Mike Bickle emphasizes God's enduring plan for Israel, asserting that the church has not replaced Israel but rather has a role in provoking Israel to jealousy through the gospel. He highlights the temporary spiritual blindness of Israel and the importance of understanding Romans 11, which outlines four essential parts of God's plan: Israel's temporary blindness, the fullness of the Gentiles, the eventual salvation of all Israel, and the restoration of Israel's national calling. Bickle urges believers to stand with Israel in love and truth, recognizing the unique national assignment that Israel holds in God's redemptive plan. He calls for a deeper biblical understanding among Christians to foster a spirit of grace and support for Israel, especially in times of crisis.

Crisis that's stirring up in the earth and obviously what's happening around Israel and Jerusalem has been a crisis for many, many years. Since 1948 it's been going on, but it's increasing more and more. But what's happening in the church world is more and more leaders are weighing in theologically against Israel in a real intentional new way. There's many leaders saying, this is ridiculous. And then there's many leaders in the body of Christ that are rising up and saying, this is very important. And so though the church has been typically had different postures, but, uh, you know, in the last generation or two, it's been kind of, it's not been the biggest debate in the church, but it's becoming a very hot topic even, even the last five years. And it's increasing among the body of Christ, the leaders in the body of Christ, not just, uh, Jews and Arabs and Islam and all of that I'm talking about within the body of Christ. And though I appreciate people that have a supernatural encounters and dreams where the Lord speaks to them. I've had dreams where the Lord spoke to me and they're precious to me, but the thing that I base my life on is what it says in the Bible. And it's the Bible. So a dream stirs us up to go check out the Bible more. And so, uh, I'm, I'm interested in what the scripture says, not what, uh, a dream says or what a, uh, you know, a sentiment says or, or a justice issue, though I appreciate those things, but it's the Bible itself. And so there's a no chapter more relevant for a new Testament believer than Romans chapter 11. Though I, many believers that love Jesus have never worked through Romans chapter 11 and Paul makes it very clear in Romans chapter 11, that the church has not replaced Israel. That was not on Paul's mind at all. Though Paul is the one that's referred to by many theologians, uh, as being the one that proclaimed that the church has replaced Israel. The church has not replaced Israel. Now, having said that Israel can only be saved through Jesus, meaning when Israel, when Jewish people come to Jesus, they're born again and they're part of the church. So it's not really, uh, it's, it's, it's, you've got to be careful when you talk about Israel and the church and the contrast because born again, Jewish people, Messianic believers are in the, are the church. And so they are the church. And so, and that's the only Israel that is saved is born again, Jewish believers through faith in Jesus. And so, uh, uh, but there is still a national purpose that Israel has that has not been given to all the nations of the earth. There is a unique national purpose for born again believers in that land. Just like God has purposes for cities around the earth. You know, we talk about, uh, we know just a little bit, just a little bit about God's purpose for our own city, Kansas city of those of us that live here. And that purpose for Kansas city, is it the same with Chicago, New York, and Miami? They're all, each city has different, uh, assignments of the Lord. Well, Israel has a national assignment that's in the Bible. There's no, there's nowhere in the Bible where the Kansas city assignment is in the Bible. Israel's national assignment is in the Bible. And that makes it, uh, very, uh, important because the Holy Spirit saying pay attention to this one nation's national assignment. Also rejoice in all the nations in their national assignment, but don't lose track of this one because Israel's national assignment is at the very center of conflict. And as I mentioned a moment ago, it's conflict at the church, but, uh, uh, more even dramatic is conflict politically and the whole, uh, uh, Islamic terrorism and the hatred, uh, towards the nation of Israel by the surrounding nations in the Middle East. And anyway, there's a, there's a number of points of conflict, but the reason this really matters to us, because the Lord is requiring the church to stand true for God's purpose for Israel. Like I don't live, love Israel because I love Israel. I wish I did. I love Israel because I love Jesus. And Jesus says, Hey Mike, I love Israel. And I go, okay, give me a minute. I'm in, let me catch up. And as I've, uh, connected with the sovereignty of Jesus and his purpose for Israel, then my love for Israel has grown, but my love for Israel grew out of being committed to it because Jesus is committed to that nation and it's in the Bible. And it took me a while emotionally to catch up with it. I'm like John, uh, when I first, uh, heard about the purpose of God for Israel, I thought, well, I'm not really into the Israel thing. And so I so appreciate and understand the folks who have that position. So don't, don't, uh, be, uh, impatient with them. They're very sincere. And just like, uh, though you can see God's purpose for Israel, undoubtedly you're sincere for the Lord, but there might be other areas you don't see, but you're sincere for the Lord. And so give them, give people time and give them grace and walk in love and don't get in a spirit of debate with people, but a spirit of love and honoring them and not kind of one-upsmanship who can quote verses quicker and faster and outwit the other one. I've seen a lot of debates like that and I don't find them very helpful because we want to be biblical, but we want to walk in love. And I find that that's really the way forward. Well, Romans chapter 11, verse 25 is a very important one. Paul says, I do not desire that you should be ignorant of this mystery, that blindness in part, it's, it's partial and it's temporary. The blindness, the spiritual blindness has happened to Israel, but that blindness will only continue until the fullness of the Gentiles come in. And we're going to look at that phrase, the fullness of the Gentiles in a few moments. And then when the fullness of the Gentiles come in, all Israel will be saved. And so, uh, again, you see no replacing of Israel with the church in Paul's theology in Romans chapter 11, at which he lays it out so clearly. So let's read that again. Verse 25, he says, I desire, I, he had urgency that they should not be ignorant. They should not neglect this important subject of the mystery that spiritual blindness in part has happened to Israel. Now, when Paul uses the word mystery, it means that God has a secret plan that he's hidden in his heart. A mystery, there's about five, four or five mysteries in the New Testament, different facets of, uh, it was the, the mystery is the secret plan that God hid in his heart from ages past. And he didn't reveal the plan until he revealed his son in the flesh and until he gave the plan to the apostles after the resurrection of Jesus. And so, uh, one of the, the facets of the mystery, the secret plan of God's heart, he had it from before Genesis one, he had this in his heart. This is not a new idea. This is not a plan B. He had this in his heart. He knew it would go this way. And he didn't tell anybody until his son was revealed in the flesh, rose from the dead, paid the price on the cross, rose from the dead. Then the spirit revealed the facets of that secret plan to the father's heart. And one of the facets of that plan of God's heart that was hidden is God says there will be a season. And we know now it's about 2000 years where there will be spiritual blindness in part on the nation of Israel. It's only in part because there are, uh, Jewish people being saved and born again. So the blindness isn't total. It's only in part. And the blindness is not final. It's until the fullness of the Gentiles come in. And then the veil of blindness will be totally lifted off of the nation of Israel. And the whole nation will accept Jesus and become born again. Israel will be the first totally born again nation. Every