Every promise of God in Holy
Scripture, every covenant blessing made to a people in this book,
every benefit of grace described and proclaimed in this book is
made and given to one race, only one. Every prophecy in the word
of God, every prophecy concerns the welfare of one nation, one
nation only. I assure you that few people
in this world have a clue as to who that race and nation is.
This will come as a shock to many, but it needs to be shouted
from the housetop in this apostate religious age. God is not a Jew. God is not an American. God is
not a Democrat. And God is not a Republican.
He is, as he describes himself, the God of the Hebrews. He's only the God of the Hebrews. God overall, yes, but distinctly,
particularly, and in a self-identifying way, the
God of the Hebrews. I want you to turn in your Bibles
to Exodus chapter 3 again. And I want you to listen carefully
as I read to you from 1 Peter chapter 2. The only nation in
which the God of glory is interested is that one whose interests are
his interest. And that nation is described
as the Israel of God in Galatians chapter 6 and verse 14. It is
the church of God which he purchased with his own blood. Here in 1
Peter 2, God the Holy Spirit clearly identifies that race
and that nation upon which the triune God has fixed his heart
from eternity. Listen carefully, 1 Peter 2 verse
9. Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood. and holy
nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises
of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous
light, which in time past were not a people, but are now the
people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now have
obtained mercy. These are the very same people
of whom God spoke in our text in Exodus chapter 3, we'll begin
reading at verse 15. God said moreover unto Moses,
thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, the Lord
God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac
and the God of Jacob hath sent me unto you. This is my name
forever. And this is my memorial unto
all generations. Go and gather the elders of Israel
together, and say unto them, The Lord God of your fathers,
the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me,
saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done
unto you in Egypt. And I have said, I will bring
you up out of the affliction of Egypt, unto the land of the
Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites,
and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk
and honey. And they shall hearken to thy
voice. And thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto
the king of Egypt. And ye shall say unto him, the
Lord God of the Hebrews, met with us and now let us go we
beseech thee three days journey into the wilderness that we may
sacrifice unto the Lord our God in verse 18 The Lord God, the
Lord Jesus Christ, describes himself distinctly as the Lord
Jehovah, the triune Jehovah, the Lord God of the Hebrews,
and thereby identifies himself with one distinct particular
people. one distinct nation, one distinct
race, not a carnal, natural, political, civil nation, but
a holy, royal nation, a spiritual nation, his church and his kingdom. In the Old Testament Scriptures,
as you read the Word of God and the covenants and promises and
prophecies concerning the children of Israel, with regard to God's
grace and salvation, and the in-gathering of His elect from
the four corners of the earth, calling them from north, south,
east, and west, and He says, I will gather them unto this
land, unto their good land, unto their land. It's talking about
that which is done for Israel, was done for Israel physically,
is that which God Almighty is doing for His elect in the in-gathering
of His holy nation out of all the nations, kindreds, tribes,
and tongues among whom He scattered them. He who is the God of glory
is the Lord God of the Hebrews. I want to be one of them, don't
you? He is God over all. He is God over heaven, earth,
and hell. But he who is God is distinctly,
peculiarly, particularly the Lord God of the Hebrews. So I have a question. Who are
the Hebrews? That's the question I want to
answer from the Word of God for you this evening. It's a matter
of great importance for this reason. Everything in the Word
of God is connected with the fact that the Lord God is distinctly
the Lord God of the Hebrews. You can't understand the promises
and prophecies of the book unless you know who they are, of whom
the promises and prophecies speak, who they are, to whom the promises
were given, to whom the covenant blessings are given. This question
is important because very, very few people in this day understand
this distinction. The Old Testament civil political
nation of Israel was just typical of God's true Israel, the Israel
of God. And we live in this day of prophecy
mania. I guess the only thing that is
more blatant and heretical in this day than the prophecy mania
would be the charismatic Pentecostal nonsense. But everywhere you
go, people have the idea that somehow that little spot of ground
over on the other side of the world being called Israel is
the centerpiece of God's purpose. It's the centerpiece of everything
God does. And every time there's some kind
of a conflict, some kind of a political disturbance, some kind of a political
upheaval, somebody comes out with a new book. And this is
it. This is sure thing. This is the
end of the thing. This is what God's been talking about. And
then it doesn't come to pass. And so next year something else
happens. And the same fellows come out
with another book and the same fools buy it. The fact is the
