introduced to Israel in Genesis
chapter 32. Would you turn over there for
a moment? Genesis 32. Here is an Israelite indeed,
a true Israelite, the first one called Israel. Now, the setting
is when the Lord wrestles with Jacob. Most of you are familiar
with the story. He initiated this and he had
a purpose in initiating this wrestling match. He's going to
win, and he's going to get something out of Jacob through this. Now
let's begin reading. Chapter 32 beginning in verse 24. And Jacob was left alone after
he'd done all the scheming and planning as to how he was going
to preserve his family and his children. He was scared to death
that Esau was going to put him to death. And let me say this
about Jacob. Jacob was a deceitful man. And there's no question about
that. He swindled his brother out of the birthright. He swindled
his brother out of the blessing of the firstborn. And he did
so with lies and deceit. He was a deceitful man. He deceived Laban to get all
of his cattle. Laban was left with nothing after
he started all of his tricks. And I'm sure that he justified
himself in doing it. He thought about how Laban had
ripped him off. Remember how he gave him the wrong wife that
one night, Leah? And then he probably thought,
well, I'm justified in doing this. You know, we're really
good at justifying our sin, aren't we? I'm an expert at it. I can always
have a reason as to why I did something. Well, I'm sure Jacob
was like that. Now he's left alone, verse 24, and Jacob was
left alone and there wrestled a man with him into the breaking
of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed
not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh, And the
hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with
him. And he, the Lord said, let me
go for the day breaketh. And he, Jacob said, I will not
let thee go except thou bless me. I have to have your blessing. I can't be left to myself. I
have to have. your blessing. Verse 27, and
he said unto him, what's thy name? Lord knew who his name was, didn't
he? He's going to have Jacob confess his name. You know what
his name means? Supplanter. Heal. You remember how his brother
Esau said, Jacob is his name and that is appropriate. He's
supplanted me and ripped me off these two times. And the Lord
is going to have him confess who he is. Jacob, cheat, deceiver,
supplanter, pretender. And that's exactly what he was. And he said, thy name, this is
the Lord speaking, thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but
Israel. There's where we're introduced
to Israel. And this is the name by which
Israel is called. For as a prince, hast thou power
with God, and with men, and hast prevailed." Now, here's something
that every Israelite has in common. They have power with God. Now, that's a remarkable thing
to think about, and the only way I can understand that is
as they are in Christ. Does Christ have power with God?
Does Christ influence God? So does every Israelite, indeed. And this is what he says to Jacob.
You're not going to be called Jacob anymore. You're going to
be called Israel. For as a prince, thou hast power
with God, and hast prevailed. And Jacob asked him and said,
tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, wherefore is it
thou dost ask after my name? That's kind of like last week
when Manoah asked for the name of the angel. He said, why are
you asking me? See, it's secret. It's incomprehensible. It's above anything you can understand.
And he blessed him there, verse 30, and Jacob called the name
of the place Peniel. For I have seen God face to face,
and my life is preserved. Now that's the introduction to
Israel. So an Israelite, indeed, is one
who has power with God. Now generally when we think of
Israel, when the average man thinks of Israel, he thinks of
that piece of real estate in the Middle East. of the Middle
East, the descendants of Abraham, the descendants of Jacob. It's
what Paul called in 1 Corinthians 10, 18, Israelite to the flesh.
And he spoke of my kinsmen according to the flesh. But when Christ
speaks to Nathanael and says, behold, an Israelite indeed.
A true Israelite, he's not talking about an Israelite after the
flesh. He's not talking about a national Jew. Turn with me
for a moment to Romans 9. Romans 9. Verse 6, it's not as though the
word of God has taken none effect, for they are not all which are
of Israel. Not everyone who is a national
Jew is a spiritual Jew, is a Israelite indeed. Neither because they
are the seed of Abraham are they all children, but in Isaac shall
thy seed be called. That is, they which are of the
children of the flesh, national Israel, these are not the children
of God, but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. For this is the word of promise,
at this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son. And not
only this, but when Rebekah also had conceived by one, even by
her father Isaac, for the children being not yet born, neither having
done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth it was said
unto her, the elders shall serve the young, for as it's written,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Now the Israelite
indeed is the elect of God, the children of the promise, those
God gave to Christ before time began. That's who the Israelite
indeed is. I've already quoted this passage
of scripture, but do you remember when the Lord said to that Syrophoenician
one, I'm not sent, but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. I've only come to save the true
Israelite. The Israelite indeed. Turn with
me for a moment to Romans chapter 2. Back a few pages. Romans chapter 2, verse 28. For he is not a Jew, which is
one outwardly. How many different ways are there
to take that? Anybody that claims to be a Jew because of his nationality,
he's not a Jew. I mean, there's no mistaking
that language. He's not a Jew, which is one outwardly. Neither
is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh. Somebody
says I've been circumcised in the flesh. That's not circumcision.
