Scott continues his story, walking through Romans 11:17-24, and the themes of God's faithfulness, the relationship between Gentiles and Israel, and the assurance of God's promises. He explains Paul’s analogies of the olive tree and first fruits to illustrate how Gentiles, represented as wild olive branches, have been grafted into the blessings and covenants originally made with Israel. Scott Keffer emphasizes that even though much of Israel currently stands in unbelief, God’s promises to them are not broken, and His plan will ultimately be fulfilled.

The discussion highlights the importance of humility for Gentile believers, reminding listeners not to be spiritually arrogant but to remember that their inclusion into God’s family is by grace, not by their own merit. Scott Keffer also addresses God’s sovereignty, warning against complacency and stressing that both kindness and severity are attributes of God’s nature. The episode closes with a reassurance that God’s faithfulness to Israel is the foundation for the believer’s own hope and confidence, affirming God’s unchanging commitment to keep His word and accomplish His purposes.

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Blank Insight Sheet:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eQysfO86jFtzZaufn46gURLCGRTv1U5s/view?usp=sharing

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Key Topics Discussed:

• The context of Romans 11 and God’s righteousness
• Paul’s analogies of first fruits and the olive tree
• The difference between ethnic/national Israel and spiritual Israel
• The process and meaning of Gentiles being grafted in
• God’s sovereignty and the danger of spiritual arrogance
• The future hope for Israel and God’s unbreakable promises
• Practical assurance for believers about God’s faithfulness
• The mystery of God’s unfolding plan for Jews and Gentiles

Hi. If you're looking for greater hope, assurance and confidence through the shifting sands of life, then join me on today's episode as we dig deep into the Bible to discover rock solid truth for life and living from the God of the Bible. I'm your host, Scott Keffer. Hi and welcome to today's episode. As always, for a deeper experience, you can go to the show notes and download the blank insight sheet. Fill in the blanks along with the group. Depending on how you're listening to this, there will be a link to the episode website@beholdingbibletruth.com and a sheet with the answers is included as well. Enjoy today's episode.

Well, we live in a world that is constantly tempting and training us to surrender, to surrender to convenience, to surrender our quality to convenience, surrender our safety to convenience, and most significantly to me, surrender our thinking to convenience. Right. Looking for quick answers, not wanting to go deep, looking for the shallow and being satisfied in the shallow. It's in the deep truths of really the depths of truth that we learn how to think. And we're transformed, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. We have to be transformed. So thank you as we walk through this journey in Romans together. Because oftentimes when you're going line upon line, sometimes you'll say, why is that there? What is that there for? I don't understand it, I don't believe it.

I don't like it. Right. All of those things are true, including, why does he keep going over these things? Why does God keep saying the same things? Why does he take three chapters in the book of Romans and go over this issue? Right. Why does he do that? And sometimes the answer is, I don't know. I just know to walk with him through it, trust that he's got an answer. So thank you for walking through that journey with us together. Beth and I appreciate fact that you show up every week. We're grateful for that.

So why don't we stand and read this chunk from Romans 11 together? For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? If the first piece of dough is holy, the lump is also. And if the root is holy, the branches are too. But if some of the branches were broken off and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree. Do not be arrogant toward the branches. But if you are arrogant, remember that it's not you support the root, but the root supports you. You will Say, then branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in. Quite rightly, they were broken off for their unbelief. Where you stand by your faith, do not be conceited, but fear.

For if God did not spare the national branches, he will not spare you either. Behold, then, the kindness and severity of God to those who fell severity, but to you God's kindness, if you continue in his kindness, otherwise you also will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in. For God is faithful to graft them in again. For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree? For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery so that you will not be wise in your own estimation that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved. Just as it is written, the deliverer will come from Zion. He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.

This is my covenant with them when I take away their sins. The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Oftentimes, as you go through, particularly parts of Romans, you read it and you go, what? Or hang on. As we go through this, we'll try. And you're gonna pull this apart and keep this in context. Remember, the book of Romans is about the issue of the righteousness of God. In other words, how do we receive the righteousness of God so that we can be in relationship with him? How do we receive it? So it is built upon.

