Our Posture Toward Israel

Humility Before the Holy God

Wow. Praise the Lord. Isaiah 59 1 says, Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear. Let's pray. Our gracious Father, we call on you now. We pray that you would extend your arm to rescue and help and help us, Lord, as a church and individually in our lives, Lord.

We're calling on the name of Jesus. The name that heals, that breaks every stronghold, every dark addiction, every stronghold of the enemy. The devil must flee at the name of Jesus, and we speak that name, Jesus Christ, in this church today.

We lift up that name, and Father, we thank you that you would send your only Son to die for sinners like us, who bring no righteousness of our own, filthy, like Zechariah in his garments. As Zechariah prophesied about Joshua, Lord God, that you would replace those filthy garments with pure linen.

In the same way, Lord, we pray that you have, we thank you that you have clothed us in the righteousness of Christ. You have given us your Holy Spirit. You have made us new creations, Lord. We thank you, and now we pray that we would be given ears.

That hear your word.

Humble our hearts before you, God, we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen. In the year that King Uzziah died, Isaiah saw the Lord. The Lord was seated on a throne, and the train of his robe filled the temple with glory, and above the Lord on his throne were seraphim, with six wings each, with two, the seraphim would cover their faces, and with two, they would cover their feet, and with two, they flew, and they called out to each other, Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God of hosts.

The whole earth is filled with his glory. At the sound of their voice, the foundation of the temple shook, and the entire house was filled with smoke, and when Isaiah saw this scene, the throne room of God, with God himself on the throne, he clapped his mouth, and he said, Woe is me.

Woe is me, for I have seen the Lord. He was undone. He said, I have unclean lips. He was broken, and he was humble and contrite of heart. When he saw God, he saw his own sin, and so an angel, directed by God, went to the fiery furnace, and taking tongs, he removed a hot coal from the furnace, and came to Isaiah, and with that fiery coal, he touched his lips, and he said, Your guilt is taken away, and your sin is atoned for.

And now, Isaiah was free to offer himself to speak. A prophet could speak with holy lips, not by any righteousness of his own. He said, Here I am, send me, because the Lord had touched him, and cleansed him.

Church, listen. All of us are like worms in the sight of a holy God. All of us are filthy, dirty sinners, who bring nothing of our own righteousness to the table. No religion that could please God. No goodness of ourselves that could cause him to accept us.

But we come as sinners, and we beat our chest, and we say, Have mercy on me, the sinner. With one sight of the Lord, our guilt is exposed, and we are humbled in his sight. Did you know that when Isaiah saw the great throne room of God, in Isaiah chapter 6, and seated on the throne was the Lord, did you know that that was none other than Jesus pre-incarnate?

The second member of the Trinity, did you know that Isaiah saw Jesus? Turn with me to John chapter 12 verse 41. Today we'll be in Romans 11, but I just wanted to show you this one verse while we're talking about the throne room scene.

In John chapter 12 verse 41, we have just heard a quote from verse 40, which comes from Isaiah 6, the throne room scene, about the blinding of eyes, the hardening of heart, but if they would believe, he would heal them through faith.

He says this in verse 41, Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him. That him, in the sentence, is none other than Jesus. It says in verse 42, many even of the authorities believed in him, that is in Jesus, but for fear of the Pharisees, they did not confess it, that he's the Son of God, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue.

They love the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God. Isaiah saw Jesus in a vision, this pre-incarnate vision. Maybe he, in fact, was caught up to the throne room and saw him with his eyes.

Isaiah saw the glory of the Lord, but think of this. The year was 70, was 750 BC, before Christ, not BCE, by the way, before the Common Era. Don't ever say that. It's BC, before Christ, and then AD is in the year of our Lord.

Time itself is measured by this king. When Isaiah saw this vision in 750 BC, most of Israel did not have faith in the Son of God. They had greater proximity to the things of God than any other people on earth.

