If you would join me in the book
of Numbers. In the book of Numbers this morning,
we're going to return to that study. I was visiting with some folks
yesterday and I mentioned to them that today about 90% of
the preachers in the United States will have something to preach
about. The incidents that are going on in the Middle East. So many view this as prophecy
being fulfilled. I can tell you this, that there
is no more of God's direction in the election of a dog catcher
than there is in what's going on in the Middle East right now.
He has it all in his purpose. And scare tactics have never
saved anyone. Scaring people into the kingdom
of heaven has never saved anyone. Educating people into the kingdom
of heaven has never saved anyone. The preaching of hell has never
saved anyone. It is the goodness of God that
leads us to repentance. It's the gospel of his free and
sovereign grace that reaches out to us. And as our speaker
this last week had said, it's the gentleness. It's God's great
gentleness towards us, because if he took his wrath out on us,
we would be, of all people, most miserable. Here in the book of
Numbers chapter 25, Numbers chapter 25, there are several incidences
in this book that have been so interesting in many ways and
so sad in other ways. But here in the book of Numbers
chapter 25 and verse 9, chapter 25 and verse 9. For three chapters, we have watched
Balaam attempt to do all he could do to curse Israel. And he's paid or would be paid
dearly. And God only worked out blessings
for Israel. But in the camp of Israel, some
distance away, we read as we begin this chapter that the The
religion of Moab had been brought in and they're worshiping again
idols. Though the whole account of Israel
traveling through the wilderness has been a ministry of worshiping
idols so often. And we wonder about that, but
here in verse nine it says, and those that died in the plague
were 24,000. 24,000 God brought into a plague,
and they died as a result of what we read in verses one through
eight. And I sometimes, it struck me, how in the world, with all
that they saw, could they do this? And you know, we come to
the conclusion, as all of the Old Testament prophets and all
of the New Testament writers, the Lord gave them a point of
beginning. when it came to their salvation
and it came to their writings, that they understood the desperateness
of the fall, and as they wrote, they wrote that there is only
one hope for all of the desperateness of the fall, and that is the
free and sovereign grace of God. They're writing about people
that are lost and desperately lost. They are dead in trespasses
and sin, and we find that played out so often in the scriptures.
You know, once in a while, in the book of Numbers even, we
find that there are some people that didn't go along with the
crowd. And what made the difference
with them? What was it that caused them
to stand firm with the Lord. Well, the Lord had his arm around
them so they wouldn't fall. But turn with me, if you would,
in the book of Numbers, just a little bit back. We've covered
this some time ago, but in chapter 14, chapter 14 of the book of
Numbers in verse 24, we have a person, and you know, to many
people, Caleb is just a very special guy that didn't go along
with all the rest of the stuff. And people have put him on a
pedestal and said, well, he must have had some inherent goodness
in him because God paid special attention to him and that he
had this going on and he was able to stand against the children
of Israel that were coming up against Moses as they came back
from the spine out of the land. But we find that the scriptures
are very plain to tell us why Caleb was able to do this. And
it tells us here in the book of Numbers chapter 14 verse 24,
but my servant Caleb, now that's an honor to be called a servant
of the most high God. Not everybody is a servant of
God, but Caleb is spoken of that way because he had what? Another spirit with him. God had worked a work of grace
in him. This man was someone different
than all of the rest. And all of these that have that
difference was not able to go along with the rest of the plan.
We find that God was there and there was a remnant according
to the election of grace, even among Israel. And Caleb was one
of them. It says, because he had another
spirit with him and hath followed me fully with Him will I bring
into the land where into he went, and his seed shall possess it.
So the Lord said, this man has another spirit. What's the problem
over here? What's the problem in chapter
25? What's gonna be the problem with the rest of the Bible? We
find that there are people that fell in Adam, they're dead in
trespasses and sin, and as much as they want to be religious
and are, they cannot get past the point. unless God save them. You know, there's a passage of
scripture, and turn with me to the book of 2 Kings, if you would.
