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Amen, so keep your place there in Hosea, chapter number 2. We're going to look at the last part of this chapter tonight and see what God is talking about here at the very end. We're going to look at, starting in verse number 18, so of course we see this analogy that we've been looking at of an adulterous wife. He's comparing the nation of Israel, of course Hosea again is a contemporary of Jeroboam, the second Jeroboam, who is the son of Jehu, and he is a king in the northern kingdom of Israel, but he's comparing, he's doing this analogy, this object lesson of an adulterous wife to this adulterous nation that has turned away from God and went to serve other gods. But then there's a shift here at the end of the chapter in verse number 17, where he says that this nation is going to get right and then they're going to turn away the names of Balaam out of their mouth, they're going to get right and then he's going to show mercy to them and then we see, obviously we see that this moves into some end times prophecy here in verse number 17 and through the end of the chapter and I'll explain that to you here in the next few minutes, but we're going to look at this tonight and we're going to see what the Bible's talking about here and what God is talking about at the end of Hosea. Look at verse number 17 if you would, he says, I will take away the names of Balaam out of her mouth and they shall no more be remembered by their name. So this nation's going to forget the names of the false gods. Verse number 18, and in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and with the fowls of heaven and with the creeping things of the ground and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth and I will make them to lie down safely. So here we see a little bit of a shift here that there's going to be this covenant that even involves the beasts of the field and before we even talk about the covenant with the beasts of the field, remember, actually just go ahead and turn to Leviticus chapter number 26, if you would, Leviticus chapter number 26. Remember that the beasts of the field and beasts overrunning your nation is actually a curse. All right, it's a curse upon a nation and I'll show that to you in Leviticus chapter number 26. We're going to do a lot of real deep Bible study here, so I'm trying to make it as simple as I possibly can, but I'm trying to show you that the verbiage of the beasts of the field and that there's going to be a covenant and peace with the beasts of the field is the opposite of a cursed nation. Look at Leviticus chapter number 26 and look at verse number 21. Look at verse 21. So this is a warning to the people of Israel, to God's people, and if you walk contrary to me, unto me, and will not hearken unto me, I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins. So God's saying, if you don't listen to the words of the Lord, if the nation, nations are judged by whether they've listened to God or not, we're not saved by our works individually and this is a super important point and this is why a lot of Christians get confused today. Individuals are saved, nations are judged by their works. So in Leviticus chapter 26, we're seeing that God is literally saying, you know, all over the Bible, all over the Old Testament, it is like, you'll be able to stay in the land if you follow me, if you listen to me. But in Leviticus chapter 26, he's saying, if you walk contrary unto me, meaning you don't listen to my word, you're going to be cursed and what's one of the ways you're going to be cursed? I'll send wild beasts among you which shall rob you of your children, destroy your cattle and make you few in number and your highways shall be desolate, meaning like where you move, like where you travel, all these things, people are just going to be attacked. Look, that's a curse, okay? That is a curse and it makes perfect sense if you look at Hosea chapter 2, verse number 17 into verse number 18, when he talks about how this nation is going to get right and then he's all of a sudden going to start blessing them, they're going to throw the names of Balaam out of their mouth, that he says, there's going to be a covenant between the beasts of the field. There's going to be complete peace between the beasts of the field. Turn to Isaiah chapter number 11. So we see, there's a big contrast here that we're seeing, okay? We're seeing a nation that walks contrary to God is cursed even by the animals. Like they're just torn up by dogs and lions and all the bears and all these things, just tearing this country apart that walks contrary to God. It's a way God judges a nation. But then look at verse number 4 of Isaiah chapter number 11 for a contrary view of this, all right? Now, look at verse number 4 of Isaiah chapter 11, it says, but with the righteous shall he judge the poor and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. We're obviously talking about Jesus here and righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. The wolf, now look at this in verse number 6, the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together and the little child shall lead them and the cow and the bear shall feed, their young ones shall lie down together, the lion shall eat straw like an ox and a suckling child shall play in the hole of an asp. Talking about a child just playing near a snake's den, I mean, something that would just make you cringe. And the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice's den. So you have all these wild animals, all of a sudden they're peaceful, almost like they've made a covenant. There's been a covenant made with them with the people on the earth. Of course, we're talking about the millennial reign of Christ here. All right, we're talking about the millennial reign of Christ. So the millennial, I mean, just to, all that to say this, a nation that doesn't follow God is cursed in many ways, including beasts, overrunning them. And the opposite of a nation being cursed is going to be when Jesus Christ is king, he rules and reigns, and there's going to be complete peace even amongst the creation and the animals. All right? And of course, you know, we see he's going to rule with the rod of his mouth in Revelation 2.27, talks about how he ruled them with a rod of iron. And so there's a lot of similarities