Romans Chapter 11:24-28

There is on the horizon an event that will change everything. And you may get up and it may seem like the same day you may get up and read your paper and drink your coffee or whatever your morning routine is, do your devotional, but everything will change. And the twinkling of an eye is what we're told. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David Magee.

You know, it could happen at any moment. Christ is returning and changing the world forever. We should live ready and expected lives because of this. Find out more about this concept as David Magee continues in Romans 11 with his teaching, We Should Be Kingdom-Minded. Here's Pastor David. We find ourselves today in Romans chapter 11. Let's open up with Romans chapter 11 verse 24.

For if you were cut out of the olive tree, which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree? We talked about this a little bit last week, but as much as there's a society and a cultural thing against Jewish people now accepting Jesus as their Messiah, they already believe in the prophecies about the Messiah. They already have an expectation that there will be a Messiah. They already believe in the one true and living God. So to go from being Jewish to a Jewish believer in Jesus, Yeshua as a Mashiach, Jesus as the Messiah, is just a step. Where if you think about it, if you're raised in a pagan home, a Gentile home, a home that doesn't talk about God, that doesn't worship God, then actually it's probably a larger step.

And that's what Paul is saying here. And so this chapter is talking about how we as Christians are grafted into the roots of Judaism. That's why we have this grafted in symbol on our banners over here. You see the menorah, the seven branch candlestick, leading to the Star of David. That seven branch candlestick is from the Bible, talks about that was in the temple.

And the Star of David was simply the two, the two shields of David placed together, represents Israel, going into the fish, which is obviously a distinctly Christian symbol in representing Jesus. So let's read on. Verse 25 says, For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel, till the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. So Paul here says, I want you to know these things.

I want you to be aware of these things. In the New Living Translation it says this, I want you to understand this mystery, dear brothers and sisters, so that you will not feel proud and start bragging. Some of the Jews have hard hearts, but this will only last until the complete number of Gentiles comes to Christ. So it tells us here, Paul foresees the problem that Gentile Christians who've been grafted in will begin to get proud and start bragging against the Jewish people. And prophetically we see that. We see that today.

Now there's a couple of interesting terms in here. One of them is that, if you're in the New King James, it says, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. If you're in the New Living Translation, just a complete number of Gentiles comes to Christ. That is a fixed number, apparently from scripture. I want you to think about the ramifications, the consequences of this being a fixed number. In other words, there is a number and God only knows that number that one day a Gentile, a non-Jewish person, will come to a faith in Jesus Christ as their Messiah. And they will be the last person.

As they come forward, the door closes. Now we don't know what day that is. We don't know what date that is. We certainly don't know who that person is. Can you imagine if we knew who that person was?

Everybody in the world would be trying to evangelize the guy with him. Come on, you need to go to church. Come on, go for it. Get this over with. We don't know. Let me tell you as a pastor, I think about this. Every time we have an invitation at the end of a service and I see somebody come forward, I think, is this it?

Is this the last one? We need to understand because we think that everything will just continue on as it has been. Gang, it will not. There is on the horizon an event that will change everything. And you may get up and it may seem like the same day you may get up and read your paper and drink your coffee or whatever your morning routine is, do your devotional, but everything will change. And the twinkling of an eye is what we're told. Are you aware of how quickly your eye blinks? There's different estimates.

Some say one three thousandths of a second. It's going to be quick. As lightning flashes, it says in another place. So let's understand that this concept of, oh, when we get close to that, then I'll begin to change my life and begin to live for the Lord. I'm going to show you this morning through scripture, we are close. How close? I don't know.

I'm not going to pretend to know the date. I just know that we're closer than we were a few years ago. And so we need to understand the first life lesson is things will not be as they are now forever. Things will not be as they are now forever. We just kind of assume, well, it's just always going to be like this and always going to be like that. And in 20 years of this and 20 years of that.

No, no, no, no, no. As we look at this, and this is, we're going to be talking about end times events and the sequence of end times event eschatology is the fancy word for it. To me, it's an exciting study. As I look at the book of revelation, I don't go bummer to me. It's a great joy.

Why? Because I look forward to being with the Lord because there's a verse in revelation 21 four that says, and God himself will wipe away the tears from their eyes and there'll be no more sorrow. There'll be no more death. There'll be no more sickness. There'll be no more pain. All the former things are gone. Everything will become new. I don't know about you, but that sounds good to me. No more pain, no more death, no more tears.

That's a lot to look forward to. Are you ready? Now it's kind of a challenge because in looking at this verse, it uses terms that we need to understand. You know, occasionally we come across these things and I take some time. And so, you know, I'm not in a rush to get finished today. I'm not in a rush to try to finish the chapter.

