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Romans 9-16

Promise Keeper

Gary Wright · Sunday, 12 October 2025 · Romans 11:1-36 · 49:17 · 6,230 words

Romans S25 · 11:1-36 Burton

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Using a story about a broken promise between friends, the sermon contrasts human failure with God’s faithfulness. It looks at the promise God made to Abraham, that his offspring would bless all the families of the earth, and how that promise is fulfilled in Christ. The speaker then walks through the relevant passage in Romans, showing that God has not rejected Israel and that a remnant remains by grace. Listeners are encouraged to examine their own promises, trust God’s unconditional promises, and receive salvation through faith in Jesus.

What this sermon is about

Ranked by keyness against every other sermon in the corpus. Each one is a word this sermon actually said — nothing here was written by a model.

israel 50 harden 27 promise 50 amy 14 israelite 22 reject 27 kim 13 remnant 13 elijah 14 nation 17 baal 6 believe 43

Topics

Israel 16 Faith 15 Salvation 7 Grace 4 Abraham 3 Election & Predestination 3 Sin 2 The Law 2 Suffering 1 Prayer 1

Scripture referenced 39

Verified against the transcript. A reference the recording does not support is never listed here.

Genesis 12:2-3 3:25 Romans 11 3:35 Romans 11 5:28 Romans 9 5:35 Romans 10 5:35 Romans 9 5:42 Romans 9 6:17 Romans 10 6:48 Romans 9 6:48 Romans 10 6:59 Romans 1 7:20 Romans 11 7:24 Romans 11:1 7:24 Romans 11 8:36 Romans 11:2-4 8:43 2 Kings 19 10:08 Romans 11:5-6 15:15 Romans 11:7 17:06 Romans 11:6 18:27 Ephesians 2:8 18:56 Isaiah 29:10 20:31 Isaiah 29:9 20:31 Isaiah 29:8 20:31 Romans 11:9-10 21:09 Psalms 69:22-23 21:10 Mark 8:16-18 24:42 Genesis 12:3 32:52 Isaiah 49:6 33:25 Zechariah 12:10 39:46 Hebrews 6 42:28 Hebrews 6:3 42:33 Genesis 15:17 42:54 1 Samuel 12:22 43:37 James 4:7 44:15 Romans 8:28 44:39 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 45:10 Philippians 4:6 46:18 1 John 1:9 47:29 Romans 10:9 48:04

Transcript

Every word, as spoken, with the second it was said. Each word links to its own entry in the index.

So today we're going to be talking about God's promises.

Okay, some promises that he made to the Israelites.

But years ago, when Kim and I were teenagers, we were dating and stuff.

But she had a best friend.

Her name was Amy.

They were tight, man.

They were thick as thieves.

They trusted each other.

They shared everything with each other.

And Amy, and I want to preface this story.

Kim knows I'm telling this story.

So Amy confided in Kim something that was a big thing in her life.

And she confided in Kim a secret.

And she told Kim, promised she wouldn't tell anyone.

Okay, and she trusted Kim.

That's why she told her this.

But one night, Kim, Amy, and two of their other friends were having a sleepover.

Amy was asleep, or so Kim thought.

And she shared the secret.

But Kim shared the secret with two other people.

I want to tell you this.

My wife is very trustworthy, okay?

She was a teenager back then.

So don't think she's not trustworthy.

But this was a mistake she made.

She told the other friends.

It was really a tragedy.

Their friendship was never the same.

Kim didn't even know Amy heard it for a long time.

She would call Amy.

Amy didn't want anything to do with her.

She didn't know what was.

Amy wasn't coming down to hang out with her.

Come to find out, she knew that Kim had betrayed her promise.

Years later, Kim was able to apologize.

And Amy did accept her apology.

But they were grown then.

But their friendship was destroyed because of that.

Look, promises.

We have a God who keeps his promises, right?

