[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word. I have a suspicion that lazy is not a word that should be used in conjunction with Pastor Gardner's name.
[0:13] It is a delight to be here with you. I have been so looking forward to this night, and I'm just thrilled to be here. And I appreciate Pastor affording me this privilege. I want to introduce my dear wife.
[0:25] Many of you already know Rhonda. Rhonda, would you stand? This is my lovely wife, Rhonda. We are newlyweds. We've only been married for 33 years. What are you laughing about?
[0:36] And we have dear friends visiting with us. We're missionaries. I'll tell you a little bit about us in a minute. We're sent out by our local church, Mansfield Baptist Temple in Mansfield, Ohio.
[0:48] What church picked you guys up in Ohio? Around Kent. I don't know that particular church. There's some fine churches up there. We have some dear friends from our home church, Bill and Audrey Kissinger.
[1:00] Would you guys stand up, please? These folks, I cannot tell you how many. They're like adopted family for us. We love them dearly, and they've come down to visit us. And we're so thankful that they're able to be with us here tonight.
[1:13] Everywhere we go, we hear about your church. In Mansfield, Ohio, folks know about your church. Travis Snowed, who we just saw, is from our church and sent out through your church.
[1:30] Our mission board is in Chattanooga, Tennessee, International Board of Jewish Missions. They think the world of this ministry. And I think that you know that you have the privilege to be involved in a very exciting ministry here at Vision Baptist Church.
[1:47] And you ought to thank the Lord for what God's doing here. Rhonda and I just love being here and being a part of it. When those guys are getting up one after another and giving those testimonies, I'm thinking the words that the guys said in Emmaus, did not our hearts burn within us.
[2:05] I'm hearing these stories of these men preparing to go overseas, and I'm just like, I want to surrender to the mission. Oh, I'm already a missionary. But I'll surrender again. It is so exciting.
[2:17] And what a wonderful thing to live in times like these. The world is coming apart, and Jesus is Lord. And it's an exciting thing.
[2:28] A few words about us, just so you know who we are and what we're about. We were serving the Lord in North Central Ohio, just working a local church, being a Christian school principal and an assistant pastor and serving the Lord best we knew how.
[2:42] And one fine day, back in the mid-90s, during our missions conference, the Lord came and said, I want you on the foreign field. And I wrestled with the Lord's will for about four seconds.
[2:55] I love missions. I've always loved missions. Before I was a missionary, I loved missions. I always listened to missionaries and think, man, wouldn't it be neat if God would call me to the mission field? And he called me. And like I said, about four seconds in, I said, yes, sir, we're ready.
[3:07] Let's go. And God blessed us and allowed us the privilege to serve him on the foreign field. There is nothing in the world that I would rather do than take the gospel to people that have never heard it.
[3:19] I mean, what would be better than that? I just can't even think of something. Well, okay, I can think of something better than that. To take the gospel to his chosen people who have never heard.
[3:31] That's even better. Let me do you one better than that. To take the gospel to his chosen people in the Holy Land. That's what we get to do. Wow, what a privilege.
[3:42] We are so blessed to be able to take part in what God is doing. In the beginning, God called us to be missionaries to Russia. You guys call him Sergei?
[3:53] Sergei? Sergei. Okay. Sergei. Now, brother. Nikol Torni.
[4:08] Seriosna. Ochin. Okay. We're talking about you. Okay. Said he's uncultured. Nikol Torni.
[4:20] It's a deadly insult in Russian. But Seriosna, the first time I came here, Ron and I, we lived 14. We served for 14 years as church planters in Moscow, Russia.
[4:33] And loved serving God there. Wanted to stay there for the rest of our lives. Planned to do that. Learned to speak Russian. And so we have an automatic connection with Seriosna. And we loved to visit with him.
[4:46] And the Lord just knit our hearts together. But after 14 years of ministry in Moscow, much to our surprise, God called us out of Russia. Didn't understand why he would do that.
[4:58] We got back to the States. Rhonda's health was quite poor. We were home saying, Lord, what are you doing? What are we supposed to do next? And then several months later, God made that clear.
