07-29-2018 – True Israel = Saved Jews + Saved Gentiles

Bible Text: John 12:37-50 | Pastor: Pastor Mike Hale | Series: John | 07-29-2018

True Israel = Saved Jews + Saved Gentiles

John 12:37-50

The True Children of God are not those who merely descended from the Twelve Tribes of Israel, under the Law and according to the covenants, ceremonies and sacrifices. The True Children of God are those who belong to Him through Jesus Christ the Lord.

Sermon Notes:

Read John 12:37-41… This is one of those times when John inserts important
information from outside the chronology of the narrative he has been recording.
Here John reminds us of how Jesus had performed many signs before the people
and yet, they do not believe in Him.
John cites here (verses 38, 40) a prediction from Isaiah 53:1; 6:10, saying
Israel’s eyes have been blinded and their hearts hardened, so that they can’t see
nor understand the things of God, i.e., they will not receive God’s Son, but instead,
reject Him in unbelief.
Paul’s exhortation in Ephesians 4:17-18, is similar to Isaiah’s prediction, “So
this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer as the
Gentiles [unbelievers] walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their
understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in
them, because of the hardness of their heart.”
Notice again in John 12:38 the phrase, “the arm of the LORD,” speaking of the
power, plan and purpose of God, fulfilled in and through Jesus Christ, the Messiah.
Notice, John says (verse 39) they rejected the Lord (verse 40) because their
eyes were blinded by their unbelief, and their hearts were hardened; even so, this
did not release them from their responsibility to believe in Christ, for it was by their
own willful unbelief that they rejected God’s Son as their Savior and Lord.
John says (verse 41) that Isaiah was clearly talking about God’s Son, and that
those who continually opposed God in the OT, or reject Christ in the NT, bring about
the hardening of their own hearts toward God.
Remember Pharaoh, he would not let the Israelites go, even when God brought
plagues on Egypt? Ten times it says God hardened Pharaoh’s heart (Exodus 4:21;
7:3; 9:12; 10:1, 20 ,27; 11:10; 14:4, 8 ,17); ten times it says Pharaoh hardened
his own heart toward God (Exodus 7:13, 14, 22; 8:15, 19, 32; 9:7, 34, 35; 13:15).
If Pharaoh had heeded God’s warnings and obeyed, his heart would not have
been hardened, but Pharaoh made it clear that he would not bow to the Hebrew
God, and so, Pharaoh hardened his own heart toward God.
Judas, one of the Twelve Disciples, betrayed the Lord, and he is responsible for
the hardening of his own heart toward God, as we will see when we study John 13.
God often used those who opposed Him, to bring about His own plan and
purpose.
See Acts 2:22-24, “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a
man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God
performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know— this Man,
delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to
a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. But God raised Him up
again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be
held in its power.”
1
Read John 12:42-43… At the time John is writing this account, he is looking back
60 years, to days just before Jesus was arrested and put to death.
John says here that many of the religious rulers “believed” in Jesus; but this was
clearly not genuine saving faith; for we are told (verse 42) that these rulers who
“believed” were not confessing Jesus, i.e., they were not openly confessing belief in
and following Christ (cf. Romans 10:9-10; Mark 1:15, 17).
Instead of believing in and honoring Christ they feared that the Pharisees would
put them out of the Synagogue and they would lose their place of favor among, and
power over, the people (verse 43) “for they loved the approval of men rather than
the approval of God.”
These religious leaders cared more about their own honor and glory then they
did God’s, they were self-righteous and self-serving, they didn’t have room for
Christ in their religious idolatry, nor did they want or need Him, for they thought
themselves to be without sin.
See Luke 18:9-14, (Jesus told this parable to some people who trusted in
themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt): “Two men
went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The
Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like
other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast
twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing some
distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his
breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ I tell you, this man went to his
house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be
humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Read John 12:44-50… This declaration made by Jesus was not spoken at this
place in the narrative, but John is providing this information in order to summarize
the public ministry of Christ to Israel, which ended when Jesus left the crowd (John
12:36).
Jesus had on several other occasions made a similar statement to this one in
verse 44, “He who believes in Me, does not believe in Me but in Him who sent Me.”
The clear meaning in Jesus’ statement is that you cannot believe in the Father
apart from Christ, nor Christ apart from the Father, i.e., John 5:24; 8:19; 10:38.
Jesus’ statement (verse 45), “He who sees Me sees the One who sent Me,” is
clearly put in John 14:9, where Jesus says, “He who has seen Me has seen the
Father.”
Jesus taught repeatedly (verse 46) that He is the Light of God who has come
into the world, and those who believe in Him will not remain in darkness, but will
instead become sons and daughters of Light (cf. John 8:12; 9:5; 12:35-36).
In verses 47-48, Jesus’ declaration moves from the blessings to those who
believe in Him, to the condemnation that remains on those who reject Christ; even
