|
4/28/02
FAITH BIBLE CHURCH - www.faithbiblechurch.net RAY RUSS - PASTOR-TEACHER MATTHEW: THE KING HAS COME, WEEK 158 TITLE: CONDEMNATION AND COMPASSION TEXT: MATTHEW 23:34-39 INTRODUCTION: (1) GOD IS GOOD AND WHATEVER HE DOES IS RIGHT AND GOOD BY DEFINITION, BECAUSE HE IS BOTH THE SOURCE AND THE MEASURE OF WHAT IS RIGHT. * IN OTHER WORDS GOD IS THE STANDARD, THE SOURCE AND THE RULE BY WHICH GOOD IS JUDGED. ** GOD IS GOOD IN AND OF HIMSELF, IT IS A PART OF HIS BEING, HIS CHARACTER, ONE OF HIS ATTRIBUTES AND HE CANNOT BE OTHERWISE. *** THERE HAS BEEN NO TIME IN ETERNITY PAST, NO TIME IN THE PRESENT, NOR WILL THERE BE ANY TIME IN THE FUTURE THAT GOD IS NOT GOOD **** AND THE SCRIPTURES, GOD’S WORD, GIVES ABUNDANT TESTIMONY TO THIS TRUTH. (2) FOR EXAMPLE, IN JUST THE BOOK OF PSALMS, GOD’S GOODNESS IS REPEATED AGAIN AND AGAIN. THE PSALMIST SAID IN PSALM 34:8 (READ IT). * THEN IN PS. 86:5, THE PSALMIST SAID: (READ IT). ** PSALM 100:5 SAYS: “FOR THE LORD IS GOOD; HIS LOVINGKINDNESS IS EVERLASTING, AND HIS FAITHFULNESS TO ALL GENERATIONS.” *** IN PS. 106:1, PS. 107:1, PS. 118:1, PS. 118:29, PS. 136:1, THE SAME TRUTH IS REPEATED OVER AND OVER, READ PS. 107:1. **** AND THEN IN PS. 119:68, THE PSALMIST SAID (READ IT). (3) NOW I THINK YOU GET THE PICTURE FROM THE BOOK OF PSALMS, GOD IS GOOD. IT IS A PART OF WHO HE IS. IT IS INHERENT IN WHO HE IS. * NOW YOU MAY BE THINKING, WHY ALL THE EMPHASIS ON THE ATTRIBUTE OF GOD’S GOODNESS TODAY? ** WELL, THE ANSWER TO THAT CAN BE FOUND IN THE TITLE OF OUR STUDY TODAY, “CONDEMNATION AND COMPASSION.” *** FOR WE HAVE NO PROBLEM IN SEEING GOD’S GOODNESS IN HIS COMPASSION, BUT SOMETIMES HAVE MAJOR PROBLEMS IN SEEING GOD’S GOODNESS IN HIS CONDEMNATION AND JUDGMENT OF PEOPLE. **** BUT THE REALITY IS, GOD IS GOOD IN BOTH. HE IS GOOD WHEN HE SAVES A SINNER AND HE IS GOOD WHEN HE JUDGES OR CONDEMNS A SINNER. (4) AND WE CRY OUT “LORD YOU ARE SO GOOD” WHEN SOMETHING GOES OUR WAY, BUT I REMIND YOU THAT HE IS GOOD WHEN THINGS DON’T GO OUR WAY. * AND WHEN IT COMES TO GOD’S GOOD PURPOSE IN SAVING SOME AND JUDGING OTHERS, WE MUST UNDERSTAND THAT THE N.T. MAKES ABUNDANTLY CLEAR THAT THE PURPOSE OF THE GOSPEL (GOOD NEWS) IS NOT ALWAYS TO BRING SALVATION. ** THAT IT HAS THE EQUALLY GOOD DIVINE PURPOSE OF BRINGING JUDGMENT. *** PAUL TESTIFIED IN II COR. 2:15&16 – “FOR WE ARE A FRAGRANCE OF CHRIST TO GOD AMONG THOSE WHO ARE BEING SAVED AND AMONG THOSE WHO ARE PERISHING; TO THE ONE AN AROMA FROM DEATH TO DEATH, TO THE OTHER AN AROMA FROM LIFE TO LIFE. AND WHO IS ADEQUATE FOR THESE THINGS?” (5) NOW PAUL SAID WE ARE A FRAGRANCE OF CHRIST TO GOD AMONG THOSE BEING SAVED