Baptists Believe in Israel

Genesis chapter 12 and hold on to your seats we're going for a ride this morning. We have several passages to look at and some wonderful material to cover on Israel today. Baptists believe in Israel. Now I don't know what you think about when I say Baptists believe in Israel but let me make a couple clarifications here before we get started this morning on Baptists believe in Israel. I'm not speaking necessarily in support or opposition to the current administration of Israel or specific policies of the nation of Israel.

Certainly not in support of Judaism as a religion today that rejects who? That rejects Jesus Christ nor are we talking about the present borders or actions taken by Israel. Those are somewhat political in nature and our conversation may be for a different time and place. What am I talking about when I say Baptists believe in Israel? This is what I mean.

We believe in the promises that God has made to Israel as a people. A people both of heritage and of faith. Concerning the past and the future of the kingdom of Israel, the holy city Jerusalem, the believing remnant, and us. Mostly Gentile Church who are blessed with believing Israel grafted in by the grace of who? By the grace of God to inherit a kingdom in which we too will reign with Christ for a thousand years.

A kingdom for which we are called on to pray for. Thy kingdom what? Come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. To pray for the peace of Jerusalem which will only ultimately come when the king of Jerusalem returns from heaven to take his rightful place. The fact that Israel exist today as a nation and a people and Jerusalem as a city is proof that God has not forgotten his promises which he made unto them and is certainly I don't believe done with them yet.

Furthermore, their existence is a reminder to us that the day of Christ's return is I believe close at hand and we not only Israel but we must be ready and prepared for the return of Jesus Christ. Look if you would in Genesis chapter 12 and we'll start there because this is where Israel starts as a subject particularly in the word of God as a people and is that is with a person called Abraham here who we most often refer to as Abraham. Now, the Lord said unto Abraham, verse one, get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house unto a land that I will show thee. I will make of thee a great nation and I will bless thee. I will make thy name great and thou shalt be a blessing.

I will bless them that bless thee. Curse him that curseth thee and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Let's go to the Lord in prayer once more. Lord, thank you for this day. Thank you for your word and the wonderful promises that we read therein both to the people of Israel, to the church, to your children here today.

Lord, we thank you that you do keep your promises and we look forward to the day which we will be with you and we thank you for Jesus Christ who is not only the Jews Messiah but he is also our savior and our Lord. Thank you, Lord for the blessings that we partake in through Christ our savior, our risen Lord and Lord, I pray that in all things we do this day, you might be exalted in Jesus name, amen. Amen. In Genesis 12, we see God's calling of Abraham out of his homeland to go to the place of Canaan where the Canaanites these are descendants of Ham's son, Canaan, Noah's son, Ham and his grandson Canaan where they had come to dwell and multiply and sadly to have completely departed from the worship of the true and living God of Noah unto the worship of of idols and God had called Abraham and told him to follow him to this place that he would give to him and particularly to his descendants. Our God is a promise giving God.

He gives promises and he keeps the promises that he makes. Second Peter three nine nine, the Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness but it's long suffering to usward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. That all should find salvation in Jesus Christ by grace through faith in his shed blood on Calvary's Cross. Whether they be Jew or Gentile, God keeps his promises. He's not slack.

He hasn't forgotten the promises that he's made both to Israel and to us. Numbers 23 and verse 19. God is not a man that he should lie. Neither the son of man that he should repent. Hath he said and shall he not do it or hath he spoken and shall he not make it good.

Yes, men lie. Men fail to keep their promises. God always keeps his. God is not a liar. He is a God of truth.

He is a God who is able to keep his promises and he is a God who always comes through in the promises that he has made for those to whom he has made them. In first Kings eight fifty six we see that God has made promises in particular to Abraham's descendants as we read here in Genesis 12 to the nation of Israel. Blessed be the Lord that hath given rest unto his people according to all that he promised. There hath not failed one word of all his good promise which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant. Many promises God made to the nation of Israel.

Do you believe that God fails to keep his promises? No. I hope not. Certainly he doesn't. Will God keep his promises to Israel?

Yes, he will. We can count on that. Not because the actions present, past, or future of Israel but because of their God, because of the God who made promises all the way back to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and God is going to keep those promises. Let's look at a few of those that God made to Abraham here in Genesis and the Lord said unto Abraham, lift up now thine eyes and look from the place where thou art northward and southward and eastward and westward. For all the land which thou seest to thee I will give it and to thy seed how long?

