Okay. Who needs a hand out? Anyone raise your hand. Got one in the front, one in the back. Anybody else up in the west wing? Okay, go ahead and turn with me to Jeremiah 31. This morning we're going to continue our study of these uh verses that are very important to uh our journey from uh Christianity into uh new covenant uh Judaism. Let me go ahead and read those uh verses uh in your hearing. Uh vers 31-34 and then we'll pray and uh begin our study starting then in verse 31. Behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them, declares the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put my law within them, and on their heart I will write it, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. They will not teach again each man his neighbor, and each man his brother, saying, "Know the Lord, for they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember. no more. Let's pray and ask the Lord's blessing in our time, shall we? Father, thank you that as always, we get a chance to uh spend time in your word and uh discussing what it is that you're teaching us. Father, I pray that as we do that now that Lord that you would give us the uh the necessary insight and also appreciation, Lord, for what it is that uh we will learn today. Lord, I pray that it causes auses us to be all the more thankful as we realize that you are the one in control. You are the one that has led us out of uh false religion into true religion into uh your religion new covenant Judaism. Make it so we pray in Jesus name. Amen. Well, last week we looked at uh a few of the points established by this particular text. Namely, number one, Jesus is the Yahw of the Old Testament. And uh Yahweh is of course the uh the divine name of God that is picked up in Exodus 3 by uh Moses there on the mountain. And uh Jesus who establishes the new covenant in uh the New Testament or during his earthly ministry uh is therefore by doing that uh declaring himself to be Yahweh. Why do I say that? Well, because uh in verse one here where we have the promise of the new covenant, it is the Lord the capital L O R D Lord or Yahweh that is what the uh the capital L O R D stands for. Uh it is Yahweh who is making uh that promise and so by Jesus uh establishing that in the new he is declaring uh just that number two salvation is a marriage uh to Jesus. Hence uh the reason why in verse 32 it says I was a husband to them. That in other words is uh what salvation is or those are the types of uh covenants that God is making with us when he saves us. He is making uh a marriage covenant. It is in other words marital in nature or it functions according to the principles of uh gain and maintain. And uh that leads us then to uh the third point by way of review. Uh Jesus only saves Israelites or Jews. And that goes back to verse 31. This is the uh the covenant the new covenant is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. That means uh no one else only those uh two groups uh which make up the whole of the nation of Israel or as it sometimes is communicated uh the house of Jacob. It includes these two groups which at the time of Jeremiah the reason why they're split into these two categories is because of the uh the split that occurred after uh Solomon's reign where you have 10 tribes in the north and then the remaining two along with the Levites uh there in uh the south. But the point not to miss is that this is uh in every way and uh exclusively a Jewish covenant. It is a Jewish covenant. Uh you'll see a quote there. This was not there last week. This is coming from a book by Jason Staples. Uh some of you, many of you may remember that name. Uh he came to our aid when we were uh confronting uh the issue of gain and maintain as it relates to the gospel uh at the shepherd's conference and we got some push back uh from them and Jason Staples who is the professor at North Carolina State uh who has written a couple of books uh on this or on the uh the subject of uh the new covenant being a Jewish covenant uh says this and I quote the new covenant is explicitly emphatically and unavoidably national promising restoration and righteousness to Israel and Judah and saying nothing about those outside those national boundaries. And this is coming from uh his second book at the time that uh I talked to Jason Staples. You may remember I had some uh connection with him and at that time we were still very much in the camp of Christianity but starting to see some of these things most especially as it related to the gospel. uh he had written uh another book and uh at the time that I talked to him, he was actually in the process of sending this one uh this book here uh Paul and the resurrection of Israel to his publisher. And I would uh recommend that every one of our members here in this church get that book. I'm going to do a lot of uh quoting from that book here today and it is foundational to where we're going to go uh here in just a little bit. But again, the point not to miss is is as he says and as I've already said uh this covenant, this new covenant is uh is a Jewish covenant. It is indeed exclusive uh to the Jews or uh the Israelites. Uh which then begs the question, and this is what I left you with uh last week. What about all the promises then? Oh, sorry. I skipped over uh it being then Judaism 2.0. What that means then is is that it follows their religion, which is uh Judaism. but an upgrade to that it is uh new. It's a new covenant which means that what you have here then is as I say here Judaism uh 2.0 here the point not to miss then is this this is not a new religion or what Jesus came to establish by establishing that new covenant uh was not a new religion which is uh what is implied by uh religions like Christianity which take uh Jesus or claim Jesus to be uh their savior and yet what they have uh is is uh different and very separate from uh Judaism. Again, quoting from Jason Staples, uh he says, "This Paul's gospel there referring to the Apostle Paul was by no means a rejection of Judaism in favor of a different system." Paul's gospel was by no means a rejection of Judaism in favor of a different system. Paul finds nothing at all wrong in Judaism. Notice that he did not abandon covenantal nomism, which is that uh fancy term for what we call gain and maintain, right? Is covenantal uh gnomeism. You you gain it in the case of the new covenant by faith and then that needs to be maintained uh through faithfulness to all of God's laws, which is exactly how things worked. Uh those principles of faith or formal vows of God, which is what that term faith refers to, that's how it functioned under the new or the old covenant or old covenant Judaism and the