AND AMONG THOSE WHO ARE PERISHING. * AND EVERY TIME THE GOOD NEWS IS PROCLAIMED, IT EITHER DRAWS MEN TO CHRIST OR DRIVES THEM FURTHER AWAY. ** AS THE SAYING GOES, “THE SAME SUN THAT SOFTENS THE WAX HARDENS THE CLAY.” *** AND GOD IS NOT ONLY A GOOD GOD OF LOVE, MERCY AND GRACE, BUT OF HOLINESS, WRATH AND JUDGMENT. **** AND SCRIPTURE IS EQUALLY EMPHATIC ABOUT BOTH ASPECTS OF HIS NATURE. (6) AND WHEN MEN RECEIVE GOD’S SON AND ARE SAVED HE IS GLORIFIED BECAUSE HIS GRACE IS MANIFEST, GOD IS GOOD. * AND WHEN MEN REFUSE HIS SON AND ARE CONDEMNED, HE IS GLORIFIED BECAUSE HIS HOLINESS IS MANIFEST, GOD IS GOOD. ** AND WHETHER IN HIS GRACIOUS SAVING OF THOSE WHO RECEIVE HIS SON OR IN HIS HOLY JUDGMENT OF THOSE WHO DO NOT, HE IS GOOD! *** WELL, IN OUR STUDY OF MATTHEW 23, IT HAS BEEN ALL CONDEMNATION AND IT WILL CONTINUE TODAY, BUT ALSO AS WE CLOSE THIS CHAPTER, WE SEE THE TENDER COMPASSION OF CHRIST. **** AND AGAIN HE IS GOOD IN BOTH. SO GOD’S GOODNESS IS EXPRESSED IN BOTH WAYS. IN LIGHT OF THAT, I’VE TITLED OUR MESSAGE TODAY, “CONDEMNATION AND COMPASSION”. (7) AND UNDER THOSE TRUTHS WE’LL LOOK AT 4 POINTS, NO. 1 THE PROPHECY OF JESUS WARNING OF JUDGMENT THAT WAS INEVITABLE AND IMMINENT, VV. 34-36; NO. 2 THE PATHOS OF JESUS FOR JERUSALEM, V. 37; NO. 3 THE PRESENCE OF GOD THAT WILL BE LIFTED FROM THE TEMPLE, V. 38; AND NO. 4 THE PROMISE OF JESUS OF HIS 2’D COMING TO SAVE THE JEWS, V. 39. * AND AGAIN I REMIND YOU, CHRIST WHO IS GOD IS GOOD IN ALL THESE THINGS, IN CONDEMNATION AND COMPASSION. ** AND WITH THOSE THINGS IN MIND, LOOK DOWN TO V. 34 WHERE WE’LL START TO SEE OUR FIRST POINT THIS MORNING, THE PROPHECY OF JUDGMENT BY JESUS, LOOK AT MATTHEW 23:34 PLEASE. I. THE PROPHECY, (READ V. 34) A. NOW BEGINNING IN V. 34 AND GOING THROUGH V. 36 WE DO NOT HAVE A WARNING, BUT RATHER A PREDICTION, A PROPHECY. * WE GO FROM THE PAST IN V. 30, WHAT WE STUDIED LAST SUNDAY, “SHEDDING THE BLOOD OF THE PROPHETS”, TO THE FUTURE, “THEREFORE I AM SENDING YOU PROPHETS AND WISE MEN AND SCRIBES.” ** NOW THE PROPHETS AND WISE MEN AND SCRIBES JESUS WOULD SEND TO THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES AND THE JEWS ARE THE APOSTLES, PROPHETS AND TEACHERS OF THE EARLY CHURCH. *** AND JESUS SIMPLY USED O.T. TERMS THAT WERE UNIQUELY JEWISH WHEN HE DESCRIBED THE PROPHETS AND WISE MEN AND SCRIBES THAT WOULD BE SENT TO THE JEWS. **** BUT WE KNOW WHO THESE MEN WERE AS WE LOOK BACK AT THAT TIME. 1. FOR THE APOSTLES AND PROPHETS AND TEACHERS WOULD FOLLOW JESUS WHO WOULD BE USED IN A FOUNDATIONAL WAY IN THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CHURCH. * AND IN THE BOOK OF ACTS AND THROUGH