there. We can clearly see that this is talking about the millennial reign of Christ. So all that to say this, go back to Hosea chapter number 2. So Hosea chapter number 2 is talking about the end times. This is an end times prophecy here. Okay? And remember, many prophecies have shadow fulfillments, but this is really talking about mainly the end times event and the millennial reign of Christ. All right? Go back to Hosea chapter number 2 and look at verse number 19. Verse number 19 of Hosea 2, the Bible says, And I will betroth thee unto me forever. Yea, and I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness and in judgment. See the similar language here. Righteousness, judgment, this is what Jesus is bringing. He is the judge. Remember, I preached a whole sermon on that. And in loving kindness and in mercies. And I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness. If you write in your Bible, underline that. Because this is super key here, that he's talking about this nation of the end times is going to be betrothed to him. What are we talking about in Hosea? We're talking about an adulterous wife. We're talking about an adulterous nation. We see an analogy of a wife and the nation. And here we see that Jesus says he's going to betroth, God is saying, he's going to betroth this nation in the end times unto me in what, though? In faithfulness. Faithfulness. And thou shalt know the Lord. So this nation is going to know the Lord. Who's the Lord? Jesus Christ. And this nation is going to be, you know, have faith in the Lord. I mean, all right? So this is the question. So we're talking about who is this nation? Well, who is the nation in Hosea chapter number two? The nation in Hosea chapter number two is Israel. Who's the nation that he's talking about going into the millennial reign of Christ? It's Israel. It's the same nation. All right? It's the same nation. Look at verse number 21. So the pretext to the sermon is this, knowing who Israel is, is key to everything. If you don't know who Israel is, you will misunderstand or you'll be led astray on so much doctrine, it's ridiculous. All right? But I'm going to show you tonight how, you know, we can clearly know who Israel is. And even if we didn't know who Israel is, if you just think about it a little bit, all the other doctrine makes no sense at all. All right? So look, who is Israel? That's the question. So Israel in Hosea chapter number two is the northern kingdom of Israel. This applies to him. He's saying, like, he's talking about this nation in this chapter, but then he starts talking about this end times event that's going to happen to the nation of Israel. Look at verse 21. It shall come to pass in that day. So he's saying, like, this is some time in the future. All right? This isn't today. All right? In that day, I will hear, saith the Lord. I will hear the heavens. But again, I want to point this out again. I will betrothed thee unto thee. This nation, whoever this nation of Israel is, whatever it looks like in the end times going into the millennial reign, it's betrothed to God in faithfulness. Okay? That is key. All right? Faithfulness and they will know the Lord. All right? Verse 21. Do I need to point that out again? But I mean, it's super clear. All right? It is super clear. They are betrothed in faithfulness. All right? Verse 21. It will come to pass in that day. I will hear, saith the Lord. I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth, and the earth shall hear the corn and the wine and the oil, and they shall hear. So this is all the stuff. Remember, the corn, the oil, this is all the stuff that the nation of Israel, the northern kingdom of Israel, this is the adulterous woman. She left her husband, who was God, who already gave her all that. Corn, oil, wine, gold, and silver. Everything was provided to her, and she left for, you know, the bail, all the false gods that she couldn't even find because they're not real. You know, she tried to chase them, they weren't even there, and she already had everything. All right? So this is what God is saying. I'm going to provide all these things again, and they shall hear Jezreel. Jezreel means, like, I always just think, like, God, when I see Jezreel there, but I guess it really truly means, like, God sows, which makes sense if you go into the next verse where it says, and I will sow her unto me in the earth, and I will have, but this is the key right here, I will have mercy upon her that have not obtained mercy. And I will say to them, which were not my people, thou art my people, and they shall say, thou art my God. So we see that this new nation that's going to get this covenant that's going to be called Israel is going to contain people that had previously not been part of the nation. That had previously not called God his people, but they're going to say, thou art my God, all right? So clearly, if you turn to Romans chapter number nine, clearly this applies to Gentiles when Jesus first came and what Paul was talking about in Romans chapter nine and Romans chapter number 11. So let's look at that real quickly. So thou art my people, and they shall say, thou art my God. But look, it applies to the Gentiles. But I want to show you at the end of the sermon tonight how, like, it's more of just a methodology of thinking about this, all right, that makes things clear. It applies to anyone who did not previously, you know, was not previously previously betrothed to God in faithfulness and then is now faithful. It applies to anyone that does that. All right, look at Romans chapter nine, and Romans chapter nine is very clear about the Gentiles hearing the gospel and being grafted in to the vine as it talks about in the next two chapters. And then, you know, just talking about how they become Israel. That is, we're talking about the spiritual Israel at this point. All right, look at verse number six, Romans chapter nine, verse number six. Not as though the word of God had taken none effect, for they are not all Israel, which are of Israel. So Paul is now making the transition from what these people that he's talking to are thinking about, you know, is Israel, and he's saying, no, no, no, it's different. You need to start shifting your thinking. He's trying to explain the spiritual Israel to them. All right, he's saying Israel, just this physical nation, he's