[5:10] He spoke to our hearts very clearly and said, Israel. And we were astounded. What in the world? Now, I'll tell you the truth. Like most of you, I had never given a second thought to reaching out to Jewish people.
[5:24] Most Christians have never really given serious thought about reaching Jews with the gospel. Most of us haven't. I hadn't. But God sent me to Israel and I began to study the word of God.
[5:36] And I realized that I hadn't thought of it, but I certainly should have thought about it. I'm going to get messed up again. You guys are going to South Africa. The president of our mission board, International Board of Jewish Missions, you know this, served in, as a church planter, planned two churches in South Africa.
[5:53] Because there's a great Jewish community there in South Africa. In fact, there's Jewish communities all through Latin America, all through Europe, here in North America.
[6:04] Atlanta is home to 120,000 Jewish people. One of the great centers of Jewish life in the Atlanta area is a place called, you're going to have trouble with this word.
[6:14] It's a strange word. It's called Alpharetta. Okay? You are living in the midst of many, many, many thousands of Jewish people. We've got Jewish people in North America.
[6:26] We have them in South America. We have them in Europe. Strangely enough, Asia has many Jewish people. Every, not everywhere in the world, but most of the places you go in the world, there are Jewish people.
[6:37] And God led us to go to Israel. We served for three years in Tel Aviv. And then we got in, I had a pastor recently say, they were asked to leave. Actually, I don't recall them asking.
[6:49] It seems sort of like they told us to leave. Sort of like, out! And we got pitched out of the country. You say, why is that? Well, they don't want Gentiles to live there. They want Gentiles to come and visit and then go home.
[7:01] We were staying. They shipped us. We are working, trying to get back into Israel. This week, we got big news. The prospects for us being able to get back in have grown enormously.
[7:14] We don't know for sure, but I'm hopeful that by the end of this year, we'll be able to possibly get back into Israel. But in the meantime, we're here. And while we're here, God has laid it on our hearts to try to do a work here, telling folks in America, specifically, we moved to Atlanta because of the 120,000 Jewish people here in the Atlanta area, to say, number one, to go and knock on doors and evangelize the Jewish people here in the city.
[7:42] On the other hand, chances are, Ron and I aren't going to be able to evangelize all 120,000 of them. And so the greater thing is the only way that we're going to get the gospel to these people is if the gospel preaching, independent fundamental Baptist churches of Atlanta get a burden for the Jewish people.
[8:02] And if they begin to pray for the Jewish people, if they learn how to witness to Jewish people, and if each one of them, I'm not saying that you witness to the Jewish people instead of to Gentiles. I'm saying you go out and take the gospel to every creature.
[8:15] And if you do it here, you're going to run into Jewish people. And if you're trained and equipped, you'll know what to do to take the gospel to God's chosen people. And that's what our goal is here, is for Rhonda and I to be taking the gospel to the Jewish people and that we would mobilize the churches of the Atlanta area to take the gospel to Jewish people all over this area so that the gospel, because folks, they've never heard it.
[8:40] They have never heard the gospel. They live right among us and they don't know. And we've got to tell them. And so that's what our mission is.
[8:51] Now, when Pastor Gardner invited me to come here, I'm like a kid in a candy shop. Now, anytime a missionary gets to speak in a church, he's pleased with that. But I am talking to a whole bunch of missionaries who are going to go all over the world to countries where there are Jewish people.
[9:07] Now, I will be thrilled to death if God calls some of you to be missionaries to the Jews, to give your life to taking the gospel to the chosen people. I will be delighted if that happens.
[9:19] Trust it will. Hope it will. Praying that that will happen. But what I would like to see here is, first of all, maybe God will call somebody to devote their life to that. Second of all, most of you clearly aren't going to do that, that every missionary here would say, as I go to the foreign field, I'm going to make one of my priorities to reach the Jewish people here.
[9:41] It's God's priority. It needs to be mine, too. And for those of us that are going to stay here in Atlanta, you've got Jewish neighbors, co-workers, friends.