centerpiece of God's purpose is His church. The centerpiece
of all that God does is the Israel of God, the host of his elect. Would to God we could get this
in our hearts and in our minds. Everything God does is for Israel,
his Israel, the church of the living God. Who are the Hebrews? Can we find an answer to that
question? The opening verses of Romans chapter 9 raise these
questions. Who are Israelites, to whom pertaineth
the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving
of the law, and the service of God, and the promises? Whose
are the fathers, and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ
came, who is over all God, blessed forever? In the second chapter
of Romans, God the Holy Spirit says, He is not a Jew, which
is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision, which is outward
in the flesh. He says now, there are folks
who are outwardly Jews, but that's not who I'm talking about. Those
aren't God's people. There are folks who are circumcised
in the flesh. That's not the circumcision we're
talking about. We're talking about folks who
are God's people inwardly. Jews on the inside, Hebrews on
the inside, who have experienced another circumcision, the circumcision
of the heart, not made with hands, made by the Spirit of God, giving
us a new nature, being God's regenerate people in this earth. We and we alone are the circumcision. Paul says, they are not all Israel,
which are of Israel. Those statements given in the
scriptures ought to immediately cause us to recognize that when
God speaks of himself as the Lord God of the Hebrews, he's
not talking about Abraham's physical descendants, not his physical
seed, but his spiritual descendants and his spiritual seed. The first
time we find that word Hebrew, We find it in Genesis chapter
14 where Abraham is called the Hebrew. In later years, the Egyptians
and the Philistines and the nations of the world and the Jews themselves
refer to themselves distinctly as the Hebrews to separate them
from other people. But I've tried over the years
to find someone who can give me a definite meaning for the
word Hebrew. And this just doesn't seem to
be a definite meaning given by anyone, but rather it carries
some ideas. The word Hebrew conveys the idea
of one from beyond, or one who passes over, or one who lives
beyond. That's a pretty good description
of God's people. They are from beyond. chosen
of God from everlasting, one with Christ from eternity. They
are passing over. This world is not my home. I'm just passing through. We're
just passing through this world. God teach us to live like that?
Teach us to live like that? I went to visit my sister the
other day, and she's dying with cancer, as you know. And when
we drove up, some folks were out close to her property surveying
it. And bless her heart, she was concerned about the surveyors
on her property. And she's fixing to leave it.
What foolishness. What foolishness. We're just
passing over. and nothing here really matters. Pastor, you don't really mean
that. Oh, would to God. You could understand how serious
I mean that. Nothing here really matters. We're just passing through this
valley and soon we will be through it. I have told you before over
the house, Right just across from my easy chair, we have a
lamp. And I guess I'm a little too
heavy for the floors. And every time I walk by it, the shade
tips. It just never will stay straight. I'll bet my wife straightens
that shade a dozen times a day. Every time she goes by it. Because
that's where we live. And it's important for her to
have that shade hang straight and the pictures to hang straight
on the wall. But as particular as she is about things, We stay
in motels, we stay in the motel room all last week. I didn't
see her straighten out a single shade. I didn't see her straighten
out either of the pictures hanging on the wall. We looked at them
a good bit, didn't see her touch them. Why? Well, they don't matter. We're leaving tomorrow. They're
just not significant. Nothing here, nothing here is
any more significant than the things in that motel room. The
sooner we learn that, the better off we'll be. The more we remember
that, the better off we'll be. Believers are Hebrews, people
who live beyond, looking for a city whose builder
and maker is God. Last Monday night downstairs,
Brother Merle Hart said to me just before we all left, he said,
reckon what Bob and Bob are doing now. Reckon what they're doing
now. Shepard and I were talking about
it today. I have not seen nor ear heard, neither has it entered
into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them
that love him. He's revealed them to us by his
spirit. We know the facts revealed to us by his spirit, but we don't
have a clue. We don't have a clue what awaits
us, and yet we live beyond. If you read the scriptures with
honesty, you simply can't question the fact that Abraham's physical
descendants are not now and never have been the centerpiece of
God's purpose and the apple of his eye. And when I was in college,
both out in Springfield, Missouri and down in Winston-Salem, North
Carolina, Our theological textbook, they didn't really say that,
but this was our theological textbook. It was a Schofield reference
Bible. And if you could get the Schofield notes down, you could
get through the theology class pretty good. Let me tell you
what Schofield's notes suggest. And most of the conservative
folks around in the religious world heed this. The Lord Jesus
came into this world to set up a kingdom over yonder across
the other side of the world in that little place called Israel.
