The Majesty of Israel pt 2 - January 25th, 2026

If I can have you guys, if you are able to stand up, and I want to read for you this uh Nahum chapter two, verse one and two. This is the second part of the sermon. Um, but let me read these two verses. The one whose scatters has come up against you, guard the fortification, watch the road, strengthen your loins, instill your power with exceeding courage. For Yahweh will restore the majesty of Jacob like the majesty of Israel, even though those who have emptied who empty them have emptied them to destruction and ruined their vine branches. Let's pray together. Father, we pray that you would help us this morning to truly be attentive to your word, to take it all in, and to chew deeply on it over the course of the week, so that we would anchor our hopes and our thoughts on the person of Christ, that our minds and our thoughts would be hedged in by your holy truth, especially as the chaos continues to ensue around us.

Father, we trust you. We trust that you are working out all your purposes, and we ask that as we your sheep hear your voice this morning, that we will be strengthened, and that we would be rejuvenated. And Lord, that in and through our lives, that those in the world would know that you are good, that you alone are good, and that you are worthy not only of our trust, but worthy of our affections and praise. So help us to respond appropriately to the proclamations of your truth. We pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen. Go ahead and take a seat. If I were to tell you that I do not believe that Abraham Lincoln was a real person, that he was never the 16th president of the United States, you would chuckle at me and dismiss me as a fool.

The truth of Abraham Lincoln's existence is incontrovertible fact. It does not depend on my belief. Truth is truth, regardless of whether I choose to believe it or not. If I were to tell you that I have walked from here to Hawaii, and that it took me only two hours to do so, you would call me a liar, or you may laugh in astonishment at such a ridiculous claim. That is not only a physically impossible, it is geographically impossible. Now, even if I pleaded with you with tears and asked with all my heart for you to believe that I did walk from here to Hawaii, and then somehow I convinced you and you believed me, it would still be a falsehood. A falsehood is a falsehood, no matter how earnest my belief, or how sincere my plea, or how persuasive my presentation.

So truth is not affected by my opinion of it, nor is it altered by my belief in it. Right. Now the truths in these examples are very easy to discern. But with many falsehoods that are whispered and to present it to us each and every day, are we able to discern them as falsehoods? Often not, because many falsehoods are presented to us as almost truths, right? After all, bait needs to look like real food for the hook to set. But falsehood also is not affected by my opinion, nor is it altered by my acceptance of it. So truth is truth, falsehood is falsehood. And there are some truths that are found in the scripture that are incontrovertible fact, and they're not affected by our opinions, nor are they altered by our belief in them.

So here's the first truth. I'm going to give you two. God is holy, holy, holy. He is set apart, he is completely other, he is not like us. God is holy. And this truth levels the playing field for all mankind because we then all stand condemned before a holy God. It doesn't matter if you're white, black, Asian, Jew, or non-Jew. It is of very little consequence whether you're rich or you're poor, whether you're a baby in the womb, or whether you're an old person ready for death. God is holy. And because he is holy, we sinners all stand condemned. So the holiness of God puts us all on equal footing. The holiness of God levels the playing field, and that truth is not affected by man's opinion of it.

One day every eye will see, and every tongue will confess this truth, and every mouth will declare this as truth. So that's a first incontrovertible fact. The second one is this.

So salvation is not by works. So no one in the history of mankind has ever had any boast. The gospel of Christ is the good news that salvation is a gift. It's completely by grace. So the gospel also levels the playing field, and the truth of the gospel is neither affected by man's acceptance or by his rejection of it. Okay? Two truths. Outside of the grace of God, we are all the same. Right. There is no person who is a greater sinner than another. There is no person less deserving of heaven than another. There is no person worth saving over another. The gospel of God levels a playing field, and this too is incontrovertible truth made known to us by the God who cannot and does not lie.