same is true uh under new covenant uh Judaism. He did not abandon that new covenant a covenantal nomism for another pattern of religion. Paul instead continues to preach God's special election of Israel, the lasting value of Israel's covenant, the restoration and ultimate salvation of Israel and the need for total obedience. And this is why then he came to our aid. several years back when we were getting uh push back for this very issue that we need to be uh obedient that that's necessary also uh for salvation something that years ago uh I called or rather was referred to as lordship salvation and that leads us then to the question I left you with what about all the promises to the Gentiles if this is an exclusively a Jewish covenant and uh uh it's all about that it's about Judaism, the religion is Judaism. What about all the promises uh to the Gentiles that we find in scripture? Uh Gentiles being saved. Uh well, the answer is they're all true. They are absolutely true. And everything that I've said thus far is not a contradiction of that. Uh Yahweh, Jesus's new covenant promises or salvation uh have been extended to the Gentiles provided, and here's the caveat, provided they too become and remain a part of the house of Israel. And so uh that's what we're going to uh talk about now. What exactly needs to happen for that to happen for us to become a part of the house of Israel or Jews? Well, two things. Here's the first uh we take those baptismal vows of faith to Jesus uh which then according to uh places like Romans 11 grafts us into Abraham into that uh to that olive tree which repres presents uh the person of Abraham thereby becoming a part of his descendants or Israel because that's who Israel is. You remember Israel was the name that God gave to Jacob which uh who was the son of Isaac who was the son of Abraham the three uh patriarchs as they're sometimes referred to. And so through baptism we're we're grafted into that olive tree. Romans 11 uh we are made a part of uh Abraham's uh lineage and we see that uh in most explicitly in Galatians chapter uh three here both the connection uh to Abraham as well as baptism being the means by which we do that and that baptism as we looked at last week in first Peter 3:21 as the place uh where we take those formal uh vows uh to God which means this you you can't just put faith uh in Jesus and it be saving without baptism. And again, we pick that up uh here as well in Galatians chapter 3, not just in uh Peter's epistle, but also here also uh in uh Paul, he says this uh verse 26, Galatians chapter 3, for we are all sons of God through faith uh in Christ Jesus. Okay, so through faith got that peace. We know that faith is we talked about last week that term pistas in the Greek refers to uh a pledge of faithfulness or fidelity. And he says here, we are all sons of God through that. But then notice in verse 27 uh he picks up this idea of baptism which tells us that's the place where we're doing it. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ. So uh that for there this is the the means by which uh you became the son of God through faith uh through baptism into uh Christ. There is therefore neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free man. There's neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, which again happens through baptism, where we take those formal vows, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according uh to uh the promise. Hence the reason why in places uh like 1 Corinthians 10 Maybe you've uh never noticed this. Maybe you have, but uh it's worth reminding you of what it is that uh is said there by Paul, who by the way is writing to a a very gentile church. So these are not uh these are not ethnic Jews. Okay? So uh their their blood lineage does not trace back to uh Abraham. Yet he says this to them, "For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea. Uh who's he talking about? Well, he's talking about uh those uh ethnic Israelites. He's talking about those who could trace their ancestry uh back to Abraham. Those that came out of the Exodus and passed or the out of Egypt in the Exodus and passed through the Red Sea. That's what he's talking about here when he says uh they all passed through the sea. Notice, however, uh he refers to them as our fathers, which means he is now saying to this very gentile church that their fathers are uh the ethnic Israelites, those that came out of uh the Exodus. Uh they're our fathers. They're now our lineage. They're now part of our line, our ancestry uh because of our baptism uh into uh Christ. This is why also in uh Romans 2, Romans chapter 2, uh, 26- 29, uh, Paul can refer to the Gentile who obeys the law. Uh, and by obeying the law, uh, you are then practicing Judaism because it's the laws of Judaism, right? It's the laws that God gave to his people for their religion or their means of practicing worship to him. And, uh, he says if they do that, uh, and they are as one circumcised and circumcised I think as we uh I think I mentioned this last week uh that is another way of referring to an ethnic Jew just as uncircumcised is uh uh code for uh gentile uh they become Jews through that or spiritual Jews uh starting uh in verse 26 notice Romans 2:26 for so if the uncircumcised man the gentile keeps the requirement against the law. Will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? Will he not, in other words, be regarded as a Jew or a part of the house of Israel? And he who is physically uncircumcised, if he keeps the law, will he uh will he not judge you who though having the letter of the law and circumcision are a transgressor of the law? So he says uh he's going to be the one condemning you because he keeps the law and you though being circumcised is uh do not for he is not a Jew who is one outwardly physically nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh but he is a Jew keep this in mind uh who is one inwardly and circumcision is that which is of the heart by the spirit not by the letter and his praise is not from men but from God and so uh again what is he doing here well he's telling Gentiles who keep the law who practice Judaism 2.0 uh that they are recognized by God as part of the house of Jacob, as part of the house of Israel, as spiritual uh Jews. And that all again takes place through those uh waters of baptism. Hence the reason why in Philippians 3:2 uh Paul can refer to the Philippian church there, again, a gentile church up in that uh uh that uh upper region there of the Mediterranean. Uh he refers to them as the true circumcision. The true circumcision. Going back to uh Jeremiah 31:33, it says uh or rather God says or promises uh to write