Okay, back in 1 Samuel chapter
18, beginning there at verse 28. As I said, I've entitled
this message, Great Salvation for All Israel. And that title
was taken from verse 5 of chapter 19. So I'm going to read through
these verses and make some comments. Then I want to come back to that
because I want to stress the issue of all Israel. Salvation
for all Israel. Now, the first thing we see in
the last three verses of chapter 18 is this, the tragic effects
of sin and the glorious effects of God's grace. You see, we know
something about the tragic effects of sin, and it's our hope and
prayer and desire that we know even more about the glorious
effects of God's grace in Christ. We know that the Scripture tells
us plainly that sin overflows us like a flood, where sin abounded. But thank God it doesn't stop
there. It goes on to say, where sin abounded, grace did much
more abound. And that's one of those great,
comforting, rejoicing, calming much-mores of the Scripture. Much more abound. That's what
grace does. And we see that Not in the same
person here, but in two different people. One in Saul and one in
David. Not that David was not a sinner.
He was. All of us who are saved are sinners
saved by the grace of God. And that's our claim to fame.
Our only worthiness now and forever is Christ and Him crucified and
risen again. But we have these examples put
before us. And in this we see two permanent
things going on here. The first one is that this, it
says in verse 29, and Saul became David's enemy continually. Before this, it seemed like there
were times when Saul maybe had some thoughts of pleasure, of
thoughts of calmness, and thoughts of peace towards David. We know
that as a Judgment for his disobedience that God sent an evil spirit,
an evil mindset, a spirit of depression and envy and bitterness
to Saul. And he came and went. And that
continues. But it seems here there's a little change in verse
20. Now Saul becomes his enemy continually. Saul has a set,
fixed principle of envy and hatred in his mind towards David. You
might say he has a fixation. You've heard that in modern psychology.
He has a fixation. And David, as I said last week,
standing on the grave of David is his fixation. What a way to
be. Have you ever been focused and
fixed on your enemies? I have. And it's not a good place
to be, is it? It is not a good place to be
because it just drags us down right to where they are. Puts
us on the same level. as our enemies, our accusers,
our critics. And that's the thing about it,
you know. I know it hurts. I know all these
things hurt when we become disappointed and all that. But let's pray
to God that He not allow us to do what the flesh says to do,
and that's focus on our enemies, fix on those whom we envy or
hate or what. Let's pray to God that we don't
envy or hate anybody. But certainly, let's not get
in this mindset. Because what we learn in Saul
is this, when a man gives in to such sin, then what happens? The sin controls him, and not
he himself. Christ said it to the Pharisees
in John 8, verse 34, when He said, Whosoever committeth sin
is the servant, the slave of sin. And there he's talking about
unbelievers who can do nothing but bring forth fruit unto death.
You see, without Christ, without faith in Him given by God the
Holy Spirit, we are nothing but sin. And that's what man needs
to understand. That's what has to be revealed.
You say, well, there's got to be some goodness in me. Well,
men will tell you that there is. You will tell yourself that
there is. But in the sight of God and compared
to God's standard of goodness without Christ and without grace,
without the Holy Spirit, without faith, without a broken and a
contrite heart, without the love of God shed abroad in our heart,
there's nothing good about us. There's nothing good in us. And
then we become controlled by it. That's what he's saying here.
Whosoever commits sin is the servant of sin. Romans chapter
6 and verse 17, where Paul wrote to the Roman believers, he said,
but God be thanked that you were the servants of sin. Now they
were still sinners. He shows that clearly in Romans
7. Old wretched man, don't he? But now they're not controlled
by it. There's a higher power that controls
them, and that's God through Christ by His Spirit. Turn to
James chapter 1 with me. I want to show you something
here about this issue of sin. and how it controls apart from
God's power and God's grace. He says in verse 13 of James
chapter 1, now he had been talking about trials of faith which come
from God. God never tempts us to sin, but
God does send trials. In fact, what we're seeing here
from chapter 18 on, David's life after he defeated Goliath was
one trial after another. He was going through the school
of hard knocks. And I got news for us. There's
no other school except Hard Knocks University. And the reason is
because we're living right now in a wilderness, this world.