The peoples in the Americas at this time were far removed without God and without hope in the world. But Israel, that's the chosen people. They had the temple sacrifices. They had the covenant. They had the law, the written law of Moses.

Yet, by and large, the people in proximity to these things did not have faith. They did not see the Lord. Isaiah 45 22 says, look unto me and be ye saved, all you nations of the earth. Israel was right there with all of these glimpses, and yet they never saw.

By and large, the nation was rejecting.

Proximity.

To holy things is not the same thing as saving faith. Most of Israel was without that saving faith. We read at the end of Isaiah 6 about a coming judgment that God would deal harshly in disciplining his people.

And it even says that even though only a tenth of the people remain after the Assyrians and the Babylonians come, after a tenth remain, yet again, he will send a fire. That is hard treatment from the Lord of hosts.

How many of you all have seen the fires going on in LA right now? I saw one of them. It looked like a fire tornado spinning up. It was just insane. The fire demonstrating the power of destructive force.

But Hebrews 12, when speaking of God and dealing with his people, disciplining us, Hebrews 12 ends by saying this, our God is a consuming fire. How much more frightening is the wrath of God over against a mere flame in Los Angeles?

What more frightening thing could there be than to fall into an eternal flame where worm does not die? The flame is never quenched. The wrath of God is far more terrifying. This word from the Lord in Isaiah is again and again meant to take sinners like us, everybody in this room, no righteousness of our own, filthy rags on account of our sin, and humble us before God to show us a vision of who God is and reduce our heart to a contrite and humble spirit.

The Humble and Contrite Heart

Turn with me to Isaiah 66 verses 1 and 2, and this word from the Lord is what all of us need to hear. Isaiah 66, 1 and 2,. Thus says the Lord, Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. What is the house that you would build for me?

And what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made and so all these things came to be declares the Lord. Do you see how the Lord exalts his own glory reminding us that he's the maker.

He had to tell Job this when Job got a little high-minded in his suffering. What did God say? Were you there when I created the heavens and the earth and told the oceans how far they can go? And finally Job repents in dust and ashes.

He's reduced to humility in the same way God here exalts his own creation that he himself is the maker of all things. And then he says this to every one of us, the word of the Lord. This is the one to whom I will look, the one who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles before my word.

Isaiah 66, 2b. But this is the one to whom I will look, he who is humble. Our Christian posture needs to be that of humility. And now as we turn to Romans chapter 11, there is a special duty for those of us who are saved by grace to walk humbly, particularly with regard to Israel, the nation of Israel.

Romans 11 verses 17 to 27 today. Our posture as Christians needs to be very humble towards the people of God. Now before I read the first two verses, verses 17 and 18, understand that the world is hostile to Israel.

The world looks down on Israel, derides them, and has even thrown them into concentration camps to destroy them from the face of the earth. Wicked Haman tried to do that back in his day. The wicked Pharaoh threw the Jewish babies into the Nile.

The world has always raged against Israel and even today, Susan Sarandon, that famous actress, looking at all of the hatred towards Jews on the college campuses, is not sympathetic to them, but she says, hey, they're getting a taste of what it feels like to be a Muslim in this country.

They're getting what they deserve. Now incidentally, wherever Islam has dominated a country, it has resulted in wickedness. What we saw in New Orleans recently was political Islam, as explained in the Hadith and the Sunnah of the Prophet, put into practice by a religious jihadi practicing Sharia law in its extreme.

That's what Islam gave us, but when have you ever seen the Jewish people be the aggressor? Here's the greatest illustration of what I'm talking about. If today, Israel were to lay down all their weapons and their iron dome, by tomorrow or within a fortnight, Israel would be utterly wiped off the face of the earth from the river to the sea.

If the surrounding nations were to lay down their arms, there would be peace in the Middle East. That's the difference. Now many people have derided the Jewish people and sadly, listen, Christians have fallen into that.

When Kanye West professed Christ, he began to rant against the Jewish people. Even the great reformer Martin Luther wrote a big tome called On the Jews and Their Lies, in which he commended the burning down of their synagogues and the destruction of their houses.