[9:52] Maybe your dentist. I all the time go into church and say, how many of you know somebody Jewish? Good, let's do this. Everybody, you know anybody Jewish? Raise your hand. Okay, that's really amazing. Because in most churches, you'll have one or two people raise their hand like, I'm not sure.
[10:06] I tell them, you do know somebody Jewish. You're just not paying attention. We don't realize it. If you begin to pray for Jewish people, what you'll realize is there's Jewish people all around you.
[10:18] You will meet them. And so my goal is, maybe God will call someone to Jewish ministry. My second goal is, maybe each one of the missionaries here will say, as I go, I'll reach the Jews.
[10:28] And my third priority is that those of us that are going to stay home, we'll take the gospel of the Jewish people in our community. Well, I already told you what we're going to do. I guess we can just give the invitation.
[10:40] But maybe we should get into the word of God along the way. You think? Romans chapter 10. How many of you like the book of Romans? Anybody here like Romans? I love Romans. Romans is my favorite.
[10:51] There's a lot of places in the scriptures I like, but Romans is my favorite place in all the scriptures. You read Romans. It's. There's so much truth in it. It's so powerful.
[11:02] How many of you realize that Romans 9, 10, and 11 deal specifically with the Jewish people? You know, a lot of times we'll say the Bible says, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
[11:14] That's obviously true. Did you know that he was speaking specifically about Jewish people when he said that? Oh, I hadn't thought about that. Much of what is written here, we don't realize is in the context of ministry to Jewish people.
[11:29] Because Romans 9, 10, 11 are written specifically about the Jewish folks. And I'd like us to get into the word of God here. All right, good. You got that timer there.
[11:40] I like that. You always talk about that timer. Now I can see it. That helps. I better hurry. Time's a wasting. Brethren, my heart's desire. Romans 10 chapter, chapter 10, verse one. Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved.
[11:54] For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves under the righteousness of God.
[12:07] For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it. Let's pray. Father, we come before you now and we thank you so much for your word.
[12:17] We thank you for the truth. We thank you for the power in the word of God. And we pray now that you would speak to our hearts, that you'd convict us, that you would teach us, that you would strengthen and nourish our souls.
[12:29] Lord, that you would conform us to your image. Bless us now. As we get into the word of God, help us to learn what you want us to learn. Do your work and change us.
[12:40] We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Paul says, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. Now, Paul would, now Paul was Jewish.
[12:51] I think we all know that. I hope we know that. Paul was Jewish. And so you say, well, that's just natural. Of course, he wants his own people to get saved. If you stop and think about it, Paul probably had a lot of reasons for wishing his own people would go to blazes.
[13:03] Okay. They treated him terrible. They stoned him, lied about him, accused him, tried to get him killed. They were all the time a thorn in his flesh. And yet, in spite of that, he says, my heart's desire and prayer to Israel is that they might be saved.
[13:18] Now, why do they need to be saved? Let's look at what he says. This is very interesting. What he says in verses two and three is very important. And I, and you need to get it. He says, for I bear them record that they have a zeal of God.
[13:33] Folks, the Jewish people in many ways are just like any other people. They really are. Everybody else. It's very common to do stereotypes and say, oh, they're, they're all very smart or they are all very rich.
[13:46] They're all very, you know, whatever. The truth of the matter is they're people. Okay. I've lived among them. They, there's tall ones and short ones and there's fat ones and there's skinny ones and there's pretty ones and there's ugly ones.
[13:56] They're people. Okay. They have the same needs in their hearts that you and I have in their hearts. They have a specific culture as every nation has, as every people has its specific culture, but they're people.
[14:07] Okay. There is something special about them though. They have a zeal of God. Now, it's not always out in the open, but there's something special about the Jewish people.
[14:19] There is in their heart, this zeal for God. Okay. Now it's been twisted. It's been bent. Sometimes it's been hidden, but they have a heart for God.
[14:30] And, and that's a very special thing for them. They have a zeal for God. He says, but not according to knowledge. Uh, I have two boys, Joshua and Daniel.
[14:41] They're grown up now. They're 28 and 30. Now they got kind of got big on me. Uh, but I remember when Joshua was about four years old. Uh, any of you ladies that have little boys, any of you, if you young families, little boys are always in motion, except for when they're asleep.
