(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Amen. Well, this evening I'm continuing my sermon from this morning about Father Abraham and who are the children of Abraham in 2023, because a lot of people out there have this idea that unbelieving Jews, unbelieving Israel, that they are God's chosen people. They're being blessed by God. We have to support them and God will bless those who bless them. And this is totally against what the Bible teaches. The New Testament is crystal clear on this and yet this false teaching persists. We're not going to cherry pick verses on this subject, but rather we are going through the New Testament and looking at every single verse that even mentions Abraham. There are 70 verses in the New Testament that mention Abraham. We went through about 20 of them this morning. We're going to pick up right where we left off. We looked at everything in Matthew and Mark and Luke, because the truth of the matter is the Bible clearly teaches that we as Christians are God's chosen people, red, yellow, black and white. It's not about ethnicity. It's not about geography. Anyone who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ is both a child of God and a child of Abraham. And while people on this earth may be descended physically from Abraham or claim to be Abraham's descendants or physically descended from him, that doesn't even matter. Because the Bible clearly says in the New Testament, avoid genealogies. So it doesn't matter who we're related to. It doesn't matter if Abraham is their father physically. He's not their father spiritually because he's the father of all those who believe. That's what the Bible actually says. And so I'm not going to re-preach my sermon from this morning. Rather we're going to jump into the new material tonight. Go if you would to John chapter 8. So we looked at every mention of Abraham in Matthew, Mark and Luke and we got a pretty clear picture of that this morning. Now we're going to pick up in John chapter 8 where we left off. And before we jump into this passage in John chapter 8, let me show you a little bit of the context because this first part that I'm going to show you can tend to be a little bit confusing and so I want to see if I can clear up that confusion before we get into the stuff about Abraham. So here's some very famous verses starting in verse 31. John chapter 8 verse 31, the Bible reads, Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, if you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed and you should know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Here's the confusing part, okay? Verses 31 and 32, Jesus is making a very positive statement to the Jews that believe on him saying hey, if you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed, you should know the truth, the truth shall make you free and these are Jews that believed on him that he's speaking to. The thing that's confusing is that right after this, all of a sudden it becomes very hostile where they're saying to Jesus, we be Abraham's seed and we're never in bondage to any man. How sayest thou ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them and he goes on to answer them and look what he says in verse 37, I know that you're Abraham's seed but ye seek to kill me. He's clearly not talking to the Jews that believe on him anymore. This is what's confusing to people because we've changed pronouns, okay? Because obviously if he says you guys are trying to kill me and they're going to argue with him and say a bunch of hostile things over the next many verses, obviously we're not talking about the same group of people as the Jews that believed on him in verse 31. And what's going on here is that this is part of a bigger conversation that Jesus is having with the Jews in general that has a lot of negativity in it because like for example if you back up to verse 24, actually go to verse 23, it says, he said unto them, ye are from beneath, I am from above, ye are of this world, I am not of this world. I said therefore unto you that ye shall die in your sins for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. And then he continues to go back and forth with the Jews and it's a very negative conversation as he's going back and forth with unbelieving Jews. In verse 31 he addresses the Jews that believed on him and says if you continue in my word you're my disciples indeed, ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. They answered him. Now we're back to the larger group of Jews, the Jews in general answer him, wait a minute, what are you talking about this thing of the son will make you free? We be Abraham's seed and we're never in bondage to any man, how sayest thou ye shall be made free? Let's stop and think about that statement here. Remember we're looking at every verse that mentions Abraham, verse 33 mentions Abraham, that's why we're talking about it. Is this a true statement? We be Abraham's seed, yes, they are physically descended from Abraham. Is it true that they were never in bondage to any man? This is kind of an absurd statement in light of the fact that the children of Israel were literally in bondage for 400 years in Egypt. So why would they say, well we're Abraham's seed, we're never in bondage to any man. This makes absolutely no sense, it's a lie, it's false and it just shows how they're so deluded by their false beliefs and their false religion that they can't even see just the plain truth of what Christ is saying or even of their own history, right, that they were in bondage for 400 years. So apparently being Abraham's seed doesn't prevent you from being in bondage, does it? We saw this morning in multiple verses that being Abraham's seed also does not prevent you from being in bondage to Satan, right? And we're going to see that as we go forward here. And so they say, well we were never in bondage to any man, how sayest thou ye shall be made free? Verse 34, Jesus answered them, verily I say unto you, whosoever committed sin is the servant of sin, and the servant abideth not in the house forever, but the son abideth forever. If the son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. So when Jesus is talking about being free, he's talking about being free from the power of sin in your life, right? Addiction could be an example of someone who's enslaved or in bondage to sin and there's a freedom from breaking those addictions. That's the type of thing that Jesus is getting at here because he's talking to the ones that are saved, the ones who've already believed on him, saying to them, well if you continue in my word, you're my disciples indeed. Okay, this is not just talking about salvation. A lot of people who are saved are not necessarily a disciple of Christ. They're not necessarily following Christ. I mean, when Jesus Christ was on this earth preaching, a lot of people believed on him. Multitudes of people believed on him. And if you remember, John the Baptist was baptizing thousands and thousands of people. Jesus' disciples baptized even more people than John the Baptist. Thousands upon thousands. Jesus is preaching to great crowds. Multitudes believe on him. But yet, in the early church in Acts chapter 1, how many people are a part of that early church? People are the diehards who are there, part of the church, including the women, everybody in total. It's 120 people in the church in Acts chapter 1, even though Jesus and John the Baptist as disciples have reached literally tens of thousands of people that are truly saved. And it's the same way today, right? There are multitudes of people who are saved in Phoenix and all over America. Every single time we go out knocking doors, we run into people who are already saved. But what percentage of those people