If you would take your Bibles and turn to Genesis chapter 12. Yes. Oh, miss Ian needs a moment. Alright. Okay.

Coming up. You coming up here. Alright. Appreciate you, man. I got you a little gift.

Yep. Say it in the mic's sitting here. In honor of pastor appreciation month, sorry. We are giving you a gift from the church. Okay.

Thank you. Should I look at it? Yeah. Okay. Is this what you and Dan were working on?

Yeah. I had to I thought you were gonna sing something. I thought it was true. Yeah. You'll have to do that another time.

Yeah. Dan will have to sing something. Yeah. Yep. Alright.

Alright. Thank you. But I do not account my life of any value nor is precious to myself if only I may finish my course in the ministry that I receive the Lord Jesus to testify of the gospel of the grace of God. Acts twenty twenty four. Thank you.

Leave the card till later, so I'll have a surprise when I get done. So alright. So Think I can there's trash can back here. Okay. Well, I'll get that later.

Alright. Thank thank you all. And thank Ian and Dan, I know her part of that. It's pastor appreciation month, somebody told me. So, anyway, I do feel appreciated.

Not just by the frame and the card, by the way, but but I I have always felt appreciated here and and my wife and family as well. And so thank you very much. Now, Genesis chapter 12. Genesis chapter 12 verses one through three. Now the Lord had said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house unto a land that I will show thee, And I will make of thee a great nation.

And I will bless thee and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee, I will 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. Dear heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for your love and grace and mercy that has afforded us the opportunity to be here this morning to praise your name, to be part of this family of God, and to be looking forward to our mansion in the sky.

Thank you, Lord, for all that you have done and all that you have given. Thank you, Lord, for precious promises all throughout your work and that you always keep your promises. In Jesus' precious name, do pray. Amen. Now I entitled this this morning, Know What You Believe About Israel and I might add, and Jesus.

But in regards to Israel, a disclaimer to start with. I am not speaking necessarily in support of or in opposition to the current administration or specific policies of the nation of Israel, nor certainly of Judaism as a religion. Why? Well, because, well, Judaism has rejected who? Jesus Christ.

And that is a problem. Okay. We're not so much talking about the present politics of the nation of Israel, although there is some tie in eventually. But we are talking about primarily the Israel of the Old Testament, particularly this morning. We will get to a little bit concerning the future of Israel next Sunday morning.

By Israel, I mean we believe in the promises that God made to Israel as a people, both a people both of heritage and of faith concerning the past and future of the kingdom of Israel, concerning the holy city, Jerusalem, the believing remnant of Israel, and the Gentile believers who are blessed with believing Israel, who have been grafted in by the grace of God to inherit the kingdom promised to Abraham, in which we too will reign with Christ for a thousand years and then into all eternity. Revelation 20 verse six, it says this, blessed and only is he that hath part in the first resurrection. That's the resurrection of the righteous, the redeemed in Christ Jesus, both Jew and Gentile alike. On such, the second death hath no power. The second death is being cast into the what?

The lake of fire. Those whose names were not written in the book of life were cast into the lake of fire. Those whose names are written in the book of life are part of the first resurrection and will not face that judgment. Instead, it says, but they who are part of the first resurrection, the redeemed in Christ, shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him for what? A thousand years.

The promise. The promise of God in Jesus Christ. So we ourselves, believers in Christ Jesus today, the church, do have a part also in the promises that we read given to Abraham concerning an eternal kingdom which we will also, praise God, be a part of despite not being Israelites. It's wonderful that God has included us too. When we speak of Israel, we speak of their heritage.

By that, I mean those who are descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob's name was changed to Israel. So the descendant so the the people, the children of Israel are the children of Jacob. Same person. Same reference.