individual, the very first one in human history and the nation that is most, uh, a radical against Jesus will be most committed and zealous for Jesus. The turnaround will be so dramatic. And the Lord will use that turnaround to proclaim the gospel, uh, to the ends of the earth. And we'll look at that in just a little while, uh, the details of that, but long before in ages past, God had in his heart, I'm going to allow spiritual blindness to come on Israel for a season. Like somebody could say, why, why did, is that in your heart, God? I mean, there's, that's interesting that that would be in your heart. The other, uh, uh, facets of the mystery of God is Christ in you. The hope of glory is a facet of the, of the mystery of God, the resurrection of the dead. And we're, we're translated in midair in the twinkling of an eye, the church is raptured. That's a great mystery. That's one facet of it. The fact that the, the church is the bride of Christ that will be his eternal companion forever. That's part of the mystery. And the fact that spirit, that Israel will have a spirit, a spiritual blindness for a season and then come to fullness and they'll be totally joined Jew and Gentile as one new man. That was a part of the mystery too. When you put all those facets together, you get the clear mystery of God, this secret plan, this blueprint God has been operating from, from ages past. And this is one of them. And Paul says, I don't want you ignorant of it. It's important that you open your Bibles. He would say of, he was preaching today, open your Bibles and study this subject. Don't just have sentiment for Israel. Like, I love Israel. Know what the Bible says. I mean, it's good to love God's purpose for Israel, but it's good to know what the Bible says. Now we have to understand it in order to cooperate with it. Because the heat is going to increase. The persecution is going to increase. And God's going to use the persecution of Israel and His, His mandate to the church to stand with Israel in the persecution. Because it's clear in the Bible. And He wants the church to stand and to be a source of grace to Israel. And then it will wake up Israel. They'll be provoked to jealousy by this, this unexplainable devotion and love for them by the true born-again community across the earth. They'll say, why is it you're doing this? This makes no sense to us. Why are you doing this? And the answer is, from Romans chapter 11, we've been grafted in to the tree of Abraham. It's your faith we're grafted into, and we're just calling you to your own faith is all that we're doing. And that's a bit confusing to unbelieving Jews, but that's going to be very compelling and convincing to them before it's over. But it's going to be in the context of persecution where they, the Jews will be made jealous the most. But a lot of believers, persecution came, they might be tempted to back away and say, I'm just going to go silent. I'm not going to stand with God's purpose for Israel. And we'll address that in a few moments. Paul says, that's very serious if you take that posture. It's not neutral. It's not kind of everybody, every church kind of picks their own style. The Lord is mandating the church to stand with Israel in that time. In World War II in Nazi Germany, much of the church, not all the church, but much of the church was silent. And the testimony at the end of that from the Jews in that period of time is, you know what, the church was not helpful at all to us. Now there were some really radically devoted believers at that time, but it was a small number, just a minority of believers in Nazi Germany. But in the future crisis that's coming, the Jews around the earth will say, the born again church was faithful to Jesus. And that, they may not say that at the front end, but they will conclude that before it's over. And so that's why it's important that we understand this purpose. Paragraph B. And again, we're not going to cover all the notes, but leave them for you to be able to have something to study afterwards as well if you want. Israel's original national calling, this is a very important point, their original national calling was to have the primary leadership role in bringing God's salvation to the nations. Back in the Old Testament when God called them, their calling was not just to be blessed, it was to be blessed, but they actually had a global assignment. And that global assignment wasn't just to help people know God, they were to have the primary role in the earth. That's a very key idea. They were to have the primary role as a nation of bringing the nations to the knowledge of God and to the gospel. That was their calling. And we know what happens, Israel rejected the Messiah. So that national calling was suspended, it was put on hold for a while. And that's why a lot of folks are saying, the Gentiles have that calling, and the Gentiles do have that calling, but it's only for a 2,000 year period or whatever that time frame is. It's a temporary calling the Gentiles have to be the primary apostolic leadership, the primary voice. The Gentiles are doing it right now, but the Lord's going to give Israel back their primary calling, and the Gentiles will be connected with Israel as one new man, but one nation will take the lead over all the nations in filling the earth with the knowledge of God. Roman numeral two. Now here's in Romans 11, right at the heart of the passage here is verse 11 to 15. Now in Romans 11, we're going to identify four parts of God's plan to bring the gospel to the nation. Paul highlighted four parts, although you could add a few more if you wanted to, but I want to highlight four in this message tonight. And the four are number one, the Jewish people have a temporary spiritual blindness. That's part one. Very important to understand that, because if you don't understand that, you think God is finished with them, because I'm not finished with them. It's a temporary spiritual blindness that's on them right now. Don't misunderstand that. I am not finished with them as a nation. Number two, there's a thing called the fullness of the Gentiles. God's got, and the fullness of the Gentiles speaks of the Gentile, the international Gentile believers in all the nations. I'm talking about this massive billion member body of Christ, whatever the number is across the earth. God's purpose is to bring the church from a state of weakness right now. The church is very weak in terms of its impact on the nations compared to the impact it's going to have in the future. And the Bible, Paul called that glorious revival, that glorious spiritual renewal, the fullness of the Gentiles. There's a time where God will bring the Gentile church to the fullness of the glory of God. And when that happens, they're going to provoke Israel to seek salvation in Jesus. Then number three, a part of God's purpose, all of Israel will be saved. And all of Israel will be saved. I believe it means a hundred percent of the Jews that survived the tribulation, a hundred percent of them, the remnant of Israel, the unsaved remnant of Israel that survives the great tribulation, every one of them, one hundred percent will be saved. I believe all means all. Literally every individual will be saved. Well, it doesn't end there because after all Israel gets saved, there's the next stage. That's the fullness of Israel. God will release the fullness of the glory of God through born again Jews related to the coming of the Lord. And they will fill the earth with the knowledge of God together with Gentiles, but they will take the lead again as a nation. They will walk in their national assignment of having the primary leadership role. The Gentiles will have a very significant role, but as a nation Israel will have the primary leadership role in bringing the gospel to the nations. So let's look at this. Let's read through this verse 11 to 15 and then verse 25 and 26. Now just notice and look for these phrases and these concepts that I've just mentioned. Verse 11. Now verse 11 is a little bit confusing because Paul says, have they stumbled that they should fall. Because Paul is going to use the word fall in two different ways in this passage in verse 11 and 12 and 13. So it gets a little bit confusing. He's using the word fall in one way, you can read a little bit on the notes, and then he uses the word fall in another way. Once he uses it in the terms of did they fall, did they permanently lose their leadership calling as a nation. And then