are actually doing something for God with their life? Really serving God, really following Christ. Jesus said, if you follow me, I'll make you fishers of men. How many fishers of men are there out there, right? It's not the majority of saved Christians. Unfortunately, the majority of saved Christians are not doing anything for God. And if you think about your own life, there may have been a time in your past when you were saved, but yet you just weren't doing anything for God. I mean, I got saved as a six-year-old boy, but I didn't really get serious about serving God until I was 17, 18 years old, right? Other people like, for example, Pastor Burzins, you know, he received Christ as savior and it was about nine years before he really got into church and started serving God. And then he started doing great things for God. But he had a period of like nine years where he was saved, he believed on Christ, but was he really living as a disciple of Christ during that time? No. And most saved Christians, unfortunately, are not disciples of Christ. They're not actually following him closely and doing the work. It's always going to be the minority that do that. Now, we're thankful for every person who's saved and at least believes on Christ is going to heaven. But you know, obviously it'd be great if more Christians would actually get out there and do something for Christ and serve God in a greater way and become a disciple and be a disciple indeed. And obviously, as Christians, we want to keep growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, learning the truth. The truth makes us free, getting sin out of our life, shedding the chains of different sins in our life that so easily beset us. And so he's talking to them about this discipleship and these Jews jump in and they're saying, well, you know, we've never been in bondage to any man. What are you talking about? They're just trying to pick apart his sermon and find fault with what he's saying. And he says, well, ye seek to kill me. In verse 37, he says, I know that you're Abraham's seed, but ye seek to kill me because my word hath no place in you. So he's acknowledging, yeah, you guys are the physical seed of Abraham. You guys physically descended from Abraham, but you seek to kill me because my word hath no place in you. I speak that which I've seen with my father, right? Talking about God, the father, and you do that, which you've seen with your father. They answered and said unto him, Abraham's our father. Jesus saith unto them, if you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham. Now stop and think with me for a moment. Does Jesus agree that they're Abraham's children? He says, I know you're Abraham's seed, but he said, you know, if you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham. So apparently there's a difference between being physically descended from Abraham and actually being a spiritual child of Abraham, right? Because he said, well, you're Abraham's seed, but Abraham's not really your father. If Abraham were your father, you would do the works of Abraham, but now you seek to kill me. A man that told you the truth, which I've heard of God, this did not Abraham. That's not what Abraham would do. You do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, we'd be not born of fornication. We have one father, even God. Jesus said unto them, if God were your father. So he's already basically told them, Abraham's not your father. Now he's telling them, God's not your father. He says, if God were your father, you would love me for I proceeded forth and came from God. Neither came I of myself, but he sent me and they're not really catching his drift. He keeps saying, well, you're doing the deeds of your father. And they're like, well, what do you mean by who's our father? I mean, Abraham, God, what do you mean? And he says, you know, you guys aren't catching my drift here. Why do you not understand my speech? Even because you cannot hear my word, let me just spell it out for you. You're of your father, the devil, your father is the devil and the less of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there's no truth in him. When he speak of the lie, he speak of his own for he is a liar and the father of it. Now, these people, according to Jesus, yes, they're Abraham seed, but they're of their father, the devil. Why are they of their father, the devil? Well, the thing that characterizes the devil in this passage is that he's a murderer and a liar. And when he speak of the lie, he speak of his own. Basically, when the devil lies, that's just the devil being the devil. That's what he does. He lies. He's a liar. Okay? And he's the father of it. Well, what does the Bible tell us in the book of 1 John, right? Same human author as the Gospel of John gave us the books of 1, 2, and 3 John. Over in 1 John, it says this, who is a liar but he that denyeth that Jesus is the Christ. He is anti-Christ that denyeth the father and the son. Whosoever denyeth the son, the same hath not the father, but he that acknowledges the son hath the father also. When the Bible says this, don't miss it. Who is a liar but he that denyeth that Jesus is the Christ? What does the word Christ mean according to scripture? Messiah or anointed, right? The Bible literally says we found the Messiah which is being interpreted the Christ. So you could also read that same verse as who is a liar but he that denyeth that Jesus is the Messiah. He's anti-Christ that denyeth the father and the son. Why is someone who denies that Jesus is the Messiah, why are they anti-Christ? Okay, because the word anti-Christ, it doesn't mean anti in the sense of being against like hey, I'm anti-abortion or something. When we say anti-Christ, that prefix anti means instead of or in the place of. So the anti-Christ is the fake Christ. He's in the place of Christ. He's replacing Christ. He's an imposter Christ, right? The anti-Christ is a guy who comes along claiming to be the second coming of Christ. That's what an anti-Christ is. That's what the anti-Christ is. So why would those who deny that Jesus is the Messiah, why would they be of that spirit of anti-Christ? Because what are they saying? They're saying there's a Messiah but it isn't Jesus. So if there's a Messiah that's not Jesus and we're still waiting for the Messiah, who are they actually waiting for? The anti-Christ because the real Messiah already came and they rejected him. The fake Messiah is still coming. They're going to embrace him with open arms and that's why this thing that says, well, Jesus isn't the Messiah, what does that imply? Someone else is. Who's that someone else? Someone who's in the place of the real Messiah, anti-Christ. And so it's very clear what is being said here when he says, you know, the person who denies that Jesus is the Messiah is anti-Christ, right? It's that spirit of anti-Christ that's already in the world, the Bible says. And the Bible even says there are many anti-Christs because there are many false prophets who will claim to be Jesus, especially in the last days. And not only that, but there are many people who buy into this religion that says we're still waiting for a Messiah other than Jesus and that is an anti-Christ religion. So therefore, Jesus says you're of your father, the devil. What makes them of their father, the devil? Why is it that they seek to kill Jesus Christ? Because they don't believe that Jesus is the Messiah. That's why they're seeking to kill him, that's what makes them a liar, and that's what makes them of their father, the devil. Because he said, who is a liar, but he that denies that Jesus is the Messiah, right? That's who we're talking about. And so here we see that Christ rejecting Israel, Christ rejecting Jews, are