2 Kings 6. In 2 Kings 6, we're very familiar
with this passage of scripture. We will find a servant of one
of the great prophets of the Old Testament that couldn't see,
he couldn't see the protection that God had given this prophet. In 2 Kings 6, 2 Kings 6, and there in verse 15,
2 Kings 6, and verse 15, there's a prophet. This is such an illustration
about the new birth. It just can't be seen. We just
can't see the blessings that God has. We are caught in the
trap of our fall to do what we find the rest of those people
in Israel did there in Chapter 25. When something new came along,
they followed it. When something new came along,
they went after it. It hasn't been that long, 40
years, and we find that they're building a golden calf and worshiping
it. Are they different than us by
nature? Not in the least. They're not
different than us. And here we have 40 years later,
they're going after the religion of Moab. They're not different
than anybody else. And the only difference that
is ever made in anybody is the activity of Almighty God in them.
Here we find in chapter six and verse 15 of the book of 2 Kings,
that there is an individual that is blind and cannot see what
the prophet can see. cannot see what spiritual blessings
he has. And it's going to take an act
of God for him to be able to see the blessings that the prophet
has. Do you know that surrounding
every one of God's children is a hedge and by it God protects
them? We find here that there is a
hedge about the prophet. There are more for us. The prophet said, then therefore
offer them. Here it says, and when the servant
of the man of God was risen early and gone forth, behold, and hosts
come past the city, both with horses and chariots. We have
the enemy at the gates. We have the city surrounded. We heard about that this morning
as Jerusalem was surrounded by Roman soldiers in AD 70. And
there were so many in that city that could not see past that.
I'm convinced there were a few, and they may have been the ones
that escaped and got out. But here it says, Behold, a host
come past the city, both with horses and chariots, and his
servant said unto him, Alas, my master, how shall we do? In other words, what are we going
to do? The whole host is camped against us. We have this whole
army against us. How are we going to get out of
the mess we're in? Well, he answered, fear not. That is the message of gentleness. That's the message of grace.
Fear not. The host, he says, for they that
be with us are more than they that be with them. Well, how
can that be? I see the host out here, I see
the chariots, I see the horses, I see the soldiers, I see that
we're surrounded, and they're coming for us. That's their order,
is to come for us and to take us. And then, Elisha, verse 17,
prayed and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes. My goodness, that should be our
prayer for our children and grandchildren. Lord, open their eyes. They'll never be able to see
anything unless you do that. We cannot convert them. We cannot
convince them. We cannot redeem them. We cannot
do anything for them. We say the host is greater for
us than for them, but they can't see. Elisha prayed and said,
Lord, I pray thee, Jehovah. Open his eyes. He's the only
one that has the ability of giving sight to the dead. that he may
see. Oh, he can't see now. Might he see? Please, God, open
his eyes. And the Lord, now the Lord had
already promised to do this in the council halls of eternity,
but by the preaching of the gospel and declaring that more for us
than for them, we find that the Lord was pleased at this time
to do what he'd already promised to do, and that is to open the
eyes of his servant. that he may see, and the Lord
opened his eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold,
what did he see? He says there, behold, the mountain
was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. Now this is far more greater
and far more powerful than those horses that are physical and
those chariots that are physical. In fact, we find the Lord Jesus
says, fear not those who can take your life. That's not an
issue, but fear him who is able to take your life and your soul
for eternity. Judge at that last day. So we
find what a blessed thing we witness here. It's just as real
to believers today to see what Elisha prayed and what God blessed
and this young man was able to see that there was great protection
for Elisha and he would not be turned over. without the very
permission of Almighty God, and the blessing was there. Well,
this is so true for all of us. Oh, someone prayed. Norm, let
him see. Let him see. And God was pleased
to let me see beyond the end of my nose and see spiritual
things. And that only comes because God
is pleased to give the new birth. We cannot see the kingdom of
God without the new birth. We can't visualize it. We have
all kinds of messes about it. You know, religion takes the
Bible and just turns it into a mess because it's always physical. It's always of the flesh. Religion
would tell us that when we take the bread and the wine, we're
actually eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Jesus Christ. And what foolishness is that?
