- God
purposed to choose a special people to Himself from the very beginning of
the creation
a.
“By the seventh day God had finished
the work he had been doing; so on the
seventh day he rested from all his work.” (Genesis 2:2)
b.
“Six
days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath
to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your
son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any
foreigner residing in your towns. For in
six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in
them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the
Sabbath day and made it holy.” (Exodus 20:9-11)
c.
Did God create everything in six days
and rest on the seventh for no particular reason? Or, did He do this with His
chosen people in mind to live by this same pattern about 2,500 years later?
- God didn’t
look upon all nations of people then decide to choose Israel—He actually
raised up Israel
a.
“As for me, this is my covenant with
you: You will be the father of many
nations. No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many
nations.” (Genesis 17:4-5)
i.
About 2,000 years after creation, God
called a man named Abram which means “father of a nation” and changed his name
to Abraham which means “father of many nations”
ii.
God gave Abraham a son named Isaac and then
a grandson named Jacob
iii.
Jacob fathered 12 sons then God changed
his name to Israel—his 12 sons and their descendants continued to be called by
this name of Israel
iv.
During 400 years in Egypt, his 12 sons
multiplied into millions but still grouped into 12 tribes
v.
God later raised up Moses to deliver them
out of slavery in Egypt—this is called the Exodus
b.
“The
LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more
numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it
was because the LORD loved you and kept
the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty
hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king
of Egypt.” (Deuteronomy 7:7-8)
c.
Abraham is now the father of many
nations because the gospel message of salvation is not just to the one nation
of Israel but to all nations of people
i.
“And
this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a
testimony to all nations, and then
the end will come.” (Matthew 24:14)
ii.
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19)
iii.
“There
is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and
female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according
to the promise.” (Galatians 3:28-29)
- The
distinction between the Israelites, the Jews, and the Gentiles
a.
After Saul, David, and Solomon (the
first three kings of Israel), the kingdom was divided into two:
i.
The Northern Kingdom of Israel
consisting of 10 tribes
ii.
The Southern Kingdom of Judah
consisting of the other 2 tribes—Judah and Benjamin
b.
The name Jew comes from the tribe of Judah (pronounced like ‘Jew-dah’) but
later became synonymous with the entire nation of Israel regardless of tribe
c.
The name Gentile refers to all other nations and people groups that are not
Jewish (not of Israel)
- The Jewish
people served as a conduit or channel through which God brought the Savior
into the world
a.
We must keep the big picture (God’s
plan of salvation) in mind when considering the Jewish people
i.
God’s plan from the creation was to
bring His Son into the world to save the world
ii.
Choosing one people was necessary for
the greater purpose of saving all people through Christ
b.
Jesus Christ was Jewish because He was
a descendant from David of the tribe of Judah
c.
In order to be a king, Jesus needed to
descend from a lineage of kings in a kingdom nation
d.
“Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of
the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.” (Romans 9:5)
- God also
used the Jewish people as a subset of humanity to prove that all of
humanity has sinned
a.
“Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that
every mouth may be stopped, and all the
world may become guilty before God.” (Romans 3:19 NKJV)
b.
If His own people were given every
advantage to succeed yet failed, then the rest of the world without the same
advantages are proven to have failed
c.
“There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:22-23)
- God gave
them commandments for them to be holy and separate from all other people
around them
a.
In the book of Deuteronomy – “For you
are a people holy to the LORD your God” (7:6), “for you are a people holy to
the LORD your God” (14:2), “But you are a people holy to the LORD your God”
(14:21), “that you will be a people holy to the LORD your God” (26:19), “The
LORD will establish you as his holy people”(28:9)
b.
“Unless the LORD Almighty had left us
some survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like
Gomorrah.” (Isaiah 1:9)
c.
His holy people became just as sinful
as Sodom and Gomorrah—if not for His purpose of bringing the Savior into the
world He would have destroyed them entirely as He did Sodom and Gomorrah
- “Remember
that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the
covenants of the promise, without
hope and without God in the world.” (Ephesians 2:12)
a.
Gentiles were without hope because God
didn’t reveal Himself to them
b.
“You
Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.” (John
4:22)
i.
God decides how we come to Him—He spoke
through the Jews and finally through His Son
ii.
All world religions are people trying
to come to God their own way rather than His way
iii.
Even Judaism (a Jewish religion) is
just another way of trying to get to God their own way
- Gentiles
now get to be partakers with the Jews of the salvation found only through
Jesus Christ
a.
“Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people.” (Romans 15:10)
b.
“For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings, they owe it
to the Jews to share with them their material blessings.” (Romans 15:27)
c.
“Consequently, you are no longer
foreigners and strangers, but fellow
citizens with God’s people and also members of his household” (Ephesians
2:19)
- The church
began with the Jewish people first then Gentiles were later included
a.
“And I tell you that you are Peter, and
on this rock I will build my church,
and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” (Matthew 16:18)
b.
“He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all peoples on
earth will be blessed.’ When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you
by turning each of you from your wicked ways.” (Acts 3:25-26)
c.
“Then Paul and Barnabas answered them
boldly: ‘We had to speak the word of God
to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of
eternal life, we now turn to the
Gentiles.’” (Acts 13:46)
d.
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of
God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.” (Romans 1:16)
- God’s
dealings with humanity (particularly the Jews) in the past teaches us how
to walk with God today
a.
“For
everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that
through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they
provide we might have hope.” (Romans 15:4)
b.
“These
things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us,
on whom the culmination of the ages has come.” (1 Corinthians 10:11)
c.
“All
Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting
and training in righteousness, so that
the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2
Timothy 3:16-17)
- God’s
chosen people were given more advantages but also have more responsibility
and accountability
a.
“From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and
from the one who has been entrusted with
much, much more will be asked.” (Luke 12:48)
i.
There is a principle in Scripture that
the more God gives, the more He requires from us
ii.
The apostle Paul had great
advantages—circumcised the 8th day, of the tribe of Benjamin, great
knowledge of the Scriptures, taught personally by Jesus Christ Himself, was
given spiritual gifts to heal and work miracles—therefore God required far more
from him than from us.
iii.
“Not many of you should become
teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.” (James 3:1)
b.
The Jewish people who reject Christ
will receive harsher judgment than the Gentiles
i.
“There will be trouble and distress for
every human being who does evil: first
for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor and peace for everyone
who does good: first for the Jew, then
for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism.” (Romans 2:9-11)
ii.
“But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on
the day of judgment than for you.” (Matthew 11:24)
- Those who
repented when hearing less will condemn those who didn’t repent when
hearing more
a.
“The
men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and
condemn it; for they repented at the
preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here.” (Matthew
12:41)
i.
At the final judgment, God will call
upon these men of Nineveh to stand up in the courtroom and will use them to condemn
the Jews in Christ’s day who rejected Him
ii.
The point is that if Gentiles repented
at the preaching of Jonah, then there will be no excuse for Jews who didn’t
repent at the preaching of Jesus Christ Himself
b.
“But because of your stubbornness and
your unrepentant heart, you are storing
up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous
judgment will be revealed.” (Romans 2:5)
i.
If the people of Nineveh repented after
hearing one preacher one time, what will happen to those who have been hearing
many times for months and even years but don’t repent?
ii.
Rather than asking what will happen to
those who never heard, you really should be asking what will happen to you who have heard but didn’t ever repent!
iii.
The longer we live in sin, the more
wrath we’re storing up against ourselves