like, they're not all of Israel because Israel is not a physical nation. It is this spiritual state. Okay, neither because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children, but in Isaac, shall thy seed be called. I love that verse, because really, I mean, if you think about it, that is, read the next verse, that is they which are the children of the flesh. These are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. So he's saying the flesh, the genealogy has nothing to do with it. And if you think about it, you think about how stupid the genealogy idea is, it didn't even last one generation. Because what did the Pharisees always say, we're children of Abraham, we're children of Abraham, guess what, so is Ishmael. Like one generation and the promise only went one way, meaning the Lion of Christ would come through Isaac and the promise was given to him. But if it was just genealogies, it was ruined in the first generation of Abraham's family. But the Bible here is saying, and Paul is explaining, it's not of the flesh, it has nothing to do with genealogies, right? Look at verse number 30, what shall we say then, that the Gentiles, now we see this contrast between verse 30 and verse 32. What should we say, the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, meaning they did not have the oracles of God, they did not have the Bible, they're living these crazy lives, they have no idea what the Bible says, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness, which is of faith. So they did attain to righteousness through faith, but Israel, now he's talking about the physical Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness, because you can't perfectly keep the law. Wherefore, because they sought it not by faith, but as it were given by the works of the law, for they stumbled at the stumbling stone. Guess what? If you think you're going to go to heaven because of the works of the law, you're all going to stumble at that stumbling stone. Every religion that teaches works, which is every religion outside of biblical Christianity, is stumbling at the stumbling stone of workspace salvation. You're going to trip over that thing. It's so big, you'll never get over it, because you've already broken the law, every single person, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. So the Gentiles, which, they didn't, they followed not after the law. They're a bunch of lunatics and heathens and all this stuff, but then they had faith on Christ. The individuals that had faith on Christ, they got saved through faith. And it was the Jew who had turned this religion of, instead of waiting for Jesus to come, had turned it into this, you know, twisted workspace salvation religion that Jesus walked into in the nation of Israel at his time, and they were tripping over this huge stumbling stone. That stumbling stone, they're going to trip right into hell over that thing, because nobody is going to be saved through their works, plain and simple. All right, now turn to Romans chapter number 11. So these are those that were not previously my people that now are my people that are betrothed through faithfulness. Do you see how it perfectly matches? It just matches perfectly. I mean, did Paul know Hosea or something? What's going on here, right? No, look, this is the word of God that it matches perfectly. All right, look at Romans chapter 11, verse 25 says, For I would not, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part is happened to Israel. What does that mean? That means that most of the, the majority of the mainstream, you know, mainstream Jewish leaders and the mainstream Jewish religion did not accept Jesus Christ. They were blind to it. They did not see it. Blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. We'll talk about that in just a few minutes. And so all Israel, so now we see a shift here. All right, we see a shift from the current nation of Israel, just like Hosea too. To this future spiritual, you know, now spiritual Israel. So all Israel shall be saved as it is written. There shall come out of Zion the deliverer who shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob, for this is my covenant unto them when I shall take away their sins. Now people will say, see, all Israel is going to be saved. Yes, but he's just spent two chapters defining what Israel is. Israel is those who have been betrothed unto Jesus Christ through their faith. All right. And it's not stumbled at the stumbling stone of the law of works based salvation, because look, you cannot be saved if you believe that your works have something to do with your salvation. It is the stumbling stone. What if I believe in Christ and I believe I have to do good works? It's a stumbling stone. You cannot, you will trip over it. It can, it's zero works, all Jesus. All right. So look, he just told us and explained to us what Israel is. Anyone who is saved, anyone who has believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. So the key of this verse that all Israel shall be saved is that it's a spiritual Israel, those that had believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. And of course they will be saved. They are saved. All right. Now, look, it doesn't even make sense to think about this another way. All right. And I want to continue with this in just a few minutes. But look, even if you didn't know who Israel was, even if you didn't know this definition of the spiritual Israel from Hosea chapter number two and verse number, what was it? It was verse Hosea chapter number two, verse number, yes, verse number 20, that he'll betrothed them to me in faithfulness. Thank you. Even if you didn't know who Israel actually was, this idea that all of the nation of Israel, whether that be today or during Jesus's time or during Hosea's time, that all Israel would be saved at any time, a physical nation, makes no sense. It makes no sense. Nations don't get saved. I mean, where is that in the Bible that nations get saved? As long as, you know, President, you know, Biden stands up there and praise Romans 10, 9, we're all going to be saved. I mean, what in the world? Not like, I mean, the Bible would burst into flames if he started reading it. But anyway, nations don't get saved. Individuals get saved. Individuals get saved. Not if one single physical nation will ever exist anywhere where every