WWW Be Right (15)
First B Jackson
2015-10-21

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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It's in your holy mighty name, Yeshua Hamashiach, Jesus, the anointed one. It's in your name alone that we pray. Amen.

Amen. Thanks, ladies. Good morning. Well, I am so happy to be with you. You're so far away.

I've been sick, but I'm not contagious. I promise. So this morning, if you wanna open your Bibles, we're going to be unpacking Romans chapter 10 and last week Carolyn shared with us Romans chapter nine and I love some of the things that she said. I love everything she said but I can't share with you her whole lesson again but just, going back to last week when Carolyn said that Paul was receiving many objections from the Jews but the main objection was this, that the new gospel of faith righteousness replaced Jewish law righteousness and opened the door of salvation for the Gentiles. And she said the Jewish covenants and privileges seem to have been abolished.

But had the word of God failed? Paul says, no. It absolutely did not fail. And I love, Caroline, how you said that Israel, one of the meanings of Israel is governed by God. Isn't that awesome?

Governed by God. And she went on to say that Paul said Paul was crying out to his fellow brothers and sisters, to his Jewish people. He was saying, I really want you guys to get this. You're not getting it. That's really what Romans nine last week, Romans 10 this week, and next week are about.

He's he's really calling them and saying, I want you to understand what this new covenant means, what Jesus means because I don't think you're you're really getting it. And Paul was saying, just because you're born from the seed of Abraham doesn't mean that you're born from the seed of promise. That choice is up to you. And I like how she said, with Christians today, especially in America, Just because I'm an American doesn't mean I'm a Christian. Just because I go to church or was raised in a Christian family doesn't mean I'm a Christian.

And ladies, I think this chapter is so unbelievably relevant to the times we live in because Paul's really getting to the heart of what it means to be a Christian, to be a child of the promise, to follow Christ. And it's might surprise you because it's not being part of a certain culture or a certain church or even doing your Bible study Warren Risbee homework as tedious as that might be for some of you. I know we've heard that you're not crazy about the book so we are going to reevaluate that just to let you know. But Warren is solid on doctrine and his questions are great. But this chapter Paul's like, this is one of the most important chapters in the whole Bible, I think.

I hope you agree with me as we start to unpack it. Lord, we just ask that you bless your word. It is so powerful, Lord, and life changing and hope filled and peace filled. Thank you for this amazing word you've given us this morning, and may every one of us leave knowing you a little bit better and falling in love with you a little bit more. Okay.

So verse one, Paul, you can just hear his grievous heart. He says, brothers and sisters, my heart's desire and prayer to God for you the Israelites is that you may be saved. That's what it's all about. He says, I can testify about you that you are zealous for God, but your zeal is not based on knowledge. Since you do not know the righteousness of God and seek to establish your own righteousness, and he gets to the heart of being saved, you do not submit to God's righteousness.

So what is Paul saying here? Paul was a zealous man. He got their zeal. But he's saying your zeal is based on a knowledge that's not from the Lord. That Greek word for knowledge is divine knowledge, what God says is right, not what you and I say are right.

And it is so easy for us to kinda get off track here. That's why legalism is still a problem two thousand years later because we wanna do it our way. We wanna do what we think is righteous before God. What I think you're gonna say, oh, that's good what Deborah's doing. And Paul's like, that is not a knowledge based on what Jesus himself says is right.

Paul says, this is really a moral issue when you get right down to it. It's a moral issue of submitting to God's righteous ways. And I just wonder, like, if someone were to ask you, what do you think is the most important thing you could do as a believer in Christ? What would you say? I wonder if we were to ask all who say they are Christians in America, what is the most important thing?

Would people say to practice communion, to be baptized, to go to church? Paul says the most important thing is submit to God's righteousness. And what is his righteousness? We've been learning. Just to say, I trust you, Lord.

I believe you. I don't get it, but I'm gonna cross that line and say, I trust you, Jesus. I believe you. You're gonna be the Lord of my life. That's what Paul's saying, and he's saying, Jewish brothers and sisters, cross that line.