he uses the word fall in a very different way. They lost their leadership calling in a temporary way. Did they fall? He goes, yes they did fall temporarily, but no they did not fall permanently. You know when I talk to Paul one day I'm going to say, you know Paul you'd have made things easier for us if you'd just used two different words. But I don't think Paul really needs my advice. So he uses the word fall in two different ways and that can confuse you when you're reading this verse here. Again one time he means the word fall means in the permanent sense they have fallen permanently out of favor with God and they've lost their national leadership calling. They fell. And Paul says, no they didn't fall. But yeah they did fall. The temporary stumbling. It's like Paul come on use two words. You know I'm a simple man. I need to figure this out. But again I'm sure that Paul's not going to be looking for my advice on how he should have wrote Romans 11. Okay. Well let's read verse 11 again. Have they stumbled in that temporary sense so that they should fall in the permanent sense? Have they fallen? And the answer is no. They haven't fallen in the permanent sense. Then he goes on. He goes, but though their fall that's the temporary stumbling. He goes, yeah they did fall temporarily. That's the temporary stumbling. But the purpose was to provoke them, the nation of Israel, the them there's a nation of Israel to jealousy. Paul says God planned to raise up these pagan Gentiles that have no history with God. They were going to be saved by the free grace of God, filled with the Spirit, filled with the knowledge of God. They would end up standing with Israel in persecution and provoke Israel to want to have what they have spiritually. That's what it means to provoke Israel to jealousy. It means that the Jews will be provoked spiritually to jealousy. The Jews will look at Gentile, born again believers and say, I want what you have spiritually. That's going to happen before the Lord returns. But that's only the Gentiles that are engaging in the purpose of God. Because a lot of Gentiles at this point in time, believers go, I don't want to help Israel. I have nothing to do with them, I have a place. That's not going to provoke any Jews to jealousy, that current attitude that millions have. And again, in the grace of God, a lot of that's going to change in God's timing. So I'm not worried about it. But our destiny as Gentile believers, before the Lord returns, is to provoke, to so engage with God's purpose with Israel, we're going to provoke them to jealousy, where they look at us and say, I want what you have spiritually. And then we tell them, well, what we have spiritually, the miracles, the signs and wonders, the relationship with God through the Holy Spirit, and I'll go through a few more things later. That's your faith. That's the faith of David. That's the faith of Abraham. That's the Jewish tree of Abraham that we're a part of. And they'll think, really? Well, I thought that was a Gentile thing with Martin Luther and all those guys. No, no, we're going back to David. We're going back to the early Jewish apostles. We're going back to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the prophets. They're the ones that talked about all of these glorious spiritual realities. So the Gentiles, before it's over, through their fault, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. So God's purpose is to give the leadership role of the salvation purposes to the Gentiles. Now, the Gentiles are going to be leading the charge globally for 2,000 years, approximately. And it's supposed to provoke Jews to jealousy, but that provoking has not happened much in 2,000 years, but something radically is going to change in the generation the Lord returns, in the whole great tribulation crisis, and the Jews being in peril, and the born-again church standing with them, that's going to be the context in which they're provoked to jealousy. Verse 12, now Paul uses this word fall again. He goes, if Israel's fall, that's the temporary stumbling, add the word temporary stumbling, if Israel's temporary stumbling is for the riches of the world, and if their failure, that means they rejected the Messiah, they rejected Jesus when He came, that's their failure, it results in riches to the Gentiles. In other words, the riches to the world and the riches to the Gentiles, that happens because God has anointed Gentile leaders all through 2,000 years of church history, and the gospel's been preached in various cultures and languages by God putting the primary anointing on Gentiles because of Israel's fall. In that sense, it is for the riches of the world. Paul says, yeah, they rejected Jesus, and the leadership, the primary leadership went over to Gentiles, but hey, it worked out well because the riches of the world. The gospel's been preached in all over the world now, and the riches of the Gentile and the riches of the world, those are nearly synonymous ideas. I mean, there's a billion believers that love the God of Israel and His Son, the Messiah, Jesus. There's a billion Gentiles that love the God of Israel because the leadership shifted over to the Gentiles, and so Paul goes, you know, yes, they're stumbling, they're temporary stumbling, it's bad, but good came out of it. The riches of the world, I mean, 2,000 years later, a billion believers, riches of the Gentiles. I mean, you're part of the riches, every born-again believer, Gentile believer is part of the riches that came out of Israel's failure, therefore the primary anointing going on Gentiles who had a passion to go to the nations of the earth. He goes, well, if their fall had this good fruit of a billion Gentiles getting saved eventually, how much more is Israel's fullness? I mean, when Israel comes to fullness, they get saved and then come to fullness, it's going to bring the glory of God to the whole earth, and that's referring to the whole millennial reign where the glory of God fills the earth at a way beyond anything we can imagine, but the Jews will be leading that at that time. Gentiles will be deeply involved, but the Jews will have the primary leadership. Verse 15, for if they're being cast away, if Israel being cast away, meaning not having that primary leadership role anymore, if leadership, if Israel with a spirit of blindness on them, that's what being cast away means, that the favor of God is not being openly manifest on them like in days past, they don't have the primary leadership in the salvation purposes of God, they have difficulty and struggle in the nations instead of walking in the full blessing or even the blessing like in generations past like in David's generation, etc. He goes, if they're being cast away for the last 2,000 years, results in the reconciling of the world, again a billion believers, but it's going to be more than a billion believers. I believe another billion is coming in before the Lord returns. I believe the gospel, well Jesus said it, will be preached in every nation of the earth primarily by Gentile preachers. Boy, that's what Paul calls the reconciling of the world. He goes every nation, every tribe and tongue is going to be the beneficiary of the Gentiles taking this leadership role. But he says in verse 15, if Israel being cast away from a place of favor and a place of leadership and a place of national blessing in the full sense, what is going to happen when there's a national acceptance in the nation of Israel? He says, what's going to happen, what will their acceptance be? In other words, when Israel has a national acceptance of the Messiah, then what's going to happen? I mean, if only a minute percent is saved and yet through the Gentiles, the glory of God's filled the earth, or not filled the earth, gone to their gospel being preached in all the nations. What's going to happen when Israel is fully in her God-ordained place with the full favor and blessing of God? He says her national acceptance will be life from the dead. And life from the dead is a phrase that is describing the millennial kingdom. The thousand year reign where Jesus will literally come to the earth as the son of David, as a real man with a resurrected body, sitting on a throne in Jerusalem and the whole earth is going to be restored to the fullness of glory. That what was lost in the garden of Eden is going to be fully restored, not by Adam who sinned, but by the last Adam, the son of David who's going to bring the garden of Eden reality