The Gospel is about the righteousness of God. So the question here in 9, 10 and 11 is really, how does God remain righteous despite Israel's unbelief? Right? How does God remain righteous? Which is really the question about God. Israel's rejection, where we are today and where they were when he's. He's. He's writing this is generally those of Jewish birth were not coming to Christ. So he reminds us here. Israel's rejection, which is really the Israel isra. Israel's rejection.

Is not total, it's not final, and it's not without purpose. So here's the deal, right? Why is this absolutely critical? Because we tend to think the other. The other thing that we have become is a society of me, right? Society of me and my world, right? The same problem we had with our Kids when they were young is the Copernicus problem. You're not the center of the universe. Right? The, the, the, the world does not revolve around you, but that's good for the kids. But in the end of the day, the world revolves around me. So we're, we all deal with this. Isn't this all about me? And the context gets bigger and then bigger and then bigger.

God reminds us foundationally if, if this is broken, my promises to Israel, if my covenant to the, to the nation of Israel and the, the Jewish people, if that's broken, then there's no promise I can make to you that you can count on. So the promises that are to you are the promises to us. The promises to us are from the prom, the original promises. So how. Right. How is that? So I put on there, if God has rejected Israel, then God has broken his promises. Because the original promises were to whom. Yeah, and specifically who? Abraham.

Abraham. The original promises. So if those promises to Abraham and his descendants, if the promises to Abraham, his descendants are broken, then how can we have a. How can we. Right. How can we trust his promises to us? And a better question is how do we. Who are not a physical descendant of Abraham, how do you get into his promises? How can you claim that God's promises to Abram and Abraham are God's promises to you? Right. That's the question.

Right. And if God breaks his promises to Israel, how. Why will he keep them to us? So we talked about there's three uses of the term Israel, because that's really the question here. There's three uses for Israel. First, is ethnic or national Israel, those who are physical descendants of Abraham. Right. There's the elect or true Israel, the believing, saved remnant within ethnic Israel. This is spiritual Israel.

And it's referred to once. 9, 6. It's referred to once in here. Because the question is, as we go through here, is he talking about promise just. In other words, is God promised to Israel originally? Is it just to believing Israel or is it to the larger ethnic group of. Or is God done? Is God done with Jewish people? That's really the question here. That's what he's asking, has got it done really impactful today. Because what's on the front burner? Yeah.

What's happening with Israel, the nation, the land, all of that practical on the corporate national level, but also the Jewish people who generally don't receive, reject Christ as Messiah. Reject Christ as Messiah. So there's corporate Israel, the nation as a whole. In God's unfolding plan and in other words, the privileges that were given, the hardening that's happened and the future restoration. Are these promises to ethnic Israel or are they promises only to believing? Right, where he says not all descendants of Abraham are Israel, right? That's where he says there's a spiritual Israel. So we've got the larger Israel, right? We've got ethnic Israel. Ethnic means you're born, right? Jewish, right? Born Jewish. There's this group, right? Or Jewish within that group.

There is a remnant, right? There is a remnant. This, right, Is unbelieving. These are unbelieving, right? These are. For the. For the moment, they're pardoned. This is the remnant. That makes sense. Sort of.

It's. Okay, so they're. So here they're talking about Israel's past and their future again, right? Follow this because understand that God's faithfulness to us is rooted in this question. If God is not faithful to his original covenant and promises, he will not be faithful to us, and then he will not be faithful to you. Forget it. Over here, of course, we have ethnic gentiles, right? For those who are born not Jewish. Okay, so let's see if we walk through it. So he talks about Israel's past and their future.

In the past, what did Israel do? Generally, they rejected, right? They reject. They rejected God in the past and then they rejected Christ came, right? They're rebellious, Right? That's what he says. Their past is, right? Their past. So when he's talking about Israel's past and future, the question here is, is he talking about this remnant or is he talking about ethnic or national Israel? And the whole context is this cannot be remnant because he's talking about the past. This is nation at. This is the nation as a whole. And this is important in the context of there, as a Protestant, there's two ways to believe this. Either those promises are only to spiritual Israel, original promises, or these promises are to ethnic Israel.