single person in that nation gets saved ever. Salvation is not a collective thing. Only individuals get saved. And so that's the first thing. Nations don't get saved. So it makes no sense. Even if you think that it means a physical Israel, you have to, like, say, I must be misunderstanding this and go looking for another solution. All right. And the second thing is this. Turn to First Timothy, chapter number one. I'm just exploring why, even if you didn't understand who Israel was, why, what everybody else is teaching, all the pre-Tribbers, all the Zionists, all this stuff, it doesn't make any sense. Like, you can't make sense of it. The first reason is nations don't get saved. But I guess if you think salvation was through works, I guess you could think that salvation was collective to a degree. I mean, what else? I mean, if the gospel, you got the gospel wrong, you know, a lot of things can go wrong. But the second reason it doesn't make any sense, even if you don't understand who Israel is, look at First Timothy, chapter one in verse number four. It says, neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies which minister questions rather than godly edifying, which is in faith. So do. And in Titus, chapter three, verse number nine, it says, avoid foolish questions and genealogies and contentions and strivings about the law for they're unprofitable and vain. So it's saying just giving heed to genealogies, it just there's no solutions there. It's only questions. Think about it. Think about it. If all Israel would be saved and if I am part of the nation, like the physical nation of Israel, whether that be today or in Jesus's time or whatever, like, look, let me tell you something, genealogy never mattered. Genealogy in the Bible only mattered for one reason, and I'm going to explain that in just a second. But what if, let's talk about this, all Israel should be saved and my genealogy matters. What if my great great grandpa wasn't 100% Jewish and he married like a Russian gal? I mean, who's doing the math on this? Who's doing the math on how Jewish I need to be? On how pure my genealogy needs to be? I mean, the whole, I mean, what if my, you know, what if my second cousin or, you know, I mean, I mean, just all this different. Who's going to, who's proof, what if my family tree was wrong and somebody made a mistake? The whole exercise is ridiculous. It's ridiculous. The Bible literally says in Acts 17 that he hath made of, you know, of one blood, all nations, like it literally has, it has nothing to do with the genes, who you're related to, who, you know, he made of one blood, all nations for men to dwell on the face of the earth. Genealogies didn't matter for salvation, even in Old Testament Israel, they didn't matter because people could come into the land. A stranger could sojourn in the land, and if they came in and they accepted the Lord, and they, you know, they, it says if they accepted the Passover, meaning they accepted the Lord through faith, they're to be treated like everybody else. Ruth was a mobitis. She wasn't a Jew. I mean, it's just, if, if Christians today would think about this, just, just have a couple stages of linear thought for like four minutes, they would realize that, they may not realize the answer on who Israel is, but they would realize that what they're being taught, it doesn't make any sense at all. I hope I'm making this clear. All right, go back to Romans chapter number 11. If you want to know the truth, folks, all you have to do is just think about these things just a little bit. I mean, this isn't, you know, we're not building a space shuttle here. This is not, it's not that hard to just be like, hey, that doesn't seem to jive, that doesn't make sense. The only time, I told you, I tell you when the genealogies matter, the only time in the Bible, and, you know, God lists out the genealogies, and then man just takes and runs with it for, for thousands of years. It's just like, it's crazy. And then God tells us in the New Testament, it's like, forget about all those genealogies. What are you doing? He's like, stop it, knock it off, knock it off. And people are still genealogies, genealogies, genealogies. The only time it mattered was to divide up the land. That was it. And that's done. It's over with. They're already thrown out of the land. So it's, it's completely unnecessary and not needed, which is why Titus chapter three and first Timothy chapter one tells us to stay away from that stuff. It, all it does, there's no answers there. It's just questions and confusion. That's all it is. All right. Romans chapter 11, look at verse 25 again. It says, for I would not, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, unless you should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. All right. So here we see this transition to spiritual Israel. So all Israel shall be saved. All right. This is what Hosea chapter two is referring to, this spiritual Israel and the Gentiles being brought in through what? Through their faith in Jesus Christ. All right. Now, look, it says blindness in part, and I don't want to spend a ton of time on this. It says blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be brought in. And we're really going to focus on that fullness of the Gentiles tonight. But look, blindness in part has happened to Israel until that happens. So is it possible? I mean, it seems to be indicating that there's some kind of, you know, situation in the end times where Jews are going to get saved, where there's going to be people that are Jews at that time that are not part of spiritual Israel, that something happens and they get saved. And the Bible talks about it in Revelation chapter number 11 and verse number two, where it says, you know, the Gentiles are going to trod under Jerusalem, underfoot for 40 and two months, talking about that last three and a half years where the Antichrist is just taken over and the wrath of God is being poured out. What has just happened? What has just happened before that 42 months? Just think about this for a second. Think about this. You have all these Jews and Muslims and Hindus and all these other people of different religions and all of a sudden, especially the Jews, though, because if you're like, you know, if you're say you're a spiritual Jew and you're just like you're really a religious Jew and you're