So it may take a little bit of time for this to really sink in, but I trust that for the most part you theologically will agree with what has just been said. And these are very helpful things for us to remember and to meditate upon often. So for today's sermon, keep these truths in the back of your mind, and then think of the chaos that exists in the world around us. A series of falsehoods have been whispered into the subconscious recesses of all mankind, and chaos has ensued. In everybody's ear, all eight billion people on the planet, right now. There are whispers of these words. We are in the right, they are in the wrong.

We deserve justice, they deserve condemnation. We are his chosen people. It's clear that they are rejected. We are worthy of God. They are not. And those are the voices that are in everybody's ears. Now, we live in some crazy times. In just the fast, the past uh few weeks, since part one of the sermon, and the opening verses of Nahum chapter 2, so much has happened in this world. There's so much ugliness and noise on my newsfeeds. And I find it very disheartening that there's so much division even among those who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ. So how are we to biblically process through what is happening in our world today? So we need to be faithful to study and pray that our interpretations of all things line up with God's truths.

Amen. Our opinions, our degrees, our experiences, all of those things must be submitted to and taken captive to the obedience of Christ. And that's 2 Corinthians 10, 5. We are all prone to deception. We are all easily manipulated. So a solid biblical foundation has to be established in our lives, because without those things, we cannot keep sober and watchful and hopeful without those things. So it's absolutely imperative that we anchor our thoughts and all of our opinions onto God's unchanging word. Okay. So, and in so doing, we will be firmly rooted in the hope that God will one day redeem and restore. Sin will be done away with. Micah 7, verse 19, Revelation 21.

And also while we wait for that day, we will remember that our struggle is never against flesh and blood. Flesh and blood is never our enemy. Human beings are never our enemy. We are all on equal footing. The character of the God and the message of the gospel has leveled the playing field. And that's an important premise for today's sermon. God's word will guard our hearts from looking down on people, from harboring resentment and hatred towards people. His word will keep us vigilant and clear-headed in these strange times. We need to guard our hearts and remember the following. Okay. 2 Corinthians 10, 3 to 5. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the tearing down of strongholds.

As we tear down speculations, and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God. And we take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. And I want to read this last part again. We take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. So we walk by faith, not by sight. We humble ourselves and submit ourselves not to a party or a philosophy or scientific findings. We take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Amen.

So this is the second part of the sermon. We're picking back up in our sermon series through Nahum. And we are in part two of the sermon on the restoration of Israel. And it reads there, Yahweh will restore the majesty of Jacob like the majesty of Israel. And that's the beginning of Nahum 2.2. God still has a plan for his chosen people, Israel. And here's the previous outline of what we covered for Nahum 2, 1 to 2. In part one, we looked at the futility of Assyria. They have been God's appointed scatterers and emptiers of Israel. And in Nahum's prophecy, we see that Babylon would soon replace Assyria as an even fiercer scatterer and emptier. God has appointed the scatterer. God is sovereign.

He is in full control. And the prophecy of Nahum is basically about the vengeance God would take on Israel's enemies. And that's chapter 1, verse 2 to 3. And he would comfort his chosen people. Any human strategy to stop God's plan would be futile.

Chapter 2, verse 1. God would make good on all his promises to Israel. And we saw that the scriptures make repeated mention that there awaits a glorious future for the nation of Israel. And that truth is all over the pages of the old and the new testaments. Israel is God's chosen people still. And those two points are where we left off of after part one. And so today we're going to be revisiting some of those themes, but focusing especially on the function of the history present in the nation of Israel. What is God doing in Israel and in the world today? So the bulk of today's sermon will be launching off of this latter part of verse 2. So I want to read this passage again for us. The one who scatters Babylon has come up against you, guard the fortification, watch the road, strengthen your loins, instill your power with exceeding courage.

For Yahweh will restore the majesty of Jacob, like the majesty of Israel, even though those who empty them have emptied them to destruction and ruin their vine branches. So we're going to be looking at the function of Israel's historical present. Okay. So grammatically, the words, even though that you may see there in the yellow, communicate the future outcome of something that's going to take place despite the conditions observed in the present. So here's a few example sentences.

