Has the Church Replaced Israel？

I want you to turn to the Word of God again with me. Tonight would you please turn with me to Romans chapter 11, Romans chapter 11, and I want to preach part six of this series. I've been delayed again one week from just preaching it. I can't tell you thank you for your prayers. Literally it was only last night I realised that three days of study just got lost and that's very disheartening. It used to be I would have said, well God's in us, I trust him, but I went, this is too disheartening because in these weeks I'm really grappling with my mind and I appreciate the prayers. I really need the prayers of God's saints. With all that's gone in the year before, it can be an intense battle to grapple with the mind. So even losing three days of study, of notes, of all sorts of things, but eventually by last night I went, this is the Lord. I know he's in this because of just how, what came together. Then this afternoon again, darkness descended. I've had a horrendous afternoon grappling almost an hour ago going, I'm not going to do this. I just can't. Please do pray for these messages. I believe they're so important. But we're turning part six to Romans chapter 11. My title, it's a question. Has the church replaced Israel? Question mark. This is a vital title, message, question that we must ask and you need to know an answer. You as an individual in this church must have an answer, a biblical answer and a reason for why you believe what you believe. Has the church replaced Israel? Reading from Romans chapter 11 verse 1. There's the apostle writing to the church, the Gentile church mostly in Rome. I say then, has God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away his people which he foreknew. What do you not what the scriptures sayeth of Elias? How he maketh intercession to God against who? Against Israel saying. Then go down to verse 16 with me. We could easily read this entire chapter. It's all important to tonight's message. Verse 16. For if the first fruit be holy, the lump is also holy. And if the root be holy, so also are the branches. And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root, and the fatness of the olive tree, boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou will say then, the branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. Well, because of unbelief they were broken off, that thou standest by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear. For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God. On them which fell, that's Israel, severity, but towards thee, the Gentile believers, goodness. If thou continue in his goodness, otherwise thou also shall be cut off. And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in. For God is able to graft them in again. For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree, which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree, how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of the mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits. That blindness in part is happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles come in. And so all Israel shall be saved. As it is written, there shall come out of Zion the deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. Let's pray together. Father, I thank you for the word of God that it has every answer. To every question. And Father, in this critical hour, when we see anti-Semitism, nor God, anti-Judaism, anti-Israel arising politically and socially and religiously on every single sphere of life. Father, we ask of you that you'd ground us in this scripture, that you'd make us a biblical church, biblical believers that know the answer to every question of the hour. Now, nor God, open up this chapter, I pray. Give us wisdom and revelation. Teach us by your Holy Spirit, O God. Make us to be grounded in the statements of the written word of God. Protect us from deception and heresy and lies, nor God, from debates and arguments, from theories and opinions of men, from ideas that exalt themselves above the word of God. Nor God, we want to bring every thought into subjection to Jesus Christ and his truth, nor God, we want to test every ideology by the written scriptures. And Father, we want to cast out everything that contradicts your mind, your spirit, and your divine wisdom. Let Christ be exalted as the rock of our salvation here tonight in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Amen. My message has the church replaced Israel. What you have here in these verses that we read is an allegory. What is an allegory? It's a little picture from something in normal life to illustrate very simply an entire biblical teaching. And that's what the apostle Paul does. He takes two olive trees, the cutting out of branches, the grafting in the branches. He takes all of this as an allegory, a picture, a type, a word illustration. He wants you in your mind to see this simple picture. And by this simple picture of the cutting out and grafting in the branches on this olive tree, he is actually depicting an entire biblical teaching all condensed down. And if you can keep this picture in your mind, you will actually have a clear understanding of many scriptures, of much teaching by this great apostle. So, what is the allegory? What is it that we see in this picture? We see an olive tree, and we see a wild olive tree, two different ones. We see the natural branches on the olive tree being cut off. And wild branches from a wild olive tree being not only cut off their wild olive tree, but being grafted in to this trained olive tree against nature. It wasn't natural. It didn't naturally happen. God had to do this. God cut off the branches. God grafted in other branches. These branches represent two entire distinct groups, utterly different. Some are grafted out. Some are grafted in. And we're going to look at what this actually means. And it talks here about the fatness and the roots. You need to understand, what are the branches cut out? What are the branches grafted in? What is the fatness? And especially, what is the root at the very source of this? I believe all of this is depicted here. And it typifies, each of these things typify something biblical, something very clear. He says here about the roots. If the roots are holy, then the branches are going to be holy. If those branches are on the tree, they're going to be exactly like the root. But I want you to notice something, and it's very important. If you get this point right that I'm about to tell you, you could be well on your way to being a master theologian, because most Bible teachers and pastors don't know what I'm just about to tell you, the vast majority of them. The roots are not the branches. You can laugh at that if you want. But if you understand that, you understand a lot doctrinally. Because in theology and doctrine and preaching, most preachers actually in this allegory get it all confused. And they begin to teach the branches cut off are actually the root. They are not the same. Do you know what you have here in this allegory? And we're going to go into it tonight. The branches that are cut off are Israel, the Jews, the people of Paul the Apostle, his natural, physical people, Israel, the 12 tribes. That's who the branches are. They are not the root. And you need to hear that, because a lot of people think the roots of this olive tree are Israel, or they think the tree is Israel. It's