 with that. We're going to be looking today at chapter 10. Now I'm going to read you from verses 18 through 21 because that's where we basically last time we were together. That's where we had left off. But I'm going to do what I've been doing recently. I'm going to go back, review, build again, and then move into that and conclude by looking at those verses. And so let me read to you verses 18 through 21, excuse me, 21 here in this. Oh, I have to tell you one more thing. Yeah, I should tell you one more thing. I will read to you in verses 18 through 21 in a minute. Next, next, next week, I will not, Marina, we will not be here because I'm retiring. No, we won't be. We were asked, I was asked to go to Calvary San Jose and to share as somebody, I guess what had happened is up there, Mike McClure, Don McClure's son, pastors of church, they have a great work that the Lord is doing there. During the COVID closed down, their church exploded because they just continued holding services. And there's a big story about Calvary San Jose where the government has, has fined them millions of dollars and they're fighting the lawsuit because it was illegal for the government to intrude in such a way. It's a big thing. But God has just been blessing there and Mike's doing a great, great work. Excuse me. And so they showed the, the, the movie, the Jesus revolution and people were asking what really was that all about. And so Mike has asked some, some of the people who were in the earlier days to come. And so he had Mike McIntosh come out. Raul is there tonight. Odin Fong and I will be there next week. And so we're going to be taking questions and just sharing with that group up there because they saw the movie and they wanted to know some of the more, more of the details and things of that time. So I would ask for you to keep us in prayer. I'll be here on Sunday. Continue our series on Sunday and acts, but I won't be here the following week. And you know, and then God willing, we'll return just letting you know in advance. So with that said, let's begin reading verse 18. But I say, have you not heard? Yes, indeed, their sound has gone out to all the earth and their words to the ends of the world. But I say, did Israel not know? First, Moses says, I will provoke you to jealousy by those who are not a nation. I will move you to anger by a foolish nation. But Isaiah is very bold and says, I was found by those who did not seek me. I was made manifest to those who did not ask for me. But to Israel, he says, all day long, I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people. So last time we were together, we had closed there at verse 17. But let me review a few things that we've already seen in chapter 10 and then move into the verses before us and conclude. Now Paul has been saying, and he saw that, we saw that in verse one here in chapter 10, that his great desire was for Israel to receive the Messiah. He says in verse one, chapter 10, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. And so he had made it very clear that his greatest desire was for Israel's salvation. Now he points out in verse two that as a people, the Jews were very zealous, but their zeal, he says, was misplaced. He said that they had a zeal for God, but it wasn't according to knowledge. Now that's a great description of the nation of Israel during the time of Paul. There's a writer, a historian, his name is Josephus. And Josephus wrote this, he said, the Jew knows the law better than his own name. The sacred rules were carefully observed. The great feast were observed by countless thousands. Even the Hellenized Jews under Caligula died on the cross and by fire. And the prisoners in the last war died by the claws of African lions in the amphitheater rather than sin against the law. And so they had a zeal, he says. They had a great zeal, but not according to knowledge, as he says in verse two. He says in verse three, they be an ignorant of God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own righteousness have not submitted to the righteousness of God. And so they're ignorant, in other words, of the righteousness of God. They're seeking to establish their own by their works and their their own efforts. They're building their hope of righteousness on a false foundation. And because of this error, they have failed to submit, he says, they're in verse three, to the righteousness of God. They're so confident in their own efforts that they are not yielding to his plan. They have trusted in their own works, but they're not yielding to his work that he performed in salvation by giving Jesus. So what he's saying here is that they need to know they have no merit. They cannot deserve or earn salvation, but they wouldn't accept that they were saved by the finished work of Christ. And that's why they're trying to establish their own righteous standards. While he in verse four had pointed out that Jesus, he says, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. In other words, the law of Moses pointed to Jesus as its conclusion or fulfillment. Galatians three, 24 says that the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. So when you read the word tutor, it speaks of the guardian in a household who is responsible for the care and discipline of the children. The tutor was the one responsible to take the children to school or to tutor them to teach them those things that they needed to know. And so Paul said the law was our tutor, which was to bring us to the knowledge of Jesus Christ. And so because God is rich in mercy, he provided salvation and he did it through Jesus Christ. And because of that, after the resurrection of Christ, Jesus made the preaching of the gospel his mandate. He had said in Mark 16, verse 