Well, we say shalom to you, my dear friends and dear brothers and sisters. We want to welcome you to the Bible classes of the Holy Scriptures and Israel. As we study together from the Word of God, we are so blessed to study the Book of Romans, very important book, a letter that the Apostle Shaul Paul wrote to the early believers in the city of Rome. We have arrived to Romans chapter eleven. Hopefully you have a Bible available.

I would like you to turn to Romans chapter eleven. We'll begin to read in this meeting today from, actually from verse seven, where we have stopped in our previous meeting together. Let's pray first and ask the Lord to bless the meeting as the reading of his word, so we will all be encouraged by the word of God. So Our God and our, Father, we want to thank you for your word. Bless us, bless your word as we read it. We pray in the name of Yeshua, our Messiah, we pray. Amen. Amen. So I'm reading from Romans chapter eleven and verse seven to twenty-four. Paul continues To write to the Roman believers concerning the nation of Israel, he says in verse seven, What then? Israel has not obtained that which he seeketh for, but the election has obtained it, and the rest were blinded. According as it is written, God has given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear unto this day.

And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling block, and recompense unto them. Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway. Verse eleven. I say then, have they stumbled, that they should fall, God forbid. But rather through their fall, salvation is come unto the Gentiles for to provoke them to jealousy. Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fullness. For I speak to you, Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify my office, if by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them, for if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, What shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead?

For if the first fruit be holy, the lump is also holy. And if the root be holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou being a wild olive tree were grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and the fatness of the olive tree, boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, the branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. Well, because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear, for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare thee not. Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of God on them which fell, severity. But toward thee goodness, if thou continue in his goodness, otherwise thou also shall be cut off.

And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, and shall, and be graft in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if thou were cut out, out, cut out of, the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree, how much more shall these which be the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree? And I'm going to stop here, beloved friends and dear brothers and sisters, with this very, interesting portion of Romans, chapter, eleven. Just to make a point once again, that Romans chapter 11 deal with the sovereignty of God in relationship to the people of Israel. You see, beloved brothers and sisters, this book of Romans present before us these five S's, sin, salvation, sanctification, sovereignty, and service.

Sin, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Salvation it is because of the work of the Lord Jesus the Messiah, we were saved on the basis of His finished work when He died for us on the tree. Sovereignty is coming now after the thought of sanctification, because in chapter 6, 7, and 8, we are called to live a sanctified life. Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. And we are now in this fourth section of Romans chapter eleven, and this is the thought of the sovereignty of God in relationship to Israel. Romans chapter nine, Israel, past privileges. Romans chapter ten, Israel, present problem. And Romans chapter eleven, Israel, future prospect. And so we have entered into this eleven, chapter, which is extremely an interesting chapter.

Now you notice that chapter eleven, the apostle Paul is presenting before the Roman believers five witnesses to prove to the Roman believers concerning Israel's future regeneration. Because if you remember, he began the eleventh chapter. I say then, verse one, has God cast away his people? And immediately he says, God forbid, for I am also an Israeli, and I am of the seed of Abraham, and I am of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away his people which he foreknew.

So he presenting before the Romans believers, the Christians, the Roman Christians, that the Lord did not finish with the nation of Israel, and although Israel as a nation hasn't come to faith nationally in the Lord Jesus the Messiah during this present day of the church age, yet there is a day when God is going to restore Israel nationally. The whole nation.

This is verse 25 and 26, and all Israel shall be saved, verse 26a of our chapter. But he's explaining to them Israel's glorious future of restoration to the Lord, and ultimately the blessing will be fulfilled that God had promised the nation of Israel, although as a nation they have not come to faith in a Messiah during these days of the church age as a nation, he's making sure to convey to the Roman believers that Israel has yet a future in accordance with the promises of God. So he's bringing these five witnesses. We really covered the first two witnesses, almost finished the first two witnesses. The first witness is the Apostle Paul, who says of himself, he says, God forbid, for I am an Israeli. I am of the tribe of the, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God does not cast away his people whom he foreknew. Verses one and two.