Jacob, Israel. So by heritage, we mean the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to whom were made precious promises, which in many ways they did squander due to their unbelief. By faith, Israel by faith, we mean those who, as Paul indicated, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, their promised Messiah. They are true Israel. For those who reject Christ and remain in a state of unbelief are no longer rightfully called Israel by God and are therefore no longer receivers of the what?

Of the promise, particularly concerning the seed of Abraham by whom all the families of the earth shall be what? Shall be blessed. It all hinges, whether Jew or Gentile, on what you do with who? On what you do with with Jesus. It does.

Yet still the fact that Israel exists today as a nation and as a people and Jerusalem as a city is proof positive that God has not forgotten his promises which he made unto them and certainly not done with them yet. And as I said, we'll get to more of that next week. Furthermore, their resist existence is a reminder that the day of Christ's return is close at hand. And we should be what? We should be ready.

We should be ready for the coming of our savior. So back to Genesis 12 verses one through three, I want us to look at the promises here given to Abraham and to his descendants. Now, once again, the Lord had said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country. That would have been the Ur Of The Chaldees. That's in what's called the Fertile Crescent.

Today, that would be in the land ruled by Iraq. Okay. Iraq. So he said, get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house unto a land that I will show thee. So God came to Abraham and said, just, you know, just take your stuff and let's what?

Take your stuff, take your family, and let's go. K. Go where? Well, just follow me. I'm gonna show you.

I you just need to trust me and follow me. And God says to Abraham, and I will make of thee a great nation. Again, what was the issue with that with Abraham and Sarah? Had no children. Okay?

And they were already Abraham about 90 years old. Alright? So no children, both past the age that they normally would have kids, and Sarah long past the age of having children. And yet God said, I'm going to make you a great nation. And he says, I will bless thee and make thy name great.

How many many people in history have a greater name than Abraham? Not many. Jesus, maybe a smattering of a few other people. I will make thy name great and thou shalt be a blessing and I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee. And in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

All means, well, us. All includes you and me, and we'll see how that's going to come about as we continue through our lesson today. God said to Abraham, if you will trust me and follow me, and Abraham did. And God kept his what? And God kept his promises.

So did Solomon declare in first Kings eight, five, and six. Blessed be the Lord that hath given us given rest unto his people Israel 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. Solomon declares God has kept his what? God has kept his promises.

God has been faithful to to Israel. Shortly after the reign of his father, David, gained control over all or most of the area that God had promised to Abraham. We'll look more at that in these verses following. So if you're in Genesis 11, let's now go to Genesis 13. Genesis 13.

There are two things I want you to note from Genesis 13, the land and the duration. Okay? Land and duration. Alright? Verse 14.

Genesis thirteen fourteen. And the Lord said unto Abram after that Lot had separated from him, 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 will I give it into thy seed forever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth so that it may if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. So in Genesis 13, now Abram has left the Ur of the Caves, followed the Lord as God asked him to do, and now he is standing in Canaan.

Okay? And as Lot has moved on, God says to Abram, he says, look as far every direction as you can see. All of that land is going to belong to your seed after you. Not only is all this land now that you see this is the land I was talking about. This land is going to be yours.

But your seed, your descendants are going to be like the what? Like the the dust of the earth in number, nearly uncountable, incalculable number. And God says in verse 15, I will give it to thy seed forever, which brings us to the future part, which I'm going leave you in a little bit of suspense today. Alright? Chapter 15 and verse 18.

God isn't done yet. Chapter 15 verse 18. God gets a little more specific. Genesis fifteen eight. In the same day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram saying, unto thy seed have I given this land from the River Of Egypt unto the great river, the River Euphrates.

The Canaanites and the Kenizzites and the Kadmonites and the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaims, the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Girgashites and the Jebusites. So now God says to Abraham, I make a covenant with you, all of this land from the River Of Egypt. Now there's some debate upon what river he's talking about in Egypt. There was a smaller river that ran through the Negev to the South of Israel. Or whether he was speaking of that river, whether he was speaking of when you think of Egypt, what river do you think of?