Martin Luther, recently, even a Jew named Sarah Friedland at the Venice Film Festival accepted her award on.

The.

336 day of Israel's genocide in Gaza, says the actress. The world rages against the nation of Israel. Let's read the text, verses 17 and 18. But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others, and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, that olive is a symbol of Israel, right?

Listen to verse 18, and this is the main idea of the text. Do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are arrogant, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. What is the Apostle saying?

He's saying, you Gentiles have derivative benefits from the covenant that God made with the Jews, and not the other way around. The book of Genesis was the creation of the nation Israel to mediate blessing to the world.

So Abraham is called out of Ur of the Chaldees, given the promised land, and a covenant that all the nations would be blessed through him. The Jewish people and the descendants through Isaac and Jacob.

Would be.

God's means of blessing all the world. And this covenant eventually includes us in the sense that we get grafted in. But what is the root of it? The root is with the Jewish people, not with the Gentiles.

So if you have been grafted in to this root, don't be arrogant as if you're the source that everything comes from you and began with you. He's saying, be humble. Keep a remembrance of where you were when God rescued you.

Where were you when someone told you about the gospel of Jesus Christ?

And who would you be.

Apart from grace? Remember from where we came. That's the idea here. Don't become arrogant toward the Jews. Keep a humble posture. Next he says in verses 19 through 22, then you will say, branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.

That is true, meaning in the rejection of the Jews in the time of Jesus, now the gospel was offered to the Gentiles as Paul said. They reject, all right, I'll go to the Gentiles. That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith.

And remember faith comes from grace, that it's founded on grace. So this is nothing to brag about. It's not like you were better. You didn't do anything. You simply believed a gospel that was preached to you.

You stand by faith. So do not become proud.

But fear.

Listen, for if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Note then the kindness and the severity of God. Severity toward those who have fallen, but kindness toward you. Provided you continue in his kindness, otherwise you too will be cut off.

Doesn't that sound like you could lose your salvation? If you don't continue believing, continue in the faith, continue with Christ, you could be cut off. That sure sounds like you can lose your salvation.

What Paul is doing here is he's revealing a means by which God will keep his own. Listen, the warning that we're receiving here is meant to make us tremble, to be humble before God, to make us contrite, and therefore to return.

Say you've been strained. We're prone to wander. This is to draw us back, and every true child of God will tremble before his word. Therefore the regenerate person, the truly saved, will heed the warning.

What God is doing here is he's using Israel as an example and saying, well, what about you? Israel had all this proximity to God. The law, the covenants, what did they do when they came out as a nation from Egypt?

They grumbled and they complained, and an entire generation fell in the wilderness. Only Joshua and Caleb from that generation were able to go in. Did you know even Moses struck the rock in anger, and he himself did not go into the promised land.

You see, Israel is meant to be a warning for us. They serve as an example for the church. They had proximity to the things of God, but they did not know God. In the days of Isaiah, most of the nation was apostate.

Only I and the children God has given me, says Isaiah. This remnant that was holding fast while most went away. If that was true of them, isn't it possible for anybody in this room to have been a false convert and ultimately to walk away?

Do you tremble at that thought? Sometimes when I preach a message like this, which I've done when speaking about Colossians 1 .23, Hebrews 3 .6, Hebrews 3 .14, 1 John 2 .19, all say the same thing. It's a warning that though you're close, you're in proximity, you might fall away.

Hebrews 6, though you've tasted the heavenly gift, the powers of the coming age, the goodness of the Word of God, you're in church. You're identified with the people of God. Yet if they fall away, it's better for them had they never been there.

Can't be restored even in some cases. Those who have professed Christ and made some outward show, even a baptism, which is good, if they then turn and trample underfoot the Son of God and regard as unholy the blood of the covenant by which they were sanctified, they're worse off than before.