Then from verse two B to verse ten, he presents the second witness, and the second witness is Eliyahu Hanavi, Elijah the prophet. And we have read concerning Elijah the prophet already in the first, from verse two B to verse, actually to verse seven in our previous meeting, where we read, don't you know what the scripture says of Elijah, verse two B, how he makes intercession to God against Israel saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophet, they have digged down thine altars, and I am left alone, and they seek my life. Elijah was praying against Israel.

Says, no, no, Lord, look, they have done this, that, and the other. They have killed the prophet, they have dug down the altars, and I am left alone. But then Paul reminded them, what say is the answer of God unto him, unto Elijah, in verse four? God said to Elijah, Elijah, don't you think that you are the only one from among the nation of Israel that is standing for God in difficult days, in a time when Israel have gone astray as a nation? Look, he said, the answer was in verse four, I have reserved to myself seven thousand men. He's a Jewish, Israeli, Hebrew men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. That was happened historically, beloved brothers and sisters, when Israel was divided and the northern kingdom have turned against God and have gone astray and have followed after idols, yet God always maintain a people, a remnant from among the nation of Israel for himself in every generation.

And then he's telling him in verse five, even so, just like in the day of Eliyahu HaNavi, Elijah the prophet, also today in the present day of the church age, verse five, even so then at this present time, the church age, the assembly age, also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And these are remnant according to the election of grace are Jewish believers in Yeshua HaMashiach during this present church age. Although the rest of the nation of Israel has not yet come to know the Lord Jesus the Messiah, but since the foundation of the church, which was entirely Jewish until today, for the last two thousand years, there is a remnant.

According to the election of grace, they are called, according to Galatians 6 16, the Israel of God of this present day dispensation. They are part of the church, and yet they are distinct in that they are called in scripture the Israel of God. Part of the church, yet distinct in the sense that they are descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And those of us who are Jewish believers in Yeshua HaMashiach, we are presently, in this present age, from Paul's days, from Peter's days, from James' days until today, Jewish believers in Yeshua the Messiah are the Israel of God within the whole church of the living God. And so he's telling them that it is entirely by grace, verses six and seven, that we have covered in our previous meeting together. If by grace, then it is no more by works, otherwise grace is no more grace, but if it is of works, it is no more grace.

And then he said, if you remember, that's where we ended in our previous meeting, what then is that Israel, this is the whole nation, has not obtained that which he seeketh for. Well, you remember, Israel, the nation, wanted to be justified with God. But according to chapter 10 of this book of Romans, we read they are being ignorant of God's righteousness. This is verse three of Romans 10. They were going about to establish their own righteousness, but they have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. So although they wanted to be reckoned righteous, to be reckoned just, to be declared righteous on a basis of works, they are going about to establish their own righteousness, but they haven't submitted unto themselves unto the righteousness of God. And then we read in verse four, for Christ, the Mashiach, the Messiah, Christos, is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe.

You see, you and I, Jew and Gentile, God declare us righteous because we became believers in the Messiah, in Christ, in the Christos, in the Lord Jesus, the Messiah. Not because of any righteousness that you have accomplished, you are saved. Not because of any righteousness that I have accomplished, I am saved and forgiven, but it is because of the work Of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah on the tree. When he died, when he was buried, when he rose again, the work of redemption have been complete. God have been satisfied with his beloved son, with the Messiah of Israel and the Savior of this world. And by believing on him, we are declared justified because he finished, he fulfilled that which we could not fulfill because we all are sinners by nature, deserve to be punished. And so God have provided for us this righteousness on the basis of the finished work of the Messiah. And So that's why he said, if it is by grace, it's no more by works, you can't earn it, Israel cannot earn it, you could not earn it, no one can earn it.

