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Alright, Deuteronomy chapter 7, it's a wonderful chapter for the nation of Israel. This is of course Moses encouraging the nation to go into the Promised Land and that God's going to bless them, God's going to be with them, and I want you to know what it says in verse number 6, for thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God, the Lord thy God have chosen thee to be a special people unto himself above all people that are upon the face of the earth. There's this wonderful blessing, the Israelites here, God's holy people, God has chosen them, he says you're a special people above all people that are upon the face of the earth. The title for the sermon this afternoon is The Jews, God's chosen people. The Jews, God's chosen people. And if you thought that believing the sermon in the morning makes you a bit of a reject by believing that Jesus Christ is going to come after the tribulation, well what I'm going to teach you about the Jews, you're going to be rejected even more so. Like if your friends haven't all rejected you, if you believe this doctrine, they're all going to reject you. Okay? If you've been in a Baptist church, and so look, I'm just going to show you, look, what we see very clearly here, the nation going into the Promised Land, God's making it very clear, special, chosen, above all people, and that's why I'm saying that, you know, this is the title, you know, God's chosen people, you know, I'm not going to deny that this physical nation going to the land are chosen by God. Now, when we read about that in the Old Testament, when we read about the nation of Israel in the Old Testament, there are some that will say to you, well the nation of Israel today, in the Middle East, they're also God's chosen people, the Jews, okay? And that is a common teaching amongst many Baptist churches, okay? But what I want to prove to you as we go through this, is yes, it is a reality, God does say those words, but what people refer to as Jews today, they've got bad terminology, they're not using what the Bible teaches, and what I want to show you now, if you can come with me to 2 Kings chapter 16, come with me to 2 Kings chapter 16 and verse number 5, 2 Kings chapter 16 verse number 5, and while you're tuned there, there is a position amongst many Baptist churches, whenever there's a conflict in the Middle East, with the Jews and Palestinians or Jews and whoever, that they'll say, hey, we stand with Israel, we stand with the chosen people, we stand with the Jews, because God just told us, they're special, they're chosen above all people, but are you sure the people that's in the Middle East today, that claim to be Jews, are you sure that's the same group of people that went into the promised land? Are you sure about that? Because if they're a different type of people, you're blessing the wrong kind of people. That's what I'm trying to say to you, you're blessing the wrong kind of people. Now, if you were to ask, you know, your average Baptist pastor that says, yes, you've got to bless the Jews, or you'll be, you know, bless the Jews, and God will bless you. If you curse the Jews, God's going to curse you. That's the common teaching that's out there. You know, if you were to ask them, well, how do I identify a Jew, you know, how do I know this is someone that I need to bless? Because there are non Jewish people from a physical descendants that call themselves Jews, because of their religion. They've converted to Judaism, and they're Jews. But they're not physical descendants, they don't claim to be physical descendants. Which of these two am I supposed to bless? And the common position is, well, you've got to bless those that are descendants from Abraham. If they descend from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, then they're the ones you're meant to bless. But then the question is, but how do I know they descended from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? Because they say so? How do I know that? Because in the Old Testament, they kept genealogies, they kept record of who descended from who, which tribe they belong to, the land they possess, all that was kept. But today, there are no records. Number one, number two, in the Old Testament, you are part of the physical descendency, if your father was one of the members of those tribes, right? If your father belonged to those tribes, you could say, yes, I'm of that tribe. That's how they practice things in the Old Testament. But today, the Jews today, they have it completely different. They say, if your mother identifies as a Jew, then you're a Jew. So today, it's not about the father, the father line, today, it's about the line of the mother. So how do we know? They're not even following the steps that God has outlined in the scriptures to identify someone of that tribe. In fact, there is research out there, not that I care that much, but there's research out there that the majority of Jews today are primarily European, or Turkish in background, that they aren't even the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they are European Turkish that converted to Judaism. And that's why they're very white, generally speaking. That's why the very blonde look in many of them is because they're European. So am I supposed to bless the European because they believe in a false religion that rejects Jesus Christ, but they claim to be Jews? So am I supposed to bless the European with a false belief? Is that how God blesses me by blessing them? How do I identify? You see, generally speaking, pastors don't give you this information, okay? And I've got a good friend. I'll tell you about one good friend I have who's a pastor, okay? And I don't want to name him because I don't want him to be rejected. But he used to always post on Facebook, I stand with Israel, I stand with the Jews, this and that. And like, we're really good friends, okay? And I never said anything to him because, you know, you're saved, you know, brother and Lord, I love you. I don't have a fight with you. I don't want to argue about it, right? But eventually, he stopped posting all that. He stopped posting about the Jews, that he stands with Israel every single time there's a war, you know? Like there are pastors out there that literally say things like, you know, we should just bomb all the Palestinians, you know, just get rid of this scum, and that land belongs to Jews. But you know, there are believers, there are Christian Palestinians on that land as well. Do you want to bomb your brother in Christ? I mean, when do you start drawing these lines? Is it right just for us to just say, hey, just go bomb an entire nation of people? Look, I don't stand with Israel and I don't stand with Palestine. I want peace. I would love people to have peace. In fact, more so I want them to have peace with God, to get saved and call upon them the Lord Jesus Christ, regardless of what they are, physically speaking. But anyway, this friend of mine stopped posting, I caught up with him one day of coffee. We got talking about different things. And I