It's no longer about all the rituals that you perform. Those may be good, but it's really about crossing that line saying, your Lord, your master, I trust you. The main issue in this chapter and last week and next week, over and over is what went wrong with Israel. It was their Messiah too. Jesus was Jewish.

What went wrong? And you know what? Who cares about Israel? We're in the year of our Lord 2015 in Jackson, Wyoming. Why should you and I care about Israel?

Why? Do you know why? Do you know why we should care? John Piper says it this way. He says, By God's design, Israel is the historical theater where the drama of every human soul is played out.

What goes on inside you and you and you and me spiritually and every person on this earth has gone on historically in Israel. And you know what? In God's grace, He wrote it down for us and He saved it and preserved it for us. You wanna know what your human condition is? You wanna know what the heck you're here for and what this world is about, then read the Old Testament because that is your story and it's my story, it's the human story.

That is why the New Testament church, realizing that Jesus was the answer did not discard the Old Testament. They said, this is really important. It's almost like the Old Testament was that unshakable, unmovable foundation and Jesus is the way we're supposed to build the house of our lives. But how strong is a house without a strong foundation? It's not very strong.

We need the Old Testament. You know, sometimes it's hard to read God's Word straight up. You know, if you don't have a lot of commentaries to explain it to you and great teachers to unpack it for you, it's hard. One thing that I would highly recommend for you, there's a whole series of books by this lady Lynn Austin and this is the first one, it's called Gods and Kings. There's a whole series and she starts with King Hezekiah.

This lady is an amazing researcher. These books are written in novel format, so she does take some liberty. But with her historical research and biblical foundation, you get such a great visual of so many of the Old Testament kings and prophets and why it's important for us today. And they're fun to read. You once you start, you can't stop.

Guarantee it. I think there's eight books in this series, but I highly recommend them because the Old Testament is important for us. Israel is important for us. I'm gonna close with some exciting things that are happening in Israel. So Paul goes on in verse four to say, Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

He wrote in verse five, Moses writes about this righteousness that is by the law, the person who does these things will live by them. You know, Paul saying, hey, buddy, fellow Jewish follower of God. Jesus is the answer. He was the goal of the law the whole way through. He he is the law.

He is flesh and blood. He is what it was all about. The law was incredibly important and we see today in our great country of America how people are just turning from God's law. Remember we talked about the moral law never changes. What God wrote for people that was good for them to protect them and keep them safe is still good for us today.

Charles Spurgeon says, Christ did not come to make the law milder or to render it possible for our cracked and battered obedience to be accepted as a sort of compromise. The law is not compelled to lower its terms as though it had originally asked too much. It's holy and just and good and it ought not to be altered in one jot or tittle nor can it be. Paul's saying, that moral law, that still applies to you and it still applies to us today. It doesn't matter if the culture and society says, that's old fashioned, we don't need to do that anymore.

Sex before marriage, I mean, really? Who believes in that? Well, of course Hollywood believes in that. Hollywood doesn't follow God's ways. Congress is even turning from God's ways, but God's ways don't change.

They never have changed. Paul goes on in verse six through eight, just further driving how important the Old Testament is, he's actually quoting the law from Deuteronomy in verses six through eight. He's quoting Deuteronomy 3zero 11 through 14. Now this verse might hurt your head a little. Just an initial reading, was like, well, that was about as clear as mud.

But we're gonna unpack it together and you're gonna say, wow, I get it because it's pretty amazing. Okay. Paul says in verse six, but that is what the scriptures say about being made right through faith. Again, he's saying, how are we right with God? It's not about what we do.

It's a heart condition by believing. He's saying, don't say to yourself, who will go up to heaven? That means, who will go up to heaven to get Christ and bring him down to earth? And don't say to yourself, who will go down to the world below? That means who will go down to get Christ and bring him up from death?

This is what the scriptures say. God's teaching is near you. It is in your mouth. It is in your heart. It is the teaching of faith that we tell people.