Or I will run in tomorrow's marathon, even though I am nursing a sore ankle. So a decision will be made for the future, despite the conditions found in the present. So the words even though here describe a present circumstance or situation for Israel that will be addressed and rectified in the future. God will restore, even though at present the people of God find themselves in devastation. So there remains a glorious future for the nation of Israel, even though time and time again, the people of Israel have been historically emptied. So here's a sermon outline as we study through Israel's historical present. First, we're looking at the emptyers of Israel, and historically there have been many.

Second, we're going to be looking at the emptying of God's chosen people, what it looked like then, and what it looks like today. And then we're going to wrap up the sermon by cycling back to verse 1 and that promise of restoration. And there is a promise of a permanent restoration for God's people. So even though those who empty them have emptied them to destruction and ruin their vine branches, the words after even though literally reads, have emptied them out the emptiers. Okay, I'm gonna give you some Hebrew. Bakakum Bakakim. I'll have you repeat after me. Bakakum. Bakakim. Bakakum. Bakakim. Okay, that's what it says. The Hebrew word translated empty here is Bakak. Okay, Bakak. And that means plunder, destroy, or devastate.

And Bakak is literally the sound of water being emptied from a bottle or a jug. Bakakak bakakak bakak bakak. Okay. And the mood of this can be understood as squeezed out or wrung dry. So visualize with me. Two very strong men using all of their strength to wring out a large wet bath towel together. Okay. They're just squeezing. So the squeezers squeezed out. The ringers have wrung out. The emptiers have emptied. Bacakum Bakakim. So in the immediate context of Nahum's prophecy, those who have emptied them is referring to Assyria, the global superpower of their day. God had raised up Assyria as a rod of discipline. Assyria was a big memestic for Israel, Isaiah chapter 10, verse 5. The emptier came as a consequence of Israel's sins.

And so this is what God had warned would happen if they were disobedient and turned to other gods. He had warned them time and time again, and he had reiterated what would happen to Israel in the event they did they breached the stipulations of the covenant, Deuteronomy 28, 15 to 68. So here's a little snippet of the list of curses. Deuteronomy 28, 32 to 34, your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, emptiers, while your eyes look on and yearn for them all the day long, but there will be nothing you can do. A people whom you do not know shall eat up the produce of your ground and all your labors, and you will never be anything but oppressed and crushed all your days. And you shall be driven mad by the sight of what your eyes see.

And in the in the historical context of Nahum here, we see that God finally had made good on his warnings to his people. Enough was enough. And between 722 BC to the time of Nahum's prophecy, so that's a period of about 70 years, Assyria had been used by God to discipline and to empty his people. And we see historically that God has since appointed many emptiers to discipline his people Israel. So in God's sovereignty, his justice, and even his love, God has delivered his people over into the hands of pagan empires for their discipline. Some may even say that at present, Israel is being disciplined and being emptied for their unbelief and rejection of their Messiah. So the emptying happens because sovereign God has ordained it as a disciplinary measure for his people.

That's what scripture teaches. God is in absolute control.

And ever since he had been cast down from heaven, he has been on a mission to steal, kill, and destroy those whom God sets his love upon. Satan fiercely hates those whom God fiercely loves. And Satan and his angels have always used falsehoods to set the world on fire and to pit people against each other. Revelation 12, verse 9 reads. And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old, who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. So it says here that Satan is a deceiver. He is a father of lies. He is a murderer, John 8 44. He is the tempter, 1 Thessalonians 3 5. He is the schemer, Ephesians 6 11.

He is the God of this age, 2 Corinthians 4 4. He is the ruler of the power of the air, working to deceive all sons of disobedience, both Jew and non-Jew. Okay, Ephesians chapter 2, verses 2 to 3. You were all dead in your transgressions, is verse 1. In which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience, among whom we Jews all also formally conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. So Satan desires the ruin of all people. He desires for all men to defy God. And he is especially after the ruin of God's chosen people.

So Satan has always been at work to rile up the nations against the people of God, because he is the master of falsehoods. His favorite strategy is to divide and conquer.

