This sermon by Derek Prince Ministries focuses on the restoration of the Jewish people according to biblical prophecy. It highlights the process of God giving the Jewish people a new heart and spirit, symbolizing a spiritual transformation. The sermon emphasizes the importance of the Holy Spirit in enabling obedience to God's statutes and judgments. It also discusses the significance of the regathering of Israel and warns about the judgment of nations based on their treatment of the Jewish people.

Derek Prince Ministries. Proclaiming the inspired Word of God around the world. Derek Prince is an internationally recognized Bible teacher and author. Through books, audios, videos, and radio broadcasts, Derek seeks to reach the unreached and teach the untaught. In over 50 years of ministry, Derek has reached over 100 nations in more than 50 languages. And now, Derek Prince. A lot of Christian commentators have said, well, if the Jews are ever to come back, first of all they have to acknowledge Jesus as Messiah. And then come back. But God says it will be in a different order. First they'll come back. Then I will cleanse them from all their filthiness. Notice they are to come back in a condition which God describes as filthy. Not deserving His blessing. Verse 26, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. That's a heart transplant. And the implication is that for the most part, over many centuries, the Jewish people have had a heart of stone. That is a heart that was incapable of responding to the Holy Spirit. But God says I'm going to do a miracle. I'm going to take the heart of stone out. I'm going to replace it with a heart of flesh which can respond to my Spirit. Now I believe myself there was a specific time when God began to do that. It was in 1967, the time of the Six Day War, when the Jewish people regained control of the Old City of Jerusalem. And I have been associated with Jewish people off and on through those years. I remember once I spoke in 1948 to a Jewish man, telling him I believe Jesus was the Messiah. And he turned and spat at the name of Jesus. That was his reaction. And that attitude still prevails amongst many Jews. But there has been, since 1967, a remarkable change in their attitude. A professor in a university in Israel, who teaches theology, that's every kind of theology, said years ago, my students, when I taught about Christianity, were interested in the theological issues. Now, he said, they're interested in the person of Jesus. That especially is true among the younger people. It's still by no means popular to proclaim the name of Jesus. But there is a very different type of response amongst many Jewish people. Because we built a house in Jerusalem, and let me say, once was enough to build a house in Jerusalem. Ruth and I have dealt with a number of secular Jews, in rather respected positions. Lawyers, engineers, and so on. And what has always surprised us is, they would come in to talk business, and we'd offer them a cup of coffee. And they would just sit and wait. And we think, what are they waiting for? But we learned they were waiting for us to tell them some of the miracles that God had done in our lives. And the moment you talk to Jews about miracles that have been done through prayer, they will sit and listen as long as you're willing to talk. They're a very practical-minded people. They want something that works. Well, I don't really have time to tell you this, but, well, I think I'll try. The engineer that oversaw the construction of our house, and I have to be careful because he's well-known by name, came to see us after we'd moved into the house to see how we were getting on. And he said, I'm very busy. He said, I can't give you more than ten minutes. And we didn't try to hold him. Then he said, oh, I have such a pain in my back. So my wife said to him, well, my husband has something for back pains. So he said, you do? I said, yes, I do. I said, it's a little unusual, but I'll, if you want, I'll make you sit down in that chair. And I'll check your legs. And if they're unequal, the short leg will grow out. And then you'll know that God has touched you. So he sat down and it all worked. The short leg grew out. And he stayed at least half an hour. He'd said he could only stay for ten minutes. About two weeks later he came back. Excuse me. Ruth said, how is your back? He said, it's fine. He said, does your husband have anything for shoulders? She said, yes, he does. And I said, yes, as a matter of fact, I do. I said, if you'll stand up straight with your feet together. Put your arms out to the side with the palms to the front. Then swing them together in front of your nose. And keep them where you come. If one arm is shorter than the other, I'll pray and it will grow out. Well, one arm was at least, I would say, an inch and a half shorter than the other. And it grew out instantly. And it was hot weather and he was wearing a short-sleeved shirt. And all the hairs on his arm were standing right up. He said, what's that? I said, it's the power of God. We didn't get too excited. We just, you know, this is one of the things that happens. When he said, you can have a line in the street outside your house if you wanted to do this. And now, he didn't make any confession of Jesus. And we didn't ask him for it. But he later told a friend of ours who knows him. He said, I believe Jesus is the Messiah. Now, please understand, that doesn't mean he's born again. Because with many Jewish people, first of all there's an intellectual conviction before there's a change of heart. But that's just an example of how interested they are when they find something that works. I've told Jewish people as a Gentile, we really owe you an apology for ever asking you to believe a gospel that was not supernaturally attested. Because it's contrary to all your own scriptural background. So there we are. Now where am I going from now? And that's the, that's the new heart. But that's not all. Verse 27, going on in Ezekiel chapter 36, God says, I will put my spirit, that's the Holy Spirit, within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you will keep my judgments and do them. First of all, there's a change from a stony heart to a heart of flesh that can respond to the Holy Spirit. Then God says, I will put my spirit in you, the Holy Spirit. And then he says, you will walk in my statutes and keep my judgment. How many of you know that none of us, either Jew or Gentile, can ever obey God apart from the Holy Spirit? That's essential, no matter what your national background. I was brought up as an Anglican in the British Church. At the age of 15, I was confirmed by none other than the Bishop of Oxford. I went through it all and I thought, I probably need this. I said everything, did everything, and nothing happened. So after a while I said to myself, well this thing may work for some people, but it doesn't work for me. And I decided I probably ought to be a lot better than I was. So for the next ten years I tried to be better and failed miserably. Then God filled me with the Holy Spirit. And for the first time I could do with joy the things that God commanded. It takes the Holy Spirit in you to make you a joyful, obedient servant of God. All right. Now we come to the climax of this process in verse 28. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers. You shall be my people and I will be your God. Be patient with the Lord. He's working to a specific end and that's it. But he hasn't got there yet. There are three simple statements. You shall dwell in the land, you shall be my people, and I will be your God. That is the ultimate purpose of God in all that he's doing with the Jewish people and in the Middle East. It's that he may again be their God. Now there's a number of other promises that follow. I won't read them. But let me just point out to you that in verses 23 through 30 of that chapter, in the Hebrew, and it doesn't come out exactly the same in the English, God says I will 18 times. What does that mean? It means that this is a sovereign determination of God. It's something that God has made up his mind to do. It's not going to happen because the Jews deserve it. It's not even going to happen primarily because the church prays. It's going to happen because God said it will happen. Most of us in the kind of movement we're in today have a very limited view of the sovereignty of God. Until you understand the sovereignty of God, you really don't understand God, you don't understand the Bible, and you don't understand history. The ultimate reason why God does things is because he's made up his mind to do them. Now we can't go into that because that's one of the main theological controversies. But let me just say that I believe in the sovereignty of God, and I believe in the free will of man, and I see no contradiction between the two. God knows exactly what you will do, but he doesn't make you do it. His knowledge is not compulsion. Now we'd better stop there, because otherwise we'll never get back. Now we need to say a couple of other things about the restoration of Israel. In Romans 9 verse 27, Paul quotes Isaiah. And he says, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, the remnant will be saved. Not a remnant, but the remnant. What remnant? Sorry to come back to this, but the remnant that God foreknew and chose. They will be saved. That's not all Israel as Israel is today. But it's all Israel as they will emerge from the processes of history. And let me add, incidentally, my personal belief of the same is exactly true of the Church. It's only a remnant that will make it through. A whole, maybe a majority of the Church as it is today, will not make it through. Jesus said, He that endures to the end shall be saved. You're saved now. If you want to remain saved, you have to endure. And in that chapter, which is Matthew 24, he indicated a lot of very difficult things that have to be endured. So now we go on to the next stage of this promise, which is in Romans 11, verse 25 and 26. And our Paul is writing at this point, specifically to believers who are from a Gentile background. And he says, For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, or conceited. Now what's the mystery? The mystery that hardening, in part, has happened to Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. Notice, it's never total hardening. Through every century and every generation, there have been Jews who have acknowledged Jesus as Messiah. But the majority of the nation, for a long while, has been hardened. But every time God speaks about what he's going to do in disciplining Israel. In scattering them, in judging them, whatever it may be. You'll always find after that, there's a word like the word until. It's not going to be permanent. So he says here, Hardening in part has happened to Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. Then all Israel will be saved. All Israel will be the remnant. But it will be the whole nation at that time. Israel is the only nation in the Bible, concerning which God has said that the whole nation will be saved. It's important to understand that, because those of you who are working and praying for the salvation of the Gentiles, whether you know it or not, you're also working for the salvation of Israel. Because only when the full number of the Gentiles has come in, will all Israel be saved. I think these words of Jesus apply. The first shall be last, and the last shall be first. The Jewish people were the first. They became the last. But ultimately the last will be the first again. So I have a passionate conviction, that it's our obligation to preach this gospel of the kingdom to every nation. But I'm aware that while we're doing it, we are preparing the way for the salvation of Israel. Here in Fort Lauderdale some years ago, a married couple wanted to talk to Ruth and me. He was a Christian, a Gentile. She was Jewish and not a Christian. And they wanted to know how we understood Romans 11, 25 and 26. And so I said to her, this is what I believe. First of all, the Gentiles have to come in, and then the Jewish people will be saved. And she looked at me and said, I wish you'd hurry up and get on with the job. She was a perceptive woman. Now, let me in closing quickly, point out to you some of the significance of the regathering of Israel. In Isaiah chapter 11, God predicts a second regathering of Israel. It's going beyond the regathering from Babylon. It's the one that's taking place now. And he says, Isaiah 11 verses 11 and 12, It shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people who were left from Assyria and Egypt, from Pathos and Cush, from Elam and Shinar, from Hamath and the islands or coastlands of the sea. That has been fulfilled and is being fulfilled. He will set up a banner for the nations and will assemble the outcasts or the exiles of Israel and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. Bear in mind that in the days in which we live, those words have been fulfilled and are being exactly fulfilled. But what I want to point out to you is that the regathering of Israel is called a banner for the nations. Now what is a banner? It's usually something that's attached to a pole and held up or fixed up so that it's conspicuous. Everybody can see it from everywhere, all around. And most banners have a few words on them. And I would like to suggest to you the words on this banner. The banner of regathered Israel. The words are, God keeps his covenants. 