We are taking a symbol of his body and a symbol of his bread,
but we would worship Christ. Well, as we look at these things,
we find that in Israel, there were a few Israelites and that,
please, that's what the Bible says. in all of that host that was
doing all of that mess, and worshiping idols, and going through all
of those things, and we find that there was one man that stopped
it, put an end to it, and God will, we probably won't get there
today, but God said, I will give him a covenant of peace. Now that's what we're looking
for. You know, we'll never have peace in this world. You just
go through history and we find that there have been wars and
rumors of wars from the very beginning. We have people going
after other people from the very beginning. From Cain and Abel
down to this very day, there has been such unsettlement against
individuals on this earth towards other individuals on this earth.
It is our character and it is our nature to be warfaring. And
we will carry it out. I see these stickers that say,
don't bully. All you have to do is mention
to someone that says, don't bully, a view that they don't believe
in and they'll bully you. I'll guarantee you. And it happens
all the time in religion. Oh, we love everybody. Well,
I don't believe in your free will. What are you talking about?
The scriptures share with us that out of all the hosts that
has ever been born, that God has a people like Caleb, and
God has a people like Elisha, and God has a people that he
opens their eyes of. So I would like to spend some
time this morning on this wonderful subject that was such a blessing
to me when God saved me and I found out who true Israel is. and who
God truly loves, and who God gave his son for, and that it
wasn't for a people that owned some property, it was for a people
that God loved before the foundation of the world, and he purposed
to have his son come and die for. Now, I appreciate this morning,
as Jesus looked around, he could tell everybody. He could see
their hearts that would never be changed and he was not involved
in changing it. And he could see those who he
would and grant salvation and cause them to see. And they would
be different individuals, just like Saul of Tarsus. So would
you turn with me in the New Testament to the book of Galatians chapter
three? I'd like to look at a few verses of scripture that share
with us who true Israel is and who God died for. I don't want
to have an idol out of anything but the Lord Jesus. You know,
the man who brought me the gospel was accused one time by a preacher. He said, you've just turned Jesus
into an idol. And Brother Henry said, that's
one of the kindest words anybody's ever told me. To have Jesus as
my object of worship? Think about it. What else would
we want? but Jesus as our object of worship. All right, in the book of Galatians
chapter three, and we're gonna be spending most of our time
that's left here in the New Testament and looking at the difference
between there's a man that's gonna take upon himself, and
he's such a picture of Christ, Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron,
and we'll get to that in another study. He's such a picture of
Christ. The outcome is that I will grant to him a covenant of peace. Now Christ is the only place
we can have peace. We have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. That's our peace. Galatians 3,
verse 7. Galatians 3, verse 7. As we look at the difference
that God has made, these are God's words. This is the word
of God. This is the word that God gave
to man to write, and they were all believers, holy men of God,
spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. These men did not
sit down and say, I think I'll write a book, and we're going
to put it in the Bible. God moved upon them, and God
caused them to write His Word in some way, and it was preserved
enough that today we could have a translation of it. How many
in here can read Greek? How many can read Hebrew? Thank
God for translations. All right. In Galatians chapter
3, verse 7, Know ye therefore that they which
are of faith. Now, where does our faith come
from? If we say it's our faith, it is manufactured faith, and
it isn't worth a nickel before God, because our faith will fail. That man that was a servant of
that prophet had some sort of faith. He went to his master
and said, what are we going to do? But he didn't have faith
of God's elect. until it's demonstrated God opened
his eyes. All right, it says here in verse
seven, know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the
same are the children of Abraham. I get to be a child of Abraham. I am a child of Abraham. He has
extended faith to me. And he said that that, we're
going to find, that's the true Israel. That's the people that
worship God. That's the people that have a
new heart. That's the people the covenant of grace was for.