CHURCH HISTORY, WE SEE THAT ALL THE APOSTLES WERE MARTYRED WITH THE EXCEPTION OF JOHN WHO WAS EXILED ON THE ISLE OF PATMOS FOR HIS FAITH. ** PAUL WOULD DIE AT ROME AS HE GIVES US HIS LAST WORDS IN II TIMOTHY 4:6-8 (READ THEM). *** AND TRADITION TELLS US THAT PAUL WAS BEHEADED AT ROME. **** AND THEN GOING BACK TO THE BOOK OF ACTS STEPHEN, WHO WAS NOT AN APOSTLE IN ACTS 7, WAS STONED, JAMES WAS PUT TO DEATH BY THE SWORD IN ACTS. 12:2. 2. AND THEN TRADITION TELLS US THAT PETER WAS CRUCIFIED UPSIDE DOWN. AND OTHER BELIEVERS IN THE EARLY CHURCH WERE MURDERED BY OTHER METHODS. * BEYOND THAT CHRISTIANS WOULD BE SCOURGED IN JEWISH SYNAGOGUES AND PEOPLE LIKE PAUL WHO WAS A JEW WHO PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS, THEN WOULD BECOME A CHRISTIAN AND BE PERSECUTED FROM CITY TO CITY. ** AND AS PAUL WOULD TELL TIMOTHY IN II TIMOTHY 3:12 (READ IT). *** ALSO READ WHAT PETER SAID IN I PETER 4:16&19. **** SO SUFFERING AND DEATH WOULD COME TO PROPHETS, WISE MEN AND SCRIBES, AND IN GENERAL TO FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST, AS IT STILL DOES TODAY IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD. 3. SO V. 34 IS PREDICTIVE, A PROPHECY IN A SENSE, AND THE STATEMENT “YOU WILL KILL” WAS TO DRAW ATTENTION TO THE SCRIBES’ AND PHARISEES’ GUILT, EVEN AS THEIR FATHERS WERE GUILTY OF KILLING THOSE SENT THEM FROM GOD. * AND THEIR BOAST OF V. 30, THAT “IF WE HAD BEEN LIVING IN THE DAYS OF OUR FATHERS, WE WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN PARTNERS WITH THEM IN SHEDDING THE BLOOD OF THE PROPHETS” WAS THUS EXPOSED AS A LIE. ** SO WE HAVE A PROPHECY OF PERSECUTIN OF CHRIST’S SERVANTS IN V. 34. AND THE GUILT AND RESPONSIBILITY OF THAT WILL FALL ON THESE PROUD HYPOCRITICAL FALSE TEACHERS – THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES, LOOK AT V. 35 PLEASE. B. READ V. 35. NOW V. 35 IS INTENDED TO LINK THEIR VICIOUSNESS TOWARD CHRIST’S SERVANTS WITH THE HATEFUL AND VIOLENT REJECTION OF GOD’S O.T. SERVANTS, GOING BACK TO THE KILLING OF ABEL. * FOR ABEL WAS THE FIRST HUMAN VICTIM OF MAN’S DEPRAVED NATURE AND HIS MURDER BY HIS BROTHER CAIN WAS THE FIRST BLOODY ACT OF MAN’S REBELLION. ** AND IT APPEARS THAT ZECHARIAH, THE SON OF BERECHIAH, WAS THE LAST PROPHET TO BE MARTYRED. *** SO WE HAVE THE FIRST PERSON MURDERED – ABEL AND THEN ZECHARIAH, ONE OF THE LAST PROPHETS OF ISRAEL, WAS APPARENTLY THE LAST TO BE MARTYRED. **** AND LET ME ADD THAT THE IDENTITY OF ZECHARIAH, THE SON OF BERECHIAH, HAS LONG BEEN DEBATED AMONG BIBLE STUDENTS. AND BECAUSE THIS PARTICULAR ZECHARIAH’S DEATH IS NOT MENTIONED, SOME ASSUME THAT ZECHARIAH WAS THE SON OF JEHOIADA WHO WAS KILLED IN II CHRONICLES 24:20&21. 