By the deeds of the law shall no man be justified. All our righteousnesses are filthy rags. By the work of Christ, by the work of the Messiah, praise God, his works satisfy a holy and a righteous God and met our need. So if it is by grace, it's no more the works. And if it is by works, then it's no more grace. If you think that you can earn salvation on a basis of your works, try it. Try it.

And you'll find out that you'll fail every time. God is holy. He demands one hundred percent holiness, not ninety-nine point nine percent, but all of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And so as he continued to present the second witness, Eliyahu HaNavi, Elijah the prophet of Israel, in the next verse, verses, notice that verses eight, nine, and ten of Romans chapter eleven, he's quoting the Hebrew scriptures. And let me remind you, when Paul wrote the letter to the Romans, he didn't have the book of Romans already. They didn't have the book of Romans in their hands as yet. He was just writing it.

So the only quotation, it must be always from the Hebrew Tanakh, from the Tanakh, Torah, Nevi'im, Ketuvim, the law, the writing, and the, the, the law, the prophets, and the writings. And so notice, he's giving us here three verses. That are found in the law, the prophets, and the writings. The law, Deuteronomy 29 and verse 4. The prophets, Isaiah 29 and verse 10. The writings, Psalm 69 verse 22 and 23. Notice I'm reading, according as it is written. You notice that?

According as it is written, God has given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear unto this day. Very interesting that the apostle Paul is saying unto this day. You see, beloved brothers and sisters, unto this day, our people, our people of Israel are still partially and temporarily blinded, judicially. hardened judicially for the benefit of the gentile world. And so we read in verse eight, according as it is written, and I just want you to turn to Isaiah, to Deuteronomy chapter twenty nine, notice that in Deuteronomy chapter twenty nine, before Israel have entered into the promised land, God has anticipated that which will take place in a future day.

From those days of about 1450 BC, he anticipated what will take place later on in the history of Israel and the history of the world. It says in verse four of Deuteronomy chapter twenty nine, if you read from verse one, these are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab beside the covenant that he made with them in Horeb. Verse four says, yet the Lord has not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear unto this day. In other words, it was in anticipation because God knows the future and he knows the past, the present, and the future. And so, beloved brothers and sisters, even before Israel enter into the promised land, God knew very well that Israel will disobey him, and he will have to scatter them. Among the nations more than once, and ultimately he will bring them back to the land, and again when the Messiah will come at his first coming, that Israel will not accept the Messiah at his first coming, as the prophet Isaiah already predicted some 750 years prior to the coming of the Lord Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah, it was foretold.

Although the church truth was not yet understood by the prophets of Israel, but God knew that, and he was telling Israel before they have entered into the promised land, the Lord has not given you an heart to perceive, and an eyes to see, and ears unto this day, to hear unto this day. Notice another verse in Isaiah chapter 29, in Isaiah chapter 29, and here we read in verse 10, again, Isaiah was anticipating the, the coming of the Assyrian to take the northern kingdom, and the coming of the Babylonian to take the southern kingdom of Israel to Babylon. And what we read in Isaiah chapter 29 and verse 10, For the Lord has poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep. He has closed in your eyes.

The prophets and your rulers and the seers have he covered. You see, God, judicially, when sin came within the nation of Israel, he has blinded the nation of Israel. And that's why later on we will see in Romans 11, 25 and 26 that blindness in part happened to Israel until temporarily he blinded them. He blinded our nation. Earlier we have spoken some of us who are Jewish that up till today our own families do not understand that Yeshua is the Messiah. They love God. They have a zeal of God.

As we read in Romans chapter 10 and verse 4 that we read they have a zeal of God but not according to knowledge, to biblical knowledge. And so seeking to be justified by works and by law keeping still continues on. And it's not only a Jewish problem because we know that many from the Gentile world is seeking to be justified with God on a basis of works.

They are seeking to earn their salvation on a basis of doing things, thinking that baptism will save them, thinking that giving money will save them, thinking that praying for the dead will change that. This is work system. How can a sinner be justified with God? We need forgiveness from the Lord. We need to accept the fact that we have sinned and that on the basis of the finished work of Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah, God can declare the sinner who believe justified.