not the children of Abraham. And they are not the children of God, and they are of their father, the devil. That's what the Bible says. This is an unpopular doctrine because of the fact that obviously evangelical Christianity today is kind of tied in or hooked into the Republican sort of conservative talk radio talking points of this world. And so they'll sometimes put their politics or their party affiliation or some talk radio that they listen to above the teaching of scripture. And now all of a sudden it's like, well we're Christians, we're conservative, and so we got to be pro-Israel, and we've got to be pro-Jewish, and we need to just, you know, take a side in this struggle on the other side of the world and so forth. And this all started because I heard this pastor who said, you know, we stand with father Abraham, he said. That's where this whole series came from, right? This pastor said, we stand with father Abraham, and he said, if you're saved, you got to stand with father Abraham. And he said, we have to support that nation of Israel. Now how is Christ rejecting Israel, father Abraham? Does Jesus agree? In John chapter 8, he says, well, oh wow, you're Abraham's seed, okay, but you're not the children of Abraham. If Abraham were your father, if God were your father, you'd love me. You're of your father, the devil. And the Bible says, if any man love not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema. That's what the Bible says. But yet we're taught and we're told that the Jews are somehow under the blessing of God, although they reject Jesus Christ. This is absurd on its face. But yet Christians believe this, yet it's taught all over even good churches, even Bible believing churches, even saved pastors, good men of God have been duped into believing this and they're getting up and preaching that people who are literally on their way to hell, unsaved, under the wrath of God. I mean, what does the Bible say? If you don't believe on the Son of God, the wrath of God abides on you, but we're told they're blessed. The Bible literally says the wrath of God is abiding on the unsaved man, but oh, God's blessing the Jews. How can he be blessing them while God's wrath is abiding on them? How can God be angry with them, burning in wrath toward them, and yet, oh, these are my beloved chosen people. Let me protect them. Let me bless them. As I said the other day, if someone's unsaved, it'd be better for them if things went badly in their life because then maybe that would kind of wake them up and help them to get saved. I mean, the last thing you want if you're an unsaved person is for everything to go well for you in life because then you're going to get too comfortable and think everything's fine, right? This stuff just makes no sense, but the cognitive dissonance of saying, oh, well, they're not saved. They're doomed. They're damned. They're not Abraham's children. They're not God's children, but they're special, blessed, God's chosen people. We need to support them. We need to bless them. It's absurd. It's crazy. What does the Bible say, right? And the same preacher said that anyone who is against the Jews is either not saved or doesn't know the Bible at all, but yet the Bible literally says that they're of their father, the devil, the wrath of God's abiding on them, that they're contrary to all men. That's what the Bible actually teaches and we're looking at every verse. We're not cherry picking. We're looking at every mention. We looked at every verse that mentioned Abraham this morning in Matthew, Mark and Luke and we went into detail, didn't we? We didn't just blow past anything. We did a detailed explanation of each passage. We're not done with this passage. This is a great passage. Let's keep going. It says in verse 45, because I tell you the truth, you believe me not. He's saying, you want to know why you don't believe what I'm preaching? Because it's true and you're of your father, the devil, who's a liar and you embrace lies and when the truth is told to you, you don't receive it. Which of you convinces me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do you not believe me? He that is of God heareth God's words, ye therefore hear them not because you are not of God. Now when it comes to this statement of, well, we got to support the nation of Israel because we stand with father Abraham, I was trying to think of a good illustration for this and I thought about Absalom. So Absalom is the physical son of King David, right? King David has a physical son, Absalom, but that son Absalom rebelled against his father and even hated his father and even sought to kill his father. Now imagine the absurdity of saying, you know, we stand with father David, we stand with David, therefore we got to support Absalom. Let's all get on Absalom's side. Let's all get on Absalom's team because we stand with father David. That wouldn't make, you know, well, okay, well they may be in rebellion. Absalom may be rebelling, but he is David's son. We got to support him. We got to stand with him. We got to be on his side in every battle. We got to just rally behind Absalom. Think about how wicked and evil and perverted even Absalom was at that point and he was even very negative and hateful toward his father and even was sending out troops to actually go kill his own father. He's lying with his father's concubines. He's doing all kinds of wild things, right? You're going to stand with Absalom because he's the physical son of David? Now here's the thing. David in that story is weeping for Absalom and saying, oh my son Absalom, Absalom, my son Absalom. Would God I had died for thee, Absalom, my son Absalom. You know, that reminds me of when Jesus is weeping for Jerusalem in the four gospels. He says, oh Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, you know, and I'm paraphrasing, but how many times would I have gathered you under my wings, right? Like the hen would gather the chickens under her wing, but thou wouldest not. Behold, your house is left unto you desolate and you're not going to see me again until you say blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. And so, you know, we see here that this idea of just supporting the child because of who his physical father is doesn't make any sense because spiritually their father's not Abraham and it's not God. If they reject the Lord Jesus Christ, if they believe in a Messiah other than Jesus, they are not of God at all. They're not saved. This stuff should be obvious that no man cometh unto the father but by Jesus and that, you know, if you don't have Jesus, you don't have nothing. That should be clear to any evangelical Christian. That should be the most basic teaching of Christianity. That without Christ, you know, if you're not saved and you're praying to God, your prayers are hitting the ceiling and that's it. Because you know, the whole point of having Christ as our intercessor, Christ as our mediator is that we can now have boldness to enter into the throne of grace. We can actually enter in and make our request to God through Christ. How can you do that without Christ? Do you think you just have access to the ear of God? You think that you just have God up there answering your prayers when you're not going through Jesus Christ because you don't. You got to be saved. You know, when I was growing up, what preachers used to always say is, you know, the only prayer that God will hear from an unsaved person is the prayer to be saved. You know, or the prayer to reveal Christ to them or something. But not, not just, Oh God, you know, help me to have a great day today. God's like, who are you? You know, I don't know you. I know you not whence you are. And some days they'll say, depart from me. I never