Okay. Is that clear? What is Paul saying, guys? You know what he's saying? Right out of the gate.

He's like, let me just lay this down for you. You honestly think that you can do something to be right before God? This is what God did. He brought His son, Jesus, God to earth in flesh and blood. He died on the cross and then he was dead and God brought him back to life.

You think you can do that? We all know as humans, we don't have the power to do that. We don't have the power to be right with God. We don't have the power. Can any of us go to heaven and say, Jesus, come back with me to earth?

We know we can't do that. Paul's like, let me put this in perspective for you. And you know, we all know that death on earth, that's it. That's final. Do we ever think, I'm gonna go to that funeral and bring that person back to life?

We know we can't do that. And Paul is saying, God did something so extraordinary just to make sure that you know that you cannot make things right. You cannot take control of this situation. God could only do something like this, and he did it in front of hundreds of witnesses to show you his right way, to show you the right way that God wants for us. There's nothing we can do that compares to that.

Christ is the goal. It's all about Jesus and believing in him. Paul's like, that's all it is. Don't try to make it something else. Don't try to add to it.

That's all it is. And what did that mean Moses writes about this righteousness that is by the law? The person who does these things will live by them. I love how the message explains that. It just drives this point further home.

The message says, Moses wrote that anyone who insists on using the law to live right before God is soon gonna discover how difficult that life will be. He's saying, but trusting God to shape the right living in us is a different story. It's a word of faith that welcomes God to go to work in me and set things right. It's the word that says with your mouth, Jesus, you are my Lord. I'm not in control.

You are my Lord. And he goes on to say in verse nine, if you declare or confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. Okay. So what's Paul saying here?

He's saying, you have to confess with your mouth what's in your heart because confession, and we know this, is a way of saying I agree with you. What does amen mean when we end our prayers and we all say amen? Do you know what we're saying? Yes, Lord, I agree with that prayer. Amen.

So be it. Amen. That's what that means. When Julia was really little, she went through this funniest stage. Of course, whatever big brother Grayson said, that was the law in our house.

And she would confess with her mouth, her agreement with him and repeat everything he said. He would say, Julia, do you wanna go swimming? And she would say, go swimming. And he would say, Jules, it's time to take our bath. And she would say, time to take our bath.

And I thought, this is the funniest thing. Like, why is she doing that? I mean, if he would have said, Jules, let's go jump off the roof. She would have said, let's go jump off the roof. But it was her way of saying, I'm right behind you, Grayson.

Whatever you say, I'm doing and I'm in agreement with. And that's what Paul's saying here. God wants us to believe so much that God is the boss and he is a good one that we're just gonna follow Him and confess with our mouth that He is the Lord. He is the leader. You know, and why why does Paul say the heart and the mouth?

Because it's all about the heart and the mouth. Luke six forty five says, out of the overflow of the heart, what? The mouth speaks. It is with the heart that we believe. But what's the evidence of what we believe?

It comes out of our mouth. Remember when we talked about the craftsman who, you know, when he heats up the gold, like when we go through a fiery trial, it's God's way of showing us what's in there because the dross, the junk will come out. The doubts will come out of my mouth. The questions. And God wants me to be like that craftsman and wipe it off and say, no more, Lord.

I'm gonna choose to trust you. Thank you for showing me that doubt, but now I'm gonna confess with my mouth, I trust you. You've got a plan here. I'm going with your plan. You know, in the early church, public confession really came at a cost.

People, when they became Christians, it wasn't like today. Oh, yeah, I go to church when I'm in the mood. Yeah, I read my Bible when I'm in the mood. To confess with your mouth that you were a believer in the early church for sure meant discrimination and usually persecution. And that's why the early church started with a public confession of baptism.

It's part of our spiritual journey. God calls us to be baptized. And I was thinking about how gracious he is. Because when we're baptized, what do we do? We confess our faith that we're following Christ, but in a safe circle.