And Satan, the God of this age, has inspired emptyers against God's people, and he has often inspired them from within.

So the true source of anti-Semitism, and likewise a source of hatred towards the Christian faith is Satan. Anti-Semitism is satanic. So think of history's most hated groups of people. It has always been the Jews. It has always been Christ's church. Right.

And this is always proven to be historically the case.

So Satan's hatred of the God of Israel is the root motivation of man's hatred of the people of Israel. That's clearly spelled out in Psalm 83. Hatred of God leads to a hatred of God's people.

And those who hate you, God, have lifted up their heads. They make shrewd plans against your people, conspire together against your treasured ones. They have said, Come, let us wipe them out as a nation, that the name of Israel be remembered no more. For they have conspired together with one heart against you. They have cut a covenant. Did you guys catch that? The enemies of God have roared at God and shaken their fists. And what do they do? We can't hurt God, so let's hurt his people. Let's harm his treasured ones. They want to annihilate his people. They want to wipe the history books clean of the name of his people, verse 4. So the nations have joined together in united heart against God.

And that's verse 5. So why is anti-Semitism so prevalent around us today? Why have the Jews been so historically hated? Why have there been so many empties who have sought to plunder, destroy, and empty the Jews? Because Satan the liar have deceived people into hating God's people. He who hates God is leading the charge and directing the hatred towards God's people. So the empty years have emptied. Bakakum Bakakim. Okay? So in the immediate historical context of Nahum's prophecy, the Assyrians had conquered the northern kingdom of Israel in 722, and they had killed and exiled many of her people, and they had oppressed them.

The northern kingdom of Israel had once enjoyed comfort, wealth, luxury, military strength, especially during the reign of King Jeroboam II. But now all of those things were gone. Assyria had thoroughly devastated, plundered, and emptied them. So the words vine branches that you see at the end of verse 2, those symbolized Israel's posterity, their descendants, and their national vitality and their strength. But now all of those things were gone. Israel's vine branches have been ruined and ruined thoroughly. And this emptying was not the first time, nor would it be the last.

Right. This time Haman, the enemy of the Jews, was raised up to seek the genocide of all the Jewish people. Why? Because his pride got hurt. Satan used this man's bruised ego to launch a genocide. Esther 3, 5 to 6. Then Haman saw that Mordecai was not bowing down or prostrating himself before him. So Haman was filled with wrath. He despised his eyes to send forth his hand against Mordecai alone, for they had told him the people of Mordecai were, who the people of Mordecai were. Therefore, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahashueris. So Satan has always exploited the wounding of man's pride and turning it into man's self-righteous wrath.

Satan has always exploited the wounding of man's pride by turning it into man's self-righteous wrath. So you guys know this story. It's in all the children's Bibles. Queen Esther was raised up for a time such as this, and then she rose up to save the Jews. The only time where all the Jews were spared in their history. Okay. And the feast of Purim was instituted, which basically commemorated the rescue of the Jewish people from yet another empty yeah. There's a modern day saying today amongst the Jews, so many Hamans, but only one Purim. So many Hamans, but only one Purim. Anti-Semitism is called the oldest hatred. From Exodus chapter 1, Pharaoh who wanted to eliminate all the Jews by killing all of their baby boys, then to Haman, and then to Hitler, and then Saddam Hussein, who in 1991 shot 40 scud missiles on Israel's civic centers.

The Jews have always been historically hated and emptied, and this still continues to this day. So I want you guys to pay attention. Here are some things that have been in the news in just the last two months. We're one month removed from Christmas. So everything that's happened is from December 2025 on, okay. Jews were murdered by a jihadi father-son duo in Australia. Do you guys remember this? That was December. Students at Brown University were murdered in a class taught by Rachel Friedberg, a Jewish professor who leads the school's Jewish studies program. Nuno Lurrero, a 47-year-old Jewish professor of nuclear physics at MIT in December was murdered in his home. Just before Christmas, a month ago, Orthodox Jews in New York were violently assaulted while riding on a subway.