And you notice the third verses that he's quoting here in Psalm sixty nine verse twenty two and twenty three as we read it in our verses here notice it says in verses nine and ten of Romans eleven and David saith this is in a psalm in the Tehillim let their table be made a snare and a trap and a stumbling block and a recompense unto them let their eyes be darkened that they may not see and bow down their back always in other words David Was saying these in the psalm, and you notice that, beloved brothers and sisters, this is Psalm 20, Psalm 69. I just want to read it in verse 22 and verse 23. Psalm 69 is the trespass psalm. It's the trespass offering psalm. It's a psalm that really have the voice of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, as the one who cried, as he became the, the, the one that was judged by God, the just one for the unjust.

And David, by the word of the Lord, was crying to God, and notice what he says, and I'm just reading, verse 21, They gave me also gall for my meat, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. This is what we have quotation in Matthew chapter 27, when the Lord Jesus was on the cross, on the tree.

Let their table become a snare before them, and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap. Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not, and make their loins continually to shake. In other words, this is judicial judgment that God has judged the nation temporarily and partially, the nation of Israel. And just think about the history of our people. Look how many from generation to generation, the sufferings of the nation of Israel. In every generation, one is rising to seek to destroy Israel, the nation. And again, God allows it, yet it is in the purposes of God, ultimately to bring about Israel national regeneration and restoration to the Lord. And I just want to make here an application because church history was just the same.

When you really think about the past days of the days of the early days of the church and the comparison today, the present day of the Laodicean days, you can see that the church did not do much better. Than Israel historically, the failure, the disobedience. That is the history of God's people, whether it is Israel or whether it is the church, and no one can boast in saying, you see, I am faithful and they are not. Because history proved that when Paul wrote this letter in about 60 AD, the church was in its foundation, in its infancy. But now after 2000 years, the fact is set before us, the sad history of the church.

And so what we learn from this is we can see that God disciplined his people. And so God is intending to restore his earthly people Israel to himself as it is promised in his word, and Paul presents these five witnesses before the Roman believers. Witness number one, verses one and two a, the apostle Shaul, Paul himself. Witness number two in Romans eleven, verses two b to ten, is the prophet Eliyahu HaNavi, Elijah the prophet, who says, oh, look, I'm the only one who is left. They have done this, that, and the other, and the Lord had to tell him, Elijah, don't you pray against your people. I have kept for myself seven thousand men who did not bow their knees to Baal.

This is a great lesson for us, lest we think that we are the only faithful ones, because there are many, many faithful believers in, in the church age today, in many people, tongues, and nations, that you, you and I do not even know what, how they live for the Lord. And their faithful commitment to live and follow the Lord Jesus, the Messiah. And how wonderful to know that. Well, as we continue now from verse eleven to verse fifteen of Romans chapter eleven, the Apostle Paul presents the third witness. And who are the third witness, or who is the third witness? These are the Gentiles believers of Rome and elsewhere.

These are the non-Hebrew, non-Jewish believers, believers from among the nations. Like most believers today in the church today, they are mostly from among the nations, among the Gentiles. And so notice what he does here in verse eleven to verse fifteen. He is now bringing to the front the Gentiles who were initially worshiping other gods. They did not believe in the true and living God.

And now you can see that many from among the nations came to faith in the Lord Jesus, the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah. And so notice that in verse eleven to fifteen, we read, first of all, in verse eleven, Paul asks a question, and he gives us an answer. He says in verse eleven, I say, Paul is saying, To the Roman believer, I say, have they, namely Israel, stumble that they should fall? In other words, let me revert or put it this way. Do you think brothers and sisters of the Gentile believers in Rome, do you think that Israel stumble in order that they should fall? The word for fall is pipto in the Greek. They should stumble? In other words, do you think that they did not accept the Messiah in order that they would fall and they will no longer be restored to the Lord? In other words, do you think that they stumble that there will never anymore be a nation of Israel and that the promises of God will no longer take place?