15, go into all the world and preach the gospel, he said, to every creature. Now, this is what is referred to and he speaks of it in verse eight, as the word of faith. It says in verse eight here, what does it say? The word is near you in your mouth and in your heart. That is, he says, the word of faith which we preach. And I spoke to you a little bit about that last time we were together. That's another way of speaking of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In 1st Timothy four, six, as an example, Paul said, if you instruct the brethren in these things, you'll be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine, which you've carefully followed. Now, we know that he is speaking of the gospel when he refers to this word of faith. How do we know that? We looked at this, but I'll read it again. Verse nine, he said, if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, he says, you'll be saved. Confess with your mouth, believe in your heart. So confess the Lord Jesus. What does it mean? Well, the word confess is a word that simply means to say the same thing. So as a community of believers, we say the same thing. What are we saying? That Jesus Christ is Lord, that Jesus Christ is savior. We're saying the same thing about him and we're confessing that openly. We agree with what God is saying and we say it openly, like Matthew 10 32 and 33 says, Jesus said, whoever therefore shall confess me before men, him I will confess also before my father who's in heaven, but whoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my father who's in heaven. So when you're really saved, you openly avow that you don't hide, you don't hide your faith. You know, we don't put it under a bushel, right? This little light of mine is supposed to shine. And so we don't, I'm sorry, but we don't hide it under a bushel. So confessing him, I want to develop that for just a moment. Confessing Jesus is more than simply saying, I'm a Christian on a survey. So many Americans for so long simply would, when surveyed or filling out some form that required or was requesting a statement concerning whether you have faith to go to church or whatever, we have that in the military, in the army, we had to select, we had to select out of a category of all of these different denominations, we had to select a particular denominational church so that if we died on the battlefield, they would know what the chaplain would kind of service we were supposed to receive by the chaplain. I was from Calvary Chapel. We're not a denomination. And I looked and it was a brand new movement. I didn't know I was a brand new Christian, but I remember reading and it's from A to basically Z, Assemblies of God, you know, apostolic, it went and you just go through all of this Nazarene, all of this, didn't have Calvary Chapel. So what I had to do is I had to kind of figure what is, which of all of these describes me. And so what I put on my mind was disciples of Christ. I didn't even know that was a denomination. I just figured that's what I am, right? I'm a disciple of Christ. See, even people in the military at one time, when you filled out your forms, you would, you would say, this is what I am. But a lot of these people aren't Christians, they just went to church, you know, or they were raised in a denomination or whatever. So confessing is more than simply filling out some form saying I'm a Christian or saying something like that. Being a Christian is really a lifestyle. It reflects a genuine devotion, right, to Jesus Christ. It isn't simply agreeing in your mind. It's behaving in a way that actually lines up and reveals your real beliefs because what you believe is what you do. Somebody can say all day long that they love Jesus and this and that, but if they're, if they're not doing the things of the Lord, I have every reason to wonder whether they know what that, what that means. It's like a woman who says, I really love my husband. I love him on Sundays and Wednesdays and the rest of the week I go out with his friends. I'd have a problem thinking that she's really committed to that man. And so confessing him is more than saying I'm just Christian. What happens is we actually begin to exhibit certain things that are called the fruit of belief or the fruit of faith. For example, one of those things that demonstrates that I really know Christ is I have a desire to obey him, obedience to the Lord. Jesus said, you know, why do you call me a Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? He said, if you love me, keep my commands. That's what Christ said. Keeping his commands is to obey him. In 1 John 1 6 it says, if we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in darkness, our lifestyle or habitual way of life, walk in darkness, we lie and we don't practice the truth. Another thing that demonstrates that I may know the Lord besides wanting to obey him is loving, loving God and loving others. What is the great command in the law? A lawyer asked Jesus on one occasion, love God with everything and love your neighbor as yourself, came to reply. It's all summed up and we'll see that in the book of Romans with one word and that is to love, love your neighbor as yourself. And so by this shall all men know that you are my disciples. If you tithe, no. By this shall all men know that you're my disciples. If you make sure you go on Sunday and Wednesday, no. If you're in a small, no. By this shall all men know that you're my disciples if you have love one to another. That is the birthmark. That is the earmark. That is the trait. That is the description of somebody who knows God. Why is that? Because God is love. And this God of love is love does so much. He gave a son. Our response to him as believers is that we love him, but