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[0:00] I submit that it is virtually impossible to understand the meaning of the command that Jesus gave here if you confine yourself solely to the text that is at hand.

[0:15] And this is why it is so important to allow Scripture to interpret Scripture. We have to call into the situation other passages that illuminate the passage at hand, otherwise there is no possibility of understanding it.

[0:34] This, I think, is what the Apostle referred to when he said comparing spiritual things with spiritual things. And if you are familiar at all with Miles Coverdale's rules for interpreting the Bible, and this is something that we have emphasized over the years, you can well understand the appreciation for that.

[0:57] In the year 1535, which would have been 75 years prior to the production of the King James Bible, Miles Coverdale gave us the very first complete printed English Bible.

[1:18] And in 1535, along with the Bible, he gave us these words of wisdom for interpreting the Bible. And it is simply this.

[1:31] It shall greatly help ye to understand Scripture, I have been studying the Scriptures for well over 50 years, and in all of those years, I have never found any single item of advice or information that I regard more valuable than that.

[2:14] Its value is exceeded only by the Scriptures themselves. If there were any way possible that we could get preachers worldwide to do nothing more than follow the advice of Miles Coverdale, we could revolutionize the body of Christ overnight.

[2:34] And I am not exaggerating. I am convinced when I say that. Today, we are actually going to engage the first saying of our Lord that is truly difficult to comprehend.

[2:48] And it is that from which Gary just read in Matthew chapter 10. So keep your place there, or if you don't have it there, would you turn to it, please? And we have already noted important background issues that are essential to the understanding of Jesus' remarks.

[3:08] They are all to be understood against the anticipation of Christ having come to establish or to reestablish the kingdom of heaven on earth, to be situated in Israel and on the throne of David.

[3:24] And as I've told you before, this is really what everything is all about. This is where this world is going. This is the end game.

[3:37] This is the goal in mind. And, as one might expect, when Jesus Christ came to this earth to bear a message from his Father, don't you think it is only logical that he would be talking about something that is of most vital importance?

[3:59] Our Lord was never sent here to mince words. He never came to deliver vague or uncertain messages. He came with a specific message.

[4:12] And he entrusted that message to six teams of disciples, consisting of two individuals each, making up the total of twelve, and he sent them forth, saying, Don't go!

[4:29] To the Gentiles. Don't go to the Samaritans. Confine your message to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. In other words, Jesus was saying, Go to your Jewish brethren only.

[4:44] Don't go to the others. And that's confusing. We are all committed to the idea that Jesus loved everybody. That Jesus was concerned about everybody.

[4:55] Why is he so exclusive in this message? Why is he telling them where not to go? And how do you equate that with later in Matthew's gospel when he says, Go into all the world.

[5:12] Preach the gospel to every creature. How do we account for that? And this, by the way, is what leads some people to say, Well, you know, there are lots of contradictions in the Bible.

[5:24] And this is just one of them. Well, I would be the first to agree. There are numerous places in Scripture where there appear to be contradictions.

[5:36] We just don't see a reconciliation. But I can assure you, once you laboriously engage the task of allowing Scripture to interpret Scripture, what appeared to be a contradiction just evaporates.

[5:54] It's not a contradiction at all. It makes perfect sense when you take into consideration what the Word of God says in other portions.

[6:05] Because the Spirit of God seldom speaks his mind in one given place. It is all scattered throughout Scripture.

[6:16] And someone says, Why is it that way? Why didn't God put everything that he wanted us to know about any given subject in one particular place? I am convinced.

[6:28] It is because he wants us to engage the discipline of study and comparing Scripture with Scripture.

[6:41] And if you got the full scoop on anything in any one place, what would be the point in checking with this and checking with that and comparing? There wouldn't be any.

[6:51] It would all be laid out for you. Now, most of us, myself included, have a natural lazy streak.

[7:01] We would just as soon have it that way. Because study can be work. And let's face it. All of us would rather play than we would work.

[7:13] That isn't something true only of children. It's true of adults, too. But there is nothing that pays off like an investigation of the Word of God.

[7:24] So, when Jesus told them, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, nor into the city of the Samaritans. Go and find yourself to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

[7:37] And the reason is simply this. Only those of the household of Israel who have a Jewish background and familiarization with the promises of God in the Old Testament, they are the only ones who have the wherewithal to appreciate the message you're going to be preaching.