And therefore God has a future for Jewish. Right? God has a future for Jewish people. So here's what he says. He says. He gives us two analogies for this. First of all, he says, hey, the analogy of first fruits. So the spirit of God, through the apostle Paul, says, first fruits. You know, first fruits.

He's saying. Because he's. He's saying, if you're Jewish, you understand first fruits. Well, what's that? That's where you take the first part of a dough, right? And you give it to the Lord. You consecrate it to the Lord, right? You offer it to the Lord. It's A spiritual offering to the Lord. When you offer something to the Lord, it means it's his. It's his.

You set it apart. It's holy to the Lord, right? It's sanctified unto God. So he says, the holiness of the first fruits. The principle extends to the entire badge. In other words, if you, if you take the first and you consecrate it to God, it's as if you consecrated the entire batch. It's. It's the, the principle of first fruits, right? Where it's consecrated unto the Lord. When you give of the first part of your right.

He says, give from the first is as if we're giving all of it to the Lord. So we consecrate the first part, the first fruits. Analogy, the whole. He says the first piece of dough is holy to the Lord. That's what he said. First piece of dough is holy to the Lord, sanctified unto the Lord, his righteousness. So what's the picture in ethnic Israel? The first piece of the dough, right? He's saying the first fruits are the patriarchs. They're the patriarchs, right? These are the patriarchs, which are, of course, part of the.

This is the believing, right? The believing part of. Right. The first fruits are Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, right? They're the first fruits. That's the first fruit. And so he's saying the principle is if the first part of the dough is consecrated to the Lord, the patriarchs, the. The foundation, then the entire nation is consecrated unto the Lord. That makes sense. So that's what he says.

The first fruits, right? Are the patriarchs. And therefore the, the whole lump is holy to the Lord. Even though they're unbelieving at the moment, right? Even though they're unbelieving at the moment. That's the analogy. Because the question is, again, what's up with generally unbelieving Israel? He's saying, the first fruits, patriarchs, therefore the lump, the lump, the entire is holy. Then he says, not just think about first fruits. So he said, let's think about an olive tree. Let's think about an olive tree.

So he's giving us two analogies, physical, practical ones, think. So he says, all right, now let's think about the olive, right? The olive tree. The root, which is the foundation, is holy. What is the root? Same way patriarchs, right? He's saying, just like this is the first part of the dough, he's saying the root is the same thing. It's the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. It's the, it's the, the believing Root, if you will. So he's saying the root is holy. And if the root is holy, then the, the branches, even though there's an unbelieving component to this, we're saying if, if the root is holy, then the branches are as well.

Again in the same way as the analogy of the dough, first fruits, whole dough, root, whole trees, even though there's unbelief, right? Because you're saying, well, wait a minute, doesn't look like that, doesn't look like good fruit, right? You're saying the, the fruit. So he says, there, in the midst of this, there are broken branches. These over here are broken branches right over here. They're unbelieving, they've been hardened, they're rebellious, they reject God. These are the broken branches. We're saying within the olive tree there is a broken branch. Those are the Jewish people who rejected Jesus Christ and they have been hardened. That make sense.

So in the, in the olive tree, the idea is the, the, the root are the patriarchs, the broken branch is off. So he's saying there is an olive tree, which is that. This is a picture of the olive tree, right? Well, he's saying despite the fact that there are broken branches, the root is holy, sanctified, offered to the Lord. Therefore the entire is. In other words, so there must be something more. Is really the, the question. God must still have something for the entire ethnic Israel. Does that make sense? So he's saying, right, so this makes sense.

So there's an olive tree, there are broken branches who've rejected God in Christ. They're unbelieving, they've been hardened by God, and they sit within this context of first fruits and root. Makes sense. So that begs the question, excuse me, what about us? We be gentiles. Where, how, how do we get into this? Right? If this is the patriarchs, and this is right, think about this. These are his covenants and promises. And if the root are the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, you're not in this. You were born into this.

So how do you get into that? You have to be grafted in. How do we get into the olive tree? You got to be grafted in. How does that happen? Right? You ever graft into a tree, make a cutting, you put it in, Right? That's what he says. You, you, you have to be grafted in. He says, therefore you are a wild, right? You are a. This over here, you are a wild olive, which means you do not belong to that olive tree. And you cannot get into the fruit, can't get into the root, you know, wild olive. Nothing good comes from wild olive tree.