not only do we love him, we love those whom he does love also. In John 15 verse 13, great love has no one than this to lay down one's life for one's friends. So that takes us to another thing, which would be sacrifice. A willingness to lay ourselves down for others demonstrates that we actually know him. In Philippians in chapter three verses eight and nine Paul said, indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for his sake I've suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I might gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith. When he says I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, I don't even know if I should share this with you, but I'm going to. Why not? It made me laugh and maybe it will make you laugh too. If it doesn't, we'll move on. I was driving and I was on my way somewhere and my assistant at that time was in the light, at stop light. He was coming in my direction as I was going in his and we came to Euclid. I still remember the place and he was going to take a right turn. I was going to take a left turn and we were going to go meet at a certain location there on Euclid in Ontario. And I happened to have the radio on and I was listening to Raul, Raul Reese. Raul is the only man I know who can confuse me in two different languages. I mean, and so I was listening to Raul. I don't know why I'm telling you this. It came to mind as I was reading this, forgive me, but he said, anybody who knows Raul knows how he is. So he is reading this and he said, he read the scripture. It was not in this particular translation, but he said, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish. And he got quiet and the light is still red and my friend Dan is in front of me. I'm sitting, I can see Dan and he says, you know, you know what the word rubbish means? So I'm thinking, oh, here we go, Greek scholar, let me know, right? This is his words, forgive me if it's offensive. He said it, call him up. He said, you know what that word means dung? He's, you know what that means? Poop. When he said that, I lost it. I mean, I lost it. I'm sitting there and I look across the street and my friend Dan has his hands in the air and he's laughing like this. So I pull over and I said, were you listening to Raul? He said, did you hear that? Yes. So what is dung? What is rubbish? It's that which is useless or worthless. And that's the whole point he's making. Thanks to the Greek scholar, Raul Rees. So he said, I have suffered the loss of all things. And so that's part of, that's really a great part of following the Lord is that you know that you're just passing through, that this earth really isn't your home, and that there are things awaiting you that you've laid up your treasures that are awaiting you in a much better place. And so one of the elements that demonstrates you really know the Lord is the heart of sacrifice. Also a commitment, a complete commitment, not one of these part time, but a full time total commitment to the Lord. In John 6, 67 through 69, it says Jesus said to the 12. Do you also want to go away? But Simon Peter answered him, Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also, we have come to believe and know that you are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. I have no place to go. I left everything when I came to follow you. Do you understand that? Did you do that? I did that. At the age of 20, I didn't have much to leave. To be honest with you, I really didn't. But whatever it was, I left behind. I did. And I can still remember speaking to the Lord about this when I went through a crisis of faith later in my walk with the Lord. And I said this to him. I said, I left it all for you. I left everything behind. And I've never come to regret that. Everything was left behind. Why? Because of the excellence of pursuing Christ and knowing Him. And so that's a believer. We are not Christians in a part time. We are Christians full time. And I'm willing to have been for many, many years to say I want to be completely committed. And then also, there's this hunger that you have for the Word of God. That's why you come on Wednesdays, I would hope. You have a hunger for the Word of God. You want to know Him. It's like 1 Peter 2, verse 2 says, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the Word that you may grow thereby. And then finally, what is the mark of a person who's been converted a willingness to suffer for righteousness sake? We see that in the book of Acts. Remember in Acts chapter 5 after that the apostles had been taken and beaten. And all that says in Acts 541, they went their way from the presence of the council rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name. And so these are things that point out that genuine conversion has taken place and He's been pointing that out. Now in verse 11, He goes on and He says, the scripture says, whoever believes on Him, whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame. So whoever believes in Him will never be disappointed by Him. His promise of salvation is sure and He is trustworthy and He's reliable. Now Paul has made it clear that the gospel is for both Jew and Gentile alike. In other words, the gospel message is not restricted but is universal. Both Jew and Gentile will be saved by the same message of salvation through Messiah. And that's why he says in verse 13, whoever calls on the name of the Lord, whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Acts 2, 21 says, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. And this is a call to the world. Isaiah 45, 22, an Old Testament book, turn to me and be saved all the ends of the earth. I'm God. There's none other. In 1st Timothy 2, verse 4, God desires all