Forever. Now notice that word forever. Okay. We'll come back to that later. That is an important word.

And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth so that if a man can number the dust of the earth then shall thy seed also be numbered. Genesis 15 and verse 18. In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abraham saying, unto thy seed have I given this land from the River Of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates giving us two of the borders of the land that would become the land of Israel of Abraham's descendants. Genesis seventeen:seven and eight and I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee and their generations for an what? Everlasting covenant.

Now notice the word forever in the previous passage here. We see that it is an everlasting covenant. To be a God unto thee and thy seed after thee and I will give unto thee and thy seed after thee the land wherein thou art a stranger all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession and I will be their what? And I will be their God. Promises God made to Abraham when Abraham put his faith in God and left the Ur of the Chaldees, left Heron to follow God to the place that he would give unto his descendants.

God said, I have made this covenant with you and also I will bring it to pass upon your what? Descendants and notice the word forever. Genesis 28. Genesis twenty eight thirteen and fourteen. It's not 18 by the way.

That's a misprint. And behold the Lord stood above it and said, now this is God speaking to Jacob after he was running from home after he had stolen his brother's birthright. In Bethel, he's having a dream, a vision, and the Lord said, I am the Lord God of Abraham, thy father, and the God of Isaac, the land wherein thou liest, to thee will I give it and to thy seed and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth and thou shalt spread abroad to the West, to the East, to the North, and to the South and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Again, God promised to Jacob specifically whose name was later changed by God to what? To Israel.

That he would give unto him and his descendants which would be as numerous as the dust of the earth, the stars of the sky. To give this land of Canaan to be their inheritance and that through them just as he said in verse three of chapter 12 that all the families or all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. Well, there's maybe a few ways in which the all the earth has been blessed by God's chosen people by Israel but the one in particular that the scripture points out is we are blessed through Jesus Christ who in his humanity is a what? Is a Jew. Is a Hebrew.

He came through the nation of Israel that God called out, that God preserved, that God kept, and to provide us not only with their Messiah but with our Messiah, our king, and our Lord and eternal savior, Jesus Christ and through them, all the families indeed of the earth has been blessed. Then, God made promises to Moses although conditioned on the continued obedience of Israel. Now this is just a little bit different. Turn with me to Leviticus chapter 26. I'll try to get through this kind of quickly this morning.

But Leviticus 26 if you would and we're gonna begin reading in verse six. Now, the earlier promises that God made to Abraham were conditioned only upon the obedience of who and the faith of who? Abraham. And God said if you will follow me then I will make this to happen for your descendants. I will give them this land and it will be theirs for how long?

Forever. Okay? So keep that in mind. The promises that God made with Moses at Mount Sinai were conditioned upon the obedience not just of Moses but on obedience of who? Of the nation of Israel.

We call this a conditional covenant because it had conditions that were ongoing, okay? And so I want you to notice that as we're reading here. This promise that God made, to Moses beginning in verse six of Leviticus six. He says and I will give peace in the land and ye shall lie down and none shall make you afraid. I will rid evil beasts out of the land neither shall the sword go through your land.

Ye shall chase your enemies and they shall fall before you by the sword. Five of you shall chase a 100 and a 100 shall put 10,000 to flight and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. For I will have respect unto you and make you fruitful and multiply you and establish my covenant with you. Ye shall eat a old store and bring forth the old because of the new and I will set my tabernacle among you and my soul shall not abhor you. I will walk among you and will be your God and ye shall be my people.

I am the Lord your God which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt that you should not be their bondman and I've broken the bands of your yoke and made you go upright. But if you will not hearken unto me and will not do all these commandments. If you shall despise my statutes or if your soul shall abhor my judgment so that you will not do all my commandments but that you break my covenant I also will do this unto you. I will even appoint over you terror, consumption and the burning ague that shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of the heart. Ye shall sow your seed in vain for your enemies shall eat I will set my face against you.

You shall be slain before your enemies. They that hate you shall reign over you and ye shall flee when none pursueth you. And if you will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you even seven times more for your sins. Look if you would in verse 31. And I will make your cities waste, bring your sanctuaries unto desolation.

I will not smell the savior of your sweet odors. I will bring the land into desolation. Your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at you, at it and I will scatter you among the heathen and will draw out a sword after you and your land shall be desolate and your cities waste. God said to Moses, I'm giving the people this land. It's yours but if you cease to follow after me.