And to be the king over that little nation of people called
the Jews. And the Jews wouldn't let him be their king. Poor Jesus. They rejected him. They wouldn't
have him be their king. So God had a plan B. Imagine that. God had a plan
B. Plan B is what you use when plan
A won't work. Plan B is what you use when you
can't have your way with plan a and plan B was he'd let the
Jews crucify his son and he'd come again and and then after
we had done with this age in which we live now there's going
to be a tribulation period and and Jews are going to be saved
by works again and then they're going to Christ is going to come
and set up a millennial kingdom and he's at last going to be
king over yonder in that little spot of ground when plan B is
fulfilled and Now, that was told with a straight face in every
theology class I've ever taken. I mean, the fellas didn't even
act like they were telling a joke. They told it like they believed
it. And the nuts do. They do. God's Israel is not
that physical nation. The things of God don't belong
to anyone because of their physical heritage. God's Israel is his
holy nation, the church of the living God. He is distinctly
and peculiarly and particularly the God of Abraham's spiritual
descendants. The word of God states clearly
who they are, identifying Abraham's spiritual descendants for us.
Turn to Galatians chapter three, let's see. Galatians chapter
three. God's elect scattered throughout
the world Jew and Gentile Are those people whom the Lord God
of the Hebrews is determined to save Those to whom he gives
the blessing of Abraham The blessing of Abraham is not the land of
Israel The blessing of Abraham is clearly stated for us right
here in Galatians chapter 3. All right, let's begin in verse
7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same
are the children of Abraham. And the scripture foreseeing
that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before
the gospel unto Abraham saying, in thee shall all nations be
blessed. The scripture foreseeing that
God would justify Abraham through faith. Preach before, or that
he would justify the heathen, that is the Gentiles, you and
I, through faith. Preach before the gospel to Abraham
saying, in thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which
be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. Look at verse
13. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written,
Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. The sentence doesn't
stop there. It continues right on in the
next verse. Why did Christ redeem us from the curse of the law?
Why was he made a curse for us and die under the curse of the
law as our substitute? For this purpose, that the blessing
of Abraham, that promise God made back in Genesis 15, that
the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through
Jesus Christ. What is that blessing? That we
might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. They
which are of faith, and only they, the same are the children
of Abraham. whom the Holy Spirit calls the
Israel of God. The true Israel of God, I repeat,
are not Abraham's natural descendants, but rather those who are his
spiritual descendants. He was the father of that nation
from whom Christ sprang, who is the author and finisher of
our faith. And God's children are the children of faith. Listen
to this. We are the circumcision. We are God's covenant people.
We are God's Israel, which worship God in the spirit. We worship
God by the Holy Spirit. We worship God in the Spirit. We worship God spiritually, not
with carnal ordinances, not with laws and ceremonies, not with
pictures and images. We worship God in the Spirit
and rejoice in Christ Jesus. The word rejoice is to trust
with delight, to trust with confident joy in Christ Jesus and have
no confidence in the flesh. That means, David, we don't have
any confidence in who our daddy is, or how we were raised, or
what we've experienced, or what we do, or who our relationships
are. Our confidence is in Christ,
only in Christ. My brother Ken and his wife just
came and moved down here. You folks are from a very strong
Dutch background, if I understand it correctly, and everything
depended on that flesh relationship. Nothing does. Nothing does. Doesn't matter how godly or ungodly
your parents are, that doesn't have anything to do with grace.