[7:59] Because you're going to be preaching, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. And that doesn't mean anything to someone who is not a Jew. But, to someone who is a Jew, it means everything.

[8:16] Because this is the long-awaited righteousness of God coming to earth and making the earth the way it's supposed to be.

[8:29] That's why Christ came. And in His death, burial, and resurrection, He provided the basis for establishing that kingdom. This is also why Jesus never said, This is the kingdom.

[8:44] He said, The kingdom is at hand. It is nearby. It is close. And we pointed out to you that there are two prerequisites for the establishment of the kingdom, which is also to be equated with the thousand-year reign of Christ, or the millennium, or paradise come to earth, or whatever you wish to label it.

[9:04] Two requirements. The first has to do with Christ must pay the moral price for the sin of humanity.

[9:19] Because it is sin that dumped the world into the mess it's in today. That's what brought everything crashing down.

[9:31] It was man's sin. It began in Genesis 3. And when Christ died on that cross, he became the basis for reconciling man and God together.

[9:45] He paid the penalty for man's sin, and this morally, justly freed God to lift the curse upon the earth and to prepare it for a new heaven and a new earth.

[10:04] Christ accomplished that when he died on the cross. The second prerequisite has to do with the nation of Israel embracing Jesus of Nazareth as their Messiah, the long-promised one by Moses and the prophets.

[10:25] And when they embrace Jesus as their Messiah, that fulfills all the requirements for the establishment of the kingdom of heaven come to earth.

[10:36] and you are as aware as I am. It isn't here now. This isn't it. Because only one half of the requirement has been fulfilled.

[10:50] Christ died for our sin. That freed God to establish the kingdom and to do so without sullying his character or justice because his justice has been satisfied in the death of Christ.

[11:08] The only thing that remains is for Israel as a nation to get on board. That's why John the Baptist came preaching saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

[11:22] Folks, this is it. Get ready. God has sent the Messiah and the Messiah is going to bring with him the kingdom. And what is necessary is for you to acknowledge and embrace this Messiah as God's servant.

[11:41] And when you do, things will get clicking. And God will bring that which is at hand into actual being.

[11:52] that's why Jesus said go only to the Jew because they are the key to getting this thing started.

[12:08] Well, Christ was the key to getting it started but Israel and their collaboration with God was the basis for completing it.

[12:20] Death of Christ on the cross, that started it. But Israel's embracing of Jesus as the Messiah would complete all that would be necessary and the kingdom of heaven would come to earth.

[12:33] But we know that was not to be. Israel did not embrace Jesus. Only a tiny percentage of Jews did.

[12:48] The vast majority including the leadership shakers and movers Sanhedrin scribes Pharisees etc.

[12:59] They for the most part rejected him. Said we will not have this man to reign over us. Consequently that which is or which was at hand never came into fruition.

[13:18] we still don't have a kingdom of heaven come to earth. And during this interim time while Israel as a nation is still maintaining their unbelief and their rejection of Jesus as the Messiah God has started a whole new thing and it is called the church which is the body of Christ.

[13:51] But understand me clearly it does not mean that God has replaced Israel with the church. It simply means that God has created an interim where Israel is set aside in their unbelief awaiting the time when they will move from unbelief to belief and that time is coming.

[14:20] In fact there have been more Jews come to faith in Jesus as their Messiah in the last 20 years than there had been in the last 200 years prior to that time.

[14:33] So there is movement in that area. The time is coming when they will embrace Jesus as their Messiah and things will move on. We want you to note that in the Matthew text when Jesus sends the 12 forth they are actually continuing the same ministry that John the Baptist had only now John is gone he has been beheaded and Christ is sending forth the 12 with very specific instructions both as to the message and the people to whom they are to proclaim it.

[15:07] And the people to whom they are not to proclaim it. And by the way you need to understand here that even though Jesus never did anything in a hurry we get the impression that time is of the essence.

[15:26] Our Lord is only going to have three and a half years to spend educating his apostles and proclaiming his word throughout the land. and there is an element of urgency in the message and this is another reason why he does not want them going to those who could not absorb the message or apply the message.

[15:49] In their case it would be virtually a waste of time. But at the same time I must admit this. It is apparent through some of the interactions that we will see that Jesus never did lose his compassion.

[16:06] for the individual. Because even though he told his disciples to whom they were not to go, do you realize? He made some exceptions.