It's with our brothers and sisters. But Matthew tells us a person follows baptism with growing in the teachings of Christ and taking that message to others. Paul is saying that confession with your mouth is really important for your spiritual growth. First, you start in a safe place with baptism. And if any one of you have not been baptized and publicly confessed your faith, I would encourage you to take that step.

It's really important for your spiritual growth. But from there, Paul says, if you really have Jesus in your heart, you are gonna share him with others because the world needs to hear the hope that you have within you. It's part of our journey and it's very important. Verse 11 says, anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile. The same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him.

For everyone who calls in the name of the Lord will be saved. So what do you think Paul's saying there? Just call on the name of the Lord and be saved? Is it one of those just flippant, yeah, I'll call in the name of the Lord. No.

You know, this is why we study scripture. The Bible is like this beautiful big onion and it has all these layers. And even within this chapter, there are so many layers. We don't even have time to touch on it today. But this layer is very important for us today because I think God is calling those who really want to follow him, to stand up, to no longer be that person that people go, I'm not sure she's a Christian.

I mean, she goes to church, but I don't see the fruit of the spirit at work. She's doesn't forgive people. She holds grudges. She's always angry and stressed. There's no peace or hope.

God is calling us to go a level deeper. It's so much more than just calling on his name. How do we know that, guys? We know that from Luke because we know that Satan himself witnessed Jesus resurrected. Is he saved?

I don't think so. He believes Jesus came, died and was resurrected. How do we know that? Even his followers, the demons confessed with their mouth that Jesus was Lord. In Luke chapter four, Jesus cast out a demon and you know what the demon said to him?

I know who you are, the holy one of God. Is he saved? I don't think so. Again, in Luke chapter four verse 41, another demon said, you are the son of God. And again, what have you to do with me, Jesus, son of the most high in Luke eight twenty eight?

So what is Paul saying here? Paul's saying, it's it's not just that. It always goes back to that word from verse eight when Paul said, God's teachings is near you, it's in your mouth, it's in your heart, it is the teaching of faith that we tell people. And if you look up that word faith, it means a conviction of truth, not of knowledge that Paul was talking about in verse one. Oh yes, I can know doctrine left and right.

I was just talking to a gentleman who knows the Bible like no other, and he got so angry with me because he told me a story of his family member that made a mistake and I looked at him and I said, well, she acted like that because she was afraid. And he said, I'll never talk to her again. I'm done with her. And I was like, but you're a Christian. You know you have to forgive her and she's part of your family.

And you know what he said to me? You're judging me. How dare you judge me? And I said, well, you know what God says about judging? The measure I use is the measure that will be used against me, and I'm okay with God using that measure against me because I know he wants me to forgive, and I try to forgive.

It was the most bizarre conversation. I'm like, this guy knows so much doctrine. But where is the faith in God? Where's the trust in God that God will take care of the situation? That he doesn't need to make her right by punishing her with a grudge.

That's what Paul's saying, that the key to faith is the conviction of the truth, respecting the relationship that God explains, is centered on this just crazy trust. This crazy trust in Him. You know, it's so interesting that Paul in that verse says that you have to believe that God raised Him from the dead. What is he really getting to? Yes, Jesus died to save us from our sins, but what was the heart of that resurrection?

What was God really telling us there? Do you know what he was telling us? He was saying, that power that raised Jesus is with you. Emmanuel, God with you. And he was saying, from now on, I am for you, for you, for you, for you, for you.

I've got your back. I'm with you. I'm for you. I'm for you. I'm for you.

I'm for you. Do do you believe in your heart that God is for you? I mean, 100%. You know, if you don't, start saying it with your mouth. God is for me.

He is for me. He is for me. Emmanuel is with me. He is with me. He is with me.

John Piper says the resurrection is the promise of God that all who trust Jesus will be the beneficiaries of God's power to lead me through this crazy life, to lead me through the valley of doubt, to lead me through the sin that's rampant in my world, to lead me through hardship, and then one day to lead me through the valley of the shadow of death. That is the power of the resurrection. That's what the resurrection means. I trust that you are for me. You are for me.