Doesn't matter how religious or irreligious your family is,
that's got nothing to do with grace. The reason we don't put
water on a baby's face, sprinkle it on them or rub it on them
in the symbol of a cross, As if we had some kind of a magical
potion to put on kids. We don't do it. We don't do it.
Because doing that, there's only one reason it's done. It's done
so that parents can presume to tell their children that they're
God's children if they've been baptized as babies. Just in case
something happened to them, this is the thing that's going to
take care of them. Oh, what a curse on that child. The reason I don't
manipulate children and try to get children to make professions
of faith, I just don't do it. It's not hard to do, I don't
do it because I don't want those children to grow up with the
presumption that they belong to God because of something carnal
and physical. Our acceptance with God, our
trust in God is Jesus Christ alone, who of God has made into
us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
The Word of God speaks with unmistakable clarity. Now, I have been asked
over the years many times, well, but what about the promises God
gave to Abraham of that land in Canaan? If you care to read
the book of Joshua, you don't even have to read the whole book.
Just two chapters and you don't even have to read the two chapters
just three verses out of each one Joshua 21 and Joshua 23 Joshua
says to the children of Israel just before he left this world.
He said I take you to record this day You tell me now if I'm
telling you the truth God has this day Fulfilled every word
of promise. He gave you a father Abraham.
They said yes, sir. He's fulfilled it all You mean
all the land promises? But those were forever! Read
the book carefully. The perpetual carnal promises
were made upon a condition of obedience that they never rendered
to God. God gave them everything he promised
to give them. then the children of Israel abandoned
him and abandoned him and abandoned him and abandoned him and he
sent them judges after judges to deliver them from enemy after
enemy and they took them again into Babylonian captivity and
Delivered them and then he sent his son and they said this is
the son Let's kill it and take everything for ourselves and
God said your house is left to you desolate The whole of Romans
9, 10, and 11 declare to us that God cast off the nation of Israel. You mean all Jews are reprobate?
No! No, God has his elect everywhere. But the Jewish nation has been
cast off forever! And God will never return to
being worshipped at a Jewish altar with Jewish sacrifices
in a carnal way. The Lord God has a people whom
he has reconciled to himself. When scriptures speak about God
gathering his elect into this land, and they're going to sit
down under the shade tree, and they're going to be at rest in
their land. He's talking, using physical
terms, talking about complete reconciliation to God in Jesus
Christ the Lord. This is what God does when he
sends his word to the north and the south and the east and west
and gathers in his elect and causes them to sit down in their
good land, a land flowing with milk and honey. He brings us
to the feet of our Redeemer and satisfies our souls with him
in perfect reconciliation. Those who walk not after the
flesh, But after the Spirit, they are the children of God,
the Israel of God, the seed of Abraham. In Galatians chapter
3, verses 6 and 7, God the Holy Spirit holds Abraham before us
as the father of them that believe. Because we see in Abraham certain
marks, certain characteristics by which God's elect are identified
throughout the world in every age. The Apostle Paul gives us
two divinely inspired statements concerning Abraham's faith here
in Galatians 3, 6, and 7. And these statements destroy
all carnal hope, both for Jews and Gentiles. They destroy all
hope for men and women who dare to hope for righteousness and
acceptance with God on the basis of something they do. First,
Paul asserts that Abraham was justified by faith Apart from
many works relations 3 6 Abraham believed God and it was accounted
to him for righteousness Now that means one of two things
It either means that Abraham's act of believing God was his
justification or the object of Abraham's faith the one he believed
was his justification. It can't possibly mean both.