[16:19] And we will see those. Give the message he says to Israel alone and he endowed them with supernatural power akin to that which he himself manifested.

[16:32] he gave them authority. They didn't have this authority. Jesus delegated this authority to them. The power to actually affect physical healing.

[16:46] The power to give sight to the blind and healthy limbs to the lame and the maimed. To open the ears of the deaf. He gave them the ability to do that.

[16:59] You think that wouldn't attract attention? My word, it does. Now we today have throughout the land and you see them advertised on television and whatnot, faith healers and some of them garnering huge crowds.

[17:20] I mean thousands of people. And I can assure you of one thing. if their claims and their healings were genuine, they would affect a whole lot different response than what they do.

[17:44] That which is proclaimed in the name of God and the healings that they claim and all the rest of it is 99% phony.

[17:56] And yes, you can quote me on that. there are two possibilities. One is they have psyched themselves out so much they actually believe it themselves, which is a form of self-deception.

[18:10] And the other is they know full well that it's all a bunch of baloney and they're simply using it to get rich. And they do get rich, by the way. But that which we have here in the scriptures was undeniable.

[18:27] And it certainly isn't the case today among those who claim to have powers of healing. And of course they back out by saying, oh no, I don't heal anybody. I don't have any power to heal anybody.

[18:38] I'm just a vehicle. God does it through me. But I don't heal and God does it. I don't well, it's still 99%, 44, 100% baloney. when these fellows went out, it was real.

[18:55] And huge crowds gathered everywhere. And when Jesus healed someone, they were healed. And there was no question about it.

[19:11] He warns them that some will receive you enthusiastically and gratefully. Others will seek to do you harm and they will reject you and their message.

[19:24] And in chapter 10 and verse 13, we are given the illustration of the worthy house and the unworthy house and shaking the dust of your feet off and departing from them if they will not hear you.

[19:37] And some will reject the message and they will persecute you. And one would ask, how could this possibly be in light of such compelling evidence? And I'll tell you how it can be.

[19:48] There's only one real answer for it and that is this. There is no blindness anywhere like the blindness of spiritual blindness.

[20:02] A man may have 20-20 vision physically and be blind as a bat when it comes to spiritual sight blind.

[20:12] Because he's simply unable or unwilling to appreciate what he is seeing or what he is hearing. Spiritual blindness is part of the curse and it's part of the machinations of Satan.

[20:27] And we are told in Paul's second letter to the Corinthians, if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, whose minds the God of this age hath blinded lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

[20:55] That's a tremendously sobering statement. Minds blinded. What does that mean? It means our fallen Adamic minds, which we all possess, none of us, by the way, can ever be charged with 100% straight thinking consistently.

[21:18] We don't have that capability. We have too many flaws in our thinking. Our intellect fell with the rest of us when Adam fell.

[21:32] Man thinks with a warped mind. How else can you explain? the screwball conclusions that so many people reach about so many things.

[21:44] We think with a fallen mind, with a corrupt mind. And Satan, in ways we don't understand, energizes the process of wrong thinking, reaching wrong conclusions.

[21:59] He messes with your mind. And we don't know how he does that, but he does it. it is a supernatural thing and it produces a supernatural blindness.

[22:12] And that's going to enable people to look at Jesus of Nazareth, listen to his gracious words, see the miracles he performs, and still reject him.

[22:29] Incredible. There is no explanation for that other than supernatural spiritual blindness. While Jesus will be the king of the entire earth, he will first and foremost be the king of the Jews.

[22:54] And this is so critical. Would you turn, while you're here in Matthew, come back if you would, please, to chapter two of Matthew's gospel. This is all connected with this business of the kingdom, which is such an overarching concept.

[23:11] It just absolutely fills everything. Matthew's gospel, chapter two. And by the way, while you're close to chapter two, you might as well drop by chapter one and look at the one with whom we begin.

[23:29] chapter one and the genealogy, the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. You see where he starts?

[23:42] Abraham begat Isaac. That's where he begins. That's where you would expect this Jewish writer, Matthew, to begin. Because what he is going to be talking about is the importance of and the coming of the kingdom.

[23:59] And that connects with the king. And who is the king? Who is qualified to be the king? This one who is going to be king of all the earth.

[24:10] This one who is going to be king of kings and lord of lords. What's his pedigree? What are his credentials? Why should we regard him as the king of all the earth?