1. AND SINCE II CHRONICLES IS THE LAST BOOK OF THE HEBREW BIBLE, IT ENDS WITH II CHRONICLES, WE HAVE THE FIRST MAN KILLED IN THE FIRST BOOK OF THE HEBREW BIBLE AND THE LAST MAN KILLED IN THE LAST BOOK OF THE HEBREW BIBLE. * BUT I DON’T AGREE WITH THAT ASSUMPTION. FOR THERE ARE OVER 20 MEN BY THE NAME OF ZECHARIAH MENTIONED IN SCRIPTURE INDICATING THAT IT WAS A POPULAR NAME. ** AND SINCE JESUS IS SPECIFIC ABOUT WHOSE SON THIS ZECHARIAH WAS, AND THERE ARE NO TEXTUAL VARIANTS OR DISAGREEMENTS THAT THIS ZECHARIAH WAS THE SON OF BERECHIAH. *** THAT WE SHOULD NOT ASSUME THAT IT WAS ANY OTHER PERSON BUT ZECHARIAH THE PROPHET TALKED ABOUT IN ZECHARIAH 1:1, “ZECHARIAH THE PROPHET, THE SON OF BERECHIAH.” **** AND JESUS WAS AWARE OF THE PLACE THAT ZECHARIAH WAS MURDERED OBVIOUSLY BY OTHER RELIGIOUS HYPOCRITICAL JEWS, FOR IT TOOK PLACE BETWEEN THE TEMPLE AND THE ALTAR. 2. THE ALTAR BEING THE GREAT ALTAR OF BURNT OFFERINGS IN THE COURT OF THE PRIESTS. * AND JESUS SAID, “WHOM YOU MURDERED”. ** AND THIS REFERS TO THEIR GUILT BY BEING DESCENDENTS OF THOSE WHO DISPLAYED SIMILAR CHARACTER BY KILLING THE PROPHETS. *** FOR THEY WOULD HAVE DONE THE SAME THING, THEY WERE JUST “LIKE THEIR FATHERS”. FOR YOU SEE THEY WERE PLANNING AT THAT TIME TO KILL JESUS, THE PROPHETS OF ALL PROPHETS. **** AND THEY ALSO WOULD KILL APOSTLES AND N.T. PROPHETS AND FOLLOWERS OF JESUS. THEY WERE OF ONE MIND AND HEART WITH THEIR FATHERS EVEN THOUGH THEY WERE IN DENIAL OF THAT GOING BACK TO V. 30. 3. AND BECAUSE OF THEIR HEARTS AND BEHAVIOR THAT WOULD FOLLOW, JUDGMENT FOR THEM WAS IMMINENT. LOOK AT V. 36 PLEASE. C. READ V. 36. NOW ALL THESE THINGS THAT WOULD COME UPON THIS GENERATION (THE GENERATION TO WHICH HE WAS SPEAKING) WERE THE CONSEQUENCES OF MURDERING THE PROPHETS AND RIGHTEOUS MEN OF GOD. * COMMENTATOR R.C.H. LENSKI WRITES, “ALL THESE DEEDS OF BLOOD WILL DESCEND LIKE AN AVALANCHE ON THIS GENERATION, THE ONE NOW LIVING. MANY WHO WERE STANDING BEFORE JESUS WOULD SEE IT ALL. IN ONLY A FEW YEARS JERUSALEM WOULD BE IN RUINS, THE JEWISH NATION WOULD BE DESTROYED.” ** AND THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM IN A.D. 70 WAS THE BEGINNING OF JUDGMENT. *** AND ISRAEL WAS SO BRUTALLY OPPRESSED THAT IT CEASED TO EXIST AS A NATION BETWEEN TITUS’ DESTRUCTION AND IT’S REESTABLISHMENT IN 1948. **** AND THAT GENERATION DID WITNESS THE HORRIFIC JUDGMENT OF GOD VIA THE ROMAN CONQUEST AND SACKING OF THE CITY. 1. AND OF COURSE WE SEE THAT THE JEWS HAVE CONTINUED IN SUFFERING FROM THEN UNTIL NOW. * AND TRULY THE WORDS OF MATTHEW 27:25 EXPLODE OFF