That's what he's saying. And then he continue in verse eleven, and he gives them the answer. He says, God forbid, God forbid, may it never be. This verse here in verse eleven, it's come from the Hebrew word chalilah, chalilah. God forbid, may it never be, may it never be. But listen, but rather through their fall, salvation is come unto the Gentiles.

And he continued for or in order to provoke them, to provoke Israel to jealousy. Now this is a fascinating verse, beloved brothers and sisters. The two words for fall are two different Greek words here. The first fall is pipto, P I P T O in the Greek, and the second fall is paraptoma, P A R A P T O M A. The first fall is just stumbling, and the second fall is their trespass. In other words, what he's really saying, I say then, have they stumbled so they should fall? God forbid, but rather their fall, their trespass, their disobedience, their sin of rejection of the Messiah is come unto the, is come, became salvation if come unto the Gentiles. In other words, Israel did not accept the Messiah, and their trespass, their sins of the rejection of the Mashiach Yeshua brought salvation to the goyim, to the Gentiles.

You see what happened when Israel did not accept the Messiah Yeshua at his first coming. That God knew that, although they initially did not know that. By Israel's rejection of the Messiah Yeshua at his first coming, that brought salvation unto the Gentiles. Now you might say, well, do you mean if Israel will accept the Messiah mean that the Gentiles will not, many Gentiles will not come to faith? No. The answer is no, because Israel, the nation, was called to be a light to the Gentiles, or lagoyim.

So God is intending to use Israel to be a light to the Gentiles at all times. But when Israel turn away from God and disobey God, how could they be light to the Gentiles? Because they followed after the Gentiles. They adopted the Gentiles' ways. So how can they be light to the goyim, to the Gentiles, when they follow the Gentiles' ways instead of remaining focused and fixed upon the God of Israel? But you see, God knows everything. And because He knows everything, He's sovereign. He teaching us an amazing lesson here, beloved brothers and sisters, in verse 11. In verse 11, Paul asked this question, and he's saying, I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? In other words, have they stumbled by rejecting the Messiah, that or that they will never come back to be the chosen people of God, as God have intending it to be? The answer, of course, is no.

God forbid, may it never be. But he said, but rather when Israel disobeyed and when Israel did not accept Yeshua the Messiah at his first coming, their sin of disobedience, their sin of the rejection of the Messiah became salvation for the Gentiles who became believers. Of course, not all the Gentiles, but those who became believers in this present day became part of the assembly of the church.

So he's giving them this amazing alert and awakening that they will be, that they will recognize that through Israel rejection of the Messiah at his first coming, the door was open for the nations of the world to hear the message of the gospel, and out of the message, out of the, the mass population of the Gentile world, there were those From the nation that came to faith in the Lord presently became part of the ecclesia, of the assembly. But you notice that? He doesn't stop here in this. He's saying at the end of verse 11, what is the purpose and the responsibility of the Gentile believers of the church age is to provoke them, this is Israel, to jealousy.

Now, let me tell you, that is very, very sad, that the church in its history mostly has not provoked the Jewish people to jealousy. In fact, the opposite. They provoked the Jewish people to anger. Sadly, just read church history, the Crusaders. The Tsars, the Russian Tsars, the Inquisition, just read the history of the, of the church and you see how much anti-Semitic views rose, not only from among the unbelieving world, but even within the professing church.

That's the truth. And the responsibility of the believers, the Christian, the Meshichim from among the nation is to provoke the nation of Israel to jealousy. There are many Jewish people who came to faith in the Lord Jesus the Messiah because of some Christians or Meshichim, Gentile believers who have drawn us to the word of God and to the person of the Lord Jesus the Messiah, who loved Israel, who never taught the truth of replacement theology, who were faithful to preach the whole counsel of God. Who didn't only speak about the truth of the church and how the church is so favored and left all the bad things about Israel. Who never said that God transferred his blessing from Israel to the church and all the cursing they left on Israel. That's not right. That's not biblical. That's not God honoring. That's not the truth. Paul said to the Ephesians in the book of Acts in chapter 20, 21, he said, I did not cease from presenting before you the whole counsel of God, which means God's plan for the church, God's plan for Israel, God's plan for the world.