[24:21] What's so special about Jesus of Nazareth anyway? How is it that he set apart from everybody else? And he tells us it all started with Abraham.

[24:33] Abraham was the one to whom God gave the promise through you and your seed all nations of the earth will be blessed. And when Christ came in fulfillment of this promise to Abraham, he was simply beginning to get things underway.

[24:50] And the first big step was his own payment for sin. Second big step, recruiting Israel and getting them on board.

[25:01] That part never happened. So everything as regards the kingdom and its arrival of it came to a screeching halt. And today we don't have a kingdom.

[25:16] The earth doesn't have a kingdom. The earth doesn't have a king universal. none of that has come to pass. But it cannot happen without Israel.

[25:28] And you know, this just absolutely irritates some people to death because they just don't like all of this attention on Israel. Do you realize how much anti-Semitism there is out there today?

[25:41] Do you understand how much worldwide hatred there is of the Jew? And do you understand also that the vast, vast majority of it is completely irrational? What have these people done to deserve this kind of treatment?

[25:55] Do you understand that there are no people on the face of the earth that has made such an enormous contribution to humanity that can even begin to compare with the Jewish people?

[26:13] Do you understand that the world at large is more in debt to the descendants of Abraham than they are to anybody else in the world?

[26:29] And they are the most hated, the most vilified, the most persecuted of all the world. Out of what is it 147 nations something like that in the UN, Israel has one friend that they can count on.

[26:53] And sometimes I'm not so sure about the I'm not sure the U.S. of A will always be in Israel's corner.

[27:07] Oh, our politicians insist that that's the case, but politicians have always talked a good loyalty till the chips are down. This is all about Israel and Jesus is all about Israel.

[27:23] And in chapter 1 and verse 30, well, I'm sorry, I'm in Luke now. Well, let's stay here in Matthew. Let's look at Matthew 2 for a moment.

[27:34] Matthew 2, 6, that's where I was going to take you originally. And when the Magi come from the east and they arrive in Jerusalem and they are talking to Herod the king, Herod asks them, so, you've come to see this one who is born king of the Jews.

[28:00] And of course, Herod already feels a little threatened because Herod is thinking, hmm, I thought that was my job. I'm the king of the Jews. Who are they talking about?

[28:11] And where is this one supposed to be born? And they say in verse 6, Thou Bethlehem in the land of Judah, art not the least among the princes of Judah, for out of thee shall come a governor that shall rule my people Israel.

[28:26] Bethlehem is where he's going to be born. And Herod said, well, you go search diligently for him, and when you find him, come and let me know, so I can come and worship him also. Now, I want to make a very, very important point here.

[28:38] I want you to get this. Where is he that is to be born king of the Jews?

[28:50] Who were these people? These magi? And why did they care? And why were they coming hundreds and hundreds of miles to see this one whom they describe as to be born king of the Jews?

[29:13] All we know is that they're from the east. And may I just suggest for your consideration, there's only one reason that these magi came, and there's only one reason that they cared.

[29:27] They were Jews. Jews. They were Jews coming from a non-Jewish land. But, what's unusual about Jews being in a non-Jewish land?

[29:44] Nothing. They've been in non-Jewish lands all over the world for centuries. These were Jews from Babylon. Descendants of those who were carried away into Babylonian captivity, who never did return.

[30:01] Because when the return was affected by King Artaxerxes under Zerubbabel and Nehemiah and the rebuilding of the wall and all of that, lots of the Jews didn't come home. The generation died off over there.

[30:13] They were there for 70 years and many of them put down roots, built families, had businesses, stayed there in Babylon, and there are descendants of those Jews living in Iraq.

[30:28] ancient Babylon today, as we speak. And when they put together the information that the King of the Jews was to be born, it meant just one thing to them and one thing only.

[30:51] Messiah! Messiah! the one promised by Moses and the prophets. That's the one who is to be born.

[31:03] And they equated him with Daniel's famous passage speaking of the one who was to come and called him the Son of Man.

[31:17] The Son of Man. The Son of Man. Daniel referred to the coming King as the Son of Man. The epitome of humanity.

[31:30] The Son of Man. And what was the favorite designation that Jesus used in referring to himself found some 80 times in the Gospels?

[31:42] The Son of Man. How many times did Jesus say things like, for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost?

[31:55] Constantly referred to himself as the Son of Man. These Magi, these wise men, put all this together. If he is the King of the Jews, if he is the Son of Man, if he is the Messiah, what is your response to him?