The Nile. Yeah. Onto the Great River, and that is the river what? Euphrates. Now, where does the Euphrates River run?

Well, it runs through Iraq. Okay? Near to the place where Abraham was originally from. So God says, I'm going to give you all of this land. Now, by the way, does Israel have all of that land today?

No. Nowhere near all of that land today. I don't know that they actually controlled all of that land in David's day either. But God says, I'm going to give you all of this land, all the land that is now possessed by these tribes of the Canaanites that he lists here at the remainder of the chapter. Now turn, if you would, to chapter 17.

Chapter 17. Chapter 17 verse seven, eight, and 19. So chapter 17 verses seven, eight, and 19. So and I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant to be a god unto thee and to thy seed after thee. And I will make give unto thee and to 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 God.

Take note the words everlasting are in there a couple times. Okay? So, I think it's worthy to take note of that. Look over, if you would, to verse 19. God said to Sarah said, Sarah, thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed.

Thou shalt call his name Isaac, and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant and with his seed after him. So God comes to Abram and he says, I'm going to give you a son. I'm gonna give you and Sarah a son, not you and Hagar. You and Sarah a son, like I promised. His name will be laughter because you will laugh when your wife of 90 years old gives birth to a son miraculously in keeping with the promises that God has made.

And furthermore, I am going to establish my covenant with him, Isaac, not Ishmael, but but Isaac, the son of Abram and Sarah and his descendants after him. So everything that God promised to Abram is now basically shifted to who? To Isaac. Okay? And then turn to chapter 28 chapter 28 and verses 13 through 15.

Chapter twenty eight thirteen through 15. Oh, that is a wonderful sound. I don't know that that that sound is as is profound and in other churches today as it should be, everybody turning their pages in their Bibles, so to, to find the passage of scripture. That is very encouraging to your pastor to hear all those pages turn. Alright.

Twenty eight thirteen. And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham, thy father, and the God of Isaac. The land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it and to thy seed. And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth. Thou shalt spread abroad to the West and 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.

And so God, again, repeats the promises, not to Abraham, not to Isaac, but to who? But to Jacob. That's the person he's talking to in chapter 28. And the same promises made to Abraham and Isaac were therefore repeated to Jacob. Jacob had 12 sons.

Jacob's name was changed to Israel. His 12 sons became the 12 tribes of Israel, the descendants of theirs. And thus, Israel became a larger and larger people group as they were enslaved after the days of Jacob in Egypt. But God did not forget them, and he led them out with a mighty hand under the leader that he had chosen named who? Named Moses.

The Bible says in Psalm one thirty five four, for the Lord hath chosen Jacob unto himself and Israel for his peculiar treasure. And if you look to Leviticus so turn over Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus. I'm about done having you turn. Okay? Just a couple more.

Leviticus 26. Leviticus 26, we read of promises made to the now nation of Israel at Mount Sinai has whom God has delivered out of slavery and given them laws that they would follow as a nation. He is their God and is their king, Moses as their prophet. And we read of these in Leviticus chapter 26 and verse six. And he says, I will give peace in the land and ye shall lie down and none shall make you afraid.

He's talking about the land of Canaan to which they were headed. 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. And five of you shall chase a 100 and a 100 of you shall 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.

This is with the nation as a whole. Ye shall eat old store and bring forth the old because of the new. I will set my tabernacle among you and my soul shall not abhor you. And 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.

I have broken the bands of your yoke and made you upright. But but if you will not hearken unto me and will not do all these commandments, if you shall despise my statutes, and if your soul 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 you appoint over you terror, consumption, and a burning of goo that shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of the heart. And ye shall sow your seed in vain, and your enemies shall eat it. And I will set my face against you.

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

I will not smell the savor of your sweet odors, that is their offerings and sacrifices. I will bring the land into desolation. Your enemies shall which dwell therein shall be astonished at you, 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. The earlier covenant with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, we call that the Abrahamic covenant. It was dependent upon the faith of Abraham.