knew you, right? Unless you believe on Christ. And here's the thing, this sermon or this kind of preaching, it's not negative towards some certain group of people, ethnicity, because these people can become God's people whenever they want to. There is nothing stopping any person on this planet from getting saved right now, except themselves. Couldn't anybody at any moment just say, you know what? I want in on the deal. I want in on the new covenant. I want to be part of God's chosen people. I'm going to believe on Jesus Christ right now. Wouldn't they call upon the Lord and be saved? What's stopping them? You know what Jesus said? He said, you will not come to me that you might have life. You don't want to come to me. That's the problem. Let's keep going in the passage. Says in verse 48, then answered the Jews and said unto him, say we not well that thou art a Samaritan and hast a devil. Notice how these people are obsessed with ethnicity. Notice the obsession with ethnicity, right? Father Abraham's children, we're of Abraham. Team Abraham over here. Father Abraham. And then it's like, you're a Samaritan, buddy. Like that's their big insult is that he's of a nationality that's a mix, a mix of Israelites and Gentiles, right? And so they're obsessed with nationality and they say, well, you know, we, we were right when we said that you're a Samaritan and that you have a devil. Jesus answered, I have not a devil, but I honor my father and you do dishonor me and I seek not mine own glory. There's one that seeketh and judgeth verily, verily I say unto you, if a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. Then said the Jews unto him, now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham's dead and the prophets and thou sayest, if a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death. Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead and the prophets that are dead whom makest thou thyself? Jesus answered, if I honor myself, my honors, nothing. It is my father that on earth me of whom ye say that he is your God. Now again, what is Jesus saying there? He's not your God. He's saying, well, you say he's your God because if you don't have the son, you don't have the father. He's not your God. You're of your father, the devil. He says, you say that he's your God yet you have not known him, but I know him. And if I should say I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you, but I know him and keep his saying. Your father Abraham. Now hold on a minute. He's been questioning whether Abraham was their father that he's saying Abraham's not your father, God's not your father, but now he says your father Abraham. Now we're talking in the physical sense because they are the ones who brought this up again. They are the ones who reintroduced this when they said in verse 53, I mean, it's not that complicated, right? Verse 53, art thou greater than our father Abraham? They keep saying our father Abraham, our father Abraham. So then he says to them, your father Abraham, he's mimicking what they've just said. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was glad. Then said the Jews unto him, thou art not yet 50 years old and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, verily, verily I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am. And of course this is a reference to the burning bush when Jehovah the Lord says out of the burning bush, I am that I am. Tell them that I am sent me unto you. That's where the name Jehovah is derived from that verb of being, I am. And of course when he says this, they took up stones to cast at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them and so passed by. And so we see here that of course Jesus acknowledges multiple times that they are the seed of Abraham. You're the seed of Abraham. He even at the end says, your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and was glad. But then he turns around and says, hey, Abraham isn't really your father, you're not really the children of Abraham. We need to understand that there's a spiritual seed of Abraham and a physical seed of Abraham, right? Now one way I've heard this illustrated, and I think this is legitimate, is that Abraham is told in the Old Testament, hey, look up at the stars and count the stars. That's what your seed will be like, innumerable. And then he also says, you know, count the sand that's on the seashore, right? That's innumerable. So shall thy seed be like the sand by the sea. And some people have said, well, this is because Abraham is going to both have a spiritual seed, a heavenly seed as it were, and he's going to have a terrestrial or a physical seed. Okay, I have no issue with that. I can buy that. And the old IFB will sometimes really hammer this and say, you know, you got to understand there's two seeds of Abraham. You know, there's the physical seed of Abraham and the spiritual seed of Abraham. But the mistake that they make is thinking that being the physical seed of Abraham actually means something when it doesn't mean Jack. That's the mistake they're making. We're not disputing that, yeah, the New Testament does reference a physical descendant of Abraham, a physical seed of Abraham. But what we're saying is it doesn't matter. Think not to say within yourselves we have Abraham to our father, because God's able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. Oh, I know you're Abraham's seed, but if you were the children of Abraham, you'd love me, right? You're the works of Abraham, you're of your father the devil, etc. So pretty clear stuff. Go if you would to Acts chapter 3. Acts chapter number 3, we're moving forward. Remember, we're looking at every reference to the name Abraham in the New Testament. Seventy mentions, we're looking at every single one of them. And we're not just doing a drive-by, we're stopping and we're reading the context. We're really digging into each passage and seeing what it teaches us about Abraham. And I feel like what we're learning tonight is 100% consistent with what we saw this morning. It's just the same thing. And you know what you're going to find? We're going to take this all the way to the end of the New Testament, and it's not going to change. I believe the last mention is in 1 Peter chapter 3 maybe, and nothing's going to change, my friend. And you're going to see that this guy who's getting up and saying, you know, we stand with father Abraham, and you've got to support the Jews, you've got to support Israel, you know, is way out in left field. And it's ironic that he says that we don't know the Bible when really the reverse is apparently true. Okay. Now, here's the thing about this. I'm not saying that I'm necessarily against the Jews in this fight because I don't care about this fight. I'm not involved in this fight. I am against both Jews and Muslims. I'm for Christ and Christians only. And I'm just as negative toward Jews, as Hindus, as Muslims. And you know, people have accused me of hating Jews. I don't hate Jews at all. I have positive interactions with Jews all the time. With unsaved Jews, I positively interact with unsaved Jews frequently. I positively interact with unsaved Muslims, unsaved Hindus, agnostics, Catholics. Why? Because your average unsaved person is just an average unsaved person. They're deceived. They need to get saved. We love them. We want them to come to Christ. We want to win them to the Lord. I don't hate Muslims. I don't hate Jews. I don't hate Hindus. You know, I love people. I have no issue. Now, obviously there are the satanic evil architects of false religion, the false prophets and you know, I hate the Pope. You know, I hate false prophets and reprobates and evil pervertors of the flesh and corrupters of false religion and so