not. It's absolutely not. The branches are Israel, and they've been cut off. The natural branches, some of those natural branches have been cut off. Who are they? They're Israel, the physical, literal nation of Israel. They're not the tree. They're definitely not the roots. You must not get them confused in all of this. But there's a wild olive tree. What is the wild olive tree? It is the Gentiles. That's where all of us got, unless you're a Jew in here tonight, but if you're a Gentile, if you're from outside of Israel, you're not a Jew, you weren't born part of the 12 tribes, or you didn't become a Jew by conversion or by birth, then you're part of this wild olive tree. Some of those branches have been cut off and actually grafted in. That's not talking about individuals. That's talking about entire groups of people, geographical regions, cultures, nations, cities, generations. So just like the branches are Israel cut off, these branches getting grafted in in their place actually come from Gentile nations down through the eras. But they were grafted out of a wild olive branch. These are wild branches, but they get grafted into this tree. The tree is in Israel. Israel was actually cut off, branches cut off. Do you see the word picture here? I hope you're beginning to understand it. And I've simply explained this. And if you understand this, you'll begin to understand the word of God. The branches are not Israel. The roots cannot be Israel. Israel is the product and the end result of the roots. There's only branches because of roots, but they're different. Because of the roots, there's branches which got grafted out. Then the ones getting grafted in, they can get grafted in. Why? Because of the roots. The olive tree, I believe, represents God's people through all generations, going all the way back to Abel, if not Adam. So the tree is God's people in every era, every dispensation. All through the ages, Old Testament, New Testament, before the flood, after Christ, in every single era, you have one olive tree. Israel is some branches. They're there, then they're not there. The Gentiles are grafted in, then they're not. But the olive branch has been there before them, and it will continue to be them. I believe it's God's people. But notice carefully what this is talking about. Those branches, natural branches, which naturally grew, grew up out of this tree. Amongst God's people, they were God's people, have been cut off. They are Israel, are the Jews. And this is the point I want to really emphasize as we begin this. Look with me at chapter 11, verse 18. You see, my message is, has the church replaced Israel? So Israel's been cut out. We, the Gentile believers, are grafted in. Not individuals, but an entire people grafted in. They've been cut out. Have we replaced Israel? Look what it says in verse 18. Boost not against the branches. Who's he talking to? He's talking to the Gentiles who've been grafted in, the wild branches grafted in. Paul is talking to the New Testament Gentile churches. Specifically, he's talking to the Christians in the city of Rome. He's writing the church at Rome, mostly Gentiles, Italians, Romans, slaves of every culture, every mix you can imagine in the city of Rome. Here is a Gentile church right in the center, the capital of the whole empire. And so he's writing to that church and he is saying to the Christians, Gentile Christians, boost not against the branches. Which branches? Israel, the branches that have been cut out, the natural branches which have been cut off. He's saying, do not boast. So he's saying to the church about Israel. And remember, this is Paul in the first century after Israel had already started to reject the gospel and disbelieve the gospel and persecute Paul. He'd already seen the signs of turning from Israel, the Jew, to the Gentiles. He was the apostle of the Gentiles. And although he always went and preached in the synagogue first, there was a turning because of rejection. Paul's seeing all of this and yet he's writing to the Gentiles saying, boost not against the branches. Don't boast. And note that word boost very carefully. This is what it means. This word boost in the Greek, to exalt and boost yourself against them, to rejoice our glory against them. This actual word boost in the Greek, it's a happy rejoicing. You're glad about your position. You have gained a position above others. And so you're very happy because of that change. It's that you have taken up a situation that you once didn't have, but now you've gained it and you're very happy. You are boasting about it. This word in this sense is used only four times in the New Testament, many other times in its family word. It means to boast and gaining a position over them. Let me quote from one dictionary, to vaunt oneself against someone else, to treat someone in a derogatory or contemptuous manner because you have gained a position they once possessed. That's what the Greek word boost means. To speak out comments, ideas, theologies, doctrines that embody these attitudes of heart and thought in your mind, that you feel you've been exalted and you begin to boost against them. What's he saying? You church at Rome, you Gentile Christians, you're the wild branches that have come in. But he says, boast not against them. Don't be glad and happy and begin to boast and say, we are in your place now. We have taken your position. We have all your blessings now. Do not boast. Don't boast in that thing. Paul has given a very serious warning. Do you know why I'm dealing with this in this message? Because there is a teaching within the contemporary church called replacement theology. It's the entire teaching and it's some 1900 years old and we'll deal with it next week maybe. But I just want to mention it in passing. Here's Paul speaking to Christians in his generation, telling them, don't boast against Israel. Don't boast that you have taken their position and be glad and happy and rejoice and speak much about this, saying they've been cut off. We are now in their position. Do not do that. I believe replacement theology does that. It's a teaching in the church. It's a doctrine that gets ingrained and it's growing at the minute. Theologically, it is called supersessionism, if I pronounce that right, or some like to call it fulfillment theology to make it nicer. You see, those who are in replacement theology that I've spoken to, they always deny they believe it. I'm not replacement theology. I don't believe we replaced Israel. I said, okay, so what do you believe? We're just the new Israel. And they start to explain. I said, well, that's replacement theology, what you're telling me. But they try to deny it. They try to change it. They say we're the new Israel. We're the spiritual Israel. We're the Israel of God. And they even say Christ is Israel. He was Israel on the cross. The Bible doesn't say that. It doesn't once say that Christ was Israel, not at all. But they have created an entire doctrine. And you know what? This doctrine of replacement theology has joined itself in this hour to be in pro-Palestinian. So in other words, those that are very pro-Palestinian and very anti-Israel are now taking up this entire doctrine, replacement theology, and they begin to teach the fall of Israel. Do you know, since we began teaching on these messages on Israel Wednesday night, I've had such a reaction that's just confirmed it's been right to preach