We're not of the world, but we're in the world, and we're going
to be tested and tried, and we're going to be attacked, and it's
going to be one after another. Don't look for the reprieve.
It's not here. I'll tell you what I think. Somebody
says, well, there are reprieves. Well, I agree with that in this
sense. And here's where I think the reprieve is. Right now where
you're sitting and right now where I'm standing. That's the
reprieve. This is the oasis in the desert,
to me, where we come and meet together as the people of God
to feed upon His Word, to drink from the living waters. And that's
why we need to worship together. That's why we need to set aside
a time and discipline ourselves by God's power and grace to study
the Word of God. So we want to remain spiritually
healthy. And so, look here at James chapter
1. He says in verse 13, Let no man say, when he is tempted,
I am tempted of God. Now, what's he talking about?
What kind of temptation? Well, look at the next line.
For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any
man with evil. You see, he says, but every man
is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust. This is what's
happening to King Saul. And he's enticed by his own lust.
God says, Saul, you've been disobedient. You're off the throne. I'm removing
my spirit from you. But Saul doesn't want that. He's
enticed by his own pride, by his own desires, by his own ambitions. And it says in verse 15, now
listen to this, Then when lust hath conceived, now when those
unlawful desires of the flesh hath conceived, that is brought
forth in our minds and hearts, That which we are fixed on, that's
what he's talking about. This fixation, he says, it bringeth
forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. The wages of sin is death. You
sow what you reap. If you sow sin, you'll reap sin.
You sow division, you'll reap division. You sow works of the
flesh, you'll reap the works of the flesh. That's what the
Scripture says. And that's why our only hope now and forever
is to cling to Christ and never let go. Cling to Christ and never
let go. He's the only one who has ever
conquered death. I don't care what these idiots
on TV say about seeing the light or speaking to a ghost or going
close to death and coming back. Christ is the only one who has
ever conquered death. Now, we cling to Him. Because
if we're not clinging to Him, sin is going to conceive, and
when it's finished, we end up dead. Dead, dead, dead. Just as dead as we were before
we were dead physically. Even worse, eternal death. Look back at 1 Samuel 18. And
that's the sad part of this story, but now here's the rejoicing
part. Here's the second permanent thing. David became a permanent
fixture in the minds of the people as being precious unto them.
Look back at verse 30. Here the Philistines went forth.
They continually ravaged and attacked. They were a thorn in
the side of King Saul and Israel. And he came to pass after they
went forth. David again, here it's said again.
How many times is this said of him in chapter 18? David behaved
himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul. Now, we're
not told specifically what went on at this time period, but we
do know this, that it's by the grace and power of God Almighty
that David did this, that he behaved himself wisely, more
wisely than all the servants, all the soldiers, that's what
that is. And so that his name was much sent by. The people
were fixed on David. Now, when you think about that,
We know that it's not right for anybody to be fixed on an individual
person, on any man, per se. But let's look at David as a
type of Christ here. And here we see an illustration
of one of the great differences between unbelievers and believers. Here's one of them. Unbelievers
are fixed in opposition to the Lord Jesus Christ, just like
Saul was fixed in opposition to David. Unbelievers are fixed
in their minds and their hearts against His truth, against His
people. But now, here's the joy of it.
Before God turned my heart, before God turned your heart, what were
you? You were a Saul. I was a Saul. By nature, that's what we are.