back to the earth. And it's going to not stay in the garden of Eden's original spot, but it's going to spread out and the whole earth will have the garden of Eden, a dimension of glory, and it will take a thousand years for it to happen. But under Jesus's leadership and Israel international calling, it will be life from the dead. The atmosphere will be completely cleansed and healed. The agriculture will be cleansed and healed. The animal kingdom will be cleansed and healed. The world economies will be completely restored. Peace among all nations. The educational institution. On and on and on. And the full dimension of the physical world, but the resurrection properties of heaven that Jesus will bring at the second coming. The earth will be described as life from the dead for the whole earth. He goes, that's where this thing is going. That's where it's going. But he goes, that's when Israel is in her full place. But Israel's not going to be in her full place until she's provoked to jealousy by Gentiles who understand the purpose God has for Israel. And the Gentiles say, well there's no purpose. We'll just ignore them. The Lord goes, no, no, you're all in a continuum. There's one big purpose together. They'll fall in love with you. You'll fall in love with them. The glory of God will fill the earth. There'll be one new man. It's, it's a perfect plan, uh, taking into account the free will of man that the nations, Israel and the nations of sin taking into account man's sin. God has a plan to bring Jews and Gentiles to full unity and to fill the earth with the glory of God and Israel to walk in everything that God ever promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to her. Verse 25, Paul says again, I'm going to quote this verse several times. He says, I don't want you ignorant of this mystery. Don't be ignorant. Don't, don't be confused by the mystery. The blindness has happened, but only in part and it's only temporary. The blindness isn't final. Don't be confused. The blindness isn't final and it's not total. It's in part and it's temporary until the fullness of the glory of God is on the Gentile church that will provoke Israel to jealousy and then the fullness will come on the Jews and then the fullness of God will fill the earth. Paul says, don't cut out God. The part of the storyline that is very dear to God, Israel's involvement in the grand story. Paul was really clear about that in his day and how believers over 2000 years have twisted these verses around and reinterpret them to, to completely dismiss Israel. Not only did dismiss Israel to think the church is now Israel and all the promises of Israel are now to the nation and her national assignment are somehow given to the church. It's interesting because the people that have that theology and a lot, and I got very good friends and I really honor their life in God. They love Jesus. They're great Bible teachers, but this is just a blind spot. They're blind about Israel's blindness. They think that Israel's blindness is Israel's permanent rejection. And they're blind to Israel's blindness. And they, they love the idea that the church has Israel's promises, but they don't like the idea that the church has Israel's curses. They say, we replace Israel. I go, the curses too, or just the promises? Well, no, just the good stuff. We don't replace the bad stuff. I go, isn't that a little bit of cut and paste theology here? Don't we have to take it all or none? I mean, if we replace them, don't we replace them entirely? Well, no, not that stuff. Not in that arena. And so we want to, again, my point isn't to win debates with guys, but it is a little bit unconvincing that the church gets the promises, but doesn't get the curses. We get one or the other. And now the church, we do get the promises of the justification by faith that was promised to Abraham and all that. Yeah, those promises we get all of those for sure. But there are national, there's a national assignment and promises related to Israel's national assignment. Israel doesn't have special promises related to the relationship to God, meaning they don't, they're not closer to the father than Gentiles are. Jesus made the wave equal for both. They don't, they're not a little more forgiven in terms of our relationship to God. Jews and Gentiles are identical in terms of a national assignment that affects God's global plans for the earth. Israel has a national assignment and they have promises related to that assignment and they have curses related to that assignment as well. And again, that's a different issue than how individuals stand before the Lord, because as Jews and Gentiles, we stand before the Lord identical because of the blood of Jesus. We are as forgiven, we are as blessed, we have as much of the Holy Spirit, we have as much access to the Father's heart. So yes, in that way, we are completely equal together. But again, every nation has its own assignment. Every city has its own assignment in the Lord. And I'm assuming no two nations have the exact same assignment. Israel's national assignment just happens to be in the Bible and all the other nations, well Egypt's national assignments are in the Bible and a few other nations, but mostly it's, most of the information about national assignments is about Israel. A little bit about Syria, a little bit about Egypt, a little bit about Persia. There are some of those nations that are in prophecy and their national assignment, we find them in the Bible and it's exciting. And I love those national assignments. They're not the same as this nation, but hey, let's rejoice in those assignments. You know, they're unique to every nation. Okay, let's go to paragraph B. So Paul asked the question, has Israel stumbled so they should fall? And what he's saying here, he says, is their temporary stumbling so serious that it results in a permanent fall from their national assignment and from the favor of God? Are they going to lose all their national blessing? Are they going to lose their national assignment? So has Israel, has their temporary stumbling of two thousand years, and that's not an exact number of course, has their temporary stumbling been so severe it results in a permanent national loss of their assignment and their national blessings? He says, have they? And of course then Paul answers right there in verse 11 and 12, he goes, no, certainly not. Israel hasn't lost their position, their national assignment permanently. They haven't fallen in the permanent sense. Okay, let's look at top of page two. Verse, I mean, not verse, paragraph C. For the last two thousand years, the International Gentile Church has had its primary leadership role to bring the witness of the gospel to all nations. Meaning, Jesus said, all 232 nations of the earth, and that number changes a bit over the years, but all 232 nations of the earth, every tribe and tongue will have a witness of the gospel, and originally that assignment was given to Israel, but when they rejected the Messiah, that assignment was now given to the Gentile apostles and prophets and pastors and teachers through 2,000 years of history. Whether they call them by those titles or not, those men and women that operate in those various anointings, those various grace packages and leadership callings, they will bring the gospel to every tribe and tongue of the earth. And so that's happened, the Gentile Church has been doing it, but paragraph D, because of that, many have wrongly interpreted this, thinking, well, since the Gentiles have gone to the nations and there's a billion saved, and I believe another billion coming in, hey, that proves God's finished with Israel. Paul goes, no, it doesn't prove. It proves God loves the Gentiles, and He's choosing them, but He's going to use them, and He's going to bring the whole thing back around. He's going to use them to touch Israel, then Israel's going to become saved, and then they're going to come to fullness, and then that's going to bring fullness of God to the whole earth, and it's going to be one big happy family forever. Okay, let's look at Roman numeral three, part one. I have four parts. I've said them all, but we'll look at them and just mention each of the four parts again. Part number one that I'm highlighting here, the Jewish people have a temporary spiritual blindness as a nation, in terms of their national identity and as a nation before God. Paragraph A, believers who are ignorant of this temporary spiritual blindness, or