[32:15] And it's electrifying when you consider it, but most do not, and they just read right over it. They just read right over it. Don't pick up on it at all, but it is pregnant with meaning.

[32:27] They said, we have seen his star in the east, and we have come to worship him. Worship him. What? A Jew worshiping a man?

[32:44] That's crazy. idolatry. You can't have that. Only deity is worthy of worship.

[32:56] What are they saying? They are saying, that's precisely what the Messiah is going to be. He's going to be the Son of God.

[33:06] He's going to be God-like, of God, true God, worthy of worship. worship. And when they bring gifts and bow down, they are worshiping him.

[33:18] And if you know anything about Judaism, you worship God and God alone. And worship given to any other being is idolatry.

[33:32] And by the way, there were occasions when people on this earth during the earthly ministry of Christ bowed down and worshipped him and he accepted their worship.

[33:52] And if he was not deity, he had no right to it. He should have said what Peter said. You know, there were those who mistakenly bowed down and worshipped Peter, too.

[34:04] Bowed down at his feet. You know what Peter said to him? Stand up. I myself also am just a man. Don't prostrate yourself at my feet. Don't worship me.

[34:16] You worship only God. And they put all of that together and they understood who this one was. This is the Messiah and it is all connected with this concept of the kingdom.

[34:31] Today, today, we look upon these verses as interesting ancient history.

[34:43] But let me tell you, they are as viable right now as they were from the time that they were penned. In Luke chapter 1, let's go there.

[35:04] Luke's gospel chapter 1, verse 30, this is the annunciation to Mary.

[35:16] We hear this usually reserved for Christmas. The angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son and shalt call his name Jesus.

[35:33] He shall be great and shall be called the son of the highest. And the Lord God, that is Jesus' father, the Lord God shall give unto him, that is Jesus, the throne of his father, David.

[35:57] This is David the king. David was the first one to sit on the throne of Israel that established a dynasty.

[36:10] David the shepherd lad began a dynasty. It's called the Davidic dynasty, so that every individual king who sat upon that throne was a direct descendant of David the king.

[36:30] And you can follow the genealogies in both Matthew and in Luke, person by person. And you will see that as it begins with David, it concludes a thousand years later with Jesus.

[36:50] And there the line stops. Jesus never married, never produced any offspring, to the contrary notwithstanding of Dan Brown and the Da Vinci Code and all of the baloney that accompanied that.

[37:07] Jesus was the end of the line. And do you realize that the angel said the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David?

[37:21] Well, he never has. Christ has never occupied that throne. He still doesn't. Where is this throne? The throne of David, where is it?

[37:35] Where should it be? If it were to be established today, where would it be? It would be right smack dab in the center of Jerusalem. That's where it's supposed to be.

[37:46] There isn't a throne there. It hasn't been for a long, long time. But Jesus is going to sit on that throne. And it is true that when he ascended to heaven, he sat down by the right hand of the majesty on high.

[38:04] But that's not the throne of David. That's being seated at his father's side. And he, verse 33, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob.

[38:17] Jacob is just a synonym for Israel. In fact, Jacob's name was changed to Israel, prince of God. And many times when the term Jacob is used, it refers to the whole nation of Israel, as it does here.

[38:36] He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever. Well, he's not now. Who are these? Who is the house of Jacob? Jews, Jews, Jews, exclusively Jews.

[38:47] There are no Gentiles in the house of Jacob. They're all Jews. They're all descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And for those who say, well, Jesus is reigning over the house of Jacob now.

[39:01] Well, all I can say is, Jacob sure doesn't know that. Jacob's not aware of that. They actually think that they've got a prime minister and his name is Benjamin Netanyahu and that they have a Knesset.

[39:14] they don't have any truck with this. They don't believe that David has a throne or that anybody is reigning and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Well, how do we account for that?

[39:28] Jesus is going to sit on the throne of David, establish his kingdom that will be worldwide in scope and it will have no end.

[39:40] Well, if it has no end, then where is it now? It doesn't exist.

[39:51] Well, then how can you say that it has no beginning? It's because it's had no beginning. It has never had a beginning. Something has to have a beginning before it can have no end.

[40:03] It's never had a beginning. Jesus has never spent ten seconds sitting on the throne of his father David. It's never happened.