like the Antichrist is the Messiah and you just really fell for that whole thing. But then all of a sudden the abomination of desolation happens and he like sets himself up to be God and in the temple and then all of a sudden he just trods, you know, the Jerusalem underfoot and he just like turns on, you know, Jerusalem and turns on the Jews. And then what happened just before just after the abomination of desolation, just a few days after the rapture happens, like literally Jesus comes back and all of the Christians are gone. Don't you think some Jews are going to figure it out at that point? Don't you think some Jews that were blind are going to be like, uh, oh, you know, they're gonna be like, oh, uh, maybe he was the Messiah. I mean, that's what it's talking about. That's what it's talking about. It's talking about the end times, especially the rapture, especially when the Antichrist trods Jerusalem underfoot, as it says, Revelation chapter number two. We don't know exactly what that means, but that's when the two witnesses come back. And they're in, you know, the holy city and, but look, I mean, it doesn't take too much stretch of the imagination to realize that a lot of people from a lot of false religions are going to get saved at that point, especially the Jews, since they were confused about, you know, they didn't believe Jesus was the Messiah is basically proved to them through the rapture, proved to them, look, it's proved to them through the Bible, but it's proved to them through the rapture, proved to them through, you know, the Antichrist turning into something that they didn't, you know, that apparently, you know, they, they realized he wasn't, you know, people are going to get saved. So that's what that's talking about. All right. But the real key to this verse is, is, is this, until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in, what does that mean? What does that mean? Now, look, I want to show you what this means. Turn to Genesis chapter number 15. It's talking about, you know, when the end times will start, when God is going to start shutting this thing down, basically. All right. It says until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. Now, when is this fullness going to be reached? What is that? What does God mean by that being the fullness of the Gentiles? We know that Jesus came and Paul went out and the gospel is going out to the Gentiles and all these people outside of the physical Israel are now getting saved. It all becomes the spiritual Israel. Everybody that believes in the Lord Jesus Christ is Israel at this point. So all Israel shall be saved. But what does he mean by the fullness of the Gentiles? What does he mean by this moment where the Gentiles be come in as full? All right. Well, God has used this language before. All right. Turn to Genesis chapter 15. Let's look at verse number 13. All right. God has used this type of language before in Genesis 15 and verse number 13. The Bible says, he said unto him, I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur in Chaldees to give this land, to give thee this land to inherit it. God is telling Abraham right now that he's going to inherit the promised land. OK, now what you have to understand here is that Abraham is not in, you know, is not inheriting the promised land right now. God is telling him he is going to inherit this land. And he says, Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? Skip down to verse number 13. And he said unto Abraham, know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs and shall serve them and they shall afflict them four hundred years. It's prophesying the Egyptian, when they're taken into captivity in Egypt and also that nation whom they shall serve will I judge. This is when Moses goes and pours the plagues upon, God pours the plagues upon Egypt and afterward they shall come out with great substance. And they shall go to thy fathers in peace and shall be buried in a good old age. This is the people, this is the people that did not go to the promised land. They came out of Egypt. It literally prophesies that the people that came out of Egypt would die in the wilderness right here. All right. But look at verse number 16. But in the fourth generation, they shall come hither again for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. So he's saying the fourth generation out of Egypt is going to end up coming into the promised land. So, I mean, you know, talk about a gift, right? How would you like me to come up to you and say, well, you know, brother Alex, I'm going to give you my car, all right? I'm going to give you my car. I really just want to bless you with my car. I mean, that's not really a blessing. I get it. But I mean, I really want to give you a blessing of maybe someone else's car that's nicer, right? But you can get this car in 500 years. All right. That's that. You're gonna be like, what? You know, but this is what Hebrew Chapter 11 is talking about when it says there was all these prophets and all these people that did great things, but they didn't see those promises in this life, right? But they're going to see these promises into eternity. All right. So the people now, this is what you need to see here, too. This is the complexity of God's plans. God is literally going to bless Abraham and his family and the children of Abraham, the children of Israel. He's going to bless them with this land, coinciding with the judgment of the people in the land. That's that's you're like, that's the complexity of God, though. And God is telling Abraham, you're not going to get the land yet, because the the iniquity, the iniquity of the people in that land, it's not full. What does that mean? It means they're not bad enough. They haven't turned on me enough. They haven't reached the point where I'm going to judge them. But he's telling them exactly the moment in time when that iniquity will be full and God is going to pour his judgment out upon them by the blessing, the promise that he fulfills, that he's giving to Abraham in Genesis chapter 15. And God does that all the time in the Bible. He pours judgment out on on one. He does that with Israel and Babylon, and then he judges Babylon. I mean, he just but this one he does simultaneously. So you can't get the promise yet, Abraham, because it's not time for me to judge them yet. But when it's