by his spirit the law in their heart or uh the close parallel in Ezekiel 36, another exelic prophet speaking to this issue of the new covenant. In Ezekiel 36, he says God says there I will put my spirit upon you. And so the spirit is uh tied to then this very Jewish covenant and Yet uh in Galatians 3:es 1 and 2, uh Paul can say to those again very uh gentile, uh individuals, they're not ethnic Jews. He can nonetheless say to them, "Did you not receive the spirit uh by hearing with faith?" And so if they've received the spirit, that means that they are recognized then by God uh as uh Jews. James 1 verse one, they're at the very beginning of uh that book there, James being the the halfb brotherther of Jesus and the senior pastor of the Jerusalem church can say this to the 12 tribes uh who are dispersed abroad. Well, as we're going to see, there's a problem with that. Meaning that James can say uh or can address it to 12 tribes uh when the only way they could be 12 tribes is is if God has taken Gentiles and made them Jews to replace uh those Israelites or those ethnic Israelites who no longer uh existed. So this too uh is support for saying that that is what we have become uh that we have become uh spiritual Jews or Jews or a part of the house of Jacob or uh Israel. And so uh that's the way that we do it. So there are promises that are made to Gentiles but it's Gentiles becoming then uh Jews. The second thing that needs to happen is to remain in that relationship is to be faithful as we've already talked about the gain and the maintain uh to the body and the law of Christ or to that church practicing uh new covenant Judaism and for sake of time we're not going to look at these verses I may in uh the the bare juice study uh tomorrow night but you'll see quite a few there from the uh the book of Ephesians uh right kind of in the center of all that where he's talking about the issue of the body of Christ uh he mentions that uh that we have now become a part of by becoming a part of the body of Christ or the church that we have become a part of the commonwealth of Israel that we find in chapter 2 11 through uh 22 and in 1 Corinthians chapter 9 uh he makes it clear that we are now following uh the law of Christ which is just that upgraded version that was given uh to old covenant uh Judaism. With all of that in mind then another quote from uh Jason Staples. He says this, and I quote, "If Gentiles have received the spirit promised as part of Israel's restoration and are newly adopted heirs of Abraham, they are by definition part of Israel and therefore Israelites." Nowhere does the Apostle Paul suggest that God has established a new people independent of or parallel to Israel. Instead, Paul sees but one people of God, which is Israel, and consequently insists upon the Abrahamic origins of baptized Gentiles because he believes they have become a part of the genuine people of Israel. Gaway which is u an individual that he is now uh interacting or with or rather is interacting with in the book I believe his name his first name is Joshua Gaway also rightly emphasizes that Paul nowhere uses the term Christian. Oh that's interesting. Paul no nowhere uses the term Christian. As we talked about last week, it was actually a derogatory term. That's how Peter is picking it up in 1 Peter 4 where he talks about being persecuted. And as part of that persecution, he says, "If you're called a Christian," and he doesn't see that as a good thing. It's in the context of persecution. They're using that as a it's a slur. It was a slur. It wasn't a good thing. It was a bad thing. And he says here that Paul nowhere uses that term. As a result, Paul regular ly applies Israelite language and ethnic markers, even prophecies specifically about Israel, and we're going to see that here in just a little bit to these uncircumcised individuals. For Paul, these faithful followers of Jesus are not saved as Gentiles because they are no longer Gentiles. Instead, they have become equal members of Israel along with their Torah observant Jewish siblings. It is this assertion that proves so so unbearable to Paul's opponents, meaning to those Jews who were fighting against him and chasing him from city to city. The claim that uncircumcised Gentiles are now Israelites." End quote. And that brings us into uh the second portion of our uh material for today. And this is where now you need to uh pick up your scuba gear and put it on cuz we're going deep. Okay. And uh hopefully you'll appreciate what we're going to talk about as much as I have. This was uh something that was new for me or is new for me. Uh I started to see kind of the pieces of this or the clues of this about 3 weeks ago and uh through uh God's faithfulness and patience uh uh he directed my steps uh in the direction of some really good stuff including uh this second book by uh Jason Staples uh on this very subject. So So, Gentiles becoming Jews. That's again what we're talking about. Don't lose the context or the focus of our uh time. Gentiles becoming Jews. Uh this is also how uh Jesus fulfills first of all his promise uh to the patriarchs. The patriarchs again being Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. All of the promises, we've talked about this before, all of the promises of salvation, both temporal and eternal, uh are due to the promises that were made to Abraham and then passed on to uh his descendants which includes uh Isaac and Jacob and then his uh kids which become uh the 12 nations or tribes uh of Israel. Uh so the promise to the patriarchs that the nations would also take part in the blessings afforded to their descendants that again being Israel or the Jews or the Israelites and uh of time. Genesis 12:2 there God says in you at the very beginning uh when he calls uh Abraham out of Babylon calls him out of the land of out of the land of the calaldanss which is that term that is used in relation to the Babylonians and Nebuchadnezzar later when God exiles or deports Judah uh to or into that territory. Uh he says to him that in you all the nations of the world will be blessed all the families of the earth. And that uh is a reference then to the gentile uh nations. Uh the same is spoken in Genesis 26:4 to Isaac and then again also finally on Mount Bethl uh to uh Jacob in Genesis 28:14. So uh by G Gentiles becoming Jews uh this is how Jesus who is the one speaking to the patriarchs to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Uh this This is how he fulfills then uh that promise that in you all the nations or the families of the earth will be blessed. And secondly, and here's now where we're going to get deep, Gentiles becoming Jews is how Jesus fulfills his