[40:15] But it's going to. Now, all of this, do you see how intensely Jewish this is? Why should it be so Jewish? It is because God chose Abraham.

[40:31] He could have just as easily chosen an Egyptian. We'd be talking about Egyptians today and an Egyptian Messiah. But he didn't. He chose a Jew.

[40:41] He could have chosen a Babylonian. He could have chosen a Syrian. He could have chosen anybody. But as I've often said, if God is going to choose anybody, he's got to choose somebody.

[40:55] And he chose Abraham. And he said, I'm going to make you a great nation, and kings are going to come from your loins, and your descendants are going to be as numerous as the sand of the sea and the stars of heaven.

[41:15] And you know what Abraham said to that? Well, God, that's all well and good, and I really appreciate that, but right now I'd be willing to settle for just one kid.

[41:28] Because I don't even have one child. Not even one. And you're talking about me being the father of all these nations and all these people. How's that going to happen when I can't even get Sarah pregnant?

[41:42] Never had a baby. Not even one. And God said, no, just relax Abraham. I'm going to take care of that. I'm going to take care of that. Yeah, but she's 90 years old.

[41:54] How tough would childbearing be on a woman? 90 years old? I'd feel guilty, you know. And the Lord says, not a problem. trust me.

[42:07] And God brought it to pass. Isaac. Isaac. And you know what the name Isaac means?

[42:18] Laughter. Ha ha! I can see that old codger now just grinning from ear to ear. And that little Isaac is born and he holds him in his hands.

[42:29] I can hear Abraham laughing. And he names his son. Laughter. Isaac. Ha ha!

[42:41] You did it, God. Look home to life, to life. And there it all begins. And then it continues with Jacob. And then it continues with Reuben and Simeon and Levi and Judah and twelve sons and the twelve tribes and it's a marvelous thing.

[43:08] One day, one day, people are going to realize the incredible debt that we have to the Jewish nation.

[43:22] And I am satisfied that even most Jews don't understand this today. Most Jews are really embarrassingly ignorant of their own scriptures.

[43:37] brothers. But the time is coming when there will be an awareness and a familiarization that is just marvelous.

[43:48] I want to leave you with Romans chapter nine. Romans chapter nine, one of my favorite passages. And as I've often said, when people say things to me or about me when they hear messages like this, that wise man must be a Jew.

[44:06] Well, I am not, but I have been mistaken for a Jew by Jews. I remember one time I went to an automobile dealership over in Dayton and a salesman came out, you know, I was out there kicking the tires and he came out and introduced himself and he says, is it your name?

[44:28] And I said, I'm Marv Wiseman. And he said, Lanzman? And I said, no, Wiseman. Yeah, but Lanzman? I said, what do you mean?

[44:43] He said, never mind. He said, I was obviously mistaken. So anyway, we were figuring the price on a car and my curiosity was getting to me. And we went in there and sat down. He was right.

[44:53] And I said, you mind if I ask you something? And he says, what? And I said, when I told you my name, you said something funny. What was it you said? Lanzman? He says, yeah. And I said, what does that mean?

[45:07] And he said, well, when you told me your name, Wiseman, that sounds like a very Jewish name. He's the first president of our nation of Israel. Dr.

[45:18] Kayim Wiseman was spelled entirely different. And he said, I thought you might be Jewish. And I just asked, Lanzman is Hebrew for are you a countryman?

[45:32] Are you a fellow Jew? That's what he was asking. And when I dummied up and didn't know what he was talking about, he knew I wasn't. But I never heard that expression before. No, I am not Jewish. And yes, I am a Jew lover.

[45:46] And I am also an Arab lover. and a Chinese lover and a Japanese lover. And aren't we all supposed to be?

[45:57] Because you know what? We're all supposed to love our brethren and our cistern. And everybody, everybody is brethren.

[46:13] We are of one blood and one parent. We are all related. We are all brothers and sisters that sometimes fight like cats and dogs like brothers and sisters do.

[46:28] But we're all related. We're all of one blood. And Romans 9. Oh, Paul said, I say the truth in Christ. I lie not. My conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit.

[46:41] I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. for I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites.

[46:59] Now, I want you to notice what it is that accrues to the benefit of being an Israelite. You could list them. Israelites to whom pertains the adoption.

[47:15] Israelites are adopted into the family of God. And the glory and the covenants, the Abrahamic, the Davidic, the Palestinian, the Noahic.