believers that are blind to the blindness of Israel, they wrongly conclude God's finished with them. Instead of laboring to provoke Israel to jealousy by presenting the gospel and by walking out, by walking in the power of God, by preaching the message, walking in the power of God and signs and wonders, and then doing good works that back up the preaching of the gospel, laboring for the salvation and speaking the destiny of God over the land. We are, I'm talking about the gentile believers around the earth, we are mandated to speak to Israel her destiny. You know, in Isaiah 40, that famous verse, it says, comfort my people. Yes, comfort my people. He's talking to, he's talking, Isaiah's talking to gentile believers to comfort the remnant of Israel. He's talking to the nations. He goes, you guys, comfort her, tell her her destiny. Don't tell her she's written off and forgotten and you have replaced her. Don't tell her that. Tell her that God has a purpose for her. Comfort her, don't write her off. And so, but if we're ignorant of the mystery, we end up writing them off. Now, I know most of you in this room have already decided, you've settled the issue. You go, I'm not, I'm in. And the reason I'm working through this chapter with you, part of this chapter, is not to convince you because you're already in, but I'm wanting to give you language from the Bible so you can put this into some of your conversations with some of your other believing friends and unbelieving Jewish friends. You can say, hey, here's what the New Testament says to you. So I'm wanting you to become more familiar with Romans chapter 11 so you can tell believers that don't understand the Israel thing, you can tell them from Paul's words what Paul said, and you can use these very, this very passage. I love to speak to Jewish people. I've had the chance to witness to believers, I mean to unbelieving Jews using Romans chapter 11. And they look at you and they go, that's interesting. They're like, huh, so you think our national assignment is still fully in God's heart, even though we've been scattered to the nation for 2,000 years? You think that the favor of God is going to come on us to such a degree we're going to lead the world? I mean, the whole world hates us. They go, yeah. They go, really? Now, who said that? I go, the New Testament guys said that. They go, so how come we don't hear anybody else saying that, you know, except for Paul? You know, they're thinking of Martin Luther who persecuted the Jews and, you know, church history, you know, that they go, how come the voices of church history don't say what Paul said? And I think that a lot of folks, we just need to get more familiar with Romans chapter 11. Now, notice it says, let's read the verse again, verse 25. I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, that the blindness in part has happened to Israel, but it's only temporary and partial because it will lift when the fullness of the Gentiles comes in. So paragraph B, Israel's under a spiritual blindness. This means, or included in this, they can't see Jesus as their Messiah. When they hear Jesus, they hear Gentile religion. When they hear the name Jesus, they hear persecution of Israel. They hear Holocaust. You know, the church in Germany, much of it went with Adolf Hitler. They go, Jesus? No, he's the enemy of Israel. We go, no, no, he's not. He's the son of David. He's the son of David. He's the promised one that the prophets talked about. They go, no, there's not a chance. Everybody that likes Jesus hates us. No, no, that's not true. That isn't true. Nor in their blindness, they don't see their hostility towards Jesus as having spiritual influence, meaning their hostility and their, I mean, it's not just they don't pay attention to him. They don't like him. There's a hostility. There's a heightened hostility and it's inspired in the spirit realm. And they don't know that. They just think, well, you know, history says you guys that love Jesus don't like us. We don't like you. We don't like Jesus. And, but Paul would be saying, no, it's a little more complicated. There's actually a spiritual influence on their mind. They don't understand that brings them to this heightened hostility. And so we're not going to talk them out of that hostility. It's going to take the power of the Holy spirit, but we can, as we present the claims of the gospel to them, which we should be. And there's some folks around the nation say we shouldn't be talking to Jews about Jesus because then the government will get mad. No, no, we need to talk to the Jews about Jesus and his salvation and the government will get mad. They got really mad at Peter, James, and John and threw him in prison. They ended up killing them. Uh, some people, uh, Saul of Tarsus was murdering, killing people that were talking about Jesus. Yeah, the government will get mad, but the father will be glad. And so, and it will change this eternal destiny of people. Yes, we must tenderly, but clearly evangelize Jewish people. We must do this without any apology, but tenderly with, with, with humility, not kind of a brazen, you know, like the man of God of the hour with power is now in Jerusalem and I'll fix the whole city. Don't go that way. And understand that there's a spiritual blindness, meaning there's a spiritual influence that's affecting their hostility. It's, but it's a heightened hostility. Okay. Let's, uh, look at paragraph D. Now the sovereign calling of God on every nation on every individual is irrevocable, meaning it doesn't change. We can, uh, we can stumble and we can, as born again believers, we can stumble. We can have a season of compromise, even a long season of compromise, but your calling in God doesn't change. You don't get to walk in it when you're living in deliberate compromise, which is different than being a sincere believer that's stumbling a symbol, a sincere believer stumbling is still walking in their calling. A believer that says, I'm just going to live in sin for a while. Uh, the calling doesn't go away. Uh, but you, you won't, uh, you won't be walking. He won't be enjoying it. You won't be seeing the fruit of that calling on your life, but that believer repents. That calling is still in place. The same is true of a city of a nation. The callings of God are irrevocable. God doesn't change his calling because he gave the calling to Israel. Like he gave the calling to individual believers, like he gave the calling to every nation before the nation did good or bad. He gave the calling based in his sovereign wisdom, not based on how good they were. So when they're bad, they don't lose their calling. Like God gave promised, uh, Israel, the land, the ownership of the land is promised. No conditions, the ownership of the land. There is no conditions. You look at the seven times in the book of Genesis, we'll look at this tomorrow afternoon in the session, seven times in the book of Genesis, God promised Israel the land. So the ownership of the land is eternal and unconditional, but their occupation of the land is conditional to their obedience. And so their ownership is theirs. And if they don't know, if they don't, uh, the generation that obeys him gets to occupy it. But the, but Israel owns the land no matter what. And men can debate it in the United Nations who owns the land. God gave the land, God owns the earth and God gives the earth to whoever he wants. And, uh, he gave the, that little portion of the earth by covenant to Israel and Israel disobedience does not nullify their ownership of the land. It just makes them unable to occupy the land in its fullness. So the occupation of the land is related to what they do, but their ownership of the land is not. And the same is true with their national assignment. The gifts and callings of God are irrevocable. They don't change. The national assignment on America is whatever it was in God's heart from when he first had it in his heart. And we have seasons of national repentance. We have seasons of great sin. The calling over our nation does not change. The calling over your life and family does not change. Your ability to walk in it can change, but the calling doesn't change. You repent, the full calling is fully in place again. And that, that's a glorious reality. And I know a lot of Gentile believers that love this truth for their life, but then they don't like it for the nation of Israel, but they like it for themselves that the free grace of God fully assures their permanent