And the scriptures are very clear. It is not Abraham's act of believing
that was counted to him for righteousness, but rather it was the obedience
of that one who is the object of his faith that's counted to
him for righteousness. Our faith is not our justification. Our faith simply receives the
blessedness of justification. Christ is made of God, and to
us, justification, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
He believed God. The object of his faith was God,
particularly God the Son, the triune God revealed in Christ
Jesus, who was the Word of God who came to him. He was Abraham's
shield and his reward. Abraham trusted Christ. It was Christ's obedience, the
object of his faith, that was imputed to him for righteousness,
even as it is imputed to us for righteousness. Listen to the
scriptures. He was delivered for our offenses and raised again
for our justification. He was delivered into the hands
of divine justice because of our offenses that were made his. And when our sins were made his
sins, he was punished justly by the hand of God's wrath. And
then when he had put away sin, he was raised again, not that
his resurrection accomplished justification. Oh, no, no, no,
no. He was raised because justification
was done when he had put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God. It is not our justification that,
our faith that justifies us, but our faith that experiences
and enjoys the blessed peace of perfect reconciliation to
God, trusting Christ the Lord. The apostle says, know ye therefore,
verse seven, that they which are of faith, They which are
of faith. Now, sadly, I have to stop and
explain that because if you go home and turn on your television
tonight and watch some news reporter, you'll listen to folks and they'll
say, well, he's a man of faith. He's a man of faith. And you
listen to folks talk about Donald Trump. He's a man of faith. He
can prove it. He's got his Bible. His mama
gave him and he went to church last Easter. He's a man of faith.
Talk about Hillary Clinton, oh, she's a woman of faith. She was
raised in a Methodist church, her good Methodist upbringing,
she's a woman of faith. That don't mean doodly squat. What is it to be a child of faith?
A child of faith is one who believes God. As God is revealed and known
in His Son, Jesus Christ, the Word of God that came to Abraham. Abraham was a man who believed
Christ. And all Abraham's children are
those who are of faith in Christ. The same are the children of
Abraham. All who like Abraham believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ are justified by faith, by his faith
as our representative and justified in their consciences in the experience
of grace by faith in him. They are the children of Abraham.
Physical lineage from Abraham doesn't guarantee anybody anything
but blindness. And physical lineage from Don
Fortner doesn't guarantee anybody anything but blindness. Grace
doesn't run in bloodlines. Grace doesn't run in the family
tree. Grace comes from God's throne. He gives it to whom he will.
Being the physical descendants of godly parents, of believing
parents, doesn't secure anything for anybody. You're not going
to heaven on your mama daddy's coattails. You'll go to heaven
through the blood and righteousness of Christ by the grace of God
and that alone. All spiritual blessings, all
the blessings of grace, salvation, and eternal life are in Christ. They come to sinners through
the merit of Christ's blood and righteousness. All who are of
faith, all who trust Christ like Abraham, have right before God. Now listen to me, all who trust
Christ, if this very moment God opens heaven and gives you faith
in Christ, every sinner who trusts Christ by faith in Christ has
right to every promise of God in this world. Every promise
of the covenant, every blessing of grace, and there may meet
to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, just
like Abraham was by the blood and righteousness of God's son.
The gospel, Paul tells us, was preached before to Abraham. Because
the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen
through faith, the heathen. Don Ranieri Larry Barton and
Don Fortner heathen. That's the word for Gentiles
God's going to justify them through faith. So the scriptures foreseeing
that preached the gospel of Abraham Now lots of folks have trouble
with that. They say how can that be Christ hadn't come yet hadn't
it? Christ hadn't been born yet hadn't
it? He's the eternal God He is the very same God who came in
the womb of the virgin, that one who stood before Abraham
at his tent's door. He's the very same God, the very
same Redeemer, our Savior, the Word of God that came and spoke
to Abraham, revealing God to Abraham. You see, people have
the idea that somehow in the Old Testament, folks were saved
by works. Well, it was kind of sort of
somehow mixed up with grace, but really by works. And now
God saves people by grace. And still, somehow it's sort
of mixed up with works. No, no, no. God saved folks in
the Old Testament, same way he saves folks in the New Testament,
by grace, by the revelation of Christ in the gospel, by the
word of God. And God does that today. Abraham
had the gospel preached to him. had the gospel preached to him
by the pre-incarnate Christ himself. He heard the Word of God, the
vision of God, and he made sacrifices to God. Abraham understood the
things of God. He rejoiced to see Christ's day. That's what our Lord said. He
said, He saw my day and rejoiced. He was glad. He saw my day. What
all did Abraham know? I'll tell you what. He knew a
heapsight more than most theologians I've ever read after. Abraham
knew that his son Isaac is that seed promised of God back in
Genesis 3.15, the woman's seed. that through his son Isaac, that
boy who's his seed, not Ishmael, that was his son too, but he
wasn't seed of promise, Isaac was. He said he knew, he knew
that through Isaac, the woman's seed is coming into the world.