If you pursue idols. You abandon my law. Then I will cast you out of the land and I will make it desolate. This we call the Mosaic Covenant that God made with Israel. It was a conditional covenant.

Furthermore, continuing on. By the way, I guess we should stop here for just a second. Did Israel keep their end of the covenant? The is no. They did not.

Did God keep his end of the covenant? Yes, he did. He gave them the land. He blessed them but when they departed from him, he did cast them out of the land. He did scatter them throughout the nations.

He did make their land desolate. However, he did after seventy years bring them back again. This is the mercy and grace of the God of Israel and the God whom we serve. In Isaiah, in Psalm one thirty five, let's see where is it there? Oh, it was already up there.

Psalm one thirty five four, for the Lord hath chosen Jacob unto himself and Israel for his peculiar, unique, special treasure. God wasn't through with making promises to Israel. He made promises to Israel via the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah. Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel were prophets that preceded the exile and the destruction of Jerusalem through which God foretold of Israel's coming destruction because they did not keep his law. But yet even in the midst of that God made further promises to the nation of Israel.

For instance, Isaiah nine, six and seven, for unto you a child is born unto us, a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, his name shall be called wonderful, counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting father, the prince of peace. Of the increase of his govern and peace there shall be no what? No end. Upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgement and justice from henceforth even how long? Forever.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. The zeal of man had failed but God will not fail to perform all of his good promises that he has made. Going back to Abraham. Turn if you would with me to Jeremiah 32. Turn with me.

Fine. I'll give you a minute. Find Jeremiah. It's after Psalms and Proverbs and Isaiah and then you come to Jeremiah. Jeremiah was one of those prophets once again, that, God sent to warn Israel of their coming judgment because they did not keep the covenant, the Mosaic covenant.

And Jeremiah once again prophesying of the doom of Israel. Also just had a few other things to say that you might find interesting. Jeremiah 3,237 through 40. Jeremiah 3,237 through 40. God says this, Excuse me.

Behold, speaking of Israel, I will gather them out of all countries whether I have driven them in my anger and in my fury and in great wrath and I will bring them again unto this place and I will cause them to dwell safely and they shall be my people and I will be their God. I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me how long? Forever. For the good of them and of their children after them. I will make an everlasting covenant with them and I will not turn away from them to do them good but I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me.

God's continuing promise to a rebellious Israel is that one day they will what? They will return unto him. He will gather them again and this time they will not depart. Look if you would and turn back to Jeremiah 31 and verses 31 through 34. We often call the Mosaic Covenant the Old Covenant.

The covenant God made with the nation of Israel that was conditional in which they failed and which they were cast out of the land. But we live by God's grace under a new covenant. The new covenant instituted by the blood of Jesus Christ shed on the cross for the sins of all mankind through which we have received many precious promises concerning our new relationship with Christ. This relationship also extends to Israel particularly to believing Israel that will one day return to him. Look if you would in verse 31.

Behold the days come saith the Lord that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt which my covenant they break although I was an husband unto them saith the Lord. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days saith the Lord. I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and will be their God and they shall be my people. They shall teach no more every man his neighbor and every man his brother saying know the Lord.

For they shall all know me from the East from the least of them unto the greatest of them saith the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more. Those promises there do also apply to us who have had our sins forgiven and washed away by the blood of the lamb. But they also here apply specifically to the nation of Israel and the still yet coming kingdom as we'll see later on. God always keeps his what?

God always keeps his promises. And we who believe the Bible and the God of the Bible believe in the promises of God that he has made. And we believe in the past of Israel that we read about in the scriptures and we believe in the future of Israel and their coming king. But this morning I'd like to close by past. Looking at the past of Israel.

How God has dwelt with them particularly in the past. We already covered the first point and that is their election. God chose them. They are called God's what? God's chosen people.

Now, does that mean that God chose every Jew and Hebrew that has been born to inherit the kingdom and eternal life? The answer to that is no. He has not chosen them to eternal salvation because they like us can only receive salvation by grace through what? Faith. Being born a Jew does not assure anyone of eternal life.

We all must come to God through faith. We God calls all men everywhere. Jew and Gentile alike to repentance. To be saved. And but God did elect.

He did chose Abraham. He chose Isaac. He chose Jacob and he chose the nation of Israel through which through whom to bring Jesus Christ into this world but also to be the place of his eternal kingdom when he returns. We see their election by God. Next, we see their slavery in Egypt and their exodus.