And honestly, he's the only one trustworthy enough

when he tells us something, it's going to happen.

And that's what we're talking today.

So I have a couple of questions.

I have a couple of questions for you to think about.

Have you ever made a promise to someone and broke it?

And I know I could raise my hand on that one.

Unfortunately, I could.

But have you ever had somebody break a promise to you?

They told you they would do something and they broke the promise.

How did that make you feel?

Did you trust them again?

Those are the things I really want you to think about this morning.

But our God, years ago, made a promise to a man named Abraham.

He chose Abraham to be...

His person that he was going to create a nation through Abraham.

And this is the promise.

This is in Genesis chapter 12, verses 2 and 3.

And I do not have this on the screen.

And I want to tell you this too.

If you have your Bibles, we're going to be in Romans chapter 11.

I encourage you to open them up or open up your phone.

But this particular verse is not on the screen,

but all the rest of them will be.

Okay?

But this is the promise.

God says,

Make a great nation.

Make you a great nation.

He's saying,

Look, your offspring are going to be more numerous than the stars,

he tells him later.

And I will bless you and make your name great.

And Abraham's name is great.

It's all through scripture, old and new.

Right?

We're still talking about him all these years later.

His name is great.

He's known as Father Abraham.

Right?

He says,

So that you will be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you.

And him who dishonors you, I will curse.

And when he's making this promise,

he's making this promise to the whole nation

that is going to be created through Abraham's offspring,

which is Israel.

It's the Israelites, the Jews,

whatever you refer to them as.

That's the great nation that's going to be created.

Okay?

And it says,

This is the most important part of the promise.

Right here it says,

And all the families of the earth shall be blessed

through that offspring.

What does that mean?

That means through his offspring,

the Messiah is going to come.

Someday Jesus was going to come from his offspring

and die for the sins of the world.

That's why all of the earth shall be blessed

through his death on the cross.

Okay?

So that's the promise.

to really understand chapter 11,

we have to understand what Paul's been writing about

in the previous two chapters,

chapter 9 and chapter 10.

And I'm just going to give you a quick highlight of that.

Chapter 9 talks about God's sovereignty

and how God sovereignly chose Abraham

and the nation of Israel to be his chosen people.

Okay?

And don't forget,

just because they're his chosen people,

don't mean they're the only ones that's going to get the salvation.

Who can come to Christ in salvation?

It's for all the earth will be blessed.

It's just through them that the Messiah will come,

plus some other blessings that they would have.

So chapter 9 in Romans tells us that,

Paul tells us that the Israelites, for the most part,

have rejected this Messiah, Jesus, when he was actually born.

We're on the other side of Christ going to the cross,

and now, and Paul's telling us,

Israel, even though they've had this promise,

they do not believe that Christ was the Messiah,

for the most part.

And in chapter 10, or actually in chapter 9 also,

we talk about the sovereignty of God,

how God calls us to himself,

how he called Israel to himself.

And then in chapter 10,

we learn the responsibility of mankind to come to salvation.

Not only does God call us,

but we must,

we must come to him in salvation,

which is what Pastor Ryan spoke about last week.

We must come to him in faith.

It's only by faith that we're saved.

Okay?

And that brings us to chapter 1,

sorry, chapter 11, verse 1.

And Paul asks, as he does multiple times in his writings,

a hypothetical question.

He asks, he says,

I ask then, has God rejected his people?

Has he rejected?

Has he rejected the Israelites because they have rejected him?

Paul answers the question,

by no means, for I myself am an Israelite,

a descendant of Abraham,

a member of the tribe of Benjamin.

This question, if it were worded in the Greek language,

which is what this was originally written in,

it would read like this,

God did not reject his people, did he?

It's a double negative.

And Paul says, no, absolutely not,

or by no means, he did not reject them.

And Paul gives one proof here.

He says, I am an Israelite.

I am a believer in Jesus.

So absolutely not did God reject the Israelite people.