Doesn't have anything to do with it. But he is a Jew, which is
one inwardly. And circumcision is that of the
heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is
not of men, but of God." Now, spirit and letter, we read those
two statements. He's not a Jew, which is one
just in letter, but in the spirit. Now, you think of the scriptures,
the letter of the law and the spirit of the law. The letter
of the law, and this is what it says, if I keep these commandments,
I will be saved. That's the letter of the law.
This do and thou shalt live. But what's the spirit of the
law? The spirit of the law is, I can't keep any of these commandments,
and my only hope is what Christ does for me. That's the spirit
of the law. That's the man with the circumcised
heart. He's not just merely in the letter
of the law, this is what I need to do. The spirit of the law
that lets me know I'm nothing but guilty before God and my
utter need of the Lord Jesus Christ. I think it's most clearly
stated by Peter in Acts chapter 15. If you turn back a few pages
to Acts chapter 15. Verse 10, now, therefore, why
tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which
neither our fathers nor we are able to bear. But we believe
that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be
saved even as they, us Jews. We're going to be saved the way
that Gentiles are. Not those Gentiles are going
to be saved the way we are, but we'll be saved the way they are
by the grace of God only. Now that person, look what it
says back in verse 29, which is one inwardly in circumcision
is that of the heart and the spirit, not in the letter, whose
praise is not of men, but of God. That individual has the
praise of God. You see, this is his work and
he has the praise of God. This is the person born of the
Spirit and has had a new heart given unto them. Turn with me
to Philippians 3. Now remember, we're dealing with what an Israelite
indeed is. It's not a national Israel. It's
not what we would call a Jew who lives in Israel and can trace
his lineage back to Abraham. That's not a Jew. Look in Philippians
chapter 3. And remember, Paul is writing
to Gentiles at this time. This is a Gentile church at Philippi. He's not writing to Jews, he's
writing to Gentiles. Now look what he says in Philippians
chapter three, verse three, four. We are the circumcision. We're the true Jews. And he gives
three marks of the true Jew, that one who is an Israelite
indeed. First he says, We are the circumcision
which worship God in the spirit. Now, the language is so important. I've said this before, but I
would never say with regard to this church, inviting somebody
to come, I'd never say, come and worship with us. That's always
a big appeal of a church. Come worship with us. You know
why I would never say that? Because the natural man cannot
worship God. It's beyond his ability. He has
to be given a spirit, God the Holy Spirit, the new birth. There is no worship of God without
the new birth, the new nature, the new man. You see, Adam died. He didn't die physically. He didn't die eternally at that
time, but he died spiritually. And the natural man is born into
this world with a body and with a soul, but the spirit is dead. But when God gives life, there
is spiritual life and that spiritual life can worship God. They that
worship God, our Lord said, must worship him. in spirit and in
truth. The only one who can worship
God is that one who's born of God and has this spiritual nature. Peter called it partakers of
the divine nature. There's no worship of God without
this spiritual nature birthed by God, the Holy Spirit. Now, what is the evidence of
being born of the spirit? How can you tell if you've been
born of the spirit? Well, that's what he says next
in verse three, we worship God in the spirit and rejoice. Now that word rejoice is glory. Glory, same word. We glory, we
boast, we have confidence in Christ Jesus only. What's that look like? Well,
hold your finger there and turn back a few pages, Galatians chapter
six. He says in verse 16, as many
as walk according to this rule, peace be on them and mercy and
upon the Israel of God, the true Israel of God. Well, what is
this rule they walk by? God forbid, verse 14, God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I don't have confidence in anything but who he is and what he accomplished
on Calvary's tree. That's glorying in the cross. I don't have confidence in my
preaching, in my experience, in my Bible reading, in my doctrinal
knowledge, in my progress. I have confidence only in the
cross of Christ. And someone that has confidence
only in the cross of Christ, look back to our text in Philippians
3. For we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit,
rejoice in Christ Jesus. What about that person who rejoices
in Christ Jesus? Here's the hallmark of it. They
have no confidence in the flesh. None at all. don't have any confidence in
my flesh, I don't have any confidence in your flesh. All we have confidence
in is Christ Jesus the Lord. We don't have any confidence
in anything that has our fingerprints on it. Now back to John chapter
1. You know, when preachers talk
about when Christ returns and there's going to be a temple
and people worshiping at that temple and sacrifices are going
to be restored, that's the biggest bunch of foolishness there ever
was. I mean, there's no truth to it. It's ridiculous. It's
so fleshly. John 1. Verse 46 and verse 47, Jesus
saith, and Nathanael, behold, an Israelite indeed, a true Jew.