time for me to judge them, when their judgment is full, you say, what is it? What is the judgment? What is what is the iniquity not being full mean? You know, what is that? What is that design criteria? Right. What is that? Where's the spreadsheet on that? Well, that's not up to us. That's up to God. God defines that God defines when that is full. Turn to Matthew chapter number 24. Turn to Matthew chapter, it means God has a threshold for when he calls things full. That's all that to say, all this to say that, right? God has a threshold where he says the iniquity is full. The Gentiles being brought in is full. God has a moment where he's going to just declare it full. And Matthew chapter 24 matches this methodology perfectly. If you look at verse 14, it says the gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations. These are the Gentiles, folks. And then shall the end come. That's when it is full. Matthew chapter 24 and verse number 14. So you want to make a note in your Bible in Romans chapter number 11, verse number 25. Just make a note. Matthew 24, verse number 14, when the gospel is preached all around the world at some point after that. So that's why verses like Matthew 24, 14 and Romans chapter 11, verse 25, those are clues, not milestones. You get a lot of these false preachers that get up and they take clues like this and they write a book and they tell you the end times is going to be at this date because the moon was a different color. Or because the gospel, I officially declare that the gospel has been around the world because somebody in Morocco got saved or something. You know, so it's just these are clues. These are clues. We're never going to really know what has the gospel been around the world. Sure. I mean, it's been it's been all over the world. So at some point after the gospels around the world, God will declare it full. The time of the Gentiles, the fullness of the Gentiles will be there and then the end times will begin. But I mean, that's the full point sometime after the gospel has been all over the world. Does that mean that that everyone that can possibly be saved is going to be saved at that point? No, because people are going to get saved during the end times. People are going to get saved during the wrath of God. People are going to get saved in the millennial reign. I mean, people are going to get saved through the whole thing. So people are just going to keep getting saved. All right. So again, what is the criteria for full? That's God's to define. OK, and look, that is the main point. The main lesson I want to get across tonight is that God will decide when the end times start. OK, so all that Bible study, just to show you that it is God that will usher in the end times. It is not us. It is not some group. It is not I mean, this is out of our power. It is out of our power to usher in the end times. God is telling us there's going to be this time, it's going to be when I declare this full, whatever. And you say, what's the big deal, you know, pastor, why you make it? Because thinking we can usher in the end times makes Christians vulnerable. It makes Christians vulnerable to scams and false prophets. I mean, I'll give you a couple of examples. I mean, turn to Ezekiel chapter number 37. Now that you know who Israel is, now that you know about the spiritual Israel, the Gentiles being brought in, being grafted into the vine, you know, Paul talks about great analogy there. Look at Ezekiel chapter 37. Look, there was a poll, there was a poll that found that 80% of evangelical Christians believed that the creation of Israel in 1948 was a fulfillment of biblical prophecy. This is a problem if we think that by the things that we do in this world, things that we support, things that we want organizations that we get, you know, politicians that we put in power, if we think that we can affect the end times, like we're going to be vulnerable to stuff like this. But look, look at Ezekiel chapter 37. This is what they'll point to. Look at verse number 21. And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whether they be gone, and will gather them on every side and bring them into their own land. And I will make them one nation in a land upon the mountains of Israel, and one king shall be king to them all. And they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided unto two kingdoms any more at all. So Ezekiel, of course, you know, I always like to think about who's speaking and what perspective they're speaking from. Where are they at in history? Instead of Hosea over in the northern kingdom of Israel, Ezekiel's a couple hundred years later, he's a contemporary of Jeremiah. All right, so he's a contemporary of Daniel, Jeremiah, during the captivity into Babylon of Judah. All right, and he's saying, there's going to be a time when I'm going to take the children of Israel from among the heathen, and whether they be gone, I'll gather them on every side, bring them into their own land. So number one, he's talking about a physical, actual prophecy of them coming back from captivity, number one. All right, so there's a, there's a prophecy that's fulfilled after 70 years of captivity, but then everyone's like, oh, but they're bringing them into their own land, 1948. But keep reading, though. And I'll make them one nation in the land upon the mountains, and there shall be one king to be king to them all. Neither shall they defile themselves any more with idols, nor with detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions, but I will save them out of their dwelling places wherein they have sinned and will cleanse them. So, and, does this sound familiar? So they shall be my people, and I will be their God. Does Israel accept the Lord Jesus Christ today? No, it's not Israel. That's what the Bible is explaining. And David, my servant, and now we get specific on who the king is. And David, my servant, shall be king over them. Is it, first of all, is there a king? No. David, my servant, he's not talking about actual David, he's talking about the line of David, he's talking about Jesus. Is Jesus king of Israel right now? I mean, it's ridiculous. If you think about it for more than three seconds, the whole thing is ridiculous. So like, oh, but bring them into their own land. You read like half of one sentence, and every Christian in America is like, yeah. But