But Paul gives a second example as we read on in chapter 11.

And we're going to be reading verses 2 through 4 here

about the second example.

It says,

God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew,

that means whom he chose, the Israelites.

Do you not know what the scripture says about Elijah?

How he appears to God against Israel.

Lord, and this is what Elijah says,

Lord, they have killed your prophets,

they have demolished your altars,

and I alone am left, and they seek my life.

But what is God's reply to Elijah?

Elijah, Paul asks,

I have kept for myself 7,000 men, 7,000 Israelites,

who have not bowed the knee to Baal.

Now, you may be sitting here wondering,

what in the world is he talking about here?

What is Paul talking about?

Maybe you don't understand this,

so I want to give you a brief explanation

of this man named Elijah.

Elijah was a prophet, a man called by God

to share God's word with Israel.

They didn't know that.

They didn't have the written word back then.

He called prophets to go.

And Elijah was one of these men.

And if you want to read this,

this is a great event in the Bible.

It's in 2 Kings chapter 19,

and I encourage you to study this on your own.

I'm not going to read that just for the sake of time,

but he was a prophet for Israel,

for God, for the nation of Israel.

And at this time,

the nation of Israel was split into two parts.

The northern kingdom and the southern kingdom.

The northern kingdom had a king named Ahab,

like a pirate.

That's what it makes me think of.

But Ahab had a wife named Jezebel.

Now, if you're as old as me,

you may remember a rock band called The Eagles.

Who remembers The Eagles?

Do you remember the song Evil Woman?

Right?

When I think of evil woman,

I think of Jezebel, right?

She was an evil woman.

Anybody want to sing it?

No.

So Jezebel was from a place called Sidon, okay?

So here's what happened.

The king, Ahab, married a woman from another nation,

which in God's eyes was a no-no at that time.

He told the Israelites,

marry from your own people,

because if you don't, this is what's going to happen.

The people from the other nations are going to come in,

and they're going to bring their gods,

and your people,

will start to worship false gods.

Guess what happened?

Exactly what God said.

She comes in.

She worshiped a false god named Baal, okay?

And because she had influence on her husband,

the whole nation of Israel, for the most part,

started worshiping this false god Baal.

Exactly what God warned about.

God does some, this incredible thing through Elijah,

where Elijah defeats,

the prophets of Baal.

And he proves that Baal is a false god.

Read that part.

I'm not going to share all of that.

But after all this, after God's seen,

or Elijah's seen God do all this amazing stuff through that,

Jezebel threatens to kill Elijah.

And out of fear, even after seeing God move,

He's scared to death that she's,

her men, or the,

the warriors for the kingdom are going to come and kill him.

He's scared to death.

And he goes to this cave where he's hiding out.

And God comes to him and says,

Elijah, what are you doing?

What are you doing?

Why are you here?

And that's where Elijah says what he said earlier.

I'm the only one left that's serving you in the whole nation of Israel.

I'm the only one.

They've destroyed your altar.

And now they seek my life.

And God reassured Elijah of this.

There is a remnant of people in Israel who still believe,

who have not bowed the knee to this false God, Baal.

They still believe.

There were 7,000 faithful people to God.

Elijah was not alone.

And I want to tell you this.

Sometimes in our walk with Christ,

we can feel alone.

And honestly, sometimes I'm sitting up here

during the week in my office alone.

And I'm like, I feel alone, right?

We are not alone.

Look around here.

We should look up first.

We have God.

And we have the Holy Spirit living in us.

God lives within us if we're believers.

We're not alone.

And we have other believers to encourage us as well.

We're not alone.

So I want to encourage you with that.

But Paul reassures his readers at the time,

time now, that there is still a remnant of Israelites

who have not rejected Christ.

There are some who have came to Christ.

I mean, when we think of the scripture,

who wrote the scripture?

Believing Jews.

Some, at this time, had given their life to Christ.

And it's no different now.