forth. Look, but your average Jew is just a guy. Your average Muslim, your average Hindu, he's just a guy. He's our mission field, right? And so you don't want to get, you don't want to go overboard and just think all Jews are of the devil and, and they're reprobates and so forth. Look, the ones that are super into it, the ones that are vitriolic toward Christianity. Okay. That's what we're talking about. But average Jew is just like average Muslim, just like average Hindu. They're not saved. They're going to hell. But I'll tell you one thing. They're not God's people. They're not under the blessing of God because even if they are a nice person, every unsaved person is under the wrath of God right now. Every single one. And this should be a rudimentary Christian doctrine that we all know that every single unsaved person right now has God's wrath abiding on them. That's what the Bible says. He that believeth on the sun has everlasting life, but he that believeth not the sun shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Right? And what does the Bible say over and over again? You know, it tells us that when we were without Christ before we were saved, we were at enmity with God, right? And Christ is the one who bridges that gap between us and a holy God. And without Jesus Christ, we are the objects of wrath. Okay. And we've got to be saved from wrath through Jesus. Okay. Now of course, God loves the unsaved, but his wrath is abiding on him. And eventually when time runs out, it's going to be over and the love of God's no longer going to be available. And eternal damnation is a penalty that is never revoked. I mean, once someone goes to hell, they're never getting out. They go to hell eternally. And so eventually it's too late to turn that thing around. And so I want to make it crystal clear tonight that the Jews are in no way, shape or form God's people. And they are not being blessed by God. Even if they can be saved, which of course they can, right? Except they be reprobates. I mean, obviously the reprobates are out there, but they can be saved, but they're not saved. And statistically, they're probably not going to get saved. The majority of them are going to hell because broad is the way that leads to destruction. And so let's keep going and let the scripture speak for itself here. Look at Acts chapter three, verse 13. The Bible says, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob, the God of our fathers have glorified his son, Jesus whom ye delivered up, speaking to the Jews and denied him in the presence of Pilate when he was determined to let him go. But you denied the Holy One and the just and desired a murderer to be granted unto you and killed the prince of life whom God has raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses. So he's saying, look, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who you say is your God, right? He raised up Jesus. You murdered Jesus. Christ has been raised from the dead. You chose Barabbas. You need to repent and believe the gospel, right? That's the basic gist of Acts three. Jump down to verse 22. Peter appeals to the Old Testament here. He says, Moses truly said unto the fathers, a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me. Him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass that every soul which will not hear that prophet shall be destroyed from among the people. Yea unto all the prophets from Samuel and those that fall after, as many as have spoken have likewise foretold of these days. Ye are the children of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with our fathers saying unto Abraham and in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. Unto you first God, having raised up his son Jesus, sent him to bless you in turning away every one of you from his iniquities. Now there are a lot of great truths here. We see the mention of Abraham in verse 25 where the covenant is made with Abraham that in Abraham's seed, all kindreds of the earth will be blessed. How is that fulfilled? Well it's fulfilled in verse 26. He raised up his son Jesus and he sent him to bless you. So how are all nations of the earth blessed through Abraham? Because Abraham begat Jesus. Jesus is the seed of Abraham and Jesus was sent to bless all nations. Jesus is the one in whom all families of the earth will be blessed, right? That's what we see here. But notice what it says in verse 23. This is the key, don't miss it. The prophet that we're talking about is Jesus, right? The prophet that would be raised up. And it shall come to pass, verse 23, that every soul which will not hear that prophet shall be destroyed from among the people. Now can you continue to be God's chosen people without hearing that prophet? I mean look, oh you're an Israelite, you're a Hebrew, you're part of the nation of Israel. There's going to be a prophet that's going to be raised up. Moses said a prophet is going to be raised up like unto me, him you shall hear and it shall come to pass that every soul which will not hear that prophet shall be destroyed from among the people. So how can you not see that Christ rejecting Jews have been destroyed from among God's people? They've been exiled from God's people. Christ rejecting Israel has been broken off from that people of God. And again, Romans 11 talks about this with the illustration of the olive tree and the natural branches being broken off, right? Meaning that Christ rejecting Israel is broken off and then the wild branches of the Gentiles are graphed in, right? So Christ rejecting Jews are removed from God's people, Bible believing Christians are graphed into the tree, that's a replacement that has taken place, okay? That's why this is often called replacement theology for a couple of reasons. Number one, new covenant replaces old covenant. Both are not operating in tandem. The old covenant is replaced by the new covenant, okay? And Old Testament physical nation of Israel is replaced by a spiritual nation made up of all believers. And so what we see here is that anyone who doesn't hearken unto Christ is cut off from among the people of God. He's no longer part of that chosen people. He's a broken off branch. And so again, it's totally unbiblical to claim that unsaved Israelis are somehow God's people. They're not because they don't believe in Jesus. They're not hearkening unto that prophet. Flip over if you went to chapter seven of Acts, chapter seven. And again, all throughout the history of Israel, we've talked about this before, you have these forks in the road where groups of people get cut off. Groups of people don't make it forward. You know, like for example, you've got Abraham. In thy seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed. But Abraham didn't just have one son, Isaac, he also had Ishmael, right? Are the Ishmaelites God's chosen people? No, because there's a fork in the road here where there are two branches of the family. You've got Isaac and you've got Ishmael. In Isaac shall thy seed be called, right? Ishmael is not the chosen people of God, right? Then you come down to Isaac begetting Jacob and Esau. Are they both the people of God? Are the Edomites the people of God? No. Edomites are not. You've got to be on this side of the branch, right? It's sort of like a computer program or something, right, or a flow chart, okay? You know, where you've got to stay on the right side of that branch. So you've got Isaac, then you've got Jacob, right? Then you've got the 12 different tribes of Israel. Well, eventually those split into two kingdoms, the northern 10 tribes and the southern two tribes. So you've got the northern kingdom of Israel, capital in Samaria, southern kingdom of Judah, capital in Jerusalem, and what ultimately happens, God