And it included words like everlasting and forever. We call this the Mosaic covenant. This is the covenant meaning between God and the nation of Israel as they went to enter the land. And God said to them, I'm gonna give you this land, and you will prosper there, and I will provide for you there. I will bless you there unless you turn from me.

And if you turn from me, I am going to rip you out of it, and I will scatter you across the nations. Sadly, what happened? Well, Israel lost the land and was scattered from it as God foretold due to their unbelief. This is a conditional covenant. God said to the nation of Israel, you will stay here right now as a nation.

I will prosper. I will bless you. But if you don't, I will I will send the enemy to destroy you and scatter you. And that is exactly what what happened. What happened to forever?

What happened to everlasting? Well, I dare say, and I'll get to it more next week, that God is not done with Israel yet. Because forever means forever, and everlasting means everlasting. And so God is not done with Israel yet. It's just praise God, we get to have a part in it too.

Amen. Even as Israel was rebelling against God, God sent Israel prophets. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah, and others concerning the future of his future of Israel. Some yet to be fulfilled. Promises concerning particularly their coming king, their messiah, who would take away their sin and free them from its slavery.

Isaiah nine six and seven says this. I don't have it up on the screen, so you just have to listen, unless you wanna turn. For unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder. He's going to carry it.

He is going to be it. And his name shall be called wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting father, the prince of the prince of peace. Of the increase of his government and peace, there shall be no end. Upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even till tomorrow. Next year.

Hundred years from now? No. What does it say? With judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

Israel had failed at this, but God one day was going to send a child, a son who would take the government upon his shoulder. And by the zeal of the Lord of hosts, he would rule and reign. He will rule and reign from the throne of his father David. And he will be called, among other things, the mighty God, the everlasting father, the prince of peace. This is a prophecy concerning the coming of the seed of Abraham, the Messiah, the promised one.

The one through whom all the families of the earth shall be what? Shall be blessed. Yeah. He will be God, the mighty God. He will be a human.

He will be a child and a son. He will bring peace to the earth and peace between God and man, as announced, by the way, by the angels on the day of his birth. And he will one day take the throne of his ancestor, David, as promised also here and in second Samuel seven. Did God give Abraham and Sarah a son? Yes.

Did God make of him a great nation? Yes. Did God give him a land? His descendants, that is. Yes.

The land of Canaan, as Solomon pointed out. They lost it at least for a time due to their unbelief. Matthew 23, Old Jerusalem. Old Jerusalem. Thou that killest the prophets and stonest them which are sent under thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together even as a hen gatherer his her chickens under her wings.

And ye would not behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, you shall not see me henceforth till ye shall say, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. What does that indicate to me? Well, they lost it because not only did they were punished in unbelief under the hand of Nebuchadnezzar in May, But after God had at least partially restored them to the land and sent the Messiah, what did they do? They rejected him.

And these are the sad words of their Messiah As he sits on the Mount Of Olives overlooking the Temple Mount and the city of Jerusalem and says, oh, I would have gathered you together. Oh, I would have but but you would not. You would not. And once again in seventy AD, destruction came and they were scattered again. Yet, did God bless them and their descendants?

Still today, even despite their unbelief, fifteen, sixteen years ago, I flew on a plane to Israel, and I visited the sites where Jesus walked. And they're there today. They number in the millions across the world, one of only few ethnic groups to be so still defined millennia later because God keeps his, what, promises. And he has still blessed them. Not as he would like to, not as he will one day, but they're still there.

Did God bless the world through the seed of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob? And how did he do that? We did that through the person of Jesus Christ. Turn well, you just follow along up here on the screen if you like. Genesis Galatians chapter three.

Paul explains. He says, even as Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith preached before the gospel unto Abraham. How did he preach the gospel unto Abraham?