just read again, Bible reading lesson, read two verses before and two verses after, sit down, think about it with you and the Holy Spirit. And, you know, again, it's, we're not building a space shuttle here. This is not complicated. It's talking about the millennial reign of Christ. And it's talking about, it's a future prophecy, it's talking about the end of the captivity and the millennial reign. When is Jesus going to be king over Israel, as we know, spiritual Israel, the millennial reign? He's going to rule over Israel. And they shall have one shepherd, they shall walk in my judgments and observe my statutes and do them. And look, you couldn't say that about America and you could, you definitely couldn't say that about Israel. They're walking in the statues. They're like the, I think Tel Aviv is like the LGBT capital of the world at this point. I mean, it makes no sense at all. It's talking about the millennial reign of Christ. So look, it's important to understand who Israel really is, number one. And number two, it's important to understand that God is going to usher in the end times, not us, not us supporting some political movement. Look, Zionism, the Zionist movement, look Zionism isn't a bad word. Zionism was the political movement that started in like the late 19th century to get the Jews back, the Jews at that time, back to Jerusalem, the Promised Land. It was this huge political movement. Like it was huge in America. It was huge in Europe. I mean, it was this growing political, it was a political movement. I mean, all kinds of famous people were involved. Einstein was involved. He was involved in pushing the Zionist cause. He himself admitted it. You guys wonder why I'm so hard on that guy. But the point is this, Christians helped. Christians helped because they're like, oh, why? It's because it's this weird, it's this weird desire of Christians to usher in the end times. It's weird. We're not going to usher in the end times, folks. Like if this sermon, if you take anything from this sermon, it is that God declares full. God says when. All he tells us to do is watch. Just keep working and watch. Well, I mean, and first of all, like here's another point. Should Christians want the end times to come? Think about this, should Christians want, turn to Revelation chapter six. Here's the only Christian that I would even give a pass to on wanting the end times to come. Turn to Revelation chapter number six. Turn to Revelation chapter number six. And I want to make sure I don't like blanket statements, so I want to cover this one time where we see Christians wanting God to make the next step in those end times. Look at verse number 10 of Revelation chapter number six. This is right before the rapture. It says, and they cried with a loud voice saying, how long, O Lord? Holy and true, does that now judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth. These are people that have literally just been killed in the tribulation, the great tribulation, and they're up in heaven. They're just like, come on, drop the hammer. You know? So look, those people, you know, and if there's Christians being persecuted and killed in this world every single day, and those people, I totally understand if they're like, come on, God, let's come down here and help us out. I get it. I get it. But look, Christians in America today, let's get specific here. Should you want the end times to come tomorrow? I mean, no. I mean, what in the world? No, you shouldn't. Why? You say, why? Here's why. Because the harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. And let me give you guys a project management lesson. All right? If the laborers are, we should be concerned about the unsaved. We should not want God to just wrap this thing up right now. Hey, I'm saved. Take me home. It's like, no, we should be concerned about those people out there that are not saved. And if the harvest is plenteous, I mean, there's a lot of unsaved people out there, and you know this is true, and the laborers are few, the saved that are out there carrying the gospel are few, let me give you a project management lesson. If you have few laborers and a lot of work to do, it's going to take more time. So that's what we should want is more time so we can get more of the job done that God wants us to get done. So this idea that like, you know, just end time like this, you know, it's one thing to study Bible prophecy, but if you like just really like just want it to happen, I'm just like, where are you going? Why are you coming from with that? You know, I mean, I don't understand it. I mean, number one, I think it's two reasons. I've kind of like put it into two categories myself. No, the first one is it's a cop out. It's a cop out for a Christian to want God to just, you know, start the end times right now. I mean, it's people that they don't want to participate in this life. They don't want to do what God told them to do. They don't want to, you know, go and go forward with the responsibilities that God gave them for, you know, with the gospel. They don't want to, you know, go forward with the responsibilities that God gave them with their family. They just got this Jesus take me away attitude. It's a terrible attitude for a Christian to have. No, you are here now. Get to work. Get to work spiritually leading your wife and your children and your family. Get to work preaching the gospel. Get to work, literally get to work. Get out there and do the things that God wants you to do in this life. I used to know a guy that used to like one of the first Baptist churches ever went to. I never wanted to ask him how he's doing because he's just like, Jesus, come get me. Jesus, come get me. He's going to be laying on the pew. Just Jesus, come get me. That's another reason why I like this imminent return of Jesus. False doctrine is just is is damaging to people. Like, I'm just going to, you know, whatever, just let my marriage fall apart. But my children, just whatever. I don't know what's wrong with them. I don't know what's wrong with my children. Just forget it. Jesus, come get me. Like there's people like that. I've met them. We need to get out there. We need to get to work. So that's the first one. It's just a complete cop out as a Christian. You know, some people just they look at the work in front of these don't want to do the work. But then