people, all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Always remember and know that. Again, these are real basic things I'm just reiterating. You've already heard these things. God desires all to be saved. Sometimes you may be thinking, that one will never be saved. Nope. I've shared this story. I'll say it briefly. I was in a Christian concert. I was 23 years old. I was seated in a small area kind of like this place. There was a Christian band. It was JC Power Outlet. For some reason, I still remember the name of the band. JC Power Outlet. Right in front of me was a motorcycle gangster guy. He had his Levi jacket with no sleeves. He had cut the sleeves off. He had a patch. He was no less than six-four, no less than 300, no less. Good size. That was his girlfriend. He was even, no, he's a big scary woman. But no, he was a big guy. He had long hair, just big. And I was seated behind him. I really couldn't see the stage. But I wouldn't tell him. I kept looking around him. And then the invitation was given. I still remember as I was seated there, saying to myself, he can't be saved. This guy can't get saved. I remember he can't get saved. This guy cannot get saved. The invitation came and this mountain stood up. He began to wipe his eyes, the tears that were in his eyes. I still remember that. And then he stumbled, stumbled through the seats, came to the aisle, came forward, stood there towering over everybody. And that's one of the times when the Lord has really impressed my heart. And I believe I heard within my spirit him say something like, I can save anyone. And I've never forgotten that. Don't doubt my power. I can save anyone. And you may have friends or family or co-workers or neighbors that you think are so far away they'll never get saved. Don't forget that they might have thought that about you. Don't forget that. Somebody may have been saying, I can't believe this one got saved. That was such a such a mobster, such a bad person. No, God desires all to come to knowledge of the truth. Now this kind of thing is not popular, especially right now. The world is ridiculing us because of our faith in Christ. And I trust in him. He wasn't that long ago when you had the COVID lockdowns where people were saying, we need to be praying. And then these talk show hosts would ridicule that. They would mock the calls for prayer. Well, we are not ashamed of Jesus Christ. And we know his power. And naturally we fall on our faces before him. And we ask for his help. And he is someone that never will cause us to be ashamed. He never rejects us. And we should never desire to forsake him. Why? Well, because we can trust him. He's faithful. According to Hebrews 10, 23, let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess for he who promised is faithful. Again, verse 13, whoever calls upon him will be saved. So he went on, verse 14, how then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? So if you're saved, you now have the responsibility to proclaim the message. We're not all missionaries, but we certainly are all witnesses. And so he's speaking of that in verse 15 when he says, and how shall they preach unless they're sent? As it's written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things. And so Paul had a commission. He knows the beauty of this particular scripture. He had received a commission from the Lord to proclaim the word, and he was sent. The Lord sends you acts 13, two and three, while they were worshiping the Lord in fasting, the Holy Spirit said, set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. So they were sent. How can you go unless you're sent is the point he's making. And then he speaks of the beauty of the feet of those who are preaching the gospel of peace. How beautiful is it when people come bringing good news of salvation? How beautiful is it in those who have been in darkness can rejoice because the light has come. But he says in verse 16, they have not all obeyed the gospel. Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report? National Israel overwhelmingly rejected Messiah. The Messiah revealed in their own scriptures, obviously, especially as we see it so clearly in Isaiah 53, but they refused. In John 12, 37 and 38, it says even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet, Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed. So verse 17, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So the gospel message is for everyone. He says that it goes out, that it is proclaimed through preaching. And so he's saying, even though it has been preached, the message is still rejected. And though some are rejecting the message, it is the way that God grants salvation. Preaching is the ordinary means of hearing and receiving salvation. I'm going to share a couple of things about that. This is a very important thing, I think, especially in our day. I believe very strongly. I believe very strongly in being aware of the times you're living in. Some of us as believers have put our head, I think, under a basket or in the sand for whatever reason, no condemnation or judgment. But I think that has happened and I have a bit of a concern, actually a great amount of concern over that kind of thing. I think that we need to, as believers, be aware of the days that we're living in. Because the days that we're living in are the days immediately preceding the rapture crisis going to come and take the church. And we need to be ready, and therefore we need to be helping to prepare others through the preaching and proclamation of the gospel. At the same time, we can't be blind to what's going on in our world, in the United States. And I'm trying to be careful how I put this, because I've got a lot I could say. I'm just trying to be careful how I present it, because