[14:56] If they're not asleep, they're going a hundred miles an hour. And Joshua was always like a room all the time. And I used to grab hold of him every now and then say, son, it's good to go fast, but it's really helpful. If you're going fast in the right direction, going a hundred miles an hour, the wrong direction doesn't really help anything.
[15:11] And that's what Paul is saying. They have a zeal of God. They're going a hundred miles an hour, but not according to knowledge. You're going a hundred miles an hour, the wrong way. And that's where the Jewish people are at today.
[15:23] That's where they've been at for a couple of millennia now. What are they doing? It says, they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God, for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth.
[15:42] What is that all about? You see, the Jewish people believe that the way you get to God is that you need to be righteous. Okay?
[15:52] And so they work very hard at being righteous. Do you remember the Pharisees that we read about in the Gospels? They were working very hard to be righteous.
[16:03] If you look at the Orthodox Jews today here in Alpharetta, here in the Atlanta area, you know, the guys with the black hats and the curls and the black suit and all of that. They are working very, very hard to follow all the laws to be righteous.
[16:17] There are 613 commandments in the Old Testament, and they know every one of them. Not only are there 613 commandments, but they have multiplied the commandments. The rabbis have added thousands of additional restrictions and laws and interpretations on top of those 613.
[16:34] And so every tiny facet of their life is ruled by a commandment or by a law. And they are working from the moment they wake up in the morning. The devout ones, very, very early in the morning to go to the synagogue to pray before the rest of the world gets up.
[16:50] Okay? From the moment they wake in the morning until they go to sleep at night, all they do all day long is strive to build their righteousness by keeping all of these commandments.
[17:00] Now, you know, we're Baptists. I think we're Baptists. We're Baptists. We're Baptists, okay? Now, you know, we sometimes look at these other religions, these other churches and go, hmm, look at them.
[17:14] Look at the way they live. You know, as Baptists, we take things seriously. I mean, you know, we're in church Sunday morning, Sunday night, Thursday night. Got that right? Thursday night. And, you know, and we don't smoke, and we don't chew, and we don't go with girls that do, and, you know, we're really careful about living a holy life.
[17:35] Now, I want to tell you, maybe you think as Baptists that we're working really hard about being righteous. We don't hold a candle to the Orthodox Jews. We're not even getting started compared to them. They're way more devout, way working harder than we are.
[17:49] They just are. And you say, wow, that's impressive. Pharisees were too. Okay? They are working so hard. Why? Just Paul nails it right here. They're going about to establish their own righteousness.
[18:02] They are trying to be righteous enough to get to heaven. And then they look at other people. They look at the Gentile dogs, and they say, look at my righteousness.
[18:13] It far exceeds Robert's righteousness. Okay? We're not suggesting that that's exceptionally difficult, but they say, and so they're working so hard to be righteous and to build up their righteousness so that God will accept them.
[18:31] And folks, they think they can be righteous enough to get there. They're working so hard to build up their righteousness. Now, what the Jewish people are doing, that's the picture of the Jewish people.
[18:43] There's really two kinds of Jewish people in the world. There's those who are furiously, with all their strength, working to establish their own righteousness, and then there's the other part that have given up. They're saying, if I've got to do that to be pleasing to God, forget it.
[18:58] I can't do it. I quit. Okay? That's the, I just described the two parts of the Jewish world right there. Okay? Now, what I'm saying about the Jewish people applies to the people of Atlanta.
[19:10] Not just the Jewish people, because the average Gentile is doing the same thing. You knock on the door, the average Gentile, and say, hey, do you know whether you're going to heaven? They'll say, well, I hope so. Well, let me ask you, why do you think you're going to get there?
[19:22] Well, you know what? I'm a pretty good guy. I try to keep the good commandments. What's he saying? He's saying, I'm trying to establish my own righteousness. What's he doing? He's having a zeal of God. Truthfully, his zeal of God is probably what, like that?
