*promosm* 😻

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I heard from a messianic Jew that the Hebrew version of "let there be light", states it as "Light, present yourself". He then also made reference to some other part in the Bible that said of Jesus that "you were there before the sun"... couldn't find the second reference now.

🎉 P R O M O S M

Thank you for a great sermon Dave.

😂 🄿🅁🄾🄼🄾🅂🄼

Not All of Israel is Israel Introduction Where does the blame lie for the mess that our culture is in? Are the "bleeding-heart liberals" or the government schools to blame? Not according to the Apostle's Peter and Paul. Why? Because judgment begins with the church, "For the time has come for the judgment to begin from the house of God. And if it first begins from us, what will be the end of those disobeying the Gospel of God?" (1 Peter 4:17). God will not demand the obedience of the nations until we, the church, are brought into obedience - "...bring[ing] into captivity every thought into the obedience of Christ; and having readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled." (2 Cor. 10:5-6). So what does all this have to do with the subject matter? It is the endeavor of this writer to demonstrate from Scripture that we, the church, have departed from the orthodox view of Biblical Christianity for a view of theology that has broken continuity with history as well as the Word of God. In this article we will examine that view which I believe has made the church impotent in this latter half of the twentieth century - the view known as dispensationalism - and its teaching concerning the church and Israel. It is this author's intention to show from Scripture that the church (ekklesia) is, has and always will be the true Israel of God. And by our misunderstanding of that truth, we have brought the curses of the covenant upon our nation and our children's' children. read://https_www.monergism.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.monergism.com%2Fthethreshold%2Farticles%2Fonsite%2Fnotallisrael.html

*REPLACEMENT THEOLOGY* When I was in seminary, a fellow student asked me if I held to “replacement theology.” Never heard of it so he gave me a brief explanation. The explanation he gave me was a complete misunderstanding of covenant theology and, equally importantly, of the theology of the Bible. I gave him a very detailed explanation of what I believed as a whole Bible theologian (i.e. a biblicist). There was silence at the other end. Anyway, you may come across someone mischaracterizing consistent biblically-based theology as “replacement theology.” Here is an excellent article published by Ligonier Ministries which breaks this issue down nicely and which I recommend you tuck away because you are sure to refer to it/need it in the future (depending on your point of view). Here is the bottom line, the rest is gravy: The Traditional Reformed View: One People of God Contrary to dispensationalism’s sharp demarcation between God’s two peoples, Israel and the church, historic Reformed theology insists on the unity of God’s redemptive program throughout history. When Adam, the covenant head and representative of the human race, fell into sin, all human beings as his posterity became liable to condemnation and death (Rom. 5:12-21). By virtue of Adam’s sin and its implications for the entire human race, all people became subject to the curse of the law and heirs of a sinfully corrupt nature. According to the traditional Reformed interpretation of Scripture, God initiated the covenant of grace after the fall in order to restore His chosen people to communion and fellowship with Himself. While the covenant of grace is administered diversely throughout the course of the history of redemption, it remains one in substance from the time of its formal ratification with Abraham until the coming of Christ in the fullness of time. In all of the various administrations of the covenant of grace, God redeems His people through faith in Jesus Christ, the one Mediator of the covenant of grace, through whom believers receive the gift of eternal life and restored communion with the living God (see Berkhof, Systematic Theology, pp. 293-5). In the Reformed understanding of the history of redemption, therefore, there is no ultimate separation between Israel and the church. The promise God made to Abraham in the formal ratification of the covenant of grace (Gen. 12; 15; 17), namely, that he would be the father of many nations and that in his “seed” all the families of the earth would be blessed, finds its fulfillment in Jesus Christ. The seed promised to Abraham in the covenant of grace is Jesus Christ, the true Israel, and all who through faith are united to Him and, thus, heirs of the covenant promises (Gal. 3:16,29). In the Reformed view, the gospel of Jesus Christ directly fulfills the promises of the covenant of grace for all believers, whether Jews or Gentiles. Israel and the church are not two distinct peoples; rather, the church is the true Israel of God, “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession” (1 Peter 2:9). (Ligonier Ministries)