I'm wanting the point to be made. How shall they hear if someone isn't sent? And what is to be said to them if it's not a message of salvation? And how will nations change if the individuals who inhabit that nation don't change themselves? So how are they going to change? They're going to change through transformation that comes through salvation. They're going to change by the power of the Holy Spirit. So I'm looking at the book of Acts, and I'm enjoying the study myself. I hope others are, but I'm enjoying it because I'm going over ground that I've gone over many times. And I'm seeing other things, and what I've been seeing. And on Sunday, you'll see it a little bit. I'll be touching a bit on this Sunday. But you keep seeing that they were filled with the Spirit, and they said, they were filled with the Spirit, and they preached, they were filled with the Spirit, and God moved. You see it over and over and over again in the book of Acts. You see it. And as I'm looking at that, I'm seeing that God, and I've seen it obviously, but I'm being reminded that it's through the power of transformation. It's the power of the Spirit. It's the power of the Word of God that is properly applied to situations. And the church, I think in these last days, needs to be more aware of that. At the same time, we have to be careful not to substitute the gospel with any message that is just speaking of transformation, because you can talk about transformation all you want. But if you have no power to be transformed, it only creates more hopelessness. You just get frustrated. Because things got to change. What are we going to do? Now, I'll say this briefly. That's a lie. But I'll try. Again, I don't want to be Mr. Nostalgic. I am thinking of next week and the things that we'll be sharing and talking about. As we talk about the Jesus movement and all of that, what made that, and what makes it what it is, is the Word of God and the power of the Spirit. What did I learn from my pastor, Chuck Smith, that I need the Word of God and the power of the Spirit? That is called Calvary Chapel foundational belief. That's what we were trained in. That's what we believe. That's what I believe. When Jesus was moving, 1960, late 68, 69, 70, continued moving into the mid-70s, those who track church history and movements will say, and you can look this up. It's common knowledge to those who look these things up. There are those who will say that the Jesus movement, and this is their words, not mine. They say it ended or stopped right around 1977, 1978. That's what they'll say. You can see it in books. I mean, I've read those books, and that's what it says. They said there was a great movement, went on for nine or ten years, and it slowed down and stopped. But nobody ever says, why? Why? Why? It didn't stop, by the way. God in his spirit and his word has been moving from the beginning, continues to do so. It hasn't really stopped, but what are they saying? They're saying that the revival was derailed in a way. You know what it was? I'll tell you at least one of the things. I was alive at that time. I was teaching the Bible already. I was already in ministry, and I saw this happen. We got caught up with another message. There was a fellow by the name of Jerry Falwell, whom I highly respect to this day, highly respect Jerry Falwell. He was a warrior, and I highly respected this man, and his memory is still very dear to me. He had a message, though. He said that we were the moral majority. That was a phrase that was used. And what happened through influences like Jerry's was we should be doing things in a variety of ways, including politically, making our silent majority voices heard so we can transform society through the political systems that we can infiltrate or be part of. And what happened is it took many people's eyes off the transformation that comes through the gospel, and we got into a kind of theology or belief that we can change society without it. And many churches had pastors who stopped preaching and started politicizing, and the spirit was quenched. And Pastor Chuck used to say this, every time we got together for meetings, he'd say, when asked, Pastor, what are you concerned about? He'd say, have we begun in the spirit and shall we be made complete in the flesh? What are you concerned about that will quench the spirit with our good efforts? So what is the key? How can people be changed? Now, I'll say one more thing I need to clarify. I believe that every Christian should vote. I believe every Christian should be a moral agent for Christ. I believe if God tells you run for office, please do let me know. And I'll pray for you. I'm very much behind that. I greatly want that. I want to see us do something, but it has to be in the spirit. It cannot be, because I'm angry at what I see, which I am at what I see. But my anger is never going to produce the righteousness of God. And I have to be careful with that. And so the believer has to rely on someone greater than himself. And that is God. And we need to be directed by something deeper than our own wisdom. And we are by the word of God. And so with that said, genuine faith comes through the word of God. Now, when Paul was in Corinth, he decided and determined that he would preach a very clear gospel message. In 1 Corinthians 2, 1 through 5, this is what he said. He says, So it was with me, brothers and sisters, when I came to you, I didn't come with eloquence or human wisdom. As I proclaimed to you the testimony about God, for I resolved to know nothing while I was with you, except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God's power. That's the most important thing, believer. You need to know that. You need to know that my faith does not rest on human