In Amsterdam, violent Palestinian protesters disturbed Hanukkah celebration. Later in December, a Jewish family in California had their home hit by gunfire because they had Hanukkah decorations up. And one of the shooters was heard shouting, free Palestine. There were Islamic terrorists, terrorist attempts in Poland, in Germany, and in California, all in December. France, the nation of France, canceled its public New Year's Eve celebrations because of a rise in terrorist threat levels targeted at the Jews. And the Jews took the blame for all of this, and that's just in the last two months. So I want to have you take a step back and think with me.

That's not even one percent. But this tiny people, they have 22% of all the Nobel Prizes. You can look that up. So the Jewish people are not contributing to the good of mankind. Okay.

The media is constantly attacking the Jews. And that's socially, sociologically mind-boggling. As I shared a couple weeks ago, at present, Israel is the only country in all of the Middle East in which same-sex marriage is legal, but the vast majority of the LGBTQ community living in America, what are they saying? Free Palestine. Were those people to move to Palestine, the members of the LGBT community would be quickly executed. But they hate Israel, the only country in which their marriages would be formally recognized. So Israel has always been and will continue to be hated and emptied.

And there are shrewd plans being devised against the people of God. Psalm 83 3. There are spiritual forces at work. You guys know this, the next few verses. Finally, be strong in the Lord, Ephesians 6 10, in the might of his strength. Put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. Have you guys read this verse before? For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything to stand firm.

There has been a disciplinary temporary hardening of the Jews. And God has allowed for this.

One, God has ordained for the Jews to temporarily be hardened to bring mercy and salvation to the Gentiles. Do you see those? Do you see that in the verses? Okay. And the second reason is God did this to make Israel jealous. Verse 11. Now that seems like, dude, God's playing games. How petty is he? It's like a woman like purposely flirting with another man, so her husband can be jealous. It's not that kind of a jealousy. God is not playing hard to get here. The jealousy that is used here is not a petty and insecure jealousy, but it's to create in them a righteous longing for restoration and reconciliation. He is causing the Jews to yearn for God by temporarily keeping a distance from his people.

And that's the gist of Romans chapter 10 and 11. God has not rejected his people, he will restore and he will bring them back.

Irrevocable.

Praise God for that.

And that covenant that he made with Abraham actually was a one-sided, eternal promise that God alone had made. God swore by himself, because there's no other being that he could swear by. So in Genesis chapter 15, when the Abrahamic covenant was being made, do you guys know this story? The animal carcasses were split. God put Adam or Abraham to sleep, he alone walked down the aisle. Right.

Hebrews chapter 6, verse 13 to 14. So as Charles Spurgeon once said of all of God's people, which includes you and me, until God rejects Christ, he will not reject his people. So this will never happen.

Amen. And God made a similar and equally strong promise to his people. So Nahum chapter 2, verses 1 and 2. The one who scatters has come up against you, guard the fortification, watch the road, strengthen your loins, instill your power with exceeding courage. For Yahweh will restore the majesty of Jacob, like the majesty of Israel, even though those who empty them have emptied them to destruction and ruin their vine branches. So, even though Bakakum Bakakim, even though emptiers have continued to empty to destruction, God will restore, and he will one day restore permanently. If you read your Bibles, you will notice a permanence in his restoration. The forever and everness of the restoration closes almost every single book of the minor prophets.

What are they going to be restored to? The promises to Israel have always been threefold: land, descendants, and blessing. Repeat after me, land, descendants, blessing. And that's always been the promise. It dates back to Genesis 12 when God made a promise to Abraham. I will make you a great nation, geopolitical. I will bless you, and I will make your name great, and so you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you, I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed. So the promises that were given to Israel, first made to Abraham and then to Isaac and Jacob, and then later confirmed through Moses, they were always threefold.

And through this nation, all the families of the earth would be blessed. The land promises have yet to be permanently fulfilled for the nation of Israel.