But we'll get to that.

So Paul reassures his readers about this remnant.

And the next two verses, verses 5 and 6, it says,

So at this present time, there is a remnant chosen by grace.

But if it is not by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works.

Otherwise, grace would no longer be grace.

So this remnant of Jewish believers, they were chosen by God.

We talked about God's sovereignty earlier.

God's sovereignty and they have put their faith.

In Jesus and what he did on the cross.

And this remnant of Jewish believers is the proof

that God hasn't given up on Israel.

Has God given up on Israel?

Paul says, no, there's a remnant.

There was a remnant in Elijah's time.

There's still a remnant in Paul's time.

And guess what?

There is a remnant now.

There are Jewish people now who believe in the Christ.

For the majority, they have faith.

They have rejected him.

But there are Jewish believers.

Some believe that the church, us as believers, have replaced Israel.

Is that true?

Absolutely not.

There is two separate things.

God, there is the nation of Israel and there is the church.

They can't be put together.

Okay?

But God had chosen a remnant by grace.

And so he goes on and says, so what?

What happens to the rest?

He asks another hypothetical question.

In verse 7, he says, what then?

If Israel hasn't failed, but the majority has given up or rejected Christ, what then?

Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking.

The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened.

Okay?

And we talked, what he's talking about here is that Israel did not fail because,

an elect, a chosen remnant, the chosen remnant that we talked about was chosen.

But the rest who have rejected Christ were hardened.

And a couple weeks ago, we talked about how Pharaoh's heart was hardened

because of his unbelief.

And that's the same thing that is happening here to the Israelites.

And still today, those Jews who have rejected Christ,

their hearts are hardened because of their lack of faith.

Paul talks about how the Israelites had tried to earn their way to grace,

or to God's favor in verse 6.

Grace is not something that we can earn on our own.

Paul says, otherwise, grace would not be grace.

Grace is a gift, a gift from God.

And if we could get grace on our own, it wouldn't be grace.

It would no longer be a gift.

It would be something we earn.

We don't earn a gift, do we?

We do not.

Ephesians 2, 8, and 9 talks about this as well.

And this is also Paul writing.

It says,

For by grace you have been saved through faith.

God's part of salvation is the free gift of grace.

Our part is to accept that gift through faith.

And this is not your own doing.

It is a gift of God.

Not as a result of works so that no one may boast.

Look, we can't brag about faith.

Because it's all God who supplies it.

If we're bragging about our salvation and we're looking down on others,

we've missed the point.

It's a gift that we only get through faith and what Jesus did on the cross.

So the Israelites, those who rejected Christ, their hearts were hardened.

And Paul, this rejection, you know, we may be thinking,

wow, God chose these people and they rejected him.

And man, this must have been such a shock to God.

And I can't believe they rejected him.

But when we read the Old Testament, what do we find?

This wasn't a surprise to God at all.

And Paul writes about that in the next three verses.

And in verse 9, or verse 8, Paul's quoting from Isaiah 29, 10, the Old Testament.

He said,

God gave them a spirit of stupor.

Our eyes that would not see, ears that would not hear,

and down to this very day.

God had taken Israel because of their disbelief,

and he had hardened, they had rejected him,

hardened themselves, and he hardened them and set them aside.

Okay?

Paul goes on and gives us another example from the Old Testament.

Verses 9 and 10.

This is quoting from Psalm 69, 22 and 23.

David says,

Let their table become a snare,

and a trap,

a stumbling block,

and a retribution to them.

Let their eyes be darkened,

so they cannot see,

and bend their backs forever.

Look, what David's talking about here is,

God gave Israel this promise.

And he also gave them the law.

The law was specifically to show

that they could not earn their way to heaven,

that they needed something,

and that something else was Jesus.

It was the Messiah that was going to come.

And, but what happened is,

the Israelites took this,

David calls it a table,

this gift of the promise and the law,

and it became a snare to the Israelites.