ends up sending the northern kingdom of Israel into captivity. They're captive to the Assyrians and they never come back. Now obviously individuals make it through and there are a few scattered Asherites and Simeonites here and there and they're scattered throughout the world and so forth at that time. But in general, the only part of the nation that survives is the southern kingdom of Judah, which is why they become known as Jews. Because only the southern kingdom of Judah survives, Judeans, right? That's where we get our word Jews is from, Judeans. And so that Roman province of Judea in the New Testament, right? And we have the Jews in the New Testament at the time of Christ are predominantly from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin and then of course the Levites are, you know, mixed in there because they're the priests of God's people. And so you have the Jews being the southern kingdom, Judah, Benjamin, Levi, the 10 tribes are gone. So again, this is another fork in the road where if you're the 10 tribes and you worship other gods and you get carried away captive to Assyria, you're no longer God's people anymore. And those are known as the 10 lost tribes, right? Ten lost tribes, they're gone and we only have the three that are left. The reason it adds up to 13 is because Joseph is two tribes. You end up having 13 because you have Manasseh and Ephraim being counted separately. Ten lost tribes removed. Well guess what? The greatest fork in the road of all is when Jesus Christ comes on the scene and those who don't believe on Jesus Christ, you know what they are? They're just like Ishmael, they're just like Esau, they're just like the northern kingdom, they're cut out. Anybody who will not obey that prophet, the Bible says, is destroyed from among his people. He's cut off from among his people. And so again, same story. Look at Acts 7 verse 2, we're looking at every mention of Abraham in the New Testament. He said, men, brethren and fathers, hearken, the God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia before he dwelt in Karen. Look at verse 8, he gave him the covenant of circumcision and so Abraham began Isaac and circumcised him the 8th day and Isaac begat Jacob and Jacob begat the 12th patriarchs. Look at verse 16, another mention of Abraham. This is just a historical narrative, doesn't really add anything to what we've already seen on this particular subject, that is. Look at verse 16, it says, they were carried over into Sychem and laid in the sepulcher that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Amor, the father of Sychem. But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt. What's that a reference to? Well, when God appeared to Abraham, he predicted and prophesied to Abraham that the children of Israel would spend 400 years enslaved in Egypt and that after 400 years, they would come out of that bondage and they would inherit the promised land in Canaan. That is the promise that's being referred to in verse number 17. Jump down to verse 32, of course we have this verse from the burning bush, we already talked about it a lot this morning. I'm the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled and durst not behold. Okay so we're going to jump to chapter 13 because chapter 7 is just basically a history of the nation of Israel, mentions Abraham a few times but it's mainly just a narrative of the stories that we already dealt with this morning. So look at Acts chapter 13, this is a really good one. Acts chapter number 13 and the Bible reads in verse 26, men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham. And again what are we talking about with the stock of Abraham? That word stock, we're talking about physical descent, right? We're talking about his physical relatives, his stock. So he says, children of the stock of Abraham and whosoever among you feareth God to you is the word of this salvation sent for they that dwelt at Jerusalem and their rulers because they knew him not nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him. And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they pilot that he should be slain. And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a sepulcher but God raised him from the dead. And he was seen many days of them which came up from Galilee to Jerusalem who are his witnesses unto the people. And we declare unto you glad tidings how that the promise which was made unto the fathers God had fulfilled the same unto us their children and that he had raised up Jesus again as it is also written in the second Psalm, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. And it's concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption. He said on this wise, I'll give you the sure mercies of David, wherefore he saith also in another Psalm, thou shalt not suffer thy holy one to see corruption. For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep and was laid unto his fathers and saw corruption. But he whom God raised again saw no corruption. Be it known unto you therefore men and brethren that through this man, talking about Jesus, is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins and by him all that believe are justified from all things from which he could not be justified by the law of Moses. So again, the speech is being made in verse 26 to the children of the stock of Abraham that all the promises made to the fathers, and when we talk about the fathers, we're talking about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Those promises that were made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have been fulfilled in Jesus. They fulfilled prophecy by killing Jesus and God has fulfilled, verse 33, the same unto us their children and that he hath raised up Jesus again. And so the fulfillment of prophecy, the fulfillment of the promises to Abraham and his seed are found in the seed par excellence, which is Jesus Christ. It's not just physical descendants in general that are going to bless the world, no. It's that ultimate seed, Jesus, that's going to bless the world. And so again, we're saved by faith, we're justified, the law can't justify us, but all that believe are justified by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, the ultimate seed of Abraham. Go if you would to Romans chapter 4, this is the last place we're going to turn tonight is Romans chapter 4. Romans chapter 4, so this is going to be a three-parter. So we had part one this morning, tonight's part two is going to be one more installment of this because we want to leave no stone unturned and let me tell you something. You don't have to worry, you don't have to worry and say, oh man, I hope Pastor Anderson didn't blow the whole wad on Sunday morning and Sunday night, is he going to have anything left in the third sermon? I mean, is he turning to all the most powerful references to Father Abraham now, is he blowing the whole wad, has he failed to plan for that third sermon? Because what if we get to that third sermon and it says, ah, there's nothing there. But let me tell you something, my friend, Abraham is mentioned 70 times and none of these mentions teach this garbage that unsaved, Christ-rejecting Israel are God's chosen people and standing with them is to stand with, that's like saying standing with the Pharisees is standing with Father Abraham. You know, I guess if we stand with the Sadducees and the Pharisees and the people who are yelling to crucify Jesus and the people who are persecuting the Christians throughout the book of Acts, we're standing with Father Abraham, that is nonsense. And folks, this morning's sermon was enough, put a fork in it, it's done. But then what about tonight, what about John chapter 8? Acts chapter 3 was pretty solid too. You