And look what he says next. In whom is no guile. Really? Really. In whom? In that Jew, that true
Jew, that Israelite indeed, there is no guile. There's no deceit. I heard somebody
once say, a true Christian is not a hypocrite. Really? Who was the Lord talking to when
he said, Thou hypocrite, first cast the
stone out of your own eye, and then you'll be able to see clearly
to cast the splinter out of thy brother's eye. If you know anything
about yourself, you know this first, I'm a hypocrite. I'm a
hypocrite. You know, anytime we judge somebody,
listen real carefully to this statement. Anytime. We judge
somebody. We are practicing hypocrisy. Romans 2, 1, Therefore thou art
inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest. I don't
care what you're judging them for. For thou that judgest, doest. Right now. Present tense, the
same things. Whatever it is you're judging
somebody for, you practice that. Somebody says, I do not. Well,
God says you do. Thou that judgest, doest. Present tense, the same
things. And the spirit that the Israelite
possesses that has no guile is the new nature. That's what that's
referring to. This really is a godless nature. Why? This new nature can't sin.
He that's born of God doth not commit sin. First John 3 9. He
cannot sin. Can God the Holy Spirit give
birth to something that can sin? Why that's offensive to even
think about. He that's born of God doth not commit sin. He has no guile. That new nature
has no guile. That which is born of the spirit
is spirit. When we're born again, we're
given a new nature, and in that spirit, there's no guile. Now what's that a quotation from?
Turn to Psalm 32. Psalm 32. Verse 1, blessed is he whose
transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the
man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. Now here he talks
about transgression, iniquity, and sin. Now I need the Lord
to do something about that for me. I need him to cover my sin,
to forgive my iniquity, to not impute my transgressions to me. Now that's what the Lord does
for his people. But we don't stop there. I know
that Paul quoted this in Romans chapter four, but he didn't quote
this part, but this part, and for good reasons, no doubt, the
Holy Spirit saw fit to have him not quote it, but here we have
it in Psalm 32. What's it say? And in whose spirit
there is no guile, no deceit. This is what the Savior called
when he was giving the parable of the sower. When he talked
about the good ground here, he called it, they received the
word in an honest and good heart. the heart given in the new birth.
Isaiah 63, verse 8, we read that they are children who will not
lie. And Revelation 14, 5 says that in their mouth was found no guile,
no deceit. Now the only time that me or
you Practice honesty before God is when we confess before him
that all we are is sin. Now, that's the only honest thing
to say. If you make any claim any higher
than that, you are being deceitful. You are being dishonest. You've lost all credibility the
moment something like that comes out of your mouth. Remember what
John said? If we say we have no sin, what's
he say next? We deceive ourselves. And the truth is not in us. And there, sin is a noun. He's
talking about a sinful nature. At all times, I have a sinful
nature. And that means everything that I do is sin because I did
it. Don't care what it is. And then
he said in verse 10 of the same chapter, if we say we've not
sinned. There, it's a verb. I didn't
sin in that instance. Yeah, you did. Yeah, you did. You've never done anything but
that, neither have I. But if we say we've not sinned,
we make him a liar. He says we have and we deny what
he says. And the truth is not in us. Now that spirit without guile
is on us before God. All I am right now is sin before
God. You know, I've heard a lot of
preachers talk about what they call progressive sanctification.
Now, if by progressive sanctification they mean growth in grace, I
believe that. Grow in grace and in the knowledge
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I believe in that. I
believe in growth in the fruit of the Spirit. growth in the
beatitude. Yes, we love growth in grace.