just said to him, look, I really want to ask you this, hope you don't get offended. But why did you stop posting about your support for Israel? He goes, because I finally realised that wasn't the biblical position. And I don't even know how to tell my friends that that's not the biblical position. So I've just stopped posting on Facebook, hopefully they get the message some other way. All right. Now, when you think of Jews, like if you've gone to a Baptist church for most of your life, you probably think of Jews. You probably think Abraham's a Jew. You probably think Abraham Isaac is a Jew. You probably think Jacob's a Jew. No, no, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were not Jews. Okay. Now, if you look at second Kings chapter 16, second Kings chapter 16, oh, before I keep going, sorry. Anyway, you're the second Kings chapter 16. So again, as a kid, and I've said this before, I put a lot of weight with the natural reading of God's word, whereas a 12 year old or eight year old or 15 year old reading the scriptures, what I conclude, I've built many of my doctrines, just without the biases, just reading God's word. And as I would read God's word, I concluded that there are two groups of people on this earth. Do you know what those two groups of people are? The saved and the unsaved. Doesn't matter what your ethnicity is, doesn't matter what your background is. And that gave me a lot of, I don't know, like comfort because, you know, my parents migrated from Chile, but I consider myself an Australian. But in Australia, like Australians don't really think of me as Australian. Australians will come and say, so where are you from? Well, I was born in Sydney, you know what I mean? I've lived in Australia pretty much my whole life, but I guess the answer to your question is Chile. Okay. My ethnicity is Chile. Okay. And so amongst Australians, they don't really think of me as an Australian, but then when I go to Chile and I meet my family and they don't consider me Chilean, they say, here's the kangaroo. He is the Australian. And so I don't belong anywhere, but I'm glad I belong amongst the saved. And so to me, ethnicity doesn't matter, I don't care about that. I don't think you're better because you're blonde or you're, or you're dark headed or your dark skin. To me, if you're saved, you're my brother in the Lord, I love you. I don't care. It doesn't matter if I knock on a door, it doesn't matter what color of skin they are. It doesn't matter how big their nose is. It doesn't matter anything about their physical appearance. I'm going to try to give them the gospel and see them saved. I'm not wondering, oh you're a Jew. I've got to bless you. I've got to make sure I bless you. If you've got the long sideburns, I better start blessing you because I want to be blessed by God. That's not something that enters into my mind. So are you saved or you're not saved? If you're not saved, let's try to get you saved. Now let me show you how God uses the term Jew in the Bible. In 2nd Kings 16 verse 5, Let's stop there for a moment. So Pekah here is the king of Israel. Your Baptist pastors would say, that's the Jews. Hold on. So we have two nations, Syria and Israel. And we know that after the reign of Solomon, the nation of Israel was broken up into two kingdoms. The southern kingdom, Israel, which is what we're reading back here, and the southern kingdom, Judah. So we have Syria and king of Israel, says came up to Jerusalem to war. They're going to fight in Jerusalem. Where is Jerusalem located? In Judah. So Israel and Syria coming together to fight against the southern kingdom of Judah. And it says here, and they besieged Ahaz, Ahaz the king, but could not overcome him. At the time, the resident king of Syria recovered Elaph to Syria, look at this, and the Jews from Elaph and the Syrians came to Elaph and dwelt there unto this day. And so you see the king of Syria is driving away the Jews because they're fighting against the Jews, but they're fighting together with Israel because the Jews are the southern kingdom. The southern kingdom known as Judah, Jews, that's where the term comes from, the northern kingdom, Israel. The northern kingdom was primarily the 10 tribes, 10 tribes of Israel, okay. And the southern kingdom primarily Judah and Benjamin. So when they broke into separate kingdoms, separate nations, the southern kingdom of Judah and Benjamin, they're the Jews, they are the Jews. The other 10 tribes were never the Jews, okay. And again, Abraham was not a Jew because he was not part of those two tribes, Isaac was not a Jew, not part of those 10 tribes, Jacob was not a Jew, his name was changed to what? Israel. And then his children became known as the children of Israel and that's where the 12 tribes were formed. So you got the children of Israel, the Israelites, but only two of the kingdoms after the nation was divided into two were known as the Jews. Now the northern kingdom later was taken over by Assyria, okay, and the people were driven out of the land, they were intermingled, they became known as the Samaritans. And then the southern kingdom, Judah, was taken over by Babylon and when God brought them out of Babylon, the Jews out of Babylon, okay, again those two nations, then of course in the day of Jesus Christ when he's walking the earth and he's dealing with Judea, yes he's dealing with the Jews at that point in time, okay. But I want you to understand because your Baptist pastor is not going to understand how can Israel go to war against the Jews? Because they think Israel is the Jews, no, okay. The Jews are the southern kingdom of Israel. Now what I'm trying to show you here, brethren, is the first way that someone can identify as a Jew, at least from the Old Testament. How can they identify as a Jew? By being a physical descendant, specifically of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, okay. So yes, in the Old Testament, you can identify as a Jew if you are a physical descendant. Remember those records were being kept, they were following the line of the fathers, the inheritance of the land, what have you, yes, physically speaking, someone can refer to themselves as a Jew. But that's not the only way, okay. Come with me now to Leviticus, come with me to Leviticus chapter 19, Leviticus chapter 19, Leviticus chapter 19, Mickey's got a confused look on his face, I hope I haven't confused you but Mickey, you can ask me after the service, Leviticus 19 please, Leviticus 19. There's another way to be a Jew. There's another way to identify with these people, even if you're not a physical descendant, okay. In Leviticus chapter 19 verse number 33, we get this command from God to the nation, if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, so stranger, that's a foreigner, right, a foreigner comes into your land, ye shall not vex him, but the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shall love him as thyself, for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt, I am the Lord your God. So how else can someone identify with the Israelites or even identify as a Jew, if they migrated into