This is a warning of apostasy, falling away. And I say clearly, you cannot lose your salvation if you genuinely have it. The warning should make you tremble. And whenever I preach like this, I will have a few sensitive souls reach out with emails in following days and maybe some counseling in which their heart is troubled.

Am I truly saved? Maybe I'm a false convert. And one of the things I like to remind them in that case, their trembling before the Word of God is a good sign. Their sensitive heart to the Word of God. The Bible says, examine yourself to see if you're in the faith.

You know who I'm worried about in this room? Anybody who never trembles, who's never, ever concerned about a word from the Lord, who thinks there's no way I could ever fall away. Be careful if you think you stand, that you do not fall.

Now, this is not ever saying that you will lose your salvation. In Romans chapter 8, we preach this. Maybe it's been a couple months now. We're moving, you know, I go in little chunks here. It takes a while.

But in Romans 8, we saw six signs that you're genuinely saved. The confirmation of the Holy Spirit and a number of other evidences that you're saved. You can be sure of your salvation. God can grant assurance of salvation.

That's a separate thing from being secure. You are genuinely saved and can't be lost. Philippians 1 .6, he'll continue the good work he began in you and see it to completion. Ephesians 1 .13, having been sealed with the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption, you're guaranteed your inheritance.

You can't lose your salvation. But assurance sometimes comes and goes. There are times when that witness of the Holy Spirit, you have no doubt, and that's great. But if you have a moment of trembling, this is God's means to keep you.

Sometimes we need to be humbled. Sometimes the Word must say to us, like Paul will first apply this teaching when he makes application in Romans 12 -16. He gives a summary statement in Romans 12 -1 -2.

Then the first thing he says is, don't think of yourself more highly than you ought. Don't think of yourself more highly than you ought. Each one of us must examine ourselves. Sadly, when we hear the preaching of the Word, what do we all tend to do?

I hope my husband's listening. I wish my mom could hear this sermon. But what we don't tend to do by nature, because we're very self-justifying creatures, right, in our fallenness, we don't think, what is God saying to me?

That's the point here. Be humble. And God is using this Word to keep you. Next, verses 23 -24. 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.

For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree?

Here, Paul is exalting God's power and freedom to save whomever he wills. He's told us that he has hardened the Jewish people for a time. Don't you think he can soften them? How natural would it be for the Jewish people to believe in their own Messiah?

Now compare that to us. We're a hot mess. What do we have to bring to the table? What was commendable about us when we were without God and without hope in the world? Yet he saved us. And if he can save us, it says here, for if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, you come from the wild olive tree to doing whatever you want, growing anything that you want.

If he could save you, what do you think he can do with the Jews? Here, he's exalting the power and the freedom of God to save. Just as he hardened Pharaoh's heart in judicial hardening, he's so done that to the Jewish people in this age.

Most of Israel does not believe. I was at a pastor gathering at a secret undisclosed location not long ago, and two messianic Jews came walking into the room. They pastor a church in Haifa, and I get their newsletter and correspond with them a little bit.

There is a remnant of believers in Haifa, Israel, but it's very small compared to the city. And so it is with the few million people that live in Israel, the messianic community is maybe a hundred thousand strong.

A very small percentage. The rest are hardened. And the point here is, do you think that God cannot save the Jewish people? Are they just incorrigible? They've rejected throughout their history. When their own messiah came, they did not receive him.

They were scattered to the ends of the earth in 70 AD. Is God done with them? And we're here being reminded, listen, God can save whom he will. He doesn't look for the righteous to save them. Look where he found you.

What were you doing? What did you bring to the table when he saved you? He came and revealed to you the son of God. He broke your heart over sin, brought you to contrition, and then revealed the son of God, and you believed.

It was all the work of grace. So now we're reminded where we came from, we're humbled, and we could end the sermon here. It's pretty consistent humility, but there's one final note to sound. God's gracious dealings are surprisingly optimistic.