Right after, not long after God made the promises to Abraham and Isaac and to Jacob what happened to Israel? They ended up being slaves for four hundred years under the thumb of a tyrant named Pharaoh and a nation called Egypt. And matter of fact God told Abraham that this was going to happen ahead of time. In Genesis 15 he said to Abram, know of a surety, you can be certain of this, that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs shall serve them and they shall afflict them for how long? Four hundred years and also that nation whom they shall serve will I judge and afterward they shall come out with great substance.

And of course God keeps his what? Promises. That's exactly what happened to Israel. Had God forsaken them? No.

God had not forsaken them. He would keep his promises unto them but this trial was necessary. You know sometimes in our life we trust Christ. We think hey everything's gonna go great and all of a sudden we hit a wall and here comes a trial. Has God forgotten you child of God?

No. He has promised in his word, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. He had not abandoned Israel but the trial was necessary and the trials in our life are necessary as well and if we will allow them, if we will trust in the Lord, then, we will be able to count them for joy knowing that God makes all things to work together for good to them who love. Lord, to those who are the called according to his purpose. Next, we see their triumph.

They by God's great hand as led by God's chosen man Moses leave exit Egypt and they enter into the promised land that God has made unto them and we read in Joshua one two through four. Moses, my servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go unto this Jordan, thou and all this people, unto the land which I do give them, even to the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon. That have I given unto you.

As I said unto Moses. From the wilderness of this Lebanon, even until the great river, the River Euphrates, all of the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea, toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast. God promises to Joshua, go in, follow me. I've given you the land. It's all yours.

From the River Euphrates to the Mediterranean Sea to Lebanon in the North. This is yours. Go take it and take it they did. As God had promised them. God came through.

We see the temporal fulfillment of this. First Corinthian, first Chronicles eighteen three under David. It says, and David Smote Hadarezer, king of Zobah under Hamath as he went to establish his dominion by what? By the river Euphrates. In the time of the kingdom of David, these borders that God had set forth were basically dominated and ruled by David.

Either they were part literally part of the kingdom or they were under tribute to David from the River Euphrates to the Mediterranean Sea to Lebanon in the North to the river the Wadi Of Egypt to the South as God keeps his promises. But those were only temporal. Wasn't long after that David had Solomon and Solomon in the end of his days turned away from the Lord and the Lord began to allow people to pick start picking off parts of Israel. The kingdom divided and eventually it was conquered as we'll see in a moment. But there is also an eternal fulfillment to this.

Second Samuel seven sixteen, God said to David in thine house and thy kingdom shall be established how long? Forever before thee, thy throne shall be established forever. That forever has yet to come, is it not? That forever is still in the future. That promise made to both Israel and to who?

And to David. As a king, the descendant, the seed of David will reign forever. From his throne in Jerusalem. But it was temporal at present because Israel failed to keep their part of the covenant. In second Chronicles 36 and we won't take time to read it but in second Chronicles 3six 14 through 21 reread of the destruction of Jerusalem and of Judea.

The people of the North Of Israel were conquered by Assyria, by Sennacherib, and taken and scattered across his kingdom and then in May, Jerusalem was finally destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. The people were taken from Israel. They were scattered throughout the Babylonian Empire. God keeps his what? God keeps his promises.

He told them in his Mosaic Covenant if you will follow me. If you won't then I'm gonna do this. And that's exactly what he did. But he also promised as we read in Jeremiah that he was not done with Israel yet. And he brought them back.

Ezra chapter one. I'm gonna read from there. Ezra chapter one and verses one through five. Seventy years after their departure from the land God brought them back. Now in the first year of Cyrus, of Persia, the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled.

The Lord stirred up in the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and put also in writing saying, thus say Osiris, king of Persia, the Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of of the earth and he hath charged me to build him a house at, guess where? Jerusalem which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? Who is his people? The Jews.

Israel. Who is you is there among you of all his people? His God be with him. Let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah and build the house of the Lord God of Israel. He is the God which is in Jerusalem and whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let men of his place help him with silver and with gold, with goods and with beast beside the free will offering of the house of God that is in Jerusalem.

Then arose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin and the priests and Levites with all of them whose spirit God had raised to go up to build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem. So God was not done with Israel yet. He brought them what? He brought them back. He brought them back.

And they rebuilt the temple. And they rebuilt the city. And under Nehemiah, they rebuilt the walls and many of them not a majority, still a minority but many of them moved back into the land of Israel, Judea, in the South, Galilee, in the North. And then when the time was right, God did what? God sent his son.