the nation, right. If a foreigner just comes and says, you know what, I love your nation, I love your God, I want to migrate to your nation, even though he might be a Ethiopian, he might be an Indian, he might be anything, any stranger, he says, you know what, I want to migrate to your land. God says, hey, treat him as one born into the land, don't treat him any differently because you were foreigners, you were strangers, I took you out of Egypt. And what I'm trying to show you there is there's another way to identify specifically if they went into the two southern kingdoms, sorry, Judah and Benjamin, is that if you migrate, your national identity can make you a Jew as well. So not just physically, but your national identity can make you a Jew, even if you were never physically of that family. Further evidence of this very clearly is when the nation or not, it wasn't so much a nation, but the children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt, you read this multiple times in your Bible. The Bible says they were a mixed multitude, a mixed multitude. Because Egypt was a powerful nation of the land. And when the people of the land saw the judgment of God fall upon, you know, the 10 plagues fall upon Egypt, there were many people besides the Israelites that said, hey, we want to go with you. We say your God is a true God, we're coming along. You know, one way we know this for sure is Moses' second marriage, okay, I guess his first wife passed away, I assume, when he got married the second time, who did he marry? An Ethiopian woman. Why do you think she was there? Because they were a mixed multitude. Do you think Moses, well, hold on, no, no, no, no, we need to keep this pure line, this pure ethnicity. I can't marry you Ethiopian woman. Say pastor, that would be racist to be like that, yeah. There are pastors that will say that to you, that the Jews kept this pure line, they only married amongst themselves. That is not true, even from the birth of the nation. Because Joseph, okay, the largest tribe in the northern kingdom was a tribe of Ephraim, which was one of the sons of Joseph. Okay, yes, Joseph was an Israelite, but what was his mother? An Egyptian. Two of the tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh, because Joseph got the double portion, okay, two of the tribes, one of the biggest tribes of Israel was half Egyptian. Like, look, this is just the reality of the Bible. Doesn't sound like God cares about this, you got to make sure you got a physical image. I've heard that in my life. We know the Jews in the Middle East today are true Jews because Jews never intermingled, they never married. It's like, have you not read the Bible? They did it over and over and over and over again. And in reality, God had no problems. The only problem with that was if they were marrying people who worshiped a false god. Look, if they said, hey, I'll make your god my god, it was fine for them to marry. They're marrying a believer is what they're doing, right? And there are still Baptist churches today. And I know someone in Sydney, the pastor will preach that it's wrong for a white man to marry a black woman, or vice versa. Independent, fundamental, King James only, Baptists will say you're going against God if you're mixing the races. I'm like, Ephraim and Manasseh were half Egyptian. Like where is this pure line race that you talk about? It's kind of sounded like Hitler a little bit now. So two ways so far. How can you identify as a Jew? Yes, you can. I guess it's a physical descendancy. Yes, if you migrate into land, and you've got the national identity. Come with me now to Esther chapter eight, Esther chapter eight, there is another way. Esther chapter eight. Now, so far, I'm just showing you references in the Old Testament, because we know that nation was a nation under the old covenant. We know that nation was a chosen people, a special people, a holy people. Esther chapter eight, verse number 15. Now, if the physical thing makes sense to you, if the national identity thing makes sense to you, I hope this makes sense to you. But this won't make sense to a lot of Baptist preachers, what I'm about to read to you. And we're just going to read God's Word, okay? Esther chapter eight, verse number 15. Now, the story in Esther takes place in Persia, okay? I won't go into it all, but the Jews were close to being exterminated, okay? And with Esther's hand and with God, you know, blessing them, they were saved from this mass execution. But it says in Esther 815, and Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and whites, and with a great crown of gold and with a garment of fine linen and purple, and the city of Shushan rejoiced and was glad. Mordecai is a Jew in this reference, okay? Esther, she was a Jew, okay? These were a people that were scattered in Persia. And then it says this, verse number 16, the Jews had light and gladness and joy and honour. So at this point, even though there was an attempt to exterminate the Jews, everyone's rejoicing, giving glory to the Jews, okay? Because they overcame, you know, this attack that was going to fall upon them. Now remember, this is Persia, you need to remember that this is Persia, okay? It says in verse number 17, and in every province and in every city, whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day. So everyone's celebrating the Jews here, okay? And notice the next phrase, and many of the people of the land became Jews. Do you see that in the Bible? Rich people of the land, the Persians, the Persians, many of the Persians became Jews. For the fear of the Jews fell upon them. They're like, man, we are, we're a Jew, there's the fear of the Jews. Because they had the God of the Bible, okay? They feared the Lord. So were the Persians physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? But does the Bible say they became Jews? So is it okay for me to find a Persian person? I'm sure we've got some Persians in our church at Blessed Hope, I'm trying to remember. I can't remember right now. But if I find a Persian, should I bless them so I can be blessed? If I curse them, am I going to be cursed by God? They're Jews, but how do they become a Jew? They're not physical descendants. They didn't migrate to Israel or to Judah. They became a Jew spiritually. They believed in the God of the Jews. That's how they became Jews. So there are three ways to identify a Jew in the Old Testament. Physical, national, spiritual. Now I hope I've shown that in the scriptures to you. Hope you can see all that. You're not going to hear that from the average church. I'm just showing you the scriptures, where they are, okay? Now let's go back to the initial, well I'll just read it to you. In Deuteronomy chapter seven, verse number six. When God says, For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord thy God have chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. Do you think when God says, you're holy, you're chosen, you're special, do you think he's saying that because you're physically part of Abraham? Do you think he's saying that because you're nationally part of