They believed they were special,

and they, if they kept the law,

they would go to heaven.

And it became a snare which kept them

from coming to Christ and reject,

They thought they could earn their own way.

And their hearts were hardened.

So what hardens hearts?

And I'm going to tell you this,

the main thing,

what hardens our heart is,

Lack of faith, right?

As a non-believer,

we may,

some of you may not believe in the,

that Christ died here this morning.

And maybe he's speaking to your heart right now.

But as we reject,

if we reject,

and continuously reject him,

harden our hearts,

where it will become hard

to give our lives to Christ.

Even believers,

believers, listen,

your hearts can be hardened.

Our hearts can be hardened too.

A believer's heart can be hardened these ways.

We can have some sort of habitual sin in our life

that we struggle with,

that we continuously go back to.

That sin and that rejection

can cause us to become hardened

where we fall away from the Lord somewhat.

We're not going to lose our salvation

if we truly know him,

but it can cause our hearts to be hardened.

Hardships in life

can cause our hearts to be hardened.

We can lose our faith

when we see our loved ones suffering,

when we see death in the family,

when we see just things

that we can't make sense of

in our human mind thinking,

why would you allow,

why would you allow this God

instead of having the faith

that he's in control of everything?

That can cause hardness of our heart.

And there's an example of a believer's hardened hearts

in the book of Mark.

And this is Jesus' 12 disciples.

He warns them about their hardened heart

in this passage.

This is Mark 8, 16 through 18.

And they began discussing,

this would be the 12,

with one,

the fact they had no bread.

They didn't have nothing to eat.

I think they had like one loaf of bread

to feed them all.

And they're having this discussion,

like, what are we going to do?

And Jesus, aware of this,

said to them,

why are you discussing the fact

that we have no bread?

Do you not yet perceive or understand?

He's saying, he's really saying,

you of little faith, really,

I'm putting my own words into that.

But he goes on, he says,

are your hearts hardened?

Having eyes, do you not see?

And having ears, do you not hear?

And do you not remember?

What he's referring to is this.

First of all, I want to tell you this.

The disciples are having the discussion here, it says.

That's being very kind.

They're having some intense fellowship here.

They're arguing, right?

They're bickering between one another.

You know, they're worried.

How are we going to eat?

What are we going to eat?

And they're arguing.

And Jesus had to remind them.

He says, don't you remember

that I fed 5,000 people with five loaves?

And in another instance,

Jesus fed 4,000 people with seven loaves of bread.

He's saying, do you not remember

what I've done in your life?

And haven't you seen these miracles happen?

And yet, you're here arguing about it.

Having no faith.

Your hearts are hardened because of your lack of faith.

We here as Christians, we want to hammer the 12.

We're like, I can't believe after seeing all that,

they had such little faith.

But I want to reassure you of this, that I'm no better.

And I don't believe any believer is any better than that.

Because I'm going to tell you, there's

been times in my life where I've questioned God.

Like, why is this happening?

Have you been there?

Have you been there?

That is, our hearts becoming hardened

because of our lack of faith.

And listen, how do we get over that?

We remember what Jesus has done for us in our lives.

Do you remember?

Have you forgotten what I've done?

Look, we can remember how he's transformed us

from who we used to be into this follower of Christ.

I'm going to be honest, I wouldn't even

talk on the phone when my wife and I got married.

I was so shy.

And here I am speaking the word to you on a stage.

Are you kidding me?

That's only from God.

That's only from God.

He transforms our lives from the sinner

who was destined for hell to a believer

who's living for Christ, heading for eternal glory.

Man, he's transformed us.

And if you've ever went through a hardship

and you've seen God carry you through it,

have you been there?

Have you been there?

When we are feeling having this lack of faith,

this is what we need to go back to.

This is how we can keep the faith.

This is how we keep our hearts from being hardened.

And I encourage you with that.

God has not forgotten us.

