Why Did Israel Reject God? Romans 10:18-21 Explained

Hello and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, good to have everybody once again. Boy, we've got all the chairs filled this afternoon, don't we? Let's go back again where we left off in our last program, Romans chapter 10. We're even going to get into Romans chapter 11 today. Romans chapter 10, and I guess we better put the camera on the books or something, let people know that we do have videotapes and the tapes have been transcribed into the little books and so they are available. And we try to keep the cost as nominal as we possibly can, so that as many as can, we'll be able to enjoy them. We've got a lot of places where they're using them in Sunday schools now. In fact, I guess Saturday, a group of people from one of the large churches in Minnesota came and they're going to start using it in their church for a study. So the Lord is just opening all kinds of doors, and we just pray that it will accomplish its purpose. Alright, now then for you here in the studio, let's go back to Romans chapter 10, and pick right up where we left off, and that was in verse 17. That's where we stopped. So then, faith cometh by hearing, but hearing comes by the Word of God. Remember I made it so plain that God does not expect someone to respond until He speaks it. And I always give the example, when did Noah start building his ark? Did he jump the gun? No, he did not start until God says, build an ark. And so then Hebrews 11 says that by faith Noah responded to what God told him to do, and he built an ark. Abraham, by faith, what did he do? He left Ur of the Chaldees. When? When God said to. And so it is all the way up through Scripture that when God speaks it, and men respond to it, then God sees it as faith, He reckons that faith, and so it is now with the Gospel. We've had it revealed to us. The Apostle Paul has brought it out to the Gentile world, and now God lays that responsibility upon Gentiles to believe the Gospel which Paul calls My Gospel, which he calls the Gospel of the Grace of God. We went through all this the other day, so it's fresh on my mind. He also calls it that Gospel which I preach amongst the Gentiles. He calls it the Gospel of the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the secret, which has been kept secret from ages past. So that's what we're to believe now today, that which God has revealed to us. Now Paul is going to come back once again to Israel's situation in verse 18. But I say, have they not heard, yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world. I say then, did not Israel know? How many times have I told our classes here in Oklahoma, when Jesus came to the nation of Israel, they could have known who He was, they should have known who He was, but did they? But Israel did not know. Now why do I say that? The Old Testament was full of prophecies, 360 some, if I'm not mistaken, distinct prophecies concerning His first coming in the Old Testament. And the Jew of that day knew their Old Testament, at least they thought they did. They should have known who He was the minute He came on the scene, but they didn't. And why didn't they? Because they could read the Old Testament and not see a word it said. And you know people are no different today with Paul's letters. If they'd read it at all, they read it, and they don't read it. I mentioned Saturday afternoon, and I even thought it was funny. It came out and I didn't expect it to. One time I was showing some of these to a doctor friend, not Dr. Bellamy, but a doctor friend that none of you are acquainted with, and he said, I don't see what you're driving at. I read it again. He read it three or four times before he finally said, oh, well that's funny, I never saw that before. Now I put it this way, I know doctors can't write, but they should be able to read, isn't that right? But they can't. They just can't see what it says. Well listen, Israel was no different. They would read those Old Testament prophecies concerning the coming of their Messiah. They didn't know what it was talking about. And so here He came, presented Himself, performed the miracles, performed the signs, and they still couldn't believe who He was. But now listen, let's not castigate the Jew. We're no different. America is no different. No nation on earth has been so saturated with this Word of God, the Bible, as America. The Bible is in every home, every home that I ever knew of, more than one copy. Now it may collect dust, but it's there. It's preached over and over and over, churches in every corner, and yet America has no concept whatsoever tonight, on the whole, that we are approaching the end time. They have no idea that all these things taking place are just a constant fulfilling of the stage setting. Now it's still not being fulfilled prophecy wise, but we're setting the stage day by day for the appearance of the Antichrist, that world ruler. Why do you think everybody is talking about global government? Why do our business men talk about nothing tonight but global business, a global market, and now we're getting closer and closer to a global religion? This Book is prophesied. It's all in here, but they don't know that. They're totally ignorant, and it's not because they haven't the brain power, it's simply because they've refused to see what the Book says. So Israel was the same way. Now have they not heard verse 18, and it went into the ends of the earth. Verse 19. "...Didn't Israel know? First Moses said, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you." Isn't that exactly what the Gentiles in the early days of Christendom did to the Jew? Why did they hate Paul so? Why did the Jews try to kill him everywhere he went? Because he was going to the Gentiles. How many times haven't I taken my classes back? Come back with me even here on television. Come back to Acts 22, and this is not any kind of a put down on our Jewish people, but it was just simply a national phenomenon. That here they had had it pounded into them ever since they had become a nation in Egypt, that they were a set apart people. Yes they were God's covenant people. God told them in Egypt, I will put a division between you and the Egyptians, and in Deuteronomy he says as plain as day, you are a separated people unto me. Exodus chapter 19, and he says, "...you to the nation of Israel shall be a kingdom of priests." Absolutely they were a set apart people. But you see it carried all the way over