new covenant promise, the Jeremiah 31 promise that this is the new covenant that I will make with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, that split kingdom. Keep that in mind right now because it's going to become incredible. important to where we're going or at least your ability to understand what I'm talking about. You've got two kingdoms after David and Solomon. The kingdom split. You have 10 in the north and two in the south. And that's why then the promise is split between two houses. Well, Jesus fulfilling that new promise or new covenant rather promised to restore and rei reunite the house of Israel which again the 10 tribes of the northern territory to the house of Judah which you may remember last week we talked about not just uh God bringing that up or Jesus bringing it up in Jeremiah 31 but also Ezekiel 37. You remember it this way. It was the vision of two sticks or rather uh not a vision but rather uh the vision is just before that it's called the vision of the valley of dry bones where uh Ezekiel sees all of these uh uh these skeletons being resurrected from the ground and senue and muscle and skin being put back on them and and the breath of life given back to them. And that is the promise uh as it relates to uh the house of Israel. And we're going to see why uh that happens specifically in relation to them. But just right after that, he says, "Take two sticks." And this you should remember. And he says, "Write on one the house of Judah and on the other the house of Israel." And he says, "And then bind them together." And when they ask you why you have done that, it's because at that time during the new covenant uh that God will reunite these two houses in the process of restoring uh his kingdom among them which you remember that was a part of all of this in Messiah coming was to restore the kingdom of God meaning that God is again dwelling among them that's why the temple was built there at Jerusalem so that God like back in the days of the tabernacle would dwell among them and that was the promise that he would again dwell among uh his people and that would happen during this you this reunification that would happen at the time uh of Messiah. Uh well, again, the new covenant promised to do that, to restore and reunite the house of Israel and the house of Judah uh would need to take place in light of Israel's assimilation into the gentile nations. What am I saying by that? Well, I'm saying there's a problem or at least there was a problem. And uh that problem we pick up in uh 2 Kings chapter 15. So, if you would turn now to uh 2 Kings chapter 15. So, you got two kingdoms. And uh if you've read in uh the kings, then you know that uh for the most part uh those 10 tribes that were up there and their kings uh that were over them over the years were wicked. They did not serve God. They refused to come down uh to the temple that was in Jerusalem. And as a result, of that God judged them. God judged them and deported them. He caused them to be invaded by the Assyrians and then as a result of that uh between two kings uh of Assyria uh they were deported uh into Assyria and the other nations under uh their control. And uh we pick that up in second uh 2 Kings 15 uh verse uh 2029 says, In the days of Pekka, king of Israel, a Tiglath Paleer, king of Assyria, came and captured captured Ejan and Abel, Beth Maka, and Jonah and Kadash and Hazar and Gilead and Galilee. Important because that's where uh Jesus ends up residing. We're going to see that here in a little bit. Here's what all of those cities or where all those particular cities were. All in the land of Nahali. Keep that also in mind. And carried them captive to Assyria. So he deported them as we've talked about many times. That was a a very popular military strategy, right? You don't just go in and invade a country and leave the people uh because there's a good chance if you leave them in their land, they will at some point rebel against you. And so what you do is uh uh you remove them. You deport them back to your land into a foreign land. And so they lose heart, right? Because they don't have that that patriot ic spirit anymore because they're not in their land, right? And so that's what the that's what the Assyrians did. But here verse 29 refers only to the most northern portion of uh the northern territory. So the very top of Israel's territory was the land of Zebulun and Naphali. In other words, that was the portion that God gave uh in Joshua when he's uh giving each of the tribes their portion uh in the promised land. And so uh he takes those living in that portion and he deports them to Assyria. Uh skipping then over to in light of that chapter 17. This by the way the the the first of these two deport deportations took place around 7:34 to 733. And so uh about uh about 10 years later or about a decade later you have another king in Assyria and uh this time he uh he deports the the remainder of those living in that land as part of his uh invasion. Uh he does that as well as uh something uh else we're going to see here in just a second. So picking up in verse 6, it said this uh in the ninth year of Hosia, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and carried Israel away into exile into Assyria. And so uh what it's talking about here is uh the remainder of those who were living in uh the land. And so uh he comes in and now that that invasion stretches all the way to her most southern border and uh the people living there are then again deported uh back like the others who were already there to Assyria. With that in mind, skip over then to verse uh 24. Not only does he deport individuals, this too is a part of uh or was popular as part of military strategy. Not only do you deport people, but you import others, meaning from your empire into uh their empire. And so that's what this king does as well. The king of Assyria brought men from Babylon and Ka and from Ava and from Hamoth and Seph Harv and settled them. By the way, those are all territories that they had conquered in the past. And settled them in the cities of Samaria in the places of the sons of Israel. So they possessed Samaria and lived in its cities. And that term Samaria refers to what was uh at one time the center or the capital city of that particular region that northern territory that used to belong to Israel and was never recovered. Hence the reason why uh in Jesus's day it is still referred to as Samaria and the people that lived there. there are referred to as Samrians or Samaritans because those people uh that were there at one time, those Israelites, those ethnic Israelites uh they never returned. They never came back uh to the land and those