this. I've had people coming on writing under the videos. They're very rude. See, as soon as people get rude, they think they're doctrinally superior. We know our stuff. We know our arguments. We know our scripture. But they're rude, and they're arrogant, and they're proud. What Paul say, do not boast against the branches. Yes, they're cut off. I know that. But don't you boast. Don't exalt yourself. Don't look down and condemn them. It's a dangerous attitude. And so with this, I've noted all their comments. They're proud, arrogant comments. There's something wrong with that. I don't mind someone disagreeing with me. I love to debate or to engage in scripture. But when they're rude, arrogant, you know what they began saying to me? Different people, a few, but different ones. They began coming out with statements like saying, you're a false teacher. I respected you until you mentioned Israel. I've listened to all your messages, and I love them all. But not anymore. I don't respect you anymore. All because I preached one or two messages on Israel. Some didn't even listen to the message. As soon as they see Israel in the title, they go, dispensationalism is heresy. I'm not dispensational. I don't believe that. You know what that is? God saves people differently in each age. I don't believe that. That's heresy. You're always saved through grace. It's in Christ and always by faith. It doesn't matter whether it was before the flood, after the flood, during Israel's time, under Moses, whether it was during the church age, or whether it be in the millennium, or during the tribulation. It's always by faith, never by law. You can't be saved by law. So I'm not dispensationalist. And definitely not call me what you want, but I'm not dispensationalist. I'm just saying all of these comments began coming. One guy come on with an awful lot of material. And he said, Malcolmson, you're just like David Icke. You're exactly like him. Can you believe it? Quote, this is what he said, concerning your teaching. And it cannot but become more erroneous. In other words, because I preached on Israel in the last days, he said, you're like David Icke. And this is going to get really bad. If this is where Malcolmson is now, this is guaranteed to get worse. He's going to plummet into heresy. He is woefully unspiritual. I've had comment after comment after comment. It's hard to take them serious, to be quite honest. I don't mind someone saying, what about this scripture? Or I disagree. Or look at this. I don't mind. I do that. But I want to tell you something tonight. What I'm going to tell you tonight, godly men, real men of God from different denominations, with different views on Bible prophecy, living in different generations, all believe what I'm going to tell you tonight. And I don't need that. I'm standing on scripture. I don't need men from history to back me up. And I'm just telling you, the great English Puritans, some of the greatest Bible teachers of any generation, all believe what I'm about to tell you. Samuel Rutherford, the beautiful Scottish Covenanter. Jonathan Edwards, the American revivalist. C.H. Spurgeon, the London Baptist preacher. J.C. Ryle, the English Anglican. Horatius Bonner, the Scottish preacher who helped D.L. Moody. I could go on and on. Robert Murray McShane, the young revivalist who died at 28. All of these men and thousands more that I could begin naming. So this isn't some strange idea. All these men fundamentally taught what I'm about to teach you tonight, about Israel in the last days and what God's plan and purpose was for them. But you see why in Romans chapter 11, Paul deals 2,000 years ago. You Gentile Christians who have come in on this tree and been grafted in, don't you exalt yourself because you're in the tree, because you've believed, because you've received grace and you've been forgiven. Don't you exalt yourself and now begin to despise or boast over Israel, the branches that have been cut out. Don't you do that. And I hear that in the church. That is dangerous teaching. When you begin to say, and do you know what Replacement Theology says? God is finished with Israel as a nation. The covenant made with them no longer functions nationally. We have replaced them. We are Israel. We are. We've inherited all the promises. They've got no right to the land. They've got no place in Bible prophecy. God has finished with them. And we'll say more about this. Look what it says in verse 19 here. Thou wilt say them. So look at it. He says, don't be proud over the branches. So what does it mean to be proud? You actually get the sentence of what they're saying. So I'm not making this up when I say Paul's warned them about their pride. Okay. What were they saying against the branches? Don't be proud against the branches. What were they saying? Verse 19. Thou wilt say them. The branches were broken off that I might be grafted in. You might say there's nothing wrong with that. Paul is actually saying, that's what they were arrogantly, boastfully saying. We were brought in. They were broken off. They had to be broken off, and we've been brought in in their place. Paul is saying, that's what they're saying. Can I tell you, you better be very careful in this hour of your attitude towards Israel saying, we are the church. They have been cut out. Paul actually calls it a real danger of boasting or exalting yourself against God's people. Did you notice in Romans 11, how Paul, 2,000 years ago, and this is when the church has been raised up, apostles, prophets spreading. It's reached the city of Rome. There is fire burning everywhere across the Gentile world. And Paul says, concerning Israel, my people by the flesh, he calls them God's people. Oh, they're not God's people anymore. That's what replacement theology says. Israel is no longer God's people. Oh, they were in the Old Testament, but not in the New. Then Paul got Romans 11 wrong, because he said, concerning God's people. Israel, he's talking about the branches that have already been cut off. Do you see that, Romans 11? Israel has already been cut off. The branches are already gone. Still calls them God's people. And yet you have people in replacement theology saying, they're not God's people anymore. They're not chosen anymore. They don't have any special place nationally anymore. And in fact, this replacement theology, we may quote them at some point. They say, from Romans 9 to Romans 11, where you get the term Jew or Israel, it's now the church. Israel in Romans 11. Every time you read Israel, we are Israel. It's the church. It's not talking about national Israel. I don't even know where to start with that. It's so crazy an idea. And yet many believe it. They now believe this is Israel. And so he says, they were broke enough that we might be grafted in. In other words, they are saying, we have replaced Israel. We have been exalted. We have gained what they lost. We have taken their place. We are drawing on all of the blessings and have access to what they no longer have access to. It says then in verse 20, well, because of unbelief, they were broken off. And thou standest by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear. Look at the hard attitude. The church of this generation, when they look at Israel, which is still broken up branches right until this point, he says, you should not be high-minded. Not high-minded is exalted, proud, arrogant in your thinking, looking down at them, thinking