He's still on the throne.

And he is still working.

In all things, for his will and for his glory.

Paul asked another hypothetical question as we go on.

Have the Israelites, since they've rejected Christ,

are they beyond recovery?

This is how he words it.

So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall?

He's saying, is it possible for them to still be recovered?

Or have they went too far and they can't be recovered?

And this is his answer that he always answers.

By no means, right?

Absolutely not.

It's the same for us.

Like sometimes we can be dull to God,

but have we went so far that we can't be recovered?

I don't believe so.

I do not believe so.

And as we go on, it says,

rather through the Israelites' trespass,

through their rejection of Christ,

through their trespass,

salvation has come to the Gentiles.

The Gentiles are anyone who are not,

So if you are not a Jewish person

sitting in here this morning,

you are a Gentile, okay?

But anyways, and it says,

through their rejection,

the Gentiles were able to come to salvation.

So as to make Israel jealous.

Now, if their trespass means riches of the world,

and if their failure means riches of the Gentiles,

how much more will their inclusion

So by no means, Paul answers the question.

You know, Israel has rejected Christ,

but in that, God brought salvation

to the rest of the world.

And I want you to understand something,

that that was God's intention all along.

God's intention was for all of us to come to salvation.

It was supposed to,

God was hoping Israel would do that,

be the witness.

But let me, let me share some things.

First of all,

I want you to,

I want to talk about the jealousy part.

Paul says,

Gentiles became believers,

or have salvation,

to make Israel jealous.

Remember, I talked about the transformed life.

The hope was that the Gentiles being saved,

and their lives being transformed,

and them receiving the blessings and promises

that God offers believers,

would make the Israelites jealous

to want to come back to Christ.

That was,

that was the plan.

Guess what?

It's still the plan today.

we're supposed to live our transformed lives

in the world,

so people will see the love of Christ in us,

and they will want to know

what it's all about.

We are the ones

who are to make the world jealous.

I don't like the word jealous,

but we show the world the love of Christ

when we live for Christ in the world.

And that's what's going on here.

the Gentiles was something

that God was always part of God's plan.

Actually, in the promise,

you remember it says,

in Genesis 12, 3,

it says,

all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

God's plan was always

for the Gentiles to also come to salvation.

And Israel was called

to be the ones who did that.

God called Israel out.

He gave them,

these promises,

he gave them the law

that they would be his witnesses in the world.

Isaiah 49, 6 says this.

He says,

it is to light a thing

that should be,

it is to light a thing

that should be my servant

to raise up the tribes of Jacob.

He's talking about Israel

when he says the tribes of Jacob.

And to bring back

And this is the part

I really want you to hear here.

I will make you a light

for the nations

that my salvation

may reach the end of the earth.

their mission was the same as ours,

to be a witness for the Lord.

They failed at it.

They did.

I'm sure it happened somewhat.

But for the most part,

Israel looked at themselves

as better than other nations

because they had the law

and they had the promises.

But that's not how

it was intended to be.

And God,

but God in his sovereignty,

and again,

this was no surprise to God,

he brought salvation

to the Gentiles

through Israel's disobedience.

Isn't that wonderful?

We serve an awesome God.

He, his plan still went forward

even though mankind's plan failed.

Israel, even in disobedience,

has been a witness to the world.

And I'm going to tell you

here this morning,

if you're a Christian,

if you have doubts that God exists,

look at Israel.

Really, the Old Testament

is all about Israel.

It's about how God chose them

and made them

and gave them their own land.

It's proof that God is real.

It's proof that God's word is real.

And it still exists today.

We can look over

and we can see Israel

right where God said it would be.

His promises came true.

And there should be no

anti-Semitism against Israel

if we're believers.

Because guess what?

We're studying the word

that they wrote.

We look down on Israel sometimes.

But Israel, the Jews,

that God inspired them to write.

We're standing on the promises

that God gave to them.

when we look to the Old Testament,

we see that Israel has always,

there's always been conflict there.