The woman's seed would be the Lamb of God. The woman's seed
would die. The woman's seed would rise from
the dead. And by the woman's seed, we would be justified.
And Abraham believed him. He believed him. In Galatians
3.9, The apostle is inspired to conclude, so then, they which
are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and you're blessed with Abraham. What are Bob and Bob doing now?
I'll tell you one thing they're doing. They're seated with Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. Blessed with faithful Abraham. Blessed with faithful Abraham.
All God's people. all the children of Israel, all
the Hebrews, blessed with God's grace in all its fullness, chosen
of God, robed in the righteousness of Christ, redeemed by his precious
blood, sheep of his pasture, all in one fold, their names
written in the book of life and the foundation of the world,
predestined to heavenly glory and possessing it in time. All
perfected together in Christ Jesus. Now, let's stay here in
Galatians 3 for just a minute. Those who are Hebrews, like Abraham,
passing over, live by faith, not by law. They live by faith, not by law. Look at chapter 3, verse 9. For
as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. Now, let me tell you exactly
what that means, just in case you have trouble understanding
plain English. If you attempt to live and make
yourself righteous, or holy, or sanctified, or good, or accepted
with God, or more accepted with God, or have a higher place in
heaven, a higher place of acceptance with God by keeping the Ten Commandments,
by observing Sabbath days, by doing something, By doing something. If that's how you hope before
God. Well, I believe in Jesus and
I try to be good. Well, let me tell you something.
You're cursed. You're cursed. Well, he's just
mixed up. Yeah, most of course people are.
You're cursed. The word is damned. For it is
written. Damned is everyone that continueth
not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do
them. You're damned, forever damned if you trust your righteousness,
trust your goodness, trust your works. But that no man is justified
by the law in the sight of God is evident. That is, this is
playing his nose on your face. For the just shall live by faith. And you can't live by faith and
by works. You can't live by faith and by
works. You can't trust Christ and trust
yourself. You can't trust God and trust
yourself. And the law is not a faith, that
is works, has nothing to do with faith. The man that doeth them
shall live by them. We who are gods, the Hebrews,
Abraham's children, understand the impossibility of law righteousness. Brother Mark just led us in prayer
just a little bit ago. This is either truth or I'm lying
to you, Mark. There's no in between ground.
Would to God, I would never have another vile thought, let alone
deed. Another vile thought, let alone
word. Would to God I lived perfectly
before him. I long for that day. I long for
that day. But I know that's not possible.
I know that everything I do is so polluted that it's not worth
anything but hell. That's all. That's all. Praying,
preaching, reading, studying, whatever it is, if I touch it
with these hands, the smudge of my filth is on it. You understand
that? If you're of Abraham's seed,
you do. And if you don't understand that, you are not yet a child
of faith. You're not yet one of those who
is born of God's spirit. Believers understand that our
only Hope before God is Jesus Christ the Lord. These are the
Hebrews, the children of God. Read the life of Abraham in the
book of God and you find out what it is to live by faith.