Nothing good. Right? They're just. They say you're a wild olive. Well, how are you getting to the root? You have to be grafted in. You have to see graphics. And of course, this would be the same way. This would be bigger reason. I don't do graphic design.

This, of course, in the same way, would be believers in Christ. Because all of this is a picture of being what in Christ? Right? This is in Christ. The olive tree is right in Christ. He's the root. So how do you get into that if you're a wild and you're not Jewish? You have to be grafted in, huh? Have to be grafted in. Which should beg a lot of questions like, well, that's not fair. That's not right. How does the wild get grafted in to the olive tree? How does that happen? The branch walk itself over.

And I mean literally, how does a branch get grafted in? Somebody's got to grasp it. That's the first picture. Somebody has to graft it. The branch can't graft itself, right? So there's a picture. You have been grafted in. Well, who grafted you? God, the Father, through Christ, grafted you in. So the very first beginning should be, you deserve to be grafted in. So it's not.

Understand? We, We. We're. We're in the gentile world. So he's saying, I, I'm a believer in Jesus. I have all the, the, the question is not just Christ, but how did you get back to the original covenants and promises which are originally given to Abram? How do you. How do you claim a share of those promises? Well, through Christ was. Understand, you've been grafted in. You are a wild olive.

What does that mean? Deep, deep gratitude. Deep, deep gratitude. I do not belong here. I didn't earn it here. Not just like I didn't earn in price. I didn't. I don't earn a share of the covenants and promises I don't earn. I don't belong.

I don't belong. So he says, the wild olive branches that are grafted in, that's gentile believers. That's gentile beliefs. And that's why this entire group, what's he called them out of the beginning of this, which he pulls from earlier in Romans, right, that you are chosen predestined, right? All the, all these pictures, that there is someone who, who owns the. The olive tree. It's someone doing the grafting. And the picture of the Sovereignty of God over the whole process. Does that make sense? Yes.

That would be because he's earlier, in Romans 8, he's saying, who are these? They're predestined. Those whom he has chosen. Predestined, Right. That's this entire group which is now part of the olive tree. Again, olive tree is just another picture that God's given his analogy. He's given us to understand that you don't. You don't. You have no way to connect to the root unless you've been grafted in because you weren't physically born into it.

And even of those who are born into it, it's those, only those who have been, right? True Israel. Those who are believing. Right. So he says, there are blessings and there are warnings to the Gentiles. There are blessings and warnings because you now get to partake of the rich root. It says, partakers of the rich root of the olive tree. In other words, how do we go back through history and grab a hold of the covenants and promises to Abram? How are we part of Israel? Right. In other words, how are we part of true Israel? Right.

So he calls us true Israel, right? Spiritual Israel. True Israel. So he says, therefore in Ephesians, remember what should you remember who you were here, he's saying, you're a wild olive. You don't belong at the party. He says, you were Gentiles in the flesh. Remember that you were at the time what, Separate from Christ. As a result of separate from Christ, you were excluded. See, he's saying here, you were excluded.

What were you excluded from? The commonwealth of Israel. You had no right. You have no, no say to be there. And the strangers to the covenants of promise, you're strangers. In other words, you. You have no right to them having no hope over here. The hope. No hope.

You were excluded. You were strangers to the covenants and the promises that were made to the patriarchs. But he says now in Christ Jesus, you are. You were formerly far off, have been brought near by the blood of Christ. And if we went further in the diagram, here's what he'd say. This dividing wall, dividing line between here and here is gone. There is no more dividing line. There's neither Jew nor Greek, right? So the dividing line, what's he done? All of this.

All of this. He's made his one major one. He's made his one. So why is he reminding of us that? Because he said, your nature is going to be. Well, we're the church, we're the believers. We're the believing ones. Not that anybody here would get arrogant. Absolutely.

But other people in other places would get arrogant. So he's saying the nature is particularly in the midst of unbelieving Jews. That's really the question. Here we are in the world. What's the issue? Great hatred against Jews. It's bubbling up. What's going on? Right. With Israel.