this, you're part of this nation? Or do you think he's saying that because they are spiritually Jews? Just your thought. I'm not, I'm not going to ask that question just yet. Just think about it. What would make them special, chosen and holy? inwardly, spiritually, or physically, or their passport? Like what could God could be possibly speaking about when he says those words? Now if you can come with me, come with me to Matthew chapter three please, come with me to Matthew chapter three, Matthew chapter three, Matthew chapter three. Now I was listening to this, you know how in America it's coming to election time and then you've got the Republican Party, one of the candidates for the Republican Party is a woman called Nikki Haley, okay, and there was just this, you know how they had the little debates and stuff like that on TV, well I was just listening to what she was saying and I just caught it by, I was just fast forwarding, trying to catch things and I fast forwarded to a point where she said that she's, you know, she's strongly against antisemitism, meaning she's against racism toward the Jewish people. And me too, I'm against racism. I'm against racism against all people, okay, you know, I agree with that. But then she said, if you're, and she said, I want to redefine, like she becomes a president, she wants to redefine what it means to be a racist against Jews. She says if you're anti-Zionist, you're antisemitic, I don't know if you know what that means, Zionism is the philosophy, the political movements of bringing physical Jews back into the land and displacing the Palestinians, okay, and Zionism, the idea of they must have a land, we must give them that land and if we need to displace the people that have been on that land, so be it. So if you don't hold to that, if you don't think the people that have been living there for hundreds of years, that have inheritance, they've been passed down, generation, if you don't believe they should just lose all that and just give it to the Jews freely, then you're a racist. If she becomes president of the United States, okay, and this is just the modern, this is just like this week, I think just a couple days ago that she said that. But I want you to notice what it says here in Matthew 3, verse number 7. And this is the teaching of John the Baptist. John the Baptist, I'm a Baptist, who's the original Baptist? John the Baptist. If John the Baptist was walking, if he came into the church, you know what I say, hey, here's some honey and locusts, alright, we'll feed you, we'll feed you, can you come and preach for us? I would have no problem with John the Baptist coming to preach, would you? And this is what he would preach, okay, Matthew chapter 3, verse number 7. And when many of the Pharisees and Sadducees came to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who have warned you to flee from the wrath to come? John, you just called the Jews vipers, you're going to be cursed, you're meant to bless them, John. Bring forth, therefore fruits meet for repentance. This is John the Baptist preaching, look what he says. And think not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham to our father, for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. He says to the Jews, I don't care if you're physically Abraham's children, God can make these stones, these dead stones without Abraham's DNA, he can make these stones the children of Abraham. That's John the Baptist preaching, I have no problem. I guarantee you 90% of IFB churches would have a problem with John the Baptist preaching that. And here's the original Baptist, here's the OG, alright. Come on me to Deuteronomy chapter 28 please, Deuteronomy chapter 28, Deuteronomy chapter 28. So is John the Baptist saying, don't worry guys, you're physical descendants of Abraham, it's all good, you're right with God, I'm going to bless you, the land belongs to you, you're fine with God. Is that John the Baptist's approach? But that is the approach of many Baptist churches today. They're God's chosen, like today, I'm talking about Israel today, the Jews today, you're God's chosen, you're God's holy, I'll bless you, I'll stand with Israel, let's bomb the Palestinians. That would not be John the Baptist preaching. Now let's talk about the Zionist movement, say well they should have a land, I've got no problems with that, generally speaking. But besides Israel, the largest, maybe it is, what I'm trying to say here is that most Jews do not want to live in Israel. Like a lot of Jews are just happy to live in the United States, they've got no desire to live in the Middle East. You know, there's a great majority of orthodox Jews, those that are really religious with their hats and their, you know, sideburns, they're against Zionism. So if they're against Zionism, and this president, you know, hopeful Nikki Haley says if you're anti-Zionist, you're racist, well she's calling the Jews racist because they don't agree with the Jews that want the land. Like who do you support then? Like at what point, who are the Jews that I'm supposed to back? The ones that want to be on the land, or the ones that say the land doesn't belong to us? You know why the orthodox Jews commonly say that, that they're actually against Zionism? It's because they know these passages. Like in Deuteronomy 28 verse 15, Deuteronomy chapter 28 verse 15, now what we saw when we had the reading before the service, a great blessing on the people of God, a great blessing on that nation, but God also gives great curses upon them if they don't walk in his ways. There are great curses upon them if they don't believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. If they turn to false gods, okay, there's going to be a great curse upon them. In Deuteronomy chapter 28 verse 15, but it shall come to pass if thou will not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe, to do all his commandments and his statutes, which I command thee this day, that all these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee. The gods pronouncing curses upon them. Now think of Israel in the Middle East today. Think of the Jew that says that's our land, get the Palestinians out of here today. Let's read it again, but it shall come to pass if thou will not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. Do they listen to the voice of the Lord thy God today? Do they believe on Jesus Christ? Judaism denies Jesus Christ. So are they hearkening to the voice of God? No. Okay. Alright, so these curses will come upon them. Okay, now I'm not going to go through all the curses, drop down to verse 63, I'll just read some of them to you. Deuteronomy 28, 63, and it shall come to pass that as the Lord rejoiced over you to do good and to multiply you, stop there, you see how God rejoiced to do good to them, alright, and multiply them, alright, if they did good. But notice, so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you. Have you heard that taught in the church before? If God says you know what, I'm free with you, I'm going to curse you, the Bible says God's rejoicing to do that as