You are for me. That power is for me. Can I just tell you the Lord has been teaching me this in a powerful way? 2015 has been the most challenging year. Starts out with an accident in our home resulting in a death.

How awful! How grievous! Then I get some crazy lung infection that put me on my back last week in the hospital. I could not breathe. I've never been sick.

The doctor is like, alright, we're going to pump you. I was telling Laura I feel like one of those chickens from Costco. I'm just pumped full of steroids and antibiotics. But praise God I'm breathing. I break my knee.

I'm just like, Lord. And now we're in this awful, ugly lawsuit where everything could change. Everything. And you know what the Lord keeps telling me? I am for you.

I am for you. I am for you. Don't move forward based on your feelings. Move forward based on what I tell you, Deborah. I am for you.

I am for you. I am for you. God's will be done. Thy kingdom come. I wanna share some promises that have really ministered to me.

And you know how gracious God is, you all? There are 613 laws in the Torah. Do you know how many promises he has for us? Over 7,000. Wow.

How amazing is he? I'm gonna just share some of my favorites with you because I maybe you need to hear him today as much as I do. Deuteronomy four twenty nine. God promises me, if I search him, I will find him. He is not a hard to get, hard to find kind of God.

He doesn't play hide and seek with me. He wants me to find him. Deuteronomy four twenty nine. Deuteronomy four seven. God is near me when I pray to him.

God is near me when I pray to him. Don't go to that place where you turn to other things, where you just bite your nails and walk the floor all night. I refuse to do that. I'm like, no, Lord, You hear my prayer. You're right here with me.

Here you go. Whatever you're doing, I'm gonna trust you with it. All glory to God. And what is our greatest mission, ladies? Our greatest mission is to submit to whatever calling he has on us because he's working good.

Psalm one twenty one, awesome Psalm. God promised protection for his children. He was the vigilant watchman over Israel. He'll be the vigilant watchman over you and me. Psalm one one through three, God promised blessings for all who delight themselves in his word.

Okay. You and I can all do that. Open a psalm. If the Bible's too much for you to take in right now, just commit to reading one psalm and one proverb every day. And what does God tell you?

He promises blessings for you. Romans eight twenty eight, of course, an all time favorite, that God is working things out for good. This is the broader picture of any circumstance. It's what keeps us moving forward in hope. God is moving.

He's working good. It doesn't feel good. Doesn't look good. But I trust that he is moving good. He is working good.

Second Corinthians one three through four, God promises to comfort us in our trials. Hallelujah. God promises to comfort us in our trials. Second Corinthians five seventeen, God promises me a new life. Remember what Becca said that week, we're in a different path now.

I'm on his path. My life has a different trajectory and He is there with me. I've got all these promises. God is for me, He is for me, He is for me. Emmanuel, God is with me and He is working good.

I'm different now than before I put my trust in him. Philippians one:six, God promises to finish the work he started in us. God doesn't do things halfway. He will complete the good work, He says, that He began in you and me. Oh, I love that.

Philippians four:six through seven, God promise promises me peace when I pray. And you're not gonna get this peace anywhere else. You think you're gonna get this peace from a glass of wine? No. You think you're gonna get this peace by calling someone on the phone?

No. This is a peace that He says will guard your heart and your mind. This is a peace that only God gives when I give it to Him. Matthew six thirty three, God promises to supply my every needs. I don't need to worry.

Take everything. God's gonna supply my needs. I mean, for heaven's sake, if he cares about an insignificant bird, sorry, Diane, I know Diane loves her birds, but a sparrow, how much more does He care about you and you made in His own image knit from His hands? I don't need to worry. No worry.

Jesus promises us abundant life. How many Christians do you know? How many would you say are living that rich, abundant life? How many are walking in joy? How many are walking in peace and confidence?

How many? Why not? It's there for us to take. And finally, just I love this promise. John fourteen two through three, he's coming back to get us.

He promises his return. Either I'm gonna cross over and be with him now or he's coming back in a glorious day of rapture. Hallelujah. And you know what? God's not a bluffer, guys.