Probably not going to finish the chapter to be honest, but I want to fully explain these terms so you can understand what they mean and what they mean to you. Now in doing this, we've got to actually not going to try to just get through the chapter. I'm going to go through almost the whole Bible today and looking at end times events, because often what happens is people look for end times events solely in the book of revelation.

That leads to a lot of problems. See, because the whole book has what we call pictures and types, and they point forward to models and things that will be going on. And the sequence of these events, Romans chapter 15 verse 4 says this, for whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Might have hope.

Not that we would be doom and gloom, not that we would be pessimistic, but that we might have hope. And look at this. Paul says, I don't want you to be ignorant of this mystery. The Bible is an incredible book. I've been studying it for years and years, and I still study it. Consider myself a student of the Bible. And I will never get finished with the Bible, if you will. While I'm still alive and breathing, it's not going, okay, done, finished. I've read it through many times.

But there's always another depth, another level. But, friend, understand that the Bible speaks right to where we are right now. And a lot of times we get this, almost this phobia, this fear about the Bible. And there's actually some movements and some, I don't know if you'd call them denominations or not, that, well, you don't read the Bible, it just confuses you. You can't understand the Bible without proper training.

Well, I'm here to tell you that you can. You can sit with your Bible, you can read it, you can ask the Holy Spirit to reveal you things, and you can understand the Bible and understand what that has to do with your life. William Tyndale, a big part of the Reformation, he wanted everybody to understand the Bible. And one of the Catholic cardinals made an arrogant statement about people not understanding the Bible. And Tyndale said to him, he said, it is my life's calling to make sure that the average person knows more about the Bible than you do. And that led to the printing of the Bible in the English language. Tyndale smuggled the Bible all around England and different places, ended up giving his life. As he was given his life, he prayed a prayer. He said, God, please open the eyes of the King of England.

Within 30 years, Bibles were not only allowed, but being printed in England, in part in answer to Tyndale's prayer. As we look at this, understand there's two timeframes in this verse 25. It says, blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in. So if you will, there's two sequence of events. The Israel people will see plainly that Jesus is the Messiah after the complete number of Gentiles has come in.

I'm going to bring up a graph, and we'll have this available up on the website later today. But here's a timeline or a sequence of end time events here. Now, the first one is the first coming of Christ. We started with that rather than go back to the creation. We have the resurrection, then the ascension.

We have what's referred to as the church age. And then we have the rapture of the church, the seven year tribulation, the second coming of Christ, the millennial or a thousand year reign, and then the final judgment. This is what you would call a pre-tribulation rapture. I'm going to show you today, and look, today you're going to get milk, meat, and the gospel.

Here's what I mean by that. If you don't know Jesus at all, you're going to hear something that can help you. If you've just become a Christian, you're going to find some things that are interesting.

If you've been a Christian for 30 years, you're going to see some stuff that is way cool that perhaps you've never seen before. Now, the rapture of the church, that's a pre-tribulation rapture because the rapture comes before the tribulation. There are some people that believe in what's called a mid-tribulation rapture. That is that the rapture happens in the middle of the tribulation. There's also people who are post-tribulation rapture people and they believe that the tribulation will happen at the end, I mean the rapture will happen at the end of the tribulation.

There's a lot of problems with those two views. In part, because of what this verse says. Because the Bible in this verse says that the blindness of the Jewish people will not be lifted until the fullness of the Gentiles has been completed. Gang, if you believe in a post-tribulation rapture, you have a real problem.

Why? Because there's no time between the fullness of the Gentiles and the Jewish people understanding that Jesus is the Messiah. Hi, this is Pastor David and I want to share something that's on my heart and the solution for a growing problem in all of our communities across the country, down the street, and probably in your own backyard. I'm talking about the issue of homelessness and what sometimes goes with it, substance abuse.

Perhaps you've seen people at street corners and intersections and you're not sure the best way to help. Well, we're now providing food and shelter in our communities to those struggling with these issues and we need your help. Not only are we providing food and shelter, we're sharing Jesus with them, teaching them the Bible and discipleship, helping them with job skills. The needs are overwhelming, but if we all do something, if you do something, we can help so many.

The Bible said we're to be doers of the word, not just hearers. And Jesus said, what you've done to the least of these, you've done for me. Please help us reach these people in our nation, in our communities who are dying every day without our help. Please commit to give monthly or a one-time gift to The Bridge House by going to our website at crossthebridge.com or calling 877-458-5508.