Abraham forsook his country to seek another. He forsook his
family to follow Christ. Abraham separated himself from
lot at great personal cost for just one reason for the glory
of God He said he said lot buddy. We're kinsmen. Yeah, it's not
right for us to have any difficulty You choose whatever you want
to and you can have it just you go to the right hand I'll go
to the left you go to the left. I'll go to the right you take
north I'll take the south whatever you want lot and he gave lot
the best of the land with no compulsion, except he believed
God. Abraham received his son by faith. And he sacrificed his son by
faith. And he received his son again
from the dead by faith. By faith, he sojourned through
this earth, seeking the city of God, not possessing even one
parcel of land for himself. And then Abraham died in faith. If you seek to live by law, you'll
never do so. If you be circumcised, Christ
shall profit you nothing. If you do something, if you do
something, if you, if somehow, somewhere you got the foggy notion
in your head that by something you do, You're accepted of God,
you've missed Christ altogether. That's the language of Galatians
chapter 5. Redeemed sinners like Abraham are free from the curse
and condemnation of the law. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law. What a blessing statement. He
redeemed us from the curse of the law distinctly and particularly
because he's determined that the blessing of Abraham, the
gift of the Holy Spirit, life eternal, be ours in him. There
are multitudes, multitudes of Abraham's seed, Jews and Gentiles
scattered in the four corners of the earth who've not yet been
called by God's grace. And then the scripture says,
a remnant shall be saved. Of them, the scripture says,
even so at this time there is a remnant according to the election
of grace. And when the fullness of the
Gentiles is brought in, then all Israel shall be saved. When God has gathered his elect
out of all the Gentile nations. And that's what he's doing. He's
gathering his elect, gathering them into their good land. And
when all the fullness of the number of God's elect has been
gathered in, then all Israel shall be saved because he who
is our God is Jehovah, the Lord God of the Hebrews. Now listen
to this. Israel shall be saved. Israel shall be saved. All of
them. Everlast, one of them. Saved
in the Lord. Saved in Christ. Everything's
in Christ. Saved in the Lord with an everlasting
salvation. God gives his people a salvation
that's from everlasting to everlasting. And nothing can ever bar it. Nothing can ever harm it. Nothing
can ever change it. It is everlasting salvation. And then he says, ye shall not
be ashamed, nor confounded, the world without end. God's Israel, saved in the Lord
everlasting salvation, trust in Christ, shall not be ashamed. Not in this world, not in the
judgment, not in the world to come. You shall not be confounded. World without end. Never put
to confusion. Not in this world, not in the
judgment seat, not in the world to come. Who are the Hebrews? They are men and women chosen
of God. The Lord had chosen Israel for
himself. He said, Jacob have I loved,
Esau have I hated. Now Esau was Abraham's physical
descendant, but he wasn't among the Hebrews. No, no. Jacob have
I loved. Chosen Jacob for his heritage. The Hebrews, they are people
specifically redeemed by blood atonement of the paschal lamb.
In Genesis 12, 13, 14, and 15, you read about, not Genesis,
but Exodus, you read about the sacrifice of the Passover lamb.
God told Moses to tell the fathers of the families in Israel. He
said, now go, go whisper it to them. Don't even tell Pharaoh
anything about it because this is not for him. Don't tell the
Egyptians anything about it. This is not for them. This is
just for the Jews. Take a lamb, a spotless lamb,
sacrifice him, put the blood on the doorpost and the linen
and shut the door and put your staff in your hand and your coat
on your back and your shoes on your feet and eat the lamb roasted
with fire in full expectation. You're going out of this place
tonight. And God passed through the land and accepted everyone
where there was blood found. He said, when I see the blood,
I'll pass over you. And he says, Christ, Our Passover
is sacrifice for us. Who are the Hebrews? They are
people of special revelation. The Lord God appeared to Abraham. God appeared to Jacob. You remember,
it's in Genesis 28 where he sees the ladder. A ladder reaching
from earth to heaven. The top of it's in heaven. And
on that ladder, Jacob saw the angels of God ascending and descending. Now I've read that for years,
and I believe God gave me some help this afternoon. The angels
of God, not descending and ascending, but ascending and descending. Christ Jesus is the latter and
through him up goes righteousness to God and down comes righteousness
from God. Up goes redemption to God and
down comes redemption from God. Up goes salvation to God and
down comes salvation from God through Christ our Redeemer. Who are the Hebrews? They are
men and women. conquered by God's grace, like
Jacob was conquered by God's grace. Who are the Hebrews? They are the people of whom God
says, I've called you by name and you're
mine and I'll never leave you nor forsake you. I'll never leave
you nor forsake you. I'll never leave you nor forsake
you. Who are the Hebrews? Every sinner in this world who
believes God as God reveals Himself in His Son, Jesus Christ the
Lord. Oh, God give you faith in Him
and go home tonight rejoicing in this blessed fact that God's
made you to be numbered among the Hebrews, His own chosen people. Amen.