That's the people that he came to die for. That's the one he
saw when he looked around and he saw Jews and Gentiles. that
make up his church. This is the Israel. Abraham believed
God and was counted unto him for righteousness. And so those
that God grants faith to, they are as if they were the children
of Abraham. Goes on to tell us in that very
passage of scripture there in verse eight, it says, and the
scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen. Who's
that? You and I, Gentiles. You and I Gentiles, the scriptures
call us what? Heathen. Take it as a blessing. Justify the heathen through faith,
preach before the gospel unto Abraham. What gospel? The same
gospel that we preach today. God does not change the gospel
over time and for different people. He doesn't say, well, I think
this people would be more allured by this and this people would
be more allured by this. Nobody's gonna be allured by
the gospel. You know what we're all gonna do? It's not for me.
We are enmity against God. Thank God he does not give up
on his people. and he will bring them in. And
I will be very sure to share you this, that when the last
of God's people that are marked out by God, that he knows that
belong to him, that are even yet unborn, maybe when the last
one is brought to gospel and God grants them faith and they
believe the gospel, when the last one is done, this world
will be wrapped up and not before and not after. We're not counting
on something happening over in Israel. We're counting on God. He is faithful to his people. And these things, there's no
difference between what's happening over there today than the election
of a dog catcher when it comes to God supervising all things. And the scripture foreseeing
that God would justify the heathen through faith preached before
the gospel into Abraham saying, in thee shall all nations be
blessed. So then, they which be of faith are blessed with
faithful Abraham. Turn with me to the book of Romans,
if you would. We're going to be back and forth, Romans, Philippians.
So we're going to spend most of our time here in the New Testament.
Romans chapter 9. What comfort it is. to find that
God has a people and he calls them spiritual Israel. They're
the ones the covenant of grace was for. He made a covenant with
those guys that we read about in Numbers. He made a covenant with those
guys that we read about in Leviticus. He made a covenant with them
and he tells us two or three times emphatically in the scriptures
that since they did not keep their part, I regarded that covenant
not. I regarded them not. I don't
have to hold that covenant up anymore. I don't have to keep
it because they didn't keep their side. You know, the blessings
of the everlasting covenant is you and I were not involved in
it. We're the recipients of it, but we're not involved in it.
If we'd have been involved in it in our lost estate, we'd have
voted against it. And people still vote against
the covenant of grace. I don't want that, I'm free,
I can do what I want. But the covenant of grace made
before the foundation of the world was between the triune
Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And they agreed in their
great majesty, in their great omnipotency, in their great infancy,
they agreed as three and one to carry out the promise to save
a people from their sin before Adam is ever created. They had
a purpose, and they're going to carry out that purpose. You
know, God can say what he will do, but he has the power to carry
it out. We can say what we want to do,
but we don't sometimes have the power to do it. I'm going to
be at the store at 10 o'clock, and I ran out of gas and didn't
make it. I didn't have the power to get there. Well, when it comes
to spiritual things, aren't you pleased, thankful to Almighty
God that He has a covenant and He's going to carry it out? And
there's nobody who's going to interfere with it. He's going
to carry it out. And He will carry it out for all the people
that are in that covenant of grace. Well, here in the book
of Romans, chapter 9, verse 6, not as though the word of God
hath taken none effect, for they are not all Israel which are
of Israel. I was taught in Sunday school
that everybody in Israel was saved, because it says, now all
Israel shall be saved. You know, when you're saved,
you find out that people make the Word of God say things that
it was never intended to say. All Israel, spiritual Israel,
shall be saved, but many, we read concerning those in the
book of Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy, those people,
we read about them, and they did not have faith, and they
all died in unbelief. God said that. Most people don't
hear that, but God said that. They died in unbelief. What does
that mean? They'll stand before him on the
left-hand side. They'll be no different than
Judas. There'll be no difference in Pilate. There'll be no difference
in anybody else that's standing on the left-hand side. They refused
Christ. All right? Goes on here, neither,
verse seven, because they are the seed of Abraham. Are they
all children? What a statement. My goodness,
what freeing it is. I don't have to worship Israel.