Is there conflict there now?

There always is.

there always will be

until the tribulation

when the treaty is signed

with the Antichrist.

Why is there tribulation there?

Because it's God's chosen people.

Satan is trying to wipe out God's plan.

God has set the Israelites aside for a time,

but he still has a plan for them in the future.

Listen to the conflicts

that have went on there.

The Egyptians took them into slavery.

There was conflict with the Amalekites,

the Midianites,

and guess what?

The Germans in World War II.

Have you heard of the Holocaust?

They were trying to wipe out the Jewish nation.

They were trying to wipe out the promises of God.

There's conflict because

Israel is God's chosen people

and God's chosen nation.

Paul says the Israelites have been set aside

for a purpose,

or for a time being,

but eventually God is going to fulfill

his promises in them.

If we go on in verse 12,

it says,

now if their trespasses

means riches for the world,

and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles,

how much more will their inclusion

Paul's saying great things came

because they rejected Christ.

But imagine how good it's going to be

when they actually accept him

and they will someday.

He's talking not as if they will,

he's talking as they will.

And if we skip down to verses 25 through 27,

we will see how this is going to happen,

how Israel will come back to Christ

and how they will,

and how they will leave.

Verses 25 through 27 says,

least you be wise in your own sight.

I do not want you to be unaware

of the mystery, brothers.

A partial hardening has come upon Israel,

a partial hardening.

They've been set aside

until the fullness of the Gentiles

has come in.

And in this way,

all Israel will be saved.

As it is written,

the deliverer will come from Zion

He will banish ungodliness from Jacob,

which is Israel.

And this will be my covenant with them.

I with them when I take away their sins.

Look, Israel, they're in disbelief.

Their hearts are hardened.

They're set aside.

But someday they're going to see Christ return.

Christ is coming back.

Do you know that?

He's coming back.

And when they see him,

they are going to believe.

When they see the pierced hands,

they're going to weep.

Listen to this next verse.

This is in Zechariah 12.10.

It says,

And I will pour out on the house of David,

that's Israel,

and the inhabitants of Jerusalem

a spirit of grace

and pleas of mercy,

so that when they look on me,

on him whom they have pierced,

they shall mourn for him

as one mourns for an only child.

Jesus, the only child.

Guess what?

He goes on,

and weep bitterly over him

as one.

Weeps for what?

Over a firstborn.

He's talking about Christ.

When Israel sees Christ

and his pierced hands,

they realize that they're the ones

that put him to death.

There's going to be mourning.

They're going to realize

that they were wrong.

And those, I believe,

there's a lot of discussion

on the word all of Israel.

I believe it's the Israelites

that are living at that time.

I do not believe all of Israel,

that for eternity will be saved.

I believe the ones who are alive there

and put their faith in Christ

are the only ones that will be saved.

But it says all of Israel will be saved

when they see him.

Look, God's promises are true.

We've seen it throughout history

in the Old Testament.

We've seen how God's fulfilled these promises.

And look, we can look forward,

and we can have confidence

that he's going to fulfill his promises

at the end times.

And look, his promises are unconditional.

Let me explain that.

Amy and Kim, my wife and her friend Amy,

they had a conditional promise.

Amy said, promise that you won't tell nobody this.

And when she did, there was consequences.

It broke the friendship.

It was unconditional.

The promise he made to Abraham

was unconditional.

Regardless, and we've seen that.

The Israelites rejected him,

yet God's promises are still being fulfilled.

His promises are unconditional.

They're going to happen regardless of what we do.

His promises are going to be fulfilled

regardless of what we do.

I want to read a verse in Hebrews.

Hebrews chapter 6.

This verse isn't up there either.

I'm sorry.

This is verse 3.

It says,

And this we will do if God permit.

No, that's not right.

It's actually 6.13.

I'm sorry.