Paul was a balanced servant of the Lord. And by doing so, he won many Jewish people as well as many Gentile people to the Lord Jesus the Messiah. Because he did things God's way. And so, beloved brothers and sisters, Paul asked a question in verse eleven, and he say, I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid, but rather through their fall, their disobedience, their rejection of the Messiah at his first coming as a nation, salvation is coming to the Gentiles, and in turn, there is a responsibility of the Gentile believers is to provoke the Jewish people to jealousy. He continued in verse twelve, Romans eleven and verse twelve to fifteen, in verses eleven, verses twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, these next, four verses, he's, Paul is saying that Israel's stumbling should teach the Gentile believers Many lessons, many lessons.

Notice what he says in verse twelve, if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and if the diminishing of them, namely Israel, be the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fullness. In other words, this is an amazing lesson that he's teaching Christians. He's saying to us all today that if Israel's fall became riches to the world, and if Israel's diminishing became a blessing to the Gentile world, that many become part of the church and become Believers in the true and living God, he says, how much more their fullness. In other words, what he's really saying here in verse 12, that, that can you imagine what a blessing will be for the world when the nation of Israel as a nation will be a restored nation?

Can you imagine the blessing that came into this world when Israel rejected the Messiah at his first coming? Just imagine what a blessing it will be for the whole world when Israel accept the Messiah, Yeshua, at his second coming. According to verse 12, he's calling it here how much more their fullness. Their restoration to God, their national, Israel national regeneration, which will take place at the end of the tribulation period. And then there will be the Messianic kingdom, where Israel under King Messiah will rule and reign, and will be, it will be a priestly nation for the whole world during the Messianic, the Messianic kingdom. What a, what a day is yet awaiting. So he wanted the Christians at Rome, the believers at Rome, and every local believers in every place around the world to understand this truth.

Especially now, beloved brothers and sisters, you see, this was written some nineteen hundred years ago, two thousand years ago. Imagine how it is necessary to understand today. We believe and we say and we always say to one another, well, may the Lord come today. Maybe today the rapture will take place. Well, if the rapture will take place today, Israel will ultimately be restored sometime at the end of the tribulation, which is only seven years.

And so we need to pray for the peace of Yerushalayim. We need to pray for the nation of Israel. We need to pray for the salvation of Israel, especially today, when there is a rise of anti-Semitic views in the world in which we live in today, which is only showing to us that While it was historically throughout the ages, it is continuing on and climbing to a higher climax as we end up as the church age is coming to an end and as the tribulation will take place very shortly after. He continued now, and in verse, thirteen and fourteen, Paul is noticed his burden for Israel, and that burden should be for all believers who are truly Christian, truly born-again believers. He says in verse thirteen, for I speak unto you, Gentiles, inasmuch as I am an apostle of the Gentiles.

I magnify my office. You see, Paul, you see, Paul was so burdened for Israel, so these Gentiles believers probably said, well, Paul, are you the apostle to the Gentiles, or are you really an apostle to the Jewish people? You are so much concerned for the nation of Israel. And Paul says, no, I am called by God to be the apostle to the uncircumcision, but I would like you to understand that although I am so thankful that I am a servant of the Lord Jesus the Messiah for the nation of the world, I want you to be tuned with the mind of God, with the mind of the Lord Jesus the Messiah, with my heart.

I'm thankful to God to be the apostle to the nations of the world, but that for a moment doesn't negate my burden for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh. And I want you to have the same attitude because it is Christ's attitude, the Messiah's attitude, it is God's attitude, it is Paul's attitude. Paul said, if you remember in chapter Chapter nine, I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart, for I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ, from the Messiah, for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh, who are Israelis.