[19:35] He doesn't have much zeal for God. But he also is working, not according to knowledge, trying to establish his own righteousness. What does the scripture say? It says, they being ignorant, of God's righteousness, if they could see God, if they could see him as he is, if they could see him in his holiness, if they weren't ignorant of his own righteousness, if they could see God in his burning holiness, then they would look at themselves and say, there is no way that I can ever be good enough to be acceptable.
[20:11] But being ignorant of his righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. How do you submit yourself to the righteousness of God?
[20:22] For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it. God looked down on humanity, and you folks know this very well. And he said, y'all ain't never going to make it.
[20:34] No matter how hard you work, you're never going to get there. You are lost. You are hell bound. You can't possibly be righteous enough to get there.
[20:45] Unless I impute my righteousness to you. And so he sent Jesus Christ, God the Son, down to be born of a Jewish virgin. Who grew up, lived a sinless life, gave himself on the cross, shed his blood to pay for his sins, was buried, died, was buried.
[21:07] I've been to the tomb. He's not there. He rose again the third day. And it's only when we come to a place where we say, God, my righteousness is never going to be enough.
[21:17] I repent of my sin. I take Christ as my Savior. I want you to save me based on the righteousness of Christ. That's what this is talking about. They need to be born again.
[21:29] Let's go on. Let's read on. Skip down, if you will, to verse 8. But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart. That is the word of faith which we preach.
[21:40] Verse 9. You know this verse. That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart, that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
[21:54] Now, look at verse 11. For the scripture saith, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. You say, well, that's pretty straightforward. Notice the word of whosoever. You know what he's talking about?
[22:05] Look at the next verse. It tells you who he's talking about. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek. For the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
[22:18] What's he saying here? He's saying, folks, there's one way of salvation. It's by grace through faith. For the Gentiles and for the Jews, no difference, one plan of salvation.
[22:33] Now, I'm going to speak about doctrinal error for a minute here because we have a lot of young people who are studying doctrine, a lot of young people who are going to go out and hear a lot of different doctrines.
[22:44] There are doctrines out there today that say the Jewish people don't need to be saved. They have their own covenant with God.
[22:54] Just because they're Jewish, they're in with God. Is that what the Bible says? No, right here it says there's no difference between the Jew and the Greek. Everyone's got to be saved.
[23:05] Okay, so don't believe it if someone tells you the Jewish people don't need to be saved. They desperately need to be saved. There's a different error. The other error, it's called replacement theology.
[23:16] Are you familiar with replacement theology? Here's the theory. Okay, can I get you to come and help me, brother? And can I get you to come and help me up here, brother?
[23:26] Okay, now, are you Jewish? You are now. Okay, he's Jewish. He's a Gentile. Okay, now, God's plan in the Old Testament was primarily with the Jews.
[23:37] God was working in and through the Jews. Now, if you look at, some people say only with the Jews, and that's not true. You look in the Old Testament, you'll see that God was reaching Gentiles during that time. But his primary work was in and through the Jews.
[23:50] Okay? And that stretched from the time of Abraham up until the time of the resurrection. Okay? Now, at the time of the resurrection, God did something amazing, something that was wonderful, in that he decided to work with the church for a while.
[24:08] Now, we're going to call you not a Gentile. We're going to call you the church. Okay? You're the church. Now, the church in the beginning was 100% Jewish. Okay? The church started out 100% Jewish.
[24:19] And then came a day when God said, You know what? You need to let Gentiles in that. And the church said, Now, hold it. We're not going to let those Gentiles. We have a good church here. We don't want to mess it up with a bunch of stinking Gentiles. And God said, No, that's my plan.
[24:31] You need to do that. And the church was opened up, and it became a Jewish and Gentile church together in one. Okay? And that's God's plan. But today, most churches are Gentile churches, to the exclusion of the Jews.
[24:47] In fact, it's a strange thing for us who are Baptists, because most of us Baptists have a very positive attitude toward Israel and toward Jewish people. But through most of the history, the last 2,000 years, during the church age, the church has been hostile to the Jewish people, has purposely excluded them, has horribly persecuted them.
[25:05] Now, when I say the church, there have been times that was true of the church, the true church that would preach the gospel, has done those things. A lot of times, that's been the false church that has gone under the name of the church.