though, during Jesus’ first advent or coming to the earth, He did not come to judge,
He came to save (see John 3:16-18).
2
The eternal destination of all people is determined by the words of Jesus, for He
is the Word of God; He speaks on behalf of the Father in heaven, and is equal in
nature and authority with the Father, as God the Son, yet He was submissive to the
Father during His incarnation [Immanuel] God in human flesh, as the Son of Man.
Israel received many blessings as God’s chosen people, Pauls says, in Romans
9:3-5, he would sacrifice himself for their sake, to bring them to a knowledge of
Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, for he is a Jew, and they are his brothers and
sisters racially, the people of Israel; whom God set apart from all other nations on
the earth, allowing them to be blessed by His covenants, see His glory and receive
His Law; to them God sent His prophets, and also granted them blood ancestry
through which Christ, God’s One and Only Son, would come.
But when Christ came, the Jews didn’t receive Him, they rejected Him, finally
putting Him to death; for they ignored all His warnings and all the demonstrations
of His power and equality with the Father, through miracles.
Because Israel did not receive God’s Son, Paul writes in Romans 9:25-28 what
God says in Hosea (2:23), “I will call those who were not My people, ‘My people,’
and her who was not beloved, ‘beloved.’ (1:10) And it shall be that in the place
where it was said to them, ‘you are not My people,’ there they shall be called sons
of the living God.” [Also] Isaiah cries out concerning Israel (10:22-23), “Though
the number of the sons of Israel be like the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that
will be saved; for the Lord will execute His word on the earth, thoroughly and
quickly.”
Paul writes (Romans 11:25-26), “For I do not want you, brethren, to be
uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—
that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has
come in; and so all Israel will be saved.”
Pauls says (Romans 9:27-28), Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, “Though the
number of the sons of Israel be like the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that will
be saved”? Romans 11:26, “all Israel will be saved.”
Unless you have a good understanding of what both the Old and New Testament
teach on this subject, you may not grasp it, but I pray it will be clear to you today.
First – There is the nation of Israel, set apart through the blood ancestry of
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob [the twelve tribes of Israel]; this nation was given the
Law, the Prophets and the Covenants, even so, they rejected God’s Messenger, the
Messiah, the Savior and Lord, God’s One and Only Son, Jesus Christ.
Second – There is also another group of people in the Scripture known as the True
Israel, made up of people from every tribe, tongue and nation, of which there are
some blood descendants of Abraham, but only those who are considered righteous
with God; as we read in Romans 9:27-28, Isaiah cries out concerning Israel,
“Though the number of the sons of Israel be like the sand of the sea, it is the
remnant that will be saved”? And in Romans 11:26, “all Israel will be saved.”
3
See Ephesians 2:11-18, “Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in
the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” [that
being the Jews] which is performed in the flesh by human hands [first by Abraham,
then his descendants] — remember that you were at that time separate from
Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants
of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus
you [Gentiles] who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of
Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups [Jew and Gentile] into
one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the
enmity [hostility], which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so
that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace,
and might reconcile them both in one body to God [Christ the head, Colossians
1:18; we the body parts, 1Corinthians 12:12-27] through the cross, by it having
put to death the enmity. And He [Jesus] came and preached peace to you who were
far away [Gentiles], and peace to those who were near [Jews]; for through Him we
both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.”
Revelation 5:9, “[Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God] was slain and purchased for God
with His [own] blood – men [women and children of age] from every tribe and
tongue and people and nation.”
The True Children of God are not those who merely descended from the Twelve
Tribes of Israel, under the Law and according to the covenants, ceremonies and
sacrifices. The True Children of God are those who belong to Him through Jesus
Christ the Lord.
Galatians 3:26-29, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For
all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There
is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male
nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you
are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.”
Do you see? We are children of God, God’s people, not based upon an ancestral
blood line through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Judah; that blood line was necessary
so that in Jesus’, both the legal and blood requirements were fulfilled to be the
Messiah-King, Lord and Savior. But it was through Abraham’s obedience that he
was considered righteous by God, granting him spiritual [eternal] life as God’s child;
and so it is the spiritual descendants of Abraham who are True Israel, including both
Jew and Gentile.
1Peter 2:9-10, “But you [the Church, NT Christians] are a chosen race, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may
proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His
marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of
God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

Pastor Mike
°°°° >‘(((><