I can worship God. Now, I am a friend of Israel.
And this is the reason why, the only reason why. To me, and I'm
very ignorant of world politics, but to me, they're the only semblance
of a democracy in the whole area. It isn't because I like their
religion, because I don't. It isn't because I worship them
because the Bible says I am. It is the same about other people
that have some interest in their people being free. Well, I've
been told that Israel doesn't have much freedom, but they're
the semblance. All right, enough said. 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. These are not the children of
God, but the children of promise are
counted for seed. These are not the children of
God, the children of the flesh. Turn with me back to the book
of Galatians, if you would. Galatians chapter three, verse
29. Galatians chapter three and verse
29. We read these words about the subject of what was the difference
made between those that went along continuously and all the
time. I'm not saying that God's people
will not have problems in their lives and sin will be a great
problem. But it will not be an everyday
downfall. God will recover his people.
He'll not let us fall. Though we stumble, he'll not
let us fall. He'll bring us back. He did that with Peter. He did
that with Moses. He did that with David. He did
that with great sinners found in the scriptures. But Judas,
he didn't do anything for. And others, he did nothing for.
They stood on their own, and they died before God, a sinner.
Here in the book of Galatians chapter 3. Let me get there. Galatians chapter 3, verse 29.
And if ye be Christ's, Then are ye Abraham's seed and
heirs according to promise. If you be Christ's, now that's
the difference. If you be the church, that's
the difference. If God poured out his grace on
you, if God poured out his love on you, if God brought you from
darkness to light, That makes the children of God. Abraham's
seed. Going back to the book of Romans,
if you would. Romans chapter 2. Romans chapter
2 and verse 28. In Romans chapter 2 and verse
28, we read these words about this great subject of who is
the church? Who are the children of God?
In verse 28 of Romans chapter 2, for he is not a Jew, which
is one outwardly. Neither is that circumcision
which is outward in the flesh. It is of no value. There is no
benefit in it. But he is a Jew which is one
inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit.
What does that mean? Born again. That's what that
means, born again ones. These are the children of God.
He's the Jew, which is one inwardly, has a spirit as Caleb did, had
another spirit about him. This is so valuable. In the spirit
and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of
God. We praise God for what he has
done. That's our hope. He is our hope. And again, would you turn with
me to the book of Philippians, Philippians chapter three. Philippians
chapter three, we look at this subject as it's so plainly carried
out to the scripture. We observe it in the Old Testament
so often. We find that God said, I'll give
you a new heart. God said, I'll give you a circumcision
of the heart. God says, I must give you the
new birth. I cannot, nobody's gonna escape
this world without that. Nobody will ever see God without
that. And here in the book of Philippians
chapter three and verse three, for we are the circumcision which
worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have
no confidence in the flesh. The things that I do, are ineffectual. I am thankful for his promise
to the church that you are my workmanship created in Christ
Jesus unto good works which I have before ordained that you walk
in them. He's the one that holds us up
by our He's the one that holds us up by our bootstraps. He's
the one that holds us up under the arms. He's the one that keeps
us moving in his direction. He's the one that says, I press
towards the mark of the high calling in Christ Jesus. He's
the one that is our support. He's the one that has given us
life. He is it. And he's the one that we are
called on to worship. And he's the one that set us
in the church. And he's the one that says, you
are my family. Spiritual Israel, turn with me
if you get. Going back to the book of the
Psalms, a couple passages over there in the book of the Psalms,
even the Psalmist wrote of this great truth. And so often as