well. And to bring you to naught, to bring you to nothing, and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it. He says look, if you don't listen to my words, and I curse you, I'm going to pluck you off the land. Now today, think of Israel today, again, are they listening to God's voice? Have they turned and believed on Jesus Christ? No. So should they be on the land, or should they be plucked off the land? From a biblical perspective, plucked off the land. So I'm not a Zionist, I'm not saying give them the land, look, if they all believed in Jesus Christ, you'd have a point. If they listened to God, you'd have a point. But they're cursed by God. And look at verse number 64, and the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other, and there thou shall serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone. People say oh the Jews just worship God, God the Father, they don't know the Son. No, God says they're going to worship other gods, even wood and stone. You go into Jerusalem today, they literally go to the stone wall, and they pray like this to the stone wall. That's their God. It's not the God of the Bible. The curses are still upon that people. You say but pastor, we saw earlier, they're chosen, they're holy, they're special. Nationally or spiritually? I want you to think about that. What does the chosen holy special mean? Can you come with me to John chapter five, John chapter five, verse number 42. And let me just say, I don't hate Jews. Make it very clear. I think of them the same as I think of a Chinese man. I think of the same as I think of an Australian man. I think of, they're just lost. They're without Jesus. What do they need? A pat on the back by Baptist brothers? Don't worry, you're special, holy and chosen. Or do they need to be challenged by the gospel and say believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved. So you can be spiritually a Jew. John chapter five and verse number 42. Jesus says this, actually let's just read verse number 46 for the sake of time. Before we read it, again, how many Baptist pastors are going to say to you, no, no, no, you don't understand. God's got a special covenant with them, special people. They just haven't believed on Christ. They believe in the God of the Bible. No. Judaism today is not the religion of the Old Testament saints. The Old Testament saints was just the Old Testament Christianity. And to prove that, these are the words of Jesus now. He says in John 5 46, he says it to unbelieving Jews, for had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me, for he wrote of me. So do the Jews, Judaism, do they believe the writings of Moses? No, because if they believe the writings of Moses, they would believe in Jesus because Moses wrote of Jesus. So it is Old Testament Christianity because Moses wrote of Jesus. The Bible is about Jesus. It's always been about Jesus. Look at verse number 47. If ye believe not his writings, if ye don't believe the writings of Moses, how shall ye believe my words? See they don't believe the scriptures. Judaism today, the religion of Judaism today has nothing to do with biblical Christianity. It's got nothing to do with the writings of Moses. It's got nothing to do with the writings of the prophets. It's got nothing to do with any of that. The books they follow is the Babylonian Talmud. It's a separate religion. Nothing to do with what the Jews or the Israelites believed in the Old Testament. They worship another god. A god that causes them to reject Jesus Christ. I'm sorry but the Bible says if you don't have the son, you don't have the father. They don't worship the father. It's a false god. It's a false religion. There's a reason why in Revelation chapter 3, it's called the synagogue of Satan. They say they are Jews but they are not. They are the synagogue of Satan. It's a false religion that they have today. It's not the religion of the Old Testament. Can you come with me to Galatians chapter 1? Galatians chapter 1. So again, in the Old Testament we saw there are three different ways a Jew can be able to identify. Physical? National? Yep. Spiritual. Okay? But think of Israel or the Jews today. Does physical matter? John the brother said these stones can be made in the children of Abraham. So that's not what makes you special. National identity? No. God says they should be plucked off the land. That shouldn't be the national identity. They're meant to be scattered amongst all the other nations. So that's not the issue. Are they Jews spiritually? No. Because they did not have, they don't believe the words of Moses. They don't believe the words of Christ. They have a false religion. So there is nothing about modern day Israel or modern day Jews that has anything to do with the Old Testament, holy, chosen, special people of God. There's nothing in common. Galatians chapter 1 please. Again talking about the Jews religion. Now it's not, it's very well accepted that modern day Judaism today has its roots to the Pharisees. The Pharisees that rejected Jesus Christ. Okay? And again when you read all the Pharisees in the Bible, there are some Pharisees that got saved. Paul's a wonderful example. Okay? And I believe Nicodemus got saved as well. Okay? They were both Pharisees. In fact the Bible says there were some Pharisees that they publicly, they believed on him but just publicly didn't confess him. I just don't remember the reference right now. Okay? But look what John, sorry, look what Paul says in Galatians chapter 1 verse 11. He says, but I certify you brethren that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. So he's speaking of the gospel or the gospel that is believed. He goes for I received, for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. So ye have heard of my conversation in time past. He goes you've heard of my behavior in the past. Look at this, in the Jews religion. How that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God and wasted it. He says I now believe the gospel but you know in the past I believed the Jews religion and the Jews religion caused me to persecute the church of God. So again, does the Jews religion have anything to do with Christianity? It's the complete opposite. The Jews religion is not believing the writings of Moses because if they believed the writings of Moses they would have believed on Jesus Christ because Moses wrote of him. Okay. Now you're in Galatians, come with me to Galatians number three, Galatians number three. Say pastor why do you get heated about this? Because so much deception, so many lies, like I'm glad my pastor friend realized but he's afraid to say anything like just like the rapture thing but the Bible is so clear about this. It's like why do I keep posting all these things and I just you know and I'm sorry like if I'm opening your eyes to this you're going to be rejected even more so I told you earlier. Look Jesus Christ was rejected and despised of man. Okay Jesus Christ was rejected by his, you know don't forget Peter denied him three times and Peter's a spirit fueled saved man. Look sometimes God's people unfortunately will turn against you. Not that it matters like if look if there's a believer that says you know what pastor I don't care, I don't care, the special chosen, those people in the Middle East I believe they're all okay fine. If you're saved, you're my brother in the Lord, I love you, let's go save souls. Let's work together. Like I don't hate you for it but it seems like if I teach this or you believe what I'm just showing you in the scriptures that you're going to be hated by even your brothers in the Lord for this position. What is the true Jew? Galatians chapter three verse number six. It says even as Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. How was Abraham saved? By faith he believed God. Know ye therefore, stop, who's ye? Know ye therefore, well primarily he's writing to the Galatians church, Galatians church right? It's a book of Galatians. Are they Jews or Gentiles? Gentiles okay. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith the same are the children of Abraham. Who are the children of Abraham? The physical lineage, no, no, no, no. They which are of faith the same are the children of Abraham. Guess what? I have the same faith as Abraham. I believed God and his righteousness was imputed upon me. I'm a child of Abraham. I'm just quoting what the scripture says but my Baptist pastor friends would be like oh it's heresy, anti-semitic, how dare you say such a thing. Abraham's my dad, my spiritual dad. We've got the same faith. I might not have his physical DNA. I might not. Maybe I do, I don't know. It's people so mixed these days. I'm okay. I don't care. I don't want it. I might not have his national identity. We may never live in the same piece of land. I don't care but I've got the same faith that he has. That's what makes me a child of Abraham and look at this verse number eight. And the scripture, when it says scripture it's talking about the Old Testament and the scripture foreseen that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham saying look at this, in thee shall all nations be blessed. I'm blessed with Abraham but you're an Australian but you're a Chilean, yeah people of all nations shall be blessed if you're of the same faith as Abraham. Oh the blessings were given to the Jews. No the blessings were given to those that have the same faith as Abraham. As the Old Testament nation of Israel went into the promised land, believe in God, they had the faith of Abraham. Yes they were wholly chosen special people above all people of the earth. But because they had the faith of Abraham, because they had the spiritual Jew within them which we'll talk about in a moment, that's what made them holy, that's what made them special. Look at verse number nine. So then they which be of faith, are you of faith? Do you believe in Jesus? Are you trusting him by faith alone, not by works? Then that's you. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. Oh no no, the people in the Middle East who have a completely different faith, a different religion than Abraham. They're the ones that are blessed by God, no. Those that are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. Those that are of faith the same are the children of Abraham. Again two groups of people, the saved and the unsaved. Look at verse number 16, Galatians 3.16. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. And we've read this before, I know, but it's so important. So the seed, they'll say that's the Jews, the physical Jews, the people in the Middle East, the people at war right now with Palestine, that's the seed, that's who receives the promises. Let's read it again. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made, he saith not and to seeds as of many but as of one. So there's Abraham and the promises to one seed. One, who's the seed? And to thy seed which is Christ. Christ is the seed of Abraham. The promises were made to Abraham and to his seed, yes, descendants, eventually Christ will come through that lineage, but the promises are made to the seed which is Christ. Drop down to verse number 26. For ye are all children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Again confirming faith is what saves us. That's what makes us children of God. For as many of you as have been baptised into Christ have put on Christ, look at verse number 28. Great. There is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. So if you've believed on Christ, you're one in Christ Jesus, okay, we're in Christ Jesus if you're saved. Then when it says in verse number 29, and if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. So what am I? I'm a child of Abraham. I'm an heir according to the promise. I am the seed of Abraham because I am in Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus is the seed. So the promises that God gave to Abraham where all nations of the earth will be blessed, not just one nation, all nations, I'm part of that, you're part of that. But there are churches today that will say, no, no, no, that's not you. That's the Middle East Jews today that reject Jesus Christ, that have a false religion that can't prove that even physical descendants that shouldn't have a place on the land because God told them who plucked them out and cursed them if they did not obey the word of God. You see how mixed up this stuff is? I think it's wonderful. No other Jew nor Greek, good. Neither Chilean nor Australian, good. I don't care. I don't care what you are. I care that you're in Christ Jesus. That's what I care about, that you're saved. Come with me to Galatians chapter six, Galatians chapter six verse number 15. Galatians six verse number 15. For in Christ Jesus, that's you and me, there is neither circumcision, sorry, for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. Let's stop there for a moment. The moment you got saved, you received a new creature. That's the teaching between the old man and the new man, the flesh and the spirit. I have a new creature in me since I've been saved, the spiritual man, the born again. And then it says this in verse number 16, and as many as walk according to this rule, what rule? The new creature, you see that? That's the rule that's been set for us. Those that are in Christ Jesus, not the rule of circumcision or uncircumcision, those things avail of nothing. The things on the outward don't profit you spiritually at all. But the new creature. So if you're saved, you're born again, you have the new creature. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them and mercy and upon the Israel of God. Question, who is the Israel of God? Oh, the people in the Middle East. No, the people that have the new creature. Look, if God has to say there's an Israel of God, doesn't that mean there's an Israel that is not of God? So who are you going to stand with? I stand with Israel. Which one? The Israel which is not of God or the Israel of God? I stand with Israel too. All you Israelites, the new creature? The new creature is not Australian, the new creature is not Chilean, the new creature is the Israel of God. That's its nationality. We're all one in Christ Jesus. So yeah, I do stand with Israel. But it better be someone that's in Christ Jesus, my brother or sister in the Lord. When you come with me to Romans chapter two, and I didn't tell you, but this is part of the strange doctrine series. These are strange doctrines. Let's stand with people who reject Jesus Christ. Let's bring these people into the land, even though God told them they should be plucked off the land. Let's stand with these people that have a physical descendants to Abraham, which you can't prove. And John the Baptist, yes, Baptists said, who cares? That means nothing. God can make these stones children of Abraham. But how many churches are telling you, oh yeah, you got to support them? I'm saying support your brothers in the Lord. Support the Israel of God. We're not at war with the Palestinians, we want to see the Palestinians saved. We don't battle, we're not at war with flesh and blood. We're not a physical nation today. There's a new covenant. The new covenant is made of spiritual people in Christ Jesus. We fight spiritual wars, we want to deliver people from darkness and bring them into the marvelous light of Jesus Christ. That's the war I'm interested in. Let's stand with the soul winners. Let's stand with those that are truly going out to battle and bringing people into the kingdom of God. That's who I stand with. I don't care what your ethnicity is, physical descendants. If you're in Christ Jesus, I love you. You've got the faith of Abraham. Romans chapter 2, verse number 28. The Bible is so clear. For he is not a Jew. Who's not a Jew? Which is one outwardly. Neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh. Judaism, they still do the physical circumcision. They still do that. Jesus, that's not what makes a Jew. He's not, look, he's not even a Jew. He is, right, he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly. Stand with the Jews. They're not a Jew. How can I stand with someone who's not a Jew? Who's the Jew? Listen to number 29. But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly. The new creature. It's flesh. It's flesh is still Chilean, Australian, whatever it is. The one inwardly. And circumcision is that of the heart. Why? Because to enter into the kingdom or to become a new creature, you have to believe with your heart. You have to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ with your heart. Yes, Lord, I trust your death, burial, resurrection. Yes, Lord, I trust you paid my way to heaven. I'm not trusting anything else. And so you're circumcised of the heart. It says in the spirit and not in the letter whose praise is not of men, but of God. Circumcision is the putting away of the flesh. When you believe in Jesus Christ, you put away the flesh, don't you? You say, Lord, my flesh can't save me. There is no righteousness in my flesh. I can never do good enough to be righteous before you. So you set aside the flesh. You circumcise the flesh in your heart and you believe with your heart on the Lord Jesus Christ. The moment you do that, you become a new creature. The Israel of God are due inwardly. So again, what we started with, from the Old Testament, physical, national or spiritual. When God says you're holy, chosen and special, which do you think he's referring to? The outward circumcision or the inward circumcision? The passport or whether you're in Christ Jesus? Which of those things do you think God is speaking about when you read the Old Testament? What time will it be? Is anyone tired? Can I keep going a little bit over time? I've got a few tired girls there. I'll buy you some chocolate next week. Come with me to Zephaniah, please. Sorry, Zechariah, come with me to Zechariah chapter 8. It's an important topic and the Bible is very consistent again. Zechariah chapter 8 and verse number 18. For the sake of time, actually drop down to verse number 23, for the sake of time. Someone said to me once, well what we read about here in Zechariah is the millennial reign of Christ. And I agree with that, when Christ is on this earth ruling for a thousand years. Then they took me to this verse, number 23, thus saith the Lord of hosts, in those days it shall come to pass that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, we will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you. Say, see, the Jews are special. We as Gentiles, there should be ten of us just trying to grab a hold of the Jews, like you know, tell us about your God. That's what it says. It's in the millennium. I agree, it's in the millennium. Okay? Okay, but again, who is a Jew? And who is not a Jew? Just keep that in mind. But let's stay in the context of this book. Who is God speaking about? Who are these Jews? Okay, verse number, let's backtrack to verse number six, get a bit of context. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, if it be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be marvellous in mine eyes, saith the Lord of hosts. Now for those of you that are familiar with the Bible, the word remnant, many times referring to the people of God, the saved people, okay, then it says this, in verse number seven, I saith the Lord of hosts, behold, I will save my people. Who are your people, God? I will save my people from the east country and from the west country. Huh? I thought the land of Canaan is where your people are. The east and the west? Come with me now to Matthew chapter eight, Matthew chapter eight. And if you look, if you still got a finger on Zachariah, it's going to help you, but sorry, I forgot. I can just read it to you though. Matthew chapter eight, verse number 10. Why is God's people in the west country and in the east country? They're on the west of Israel and they're on the east of Israel. What is he talking about? These Jews in these areas, what? Look at Matthew chapter eight, verse number 10. Now let me give you the context. This is about the centurion, the Roman centurion, who had such great faith, right, that all Jesus Christ has to do is speak the words and his servant's going to be healed. And that surprises Jesus. He goes, wow, his faith is amazing because in Matthew chapter eight, verse number 10. When Jesus heard it, he marvelled and said to them that followed, verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. He says, there's no one in Israel that has as much faith as this Roman Gentile centurion. And then he says these words, and I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and west. Who's he talking about? The Roman centurion and others that are like him, okay, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. So who are the people in the east and the west? The Gentiles. Who are they fellowshiping with, sitting down with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob? Jacob had his name changed to Israel. The Gentiles are together with the Israelites. Together with the Jews that are of the same faith. So when you go back to Zechariah, his people are from the east and the west, he's not talking about physical Jews, he's talking about spiritual Jews. The Gentiles are in Christ Jesus, like the Roman centurion. Look at verse number 12, talking about the physical Jews now. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And if you know the Bible, that's a reference to hell. Because you that are physical descendants, you're going to be in hell, while the people from the east and the west are going to be eating together with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And if you turn away from Zechariah, if you're still there, you can come back. God says in other words, something else that confirms this to be true. In Zechariah chapter 8, verse number 8, he says, and I will bring them and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, because I do believe Christ is going to rule from Jerusalem in his millennial reign. And they shall be my people. And I will be their God in truth and in righteousness. So these Jews, he says, they shall be to me my people. And I will be their God. Where is that repeated? It's repeated a few times, but in the New Testament, very quickly, I'll read it to you. Second Corinthians chapter 6, verse number 16, Corinth Gentiles. He says to them, and what agreement have the temple of God with vitals for ye are the temple of the living God, as God have said in Zechariah, as God have said, I will dwell in them and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people, who? The Corinthians, the people that you say, they're Gentiles, no, they're the Jews, that 10 people during the millennial reign of Christ are going to grab hold of them and say, hey, tell us about your God, let me go with you. That's going to be everybody from the east and the west. And of course those that are in Christ Jesus, like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So who is a Jew? What is the importance? What does God, you know, emphasize? What makes you the seed of Abraham? What makes you receive the promises that God has given Abraham, where all nations of the earth are going to be blessed? Is if you're saved, the new creature, the Israel of God, the Jew inwardly, the circumcision of the hearts, east and west, who cares where you're from, we're going to be all together with those that are in Christ Jesus. I have to show you all this, look, I'm sorry if I go over time, sorry. Genesis 28 please, Genesis 28, Genesis 28, verse number 13, Genesis 28, 13. Now God is speaking to Jacob, okay, Abraham's grandson, speaking to Jacob. In Genesis 28 verse number 13, Genesis 28, 13, it says, 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 where on thy liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed, oh who's the seed again? We saw it already, it's Jesus Christ, look at this, and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth. Is this talking about physical Jews? Let's keep going, and thou shall spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south, then it continues, God continues by saying, and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed, oh just the Jews, all the families of the earth, anybody that is in Christ Jesus, anybody that is of the seed are blessed. Look I don't need just the New Testament, the Old Testament is clear as well, is it not? Is the Old Testament not clear? I mean we have the light of the New Testament to help us understand the Old Testament, but it's consistent. Come read to one more passage, Luke chapter 13, Luke chapter 13, I lied, two more passages, Luke chapter 13, Luke chapter 13, now remember what God said to Jacob, that you're going to be spread to the west, to the east, to the north, and to the south, well Luke 13 verse 28, again Christ is speaking to the unbelieving Jews, he says, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, again a reference to hell, when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves thrust out, oh but the physical children of Abraham, they're going to be thrust out because they're not in Christ Jesus. Look at verse 29, and they shall come from the east and from the west and from the north and from the south and shall sit down in the kingdom of God. Going back to the Old Testament to Jacob, remember it said spread abroad, east, west, north, south, all nations, Jesus confirms it, yeah, and you unbelieving Jews, just because you're physical Jews, just because you're national Jews, you're going to be cast into outer darkness where there'll be weeping and gnashing of teeth, you're going to hell. What's the point of calling them God's chosen wonderful amazing people if they die and go to hell? It doesn't sound like God's amazing wonderful people to me. One more passage, 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 9, 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 9, so brethren the only true Jew, if you want to use that term, are those that are saved, those that are in Christ Jesus. I don't go around walking around, I'm a Jew, I'm a Jew, because people ask me what nationality are you? They're talking about my flesh, they're not asking me about the new man, okay. Like it's not important, like there is neither Jew nor Greek, right, it's just, it's irrelevant. I like Australia because it's such a mix of all kinds of people, yeah good, you know, we can go soul winning in pretty much every nation just by going soul winning just in Australia because you're going to come across people of all nations just living on this land, you've got no problem with that whatsoever. So you're going to 1 Peter chapter 2, first Peter chapter 2. Now before we read first Peter chapter 2, I'm going to read to you the passage that we started with. In Deuteronomy chapter 7 verse number 6, God told the nation, for thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God. It's a holy people, and the Lord thy God have chosen thee to be a special people unto himself above all people that are upon the face of the earth. And I ask you the question at the beginning, is God speaking physically, nationally or spiritually then? Well when we go to first Peter chapter 2 verse number 9, just in case you haven't learnt anything in this sermon, let's just get Peter to explain it to us. He says in first Peter chapter 2 verse number 9, but ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people that ye should show forth the praise of him who have called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Reverend have you been called out of darkness into his marvelous light? Are you saved? If you're saved, guess what, you're a chosen generation, you're a royal priesthood, you're the holy nation. The same promises that God said to the Old Testament believers, he's now saying to the New Testament believers. Why? Because there's no other Jew nor Greek. We're all in Christ Jesus. There is no racism. God is not a respecter of persons. God does not look at your physical DNA and say well you're more special than this person. He looks at your spiritual DNA. Do you have my son? Do you have Christ Jesus? And if you have Christ Jesus, you are a child of the kingdom and we're going to fellowship and eat together with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Total for the sermon was the Jews, God's chosen people. Correct. I am one of them and so are you. Okay let's pray.