If God doesn't do His sovereign work within our hearts, There
will be no fixation on him. It will all be fixed on sin. It will be fixed on him as our
enemy, just like Saul of Tarsus, just like Saul of the king, who
was fixed against David. We are all Saul's by nature,
unless we are born again by the Spirit, we will remain in fixed
hatred against Christ. That's what the Lord said to
His disciples in John 15, 18. He said, marvel not that the
world hate you. It shouldn't amaze you that the
world hates Christ and His people. Because that's the very nature
of the world. He said this, he said, if you
were of the world, the world would love its own. In other
words, if you banded with the world in their fixation against
Christ, just like Saul against David, then the world would love
its own. I guarantee you, anybody who
was a friend of Saul from this time hated David as much as Saul. It doesn't matter what other
differences they had. Now we see a great illustration of that
in the crucifixion of our Savior. Because the kings of the earth,
remember? Acts chapter 4. Let's turn there.
Just real quickly. Turn to Acts chapter 4. You remember
what it said? Men who, even in their flesh,
were mortal enemies, banded together in their fixed hatred against
Christ. That's something, isn't it? Verse
26. The kings of the earth stood
up and the rulers were gathered together. Kings of the earth,
that refers to Gentile kings. Rulers refers to the Jewish religious
rulers. Together, they're together now. You mean these fellows who wouldn't
even sit down, the Jewish rulers wouldn't even sit down and have
a meal with the kings of the earth according to their law.
But now they're together. They are together having a meal
of hatred, feasting on the blood of the Savior, not by faith,
but in hatred. And he says, they are together
against the Lord and against His Christ. For of the truth,
against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both
Herod, the Edomite king of the Jews, and Pontius Pilate, the
governor of Rome, with the Gentiles, You know, somebody says, well,
we, you know, people talk about, well, we ought to persecute the
Jews because they crucified Jesus. Oh, no, my friend, even the Gentiles
were there. Yes, the Jews persecuted and
crucified, but we did, too. We did, too. And it says, and
the people of Israel were gathered together. Now, here's the comforting
part of it. And it's beyond me why, well,
it's not beyond me why men don't like it. It's because I know
human nature. But verse 28, "...for to do whatsoever God's hand and
God's counsel determined before to be done." That's glorious
to me. You say, well, I can't wrap my
mind around that. I'll tell you why. Your mind
ain't big enough to wrap around that one, and mine isn't either.
But it's so, isn't it? That's what's called submission
to a sovereign God who knows what's best, even when we come
against Him in evil. He controls it. Go back to 1
Samuel 18. But David became a permanent
fixture in the minds of the people as precious. And here's the second
thing I want you to see about this joyous part of this. Believers
hold Christ as precious. Just as the people were fixed
on David as precious, every sinner saved by grace holds Christ as
precious. 1 Peter 2.7. Chapter 2 and verse 7, unto you
therefore which believe, he is precious. His person is precious. The fact that he's God, isn't
that precious to you? The fact that he's man, isn't
that precious? Without sin, isn't that precious
to you? The fact that he was born of
a virgin and walked this earth under the law, keeping that law
in every jot and tittle, never committing, thinking, or even
imagining any sinful thought or thing. Love incarnate, holiness
incarnate, power incarnate. Isn't that precious to you? The
One who came to save His people from their sins, who saves whom
He will by His power through His shed blood and His righteousness
imputed. Isn't that precious to you? He's
precious. It says, "...but unto them which
be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the
same is made the head of the corner." That's precious. Even
though we by nature hated Him, God made Him the head of the
corner, the chief cornerstone. Well, that's the tragic effects
of sin and the glorious effects of grace. But look back at verse
1 of chapter 19. Now, here secondly, we see the
sovereign providence of God in preserving David. Next time when
I go through the rest, or most of the rest of chapter 19, I'm
going to be preaching on that. Persecuted, but preserved. And what we see is what we've
seen all along. We've studied so many Old Testament
passages now, we've got a lot to go, don't we, if the Lord
doesn't take us home or come back again. But isn't it amazing,
and you see this in the New Testament too, it's not just the old, it's
all the way through. We see it today in our lives.