Regarding, “Leaven is always seen as sin and evil in the Bible.” This is plainly not true. While it is true that frequently leaven is used to picture how sin and evil can permeate and corrupt, it is certainly not the case that leaven is “always” pictured that way (on the contrary…). Importantly, leaven isn’t inherently evil (and neither are birds). Therefore, the context will always determine how it is being used and for what illustrative and instructive purposes including positive ones: “Jesus also used leaven to illustrate the pervasive growth of the kingdom of God [Matt. 13:33]. Barbara J. Bruce, “Leaven,” ed. Chad Brand et al., Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary. First, leaven was used, on a regular basis, for the sustenance of the people of God (among other peoples on the face of the planet). When Jesus used leaven as an illustration, the people were well aware of how leaven worked to make bread rise and provide food and even a way to make a living by selling leavened bread. To this end, Jesus used leaven positively in the parable of the leaven. The late evangelical and Presbyterian New Testament scholar and professor, Simon Kistemaker, made this exact point relative to the leaven/yeast of the Pharisees: “Jesus’ intention is not to call leaven something evil. He uses the concept of leaven because of it hidden power. Yeast and leaven cause the dough to rise by permeating the entire batch. The yeast or leaven, after it was mixed in with the flour, could not be found anymore, It was hidden and invisible.” (From “The Parables: Understanding the Stories Jesus Told,” page 55.) Second, in the worship of God, He *commanded* that leavened bread be used in celebration of the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) and as a fellowship/thank offering. If leaven “is always seen as sin and evil in the Bible,” why would God command His people to use it in worship and thanksgiving to Him? At these worshipful events, Jesus himself participated in the use of leavened bread as an offering to God: “These are the regulations for the fellowship offering a person may present to the Lord:“ ‘If he offers it as an expression of thankfulness, then along with this thank offering he is to offer cakes of bread made without yeast and mixed with oil, wafers made without yeast and spread with oil, and cakes of fine flour well-kneaded and mixed with oil. Along with his fellowship offering of thanksgiving he is to present an offering with cakes of bread made with yeast. He is to bring one of each kind as an offering, a contribution to the Lord; it belongs to the priest who sprinkles the blood of the fellowship offerings. (Leviticus 7) 15 “ ‘From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks. 16 Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the Lord. 17 From wherever you live, bring two loaves made of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour, baked with yeast, as a wave offering of firstfruits to the Lord. 18 Present with this bread seven male lambs, each a year old and without defect, one young bull and two rams. They will be a burnt offering to the Lord, together with their grain offerings and drink offerings-an offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to the Lord. 19 Then sacrifice one male goat for a sin offering and two lambs, each a year old, for a fellowship offering. 20 The priest is to wave the two lambs before the Lord as a wave offering, together with the bread of the firstfruits. They are a sacred offering to the Lord for the priest. (Leviticus 23:15-20) Third, God’s call for the Israelites to eat unleavened bread and to sweep out any leaven from their houses during the Passover was *not* because leaven was evil; there is nothing in the instructions given for the first Passover (and for its commemoration since then) indicating that leaven was evil and was, therefore, not to be used. The point was to remind the Israelites that when the Lord struck down the first born, Pharaoh commanded them to go and they had to leave quickly; they did not have time to prepare leavened bread (i.e. “an object lesson”): That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. Do not eat the meat raw or cooked in water, but roast it over the fire-head, legs and inner parts. Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it. This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord's Passover. (Exodus 12:8-11) With the dough they had brought from Egypt, they baked cakes of unleavened bread. The dough was without yeast because they had been driven out of Egypt and did not have time to prepare food for themselves. (Exodus 12:39) He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.” (Matthew 13:33) The early Hebrews apparently depended on a piece of leavened dough for transmission of the leaven; not until much later were the lees of wine used as yeast. The ancient Israelites regularly ate leavened bread (Hos 7:4), but in the commemoration of the Passover they were forbidden to eat leavened bread or even to have it in their homes during the Passover season (Ex 13:7). This annual observance ensured that the people would not forget their hasty exodus from Egypt, when God’s command gave no time for the preparation of leavened bread. The people were forced to carry with them their kneading troughs and the dough from which they baked unleavened cakes to sustain them as they journeyed (Ex 12:34-39; Dt 16:3). Possibly because fermentation implied disintegration and corruption, leaven was excluded from all offerings placed on the altar to be sacrificed to God (Ex 23:18; 34:25). It was also not permitted in meal offerings (Lv 2:11; 6:17). Scripture does not tell us whether or not the showbread was unleavened, but the historian Josephus states that it was leavened (Antiq. 3.6.6; 10). Two exceptions to this rule should be noted. Leaven could be used in offerings that were to be eaten by the priests or others. Leavened bread could accompany the peace offering (Lv 7:13), and it was sacrificed at the feast of weeks (Pentecost) because it represented the ordinary daily food that God provided for his people (Lv 23:17). Walter A. Elwell and Barry J. Beitzel, “Leaven,” Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988), 1320. Along with his fellowship offering of thanksgiving he is to present an offering with cakes of bread made with yeast. He is to bring one of each kind as an offering, a contribution to the Lord; it belongs to the priest who sprinkles the blood of the fellowship offerings. (Leviticus 7:13-14) Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the Lord. From wherever you live, bring two loaves made of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour, baked with yeast, as a wave offering of firstfruits to the Lord. (Leviticus 23:16-17) Especially important was the prohibition of leaven during Passover in commemoration of the haste with which Israel left Egypt (Exod. 12:15-20, 33-34; maṣṣôṯ “unleavened bread”). The New Testament figurative references to leaven have in mind that which is small, insignificant, or hidden, but which is of great effect. Allen C. Myers, The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1987), 648. Another quality in leaven is noticed in the Bible, namely, its secretly penetrating and diffusive power. In this respect it was emblematic of moral influence generally, whether good or bad; and hence our Saviour adopts it as illustrating the growth of the kingdom of heaven in the individual heart and in the world at large: because (1) its source is from without; (2) it is secret in its operation; (3) it spreads by contact of particle with particle; (4) it is widely diffusive, one particle of leaven being able to change any number of particles of flour; and because (5) it does not act like water, moistening a certain amount of flour, but is like a plant, changing the particles it comes in contact with into its own nature, with like propagating power. William Smith, Smith’s Bible Dictionary (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1986).