that were left in the land began to intermix and intermar with those pagans who were now or Gentiles who had now become a part uh of their uh land. And uh we'll see some examples uh of that or rather there are examples of that I need to find in my notes here. Isaiah uh 78. Let's go there first and consider a few other texts as it relates to this. Again, all of this very important to where we're going uh in this establishing for us then keep in mind the conundrum. How do you restore the house of Israel? Remember that's part of the new covenant promise. And how do you reunite the the house of Israel with the house uh of uh Judah, which means now you have a United Kingdom like it was under David. How do you do that? Which is a part of the promise under the new Davidic king which is what that that term messiah refers to this one who is the son of David. How do you do that uh when there is no house of Israel, right? They've been removed from the land and they are uh no more. Isaiah 7 verse 8 says just that and this is the the prophecy uh regarding that. It says this for the head of Aram is Damascus and the head of Damascus is resin. Now within another 65 years, Ephraim, which is the other term that is used uh to refer to uh Israel, interestingly enough, uh also uh very important to uh what God is planning to do or what we're going to see that God plans to do because Ephraim, if you remember, was one of the sons of Joseph and both of his sons were given a piece of land or his portion, Joseph's port as one of the tribe was split into the two sons. Well, uh, Joseph's two sons were technically Gentiles because Joseph's wife uh was an Egyptian. And so that's the term that is used here. Now, within another 65 years, Ephraim or Israel will be shattered so that it is no longer notice it is no longer a people. Hence the reason why he says the head of Ephraim uh is now uh Samaria in the very next uh verse that takes us then very quickly to the book of Hosea also speaking uh to this issue as I'm calling it a conundrum Hosea 7:8 Ephraim mixes himself with the nations Ephraim has become a cake and not turned and so you really can't or rather the question is how do you restore Israel when not only has she been uh deported but those who do remain in the land and there were individuals that remain in the land. We know that because of places like 2 Chronicles 30 where Hezekiah who was the uh the king at that time in Judah invites them to come down uh to the Passover and says, "Hey, if you do this and you show God respect, he'll give you ease under your occupiers." Uh but then again, or rather again, notice in verse 8 of chapter 8, Israel is swallowed. up. They are now among the nations like a vessel in which no one delights. Uh for they have gone up to to Assyria like a wild donkey all alone. Ephraim has hired lovers. And so uh they no longer exist. Israel uh is uh swallowed up. Amos, the book of Amos. Amos chapter 8. Thus the Lord God showed me and behold there was a basket of summer fruit. He said, "What do you see Amos?" And he said, said, "I see a basket of summer fruit. Then the Lord said to me, 'The end is come for my people Israel, I will spare them no longer." Look at verse uh 14. As for those who swear by the guilt of Samaria, who say, "As your God lives, O Dan, as and as the way of Beers, Beersa lives, they will fall." And notice he's talking here about Israel. They will fall and not rise again. And then finally, uh in Chapter 9:es 7 through 10. Are you not the sons of Ethiopia to me? Oh sons of Israel, declares the Lord. Have I not brought up Israel from the land of Egypt and the Philistines from Captor and the Arameans from Kir? Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are on the sinful kingdom and I will destroy it from the face of the earth. Here speaking about uh Israel. Nevertheless, I will not totally destroy uh the house of Jacob. They are a part of it, right? The house of is Israel and the house of Judah make up the house of Jacob. Uh declares the Lord. Uh for behold, I am commanding and I will shake the house of Israel among the nations. Meaning I will I will mix them among the nations as grain is shaken in a seieve, but not a kernel will fall to the ground. All the sinners of my people will die uh by the sword. Those who say the calamity will not uh those who say the calamity will not overtake or confront us. And so uh again, they will be no more four, they are no more. They will fall and they will not rise again. That creates a problem. That creates a conundrum. How do you restore ethnic Israelites who are by definition no longer ethnic Israelites, even those living in the land, because they've now uh mixed with uh the other nations. You'll see that here in the notes. Deportation of a large percentage of the Israelite population along with intermarriage between those who remained and the imported pagan gentile population. We saw that going back to uh I believe it was that first uh text, right? They are like an uh an unturned cake. They have mixed with the nations. Well, here's what that meant. That meant that the people or the house of Israel with respect to location, many of them are not even in the land and lineage no longer existed. No longer existed. Hence, uh the reason that scholars have for years referred to uh that area as the 10 lost tribes. And so how do you do that? How does, in other words, Jesus keep this promise? How did he keep that promise? Because uh he declared that the new covenant was established. Well, again, the only way to do that, the prerequisite to doing that is that you have both the house of Judah and you have the house of Israel, and they have again uh been reunited again. How do you do that? when there is uh no house of Israel. We'll turn over to Matthew, Matthew chapter uh 4. This is actually where it uh started for me. I was reading in Matthew about 3 weeks ago and I was uh reading from the perspective of of of tracing Jesus's movement as he himself retraces the movement of Israel. We know that he is the uh the servant Israel of Isaiah of Isaiah 49 there through 56 I think it is. Uh and that's why he goes to Egypt just like the Israelites went to Egypt and he is uh taken out or delivered from Egypt. Out of Egypt I called my son. We see that in the uh the first couple of chapters uh there. Then he goes into the wilderness just like uh Israel. And then finally he ends up in uh in that northernmost uh portion of the northern territory. That's where he chooses uh to settle uh which is uh in the land of Zebulun and Naphali. Notice starting in verse 12, now when Jesus heard that John had been taken into custody, this is after the wilderness triumph. So he triumphs where