years. There was no Israel. If you look on the back of your little paper, you'll see that map. There's that map in many more that is actually a railroad map from the World War one area. Which was from 1914 to 1918.

There was no nation of Israel. It did not exist at all on May 14th 1948 in a thing that has never happened in the history of mankind nor has happened since a Nation was born literally in one day in one day.

You say oh well pastor that's coincidence, okay. I'm gonna try to prove it to you. But here's the evidence against what you're saying. Here's what you're saying. And you probably wear tinfoil hats and believe in black helicopters, too.

And that the moon landings were fake or whatever. And there's another planet behind the Sun called something stupid or whatever dope you're smoking this week. Here's what you have to come against. Okay, take a deep breath.

Think.

That would mean every nation from the time of Rome I'm sorry. Every nation from the time of Syria to Rome to every nation that has ever existed Including the Russians and every Arab nation have all been in a secret plot before any of those nations actually existed to actually Rename that whole place Palestine, okay.

Keep it a secret for two thousand years wait for World War two to end and then on May 14th They all get together and go. It's time. Let's really trick those people into going to church and giving their monies to preachers by making this 2 ,200 year old prophecy come true because we want to trick the one guy in Bartlett One Tennessee who just wants to smoke weed in his mom's basement that there really is no God in the church is all phony.