Isn't it amazing that this is not just the story of a fight
between Saul and David. This is a story of God working
things after the counsel of His own will. To reach the foreordained
purpose which He has in mind, which is to bring the Savior
into the world to save His people from their sins. And you see
all of that. This is a story of God's providence,
of God's government working all things after the counsel of His
own will, working together all things for good. And that ultimate
purpose is Christ and the salvation of His people. Look at it. Verse
1, Saul spake to Jonathan his son and all his servants that
they should kill David. Now Saul had no idea that Jonathan
loved David. And Saul had no idea that Jonathan
and David had already, Jonathan had already taken off his outer
garment, his kingly garment, his right to rulership, and to
the throne, and said, David, it's yours. Jonathan had already
taken off his sword, his girdle, everything. And he said, it's
yours. But Saul didn't know it. Now
somebody said, well, Jonathan should have told Saul that. Well,
God's working things after the counsel of His own will, and
it's His wisdom. You look at it however you want
to, but I'm going to tell you something. This is the only way
it was done and could have been done and should have been done.
But Jonathan had already settled the issue after he saw David
kill Goliath. After he saw the Lord kill Goliath
through David, he knew the Lord was with David. He knew this
was right. So here Saul comes to his son. He said, let's make
a pact here. Let's get a plan going here.
And let's let the servants go at it. And verse 2 says, But
Jonathan Saul's son delighted much in David, and Jonathan told
David, saying, Saw my father seeketh to kill... He went right
to... He was loyal to David, you see. Just like we're to be
loyal to Christ. We're not... Listen. When men
and women do what's not right according to the Word of God
and the glory of Christ, what are we to do? We're to follow
Christ. We're to be loyal to Him and
not men. And I'll tell you, it takes a
lot of grace, doesn't it? I'm finding out as I get older,
it takes a lot of grace to do anything right. We might say,
well, it takes more grace to do. No, it doesn't. It takes
a lot of grace to do anything that's glorifying the God. But
you see, Jonathan shows a loyalty to David. That's what Christ
has from His people, to follow Him, to be loyal to Him against
all opposition, all sin. And so Jonathan went to David
and he said, saw my father seeketh to kill thee. This is verse two.
Now, therefore, I pray thee, take heed to thyself until the
morning and abide in a secret place and hide thyself. And he
says in verse three, I'll go out and stand beside my father
in the field where thou art, and I will commune with my father
of thee. And what I see that I will tell
thee. I'll tell you what's going on. I'm going to let you. You
see, his concern was the safety of David. He knew David had to
be on that throne eventually. Now you know something, Jonathan
didn't live to see that happen in this life. But he was instrumental
by the power of God in making it so, wasn't he? And he says
in verse 4, And Jonathan spake good of David, and so his father.
Now this is something Jonathan did do. He wouldn't speak ill
of David to his father. And here's what he said in him,
let not the king sin against his servant, against David, because
he hath not sinned against thee. David hasn't wronged you, Saul.
That's what he's saying. He's not saying David himself
is sinlessly perfect. We can say that of our greater
David. We can say that of our Lord.
He's sinlessly perfect. He's done nothing. Even the old
thief recognized that. This man, the thief, you remember
the repentant thief on the right hand of Christ. He said, we deserve
what we're getting. But this man, the man on the
middle cross, hath done nothing amiss." A thief knew more good
theology than a lot of preachers I know today. But you see, and
that's what Jonathan, he's coming to his loyalty, he's expressing
his love and his loyalty to David, his king. He was already, Jonathan's
king was David now. And so it says, because he had
not sinned against thee, and because his works had been to
thee were very good. He's always treated you good.