For when God made a promise to Abraham,

since he had no greater by whom to swear,

he swore by himself.

Right?

And if you look at Genesis 15, 17,

I'm not going to go there and read that.

Abraham cuts up these pieces of meat for an offering.

And God comes to him in a vision afterwards.

And it shows a flame going between these cut up pieces of meat.

So what happened back in those days is

if two people made a promise,

they would both pass between the meat.

In the vision, only God passed through.

He's promising, and he's promising to himself

that this will happen.

Can we trust God?

Right?

And God's promise will always be fulfilled.

1 Samuel 12.22, it says,

For the Lord will not forsake.

His people for his great namesake,

because it has pleased the Lord

to make you a people of himself.

He is going to fulfill.

He's not done with Israel.

He's going to use them in the future.

And as I close out,

I want to share some promises

that God gives to believers.

There are lots of them,

and I just picked out some of my favorites.

But James 4.7,

says submit yourselves therefore to God

and resist the devil,

and he will flee from you.

When we submit our lives to the Lord

and we resist the devil,

we resist his temptations,

the devil will flee from us.

That's a promise.

Romans 8.28,

and we know,

this is one of my favorites,

and we know that for those who love God,

all things work together

for those who are called

according to God.

God is going to use

for believers who are called by him

anything good or bad,

he is going to use

for good,

for his purpose,

for his plan,

his will.

Another promise,

2 Corinthians 12.9-10.

Paul has some kind of affliction

or some kind of thing

that he's dealing with in his life.

And he prays about it.

But Jesus said,

he talks about how

He says,

but he said to me,

my grace is sufficient for you

for my power is made perfect

Therefore, I will boast,

Paul now speaking,

so therefore I will boast

all the more gladly in my weakness

so that the power of Christ

may rest upon me.

For the sake of Christ,

then I am content with weakness,

insults, hardships,

persecution, and calamities.

For when I am weak,

ah, then I am strong.

When we're going through it,

God promises believers

not that he's going to take away

those afflictions,

that he's going to be with us

and make us strong

and to be able to walk

through those things.

Philippians 4, 6, and 7.

And a lot of us struggle with this.

Paul says,

don't be anxious about anything,

but in everything,

by prayer and supplication,

with thanksgiving,

let your requests come

and let your requests be known to God.

And the peace of God,

which surpasses all understanding,

will guard your heart

and your minds in Christ Jesus.

What Paul's saying is,

when we're having anxiety,

when we're worrying,

we pray about it.

And we remember how God

has worked in our life.

We have this thanksgiving.

And guess what he promises

to give us when we do that?

Peace beyond all understanding.

That means our world

can be burning down around us.

And if we do that,

we will have the supernatural peace

that only comes from God.

Instead of being like this,

be like this.

And the last one,

I saved the best for last.

1 John 1, 9.

If we confess our sins,

he is faithful and just

to forgive us our sins

and to cleanse us

from all unrighteousness.

When we understand we're sinners

and we come,

we come to Christ.

Well, let me back up.

When we realize we're sinners

and we are hopeless without Christ

and we turn to him

in forgiveness and confession

and we believe.

I'll just recite this verse.

Romans 10, 9 says,

because if you believe

or confess with your mouth

that Jesus is Lord

and you believe in your heart

that God raised him from the dead,

you will be saved.

Promise the Lord

and the Lord can save us.

Sometimes we feel hopeless

and how do we get to heaven?

And sometimes we think it's by works,

but it's not.

It's only through the blood of Christ

and believing and having faith

that he died to pay your payment

and he rose again.

That's the only way.

We go to funerals

and we hear things like

they were a good person.

They're going to be in heaven.

That is not the truth

and I want you to understand that

That is only through faith

and what Christ did on the cross.

I hope you can take these promises

to heart, believers.

Even if you're not a believer,

understand that Christ is the only way.

He is the way, the truth, and the life

and nobody comes to him

except through Jesus.

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