there's this this other group of people that are just kind of over the top with disaster. You know, they just want disastrous things to happen. It's just it's kind of strange. Now, look. I think you should be prepared for hard times. I believe that from the top of my head to the tip of my toes, because, look, end times are not end times are not. And I'm going to give you my opinion on that, too. End times are not this nation's getting judged. End times are not even if we get right tomorrow, we're still going to pay for the things that we've done in the last 50, 60, 70, 80, 100, whatever it is, years, because God is a perfect judge. Nobody's getting away with anything. And nations are judged on this earth. So we're getting judged. Our nation is not going to escape judgment, which means that even if we're not part of the end times in this nation, our nation is going to get judged. And there could be hard times. So, look, I think that, you know, you should be able to take care of yourself. You should be able to take care of your family. You should be able to defend yourself. You should be able to defend your family. You should, you know, be prepared to a reasonable degree. But look, not to the point where I ignore my responsibilities as a Christian. Not to the point where I'm so obsessed with disaster to the point where I want disaster to happen, where it's a cop out again. It's a cop out. I don't have to go. I don't have to support my family. I can just forget my responsibilities as a father, as a husband, as a soul winner. And look, I mean, here's the irony, folks. Actually getting to work in this Christian life. Actually getting to work in this Christian life, becoming the father that God wants you to be, becoming the husband that God wants you to be, I'm beating up on the guys here, I know, becoming the wife that God wants you to be, becoming, you know, the young man, the young lady that God wants you to be, you know what, that will prepare you for difficult times. I mean, don't tell me that if you're in perfect America right now and you can't get things together, that you're going to suddenly just become, you know, this great Christian or whatever when things get difficult. It's a joke. It's a joke. So look, here's a conclusion. Go back to Hosea chapter two. We are watching. If you asked me today, and this is completely my opinion, you don't have to share it. If you asked me today, are we in the end times? Is the end times going to be in our lifetime? I would say no at this point today. And the reason is too much needs to happen. I mean, I'm looking at the clues and looking at the milestones. Too much needs to happen. There's a lot of resistance. There's a lot of resistance in this world to this global satanic cabal that is trying to move and take control of the world. There's a lot of resistance to it. You know, a majority of the world is rejecting this globalism garbage. So if you asked me today, I mean, I would say no, but look, that could all change tomorrow. That could all change tomorrow. I mean, war changes things quickly. War changes things very quickly. I mean, just look at, you look at the Zionist movement, and you look at World War II, and then the Holocaust, and all that stuff that happened. And it's like, bam, Israel, just like that, just because people's opinions are changed through war, you know, and things that happen in war. But right now, right now, and hopefully, you know, war isn't tomorrow, but I don't see it. I don't see it happening in our lifetime at this point. Like I said, that's just an opinion from what I see that needs to happen. I see this nation falling apart way before. All these things in the globe, you know, actually come to pass. But the point is, God knows the timeline, not us. And God drives that timeline, not us. All we need to know is to get to work. Go back to Hosea chapter number two. Let's end here. And I just want to point this, this last thing out about spiritual Israel. All right. And I just want you to kind of get this, wrap your head around this for a second. Look at verse number 23. I will sow her unto me in the earth, and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy. And I will say unto them, which were not my people, thou art my people. And they shall say, thou art my God. Look, really, that applies to anybody. Jew, Muslim, anybody, anybody that is not a believer in Jesus Christ, that becomes a believer in Jesus Christ. And that happened en masse with the Gentiles during Jesus's time. And ever since Jesus's time, the gospel is spreading, what, across the world? Matthew 24, 14. And it could happen at the rapture. I'm sure there's going to be another mass of people from false religions, Jews. They're just like, oh, it was Jesus. The Bible was true. Because look, there's a lot of people out there that the only thing is they may know what the Bible generally says, but they just don't believe it. And then those big events could cause them to, you know, all of a sudden be part of, to say, yes, I believe on Jesus now. So look, this verse isn't just talking about the Gentiles. It could talk about, it could be applied to any person that, you know, before said, you know, did not call Jesus Christ, Lord, and then all of a sudden get saved and does call Jesus Christ, Lord. All right, Jew, Gentile, look, there is no. And so this verse, it doesn't apply to Jews or Greeks, because there is no, there is neither Jew nor Greek. We need to get this out of our head. We need to get this Jew or Greek or Gentile, we need to get that out of our head. There's believers and the unsaved, that's it. That's all there is. That's what God's trying to get across here. You know, spiritual Israel, he's trying to say, like, get this flesh in these genealogies out of your head. It's a stumbling stone, just like the works of the law. So all we need to know as Christians, though, as spiritual Israel, is that God is the timeline. All we need to know is just get to work. We just need to get to work. We just need to keep working. That's it. Difficult times, easy times, get working. And look, if you're not working during the easy times, you're certainly not going to work during the hard times. That's all I got to say. I mean, that's, that goes for anything, especially preaching the gospel, living the Christian life. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.