That's 877-458-5508. And together, we can change the world. Now let's return to David McGee's verse-by-verse teaching in the book of Romans. I'm gonna be talking about things today that sound weird. I acknowledge that. But you need to understand, if we were meeting here 150 years ago and I told you that you would be able to own a vehicle that would go 140, 150 miles an hour, 160 some, you'd go, no way. If we'd have met 100 years ago in here and I'd have said, you know, in a matter of time, we're gonna be able to fly four miles, five miles, six miles above the planet and be able to get to Florida, South Florida in a couple of hours, you just thought, that man's crazy. And even stuff that, 20 years ago, if I'd have said, hey, you know what, every computer in the world is gonna be able to be hooked together wirelessly so that we can share information in a matter of a nanosecond, you'd say, no way. Even some of the stuff they're talking about now, I read an article the other day, how this guy's working.

He says, you're not even gonna recognize the internet in another five years because our computers are gonna control every major appliance in our house, possibly maintaining our cars as well. Here's another trippy thing I read the other day and they already have this, they've got a chemical that they derived from crab and shrimp that they have put in the paint finishes of cars that when your car gets scratched, when the sun shines on it, it heals the scratch. That sounds crazy, doesn't it? Well, but some of the stuff that sounded crazy has come to be. And some of the stuff that we're looking at today may sound crazy, but some of it has already come to be.

And we're gonna look at some of these things. And so this timeframe, apparently there's the fullness of the Gentiles, then the Jewish people will see, and some of them are seeing now, we've talked about this, five years ago there was about 100 messianic congregations in Israel, now there's about 150. So this is already starting to happen, but not to the degree that it's gonna be happening during what we refer to as that seven year tribulation period. Look at verse 26 and it says, and so all Israel be saved as it is written, the deliverer will come out of Zion and he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob. The word saved in verse 26 could also be delivered. So all Israel will be delivered.

They will have the chance, the opportunity to believe in Jesus as the Messiah. And let's remember when we refer to Israel, this is referring to the literal Israel and also to those who are the true Israel. And let me, there are people, and interestingly enough, most people who say that the church, and maybe you've been taught this, and it's that the church has replaced Israel. That's called replacement theology. In other words, and people say, well everywhere in the New Testament that you read Israel doesn't apply to Israel, it actually applies to the church.

That's crazy talk. And scripturally it doesn't work, and these people that believe in replacement theology say that God is finished with Israel. And they say that during that seven year tribulation God will not be ministering to Israel. Israel will not be coming to a knowledge of the Messiah. Well there's a lot of problems with that. First of all, in the book of Revelation in chapter seven it talks about 12,000 from the 12 tribes coming to believe in Jesus. Well what do they do with that? Well they say well it's not really talking about Israel. Really it tells you the names of all 12 tribes. Now, replacement theologians were having an easier time before May 14th, 1948. Because the other thing, they say God's finished with Israel they'll never be back in the land, they'll never have their own land, they'll never be another country Israel. Uh oh.

Got a problem now don't we? Because May 14th, 1948 Israel became a nation. And that's one of the interesting questions when I talk to a replacement theologian I say well wait a minute, so does Israel still exist? Well, well, and they stumble with that because they don't want to admit that Israel exists because if they admit that Israel exists then potentially it could be talking about Israel here.

Replacement theologians tend to be post-tribulation rapture people. Because they believe that God is finished with Israel. Now I don't know yet really how do you read Romans 11 the whole chapter and think that God is finished with Israel?

Because in the Romans 11 says he is not finished with Israel. And it's all again be careful when you're like no I believe this and I don't care what the Bible says. Be careful.

Be careful. Romans 9 6 says but it is not that the word of God has taken no effect for they are not all Israel who are of Israel. So in other words there's a remnant of truly spiritual people in Israel and they will come to the Messiah. And let's remember that this promise to put Israel back in the land extended to the present day. And the covenant with Abraham and David extend to today. Micah chapter 4 verse 7 says I will make the lame a remnant and the outcast a strong nation so the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion from now on even forever. Now who's that talking about Mount Zion? It's obviously talking about Israel. And notice the time frame from now on even forever.

Forever. They can talk about in Iran how they're going to wipe Israel off the map. According to the Bible it's not going to happen. It doesn't matter what they do what they say what they throw at them.

Israel is there for the duration. Verse 27 for this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins. Look at verse 28. Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake.

But concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. See God still has a place in his heart for the Jewish people. Now that doesn't so many Christians they get insecure and they think well if God still loves Israel that means he doesn't love me as much.

No he loves you. Let's remember prophetically this announcement that Messiah was coming Jesus was coming was originally to the Jewish people. That when we look in the book of Matthew, Mark and Luke and John over and over to the Jewish people. And then we see in the book of Acts it was extended to the Gentiles.