[47:30] Who else on the earth has covenants? With whom else has God entered into a contractual agreement or a covenant? With what other peoples in the world? None!

[47:41] Nobody! Only Israel! And lest you think that God is only concerned about Israel, He is not! He is concerned about everybody!

[47:54] And He intends to reach everybody through Israel! Israel is a vehicle, a chosen vehicle, albeit a very uncooperative vehicle.

[48:09] But the time is coming when their lack of cooperation will be turned around. This is why the Jew is so strategic.

[48:21] They are the tip of the spear. They are the vanguard. Never mind that they're not cooperative now.

[48:33] They will be. And when they do become cooperative, things are going to happen fast and furiously. Israel has all these, and the covenants, and the giving of the law.

[48:46] Moses was a Jew, gave the law to Jews, for Jews living in the land of Israel and the services of God, and the promises, whose are the fathers, that's Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Messiah came, who is over all God blessed forever.

[49:09] Now, processing all of this, if you can, do you not have some better understanding as why God said, don't go to the Gentiles, don't go to the Samaritans, confine your preaching and teaching to those to whom it really means something, the Jew.

[49:38] This is so critical, so strategic, and when you understand this with the backdrop, what Jesus told them by way of whom he is to include and exclude makes very good sense, but only when you see the whole picture.

[50:01] Now, I think we have a roving mic available, so if you have Q&A, we've got a few minutes, and I'll be glad to entertain any questions or comments that you may have.

[50:12] I know this has been far from exhaustive, in fact, I don't think it's possible to even exhaust it, but up front here, Mike, Ron Benson has a question.

[50:24] Wait until the mic comes here. Wait until Mike comes with the mic. This is Mike Mike. Mike. Mike. Mike. Mike. Mike. Mike. Mike. Mike. Mike. Mike. I know how Israel got its name because Jacob was called Israel, but where did the name Jew come from?

[50:44] Name Jew, as best we can determine, is just nothing but shortened form of that which refers to the tribe of Judah. Judah. J-U-D-A-H because when the kingdom was divided under what was his name?

[51:04] Rehoboam, under Rehoboam's reign, David, of course, was the first king and then his son was Solomon. He carried on the line and then Rehoboam was the son of Solomon and Rehoboam levied or threatened to levy burdensome taxes on the people and the people says we're not paying it, we're leaving, just count us out, we're getting out of here and they seceded from the union and they became the ten northern tribes also known as Israel which is a little confusing because we tend to think of Israel as being all of the twelve tribes but ten of the twelve tribes were referred to then as Israel and this is in I think like 741 BC when they seceded from the union.

[51:58] That left the two tribes in the south one of which was Judah and the other Benjamin and Judah was by far the more numerous tribe.

[52:08] Benjamin was kind of tiny compared to the others and they just became known with a shortened version of instead of Judahites they just called them Jews and the spelling over the years changed and the English spelling of course is J-E-W-S but best as we can tell it's just a shortened form for those of the tribe of Judah and that's the way the name is stuck so they are Jews throughout the world even though they may not be from Judah's tribe they may be from one of the twelve one of the ten tribes in the north.

[52:41] Another question back here. Abraham had other children besides Isaac and are they still considered Jews and what part do they play in the role of this thing playing out when they recognize the Lord?

[53:01] These non-Isaac children how do they figure in this? Yeah. They are not referred to as Jews or as Hebrews.

[53:13] They are and this is a little confusing because they are still Semites. The term that is often used today as anti-Semitic anti-Semite is not an accurate term as most people use.

[53:28] What they really mean is anti-Jewish because whether you are aware of it or not Arabs the Arabs who live all around the Jews and are always warring and fussing with the Jews are direct descendants of Abraham through Hagar or through Keturah.

[53:54] So Abraham is their father but they are while they are Semites or Semitic people they are not Jews and in order to be a bona fide Jew you must not only be of the seed of Abraham you must be of the seed of Isaac and of Jacob all three because Abraham had other wives we know he had Keturah we know he had Hagar and there were others and he had children by them but only Isaac was the son of promise and Isaac had twin sons Rebecca gave birth to twin boys remember Esau and Jacob but Esau Esau is not Jewish and this is confusing because they're both born of the same mother but Esau became the father of the