[25:16] That's a whole other story. And so here we have the church. Okay? This is the church. God's plan is this church is made up of both Jewish and Gentile. Okay? So we have Israel. Israel's Jewish.
[25:27] We have the church. It's Jewish and Gentile together. Now, we go over to John chapter 1, and we read, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
[25:39] Okay? And then we read down later, verse 11, we're going to really skip quickly down here, verse 11, He came unto His own. Who are His own?
[25:51] He came to Israel. Christ came to Israel. Because He is their Messiah. starting in Genesis 3.15, and all through the Old Testament Scriptures, God promised Israel that He was going to send a Messiah to Israel.
[26:05] Now, would a missionary use a trick question in a church service? I am going to do a trick question. Be warned, this is a trick question.
[26:17] Okay? How many of you think that the gospel is also for the Jews? Huh? You know what, Rhonda? The intelligence level of this church is higher than most of the churches I'm in. Usually, everybody raises their hand, even after I warn them it's a trick question.
[26:29] Okay, you didn't raise your hand because you thought, well, that sounds like a trick question. I think I'm going to keep my hand down. But most of you thought, well, yeah, yeah, that makes sense. It's not true. The gospel is not also for the Jews.
[26:42] It's not? No. It's primarily for the Jews and it's also for us Gentiles. It's not also for them. It's first of all for them. When Gabriel came to Joseph, what did he say about the baby that was going to be born?
[26:56] He said, he shall save his people from their sins. Isn't that what he said? Okay, what did Jesus say? I'm come to seek the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Okay? Syrophoenician woman, he said, it's not meat to give the children's food to the dogs.
[27:11] That's what he said. He came to reach the Jewish people. And here in John chapter one, in verse 11, he came to his own, and his own received him not.
[27:23] Oh, that ain't good. He came to his own, but his own received him not. Now, there's a false teaching that spins off of this right here. What I just said is true. It's Bible.
[27:34] But then they say, you see, the Jewish people, they say, rejected Christ. The leaders of the Jewish people did. And the greater mass of the Jewish people did.
[27:47] It needs to be mentioned that thousands and thousands of Jewish people embraced him and received him with all their hearts. Okay? But yes, the nation as a whole rejected Christ. And so these false teachers teach.
[27:59] And so, God rejected Israel. Get out of here. God doesn't love you. Don't go away, brother. Go away. Those false theologians can't run you off, man. You stay up here with us.
[28:10] You stay in the battle. Because they say, God rejected Israel. God is done with Israel. God spits on Israel. Forget Israel. And now, you see, God likes the church.
[28:21] See, look at the church. Isn't he a good looking guy? This is the church, man. And the church is now God's plan. Now, God doesn't love the church. I don't want to embarrass you, but the church is the bride of Christ. Okay?
[28:37] God does love the church, but he hasn't rejected Israel. And what they say, it's called replacement theology, because they say, now the church has now replaced Israel.
[28:48] Israel has been rejected. And now the church has replaced Israel and all the promises of God, all the blessings of God, all the plan of God is all now with the church. Israel's gone and forget it. That's replacement theology.
[29:00] What do we think about that? Is that true or not? Flip over in your Bible to Romans chapter 11. Romans chapter 11. You know, sometimes there are questions in the Bible that are really difficult to answer. Sometimes there are things that it's just, you have to really try to find some light to shed on them.
[29:14] Sometimes there are some that are black and white. This one's black and white. Romans chapter 11. Verse 1. I say then, hath God cast away his people?
[29:25] Now, if you're reading the Bible, you're going to say the next words are God forbid. But that's not what it says. It doesn't say God forbid. It says, God forbid! The word that is used here is the most powerful exclamation he could have put in the Greek language.
[29:42] God forbid! There is no way. And then Paul says, you know, you ever watch the old courtroom dramas and they say, I'd like to enter something into evidence? This is exhibit 1 or exhibit A, right?
[29:52] Paul says, look, I'd like to enter myself into evidence. I'm exhibit A. What does he say? For I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. What's he saying?