David, you think about it, all that time he knew that he was
anointed to be king. He knew Saul was already disavowed
of God. But he did not take matters in
his own hands. He knew it was going to happen
in God's way, in God's time, by God's power. He didn't go
out and move on his own and try to speed up the process. Do you
remember what it said over there? I think it's in chapter 18, it
says, "...he went whithersoever Saul sent him." He submitted
himself to the authority of the man who was on the throne at
that time. And as I said back then, that was a great picture
of our Savior who was made under the law. He submitted himself
willingly under the law. to fulfill the law in order that
he might save his people from their sins and fulfill all righteousness. That's why he told John the Baptist,
baptize me. He said, suffer it unto us to
fulfill all righteousness. He had to identify with his people
in his death, burial, and resurrection through baptism. That was a picture. That was an act that he wasn't
just dipping in water there. He was teaching a lesson. He
was showing a truth. And he got through. Well, this
is what David's doing there with Saul. But Jonathan recognized
it. And then he says in verse 5,
"...for he did put his life in his hand." What that means is
literally David put his life on the line for Israel. He put
his life on the line. He slew the Philistine Goliath. And the Lord brought a great
salvation for all Israel. You saw it. That's what Jonathan's
telling his daddy. You saw this. And you did rejoice. You stood up and applauded with
the rest of Israel when that happened. Before that happened,
you were towering back in fear, just like Abner, just like me,
just like the rest of us. And David went out there, and
by the power of God, as he said so, Goliath fell from that guided
missile that went from David's sling to Goliath's forehead,
and you stood up and you applauded. You saw it and you rejoiced.
Now, wherefore, why then will you sin against innocent blood
to slay David without a cause? Doesn't that remind you of how
we, fallen humanity, treated our Lord, the Savior, innocent
blood? He was truly innocent in every
way. All Jonathan is simply saying is that David hasn't... He's
not saying David was totally innocent in the sense that he
was sinlessly perfect. He's just simply saying, Dad,
David hadn't done anything against you. He's treated you right. And you hate him without a cause.
Isn't that what they said about it? They hated me. Our Lord said
of him, they hated me without a cause. No just cause. Well, look at verse 6. Saul hearkened
unto the voice of Jonathan. He heard him. And Saul sware,
as the Lord liveth, he shall not be slain. Now, we know that
was a false oath. It was a false oath. Because
right in the next verses we're going to study, next time, Saul
goes after him again. It says, "...Jonathan called
David, and Jonathan showed him all those things. And Jonathan
brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as in times
past." So David was back in Saul's court. But it didn't last long.
Didn't last long. Now, all of this As we see, the
providence of God, the wisdom of God, the power of God, and
even the grace and mercy of God is aimed towards what's stated
in verse 5, and this is the last point, the salvation of all Israel. All Israel. David put his life
on the line. That's a picture of our Savior
who put his life on the line to save his people. He slew the
Philistine Goliath, Goliath who represents sin, Satan, the curse
of the law. Christ on the cross shed his
blood unto death to remove the curse of the law, to make an
end of sin. He put away our sin by the sacrifice
of himself. Behold the Lamb of God which
beareth away the sin of the world. He finished sin. He conquered
it. He became a curse for us. He was made sin that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. He slew the Philistine,
just like David slew the Philistine. Christ, our David, our King David,
our greater David, slew our enemies. He slew Satan. He said, this
is the end of Satan. The prince of this world is cast
out. Meaning that all that he used to accuse you of, he can
no longer accuse you. He has to come through me. So
that He is our advocate. He's our substitute. And through
Him the Lord worked a great salvation. What a great salvation! Paul
told the Hebrews, the Hebrew believers, he said, consider
how great a salvation! How could you neglect so great
salvation? A great salvation! It's a full
salvation. A complete salvation. It's not
part. It's not part Him, part you,
part me. It's all Him. And it's a great salvation, greater
than we could ever imagine. And he says, who's it for? For
all Israel. Who did David fight for? He fought
for his nation. Who did Christ go to the cross
for and fight sin and Satan and the curse? His nation, spiritual
Israel. All his sheep, his church, God's
elect. And you know, one day the Holy
Spirit came into our lives, and you know what? We saw it. And we rejoiced. And we rejoiced. The salvation of all Israel.
David is a type of Christ who put his own life on the line
for his nation. And it says the Lord wrought.