Israel fails, uh he withdrew into Galilee. And you remember that was uh that portion that was deported by that first Assyrian king. So he goes into that territory that is now part of Samaria, which is uh is a mixed bag up there, right? The people have been mixed. There's nobody really that's uh uh a pure blood unless they're coming from Judah and living in that area. And leaving Nazareth, he came and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea in the region here it is of Zebulun and Naphali. This was to fulfill uh what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet. And here now you have uh that port portion that uh is often time uh read at Christmas. Isaiah chapter 9, the land of Zebulun and the land of Nahali by the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles or the nations. Why is it calling it that? Well, because that's what it was now, right? Uh ethnic Israel is no more. The people who are sitting in darkness, uh and that's a way to refer, by the way, in scripture often times in the prophets. Uh you See it this way. People sitting in darkness refers to the pagans or the Gentiles. Those who were not in covenant relationship were not a part of God's promises or his promised people. The people were who were sitting in darkness saw a great light. And those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death upon them uh a light has dawned. From that time Jesus began to preach to those people and say repent for the kingdom of heaven. heaven uh is at hand. And uh again, this is coming from Isaiah 9:1 and2. You should uh recognize that portion of the text. It goes on to say, "A child will be born to us and on him the government uh the government shall be upon his shoulders and uh he will be called wonderful counselor and almighty God, etc., etc." And uh what is going on here then? What what are we being told? Why, in other words, does Jesus choose of all places Uh, as I was reading it, I was thinking to myself, why didn't he go to Jerusalem? That's where I would have expected him to reside. And instead, he goes back up into this northernmost portion of that territory that was now occupied uh by Gentiles. Because any Jew that wasn't pureb blood uh would now be by definition uh a gentile. Why does he do that? Well, I began to realize that what was happening here as part of him retracing uh Israel's steps, he is now redeeming them from that very thing by going into that place uh where they were at one time deported uh from uh in the notes here you'll notice Jesus's decision to focus most of his and his disciples ministry cuz that's uh where he sends them out Matthew 10 you know where he sends them out and he says uh don't go to the city of the Samaritans don't go to the pagans themselves but go to those to the lost sheep and this is where now it's going to connect in a way it never did before go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Go to those who are in the land and uh and yet are attempting to serve Yahweh. Go to them. Go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Uh this is where Jesus again focused the majority of his ministry and time. This is also where he uh put the focus for his disciples as well was in this gentile Samaritan region indicating not only the fulfillment of Isaiah N which says that they have seen a great light but it's conjoining message and here's the message these gentile converts to Judaism which is what we're going to see in John 4 which is the perfect example of this very thing these Samaritans uh who are now considered a part of the house of Israel will represent the house of Israel and God's promised restoration under the new covenant. Here then is the point not to miss. God resupplied the house of Israel so that that h so that that promise, the new covenant promise uh could be fulfilled. God resupplied that house of Israel with Gentiles. It's Gentiles becoming Israelites that makes the promise uh able to be fulfilled. And that's why we see Jesus going uh to that very place. And that's why we see Jesus then speaking the words that he does uh to this woman that he meets. in Samaria uh at the well. And you may remember that uh his disciples uh they've gone into the city and when they come back and they see them or Jesus rather talking with her, they have a problem with it. What are you doing? It isn't just that she's a woman, but that she's a Samaritan woman. And uh as we read in verse uh verse uh n the Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Verse 7, there came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her uh give me a drink. And with that in mind, we'll pick it up then uh in uh verse 19. He's having a conversation uh with this woman. And uh we read this then. Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father." You know what? He's saying there no longer will uh the two kingdoms or houses Israel represented now by Samaria, Judah represented by Jerusalem. No longer will these two kingdoms be divided. Not that mountain, their mountain, Mount Garazim, which was the mountain of blessing. It was the place where uh Abraham first made sacrifice. Going back to Genesis 12:6, it is all So the place where Abraham took Isaac otherwise known as Mount Mariah or the place where uh uh Jacob sees the angels on the ladders when God gives him or uh relates the promises to him otherwise known as Mount Bethl. This was the place where in Deuteronomy 27 God said when you come into the land you will make altar or you will make a altar of uncut stones uh to me. And so they they worshiped at that place these Samaritan who were also attempting uh to serve Yahweh. Hence the reason this woman is looking for uh Messiah. They too are attempting to follow Torah or Judaism or God's law. And yet the Jews, that southern portion, Judah did not accept them. But Jesus here is accepting them. Why? As fulfillment again of Isaiah 9. As fulfillment to this very big problem. No house of Israel. And yet these individuals are there in the land. And God is now accepting them uh through the actions of Jesus. That's what we're being told in fulfillment of everything that we see in the prophets which speaks of the Gentiles as being uh the new house of Israel. He says to this woman, "Neither on uh this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the father. This in fulfillment of Ezekiel 37 where you have the two being united together. The two kingdoms will be no more. They will now again be one. You worship what you do not know. We worship what we know. For salvation is from the Jews. This too will be true. The religion will be Judaism. And it will be united under one form of Judaism, Judaism 2.0. But the hour is coming. If you