we find even in Isaiah said, I'm gonna take the gospel to
the Isles, I'm gonna take the gospel to the Gentiles. And you
know what? Those people at the days of Christ
didn't believe a word of that. They were very picky about what
they read too. They were very picky. They had
pin knives and they cut out a whole bunch of the scripture. They
could not get the idea that God's word would be taken to the Gentiles,
that he had elect among the Gentiles too. Isaiah wrote about it. He's
quite thorough about it. Well, here in the book of the
Psalm, Psalm 73. In Psalm 73, this message goes
on about how God has and does his business in verse one. A
Psalm of Asaph, truly God is good to Israel. Let's not stop
there. Even to such are of a clean heart. Oh boy, there's a qualification
mark there, isn't there? Who is Israel? Those who have
a clean heart. How did they get that? Oh, I
walked out. Nope. I was born again. I was born again. That's God's
promise in the covenant of grace. I will give you a new heart. Listen to a preacher just recently,
and he said, people all over, preachers all over, give your
heart to Jesus. God doesn't want your heart. He'll give us a new
heart. All right? And then in that same
book, Psalms 148, Psalm 148. Turn with me to Psalm 148. And verse 14, in the time we have, we have
to pick and choose. It'd be great someday to start
with Genesis 1-1 and end up with Revelation chapter 12. Wouldn't
get much done for three or four days, would we? Anyway, verse
14, He also exalteth the horn of His people, the praise of
all his saints, even the children of Israel, a people near unto
him, praise ye the Lord. Psalm 148, 14, he says, those
my people, saints are my people. They're the children of Israel. They're near unto me. Praise
ye the Lord, and that's what God's people do. Turn with me,
if you would, to the book of Ephesians. Ephesians, chapter
two. Ephesians, chapter two. In Ephesians,
chapter two, and there in verse 11. Ephesians, chapter two, verse
11. We read these words. Wherefore,
remember this. Many years ago, the pastor who
brought me the gospel says, Norm, never, ever forget where you
came from. Don't ever forget the stone you
were hewn from. Don't ever forget the pit you
were drawn from. Don't ever. Well, if you step
into my office, if you get at the right angle, you can see
some pictures of my hometown. They're there to be a reminder,
not from the place, but the situation I was in when he found me. Dead in trespasses and sin. No different than anybody else
that's ever been saved. With the ground is level at the
cross. Nobody comes any other way. Here in the book of Ephesians
chapter two, wherefore remember that ye being in time past Gentiles
in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which
is called circumcision. in the flesh made by hands, that
at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenant of promise,
having no hope and without God in the world. And that's where
we all were. Nobody's exempt from this. This
is where we are. This is where we were, depending
on your perspective. And now he says there, but now
in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by
the blood of Christ, for he is our peace who hath made both
one and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between
us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity. Now that's that enmity
we had, and he's abolished it. Why? Because God poured out his
enmity on his son. The laws of commandments contain
in ordinances for to make in himself of two one new man, so
making peace, that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by
the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. What's he saying? I
have some Jews, and I have some Gentiles, but you know what?
I'm gonna put them in one pile. They're going to be one family
and they will get along because they have the same father and
they have the same salvation and they have the same grace
and they have the same hope. And nobody is going to be arguing
about, oh, you're Jew and I'm Gentile. No, it will be cast
away. We'll not argue over as we find
the apostle Paul was led to right, bond or free. Oh, you were just
a slave. Oh no, I was a slave of sin.
You're male, female, bond or slave, rich or poor. None of
that will be a discussion in the church of the living God.