THE PAGES OF THAT TEXT WHEN THE JEWS SAID, “HIS BLOOD BE ON US AND ON OUR CHILDREN.” ** AND THE CONTEXT OF THAT PASSAGE IS THE BLOOD OF CHRIST, AS PILATE WASHED HIS HANDS AND SAID HE WAS INNOCENT OF THIS MAN’S BLOOD. *** AND AS WE GO BACK TO MATTHEW 23:34-36, CERTAINLY THEY ARE PROPHETIC OF JUDGMENT AND CONDEMNATION THAT WOULD COME ON THE JEWS. **** WHICH LEADS US TO OUR 2’D POINT TODAY, THE RESPONSE OF JESUS, PATHOS. LOOK AT V. 37 PLEASE. II. THE PATHOS, (READ V. 37) A. NOW IN V. 37 WE WILL SEE SOME INTENSE COMPASSION, UNFATHOMABLE PATHOS. * JESUS BEGINS WITH “O JERUSALEM, JERUSALEM” AND REPEATING THE NAME SHOWS LAMENT, GRIEF, SORROW AND EMOTION. ** IN A SENSE THERE IS A MOURNING OVER THE CITY, MUCH LIKE WHEN DAVID LOST HIS SON ABSALOM AND WAS WEEPING AND MOURNING AND SAID, “O MY SON ABSALOM, MY SON, MY SON ABSALOM! WOULD I HAD DIED INSTEAD OF YOU, O ABSALOM, MY SON, MY SON!” IN II SAMUEL 18:33. *** AND THE MULTIPLE REPETITIONS SHOW PATHOS, AN EMOTION OF SYMPATHETIC PITY, TO SUFFER WITH OR FOR SOMEONE. **** AND OF COURSE JESUS GRIEVED OVER JERUSALEM, THE CAPITAL OF ISRAEL, AND JERUSALEM’S USED AS REPRESENTATIVE OF ALL ISRAEL. 1. FOR YOU SEE THEY REJECTED THE PROPHETS AND KILLED THE PROPHETS AND EVEN STONED THOSE WHO WERE SENT TO HER AS A NATION. * THEY HAD SO MANY OPPORTUNITIES AS A NATION AND SO MANY PRIVILEGES. ** AND THEN OUR LORD USED A GREAT ILLUSTRATION OF HIS COMPASSION FOR THESE REBELLIOUS PEOPLE. *** FOR HE LONGED TO DRAW ISRAEL TO HIMSELF AND PROTECT HER AS A MOTHER HEN GATHERS HER CHICKS UNDER HER WINGS TO PROTECT THEM FROM A STORM THAT WOULD BATTER THEM OR A HAWK THAT WOULD DEVOUR THEM. **** THERE WAS A BEAUTIFUL INTIMACY AND TENDERNESS IN JESUS’ WORDS AND NO DOUBT IN HIS VOICE AS HE MOURNED OVER HIS PEOPLE. 2. BUT THEY AS A PEOPLE ON THE WHOLE REJECTED HIM, JOHN 1:11 SAYS: (READ IT). * AND AT MANY TIMES AND IN MANY FORMS JESUS HAD OFTEN GIVEN INVITATIONS SUCH AS THE ONE FOUND IN MATTHEW 11:28-30 (READ IT). ** AND UNDERSTAND THAT GOD’S SOVEREIGN PURPOSES WILL BE ACCOMPLISHED, BUT AS EZEKIEL 18:32 SAYS, “HE DOES NOT DELIGHT IN THE DESTRUCTION OF THE WICKED.” *** THE JEWS ON THE WHOLE IN THEIR DEPRAVITY FREELY CHOSE THEIR SIN OVER CHRIST. **** FOR WITHOUT GRACE MEN NATURALLY AND FREELY LOVE DARKNESS RATHER THAN LIGHT BECAUSE THEIR DEEDS ARE EVIL, JOHN 3:19. ***** AND THESE JEWS WERE UNWILLING TO COME TO THE LIGHT, AND THEREFORE WOULD BE JUDGED, CONDEMNED. IN FACT, A CONSEQUENCE OF THAT IS COMMUNICATED IN V. 38, WHERE WE FIND OUR THIRD POINT TODAY, THE PRESENCE. III. THE PRESENCE, (READ V. 38) A. NOW NOTICE IN V. 38 THAT JESUS SAID “YOUR HOUSE”. * NOW ONLY A