don't believe me that that's what he's saying, uh it's the proof is given in what he says next. The hour is coming. And now is when the true worshippers of this religion, this religion that comes from the Jews, that is Judaism, not Christianity, they will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For such people the Father seeks to be his worshippers. God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. They will, in other words, be spiritual Jews. Just what we saw in Romans 2. God doesn't care about the outward signs anymore. It'll be what's internal, that which is promised by the spirit to the house of Israel, to the house of Judah, and to those two houses only. Which means that what Jesus is doing here is just what I've already said. He's identifying or at least inviting this woman, who is a gentile, who is a half breed, to be a part of that, that she is a part of that, that she's a part of this house of Israel, that she too is being given given the promise of what? Of God writing his law upon their hearts. This promise that is only given under this very exclusively Jewish covenant. Here in these words, what Jesus is doing is just that. He's speaking to that issue of a new spirit and a new heart, a heart committed and conducive to God's law. Notice what the woman says. If I, as I've already mentioned, she too is looking for Messiah. Messiah is a very Jewish term. It has a very Jewish context. Again, it speaks to or alludes to the one who is the son of David who will come back and like David will unite the kingdoms and bring God's presence again among them, making it again the kingdom of God. I know that Messiah is coming. He who is called Christ. When the one comes, he will declare all things to us. Notice Jesus doesn't deny her. He doesn't say, That's not for you. You're a gentile. You're outside of that. Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am he." She too then is a part of this kingdom. Why? Because this is the means by which Jesus is fulfilling that promise. This is the means by which Jesus is overcoming the conundrum. The house of Israel. We have become the house house of Israel. God allowing for Gentiles to take the place of Israel of the house of Israel, ethnic Israel. This too is picked up in uh Hosea or rather uh Romans 9 where Paul quotes from Hosea 1. Uh let's look at Hosea 1. Hosea chapter 1. Again, a text that should be familiar to you. Uh, and the Lord said, "Name him lo ami for you are not my people and I am not your God." That's what that uh that phrase means. Or she shall not have compassion uh given uh to her or is not obtained compassion. Uh loi for you are not my people and I am not your God. Again, our plaques, keep that in mind. Why do we have them? Because that's the covenant promise that goes back to the marriage covenant, the marriage formula. Right? When God says that, he's making covenant. Those are his vows. I will be your God and you will be my people. And here it's the reverse of that. Uh say to them, you are not my people. Who is he speaking to? The house of Israel. You are not my people. You are not my people. And I am not your God. Why? Because Israel has become gentile mixed or will be mixed with the nations. Verse 10. Yet the number of the sons of Israel be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said, you are not my people. It will be said in the future to them, you are the sons of the living God. And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel will be gathered together at that time again reunited just as we have discussed and seen from Exodus or excuse me, Ezekiel 37. And they will appoint for themselves one leader and they will go up from the land. For great will be the day of Jezrael. They will appoint for themselves one leader. When will it take place? When that one leader comes. Who is that one leader? Messiah Jesus. Chapter 23. I will show I will sow her for myself in the land. I will also have compassion on her at that time uh who had not obtained compassion. I will have compassion on her on her who had not obtained compassion. And I will say to Those who were not my people again, Israel, because she has now become Gentile, not my people. You are my people. Why? Because Gentiles have now become Israelites. And they will say, you are my God. One more time. I will have compassion on who had not obtained compassion. Who? Israel. And I will say to those who were not my people, Israel who has become Gentiles, you are my people. Why? Because Gentiles have repl them by becoming Israelites. How do I know that? Why can I plug all of that data in here the way that I'm doing that? Well, because that's exactly what Paul does in Romans 9. If you turn now over to Romans 9, starting in verse one, reading through verse 8, I am telling the truth in Christ. Paul says, I am not lying. My conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. I could wish that I myself were a curse, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh. Lineage line, right? A bloodline here. Who are the Israelites? So, he's talking here about the ethnic Israelites. My kinsmen according to the flesh. To whom belong the adoption of sons and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law and the temple services and the promises. Again, it's very Jewish, right? All the promises, all the covenants, all the salvation. Whose are the fathers and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh who is over all God blessed forever. Amen. But it is not as though the word of God has failed. What does he have in mind here? Well, he's got the very thing we're talking about in mind. The fact that you've got two houses and yet one of those houses is gone. It's not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel, meaning descended in the flesh from Israel. Nor are they all children because they are Abraham's descendants. But through Isaac your descendants will be named. In other words, it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God. But the children of the promise are regarded as descendants. The supernatural children or those who will be supernaturally grafted in as he picks up two chapters later in Romans 11. And by that says all Israel through that supernatural grafting in the whole nation of Jacob will be saved. Skipping down then to verse 22. With that in mind, what if God, although willing to demonstrate his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath, prepared for destruction. And he did so to make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy. which he prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom he also called, not from among the Jews only, but also from among the Gentiles. And here's