that you're better. He says, you ought to be fearful. See, when you look at Israel, the condition of Israel for 2000 years, in your thinking, don't be high-minded. Don't be boastful. Don't be saying, we have everything now. God has finished with them. He said, you ought to fear. That ought to be your heart. So, what is the root? Verse 17. It says in the latter part of verse 17, with them partakest of the root. You Gentiles, the church, partakest of the root. With them, Israel. Both Israel and the church partake of the same root and the fatness of the olive tree. Both of them. It says, you, the church, partake with them. It means to be a co-participant or a united participant in taking of the fatness from the tree and from the roots. When it says this about the fatness of the olive tree, it's talking about feeding, resources, life, or existence. In other words, all the richness of the roots, all the goodness of the roots, all the benefits are in the roots that Israel all through the ages drew on. Now the church draws on the very same roots. In other words, Israel has roots, the same roots as the church. They have the exact same roots. Israel is not the roots. Israel and the church are drawn on the same roots. Look at verse 18, when it says, it says, thou bearest not the root. He's talking to the church. You do not bear the root. That means to lift up or to carry. Do you see this? We are wild branches grafted in. We're Gentile believers, grafted into the people of God. And he says, you know what? Use these wild branches. You're not carrying the roots. You're not lifting and moving the roots. You're not sustaining the roots of this tree. You know, when you hear someone in the church, you'd think that they're arrogant, they're proud, they're spiteful. You think everything revolves around them. They're not humble. They're not careful. They're not submitted. They're not gracious. They're not kind. You know what they are? They think they're superior. They think they're beyond rebuke. They think everything revolves around. We are the church. We are at the center. Their attitude towards Israel almost typifies their attitudes towards the roots. You know what Paul is having to say here? You do not bear the roots. Do you think you are the center of everything? Don't you realize God's purpose has been going on an awful long time before you ever come along? Even before there was a church, thousands of years, 4,000 years of God working in the earth with man after man, woman after woman, before the church of Jesus Christ comes along and gets grafted into all of this. It's very important what we are looking at here. And so it says, the roots bear you, the church, your wild branches. It's the roots that has all the life, all the power, all the sustenance. Now what is the roots? Many Bible teachers, and I'm not going to argue here, many Bible teachers say it's Abraham or the Patriarchs, including Isaac and Jacob. It's these men of God. They are the roots. They are the source. That's what many great teachers teach. I just can't see that myself. See, there's a bit like in the New Testament, and you know this teaching, in Matthew's gospel, where do you remember, many believe that Peter was the foundation stone of the church. Upon this rock I'll build my church. He's called the stone that you hold in your hand. The word actually means a massive big foundation stone. Peter wasn't the foundation. I think to make Peter the foundation of the church is a bit like making Abraham the root of the entire tree. I don't believe Abraham could have sustained that, and yet he was the father of the faith. We're not to follow him in all things. It says walk in the steps of our father Abraham. We are the seed of Abraham if we believe in Christ. We've been brought into all the blessings. You see, we've been grafted in, and now we enjoy all the blessings of Abraham through the precious blood of Jesus Christ. So what do I think the root is? I believe that the root is the Lord Jesus Christ. It says in Romans 15 and verse 12, and again Isaiah says, there shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, in him shall the Gentiles trust. Or in Revelation 22 and 16, Jesus speaking, I am the root and the offspring of David. It's said in Isaiah chapter 11 verse 1, and there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. You see, I believe Jesus is a branch. He comes out of Israel. He was born of a Jew, but he's actually the source of the entire nation as well. Listen very carefully what it says in Matthew 22 verse 44, and the Lord said unto my Lord, and is Jesus speaking about this, quoting from the Old Testament, sit thou at my right hand till I make thy enemies thy foot so. My Lord says unto my Lord, two Lords, my Lord speaking of my Lord. Jesus is using the scripture. Then listen to what he says, if David then call him Lord, how is he his son? Talking about the coming Messiah. So he's challenging all these debaters over theology, and he says, how can David be his son? And yet he's going to be a child of David, the root of David. Can you explain this to me? Actually, Jesus is both, he is the source of the entire nation, but also he's going to come forth out of the entire nation. I believe Jesus Christ is sovereignly the very roots of the entire tree, of every people, of God, of every generation. It is a remarkable thing. Saints of God, I want to give you three things here to answer this question. Has the church replaced Israel? And if you keep these three things before you in this chapter, you're going to understand this. Has the church replaced Israel? In other words, has God set aside Israel with no more purpose, no more prophetic purpose? He's finished with them, and they're just like every other nation. They can get saved individually, but he's basically finished with them, and the church has replaced them, and all the promises in the Old Testament are spiritualized, and all the prophecies are spiritualized, and all of it applies spiritually to the church, and there's no literal physical performance of the Abrahamic covenant anymore. You need to be able to answer that. You know why? Because there is a mass rising of replacement theology in the church, and that's why when we stick these videos up on YouTube, you get these caustic statements, rude statements, people who just want to have a jab, not interested in edifying the body of Christ. I've got three points for you here tonight. Number one, in this chapter, you see a partial fall of Israel. Number two, a temporary fall of Israel, and number three, a providential fall of Israel. Get those in your mind tonight. In this chapter, where Paul warns about those in the church lifting themselves up, and rejoicing, and taking the place of Israel, and looking down on them, and discounting them, he states these three things. It's a partial fall, a temporary fall, and a providential fall. Number one, and you follow with me here tonight. Number one, a partial fall. Look at verse 17, and he says, and if some of the branches be broken off, do you see that the fall of Israel, what happened by the end of the first century, it's typified by the branches being broken off, broken off, cut off, removed from the tree. That was Israel. There was a partial fall, and I want you to notice this. It wasn't a complete, absolute removal of every Jew or all of Israel. It was partial. These branches that got broken off, they were Israel. It says