calling. But the glorious, the truth is that's how God gives his calling. He gives them before a nation or a person did good or bad, whatever your calling is, God gave it to you before you were diligent, before you proved anything, he gave it to you. And again, as you walk with the Lord, you enjoy more of that calling in your everyday life. And so our, our response to him really does matter, but it doesn't change the calling itself. Okay, part two. Okay, now we're moving from the spiritual blindness to the fullness of the Gentiles. Now salvation, it says here in verse 11, that through Israel's temporary fall, is the idea, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Now when it says here salvation has come, it means more than individual Jews, I mean Gentiles are born again. When it says salvation came to the Gentiles, what Paul is saying is the primary leadership anointing to bring the gospel to the earth shifted to the Gentiles. That's what he means by the phrase salvation came to them. He didn't just mean born again believers of Gentile heritage came to the Lord, because when, well anyway, that's what Paul's talking about when he says salvation shifted, he means the salvation purposes. The anointing to bring the salvation purposes was shifted to the Gentile apostles and prophets and pastors and teachers, male and female, young and old alike. Okay, top of page three. Let's go down to paragraph C, because I've said most of the things already a time or two that are in the notes here. Paragraph C, and again I leave them in the notes because I want you to be able to read them later if you're interested in that. Paragraph C, the fullness of the Gentiles. What a glorious thought, a plan, I mean this is a plan in God's mind. Did you know that the church is spreading to all the nations of the earth, and before the Lord returns, the church will be in every tribe and tongue of the earth. But it's not enough that there will be a preacher in every tribe and every tongue, it's more. God has more on His heart than the fact there's somebody saying the information. The church will come to fullness. When it means the fullness of the Gentiles, it means Gentile believers. That's the implication. This includes the full number saved. Right now they estimate about a billion, and many people agree that it's, that we're, I mean many, I've heard many believers around the world, leaders talk about praying for another billion. So it's not a unique thing to hear there. The other ministry, I've heard that number a lot of times. So the, I don't know what the full number is, but the fullness of the Gentiles means the full number, but it means more. Operating in the full power. The full power that God has ordained. Then more than that, operating in full godliness. In other words, the fullness of God's purpose for the Gentiles, for Gentile believers is going to come, it's going to, there's going to be a tremendous revival among Gentiles, which will be critical for the standing with Israel in persecution. As a matter of fact, the standing with Israel in persecution is going to be part of the process that, that purifies the church. And again, we're going to talk about that more tomorrow night. So there, not only is there going to be, again, a billion, I don't really know the number, but believing for another billion, but there's going to be a fullness of power before the Lord returns in the church. A fullness of power among the Gentiles. But I believe that fullness of power is related to the church that is, knows their purpose to provoke Israel to jealousy. Meaning, I don't think the fullness of power on the Gentiles will be just randomly across the earth. It will be amongst those who understand the fullness is related to the purpose of provoking the Jews. Because the Jews are the most hostile nation to Jesus, and they're going to be the most loyal nation to Jesus. But the full, the church and the full Gentile, the fullness of anointing is going to be required to bring Israel to that transformation. I say, Lord God, this is wonderful. I may not see this in my day. It may be in the next generation, the generation after that. I don't know when this is going to happen. It may be in my time. I don't know, but I know this. I want my sons and daughters and their sons and daughters, spiritually and physically, to understand this purpose. There are a lot of groups that are praying for the fullness of the power of God, but they have no revelation of their calling to provoke Israel to jealousy, to spiritual jealousy. And so they want the fullness of power, but they don't want it connected to the global purposes of God of bringing the most hostile nation to God, Israel, the most hostile nation to Jesus, to become the most loyal nation to Jesus. And the Lord says, that nation is very dear to me. Yes, my heart has been hurt and wounded by them, but I've never ever stopped loving them. They are the apple of my eye, and I'm going to pour out the fullness of anointing related to provoking them to jealousy. So it's important that I train the next generation, and as much as I have the ability to, to whoever I have access to, to seek the fullness of the power of God among the Gentiles, but in context to the purpose of provoking the Jews to jealousy, to the purpose of all Israel being saved, to the purpose of the Jews coming to fullness, to the purpose of the glory of God filling the whole earth. It's one giant glorious storyline in God's heart. Paragraph D, when it says that we'll provoke the Jews to jealousy, it's talking about the church will walk in the Holy Spirit to such a degree that it will provoke Israel to jealousy. In other words, the Jews will say, I want spiritually what you have. I want to walk in the spirit like you do. I don't really get what your spirit stuff is, but I want it. I see you have peace. You walk in godliness. You operate in the prophetic. You know the word of God. You have a relationship of love. You, you're in the midst of turmoil and facing danger and death. You're, you have a hope in the resurrection. You, what is it you guys have? I want it. I want to move in the realm you move in. That's what Israel is going to say to the church that's walking in the fullness, the Gentile church walking in fullness. Paragraph E, now I believe that, and I believe the scripture makes it clear as well, that the great tribulation will be the context to which Israel will change their hostile views of Jesus and His church. They, right now they're hostile towards Jesus and hostile towards the church in their view, because they're under a temporary spiritual blindness, but there's a coming, a radical context in history, coming in the future, I believe it's the great tribulation, where they will radically change their views towards the church. Because they're, the church is going to operate in a different way than the church has operated in generations past. They're going to see the church different because the church is going to be operating in a very different spirit than it has in the past. It's going to affect them in a glorious way. Like I believe that, for example, I have paragraph E, I have four or five examples here. I believe that one thing that's going to happen is that many Jews are going to be in flight, not just in Israel in flight, some will stay in Israel by the power of God and some will flee Israel, but even Jews in the nations will be in flight, meaning having to go into hiding. I believe that the Holocaust of Nazi Germany, as horrific as that was, I mean I can't imagine any more devastating historical political act of a nation than what happened with Nazi Germany, but I believe it's going, something more horrific is going to happen yet in the future, not under Adolf Hitler, but under a man far more powerful and far more cruel, in the Bible called the Antichrist, he will go far beyond where Hitler went in seeking to exterminate the Jewish people. And in that context, they will be in flight, they will be pursued, not just in Germany, but all over the earth they'll be pursued. There'll be some places of refuge, some nations, I'm believing God for America, to have many places of refuge for them as well as many other places in the earth as well. So the Jews will go in hiding and the born-again believers, not only them, but the born-again believers are mandated by the Word of God to take them in. So the Jews are, they come in, they go, you understand that if you take us in, you're risking your life. And the