Right. And the land and all of that. But the what's coming, what's happening around here and that generally, that sense. And we've spoken to, you know, I've had conversations around for folks who are angry with Jewish. The Jewish people. Right. Those who are born Jewish apart from Christ. Right.

So you can create a spiritual arrogance. So he's saying, beware of that arrogance, that spiritual arrogance. Because you were you. Yeah, you, you, you had no right to any of this. He says, if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring. Really? What, How's that? Through this process. So he's saying, you'll become judgmental toward unbelieving Jews. You'll become judgmental toward unbelieving Jews.

He says, what should you do? He said, do not be spiritually arrogant. But fear. But fear. But fear, yes. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. What should you fear? You're only in there by the sovereign grace of God. You're only in there by the sovereign grace of God. Because this really is answering the question of human will.

Here's human will. Here's God's sovereignty. Is God sovereign over human will? That's really the question. It's the biggest question because you have unbelieving Israel, unbelieving gentiles who've now completing the plan and purposes of God despite our rebellion. So he says, you better fear because he says, warning against unbelief. He said, if God didn't spare Israel, it won't spare you gentiles. In other words, if, if as a group, if the gentiles move toward unbelief the same way. Right.

If as the, as a, as a group, God will reject them as well because he's sovereign over his choice. So flip over. So then he says, behold almighty God. Behold almighty God. What's he say? Behold the kindness and severity of almighty God. He said, sovereign God, God's sovereignty over his nature as a kind nature and a civil and severity is cutting, cutting off. Right? Cutting. It's this cutting off.

It's this over here because he's saying these are cut off for a time, right? These are cut off three times. So when Moses cried out, he says, Lord, show me your glory. The Lord descends in a cloud and proclaims. He says, the Lord, the Lord God. And he didn't say the Lord is. He just says the Lord, the Lord God. Right. And this is the.

The essence of his character, he says, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness, keeping loving kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin. Hu, I love that part. Don't you? Yet he will buy no means, leave the guilty unpunished. Visiting the iniquities of the fathers to the children, the grandchildren, to the third and fourth generation. God is both righteous just as well as right. It says his. His throne is on a foundation of righteousness and justice. What comes forth from his throne is loving kindness and truth.

But it's built on righteousness and justice. So he says his severity is to the Jews who rejected Christ, cutting off and partial, hardly hardening kindness to Gentiles who receive Christ by grace. You have been saved. Yeah. So he's saying if you as a group Gentiles, you as a group of Gentiles continue right in his kindness. Otherwise you as a group will be cut off too. In other words, if God cut off ethnic Israel. Right.

Gentiles, Right. His. His. His righteous character. Right. If, if, if Gentile world continues to reject Christ, God will. His. His patience will come to an end.

Just like it did with unbelieving Israel. Forget that. Just unbelieving non Israel, unbelieving Israel is the world generally, the Gentile world rejecting Christ. Yes. Will. Will they come to an end? God's. Yes. That's what he's saying.

So beware. He's saying, beware, Beware. Because he says God is able to do what? Graft Israel. So these are cut off, right? These are branches cut off. So he's saying, hey, I can graft unbelieving Israel back in again. And he will. That's what that space is. And he will.

So we look back in Ezekiel. He says, behold, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land. Is God going to fulfill? Right. What was the promise to Abraham? A land blessing. Right. Going to fulfill that he'll make a covenant. At least with them it will be. What kind of covenant? It's an everlasting covenant.

What does that mean? It's unbreakable. If this is not. If this doesn't come to bear, then God is not righteous. God has broken his promise. Right. An everlasting Covenant with them, and I will place them and multiply them, and I will set my sanctuary in their midst forever. There's. There is an eternal component to this.

Huh. So the spirit of God, through the apostle Paul, says, this is a mystery. So he says, understand the mystery. Understand the mystery. Understand the mystery. Not as in a detective mystery, we think about, right? Follow the clues. It's a mystery. As in previously, this was not understood.