FEW DAYS EARLIER JESUS HAD REFERRED TO THE TEMPLE AS HIS FATHER’S HOUSE IN MATTHEW 21:13. ** BUT WHAT HAD HAPPENED WAS IT HAD BEEN SO LONG PROFANED AND DESECRATED THAT HE NOW CALLED IT “YOUR HOUSE”, A REFERENCE ALSO TO THE NATION AS A WHOLE, THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL. *** AND LIKE THE SON OF PHINEHAS’ WIDOW IN I SAMUEL 4:21, THE TEMPLE AND ALL ISRAEL COULD SOON BE CALLED “ICHABOD” BECAUSE GOD’S GLORY WOULD DEPART FROM THEM. **** THE GLORY OF GOD SYNONYMOUS WITH THE PRESENCE OF GOD DEPARTED. THE TEMPLE WAS NO LONGER GOD’S HOUSE, AND THE NATION HAD THE HAND OF GOD, IN A SENSE, LIFTED FROM THEM. 1. THE PRESENCE OF GOD WAS REMOVED, AND DESOLATION, JUDGMENT WOULD FOLLOW. AND AGAIN THE TEMPLE WOULD BE DESTROYED SOME 40 YEARS LATER AND ISRAEL AS A NATION WOULD NO LONGER EXIST IN HER LAND. * THEY WOULD BE DESOLATE, LIT. BARREN, EMPTY, LEFT ALONE WITH GOD’S GLORY AND PRESENCE NO LONGER UPON THEM. THEY WOULD BE JUDGED. ** AND BELOVED THEY WILL BE JUDGED UNTIL THE CUP OF GOD’S WRATH WILL BE EMPTY, AND ONE DAY THEY WILL BE RESTORED, FOR A PROMISE IS GIVEN IN V. 39. *** LOOK AT V. 39 PLEASE WHERE WE’LL SEE OUR LAST POINT TODAY, THE PROMISE. IV. THE PROMISE, (READ V. 39) A. NOW JESUS’ FAREWELL WORDS TO ISRAEL WERE “FROM NOW ON YOU SHALL NOT SEE ME.” * AND FOR THE UNBELIEVING JEWS LISTENING TO HIM THAT DAY AND FOR ALL THE OTHER UNBELIEVING JEWS OF THAT GENERATION AND FOR COUNTLESS GENERATIONS TO COME, THOSE WORDS WERE FINAL. ** BECAUSE THEY REJECTED GOD, GOD REJECTED THEM. HE WOULD NO LONGER BE THEIR GOD AND THEY WOULD NO LONGER BE HIS PEOPLE. *** BUT THIS WOULD NOT BE PERMANENT, FOR THE CONJUNCTION TILL OR UNTIL IS USED IN V. 39. **** AND JESUS DID NOT SAY “UNLESS” MAKING ISRAEL’S RESTORATION ONLY A POSSIBILITY, BUT UNTIL MAKING IT A CERTAINTY. 1. FOR ONE DAY ISRAEL WILL SAY, “BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD.” * AND IN THAT DAY SHE WILL BE FOREVER REDEEMED, RESTORED AND BLESSED. ** AND YES ONLY A FEW DAYS EARLIER, THOSE VERY WORDS TAKEN FROM PSALM 118:26 WERE SHOUTED BY THE MULTITUDES AS JESUS CAME INTO JERUSALEM SEATED ON A DONKEY. *** BUT THOSE CRIES FOR HIS CORONATION TURNED TO CRIES FOR HIS CRUCIFIXION. **** BUT ONE DAY WITH THOSE SAME WORDS ISRAEL WILL HAIL AND BLESS HER MESSIAH IN FAITH AND THEY WILL BE SAVED. 