That means the Lord worked. That's Jehovah, the covenant
God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The God of salvation. He worked
a great salvation for all Israel. God worked a great physical salvation
through David for the whole nation of Israel at that time. Every citizen of Israel was delivered
from the hands of the Philistines by one person, David. Now, he
didn't stand before Goliath to fight for the Amalekites and
the Hittites and the Amorites. He stood there for Israel. Prince
of God. Jacob's for I'm the Lord and
then Christ when he went to the cross he went there for Spiritual
Israel his sheep. He said I laid down my life for
the sheep He said all that the father giveth me shall come to
me and him that cometh me I will the no wise cast out and this
is the will of him that sent me that of all which he has given
me I should lose what nothing But raise it up again the last
day God worked a great spiritual and eternal salvation for the
whole spiritual nation, spiritual Israel, through Christ, the greater
Son of David. But here is the point. Through
Christ, rest assured, all Israel shall be saved. Now, I want you
to turn to Romans 11. I want to show you this. I am
going to go through the scripture here. And I want you to see this. Paul stated this in Romans 11.
In verse 26, in Romans 9, 10, and 11, he speaks of the Jewish
nation. He speaks of the Gentile nations.
He speaks of a remnant according to the election of grace. That's
God's people out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation who
come to faith in Him, for whom Christ died, whom He redeemed.
And here he says in verse 26 of Romans 11, he says, And so
all Israel, shall be saved." Do you see that? All Israel shall
be saved. As it is written, and he begins
to quote here from Isaiah 59, he says, "...there shall come
out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from
Jacob. For this is my covenant unto
them, when I shall take away their sins." Do you see that? All Israel. Now, who is the all
Israel? Well, you know, when we think
about national Israel, When we think about David's physical
people, the human nature of Christ, he
was a Jew. He belonged to that nation. But
when you think about that nation, there were three things for a
person to be a citizen of national Israel. Three things. Then there are three things that
have to be for a person to be a citizen of spiritual Israel.
Let me show you what they are. Number one, to be a citizen of
national Israel, you had to have a covenant connection with Abraham. We be Abraham's seed. That was
a physical covenant connection. That's what God told Abraham
back in Genesis chapter 12 when he said, he said, I will make
of you a great nation. But in that covenant, Abraham
himself was a type of Christ. And what Abraham, what was accomplished
and what was given to Abraham himself as a person here on this
earth and accomplished through Abraham in a physical people
had a greater and eternal and spiritual fulfillment in a greater
Abraham, in a greater covenant and in a spiritual eternal people
called spiritual Israel. You see, when God made covenant
with Abraham in Genesis chapter 12, that covenant was given to
the nation Israel in Abraham before they were a nation, before
they were delivered out of Egypt, before they were established
as a nation on Mount Sinai and given the law. Well, how does
that apply to spiritual Israel? Well, to be a member, a citizen
of the nation, spiritual nation, of spiritual Israel, you have
to have a covenant connection with the Lord Jesus Christ. There's
your covenant connection. You may not have any Jewish blood
running through your physical bodies, but if you have a covenant
connection with the Lord Jesus Christ, you are a spiritual Israelite. You are part of the all Israel
that shall be saved. That's spoken of so many times
in the Scriptures. I could turn to a lot of Scriptures,
but think about it. Paul wrote about the salvation
that was given us in Christ Jesus when? Before the world began. When that covenant was made before
time, before the world began, we weren't even a nation, spiritually
speaking. But God made that covenant. He
chose a people. He gave them to Christ. And Christ
became surety for those people. He became responsible for our
whole entire salvation in Him. And that was all before the foundation
of the world. That's why He's called the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. So you have to have
a covenant connection with Christ. Now secondly, national Israel. could be a citizen of national
Israel, there had to be the circumcision of the flesh on the male children. The males represented the families,
and that brought the whole family in. But there had to be a circumcision
of the flesh on the eighth day for every male child. Now, that
circumcision in and of itself was not the whole covenant. It
was an entrance into the covenant, you see. And so it was not just
circumcision by itself, but it had to take place. Well, turn
to Romans chapter 2. How does that apply to spiritual
Israel? Well, in order to be a citizen
of spiritual Israel, there has to be a circumcision of the heart. Not of the flesh, but of the
heart. Look at Romans 2 and verse 25. He says, for circumcision verily
profiteth if thou keep the law. Talking about physical circumcision.