And then verse five, he says that out of them came the Messiah. Beloved brothers and sisters, the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, said to the Samaritan woman in John chapter four, that salvation is of the Jews. That is what the scripture teaches us. That God used the Jewish people to be a channel through whom the Messiah will come and salvation will come to the nations of the world.

And so the Lord said in John chapter four, salvation is of the Jews. Paul is saying here, I want you to understand, brothers and sisters of the city of Rome, that you have the responsibility to provoke the people of Israel to jealousy because through their fall salvation is come unto you. And if the fall of them, the riches of the world and the diminishing of them was the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fullness? And I speak unto you Gentiles, he says, inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnified my office.

You see, Paul, a Hebrew, a Jewish man, was sent to the nations of the world to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. And many came to, to trust the Lord Jesus, the Messiah. If you turn with me for a moment to the book of Galatians chapter two. In Galatians chapter two, the apostle Paul wrote to the Galatians in verse seven and eight. He said to them, but contrarywise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision, this is the nation, the Gentile, was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was committed unto Peter.

For he that wrought effectually in Peter To the apostleship of the circumcision, namely the apostleship to the Jews, the same was mightily in me towards the Gentiles. You see, there are two specific apostolic ministries that were given to Peter and Paul. Peter was called to be the apostle to the nation of Israel. Paul was called to be the apostle, the shaliach to the nations of the world. And Paul says, I magnify my office, he says here. In verse thirteen, so don't think for a moment that I am setting aside my office, my service, my ministry to the Gentiles. I love you, he's saying to them. I'm so thankful that the Lord have raised me to be the apostle to the nations of the world, but I don't forget my people, and I don't forget the promises of God to my people Israel.

And I don't forget that God has not cast his people. And brothers and sisters, we must present it. The truth is that in church history, many professing Christians, and still many today, believe that Israel has no more future. That the promises of God to Israel have been completely eradicated, no more. That Israel has finished. And they don't realize that Jesus died for all of us. We are all guilty in the death of Christ.

We are all guilty. In the fact that the Messiah had to die, he died for your sins and for mine. He died for Jews, Gentiles, he died for all. And because of your sins and mine, he must die and be punished on our behalf. And so he continued, and I just want to mention here in verse, notice verses fourteen and fifteen of Romans chapter eleven. Paul continued, and you can see his burden, and ultimately he's once again emphasizing Israel's return to God will be such a life blessing for the world. Notice verses fourteen and fifteen. If by any means, he says, notice that I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them. His heart was yearning. For his brethren, for the Jewish people.

His heart, you remember what the Lord Jesus, the Messiah says, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. The Messiah himself, Yeshua, on the, on the cross, on the tree, prayed for the nation of Israel. Paul himself, as we read in these three chapters, praying for the nation of Israel. My heart desired, Romans 10 verse 1, and prayer to God, for Israel that they might be saved. Here in verse 14, if by any mean I may provoke to jealousy, to emulation, them which are my flesh, and might save some of them. You know, there are two persons, two personalities. That were willing to be cut off for the nation of Israel out of the relationship with the Lord. The first one, of course, is Moses, who said to the Lord, if you are not going to restore Israel, blot my name from the book which you have written.

This is in Exodus chapter 32. In fact, I want you to turn there for a moment. In Exodus 32 and verse 30 we read, I just want to read that. Exodus 32 and verse 30, we read of Moses' hot yearning for his brethren. Israel. He says, and we read here in verse thirty, And it came to pass, Exodus thirty two thirty, on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin and now I will go up unto the Lord peradventure I will make an atonement for your sin And Moses returned unto the Lord and said oh that these people have sinned a great sin, and have made themselves gods of gold, the golden calf. And then verse thirty two, Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin, but, or, and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.