in verse 22, it speaks about that they fell. In verse 11, they stumbled. In verse 12, it talks about their diminution, which is their deterioration. All through the first century, by the end of the first century, they have deteriorated. Can you imagine going from the book of Acts on the day of Pentecost, 3,000 Jews saved on the day of Pentecost, then another 5,000 Jews being saved, and you've got 12 apostles. Guess what they were? They were Jews. They were Israel, and then the first church, first churches, first elders, first missionaries, first evangelists, all of them, all of them were Jews, all of them were of Israel, and yet by the end of the first century, they are rejecting. Israel has been scattered. Jerusalem has been destroyed. The temple has been burnt down. Israel as a nation is beginning to be scattered amongst all nations as a culture, as an entire people. They're being scattered as predicted in the Bible, but at the beginning, the church, it was very Jewish, but it was moving to be Gentile, and so we see this partial breaking off of the branches right at the very beginning in the first century. What does it mean that the branches were broken off? They rejected the gospel. It's Paul began to turn from the Jews to the Gentiles. You remember the Jews who stood at Christ's condemnation before Pilate, and Pilate washes his hands saying, I'm having nothing to do with this righteous man. Be it upon your own heads, and they called, and they said, let his blood be upon us. The religious leaders of the nation said, let one man die for the entire nation. That man was the Lord Jesus Christ. So you had the fall of the nation. They stumbled as an entire nation. What a mighty fall to fall from a revival. Imagine having that, having everything our Bible says, and within a century, you lose it as an entire nation. Revival, gifted ministry, the power of God, miracles in your streets, and within one century, nothing, scattered, barren, lost, forsaken. It was a mighty fall, but what you see in this chapter, and you've got to know this, it wasn't a complete fall. It is a partial fall. Look at verse one, what it says. I say then, has God cast away his people? In that sentence, Paul is saying, what then? I'm talking about Israel. Has God cast away Israel? They crucified the Messiah. They rejected the gospel. They have thrown me in prison. They have tried to kill me. They martyred Stephen. Do you actually think God has cast them away, finished with them, no further plan and purpose? What does Paul say? God forbid, for I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. What's he saying? I'm an Israelite, so he kind of cast away Israel completely. I'm one of them. I'm in the church. I'm an apostle. I'm actually a missionary, an apostle to the Gentiles. You can't say he's finished with Israel. Those who say, God has finished with Israel. No, Paul is saying, I stand here as a witness. Verse two, God has not cast away his people, which he foreknew. Here's the people who God foreknew, and he has not cast them away. Notice this very carefully. They've rejected the gospel. They've turned their back. Most of them are in unbelief, but yet God foreknows them, and he's saying here, God hasn't finished with them. Know you not what the scripture saith of Elias, how he made intercession of God against Israel? Over the next few verses, you have Paul arguing about Israel in the Old Testament. There was always a remnant. All through Israel's history, there were many times where the entire nation turns away from God's word, turns away from real prophets, moves into sin or false religion. There's many times. In fact, there were generations where king after king was wicked, and yet they're still Israel, aren't they? They still have God's plan effective in their midst. They rejected God, but God didn't reject them. He punished them at times. He sent them into Egypt. He sent them into captivity in Babylon, but he never forsook them or cast them off. You know what Paul is saying here? There's always been a partial people who believed in God no matter what. He speaks here in these scriptures that God has not cast away his people. He talks about Elijah's day when the people killed the prophets, verse 3. They dig down thine altars, God's altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life, but what saith the answer of God? I have reserved to myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. You know what he's saying? There's a remnant in Israel. All of Israel, they're called Israel, but there's a remnant. Do you see at times where Israel falls, there's always a remnant, and it's the same over the past 2,000 years. Verse 5, even so then at this present time in Paul's day. So he's comparing it. He's used an example from Elijah's day, and he's saying it's the same now in my day. In Elijah's day, the nation rejected God. God still kept the people no matter how dark it got. In the darkest hour, 7,000 haven't bowed the knee. Now Paul is saying it's the same in my day. There is a remnant according to the election of grace. In other words, there's a remnant of all of Israel. No matter how dark it gets over this 2,000 years. Remember the branches are already cut off. This is what Israel looks like as cut off branches, but there's always a remnant coming in back into that tree, getting grafted back in, getting saved, getting born again. Branches aren't coming back in. Individuals are. The nation isn't impacted. Individuals are. And that's always been the way. There's a remnant of Israel according to election. In other words, God chooses them. God makes sure that in the darkest hours, there's always someone from Israel who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. And if by grace, he's saying it's by grace, then there's no more works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. Verse 7, what then? Israel has not obtained that which he seeketh for, but the election have obtained it. That's a very important verse I've just stated. He's speaking about the election for 2,000 years. It's been a partial group out of Israel who have got saved. See that word part or saved. It says in verse 25, for I want not brethren that you should be ignorant of this mystery. I don't want you to be ignorant. Think in Israel, God's finished with Israel. Do not be ignorant mentally. Don't think wrongly. You know, anyone who says God's finished with Israel, they're ignorant. If they're a Christian, they're ignorant about this teaching in Israel. Lest you should be wise in your own conceit. If you find anyone in the church say God's finished with Israel, there's no further special purpose. It actually shows they're wise in their own conceit. The blindness is part. Listen, blindness in part has happened to Israel. The end of verse 25, blindness has happened in part, not completely. The branches are cut off, but it's not a complete blindness. The word part there means a portion, a section. God is not fully finished with Israel. This is the first great thing I want you to understand, that there must not be an attitude in the church of boasting against Israel saying God's finished with them. It's only a partial cutting off of Israel, but God's purpose is still at work in them. Blindness has happened in part, but there's always been a remnant that God brings up out of all of this confusion. We know that it does say in certain scriptures, a true Jew is one, not who's circumcised