[30:03] Oh yeah, well, if God's rejected Israel, what are you going to do about the Jew that's writing the book right now of Romans? I'm a Jew. If God's rejected Israel, how is it that I'm saved? Oh, you didn't get it?
[30:14] Well, then he says, God hath not cast away his people, which he foreknew. Amen! Israel is still in. Thank you, brethren. You guys can have a seat. And so, God has not cast away the people of Israel.
[30:28] God still wants them to be saved. In fact, Romans 1.16 says that the gospel is to the Jew first and also to the Greek, also for the Gentiles.
[30:40] You know, it's funny. We think it's, well, yeah, we're going to witness to everybody and well, maybe we'll also get around to the Jews. God said to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
[30:51] Now, you know what? As far as I'm concerned, if you go out and witness, just witness to everyone. Okay? You don't have to say, oh, sorry, you're not a Jew. I've got to go find a Jew first. Don't do that. Witness to everybody you need. Okay? But make a priority of getting God's word to his chosen people.
[31:06] Now, we look down here. It says, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Is it important? Is it important? I believe, I can't prove this, but I believe that Paul felt the way Paul felt because his heart was tuned to God.
[31:24] Okay? Okay? I think that he had the same heart for, the same heart about things as God did because I think he was a very godly man. Look at chapter 9, verse 1. I say the truth in Christ.
[31:40] I lie not. My conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. Maybe the most amazing verse in the Bible, verse 3.
[31:55] For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh who are his or her. Paul was saying, okay, now listen, me giving up my salvation doesn't result in the salvation of anyone and I can't give up my salvation.
[32:18] But theoretically, hypothetically, okay, Paul said, if I could cut a deal with God and I'd say, God, I'll tell you what, get out the great big eraser in heaven and take my name out of the book of life.
[32:36] So I'll be separated from Christ, lost. I'm willing, I'm willing to give myself, if necessary, to die and go to hell eternally if somehow that would work for the salvation of my people.
[32:57] Good night. Okay, anybody here ready to give up their salvation? Not me. Paul had this huge, huge passion to see his people come to Christ.
[33:13] Where did Paul get that passion? Because that's God's passion. God has this great passion to see every soul come to Christ. But he has a special place in his heart for the Jewish people.
[33:28] Wouldn't it be tragic for a pastor to win multitudes to Christ and his own children perish? What a tragedy for God if all the Gentiles were to be saved and yet his chosen people perish.
[33:48] Paul said, I'd be willing to lose my salvation if that were possible to bring my people to Christ. You say, well, why don't they get saved? Look at verse 13. In chapter 10, verse 13, it says, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
[34:02] Well, why don't they just call on the name of the Lord? What's wrong with them? Well, it talks about it right here. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?
[34:14] They can't call on him because they haven't believed in him. Well, what's wrong with them? Why haven't they believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?
[34:27] You say, you mean to tell me they haven't heard of Christ? No, they haven't. They have heard some things about Jesus Christ, but the things that they have heard are lies and blasphemy. The truth about Christ, the truth about the gospel, they have never heard.
[34:41] They live right here around us and they've never heard the plan of salvation because no one's ever told them. Why haven't they heard?
[34:53] And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And that brings me right back to where we started tonight. I'm praying that God will call out preachers so that they can hear, so they can believe, so they can call upon the name of the Lord and be saved.
[35:12] And maybe tonight somebody here will say, I believe God is calling me to be a missionary to the Jews. Maybe that's a missionary to the Jews in Latin America. Maybe it's in South Africa. Maybe it's in Europe. Maybe it's in America.
[35:23] Maybe it's in Russia. Maybe God's calling out a missionary to reach the Jewish people. Maybe God has touched your heart and said, whatever field God's sending me to, I'm going to make the Jews a priority when I go there.
[35:37] Maybe your field is Alpharetta. God's given you a rich field full of opportunities. And maybe he wants you to say, I'll be that preacher that will take the gospel to the Jewish people in my neighborhood.
[35:52] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alpharetta, Georgia. For more information, log on to www.visionbaptist.com where you can find our service times, location, contact information, and more audio and video recordings.