into Paul's day, and now when Paul starts going to the Gentiles, they hated him for it. Acts 22, I always have to jump in at about verse 17, I guess, when Paul is speaking to this great Jewish crowd in Jerusalem. He's now under protective custody of the Romans, or they would have pulled him limb from limb. But under the protective custody of the Roman troops, he stands on the stairway and he addresses this great crowd of Jews, and he's rehearsing his salvation experience. And I always emphasize three times in the book of Acts, we have Paul's conversion totally detailed. Chapter 9, chapter 22, and chapter 26. Here we're looking at the one in chapter 22, and he has gone through the whole procedure of his salvation on the road to Damascus. And then he comes to verse 17, and it came to pass later, that when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, and I was in a trance, and I saw him, the Lord Jesus, the ascended Lord, now from glory, and I saw him saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem, for they, the Jews, will not receive thy testimony concerning me. And Paul says to this Jewish crowd, and I responded by saying, Lord, they know that I am prisoned, they know that I beat in every synagogue them who believed on thee. And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, I kept, or held, the raiment of them that slew him, that is Stephen. And then Paul says in verse 21, But Jesus responded unto me, Depart, get out of Jerusalem, for I will send thee far hence to the Gentiles. Now look at the next verse. They listened to him with rapt silence and attention, until he said the word, Gentile. And then what happened? Oh, at that word, Gentile, they lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth. It's not fit that he should live. Why? Because he had even dared to use the word, Gentile. Now do you see that? Alright, now then, when this same Paul starts going to the Gentile world with salvation based upon that Jew, Jesus of Nazareth, he was a Jew, don't you ever forget it, he was a Jew. But the nation of Israel detested him. And now Paul comes back and says, Even Moses foretold that this is what you'd do. Moses prophesied that another nation would come into fellowship with your God, and you would hate them for it. I've already shown you, isn't that exactly what Israel did? The more the Gentiles succumbed to the Gospel, the more the Jewish people fought it, except for the few of course, but for the most part. And it's no different today. In Israel's Law of Return, who do they try to keep out? Christians or even Jewish people who are professed believers in Christ. They won't let them in. Why? Because religiously they're still hide bound, that there's no room for a Gentile in their so called religion. Now verse 20. Even after Moses in Deuteronomy says that they will detest a foolish nation, which is in reference to the Gentiles, but Isaiah, again the prophet of the Old Testament, is very bold. And he says, I was found of them that sought me not. Now remember, let's never lose sight of some of these basic fundamental truths, and this again goes back to my timeline when I say in the Old Testament it was Jew only, with a few exceptions. And Paul confirms that in Ephesians chapter 2, beginning at verse 11. We've looked at this verse many times, because it says it so clearly. Ephesians 2, verse 11. Now again, who is he writing to? Gentiles at Ephesus. He's writing to us. Ephesians 2, verse 11. He says, that you being in times past, Gentiles in the flesh. Now times past goes back to where? The Old Testament. The Old Testament economy. You were Gentiles. You were out there in those pagan religions who are called uncircumcision, by that which is called the circumcision. In other words, the Jews referred to Gentiles as uncircumcised. Ephesians 2, verse 12. That at that time, now always analyze every word of a verse. What time? The Old Testament economy. Well God was dealing only with the Jew. That at that time, you, your Gentile forefathers, were without Christ, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope without God in this world. Now that was the lot of our Gentile forefathers, plain as day. Then what's the next verse? Oh, that flip side word again. We're no longer in that horrible situation, but now in Christ Jesus, and in that finished work of the cross, in Christ Jesus, you who were at one time far off, without hope, aliens outside the covenants, now were made nigh, not by coming into a covenant relationship, not by coming under Judaism, but by the blood of Christ. See what a difference that makes. And so now the Jew, like I said, this whole thing has been totally inverted. Whereas in the Old Testament it was Jew only with a few Gentile exceptions, now it's practically Gentile only with a few Jewish exceptions. And so we are made nigh by the blood of Christ. Coming back then to Romans chapter 10, verse 20 again. But Isaiah is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought me not, I was made manifest unto them who asked not after me. Who was that? The Gentiles. They weren't concerned about Israel's God. They weren't the ones that were worried about their eternal doom. They were saturated in their paganism. But whom did God send the Apostle Paul to? Those very same people. Now this fulfills again a basic rule of Scripture. No one, beginning with Adam and Eve, no one of the human race ever seeks God. That shocks a lot of people, but it's true. No human being ever seeks God. God is always the seeker. God always makes that first move, and He is the one that prompts a human being to respond. Remember that. Oh, let me show you from Scripture so you don't take my word for it. Go back to John's Gospel, chapter 3, verses 17, 18, 19, and 20. John's Gospel, chapter 3, beginning with verse 17. John's Gospel, chapter 3, verse 17, 19, and 20. God is not willing that any should perish. No one. The next verse is from John's Gospel. "...he that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned." already, just by virtue of being a child of Adam, they are condemned when they come into the world. Do you remember I put a couple of little statements on the board quite a few programs ago? We do not become sinners because we sin, we sin because we are sinners. And how do we become sinners? By being born of Adam. And so every child of Adam detests the light. They don�t want the light, and they are condemned already, Jesus said. This is in red in my Bible, so it means that