2. AND THAT DAY IS TALKED ABOUT IN ZECHARIAH 12:9&10 WHICH SAYS: “AND IT WILL COME ABOUT IN THAT DAY THAT I WILL SET ABOUT TO DESTROY ALL THE NATIONS THAT COME AGAINST JERUSALEM. AND I WILL POUR OUT ON THE HOUSE OF DAVID AND ON THE INHABITANTS OF JERUSALEM THE SPIRIT OF GRACE AND OF SUPPLICATION, SO THAT THEY WILL LOOK ON ME WHOM THEY HAVE PIERCED; AND THEY WILL MOURN FOR HIM, AS ONE MOURNS FOR AN ONLY SON, AND THEY WILL WEEP BITTERLY OVER HIM, LIKE THE BITTER WEEPING OVER A FIRST-BORN.” * AND BELOVED SOME DAY, ISRAEL WILL BE RESTORED AND SAVED AND SEE JESUS AS HE RETURNS AS HER MESSIAH. ** FOR ROMANS 11:25-27 SAYS: “FOR I DO NOT WANT YOU, BRETHREN, TO BE UNINFORMED OF THIS MYSTERY, LEST YOU BE WISE IN YOUR OWN ESTIMATION, THAT A PARTIAL HARDENING HAS HAPPENED TO ISRAEL UNTIL THE FULLNESS OF THE GENTILES HAS COME IN; AND THUS ALL ISRAEL WILL BE SAVED; JUST AS IT IS WRITTEN, “THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB. AND THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.” *** AND IN ROMANS 11:25 WE HAVE ANOTHER “UNTIL”. UNTIL THE FULLNESS OF THE GENTILES HAS COME IN. **** AND ISRAEL’S UNBELIEF WILL LAST ONLY UNTIL THE COMPLETE NUMBER OF THE GENTILES CHOSEN BY GOD HAVE COME TO SALVATION. 3. SO ISRAEL’S HARDENING WHICH IS IN PART WILL LAST ONLY FOR GOD’S DIVINELY-DETERMINED DURATION. * AND WE BELIEVE ESCHATOLIGICALLY THAT WHEN JESUS RETURNS AFTER THE TIME OF JABOB’S TROUBLE, THE FULFILLMENT OF DANIEL’S 70TH WEEK, THE END OF THE TRIBULATION IN REV. 19, THAT EVERY EYE SHALL SEE HIM, AND THE JEWS WHO HAVE LIVED UP TO THAT TIME, WILL LOOK ON WHOM THEY HAVE PIERCED AND SAY “BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD.” ** AND GOD WILL SURELY KEEP HIS COVENANT, HIS PROMISE TO ISRAEL. AND AS I WRAP UP OUR MESSAGE TODAY (1) I REMIND YOU THAT OUR PASSAGE CLOSES WITH A PROMISE. * AND GOD ALWAYS KEEPS HIS PROMISES, HE CANNOT LIE. AND IF HE WOULD, THE UNIVERSE WOULD CEASE TO EXIST, FOR GOD WOULD NO LONGER BE GOD, AND THE ONE WHO HOLDS ALL THINGS TOGETHER WOULD NO LONGER BE ABLE TO. ** AND I CLOSE TODAY WHERE I STARTED TALKING ABOUT AN ATTRIBUTE OF GOD. HE IS GOOD AND HE IS FAITHFUL. *** AND GOD CANNOT BE OTHERWISE. STAND ON HIS PROMISES, DEPEND ON HIS PROMISES AND TRUST IN HIS GOODNESS. **** IN THE MIDST OF CONDEMNATION, HE SHOWS HIS COMPASSION FOR HE IS GOOD. (2) AND WHEN THINGS LOOK LIKE THEY ARE FALLING APART AROUND YOU, REST IN GOD’S GOODNESS AND STAND ON HIS PROMISES. * I CLOSE WITH TWO LAST VERSES OF SCRIPTURE TODAY. ONE IS GEN. 18:25 WHERE IT SAYS IN THE KJV, “SHALL NOT THE JUDGE OF ALL THE EARTH DO RIGHT?” ** AND WHAT IS THE ANSWER? YES, ALWAYS, WITHOUT QUESTION. *** AND THEN I THESSALONIANS 5:24 WHICH SAYS: “FAITHFUL IS HE WHO CALLS YOU, AND HE ALSO WILL BRING IT TO PASS.” **** AND BELOVED, GOD IS FAITHFUL TO BRING TO COMPLETION THE WORK HE HAS BEGUN IN BELIEVERS. HE WILL KEEP ALL HIS PROMISES. - LET THOSE TRUTHS BE AN ANCHOR TO YOUR SOUL IN TIMES OF TROUBLE. |