Now I'm grateful that it was extended to us. And the New Living Translation is verse 28 says many of the Jews are now enemies of the good news but this has been to your benefit for God has given his gifts to you Gentiles. Yet the Jews are still his chosen people because of his promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Don't feel insecure about that because we've looked at the passages that said that we can be heirs to the promises of Abraham. And let that represent to you that even though sometimes we get off track even sometimes we mess up God will still extend himself towards us.

Even as we see historically as he does and has with the Jewish people. Guys we need to understand the Bible. I understand that the stuff I'm talking about today some of you are like well I've never heard this and really that's in there I didn't know that was in there. The reason you're not aware that it's not maybe you've been in churches for years and they hadn't heard this stuff.

Why is that? Perhaps because you've not been exposed to this verse by verse type teaching. See when you do verse by verse teaching I run across some hard stuff today I mean I understand somebody going are you serious?

I mean I'm sure that it would be more politically correct and whatnot to be talking about other things. But see I have a passion to communicate the word of God. We take and you probably noticed by now that we take a lot of time to teach the Bible. That's the main emphasis here.

Why is that? Because as we teach the Bible a couple things happen. First of all those who don't know God and don't understand God loves them are drawn to God to accept him as their savior. And the next thing that happens is Christians grow. So many hundreds of people said you know what I've learned more here in six months than I did in 10 years at other places.

Why? Because we're focused on the Bible and if there's a 60 minute service and you say that your focus is on the Bible but the sermon is 10 minutes I'm sorry your actions speak differently. Second Timothy chapter 4 verse 1 says I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who will judge the living and the dead and is appearing in his kingdom preach the word. Be ready in season out of season convince rebuke exhort and long suffering and teaching for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but according to their own desires because they have itching ears they will heap up for themselves teachers.

Old Hebrew scripture reference Amos chapter 8 verse 11 says behold the days are coming says the Lord God that I will send a famine on the land not a famine of bread not a thirst for water but of hearing the words of the Lord. I don't even know if this one needs comment because as you look around the world today and the church world today there's a lot of churches that don't teach the word. That's a sad fact I'm not church bashing gang. There's a lot of wonderful churches out there and I love some of the pastors out there but a lot of them are not focused on the word of God. I heard one leading Christian pastor say the time for biblical verse by verse teaching is gone. There's whole denominations now that say this is not the word of God. The resurrection wasn't literal that Jesus never claimed to be God. So this thing of this falling away and this abandon to teach the word has already happened.

It's happening now. There's verses that point out I believe this preacher revelation rapture I'll point out a couple. First Thessalonians 5 9 says for God did not appoint us to wrath but to attain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

This time the seven year period is referred to as a time of wrath. First Thessalonians 5 9 says for God decided to save us through our Lord Jesus Christ not to pour out his anger on us. We see the book of Revelation that's a time of anger and judgment from God. Revelation 3 verse 10 says because you have kept my command to persevere I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth.

First Thessalonians 4 15 I understand I'm moving fast but I got to. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep for the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout and the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God and the dead Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be called up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and thus we shall always be with the Lord.

Therefore comfort one another with these words. The rapture of the church is when the people are called up in the clouds to meet the Lord. That second coming of Christ is when Jesus comes to the Mount of Olives and his feet touch ground and then you have the Battle of Armageddon. Those are two separate events. When you try to marry those events what you end up with is at the end of the tribulation everybody going up to meet in the clouds and then mainly coming back down. It makes no sense and it is against some of the scriptures that we're looking at today. Friend do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short simple prayer simply telling God you're sorry and asking him to help you to live for him. Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus I believe you died for me that I could be forgiven and I believe you were raised from the dead that I could have a new life and I've done wrong things. I have sinned and I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things. Please give me the power to live for you all of my days in Jesus name.

Amen. Friend if you prayed that prayer according to the Bible you've been forgiven you've been born again so congratulations friend you just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If this was your first time praying that prayer with Pastor David we would love to hear from you. You can call us toll free at 877-458-5508 to receive our first steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Jesus. Also if you have been blessed by the ministry of Cross the Bridge and David McGee would you consider supporting us with a financial gift? This month when you give to Cross the Bridge we will send David's powerful booklet on biblical fatherhood entitled A Father's Blessing. The number to call is 877-458-5508 that's 877-458-5508 or go online to crossthebridge.com. While you're there make sure to sign up for David's email devotional and begin receiving daily inspiration in your inbox. That website again is crossthebridge.com. Thanks for listening today. We pray you will join us next time as we cross the bridge.