wisdom. It relies on and rests on God's power. And the message has to be clear so that people know there's a God who loves them. And so faith, a genuine faith comes no other way. It comes through the word of God. It's God's word that gives wisdom and understanding. Psalm 119, verse 66, the Psalmist said, Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe your commandments. Psalm 119, 104, through your precepts I get understanding. Therefore I hate every false way. Psalm 119, 130, the entrance of your words give light, gives understanding to the simple. And so faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. While he says in verse 18, he goes, but I say, have they not heard? Yes, indeed, their sound has gone out to all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. Now Paul is saying that Israel has received or heard the gospel, but they have not welcomed it. They haven't believed. Now this is 25 years after Pentecost. They've heard as a nation, it's gone out. They've heard the gospel, but they're rejecting it. So when he says in verse 19, he goes on and he says, but I say, did Israel not know? First, Moses says, I will provoke you to jealousy by those who are not a nation. I will move you to anger by a foolish nation. So this refers to the inviting of Gentiles to partake in the benefits of the gospel. He quoted out of Deuteronomy 32, verse 21, where it says, they've provoked me to jealousy by what is not God. They've moved me to anger by their foolish idols, but I will provoke them to jealousy by those who are not a nation. I will move them to anger by a foolish nation. Israel, in other words, and that's what he's speaking about. Israel had provoked God because they were worshiping idols. And God says, I'm going to provoke you. I'm going to return the favor. But he goes on in verse 20. Isaiah is very bold and says, I was found by those who didn't seek me. I was made manifest to those who did not ask for me. I offered salvation to those who were not even seeking it. I offered salvation to those who had no awareness and knew nothing about it. I offered salvation and it has to be to the Gentiles. Now we saw in Ephesians 2, 12 and 13 that Paul speaking to the Gentiles, Ephesians were Gentiles, non-Jews. He said, at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. And so he's speaking of the Gentiles. The Gentiles didn't have the covenants. They didn't have the law. They didn't have the priesthood. They didn't have the temple. They didn't have the sacrifice. They didn't have the rituals. They didn't have the festivals. They didn't have anything. But he says, I was found by the ones who weren't even seeking me because the gospel had gone out to them. And yet in contrast to Israel, verse 21, he says, all day long I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people. The Gentiles who were without God have been come into a relationship with God. Israel's rejection became our blessing. But to Israel, he says, I have stretched out my hands to these people. Now, when he says, I want you to notice this, when he says, all day long, I've stretched out my hands, stretching out is a picture of his readiness to gather them, to reach out his arm and to take them in his arms. That's a picture. I have a granddaughter. Her name is Elena. I'm going to bother some of you with the grandpa story. He'll just take a moment because she's a little monster. I'll just say this quickly. She's got a mind of her own. My son David says, we should have named her Bonnie after your mom because she's a little, little tough little thing. She really is. And sometimes I will stretch out my arms to her. Come over here, baby doll. Come on. And she'll go, no. She actually, she actually will do this, this finger wave and she gives me, she puts her hands on her hips and she'll go like that. And when Grammy wants to kiss her, because she loves me more. So I kind of understand that. I couldn't understand how you put your hands out and someone doesn't want it. Someone doesn't want to be held by you. Somebody doesn't want that. And a lot of people know my, my wife, Marie. I'll say this briefly again. You get a little Rosales illustration. When Marie came to faith in Christ, I came from a different background. As a Jesus freak, we would hug each other. That was just what we do to this day. People think I don't hug people. I've had people say, oh, I know you don't hug. That's not true. You know, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a hugger. That's what I am. I'm a hugging machine. That's me. No, I mean, that's just, that's just part of being a believer. So I learned to do that long time ago, right? Now Marie came from a different background. So when she got saved, one day it was shortly after she got saved, something happened. I don't remember. She was upset about something and tearfully upset. So I, I, I did what I do. I, I wanted to comfort her and she put her hands on my chest and pushed me away. And she goes, I don't like being held when I'm upset and looked at her and I said, you know what? I don't care. And I grabbed her and I held her anyway. I said, you're going to receive comfort girl. It's true. That's a true story. I stretched out my arms, but God says to a disobedient and rebellious people, I wanted to protect you. I wanted to comfort you. I wanted to give you security. I wanted to give you everything that the strong arms of the Lord could give you. He say, but you would not remember in Matthew 23, 37, where Jesus said, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you. How often I've longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. You were not willing. That was Israel. He says this desire was in vain. Why they're disobedient. And he says a gain saying people, the