know, there's just so much, I mean Acts 13, I mean it's all right there. I mean I don't see how this could be any clearer and we're not skipping anything, friend, we're looking at every verse that mentions Abraham and yet we're the ones who don't know our Bible? No, you're the one who doesn't know your Bible if you don't understand that being a physical descendant of Abraham means diddly in the eyes of God. Because Christ is everything. Without Christ, you have nothing and you are nothing without Christ. It's all about Jesus and you know, God's not impressed by your genealogy. Why would he, if being a Jew so-called, being a physical seed of Abraham mattered in 2023, then why did God tell us to avoid genealogies? You know, have you ever noticed that the Old Testament's just filled with genealogies? I mean man, if you've read the whole Bible cover to cover, you've read some genealogies, right? Chapter after chapter after chapter, I mean we're talking literally tens of chapters that are just pure genealogy. I mean 1 Chronicles 1 through 9 is pretty much just genealogies. Nine chapters in a row of genealogies. That's a little rough patch in your Bible reading each year. Grinding out 1 Chronicles 1 through 9. Lots of genealogies. Ezra and Nehemiah, just lists of names, lists of names. You want to know what's funny though, is that in the New Testament, do we have genealogies in the New Testament? There's only two. They're both genealogies of Jesus. You have two genealogies in the New Testament. Matthew 1 and Luke 3. They're both genealogies of Christ. The only genealogy that matters in the New Testament is Jesus' genealogy because it ends with him. If you're in Christ, that's the only genealogy you need. Here's my genealogy. Jesus begat Stephen. That's it. That's the only genealogy I need. That's the platinum VIP card that gets me in anywhere. That gets me the full package of God's blood. I don't need something else. I don't need to be circumcised. I don't need to keep the law. I've got Jesus. I'm a son of Abraham. I'm a son of God. I'm saved. I'm God's chosen people. I'm elect. I'm going to heaven. Without Jesus, it's depart from me. I never knew you. Doesn't matter what your genealogy is. And by the way, here's what we need to understand. This is a little bit of a side note, but let me just say this while we're at it, is that when we read the New Testament and Jesus says, well, I know you're the seed of Abraham. And when Peter says something like, hey, you know, you're the stock of Abraham. You know what we need to keep in mind? That this is over 2000, this is approximately 2000 years ago. When James writes an epistle and says to the 12 tribes, which are scattered abroad, greeting. That's because there still were 12 tribes back then, but they were fading away fast because they were scattered. Look, God wiped out the nation of Israel in 70 AD and then he really wiped it out in 135 AD. And in 2023, there is really no such thing as the physical seed of Abraham because we're so mixed. Everybody's so mixed and I proved this mathematically. And you know what? I'm just waiting. I just can't wait for someone to try to debunk that. But nobody has. I put that out in the year 2015. I put out mathematical proof that every single person on this planet is descended from Abraham every red, yellow, black, white, Korean, everybody, OK, not trying to single you out, but everybody on this planet at this point is descended from Abraham because we're so mixed. And again, you know, you might think that sounds crazy. Well, you know what? I challenge you to actually look at my proof on that because no one has been able to challenge me on that. And it's been eight years. And I was like, I was excited, like, I'm like, come at me, bro. Like I just couldn't wait. I couldn't wait to just to just, you know, have a math be, you know, or whatever. I don't know what's a math. What was that called when the math Olympics or something? What did the what those math kids used to do? What was it? Math elites. There we go. I mean, I was ready. I was ready to be a mathlete. And I was like, man, I was like, man, you know, I know I'm right about this. I've got all the math. I've got all the evidence. I put it all out there. I drew it all up on the whiteboard. It's like a twenty five minute video. You know, we incorporated a lot of it into Marching Design, our documentary film. And I'm just like waiting, like, come on, let's go. Mathlete right here, we're waiting, ready, the math Olympics. Let's go. And you want to know why nobody's ever challenged me on that? You want to know why no one's ever been able to debunk that? Because it's impossible to debunk because it's true. And I'm not going to explain it to you right now, because it took me like 20 minutes last time I explained it. But if I were actually talking to someone who were like a big time mathematician, and I'm sure we got a few big time mathematicians in here, but obviously I'm preaching to a general audience tonight, a big time mathematician I could explain this to in about two minutes and they would be like, yeah, got it done. You're right. Let me tell you something, there are no 12 tribes in 2023. Where's the tribe of Reuben? I want you to show me one Reubenite on this planet. You can't. It's called the 10 Lost Tribes for a reason. There are no Gadites, there are no Reubenites, there are no Simeonites, there are no Issacharites, there are no Asherites, Gadites, Manassites, Ephraimites, there's just Jews. What is that? What is that? That's not 12 tribes, it's just Jews. And they're so white, they're whiter than I am. They make me look brown. They make the Irish look brown. Okay, okay, now I'm exaggerating. Bunch of white people, Jews, what tribe are you? I don't even know. You got genealogy? Nope. Good, because I was going to avoid it anyway if you did. The point is, you got to understand that the lay of the land in the first century AD was different than now because you were a lot closer to a physical nation of Israel. The physical nation of Israel had only been scattered into the four winds more recently back then and you still had some pockets of people that are still hanging on. You got an Asherite here and a Simeonite there, but you don't anymore, not in 2023. You've just got Jews, which are pretty much what? The tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi. And they don't even know what they are and they're so mixed with Europeans that they're as white as snow now, right? But I'm sure there's a little bit of Hebrew blood in there somewhere, just like there is in brother Lee over here. He's a Jew too. We all are because, you know, the Jews are scattered into every nation in the world. That even includes Korea. I guarantee you that there are Jews in Seoul, Korea right now. And I bet you there were Jews there a thousand years ago. Now it might find that hard to believe, but it's true. People have been, you know, and here's the thing about human beings. Human beings love to travel. Human beings are explorers. Human beings love to wander this earth and people have been traveling, missionaries and whatnot. Okay, I'm off on a tangent. Romans chapter 4. I don't even know if I have time for Romans chapter 4, but maybe we'll just give it the quick once over twice. We're going to get the short version of Romans 4. We've already talked a lot. I mean, I've preached verses 1 through 8 until I'm blue in the face, so I'm just going to quickly touch on these. What shall we say then that Abraham, our father, as pertained to the flesh hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath were of the glory, but not before God. For what saith the scripture, Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness. So his justification before