He said it. Verse 19, and this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, that the light is in the world, and it hath lighteth every man that comes into the world. We�re talking about that same light. Verse 20, and this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth, or believeth the truth, cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. Now that�s proof positive. Man in his own desire will never seek God. God is the seeker. Never lose sight of that. If you�re a believer here today, don�t give yourself credit for having found salvation. No you did not. God found you, and brought you to the place where you believe. Just like Lydia that we read about in the last program. It was God that opened her heart, not her. It wasn�t Paul that opened it, but God did. Do you remember Peter way back there in Matthew 16? We won�t take time to look it up, because I�ve used it so often, and I think most of you know it from memory. Here they were in northern Israel, and Jesus had the twelve, and He said, And who do men say that I the Son of man am? And what was their answer? Oh, some John the Baptist, some think you�re Elijah, and some think you�re some other prophet. And then what did Jesus say? Whom do you say that I am? And Peter answered, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And what was Jesus� answer? Simon Peter, flesh and blood didn�t reveal it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And see, this is the whole concept of Scripture, even Peter and those other ten who were believers. It wasn�t because they had the smarts to realize, oh hey, that�s the Messiah, but rather as the Messiah came and put the finger on them, the Lord, the Spirit of God, or however you want to put it, He opened their understanding, that they recognized, here�s the one we have to follow. Oh, they didn�t have it on their own. Now coming back to Romans chapter 10, verse 21. But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and a gainsaying people. Now I�ll admit, this is one of the toughest things for me to comprehend in Scripture, that here God brought about supernaturally the nation of Israel, didn�t He? Called Abraham out of the Ur of the Chaldees, and told him right up front, I�m going to make of you a nation of people. And finally He fulfills the promise with the birth of Isaac, supernaturally, a promised son. Isaac fathers Jacob, Jacob fathers the twelve sons, they end up down in Egypt, and immediately God begins to deal with those Israelites as now His chosen, set apart nation. He brings them out supernaturally, a miracle after miracle, and that multitude of Israelites follow their leader Moses. And every step of the way God moves in again miraculously, brings them down to Mount Sinai, the fire and the thunder on the mountain. In fact they�ve discovered that some of the rocks up there on Mount Sinai over in Jordan indeed was burned with a fire unlike any other rock formation on earth. So this isn�t just a legend from Scripture, this is pretty well scientifically proven. Now then Israel given the tabernacle, we won�t make reference to their golden calf this time, but nevertheless they have the tabernacle, and everything is now ready to go into the promised land. He has brought them out, He has gelled them as a nation of people, they now have their leader, God has substantiated everything, and they�re ready to go into the promised land. They say, �Send in the spies, we can�t believe God, we�ve got to have spies before we can believe Him.� So God condescends, and He says, �Alright, I�ll let you send in spies.� You know what happened. One out of each tribe went in there for 40 days, and they came back with what a horrible report. We can never do it. No way can we take out those Canaanites, they�re as big as grasshoppers, and there�s no way we can drive the Canaanites out. What did God tell them? He said, �I�ll drive them out, I�ll use hornets, and I�ll chase them.� Hornets can chase anybody, they�ve had me run across the hay field more than once. But He says, �I�ll use hornets, I�ll chase them out, all you have to do is just move in and take whatever is there.� But what did Israel do? Oh, they wept, and they wailed, and they had their first Tisha B'Av, and you all know what that is don�t you? I hope you do. Tisha B'Av is that 9th day of August where dramatic things happened to the nation of Israel that made them weep, and weep, and weep. Why? They didn�t believe. God said, �I�ll clear the land,� and they said, �No you won�t.� And so they wept all that next day, because they couldn�t take the promised land. Now let�s go back to Hebrews, and we�ve used this before even on the program, but these things bear repeating, and I guess this will wind it up. Go back to Hebrews chapter 3, and we�ll start with verse 7, �Wherefore, as the Holy Spirit is in the provocation, in the day of temptation or testing in the wilderness, when your fathers tested me, and proved me, and saw my works for forty years, wherefore I was greed with that generation, and I said, They do always err in their heart, and they have not known my way, so I swear in my wrath, they shall not enter into my rest.� Now I think Paul wrote Hebrews, and now he�s coming back and making the analogy. So he says, �Take heed, brethren, and learn from that horrible experience, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of drunkenness, adultery, or any other gross sin that we normally think of, but the evil heart of unbelief.� God hates nothing more that when He says it, He thinks we should believe it. Then come on down to verse 15, and it is said, �Today if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as they did in that provocation. For some, when they had heard, did provoke, albeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. There was again a remnant, Joshua, and Caleb, and a few of the others.� Verse 17, �But with whom was he grieved those forty years? Was it not with them who had sinned in unbelief, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness, because they didn�t believe that they could take Canaan?� Verse 18, �Quickly unto whom swore he that they should not enter in his rest, but them to that believed not.� So we see they could not enter in because of what? Unbelief. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, OK 74552. That�s Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, OK 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick, is viewer supported and your gift is a