By saying what? In thee shall all nations be blessed. God foreseen that he was going to send the Messiah of the seed of who? Abraham. Preach the gospel ahead of time in saying, and these shall all the families of the earth or nations be blessed.

He goes on in verse 16, now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not into seeds as of many, but as of one and to thy seed which is Christ. This is all about who? It's all about Jesus. It's all about in the New Testament, when Paul defines Christians, how does he define them?

As in who? In Christ. In Christ. In Christ. How does God see the believer?

He sees us in Christ, his seed, who is seated in the heavenlies and we with him. Praise God. For he died on the cross, but he rose again and he's now seated at the right hand of God. Galatians three twenty seven through 29. For as many as you have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

There is neither Jew or Greek. There is neither bond nor free. There is neither male nor female for we are all one in Jesus. And if ye be Christ, then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. In Romans chapter 11, Paul speaks of the Gentile believers being grafted in to the promises made to who?

Made to Abraham because we too are his seed not by heritage, but by what? But by faith. And we have been grafted in to the promises made to Abraham through his seed. We have been blessed through his seed, and that seed being the Messiah, Jesus Christ, The child promised by Isaiah that we read about in Isaiah nine. The child born of a virgin that you read about in Isaiah seven fourteen.

It says in Galatians four, four, and five, but when the fullness of time was come, when the time was right, what did God do? He 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. That promise made in Isaiah nine six, a child shall be born, a son shall be given, is fulfilled in Galatians, what, four, four, and five. Because when the time was right, God sent forth his his son, who is this promised one, this seed of Abraham in whom all the families of the earth are to be blessed because he died for the sins of the the world and not just Israel. His name was called Jesus, meaning the Lord saves.

Born to save his people from their sins by giving his life on the cross. And she shall bring forth the son and thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. And we read in second John two two, and he is the propitiation, the atoning payment for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of one. For God so loved the Jews that he gave now, it's not what it says. For God so loved the what?

The world that he gave his only begotten son that whoso believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. And Israel's greatest gift to us is who? Is Jesus. Is Jesus through whom by faith we have been grafted in. We have received eternal life and one day have the same kingdom to look forward to as do they.

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For whosoever whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now I don't know if Abraham understood all this when God said, in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. But I do know that God trusted that Abraham trusted in the Lord and he counted it to him for what? Righteousness.

And Abraham looked for a city, it says in Hebrews 11, whose maker is who? Is God and not man. We read about that city in Revelation twenty one and twenty two. It's called the New Jerusalem. And in Romans one sixteen, we read, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it's the power of God and salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek, which means those who are not Jews, which would be us.

The question is this morning, are you blessed with Abraham? Have you put your faith in the promises of almighty God and his son Jesus Christ? Are those promises, particularly that of eternal life and forgiveness, are they yours? Have you received God's son, Jesus, the risen savior, placed your faith in him for salvation that you might be blessed with Abraham? Or will you squander the blessing of God as did Israel of Jesus' day and many days since?

What will you do with Jesus? Will you accept the gift which God offers you today and, like Abraham, receive the righteousness of God through faith? Or will you squander it as did many of his descendants and face the judgment instead? John one eleven and twelve says this, he came unto his own and in his own received him not. 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.

Is that you? When was that you? Do you remember the day you came to Jesus? If you have been born again, I believe you should. If you if you don't know of such a day, maybe that day can be when?

Today. If you will receive God's promise, Jesus Christ, and become part of his family. Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, we thank you, Lord, for all that you've done for us. We thank you, Lord, for those through whom Jesus was born.

We pray for the peace of Jerusalem because we know when we do, we are praying for your soon return. We pray for the salvation of Israel, for you died for their sins too. We pray, Lord, if there's one here today that is yet to trust Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior of their life and receive your forgiveness and eternal life. I pray, Lord, today would be their day of salvation. That as we sing this hymn of invitation, they would come this morning.

In Jesus' precious name, we do pray. Amen.