What looks like wreckage, what looks like a mess, that the wild olive tree, who would ever think that that could be saved? And it was. Israel looks lost, and they are, but not forever. The final note should be also confirming to us of the goodness of God, the surprising plans of God to work all things together for good.

The Mystery of Israel's Future Salvation

The final part, let's look at verses 25 to 27. Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery. Guys, the word mystery in the Bible refers to a previously undisclosed concept, which is now being revealed.

It doesn't mean like a paradox or some kind of thing that nobody can get. It was something that was hidden that's now being disclosed, just as it's used in Ephesians 3 and other places. The mystery is this, brothers.

A partial hardening has come upon Israel, and here's a beautiful word, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way, all Israel will be saved. Did you know that's coming in the future?

The Jewish people are going to look on the one they pierced and mourn for him, and there will be a national turning to their own Messiah that is yet to come. As it is written, the deliverer will come from Zion.

He will banish, not Israel, what does he banish? Ungodliness from Israel. And this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins. He will do that for them. The good plan of God is being worked out.

Now, I want to show you what post-millennial theologians and amillennial theologians, that is people who think that the millennium, the great 1 ,000-year period, is ushered in by the church or is not a literal future event.

I want to show you how they read this verse. In verse 26, it says, and in this way, all Israel will be saved. Do they just throw the Bible out and say, well, the church replaced Israel, God's done with Israel?

No, they don't do that. Many of our Presbyterian friends, they love the Lord, they accept the word, but they're misreading this verse. Here's how they read it. In this way, all Israel will be saved. They say it means that Israel here is the chosen remnant within Israel, and the church is not replacing them but being grafted into them.

So all Israel being saved means every true believer like Isaiah, and then later on the line, Gentiles like us being brought in, that's the Israel of God. So the church, the Israel of God, will be saved.

But when they look over across the sea, they say, oh, that ethnic people over there in that land, that's not Israel. God's done with that people. Do you understand how they're reading it? Do you want to know why we know for sure that they're wrong?

The context surrounding, three points. Look back a couple verses at the end of verse 23. The context says, even if they, so we need the referent for who he's referring to. Is this ethnic national Israel, or is it the remnant that would later include Gentiles?

It says, of this people, national ethnic Israel, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. In other words, this is a people that has been cut off.

That's the case with Israel, the nation, they're cut off as such, as a people, not individually, because there's a remnant within, like Paul, who writes this, but he's saying that they're cut off, and now they can be brought back in.

Do you see that? Contextually, this is national ethnic Israel, not a remnant within. Okay, second point. It says, in verse 24, they're brought, contrary to nature, us into a cultivated olive tree. How much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree?

These, again, are natural branches, meaning of nature, the olive represents the nation. The olive tree, that's the nation of Israel, metaphorically throughout the Old Testament. And then finally, third, my favorite point, in verse 25, we're told a partial hardening has come upon Israel.

Which Israel are we talking about? Who's partially hardened against their own Messiah? Clearly, ethnic national Israel, but this word until, you see the word until? Until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, that is a time marker.

Maybe you've heard the term dispensationalism, a big theological term. A dispensation is just an age, a period of time. Again, it says at the end of verse 27, this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.

When? When? Until. There's coming a period of time. After the Gentile age, as the Gentiles are being brought in in this dispensation, when, until, there's coming a future, that's why it's until, it's referring to something that's yet future.

We have a futurist view of the book of Revelation, right? When this happens, they're going to look upon the one they pierced and mourn for him. It's yet future, and that the time markers prove that from the context given.

So, we need to understand, God is still going to save the ethnic nation of Israel. I think it's very consistent when you study Old Testament prophecy, particularly Daniel chapter 9. There's a prophecy about Israel, his people, and there's 77s regarding them.

The first 69 seven-year periods, 483 years, dealt with the pre-crucifixion period from the rebuilding of the temple until Messiah is cut off. But listen to me, there's still one seven-year period missing from that prophecy.