The one delivering the sermon said this: “We know that the birds nesting in the branches of this huge mustard plant are, actually, of an evil nature. The parable of the sower makes this clear.” This is flatly not true. The context determines (and always determines) the use of an object, like birds, in the Bible. By nature and, especially, biblically, birds in the Bible are not evil. On the contrary, overwhelmingly birds are illustrated as either morally neutral or helpful to God’s people. In the parable of the Sower, the birds are used to illustrate the actions of Satan. This parable of Jesus was not intended to refer to birds as necessarily evil (which the Bible *never* does; see below for a biblical sampling). In the parable of the Sower, the actions of Satan, with reference to the sharing of the Gospel, is the point, not that birds, by nature and (especially) in other contexts, are to be seen as illustrative of evil. Therefore, to take one meaning from one parable regarding birds and apply it to another parable, especially when this other parable (mustard seed) is referring to the greatness, expansiveness, and goodness, of God’s Kingdom (and is not making *any* point about evil), is a hermeneutical error. Birds in the Bible: Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah: “Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. You will drink from the brook, and I have ordered the ravens to feed you there.” So he did what the Lord had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook. (1 Kings 17:2-6) Does the eagle soar at your command and build its nest on high? It dwells on a cliff and stays there at night; a rocky crag is its stronghold. From there it looks for food; its eyes detect it from afar. (Job 39:27-29) I know every bird in the mountains, and the insects in the fields are mine. (Psalm 50:11) He makes springs pour water into the ravines; it flows between the mountains. They give water to all the beasts of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. The birds of the air nest by the waters; they sing among the branches. (Psalm 104:10-12) “ ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will take a shoot from the very top of a cedar and plant it; I will break off a tender sprig from its topmost shoots and plant it on a high and lofty mountain. On the mountain heights of Israel I will plant it; it will produce branches and bear fruit and become a splendid cedar. Birds of every kind will nest in it; they will find shelter in the shade of its branches. All the trees of the field will know that I the Lord bring down the tall tree and make the low tree grow tall. I dry up the green tree and make the dry tree flourish. “ ‘I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it.’ ” (Ezekiel 17:22-24) Consider Assyria, once a cedar in Lebanon, with beautiful branches overshadowing the forest; it towered on high, its top above the thick foliage. The waters nourished it, deep springs made it grow tall; their streams flowed all around its base and sent their channels to all the trees of the field. So it towered higher than all the trees of the field; its boughs increased and its branches grew long, spreading because of abundant waters. All the birds of the air nested in its boughs, all the beasts of the field gave birth under its branches; all the great nations lived in its shade… I made it beautiful with abundant branches, the envy of all the trees of Eden in the garden of God. (Ezekiel 31) Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? (Matthew 6:25-26) “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. (Matthew 10:16) Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. (Matthew 10:29) When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:21-22) [Daniel interprets Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.] The tree you saw, which grew large and strong, with its top touching the sky, visible to the whole earth, with beautiful leaves and abundant fruit, providing food for all, giving shelter to the beasts of the field, and having nesting places in its branches for the birds of the air-you, O king, are that tree! You have become great and strong; your greatness has grown until it reaches the sky, and your dominion extends to distant parts of the earth. (Daniel 4)

Excellent sermon until you got to this, dear brother: "Israel [i.e. national/political Israel] is God's prophetic calendar." Not in the least! Effectively, you neutralized the excellent exposition of Scripture you provided up to that point. That near-closing statement was true of the old covenant administration of the covenant of grace. But in Christ, upon which the covenant of grace wholly depends, the “new covenant” in His blood in *no way* has national/political Israel in view but, in fact, includes all those, Jews and Gentiles, who are of the faith of Abraham, not necessarily, or even mostly, of Jewish descent. A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. 29 No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man's praise is not from men, but from God. (Romans 2) 24 So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law. 26 You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3) Further, and far less importantly and relevant by far than Scripture, why look at a tiny ungodly, anti-Christian strip of land in Israel containing about the same number of Jews as the United States? Why not look at the United States to see what the Jews are “prophetically” doing there? Looking at either is theologically and biblically immaterial. World Jewish Population - 15,200,000 Israel - 6,930,000 United States - 6,000,000 Source: The Jewish Agency For Israel www.jewishagency.org/jewish-population-5782/

The delivery was very good. However, the theology preached was biblically and theologically and EPC-confessionally erroneous.

Powerful! Well done, good and faithful servant.