born-again believers say, yeah, we understand that. We'll go, whoa, really? Why are you doing this, you know? Well, because the Jewish Messiah, the son of David, your Messiah, gave us free salvation. And He is indescribably beautiful and glorious. And we love Him. And He was so gracious to graft us into your faith. That's why we do it. He loves you so much. And He's filled our heart with love for you. They go, well, that's weird. We don't really buy that story. But yeah, we're happy to move into your house. It will start that way. And then all of a sudden, resources, the sharing of resources. After a while, that will touch many of them. This is incredible. I mean, this will be happening over Asia, throughout Africa, through Latin America, in the islands, through the Americas, through Europe. The church worldwide will be operating in the Spirit. And the Jews in flight will be going, this is really remarkable, the sharing, the sacrificial giving. Then I can imagine, you know, the miracles happening. You know, they're sitting at the table. There's ten people that are there. There's the family and the Jewish refuge that are in flight, persecuted ones that are fleeing. And there's ten people, but there's only five potatoes. And so they lay hands and they multiply the food. And these Jewish, I mean, these Jewish, I don't know what they are, refugees, I guess would be the term. Hey, wait, our guys did that. That's what Elijah and Elisha did. Yeah, it is your guys' thing. Yeah, it is. It's what the Jewish prophets did. You're right. Wow. And then the little girl comes out and says, Daddy, Daddy, I had a dream. And the angel appeared to me and said, the bad people are coming at 10 o'clock tomorrow. And at 10 o'clock tomorrow, there's been plans made for the escape. And exactly at 10, the bad people come. And they go, how did you know that? They go, that's what our people did in the Old Testament. We go, it is your faith. That's the point. And they're going, wow, this is real. You know, and my son is sick. You know, he hasn't been able to go to the doctor. This Jewish mom or father would say, you lay hands on him and they're healed. And like, wait, wait, this is this is Elijah, Elisha stuff. We go, we know. That's what's so glorious. It is your faith. And then the fact that that, you know, they will say, how come you're not afraid of death? We're afraid of death. How come you're not afraid of death? Well, we believe in the resurrection. We believe that Jesus, the son of David, was raised from the dead and he's a rules in the New Jerusalem. He's bringing the New Jerusalem down to the earth. We're going to be raised from the dead, be given a new body just like he we're going to be reigning with them. We're not afraid of death at all. Really intense. You guys don't look like you're afraid of death. We're not afraid of death. Matter of fact, we are so longing for the age to come. I mean, we're we're we're committed to being faithful, but we have a longing and a hope of something far greater than this. And you put the whole package together in that kind of time of persecution, the Jews will be provoked to jealousy. They go, we want what you have. We want your your confidence in the resurrection. We want your power to work miracles. We want to have prophecies. We want to love like you love. We want to multiply food like you do. How does this thing work? Well, it's all in the name of one man. He's a Jewish man. Roman numeral five, part three, all of Israel will be saved. I believe this literally means 100% of all Israel will be saved. In paragraph C, there's going to be a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Now, when you read Joel chapter two, the great outpouring of the Holy Spirit, notice in verse 31, this happens before the second coming of Christ. The great outpouring of the Spirit, it happens before Jesus returns. There's going to be a great outpouring, and it's going to touch the Gentiles, bring them to fullness. But the outpouring is also going to touch the Jews. Notice that Joel is describing this related to how it impacts the city of Jerusalem and the Jewish community. He is talking particularly, I mean, it's going to be a global outpouring, and it's going to touch all the nations. But Joel describes it particularly how it's going to relate to the remnant of Jewish people in the city of Jerusalem, meaning this outpouring has a dynamic Jewish connection to it. Paragraph D, Zechariah 13, one-third of the nation of Israel is going to be saved in the context of the great tribulation. One-third will be saved, the other two-third will be killed. But the one-third that will be saved, and you can't say the two-third will be killed casually, because that's a horrific reality. But in the greater context of the great tribulation, there will be far more Gentiles that will die in the tribulation conflicts than the Jews. The number of Gentiles will far surpass the number of Jews, and it will be a very, very difficult time for Jews and Gentiles in that regard. But the point that Zechariah is highlighting is one-third of the nation will become born again. Now, can you imagine one-third of the nation being born again? They, I have some notes here, they suggest there's about 18 million Jews in the earth. There's several ways to count if somebody's Jewish, you know, whether they have a Jewish mom, they have a Gentile mom and a Jewish father, there's different ways to count. But just for the sake of the illustration, let's just say 18 million Jews. That means there will be 6 million born-again Jews, 6 million. There's 10,000 or 15,000 born-again Jews in Israel right now. Imagine 6 million on fire, spirit-filled Jewish believers preaching Jesus, 6 million. Not 10,000 or 20,000, not 3,000 on the day of Pentecost, but 6 million. I have written here, there's about 250,000 Jewish Messianic believers right now on the earth today. Nobody knows the exact number, but it's 200,000 or 300,000, could be a little bit more by now. But I mean, imagine 6 million is a huge increase from what's happening now. That's what Zechariah prophesied. Okay, let's look at the top of page 4. Here in Acts chapter 3, Peter is talking to the Jews in Jerusalem. When he says, repent and be converted, he's talking to the Jewish, he's actually aiming at the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem. He's not just talking to Gentiles in the nations, although it certainly applies to all of us through history. But in context, he's talking to Jewish people in Jerusalem. He goes, you repent and get converted, your sins will be blotted out, and times of refreshing will come from the presence of the Lord. He's even talking about on the city of Jerusalem is what he's talking about. Not only Jerusalem, but that's the context he's talking. And he will eventually, the Father will send Jesus who was preached to you. When he says Jesus who was preached to you, Peter's making it clear he's talking to Jewish people in the city of Jerusalem who heard Jesus preach. He's not talking, this verse is often, I hear people, they read it and they talk, apply it to Gentiles, which we can. It's biblical to do that. But in its context, Peter's talking to those people that were hostile against Jesus just recently, just some weeks ago. They were hostile towards him. He goes, the Father's going to send Jesus back. He was already raised from the dead, and they go, well, we don't believe that. He goes, you'll see, he's sending him back again. You're not finished with him, he's coming back again. But verse 21, here's the key, heaven must, must, that's the key phrase is must, must keep him up there. He must stay in heaven until the times of restoration. Until the times of restoration. Heaven will keep him up there until the fullness of the Gentiles. We're in that time frame of the great tribulation leading into the second coming. It's all that time frame that's connected together. That's the time of the restoration of all things, not a few things. There's coming a time when the season for the restoration of everything that was promised by the prophets, the Jewish prophets, when that season comes, that's related to the second coming of Christ. But the fullness of the Gentiles, the fullness of the Jews, when all of that comes together, that's the hour where Jesus will be released from the, by the Father to come to the earth. When those, that restoration period is escalating, and then when it comes to fullness, Jesus will be released from heaven. But