It had been given to them, but then it had been taken away. Right? One day they will be restored. Nahum 2 2 to that land permanently. Now I want to turn our attention to an element of the Abrahamic blessing that often gets overlooked. This is a promise that is also one of permanence. Okay, in verse 3 of Genesis 12, God says, I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you, I will curse.

What is the simple reading of the passage tell you? The woe-filled curse of God comes with a vengeance. Zachariah 2, 7 to 8. Woe, Zion. Escape you who are living with the daughter of Babylon. For thus says Yahweh of hosts, after glory he has sent me against the nations which have taken you as spoil. For he who touches you, touches the apple of his eye. To Yahweh of hosts, Israel is the apple of his eye. You dare not touch the apple of his eye. The entire prophecy of Obadiah is of how the Edomites would be cut off forever. Not because they cursed Israel, because they didn't do that, but they stood aloof and failed to come to his brother's aid when others cursed Israel.

So a cursing of Israel is not something one dares to do casually or thoughtlessly. Only a fool who has bought into the falsehoods of the God of this age would dare to do this. So, what is anti-Semitism? By definition, it is a hatred of God's chosen people, the Jews. So let me pose a very important question here, because you probably have heard many opinions on this. Is it okay for a Jesus loving Christian to be pro-Palestinian? Important question because at some point you're going to be asked this by somebody. You want to be able to formulate a clear, articulate like biblical thought, right? Is it okay for a Jesus loving Christian to be pro-Palestinian?

If you want to answer yes, what are you going to do with passages like this? For a pro-Palestinian Christian, and for that person's reasoning to be valid, he's gonna have to endorse the following. Okay. One, God is finished with the nation of Israel. God is done. They broke the contract, they broke the covenant, God is done with Israel. That has to be the argument. Second, oh, the church has replaced Israel as a people of God. Only then could a real Christian actually say, I am pro-Palestine. Okay. But then that would require a ton of explanations, arguing against many, many, many passages in the old and the New Testament that speak on the irrevocability of the promises of God. It would also require an explanation of why Israel is still here and thriving.

It's like a zombie. They never die. They keep coming back. Why has Israel never been emptied completely to extermination and extinction? They are a people that somehow never goes away. You kill six million of them in the Holocaust. Less than a decade later, they form a country. So many. But Yahweh is the God of Purim. So we have to be careful to anchor our theology, our opinions, and all of our applications to the truths of scripture. I am not like a Jew fanatic. I am not a Zionist in the technical definition of the word.

But my thoughts have to be anchored on the biblical thought, right? So none of what we are to believe about Israel's future should be based on Israel's merit. Just like none of what we believe about our future is based on our present merit. Amen. It's all by grace. Before a holy God, Israel stands condemned. Because of the election of God, because they are the chosen and elected people, they are beloved of God. And we are called to love what God loves, to love who God loves. We are called to hate what God hates. So for the New Testament Gentile believer, which is all of us, here's a couple applications that we can draw out from this text in Nahum. See, most a lot of times it's difficult to come up with sermons through the minor prophets, but we're not gonna avoid a passage because it's a little bit uncomfortable, right?

This is what we can draw out from this passage. First, we have to remember that the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. He does not promise and then take away. So the Jews are still the chosen people of God whom he foreknew, Romans 11, 2. So no Christian can be anti-Semitic. It does not matter whether or not your experience with the Jews in your life has not been positive. It doesn't matter that the Jews mock your belief that the Messiah has already come. You do not mess with the people of God. Second, we have to remember that people are never our enemy. Amen. Flesh and blood is never the one whom we are struggling against. Our struggle is not against flesh and blood. They're just easy targets.

Because my anger has to land somewhere. Rather than an evil spirit that I cannot see, I want to hate that person. He's the one who's giving me trouble. Every person in your life is there on purpose, ordained by God. Every emptier, even in your life has been ordained by God. Satan's strategy is in using that person to get you to curse God. Does that make sense? People are never our enemy. Now, even if, okay, even if a human being has objectively merited enemy status in your life. Okay, let's say you have some horrible people in your life, like really bad. Even if they objectively deserve enemy status, Jesus says, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your father who is in heaven.