Moses was praying for his erring people, and Willing to be blotted out of the book which God had written if he will not forgive Israel. Paul is the second person. Two towering personalities in the history of Israel. Paul says in Romans 9, I say the truth in Christ, I lie not my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have a great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart for I could wish that I myself were accursed, cherem, anathema from Christ, from the Messiah, for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh. I mean it is amazing. We can't fathom that.

Beloved brothers and sisters. So in verse 14 of Romans chapter 11, if by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh and might save some of Israel, some of them presently. He will say later on that all Israel shall be saved, but in this present age of the church age, he longed to have more and more from his own brethren, according to the flesh, come to know the Lord Jesus the Messiah. And he longed to have from the Gentile world, to whom he was called to be the apostle, to the uncircumcision, that many will come to know the Savior, as he was preaching faithfully the gospel of our Lord Jesus the Messiah. And so, and I'm going to conclude, beloved brothers and sisters, in verse 15, in verse 15, Israel's return to God, Paul emphasized to the Roman, will be life to the world. It says in verse 15, if the casting away of them, of Israel, be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them Be but life from the dead.

You see, beloved brothers and sisters, what Paul is seeking to convey to the Gentiles, believers, from the believers from among the nations concerning the, the Israel future salvation, don't, he says to them, really, the lesson that you need to learn is that you need to learn that you yourself were brought into this great salvation is because Israel rejected the Messiah at his first coming.

And therefore, you are exhorted to provoke them to jealousy. And to recognize that according to these verses eleven and fifteen, those two verses are going along together, I say then have they stumbled that they should fall, God forbid, but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles to provoke them to jealousy. And if the fall of them be the riches to the world, and the diminishing of them the riches to the Gentiles, how much more their fullness, verse twelve. And then verse fifteen, if the casting away of them be a reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead? Now brothers and sisters, Paul is not saying this because a Jewish person is better than a non-Jewish person, but Paul is teaching that because this is the truth in the plan and the program of God.

That God have chosen the nation of Israel to be a light to the nations of the world. And that God have chosen the nation of Israel through them to bring Christ, to bring the Messiah. And blessing to the Gentile world that the church will be formed. And once the church age will be, finalized and the rapture will take place, at the end of the tribulation, the seven year tribulation, when Israel will accept the Messiah at his second coming, there will be life for the nations of the world. This world will never see shalom until Israel come to faith in the Lord Jesus, the Messiah. It will never happen until Israel will be restored to God. We can try to fix the world, to improve the world, to better the world, to get more education, to get better kings and better leaders and better, whatever we may try, it will not work until Israel will come to know the Messiah, and that Yeshua is that Messiah.

Ye shall not see me henceforth, Yeshua said, until ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. And so, beloved brothers and sisters, up to this point, Paul presented three witnesses to the fact that Israel will ultimately be restored. Verse one and two A, the apostle Shaul Paul himself, witness number one. Verses 2b to 10, witness number two is the prophet Eliyahu HaNavi, Elijah the prophet.

Witness number three are the gentile believers at Rome and elsewhere. They are the proof of Israel's future regeneration and future salvation as it was promised by God. And you know this, brothers and sisters, if God will not fulfill what he promised to Israel, how can the church saints be sure that God will fulfill the promises to the church? You see, if God is not going to be true to his promises to Israel to restore them to himself and to the land of Israel, How can he promise or fulfill the promise that he had given to the assembly, to the ecclesia, and all the spiritual and the Father's house, the blessing, the blessed promises that he had promised to the church? Well, God is true. Let God be true, and every man a liar. God's word is true. And I would like to stop here with this verse, 15, and in the will of the Lord, we will continue on in Romans chapter 11, verse 16 onward, in our next meeting, together.

So our God and our Father, thank you for your word. Bless your word to us all as we study together and seek your mind and your direction. Thank you for the Holy Spirit of God, and thank you for the person of Yeshua Jesus our Messiah and our Lord, and we just commit this meeting to your loving care, for we ask it in Yeshua, in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. Well, God bless you, my dear friend, until the next time we say, Shalom, shalom. Bye-bye.