[54:58] Edomites and they are now rabid enemies of the Jew and had been for hundreds of years and those of you who were here for the Wednesday night studies remember the olam eba and the eternal hatred that we talked about so a bona fide Jew is a descendant of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and virtually every time you read in the scriptures where it talks about the fathers the fathers the fathers it means Abraham Isaac and Jacob and Jacob of course became the son of promise just as Isaac his father was the son of promise and Jacob had twelve sons and those twelve sons became the patriarchs of the twelve tribes of Israel and a genealogical record as to who belonged to what tribe these records were meticulously kept for hundreds and hundreds of years but when Rome destroyed the temple in 70 AD it was like burning down our local courthouse all of the genealogical records all of the scrolls all of the documents they were all destroyed and today

[56:06] Jews don't know of what tribe they are other comments or questions since Jesus hold them and go just to the house of Israel I was thinking about the tribulation time and the 144,000 Jews are they going to just go to other Jews at that point and then branch out from there because if you look in Matthew Jesus told them to go you know says whoever does not receive you nor heed your word go out of that house or that city and shake off the dust of your feet and at that point I mean I'm assuming they're just in Israel at that point it's just a thought wondering if in tribulation time if that's how it'll work

[57:07] I get the impression that in Revelation 7 where the 144,000 first surface and they are very clearly delineated here 12,000 of each of the tribes and the tribes are mentioned and of course these are all Jews and the impression that is given here from the text not only here but in Revelation 14 where the 144,000 are found again in both cases they appear to be evangelists to the entire world population and the focus may be on Israel and on Jews scattered throughout the world many of whom will have returned and will be living in Israel at the time but this is going to be a worldwide evangelistic effort coupled with a simultaneous intense persecution because the tribulation period is going to be just that one of great tribulation that Christ says is greater than what the world has ever seen or will ever see again but at the same time during that worldwide crisis there will be a prolific turning of people to

[58:27] Jesus as the Messiah and they will be Jew and Gentile and many of them will pay for their faith with their life they are going to be martyred and the holocaust that killed six million Jews will look like a Sunday school picnic compared to what's going on worldwide may be closer than we know Scott just kind of follow up to Marvis's comment and question where Jesus directed them to go to the house of Israel but it's specifically the lost sheep of the house of Israel does that kind of imply that there was some in the house of Israel that were not lost yes and I think that that is very true when Jesus came on the scene and I'll be brief as I can with this but that's a very important point that you brought up when Jesus came on the scene and was introduced to

[59:30] Israel by John the baptizer at the baptism of Jesus was identified as the son of God takes away the sin of the world etc those who embrace John and John's message would subsequently have no difficulty embracing Jesus and his message because that's what John's message was all about he who comes after me is mightier than I John said so when Jesus arrived on the scene there were already in place numerous Jews who already possessed a right relationship with the God of Israel now we are not as clear as we would like to be as to exactly what constituted salvation in the

[60:30] Old Testament before the death burial and resurrection of Christ became available and whom men could trust but we know that there were those who believe God and were rightly related to God and when John the Baptist came on the scene those people surfaced because they were already of a positive mindset towards spiritual things and John was like an answer to prayer for them and then when Jesus came on the scene these same people and who were some of them Peter James John Zebedee sons of Zebedee and all the rest of the apostles and those who were going to be followers of Christ because he had many thousands of disciples he only had twelve apostles but he had thousands and thousands of disciples a disciple simply somebody who signed on and was a learner or a follower of

[61:31] Jesus and out of his disciples he chose the apostles so those who were already in a positive mode relationship with the God of Israel readily embraced Jesus as the Messiah they saw him as being sent from God and they were eager to follow him but those who were previously before Jesus came already in a wrong relationship with God but still may have been in a position of power and influence like the Sadducees and many of the Pharisees people who were in positions of authority respect honor clout call them shakers and movers but they were presiding over a fully corrupt Judaism and

[62:31] Christ exposed it as such those were the people who because they were already in a negative mode toward God before Christ ever came on the scene and when Christ did come on the scene they went negative toward him because they were already negative toward his father and he identifies them all throughout John's gospel in particular so it is very important to note that there were those who were already rightly related to God and there were many who were not when Christ was here on the scene we'll take time for one more if there is one more but our time is gone anybody it all the time. Thank you, Father, for yourself. Thank you for the preciousness of the Word.

[63:50] Thank you for what degree of understanding we are able to garner of it, and we just pray that you will use that for us to build on for greater and fuller understanding that may result in a greater love for you and a greater service for your cause. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.