Matthew chapter 5, verse 45. People are never our enemy. And I have to remember that every time I get badgered on social media for something. It's like, oh, people are never my enemy. Thirdly. And I say this because we're talking about Israel. Do not believe blindly what you see in the news, what you read on your media threads and your social media feeds. The emptier, the God of this age uses all of those things to blind, to steal, to kill, to destroy, and then to divide and conquer. You have to spend more time meditating on timeless truths of God's word than fuming about what you've read. Amen. His word is a lamp to your feet and a light for your path. Do not stumble around in your darkness.

You are not of darkness, 1 Thessalonians 5. You are sons of light. Be sons of light. Fourthly, for the Christian, remember that he loves you with the same fierce love with which he has always loved Israel. God is committed to you.

As Paul Washer once said, I have given God countless reasons not to love me. None of them has been strong enough to change him. I find that very powerful. I have given God countless reasons not to love me. Not one of them has been strong enough to change him. And that's the testimony of Israel summed up. And yet Yahweh God has never abandoned Israel, nor will he ever abandon or disown you. To the Gentile Christian, what does he say in Hebrews 13 5? Never will I leave you. Never will I forsake you.

Hebrews 13 5. Israel and the church are both the people of God. Both Israel and the church have been chosen by God and for God to love God and serve God. But here's something that is important to remember. Because God loves you, Satan hates you. That's a scary thought, if not for the truth that he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. Satan has declared an all-out war against the church in the same way he has schemed to ruin Israel. And the church is the woman that the dragon is trying to eat in Revelation 12. And you are part of the church.

And he does everything he can. He leaves no stone unturned for your ruin. But praise God that he always has to ask permission. And that God usually says no. The truths of God are timeless, they do not change. So you have to anchor yourself to his truths. Amen. Be sober, be watchful, be alert, be awake, do not be deceived. You know that command, do not be deceived, is found frequently in the New Testament. Don't be deceived, don't be deceived, don't be deceived, don't be deceived. Because truth is truth. Falsehood is falsehood. Even if the enemy is constantly trying to turn your falsehood into a truth that you live by. Don't be deceived. The end is near. The Lord is near. And I want to close with this.

It's a little lengthy, but I want you to pay attention. And then we're going to take a time of communion. It reads, Jesus answered and said to them, See to it that no one deceives you. Many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ and will deceive many.

So us, right? You're going to hear of wars, rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed. For those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. Nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom, in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pains. Then they will deliver you to tribulation and will kill you. And you will be hated by all nations because of my name.

And because lawlessness is multiplied, most people's love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be proclaimed in the whole world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. Recently, Philip Yancey fell, or confessed that he had an eight-year relationship. You guys know this, right? Steve Lawson, a year and a half ago, similar thing. Every time a hero of the faith falls, the love of people who are trying to follow Christ grows cold and cynical and distrusting. And how tragic is that.

Two, pray for your pastor. It's easy to start well. It's hard to finish. I am less confident of my ability in my own strength to finish well than I was 26 years ago when I started out. Because the more I get to know me, the more I'm like, uh-oh, we're all in trouble. But here's a promise in verse 14. The gospel of the kingdom is being proclaimed. People are being saved. And our call is just to be watchful, to not be seved, and to stand firm to the end. May the Lord grant us grace to do that. Amen. Let me pray for us. Father, help us to navigate through all the noise that is in our lives and in our ears, biblically, soberly, humbly. As we mature in the faith, help our opinions and our thoughts be more and more aligned with yours with each passing season.

Then even if those who claim to be followers of Christ say something contrary to what we believe. Help us not to be swayed, but help us to be anchored down and standing firm. Lord, we know that in your time you will avenge your own namesake. You will guard, guide, and protect your people. So I ask simply that you would grant us the grace just to persevere well. So we thank you, Lord, for this reminder of your fierce love for us. We pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.