But if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made
uncircumcised. In other words, if you're a sinner,
then your circumcision physically is not going to do you any good.
If you're trying to keep the law by circumcision and works,
it's a done deal. So he says, therefore, if the
circumcision keep the righteousness of the law, and that is a Gentile,
or the uncircumcision keep the righteousness, if a Gentile keeps
the law, he's okay. Shall not his uncircumcision
be counted for circumcision? In other words, if a Gentile
keeps the law, he's okay. He's in good standing with God. And verse 27, and shall not uncircumcision
Gentiles, which is by nature, in other words, that's the way
they're born. You're not born circumcised. He says, but Gentiles
by nature, if it fulfill the law, judge thee who by the letter
and circumcision does transgress the law. So here's a Gentile
in all his natural, innate, physical humanness. He's not circumcised. You're not born now. And he keeps
the law. He's OK. But now here's a Jew
who is circumcised and he breaks the law. Where does that leave
him? He's not in good standing with God. So where's the issue
now? Where's salvation? Look at verse
28. For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither is
that circumcision which was outward in the flesh, but he's a Jew
which is one inwardly. And circumcision is that of the
heart, in the spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not
of men, but of God. What's he talking about here?
He's talking about the new birth. You must be born again. You see,
our covenant connection with Christ and the redemption that
he accomplished at Calvary ensures that all Israel shall be circumcised
in heart and ears, shall be saved. That's why Paul said, we are
the circumcision which worship God in spirit and rejoice in
Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Who's the circumcision? Every believer. And then here's
the third thing. To be a citizen of national Israel,
you had to keep the commandments. You had to keep the commandments.
Turn to Deuteronomy chapter 10. Does that surprise you? But now listen to the whole thing.
You say, but nobody kept the commandments. Well, look at Deuteronomy chapter
10. Look at verse 12. If you're going
to be a student of the Word, you need to learn what I'm about
to teach you right now if you haven't learned it already. You
say, well, nobody can keep the commandments. Now, wait a minute.
It's true. Nobody can be sinlessly perfect.
That's true. We're all sinners. Before salvation,
I was a sinner in unbelief. After salvation, I'm a sinner
by the grace of God who believes in Christ. So what are we talking
about? Look at verse 12 of Deuteronomy
chapter 10. And now, Israel, what doth the
Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God,
to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the
Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, to keep
the commandments of the Lord, And his statutes, which I command
thee this day for thy good, behold, the heaven and the heaven of
heavens is the Lord thy God, the earth also, with all that
therein is. Only the Lord had a delight in
thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them,
even you above all people, as it is this day." And notice in
verse 16, he shows that even under the old covenant, That
physical circumcision would not save a sinner. Look at this. Circumcise therefore the foreskin
of your heart, and be no more stiffened in it. You see that? What's he saying? What does God
require thee? Keep the commandments. Now, is that saying that in order
for them to be saved eternally, they had to keep the law? No.
No. Did you notice there he mentioned
his commandments? He mentioned his ways. He mentioned
his judgments. He mentioned his statutes. What's
he talking about? Talking about the old covenant.
He's talking about the law on Sinai. Now immediately your mind
goes to the Ten Commandments. And that's part of it. But turn
to Galatians chapter 3. Turn to Galatians chapter 3.
And we'll make the cross here to spiritual Israel. What does
God require of His spiritual people? Look at verse 22 of Galatians
chapter 3. Verse 22. Listen to this very
carefully. He says, But the Scripture hath
concluded all under sin. Now, you can talk about that,
the Word of God, talk about the Old Covenant, the Law of God.