no, in verse 21, heaven must, that's the key phrase, he must be kept because of the Father's plans and his sovereign purposes. He must be kept there until that season of restoration begins. But beloved, I have good news for you. There's a season of restoration coming. It's called the fullness of the Gentiles. It's called the fullness of Israel. There is a season of restoration coming, and it is going to have massive implications on the church. And the beginning of that season is going to escalate to Jesus returning and bringing the fullness of that season to the whole earth. Glory to God. That's a, that's a glorious promise that, that Peter gave here. And he goes in part four, finally here, just, I've already said it, so I'll just be really brief here. Verse 12, for if their, Israel's fall, their temporary fall, the 2,000 year temporary fall from favor and from the temporary fall from being the primary leaders in God's salvation purposes, if it results in riches to the Gentile world, he goes, and it has, there's a billion Gentile believers now, 2,000 years later. Paul says, how much more will the fullness of Israel be if their failure leads to a billion, 2 billion Gentile believers? What is their acceptance as a nation of Jesus the Messiah? What's that going to do to the earth? He says, he says the same thing again in verse 15. He just says the same argument with different terminology. If they're being cast away, if Israel is being cast away from the place of primary leadership and the place of national favor, if that cast away leads to the reconciliation of Gentile nations to God, the great harvest in the nations, what will Israel's national acceptance be? It will be life from the dead for the whole earth. The whole monumental kingdom is going to be the fruit of Israel's salvation. And so paragraph B, the fullness of Israel, there's going to come a time where the full number will be saved. We know it's one third of the nation, whether that's 5 billion or 8 billion, nobody knows the population or exactly the timing of it. Maybe some generations down the road, but I think personally we're in the early days of that generation. That's just an opinion I have. That's not a prophecy, that's an opinion. And I think that it's possible that there's people on the earth today that will actually see the fullness of this. And if not, I don't think it's too far down the road. If it'll be their children or their grandchildren, in my opinion. Again, that's not a prophecy, that's an opinion. So anyway, Israel's going to come to fullness and you can read they'll walk in fullness of power, they'll walk in fullness of character, they'll walk in the fullness of God. And then paragraph D will end with this. Then the whole earth will be filled with the knowledge of God. The whole earth will be filled. No, we can't end with this. I forgot one more passage. Paragraph F, I'll just take a minute or two. This is one of the most important parts of the whole chapter. I forgot about this on my notes. Okay. So Paul makes the application to the Gentiles. I'll just be very brief here. He says, he's talking to Gentiles here. He goes, don't boast against the natural Jewish branches. He goes, you're part of the tree. He's describing the analogy of a tree. We're part of the tree of Abraham. He goes, but don't boast against the natural branches. We've been grafted in. We've been given mercy to be a part of a tree that already existed long before we said yes to Jesus. He goes, don't boast against the unbelieving Jews. Don't boast against them. Oh, you Jews, you don't get it. You did this. Don't, don't. Paul says, don't get into that attitude. Don't boast against the unbelieving Jews. Verse 20, don't be haughty. Don't think you have a place of favor and they're out, but rather fear the Lord. Now I want to tell my Gentile brothers and sisters that are casual about, well, I don't get the Israel thing. Fear the Lord. This is a really important subject. This is not something to write off. So that's not my deal. No, this is very important. He goes on verse 21 and 22 is terrifying. He goes, let me tell you, Paul's talking to Gentile born again, Gentile believers in Rome. He goes, let me tell you this. Let me be straightforward with you. If God didn't spare the natural branches, if he didn't spare Jews, when they said no to Jesus, the Jewish nation, he may not spare you either. Then here's these believers in Rome going, whoa, Paul, you just took the same up to a whole nother level. What do you mean? I mean, I'm in the love of God. He goes, yeah, you are in the love of God, but if he didn't spare them, when they rejected his purposes, he won't, he may not spare you if you reject his purposes. And they're thinking, wow, Paul, you're getting a little personal here. Well, Paul takes it up a notch or two here. Verse 22, he says, consider the goodness and the severity of God. He goes, understand that in the purpose of God, there's a manifestation of goodness. But if you reject the purpose of God, there is a severity. It's the same God with no contradiction. Consider both dimensions of his personality, because there's no contradiction with God in either one of those demonstrations of who he is. On those who fell, they experienced the severity of God. But towards you, you have the goodness of God. But that's only if you continue in his goodness. He goes, if you continue in his goodness. So now he goes, otherwise, you will be cut off too. Paul, I mean, the church in Rome, they're going, Paul, you're being a little bit heavy here. And Paul's saying, if you get haughty towards Israel, you will begin a trajectory. You will begin a process, potentially, not guaranteed, but you will put yourself in the dangerous way of being on a process of escalating your negative attitude to where you actually reject God's purposes that bring Jews and Gentiles together in the final generation of natural history. He says in verse 25, I don't want you to be ignorant. And then he says again, don't be wise in your own opinion. That's another word for arrogance. So three times he tells them not to be arrogant. Verse 18, don't boast against Israel. Verse 20, don't be haughty. Verse 25, don't be wise in your own eyes. He gives three warnings. Don't write off Israel with a haughty attitude that you know it all and that you understand better than Paul did. He goes, don't do that. And here's the paragraph that I want to end with, paragraph F. I want you to catch this. Paul says, don't be ignorant because ignorance can become arrogance. If we're not informed what the Bible says, we can become arrogant against Israel out of our ignorance. But then that ignorance can become passive resistance. Well, I'm not really into that Israel thing. And if Israel's in trouble, I'm not really going to help them. You know, they killed Jesus anyway. You know, that's their problem. They don't like Jesus. That's between them and God. It's a passive resistance. But what happens is that passive resistance in Nazi Germany became an active resistance. And they actually went and turned the Jews in and it escalated and they didn't think it would. I'm sure if you'd have went to some of those church members in Nazi Germany 10 years earlier, do you think you'll ever turn your neighbor into the state? No way. I don't really get the Jews. I don't really like what they do. It's this passive, this passive resistance. But it escalated to an active resistance. And then that active resistance ended up with them rejecting the purpose of God, of Israel and the church all together. And they reject the Israel and the purpose of God. Paul is saying here, he goes, you better be careful lest you get cut off too. He goes, they rejected God's purpose. What he said is Messiah. Don't be in the place where this ignorance escalates to arrogance, that escalates to passive resistance, that escalates to active resistance. And you're found sometime later on the other side of the argument actually working against God, all in the name of I didn't get Israel. Paul says, don't be arrogant and don't be ignorant. This is serious. Fear the Lord because perhaps if you go too far in this, in terms of resisting the purpose of God, and this is germane to the purpose of God in the generation the Lord returns. Again, you may not see that in your day, but you might, but your children and your grandchildren Mark. And I want, I want, I want the people that I touch informed and equipped in these truths and these realities. Amen and Amen.