He's not a bluffer. You know, he says there's a great day awaiting us. Everything's gonna be okay. No matter what, someday, it's gonna be okay. So the message Paul is really saying of the law is the same message of Christ.

This is how Jesus put it. He said to you teachers of Israel, you search the scriptures because you think in them you have eternal life and it is they that bear witness to me. Yet you refuse to just come to me. You refuse to have life. If you really believed Moses, you would believe me because Moses wrote about me.

Wow. Wow. Verse 11, Paul says, everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. And you know what? In this day, we may be put to shame.

So what is Paul saying? You know, you may not be invited to certain places once people know you're a real follower of Christ. You may you may suffer discrimination at the Thanksgiving table with some family members. You may live it every day with an unbelieving husband. Been there, done that.

Okay. So what is Paul saying? Well, we go back to what Jesus said. Jesus said, God blesses you when people mock you, persecute you, lie about you, and say evil things about you because you are my followers. In other words, when people try to shame you, don't worry, God blesses you.

He does bless you. He goes on to say, Be happy about it. Be very glad because a great reward awaits you in heaven. Did you get that? A great reward awaits you.

Don't give up. Press on. No matter what, press on. Don't get distracted. You press on.

Remember, the ancient prophets, this is why we need to read the Old Testament, they suffered a lot too. I mean, Isaiah was sawed in half, and he didn't do anything wrong. He followed the heart, the Lord with all his heart, soul, and mind, and strength. And in the end, he was sawed in half. But you know what?

The angels were right there with him. I know that as sure as I'm standing here. They were saying, don't worry, Isaiah. You're coming home right now. And his reward is so incredible.

You think he cares about being sawed in half? Heck no. I think if he could come down here right now, he'd say, hang in there, press on. It's amazing. It's so worth it.

Verse 14, Paul says, how then can they call on the one they have not believed in? How can they believe in the one whom they have not heard? How can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they're sent? Because it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.' Again, Paul's saying, what's really in your heart?

Oh my gosh. Share it. Share it. People need to hear some hope. People need to hear there's an answer.

People need to know who they are, and they are never gonna find it outside of God's word because he tells us who we are. He tells us, I knit you together with a plan and a purpose. How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news. You know, I heard a pastor in Moody Radio, and I totally agree with him. He said, It is really pretty incredible that America is still being blessed when we have done such grievous things before the Lord?

And he said, I think probably the main reason that we're still safe, we still worship freely, is because like no other country, we still send people out to share Jesus. We still send missionaries out to share Jesus. I personally could not be in a church that did not support a lot of missions programs. It is very important to the Lord. I'm gonna just pull out a few key things from the end of the chapter.

Verse 16, Paul again is going back to his beloved Jews. He's saying, not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our message? I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me. But regarding Israel, God said, all day long, I opened my arms to them.

I'm gonna come back to that, but first I wanna say, can you imagine how excited Gentiles were? Remember Gentiles were just anyone who wasn't a Jew. They knew they were very immoral. They knew they were pagan. They knew they didn't have hope.

They knew their lives were empty and they saw these Jewish people worshiping one God. And it was very hard for them to go over to that one God because the Jewish customs were so foreign to them. Can you imagine when Paul's saying to them, this message is for you too. Let me share some of their excitement. This is when Paul and Barnabas were in Antioch.

This is from Acts thirteen forty six through 48. Paul and Barnabas spoke to them. That's the Gentiles. It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first, Israel, since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy for eternal life. We're now going to turn to the Gentiles.

For so the Lord has commanded us saying, I have made you a light for the Gentiles that you may bring bring salvation to the ends of the earth. And when the Gentiles heard this, what did they do? They began rejoicing and glorifying the word of God. They began turning to the word of God and saying, wow. It's like Jeremiah fifteen sixteen, one of my favorite verses.

Jeremiah says, I discovered your word and I devoured it because it was so delicious. And the Gentiles were like, this is giving us hope. Yeah, we want eternal life. And the Gentiles turned to it. But going back to Israel, is God still wooing them?