word disobedient speaks of rebellious gain saying is a different word. We don't use that word. It means those who are opposing, those who are resisting. So he's saying, they disobey my commands and they argue and reject the words of my prophets. What are you saying? They're spiritually blind. In 2 Corinthians 3 14 through 16, their minds were hardened for until this day, the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament because the veil is taken away in Christ. But even to this day when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. He speak about a people who have rejected a disobedient and contrary people. He said, they're hardened. They're resistant. They're rebellious. But that's not true of every Jew. Obviously, the apostles of Christ and the early disciples were all Jewish. Obviously, the gospel was spreading out from Jerusalem and Judea and in the region of Samaria before it went to the uttermost parts of the earth. All the original believers were Jewish. They came to faith in Christ and yet those who were responsible for the religious training, those who were in the religion business, if you will, had rejected and they remained hardened and actually began to oppose as they do to this day. When we're in Israel on one occasion, we're considering and would have had a possibility. It just didn't work out for us to do it. Raul and I were together and they were trying to arrange for Raul and me to go and speak to the Knesset because they were saying they didn't want Christians to come and missionize, preach the gospel in Israel. They're still hard in that way. They're still difficult, but not every Jew is hardened. I have friends who are Jewish believers. We call them completed. The Jewish believers, one last story and then we'll close. I had a friend. He became my friend, Marie and I friend, our friend. His name was Yossi. Yossi was our guide. Yossi, they assigned guides to you. I didn't know him. He was a Jewish man. I didn't know Yossi. So the company we work with had assigned Yossi to us. Now, normally over the years when I would teach the guides will walk away because they're not, they're not, they're not Christians. They're Jews, Jewish people. They would walk away. They'll go talk, maybe smoke a cigarette. Well, the Christian pastor is speaking. They do that all the time. Yossi didn't. Yossi stood there and he listened. And I still remember we're in Capernaum. I gave a short devotional message. I'd never seen this before. When I had finished, Yossi walks up and he's talking to the group and he says, what he just said is true. You need to listen to it. And I'm looking at him and Marie and I are exchanging glances like, this has never happened before. They don't do this. They don't do this. And I thought, something's going on here. Long story made very short. We went for years and we began to ask for Yossi. Now, Yossi guided Pastor Chuck and others. He was constantly around the gospel with great teachers like Chuck and then like him. And then one day, and we've done this, we didn't do it the last two times, the way that we're going to do it again the next time is this. There's a tunnel. When you're coming from the area of Jericho, some of you know where I'm talking about Jericho is 40 miles or so to the east of Jerusalem. And when you're coming on this road, you get to a tunnel and they'll slow the bus down and they play a song, oh Jerusalem's a song about Jerusalem. And your guide will begin to speak to you. And as he shares with you, he knows how long he should speak until you come to the end of the tunnel. And so Yossi's doing that and I'm sitting there as normal. And then he gets dramatic because sometimes they do and a lot of people get really touched by this kind of drama. But Yossi, I'll never forget how he said, we're about to enter into the city of Jerusalem. The city that you have desire to see from the first time you opened your Bible. He said, it is the city of the great king David. And then he goes on and he says, it is the city of your Messiah and my Messiah. And when he said that, I go, bing, bing, bing, bing. What did he say? What did he say? I look at Marie. Did I hear that? He comes to my room. He speaks to me. He says, you know David, he says, there's a particular rabbi. He's out of Brooklyn. He's here. They're calling him Messiah. He said, some of his followers knocked on my door and they said, we are here to share with you about Messiah. And Yossi tells me this. So I said to them, why do I need your Messiah when the true one came 2000 years ago? Now Yossi tells me that. So I go and speak to my friend Samuel. He owns the company. Has Yossi come to faith in Christ? And Samuel, he goes like that. That's Samuel. I think he's close. I don't know. The next time we come, I say, has Yossi come to faith in Messiah? And Samuel goes, yes, he has. He's come to a genuine faith in his Messiah. Now you tell him to go to church because, because Yossi called me. He said, you're my pastor in Israel. Not that I was the only one. He probably said that to everybody for a tip, but it was nice. It was nice to hear. He goes, you're my, because he came for counsel. He had, he had a problem. He wanted direction. We became very close. He came to faith in Christ. And, and what three years ago, he went to be with this Christ. Yossi died. And now it broke our hearts. He was so dear to us. He'd ask us how our kids were. How's Karina? Oh, I've got one like her strong head, strong head. Yeah, that's my girl. That's my girl. See, so not all have rejected, not all have. There are some who've come to faith in Messiah, but as a nation, Paul is saying, God has stretched out his arms to people who don't want him. And we'll pick up next time as he continues that thought.