Remember that word mystery? What is a mystery? Something previously hidden that is now being revealed. In Daniel 9, there's no indication that there's a gap between Messiah being cut off and the last seven years.

Are you still tracking with me? We're getting very complicated here. There's no indication. It's a mystery. Nobody knew this, but now Paul is revealing something not yet told, and that is that all Israel will be saved.

When does that happen? In the final seven weeks. How many of you have read the book of Revelation? That used to be my favorite book to read when I was a kid, because it was just interesting. When you're like 12 years old, it's like, whoa, what is happening here?

What's happening is God's resumption of his plan with Israel. That's why it's 144 ,000 Jews from 12 ,000 from each of the 12 tribes. That's why there's the two Jewish witnesses. Israel is getting saved.

God is softening their hearts through very difficult judgment. That is still going to come in the future. A glorious final end to the story. Did you think it was just a tragedy? Israel's history was a tragedy written by Shakespeare.

No, this is not a tragedy. This is good news about what he will do with his people. In the same way, you ought to be an optimist. God has good plans for the church. The Gentiles, the age of the Gentiles will end with the calling up of the church to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will be with him forever.

We're looking for the Lord and the return of the king. Application. My kids told me I always say, in conclusion, so I'm trying to change my phraseology. Let's apply this. By the way, my oldest daughter is no longer a child.

She turned 18 today, so we have an adult version of that. Oh yeah, she's going to love me for saying that. Interestingly, Isaiah 59 is quoted here where it says, the deliverer will come from Zion. This will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.

The rest of that verse from Isaiah 59 21 is my life verse. This is something I wept in my office when the Lord showed me this. Isaiah was talking about his children and how the word will not depart from them or from their offspring or from their offspring's offspring, and the prayer of my life is that my children would continue to hold to the word of God as they do, and not only their children but my grandchildren and my great-grandchildren until the coming of the Lord.

I want you to remember Isaiah 59 21 and pray that over your kids the way Isaiah held on to it for his own, that they will not depart from the word of the Lord. Isaiah 59 21 and so now in application. We need to use, listen, whatever public platform we have, some of you have social media, to support the nation of Israel.

The world hates the nation of Israel. There's no friendliness towards Israel. The United Nations and all the nations of the world despise Israel. We alone, evangelical Christians, are the support that keep them from being overrun.

Did you know that? And by the way, speaking in the public square is a very good thing. In that very chapter, Isaiah 59 14, it says there's no justice in the public square. We need to support Israel in the public square.

We recognize that many Jews are hardened to the gospel and some of them can be the most wicked people in the world. Maybe you've heard of the Rothschilds. Maybe you've heard of George Soros, who was honored by the president even though he's supported every wicked leftist cause.

Maybe you've heard of Yuval Noah Harari, the right-hand man of Klaus Schwab. Because of this, many Christians begin to deride Jewish people. I've even seen memes on Facebook and across the internet from respected reformed Christians.

Usually they're not pre-millennial because they don't accept the truth that Israel is Israel, but they deride the Jewish people. Don't participate in that. There's a rash of that in our country right now.

You support Israel because who else will defend them? Don't take on that prideful attitude that some do. Doesn't mean you can't criticize the government at times. They have some bad policies in Israel against evangelization, so Christians are restrained from preaching the gospel.

Yes, it's true. In many ways, Israel are enemies for the sake of the gospel, but for the sake of election, they are still the chosen people of God. And we must hold a humble posture, being supportive and encouraging as we would with any other people.

Don't fall into that hatred because it's very demonic and it comes upon a culture. Suddenly, no one saw the Holocaust coming before Hitler announced his quote-unquote final solution. And what's happening in the world right now on university campuses with regard to this war, it has potential to become something like what happened in World War II.

So you must speak out in defense of the Jewish people. We have a little evangelism team that in the fall went out and it's grown to about 12 people. Jessica and Nancy and Jill, they came to me at the end of that run of evangelism and said, maybe in the spring, we go to Cherry Hill and share the gospel with Jewish people.