It is there, we're there by the grace of God. I've said this
many times. When you study the cities of refuge, you never find
anybody asking, why are you here? Because everybody knows. Sinners, sinners. Why are you
in church? Sinners. As Mike was going through
that list of what the Jews expected out of the Messiah. They wanted
him to throw off the Romans, and they didn't want him dealing
with the high priests, and they didn't want him dealing with
the temple, and they didn't want him having supper with publicans
and sinners. And he did it all. One more time, back in the book
of Galatians, Galatians chapter 6, would you turn there? If there's any theme in the book
of Galatians, it could be said Paul is writing under inspiration
of the Holy Spirit and wanting to dispel the idea that because
you are a physical child of Abraham, you have a special in with God. As he goes through here, he just
goes over and over that. It's not circumcision in the
flesh. It is not being related to Abraham. It is not. It is not. It is not. It is being a child of God. It is being born again. It is
being redeemed by Christ. All right, here in the book of
Galatians chapter six and verse 14, the scriptures say this,
but God forbid that we should glory save in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ. by whom the world is crucified
unto me, and I unto the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision
availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation, a new creature
in Christ Jesus. I'm circumcised. I'm not. I follow
the law. I don't. It's not going to avail
anybody. It goes on to tell us, as many
as walk according to this rule, peace be unto them and mercy
upon the Israel of God. For henceforth, let no man trouble
me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus Brethren,
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. So he sums
it all up. It's not circumcision, it's not
uncircumcision, but a new creature in Christ Jesus. It's the new
birth. And then would you travel with
me to the book of Hebrews as we close? The book of Hebrews
chapter eight. The book of Hebrews chapter eight,
and we wanna start reading with verse 10. Hebrews chapter 8 verse
10. This is a covenant that is mentioned
in the Old Testament. And the Apostle Paul, led by
the Holy Spirit, is using a text out of the Old Testament to preach
the gospel to us. That's what they did. We don't
need to be reminded that that's all they had was the Old Testament. And for a hundred years, that's
all they had was the Old Testament. Here in the book of Hebrews chapter
eight and verse 10, it says, for this is the covenant that
I will make with the house of Israel after those days saith
the Lord, I will put my laws in their mind. and write them in their hearts. And I will be to them of God,
and they shall be to me a people. And they shall not teach every
man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, know the
Lord. For all shall know me from the least to the greatest. For
I will be merciful to their unrighteousness." This is Israel, and only spiritual
Israel that God ever did this. I think there are seven times
in the book of Numbers alone that God's righteous, wrathful
indignation is carried out and thousands of people die as a
result of it, in the book of Numbers. And he said to his people,
I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities
will I remember no more. If God should count iniquity,
who shall stand? Well, it has to be that he's
taken care of it, taken care of their sins and iniquity, and
I will remember no more. New covenant. In that he saith,
a new covenant hath he made the first old, now that which decayeth
and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. He has said there is no
approaching me in a covenant of works. Only approaching me
in Christ Jesus the Lord. Only. And so the difference that
was between a very few in Israel and the host of Israel is the
same we find among very few Gentiles and a host of Gentiles is Christ
makes all the difference. Grace makes all the difference. There is a covenant of grace
and there is going to be carried out to the very end that he will
save a remnant according to the election of grace. Now I firmly
believe that all that's going on there right now is working
out for the furtherance of the gospel, for the salvation of
his elect. Somebody that would never have
heard the gospel is going to hear it in some way, unbeknownst
to us, and in eternity we can all rejoice together that he
worked it out. He elected me as a dog catcher
and I was put into a position where I could hear the gospel.
I went to war over in Israel and God got me in contact with
someone who knew the gospel. And that's what God does. He
makes sure that all of His lost sheep come in contact with the
true gospel, the gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and
that we are dead in trespasses and sin, and it takes His power
to raise us to newness of life. That's what He does, and that's
why this world is working out the way it is. It has happened
since the beginning. It will happen in the middle.
It will happen in the end. and eventually we will hear the
fulfillment of those words that God made to Peter, I'm long-suffering
to the church. He says long-suffering to us,
but long-suffering to the church, not willing that any should perish. But all should come to repentance.
And when that all is taken care of, my friends, my brothers and
sisters in Christ, we will meet Him in the air.