Oh my gosh. We live in the most exciting time, y'all. There are things happening that have never happened before. There's this amazing article, you guys know who Joel Rosenberg is? Awesome novels too that he writes because he does a ton of research as well.

And my husband just plows through every novel he writes. You learn so much. But Joel Rosenberg says for the first time, starting last September 2014 on Yom Kippur, the most, the highest holy day on the Jewish calendar, Jewish people are starting to research, really, who was this Jesus. They're starting to research what Paul was saying. He said the the fact that they started in Yom Kippur is so significant because what is Yom Kippur?

It's that one day, once a year, when the high priest would go into the Most Holy Place and ask for forgiveness for himself and for the whole nation of Israel. It was called the day of atonement. What does atonement mean? Atonement, this is how I remember atonement, at one ment. I'm not at one with God when I sin because I've broken that intimacy.

I'm still his child, but I've broken the ability to hear him now because I sent atonement at one ment. How are the Jewish people at one with God if they can't sacrifice on that one day? Because we know the temple was destroyed, right? Well, he says suddenly they're searching for those answers. And the reason Yom Kippur is so significant is because of its meaning.

Leviticus, I'm gonna share two verses, one from the old, one from the new. Leviticus seventeen eleven, Hebrews nine twenty two. For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar. It is the blood that makes atonement for one's life. In Hebrews nine twenty two, in fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood.

And without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. Remember Romans three twenty three, for all sin and fall short of the glory of God, and the wages of sin is death. So how do we bring life? Life is in the blood. If you and I get a serious cut in our that main vein, we die because our blood drains out.

Life is in the blood. Jesus was that blood. And they're starting to see that. They're starting to see that when they read Daniel chapter nine, just check out these four prophecies from Daniel nine. Daniel wrote to them.

He said, someday, the Messiah, the anointed one, Yeshua, will come to us. Daniel wrote, when he comes, his purpose would be to atone to atone for wickedness and to bring in everlasting righteousness. Daniel wrote, but then the Messiah would be cut off. And after the Messiah was cut off, Daniel wrote, Jerusalem and the temple would be destroyed. In seventy AD, after Jesus was back up in heaven, Titus and his crew marched into Israel and completely destroyed Jerusalem and completely destroyed the temple.

No more day of atonement. No more sacrifice. Everything that Daniel said happened exactly like he said it would. Can we trust God's word? Oh, yes.

We can trust God's word. Jesus brought a new deal between God and me, a new covenant, a new testament. What's very exciting is how God doesn't give up on anyone, even his own chosen people, originally the Jews. Do you know that in 1973, there were an estimated 2,000 Jewish believers on this earth? Today, there's over 300,000.

Today, 900,000 Hebrew speakers have gone online to watch videos of Yeshua. Okay. That is so significant because there's only an estimated 7,000,000 Hebrew speakers in the world. So one in seven one in seven have exposed themselves to the truth. Wow.

Guys, Aslan is on the move. I wanna be part of it, don't you? I wanna be part of it. He is calling out, even Muslims are having dreams and visions. And then people who go and share Jesus, the feet that go, they're like, yes, we've heard about him in our dreams.

It's incredible what's happening. These are exciting times, but we have to give the Lord our hearts. And you know, out of the heart, we'll start sharing him naturally. It won't be a weird, awkward thing. God will just open the door and you'll walk away and go, wow, that was so easy.

But you have to open his word and say, no matter what, you're with me, you're with me, you're with me, you're for me, you're for me. I trust you, Jesus. Lord, wow. Your word is just it's so life giving, Lord. It's so hope filled.

Thank you that we can have confidence in you. Thank you that we're just not floundering about, tossed here and there by empty philosophies and hopeless circumstances in this world. No matter what happens in this world, you are the rock on which we stand. And thank you that you are the king of kings and the Lord of lords. Thank you for your word, lord.

Help every one of us to trust you more and to confess you more everywhere we go. In Jesus' holy name, amen.