It's a mystery, an understanding that you cannot come to on your own. You couldn't follow the clues because the clues were there. It's a mystery that's now been divinely made known. It's been divinely revealed. It's been divinely revealed. Which means you read back and you read Isaiah 53 and say, what are you talking about? That's clear as a bell, right? You read Genesis and you say, here's the promise to Abraham, to Abraham, he was blessing all the nations. Of course, we're included. See that.

The idea that. That we would enjoy that is the mystery. In former times, this was not made known to the Jews first and also to the Greek. That's very different because originally it was believed the promises were made Israel. Right. And how did you get in there? That's the mystery which was formed. So Paul says, in former times, it was not made known, as it has now been revealed to me and to his holy prophets, holy apostles and prophets. So in the fullness of time, the sun came, and in the fullness of time, the fullness of the gospel was revealed.

This is not just for Jews. This is also for Gentiles. And again, we stand in the context of a Gentile box. So we believe, of course, we're. We deserve to get in the Gospels. For me, no, the gospel, understand? That's a mystery. What's the mystery? A partial hardening. A partial hardening.

And he says, here's. Here's the point. Let's get another. Let's get it. Do we have another color here? Yeah, we'll go with green. What? The partial hardening. Right. So they have been hardened, but it's a partial.

So here's where he says the purpose of this partial hardening was to do what? To make ethnic Israel jealous. We said that's the purpose in here. And what was the purpose of getting to be jealous? To seek him again. Purpose in the partial hardening was to get them to seek him again. So he says it's to make them jealous. Just like he said in the Old Testament, I am jealous. I will make them jealous. Why? Because they've rejected me.

They've turned to idols. So God's overriding purpose in this time in history is a. His right. He has a big purpose is to make Israel jealous. And it's. Until when is it? Until the fullness of the Gentiles comes. In the fullness of the Gentiles, we're saying there will be a fullness to those who are grafted in. When will that be? I don't know.

How many will it be? I don't know. But there will be. Just like in the fullness of time the sun came in the fullness of time, though the it will not. It will then flip. What will it flip to? Will flip to the majority of those coming to Christ are going to be Jewish by birth. And then he says that by saying all Israel will be saved, all Israel will be saved. If we go back to here, is that the remnant? Is there some who would say when he says all Israel will be saved, this is only believing remnant. But he's saying God's going to turn we believe to the.

To the ethnic Israel and in the majority are going to start coming to Christ, All Israel will be saved. And so he. He points back to places like in Zechariah will pour it out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, pointing back to the the Davidic covenant, right? The Spirit of grace and of supplication. What will happen? What will happen? Why does he pour out that grace and supplication? Underline some of that always points to the purpose. They will look on me, whom they pierce to that Messiah Jesus. And they will mourn as one mourns for an only son. They will weep bitterly that there's a time when as. As a people they will look upon the Messiah and and realize that's the Messiah, that's the Messiah.

And they will be broken. They'll be broken, they'll weep and they'll mourn over it. Who does that? Only God does that. The God's sovereignty over this. So he says the deliverer Messiah, Jesus where he quotes the deliverer Messiah, Jesus came to Zion and he will return to Zion. So he's pulling back in the Old Testament, right? Isaiah, a Redeemer will come to Zion. And to those who turn from transgression and Jacob. And then he's pointing to a forward moment where he will come from Zion and he will come to Zion, right? He will come from Zion and come to Zion.

And in Revelation it says behold the Lamb was standing mount Zion. He will come again. He will Come again. So the deliverer, Messiah, Jesus, which is key issue. How can you believe and be saved in a, in a, in a Messiah, in a savior to Israel. How can you get saved? It's Israel's Messiah. It's Israel's Messiah. How can you be a Gentile? How you can be saved? Well, I called upon his name.

Well, yeah, but how can you be saved? It's Messiah, Jesus. It's Israel's Savior. Forget it. So God has opened that to Gentiles because that was part of the original covenant and promise. So the Lord will fulfill his covenant to Israel. The Lord will fulfill his covenant to Israel. And he says this in Jeremiah to, to Israel. Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant.

It's the new covenant. Where, who's he making of it? Israel and Judah. I'll forgive their iniquity and their sin. I will remember no more I love. In Ezekiel, he says, I'm gonna. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and all your idols. What are you going to do? I'm going to give you a new heart and a new spirit. Right.