our portion from Hosea that confirms just what I said. As he says also in Hosea, I will call those who are not my people my people and her who is not beloved beloved. And it shall be in that place where it was said to them, "You are not my people." There they shall be called the sons of the living God. Let me just kind of put it all together for you, especially that portion related to vessels of wrath and vessels of mercy. God, Paul is saying, patiently mixed like clay. The apostate 10 tribes, otherwise known as the vessels of wrath, the apostate 10 tribes, when he judged them by the nation of Assyria with the nations. He mixed them like clay with the nations, the Gentiles, so that the descendants of Abraham, otherwise known as vessels of mercy, could include Gentiles who become Jews or Israelites, and the new covenant promise to the house of Israel would be fulfilled. Again, in the words of Jason Staples, and I quote, "The promise of return from exile and national restoration for Israel in Hosea is really an announcement of some Gentiles as God's own people." For Hosea's promise to be fulfilled, not my people, must be transformed into my people, Gentiles, in other words, into Israelites. Since the full restoration of Israel must include all 12 tribes, Paul argues that this incorporation of Gentiles into the escatological assembly is the necessary means for the reconstitution and restoration of all Israel. End quote. There's a couple of more verses uh there quite a few as a matter of fact and uh I'm planning on covering them in a bare juice. So we're going to skip over the Isaiah Jeremiah and uh on to then the Amos text that We've already delved a little bit into Amos chapter 8. You'll remember this is where we saw that God says in verse two, I will spare them uh no longer. They will fall. Verse 14, uh and they will not rise again. And then uh he makes mention of shaking them among the nations in chapter nine. Uh we saw that in verses 7-10. But then we read this in verse 11. In that day, meaning in the future after they are judged, I will raise up the fallen booth of David. Who is the fallen booth given the context, given the curses? The house of Israel. I will raise up the fallen booth of David and wall up its breaches. I will also raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old, that they may possess the rem ent of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name, the Gentiles, declares the Lord who does this. And uh we know for sure that what he means there by that last little phrase and all the nations is that this is the means by which he'll do what he says there in verse 11 and that is raise up or restore uh this fallen booth. In other words, this is the means by which God will solve solve that conundrum or that problem. How do I know that? Well, because it's quoted in the New Testament in Acts 15 by James, Jesus's brother Simeon, he says in verse 14, Acts 15, this, by the way, is Jerusalem Council where they're trying to figure out what do we do with these Gentiles who are coming to the Lord. Has related how God first concerned himself about taking from among the Gentiles a people for his own name, which by the way, when we talk about this in bear Jude tomorrow we're going to see how uh that phrase alone refers to Israel for his name uh with this the words of the prophets agreed just as it is written after these things I will return and here now is our our text from Amos after these things I will return and I will rebuild the tabernacle of David which has fallen and I will rebuild its ruins and I will restore it so that the rest of mankind notice it now changes from an end to a so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who makes these things known from long ago. Which means that James and Simeon, which is just the other name for Peter, they too understood it this way that not Gentiles as a third category or a third house, but rather Gentiles converting uh to Judaism, becoming Jews, and now fulfilling this promise and resolving the issue or the conundrum as it relates to that particular house, the house of Israel. Again, in the words of uh Jason Staples, and I quote, "The incorporation of transformed Gentiles into Israelites is the means by which formerly rejected Israel is being restored from its dishonored, broken state. Far from representing God's departure from Israel, the incorporation of Gentiles in the new covenant community therefore serves as proof of God's continuing fidelity to unfaithful Israel. Because Israel disobeyed and behaved like Gentiles. Israel has been gentile, becoming indistinct from the nations. And God is now effectively resurrecting Israel from the nations by the incorporation of foreskinned Gentiles, receiving the spirit promised to Israel and Judah in the new covenant. The rationale behind gentile inclusion therefore relies on the notion that because Ephraim or Israel's seed had been mixed among the nations, Gentiles must now be incorporated into Israel to ensure the promised restoration of all Israel. God's promise to restore not only those from Judah, but from all Israel ultimately opens the door for even requires the inclusion of Gentiles in the new covenant for Israel to be complete. Gentiles therefore find themselves included alongside Jews within the covenantal label Israel. The Catalogical salvation of Gentiles comes through their being grafted into the assembly of Israel, effectively reversing the process of Israel's assimilation among the nations. All Israel will be saved through Gentile incorporation into Israel. Uh which brings us to our conclusion then to everything that we've talked about. Gentiles must be grafted into Israel to share in in Israel's salvation. Let's pray. Father, thank you that know we've been able to uh talk about uh this very deep subject. Hopefully uh as we've done so, it's encouraged your people to see that you are indeed the one that has led us in this direction. We knew some things enough to be convinced that this is the direction that we could go or that we should go, but not this, not to this level, Lord. And so I thank Thank you uh for opening our eyes to this and making these connections that not only should uh encourage us that what it is that we believe that what we hold to is indeed uh the truth but uh makes our Bible a smaller book as we begin to understand what all of these prophecies are actually speaking to or speaking to us. Thank you for that and we just pray that you are glorified now as your people as Gentiles who have become Israelites had become a part of the house of Israel that we would bring much glory to your name. We pray this in Jesus our great savior and Messiah's name. Amen.