When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son. Made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons. The we there is both Jew and Gentile alike. When the time was right God sent Jesus Christ through whom all the families of the earth might be blessed into the land of Israel born in a manger in the city of Bethlehem just a few miles from the city of Jerusalem. And it says in Matthew one twenty one of Mary, it says and she shall bring forth a son and shall call his name Jesus.

For he shall save his people from their what? From their sins. However, we also read this in John one. He was in the world and the world was made by him and the worldwide. Didn't recognize him, did it?

He came unto his own. I believe that's Israel and his own what? Received him not. They rejected him. But as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God.

Even to them that believe on his name. When the time was right, God sent forth his son in Israel, the redeemer, the Messiah of Israel. To save his people from their what? From their sins. And consequently by God's grace and mercy us too.

But the world did not recognize its creator and the Jews did not recognize their what? Their Messiah. And they rejected him. They rejected him before his crucifixion. They rejected him after his resurrection.

They rejected the word of his apostles. They cast them out. They killed them. The apostle Paul as Saul previous to his conversion was actually part of that. And what did God tell Israel he would do?

Matthew twenty three thirty seven through 39. Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee. How often would I have gathered thy children together even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings? You would not. Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.

For I say unto you, you shall not see me henceforth, tell you shall say, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. In Matthew twenty four two, Jesus said unto them, see you not all these things, verily I say unto you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. What was he talking about? He was talking about the temple. The temple that was rebuilt and added on to.

At built by Ezra and Zerubbabel in their return and added on to by Herod the Great. An immense and impressive structure. Jesus said, because you have rejected me. You will be destroyed. This temple will be torn down and there will be nothing left and in 70, that's exactly what happened.

Israel rejected their Messiah. Praise God. The people to whom Paul preached throughout the Gentile world, both Jews and Gentiles. Who received Christ as savior. Were saved.

The church was established as Christ had foretold. The gates of hell shall not what? Shall not prevail Israel and Israel is not the church. The two are connected through their Messiah. Today, both Jew and Gentile are saved by grace through faith.

We who have been grafted in to the promises made to Abraham. Well, I believe in joy and celebrate the coming kingdom of Israel where Christ will rule and reign in Jerusalem for a thousand years but those promises are to be kept at a specific place. Jerusalem and for Jesus Christ, the seed of David. Who will rule and reign there? I dare say God is still not done with who?

He is still not done with Israel. Turn if you would. We'll finish with Romans chapter 11. Romans chapter 11. I'm going to read just a few verses and we will conclude this morning.

Romans chapter 11. Look if you would in verse one. And we see the preservation of Israel. Revelations, Romans eleven one, I say, then hath God cast away his people? God forbid.

For I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. What you not what the scripture saith of Elias or Elijah? How he maketh intercession to God against Israel saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets dig thine altars and I am left alone and they seek my life. But what saith the answer of God unto him, I have reserved to myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.

Even so at this present time also, there is a what? A remnant. According to the election of grace. God is not done with Israel yet. There is a remnant of Jewish believers that are in the church today and one day, God will finish the promises.

He will fulfill them all and he will establish them forever, forever to fulfill the covenant made to Abraham. God keeps his what? Promises and we believe in those and he has made a promise to us who have come to God through faith. As many as received him, to them gave you power to become the one, the sons of God even to them that believe on his name. Yes, we too can become the sons, the children of God through faith in Jesus Christ who is also our savior.

For God so loved not just Israel but the what? The world. That he gave his only begotten son that whoso believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. For whosoever shall call in the name of the Lord shall be saved. Those promises are to you.

To you who have trusted in Jesus Christ as savior, we can count on the promises of God and as God will keep his promises to Israel, we can be assured that God will keep his promises to us who have entrusted our soul to him by faith. He has given to us everlasting what? Everlasting life in Jesus Christ our savior. And I ask you today if you've never put your trust in him. I beg with you.

I plead with you. The only way to have the gift of eternal life is through Jesus Christ. The seed of Abraham but the savior of the world. Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, thank you Lord.

Thank you Lord for coming, for dying on a cross for us, for being our risen Lord and savior. And Lord, I pray if there be one here today that's never trust Christ as we sing of this hymn of invitation that they might come today they might receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior That they might have all their sins forgiven. That they might receive the gift of everlasting life. That they as we might be partakers of the promises that God has made to us through Jesus Christ, his son. In Jesus name, we pray.

Amen.