in the flesh, but in the heart. That is the remnant. It talks about this in Romans chapter 2, and again in Romans chapter 9, a real Jew. You know what these false teachers say? They say when Paul says a real Jew is converted in the heart, therefore, there is no other kind of Jew. Israel, who have been cut off the branches, who don't believe anymore, they've got no right to the name Israel or to the name Jew. We, the church, are the true Jew because we believe. We're circumcised in the heart. We are the real Israel. We're the spiritual Israel. They don't even have a right to the name. Neither do they have the right to the land or any of the promises or any of the prophecies. All of that has passed away. Now we've inherited it all. But this first point, it's a partial fall. In verse 7, it actually shows that Israel is distinct from the remnant or the election. This remnant, Israel within Israel is very distinct. They're the born again, regenerate people, even in dark hours in Israel's history. I believe it's the same over the past 2,000 years. Israel outside of those elect Jews individually are still called Israel. Their branch is cut off. They're still called Israel. They're not part of the elect. They're still called Israel. They haven't believed in Christ. They're still called Israel. But they're enemies. Enemies. And yet God's purpose still remains. They've rejected. But God's purpose is still there. But in this first point, it's only partial. Number 2, a temporary fall. Not only a partial fall. Paul shows it's a temporary fall. What do I mean? It won't last completely. What you've seen for 2,000 years, anyone who says, that is Israel. That's all that's ever going to happen with Israel. Are you kidding me? That's only a beginning of his argument here. Paul actually goes on to say, this fall, this blindness, this cutting off the branches is temporary. Look at verse 11. Have they stumbled that they may fall? What Paul is saying is there, have they fallen, rejected the gospel, being cut off as branches? Have they fallen never to be recovered as a nation again? What you've seen 1,900 years ago, and it's continued for 1,900 years now, have they stumbled? Have they fallen? Have they rejected? Has this happened to them, that they might fall never to be recovered as a nation again? Never to be brought back into the tree again. Individual Jews are getting saved. Individual Israelis are getting saved, but the nation hasn't. The nation is unimpacted by the gospel. What Paul says here, have they stumbled that they may fall? Have they stumbled to be fallen, rejected? Verse 24, for if thou were cut out of the olive tree, which is wild by nature, he's talking to the Gentiles, the church, and he's giving them an answer here, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree, how much more? Underline that. You, the Gentile, you're a crud out of your own tree, and you've been grafted, and you've been brought into the people of God from Ireland, can you believe it? From Limerick of all cities, from all your nations, from drugs and drinks and abominable religion and unbelief and atheism and immorality, all like that, you've been brought in, and you've been grafted in. The church in Ireland, grafted in. Do you know what he's saying? He says, if that has happened, how much more shall these, who? The branches that are cut off, Israel. He's actually proposing here, if you dare think Israel as a nation can't be brought back in, they more so than you. You think they're past salvation. You think they're in a worse state than any nation. No way. How much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree again? And he's asking a question. Don't you realize they more than you at the beginning can be grafted back in? You know, nations all across Europe, Scotland got changed as a nation, 40 days of preaching. Their education system changed, their political system, their religious system. Overnight, shepherds arose in every village, every town of Scotland. The entire nation fundamentally turned. They said the nation joined itself in covenant to God. Scotland as a nation, its politicians, its religious leaders, its workmen in the fields, as an entire nation, they turned to God in one hour, 40 days of preaching, and the nation was changed. That's happened in cities and nations all across our Western world. The gospel. Don't you think God can do that with Israel again? Do you think that they're past redemption or salvation? Verse 25, for I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery. What is the mystery? The word mystery, it means a revelation, a teaching that only God can show you. Naturally speaking, you could never know this. Normally, you would never know this, but a mystery is something that God opens up in the word of God and he reveals to you, and it's the only way you can You couldn't know it by just perceiving things. What is this mystery? Lest ye should be wise in your own conceits that blindness in part has happened to Israel until. Do you see that word until? It means until. Okay. That's the Greek meaning of until. It means until. Until a point So they're blinded. They're cut off. They fell. They stumble. They've been cast aside. They've rejected the gospel. They're in unbelief until. You know what he says? This is a mystery. 2,000 years ago, God has revealed to Paul, revealed to the Gentile churches, and he said, there's a mystery. Don't get arrogant, boasting against Israel. Don't you think you're superior? Don't you realize the same one that grafted you in can graft them right back in as an entire nation? Don't you realize that? And then he says, it's a mystery. This is a biblical teaching. This is one of the mysteries revealed in apostolic teaching that Israel has been blinded in part until a certain time. It's not perpetual. It's not eternal. It's not until the end of time. This blindness, this unusual blindness of Israel as a nation is actually until a set time. Their cutting off is not perpetual. The branches are going to come back in again. Verse 25, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. It's talking about the church. Gentiles, Christians coming in by way of the gospel until the fullness of the Gentiles. When is that exactly? Because Israel, have the branches been grafted back in yet? Has Israel come back in? Has the eyes of Israel as a nation been open? Are they still blind as a nation? Listen to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3, 15 to 16. But even unto this day when Moses is read, the veil is upon their hearts. Nevertheless, when it, Israel, shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. Verse 14, which veil is done away in Christ. He actually says, Israel has their hearts and their eyes veiled. They cannot see, they cannot believe. But he says in 1 Corinthians 3, nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord. Do you think he's making things up? Do you think these are crazy ideas? Or is he prophesying as an apostle teaching? This is going to happen before the end. Israel is going to believe at the end. When? Until the fullness of the Gentiles come in. What is the fullness of the Gentiles? It is a greater ingathering of the Gentiles than in the days of the apostles. Greater revivals, greater miracles, greater harvests, greater churches, a greater missionary movement. I believe this is talking about an hour where the gospel has reached every Gentile nation, every family of people, every people group. When the gospel has reached and brought in a harvest from every single nation. Saints of God, we are at a point in time where I believe we are almost until the fullness of the Gentiles come in. In other words, God goes, the gospel that's all over the world has done a full work, widespread. It's reached the end of the earth. Now it's time for Israel to see again or to be grafted back in. Listen to what it says in verse 11. I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Or have they stumbled to fall perpetually? Did they fall over the stone? Remember the stone? Offended at the stone, offended at the gospel. Did they fall over the stone that they should fall never to rise again? God forbid, but rather through their fall salvation has come unto the Gentiles for to provoke them to jealousy. Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world and the diminishing of them be the riches of the Gentiles. Listen to this carefully, this is dynamic. How much more their fullness. Listen to me. It talks about a time called fullness of Israel. It's talking about an hour when if their fall led to the gospel going to all the Gentiles and their diminishing meant riches for the world. What is their fullness going to mean? What is the fullness of Israel? That word fullness means completeness or thoroughness. Do you think Israel presently is full? Would you look at her and say, she's now full. See this term, her fullness is talking about the branches being brought back in to the olive tree. That is fullness. When Israel gets grafted back in, if getting grafted out had this effect on our entire world for 2000 years and the gospel reach in Ireland 1700 years ago, what is it going to be their fullness when they get grafted back in again? In verse 15 it talks about the receiving of them back in. Verse 26 talks about their salvation. So what does it mean when the branch gets grafted back in or their fullness? It's talking about salvation coming to Israel as a nation. What does it mean in verse 26 when it said, all Israel shall be saved. It means there's going to be a major mighty move of God, the like of which has never been seen since just after the day of Pentecost. It's going to mean masses of people to such a degree you're going to say this nation has been grafted back in again. Many, most, the majority, a sudden massive increase of converted Jews being brought into the church of Jesus Christ again, being made part because now we are one, the Jew and the Gentile are one in the body of Christ. The church, they're not a separate church. They won't be a separate church. There's only one church. When they get grafted back in, they come right back into the church again. It is a large scale in-gathering of Israel. It is a sudden, surprising move of God that shakes the entire culture and people even if they're in other nations. It will equal their rejection. Just like it was notable, the branch is getting cut off. It's going to be notable, the branch is getting grafted back in again. It says in verse 29, for the gifts and callings of God are without repentance. What's my point here? What's point two? A temporary fall. It was a partial fall for 2,000 years. It's a temporary fall. What does verse 29 say? For the gifts and callings of God are without repentance. All my lifetime, I've heard pastors, preachers, teachers use that verse and say, oh, if a pastor falls into moral sin, the gifts and callings are still there because of this verse so he can go back into ministry. It's not talking about someone in ministry. It's not talking about an individual. This verse is talking about an entire nation, Israel, that got grafted out, an entire nation that fell. He's saying that the gifts and callings on the nation of Israel 2,000 years ago, they are still there. God has not revoked their calling. There's still a chosen nation. There's still elect. There's still a plan. There's still prophecies to be fulfilled. God has not changed his mind about Israel. The way some talk, you'd think he's changed his entire plan. No, he has not concern in Israel. It says in verse 26, and so all Israel shall be saved as it is written. Look at the context of this about calling and giftings. As it is written, Paul, in talking about Israel in his day and in the last days, which we are close approaching, what does he do? He quotes from the Old Testament. Oh, all the Old Testament prophecies about Israel, they're spiritualized. Now, they belong to the church. No, they don't. Paul here is reaching into the Old Testament, quoting from Old Testament prophecies for Israel. In the New Testament, when speaking to the church, he said, these prophecies are still for Israel, still in the future, still to be fulfilled. What does he say? It is written, there shall come out of Zion, the deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. Paul is talking here about the gifts and callings upon the branches that have been cut out. They're still there. What does that mean? God is going to forgive them. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes. But as touching the election, they are beloved for the father's sake. Please, please, I beg you, notice this that I've just said. Israel that is an enemy today, the branches cut off, is still elect. Do you know all the teachers who teach against what I'm teaching? Do you know what they're saying? Israel is no longer chosen. It is not elect. Then Paul was a liar. The word of God is wrong, because do you know what he's saying? Yes, as concerning the gospel, they're enemies. They hate the gospel. So here you have an entire people, Israel, national Israel, the Jews, they hate the gospel. They're enemies of the gospel. But at the very same time, the same people, it says, as touching election, they are beloved for the father's sake. So election is still there. God is looking on Israel, national Israel today. And he's saying, I love you. The father loves you for his own sake. He says, I love you. My calling is still upon you. I am yet going to save you. And yet you're enemies nationally against the gospel. Those who say they're enemies, they're depraved, they crucified Christ, know absolutely nothing. Let me finish quickly here. It's going to be very hard, but I'll try my best. Number three, a providential fall. It's a partial fall, a temporary fall. But thirdly, a providential fall. What does that mean? It works for good. It works for good. Their fall actually is working for good. It's constantly. It will work for good. Verse 12, now if the fall of them be the riches of the world. Do you see what happened in their fall? They fell. The riches of the gospel go to the world, to every nation. This is what I mean about it being providentially good. You know, God has worked providentially. I meant to write the facts down. I forgot to write it. But do you know Israel could have been in Uganda? Contemporary, present day Israel. Do you know the Zionists 150 years ago that were radical? Israel must have their own nation again. Be birthed as a nation again. All those replacement theology ones don't consider these things. The leaders of the Zionist movement 150 years ago, they took a vote and they were in the majority. They said, we're going to move to Uganda. That was where they were going to have the present contemporary state of Israel. They took a vote. Most of them that had voting power, they actually wanted that. But Herzl, the leader