We want to grow in grace. We ask the Lord to cause us to
grow in grace. But if somebody means by progressive
sanctification, you by the grace of God become progressively more
holy and less sinful. That's nothing but deceit. Nothing else. Deceit I think
of what Paul said, Oh, wretched man that not I was before God
saved me. I am present tense. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of whom I used to be chief, but now since God's
grace has been upon me, I'm so much but no. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of whom I am. The person in whose spirit there
is no guile is not deceitful with the Word of God. He bows
before what it says, and he receives what it says concerning him,
concerning how God saves sinners. He doesn't try to make it say
something that it doesn't say. He bows to what God says and
rejoices in what God says. Let me give you one example.
Colossians 3, 11. Christ is all. He's all my comfort. He's all
my peace. He's all my assurance. He's all
I have. And the only way He's all to
you is if He's all you have. If you have anything else, He's
not all to you. Oh, how we rejoice in Christ
is all. The Israelite in whose spirit
is no guile is honest. with what God says about himself
and with what God says regarding salvation. Back to our text in John 1. Nathanael's
taken back by all this. He says in verse 48, Nathanael
saith unto him, whence knowest thou me? I've never met you. I've never seen you in my life.
I've never heard of you. Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto
him before that Philip called thee when thou wast under the
fig tree. Nathanael was sitting down with
his Back against the trunk of that fig tree, nobody around.
What was he doing? I don't know. He didn't see anybody,
but somebody saw him. You see, Christ is letting him
know at this time, I'm God. I am omniscient. I know everything. I'm omnipresent. I see you even
if I'm not there physically to see you. There you are. I see you. I know you. You're
one of mine. He knew who Nathanael was. Verse 49, Nathanael answered
and said unto him, Rabbi, thou art the son of God. Thou art
the king of Israel. Now, this is what every Israelite
indeed sees. Jesus Christ is the eternal son
of God. Amen. Jesus Christ is the King of Israel. Not we ought to vote him into
office, not we ought to let him be King, he is the King, the
King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Every Israelite indeed
knows that. Thou art the Son of God. Thou
art the uncreated eternal sovereign of the universe. All the fullness
of the Godhead dwells in your body. How did he know he was
the Son of God? When he reveals himself to you,
you know. Not until then. But when he reveals
himself to you, you know. He's the King of Israel. Some
three years later when they crucify him, what is written over his
head? What is the accusation? Jesus
of Nazareth King of the Jews, he's the King of Israel. You
see Israelites indeed, they know that. You know that if you're
an Israelite indeed. Now you may wonder, well, am
I an Israelite indeed? Well, if you know that he's the
Son of God, the King of Israel, yes, you are. Yes, you are. Verse 50. But Jesus answered
and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the
fig tree, believest thou? Thou shalt see greater things
than these. And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto
you, Hereafter you shall see heaven opened. and the angels
of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man." Now, you
know what this is a reference to. You remember when Jacob had
that dream and he saw a ladder set up to heaven and the angels
of God ascending and descending. Christ Jesus is that ladder. The only way me or you are going
to ascend into heaven is Him. No man comes to the Father, but
by me. And every blessing of God that
you have descends down upon you through Christ. Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings and heavenly blessings in Christ. We ascend
to the Father through the ladder, Christ Jesus. Let me tell you
what, he's not a ladder that doesn't make it all the way there.
He goes all the way to the top, and he's not a ladder that you
can't get to if it doesn't go all the way to the bottom. He
brings the sinner to the father and he brings every blessing
of God to the sinner. The great ladder Christ Jesus. And every Israelite indeed in
whose spirit there is no guile knows this is so. Who is Israelite
indeed? The elect. I can answer that
so simply. The elect. those Christ died
for, the lost sheep of the house of Israel, those who've been
given a new heart, those who worship God in the spirit, rejoice
in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh, in whose spirit
there is no guile. Behold, an Israelite indeed. I wanna be one of those people,
don't you? Let's pray. Lord, we ask in thy son's name, the ladder that
brings us to you and that causes your blessings to come to us.
We ask that we might be by grace Israelites indeed, in whom is
no guile. Lord, make that so for Christ's
sake. In His name we pray, amen. Rich
Cummings, we're closing in.