What does it conclude about any sinner who is under sin? And he says, "...that the promise
by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe."
You see that? But before faith came, before
Christ came, that's what that's talking about. Because you see,
faith is not new in the New Covenant. Abraham believed God, didn't
he? Abel was a man of faith. But
before faith came, that's before Christ actually came in time,
we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should
afterwards be revealed. In other words, they were shut
up under the law to do what? To look forward to the faith
that afterwards should be revealed. That means looking forward to
Christ to come. Looking forward for the Messiah to come and do
His work. And he says in verse 24, Wherefore,
for that reason, the law was our still master to do what?
To bring us unto Christ. that we might be justified by
faith, that we might be justified in Him. What I'm telling you
is this. The Old Covenant statutes, the
commandments, the ways of God were never, were never work in
order to be saved. It was never keep the Ten Commandments
so that you can be righteous. The message of the old covenant,
the law from Sinai, the Ten Commandments, the ceremonial law, the tabernacle,
the priesthood, the blood of the animals, the altars, every
bit of it, all the feast days. What was the message? Look to
Christ, sinner. Look to Him alone. Find hope
and salvation and righteousness in Him. That's what it was to
keep the commandments. Remember in John chapter 6, They
asked, what shall we do that we may work the works of God?
And Christ said, believe on Him whom God has sent. Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what spiritual Israel
does. Look at verse 25 or verse 26. For you are all the children
of God by faith in Christ Jesus. The law on Sinai never commanded
any sinner at any time to try to be saved by keeping the law,
by keeping the works of the Ten Commandments. The law given on
Mount Sinai, even back then, directed them to admit that they
were sinners and throw themselves at the mercy of God with a broken
and contrite heart and lay hold of Christ. Abraham rejoiced to
see my day, even before the law of Christ said. Moses wrote of
me, he said in John chapter 5. Moses pointed sinners to Christ.
for salvation, for righteousness. So he says in verse 27, for as
many of you have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ,
there's neither Jew nor Greek now. It's all spiritual Israel. All Israel shall be saved. There's
neither bond nor free, neither male nor female, for you are
all one in Christ Jesus. All one nation, spiritual Israel. All Israel shall be saved. And
if you belong to Christ, then are you Abraham's seed. You have
a connection with Abraham by faith. and errs according to
the promise, the promise of salvation by grace through Christ. That's
the issue, isn't it? In the book of Romans, chapter
11, Gentile believers are addressed
there. And here's what Paul tells them.
He says, don't harbor or foster any reverse discrimination towards
the Jews. For so many years, the Jews harbored
and promoted discrimination towards the Gentiles. And now they rejected
the gospel, and God has left them to themselves. But he cautions
the Gentile believers, now don't you, don't you harbor or foster
any reverse discrimination towards the Jews. You've received a lot
of benefits from the Jews, that's what he tells them. They didn't
receive any benefit from the Gentiles. But we received a lot
of benefit from the Jews. Our Savior was a Jew according
to the flesh. The apostles were all Jews. Paul the apostle of the Jews,
he was the apostle to the Gentiles. We received a lot. And thank
God for them. All the way. So don't discriminate
towards the Jews. Thank God for them. And any persecution
that has been aimed toward the Jews in the name of Christianity,
let me tell you something, it was nothing more than false Christianity. Because Christians are not allowed
by Christ to persecute or discriminate against anybody, Jew or Gentile. We're to love and pray for the
salvation of all people, including the Jews. But we also know this. that there'll be no salvation
for any person, Jew or Gentile, except by God's grace in Christ.
Doesn't matter who they are. Doesn't matter who they are. So should we persecute the Jews?
No. We're not to persecute anybody.
Should we discriminate against? No. Not anybody. But there's
not going to be any salvation for any person except in Christ.
And all Israel shall be saved. All right.