4,000 years ago, he made a covenant with Israel. People have forgotten it. Many Jewish people are not aware of it. But God has never forgotten it. And right now, at this time, the banner says, God keeps his covenants. We all need to know that because our relationship with God depends on a covenant too. If God were to break one covenant, why would he not break another? But he never will break his covenant. And then, a little further on in Isaiah chapter 60, it's a very solemn statement, which may shock some of you, that I say, if you've never been shocked, you've never read the Bible. Now, this chapter predicts the restoration of the Jewish people and the gathering of the Gentiles to them. You have to take that for granted. Then it says in verse 12, concerning the Jewish people and their regathering, for the nation and kingdom which will not serve you, shall perish. Those nations shall be utterly ruined. What a warning to the nations. Any nation that will not fit in with God's purposes for the restoration of the Jewish people, will perish. No matter how strong. No matter how wealthy. See, I'm British by background. I can remember the days when Britain was the mandatory power responsible for ruling what was called Palestine. And I recall, first of all, that Britain received a mandate to provide a national home for the Jewish people. And about two years later, they assigned 76% of that area to a totally Arab nation called Transjordan, now called Jordan, where no Jew is permitted to live. That left 24%. And in 1947, the United Nations divided up the remaining 24%. But the British representatives in Palestine, that's not necessarily the whole British people, in 1947-48, and I was an eyewitness, did everything they could, short of open war, to prevent the restoration of the State of Israel. Israel was a tiny, insignificant little group of people, 600,000 strong. The British Empire was the most powerful empire in the world that had emerged undefeated from two world wars. And you know what happened? The nation of Israel was established and the British Empire fell apart. Now I say that to people in America because the American government is in great danger of making precisely the same mistake. Using nice words, using political manipulation, but in actual fact, taking the side of the Arabs because of their supplies of oil. And if it happened to Britain, my dear American brothers and sisters, it will happen to America. Any nation that will not serve the purposes of God for Israel will be ruined. And this is just a personal comment. I could foresee the ruin of America before the end of this millennium. And when it happens, there are many reasons. One primary reason would be that America has reneged on her commitment to the Jewish people. This has been a land where the Jewish people have been favored and prospered and America has prospered. Many people don't see the connection between those two, but there is a close connection. And if the United States turns against Israel in all the usual manipulative political moves that are indulged in, it will be ruined. I didn't say that. God said it. Now two more passages. Joel 3, verses 1 and 2. Joel chapter 3, verses 1 and 2. For behold, in those days and at that time when I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem Notice again, this is one of countless different Scriptures that refers to the restoration of Judah and Jerusalem. The Lord says, I will also gather all nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat and I will enter into judgment with them there. That's all nations, all Gentiles. What is the basis of God's judgment? On account of my people, my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, they have also divided up my land. So the two bases on which God will judge the nations are their treatment of the Jewish people and their dealings with the land which God calls my land, but which he gave to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. That's a very, very solemn thought. And finally in Matthew 25, we will not read the passage, it's familiar I'm sure to many of you, it's the passage of the sheep and the goat nations. And it's a direct carry on from Joel chapter 3. It's the New Testament outworking. For it says in verse 31, When the Son of Man comes in his glory with all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory and all nations will be gathered before him. It's exactly the same scene as Joel chapter 3 verses 1 and 2. And then it describes the basis on which the Lord will judge the nations. He will separate them as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will set the sheep on his right hand, the goats on his left. And then he will say to the sheep, Enter into the kingdom prepared for you by my Father. And then he will say to the goat nations, Depart from me you cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Notice the everlasting fire was never prepared for human beings. Human beings had a choice. The devil and his angels had no choice. But human beings who make the wrong choice will end up where the devil and his angels went. Some of the most powerful words ever spoken by the Lord, Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. What was the basis of the separation? Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me. Inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did not do it to me. And judgment is the judgment of the nations. So when Jesus is speaking about his brethren, he's speaking about the Jewish people. The nations will be judged by the way that they have dealt with the Jewish people. Each one of us individually will be dealt. Those that have shown love and kindness will be accepted by God. And the only basis ultimately for doing that is belief in the Scriptures. And those that have refused love and kindness will be totally and finally and eternally rejected by God. So this is not a little matter. I've taken a good deal of time. You've been very patient. But I have not stopped short, because I want you to see how central this issue is to your personal destiny, to the destiny of the Church, to the destiny of all nations. Amen.