of them, died. He was the radical leader of Zionism. And then other political things come in. Guess where they ended up? In their old native nation. Even the Zionists would have settled for Uganda, for Africa. Could you imagine that? Having an Israeli state in the midst of Africa. God helped the African nations if they had of. Do you know God's providential hand has always been upon them? Look at them 2,000 years ago. They fell. But look how it impacted everybody else, the other nations of the world. The diminution of them is the riches of the Gentiles. How much more their fullness. Don't you know there's an hour of fullness that's never happened in our world before? Their full is providential. There's a plan of God. There's a purpose of God. God is using Israel. You know people, they say, God is finished with Israel. They're no different than Japan or Germany or Ireland. They're just another nation. And individuals can get saved. I don't believe that at all. You see, I believe their entire rejection of the gospel is providential until their fullness. For if the casting away of them be the reconciliation of the world, what shall be the receiving of them? He actually tells you what's going to happen. He prophesies. So if them falling meant the gospel went to all nations, what happened for the past 2,000 years? Then what's going to happen when they get reconciled? Do you see that in verse 15? It says they're going to get reconciled. Ah, how can you have replacement theology? It says it here, they're going to get reconciled. If their rejection of the gospel, their fall, meant the gospel went worldwide. What is their reconciliation going to mean for the world? In other words, Israel's going to get grafted back in. The branches are coming back in. They're going to get saved again. They're going to get forgiven. The covenant of grace made in the blood of Jesus is going to come to them. It says here, I haven't told you yet what it is at the end of verse 15. So what's going to happen when they get grafted back in? But life from the dead for Gentile nations. In other words, when Israel gets grafted back in, when revival comes to Jerusalem again, first time in 1,900 years, the spirit of God is going to fall. In my notes, I was going to tell you what that revival was like, but we won't go there here tonight. You see, it talks about their fullness, their completeness, their thoroughness being received back in, salvation coming to them as an entire nation. This is an astounding thing. And all in this chapter, Romans chapter 11. You know, Paul, he taught from chapter 1 to chapter 8. He's teaching Gentiles, total depravity, sinfulness of men, justification by faith. You know it all, don't you? Then you get into sanctification, crucified with Christ, the warfare with the flesh, Romans 7. Then Romans 8, the victorious Christian life. Then suddenly he changes direction. He jumps from chapter 8 to chapter 12. It's like he carries on. If you go from then to chapter 8 and then you start up in chapter 12, it's like there'd be no break. But there is a break here. There's three chapters on Israel. He's actually in the middle of this to a Gentile church. He's in certain teaching. It's not all about the church. He's not saying the church is Israel and we've inherited all the promises and all the prophecies are ours now. And we spiritualize all the prophecies. None of that. Do you know what he begins to say? He begins to say, there's still a plan for Israel. It's going to happen in the last days. And this is what's going to happen. Saints of God, we're going to carry on this further. And I want to deal further with this false teaching, this old teaching called replacement theology. And they add all sorts of theological fancy terms to say, oh no, we don't believe we replaced Israel. It's just continuationism. We just believe we are the people of God. And now everything's changed. The Abrahamic covenant or the Mosaic covenant has been fulfilled. And now we stand in that place. You know what you're doing? You're boosting against Israel because you know what? Their fall was partial, temporary, and providential. Because in their fall, in the last days, when they come back in again, there's something called a resurrection from the dead. And I don't believe it's talking about the resurrection, the bodily resurrection, or just the return of Christ. I believe it's talking about a spiritual revival. Doesn't the church of this era, haven't we seen apostasy and compromise? Isn't the church of this generation a bad testimony? Haven't we seen a fall in what leadership is, and holiness is, and what righteousness is? Haven't we lost order from families and from the qualifications of an elder in the church? All of this has fallen. Do you know what I believe is about to happen? As the branches get grafted back in, you're going to see a major move of God that is related in Zechariah chapter 12. We're given all the details of that revival when Israel gets grafted back in. And according to Paul in Romans 11, there's coming a greater work of God in the Gentile nations than has happened for 2,000 years. Our world has the biggest population in world history, eight billion people. And in this generation, your generation, either more people in 30 years will go to heaven or go to hell in this generation than any other generation in world history. Will you pray with me? Father, I thank you. I praise you, Lord God. We bless you tonight. Lord God, open up our understanding, our minds, our hearts tonight. Lord God, teach us this mystery that's within the Word of God. Father, we don't want to be proud, or arrogant, or boasting against the people of Israel. We realize they're enemies of the gospel. We realize they're in unbelief. We realize they're branches that have fallen and stumbled and been cut off. Lord God, we realize they rejected this gospel, but oh God, we know that they are loved by the Father. We know, oh God, that that election is still in place, that your plan, your purpose for ancient Israel to put them back in their land, and Lord God, to begin to restore them, and then to send them a spiritual revival, and then to graft them back in with us again into that olive tree. Father, I thank you that you have a divine plan and purpose. And Father, I pray that we might stand in awe, that we might glory, oh God, not in our possession over Israel, but oh God, to stand amazed that you would save sinners like us, and oh God, to know that the very same God that saved us, that brought us in, will bring Israel in one more time in the days ahead. Father, stir our hearts to pray for the salvation of Israel, to believe for the branches to come back in, and Lord God, to prepare ourselves for a move of God suddenly, quickly, in one hour, in one generation, the like of which we never imagined or comprehended. Lord God, amidst darkness engulfing politically the nations, we pray for the breath of God to move again, that the very wind of God would come from the four corners, and Lord God, blow on the valley of dead bones. Lord God, blow on Israel again. Lord God, she's in unbelief. Lord God, military strong. Lord God, economically strong, back in her land, but oh God, she's never been grafted back in again. We pray for the conversion of the Jew, for Israel as a nation. Fulfill your word. We believe your word, and Lord God, we pray according to the written scriptures, in Jesus' mighty name. Hallelujah. Amen.