God was through faith, not by works. Amen. We got that. Okay, let's move on. That's a great point, but another sermon. So let's jump down in verse 9, referring to salvation. It says, cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only or upon the uncircumcision also. When they say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness, how was it then reckoned? When he was in circumcision or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had being yet uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all them that believe, although they be not circumcised, that righteousness might be imputed unto them also. So Abraham is the father of all who believe, whether or not they're circumcised. Circumcised, uncircumcised alike, Abraham's the father of believers. So we stand with Father Abraham, you know, is really about standing with Christians. It's not about standing with Muslims or Jews, it's about standing with Christians. So Abraham is also the father, verse 12, of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised. For the promise that he should be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect, because the law worketh wrath, for where no law is, there is no transgression. Here's the last verse of the sermon, therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace to the end that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. Who's the us all? Who's the us all? It's believers. It's not the whole planet. Is everybody on this planet a son of Abraham? Well physically yes, now the 2000 years have gone by, and the gene pool has been mixing for the last 2000 years straight, yeah at this point, since Abraham lived 4000 years ago, at this point his genes have made their way around the planet, and everybody's got a piece of that DNA. So what? It's meaningless. You know who the children of Abraham are in the way that matters? It's all who believe. Now I want to just point out a couple of key things in this verse and I'll be done. It says, therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace to the end that the promise might be sure to all the seed, watch this, not to that only which is of the law. So it is to those that are of the law, but it's not only to those of the law. But what did he just say before that? He just said in verse number 14, if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise may have been unaffected. So the law is not a path to salvation, but people who are of the law, meaning people that are Jews according to the law, and they're raised in the law, they're raised as Jews in the first century, they have access to salvation as well, but they're not the only ones. It's not only to that which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham who is the father of us all. And so Jews can be saved just like Gentiles can be saved, but Jews are just as damned as Gentiles who aren't saved. If you're not saved, does it matter if you're a Jew or a Gentile if you're not saved? If you're not saved, you're not saved. Now on the one hand, on the one hand, Christ died for you, and God loves you and wants you to be saved. But doesn't that go for the Hindus as well? Or is that just the Jews that he loves and wants saved? That goes for the Hindus as well. That goes for the Muslims, it goes for Catholics, it goes for Buddhists, it goes for everybody. But on the other hand, not only did God love you, send Christ to die for you, and offer salvation unto you no matter who you are, circumcised, uncircumcised, of the law, not of the law, Jew, Greek, doesn't matter. But not only that, God's wrath, the justice of God, is also directed toward the unsaved man because the unsaved man is at enmity with God. God loves him and wants him to come home, but until he comes to Christ, God cannot have a relationship with him. It's like, I love you son, but I can't have a relationship with you while you're doing thus and so. I'm using an earthly example. Let's say I had a physical son and he's doing something bad, and I said, hey, I can't have a relationship with you until you straighten this out, son, right? I mean, do you think that conversation has ever happened in the history of mankind between a parent and their child saying, hey, we love you, we want you to come back? I mean, look, if you ever read the biographies of alcoholics or drug addicts, this is often something that happens, right? The child will be a drug addict or an alcoholic and the parents just say, hey, we're done having a relationship with you because you're a drunk, we love you, we want to have a relationship with you, but guess what? We're not going to because you're a drunk and we're done. When you're ready to get sober and you're ready to be a decent human being, we'll talk. You think that that has ever happened? All the time, constantly, right? I'm saying that because I'm trying to get you to understand how God could love the unsaved but still say, you know what, I'm angry, you're under the wrath of God, but when you turn to Christ, you know, I'm ready to receive you, but you've got to come to Christ and if you don't come to Christ and you end up dying without Christ, you're going to go to hell when you die, you know, and that's the boat that every unsaved person is in, right? I mean, I think these are kind of basic, really simple Christian truths. Like unsaved people face the wrath of God and if they die without Christ, they're going to hell. I mean, that's pretty easy to grasp that. And it's also easy to grasp how God doesn't want that. He doesn't want them to go to hell and so he's saying, hey, I want to have a relationship with you. I love you. I don't want you to go to hell, but that's where you're headed and we can't have a relationship until you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ because only Jesus can be that mediator. He can only bridge that gap between a holy God and sinful man can only be bridged by Jesus. And all I'm saying is that the Jews are just like every other unsaved person, okay? If they believe in Jesus, they'll be Christian. They won't be Jews anymore because just as it doesn't matter if you're not saved, doesn't matter if you're a Jew or Gentile, you're not saved, you're damned, you're cursed. The wrath of God abides on you. God's still inviting you to get it right and believe in Jesus, but if you don't, you are just doomed. But on the flip side of that, once you're saved, it also doesn't matter whether you're a Jew or Gentile because in Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile. Now we've made it to Romans chapter 4. Next time we will start in Romans chapter 9 and we will finish. We'll go from Romans chapter 9 to the end and oh, don't worry because some of the best stuff is still coming. I mean we haven't even hit the most powerful proofs, but haven't we seen enough? I mean talk about kicking a dead horse. I mean this morning it's just, you know, so many, the hits just keep on coming. And then just when you think you've seen just a mountain of evidence, then we come back and it's like, you're not, oh I know you're Abraham's seed, but you're your father, the devil. We stand with Father Abraham. I stand with Father Abraham because I stand with Christ and Christ's kingdom and God's people and Christians. Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord, and we thank you that we have access to all these blessings through faith in Christ that were justified of all those things that the law could never justify us of, Lord. Thank you so much for salvation. Thank you that we are not second class citizens in the kingdom of God because of our ethnicity or because of anything else, Lord. Thank you that we are full-fledged members of Christianity through faith in Jesus and it's in his name we pray, Amen.