New heart and a new spirit. You know, I will put my spirit within you. I'm going to take your heart of stone and make it a heart of flesh. Right. So where is that? In here. Right? New heart, new spirit, my spirit. What's that called? Being born again? Heart of stone. Right? Heart of flesh.

That's being in Christ. So he says, this is my plan. It's been my plan all along. It's my plan coming to bear. And I have a future plan and a future purpose for the nation of Israel. I have a past. I have a present. I have a future for the world.

I have a past, present, future for Israel. I have a past, present, future. And through it, and in it, and as a result of it, God is faithful. So it's he revealing God's glory in his faithfulness. God's glory in his faithfulness. God's glory in his sovereignty. God's glory. God's glory.

That's what he's revealing. This is who I am. I am that I am. I am that I am. I said it. And it. It comes to pass. So what's the application again? The Lord keeps covenant and promises goes back here.

The covenants and promises that I made to Abram Abraham, are they. Will I keep them? The answer is yes. Not only I will keep them here. If I keep them here and I have a plan for that, then I will keep them for for you as well, right? Even when his people are faithless. Think about that. What's that? Here. Nice. Yeah.

Even when the people are rebellious and obstinate and unbelieving as a, as a group of people. So I put that this is not just about Israel. This is about the glory of God. It's about the glory of God in keeping his promises. Because if. If he breaks his covenants and his promises to Israel, then he'll break his covenants and promises to us. We have no basis to trust in it. We have no connection to Christ the Messiah.

We have no connection at all. We have not. God binds himself to his covenant. If he fails Israel, he denies himself. Forget that he fails Israel, he denies himself. And if he denies himself, as Paul says, just like if there's no resurrection, all of this has been or not. At the end of the day he says, I do not deny myself. I speak and it comes to pass.

Speak and it comes to pass. That's why in psalms it says, let all the earth fear the Lord. Let all the world stand in off him, for he spoke and it came to pass. What creation. Which means all that I speak will come to pass. All that I speak will come to pass. And the word of the Lord. You see that? That's the God who has called you.

So the Lord will keep his covenant and promises to you and me. To you and me. We've been grafted in to the glory that he had for Israel. We've been grafted and faithful is he who called you. He will also bring it to pass. Faithful is he who called you. He will also bring it pass. Okay, write down a question, concern, insight.

I don't mind. This is mind blowing, isn't it? It's just God is awesome. And just say, oh, this is actually. So we should be saying is oh, actually this is better than I thought. And understand, right? Understand. It's not just about you. It's not just about you. It's about us.

And it's just not about us. It's about us. That's why his promises and his covenants. Right. His faithfulness to you is not based upon you. It's based upon Him. It's based upon Him. His sovereignty, his almighty providence, his power, his ruling, his reigning right, his dominion is everlasting.

Right. He will return. He will return. Yes. When that be? I don't know. Could be next week. Could be thousands a year. That'll now righteous, just right.

Consequence for continued rebellion and unbelief. Yes. And it's partial means for a time nobody's out to get you. In fact the the opposite is he's he's out to over bless you with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, right? He's he's here to to do exceeding abundantly beyond all you could ask or think. So the big question in here, is he done with Israel in the midst of that how many wondered in your own life is he done with me? You wonder from sometimes oh is he done with me? Is he done with me not done with you. And if he has plans for all of this and he has plans for this, and we plans for this and he has plans for you. And if his plans the plans of the Lord from generation to generation, which means his plans for you are sure as well right? May the Lord God bless you and may he keep you and may he cause his face to shine upon you. And may he lift up his countenance upon you, may grant you his shalom deep in your soul so you can walk and the peace and the confidence to know that you are his and that he is for you and that he will accomplish all that concerns you both now until the day he calls you home.

Amen. Amen. Thanks for listening. I hope you have greater hope, assurance and confidence in your life and a deeper trust in the God of the Bible and His Son Jesus Christ. Until next time. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. And may the Lord lift up his countenance on you and give you his peace, his shalom in your soul and in your life.

Until next time. May God bless you and keep you.