Q&A 3: If something was written to the Jews, does that make it only for them?

All right, today's handout asks this question. And I think this, some of these questions, by the way, I mean, I've been asked a lot of these questions at times in the past. I hope you don't mind, Wendy, but I think you were the one that came up with this not too long ago. Anyway, the question goes like this.

Just because something was said to the Jews, said to the Jews, capitals there, Does that make it only for them? For instance, are these applicable to us now in the church? Are these only for the Jews or for all of us? Whatever it was that was written.

And this is a very important question. As a matter of fact, I was talking to my brother about this. He pastors another Bible church. in California. Believe it or not, there are people who are saved there. Anyway, he pastors a Bible church in California and he says, what I tell the people in the church is none of the Bible was written to you. But it was all written for you.

You need to figure out what part of it applies and what part of it doesn't. And I'm not sure I'd go quite that far, but I understand what he means. And here's the point. 1 Timothy 1, 3-4 is one of the first ones that we quote. Here is Paul writing to Timothy. Acts 16 describes where Timothy had been selected to support Paul in his ministry. He says, As I urged you upon my departure from Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus. So I ask you, hadn't each one of you here this morning better get a ticket and fly to Ephesus just as fast as you can.

Right? Isn't that what you're supposed to do? Because that's what it says right there in the Bible. Why are you not remaining on at Ephesus? Right? The reason, of course, you look at it and snicker and laugh, is that's not written to me. When we look at something like that, we can say, oh, okay, but that's not written to me. As a matter of fact, there's not that many people in Ephesus right now. It's pretty much a ghost town.

Titus, and here's another one of Paul's apostolic delegates. For this reason I left you in Crete, that you would set an order of what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you. So that again is another one. You better get a plane ticket to Crete, right? And by the way, you need to go there and start appointing elders, right?

Maybe not so fast. It underscores the point that maybe we need to think about this. Here is Matthew 17, 27. Christ said this to Peter regarding the Jews' temple tax. However, so that we do not offend them, go to the sea and throw in a hook. So that's what God wants you to do, right? What are we doing here in Denver at Holly Hills? Well, that wasn't written to us.

Take that and give it to them for you and me. Or Luke 19, he sent two of the disciples saying, go to the village ahead of you and as you enter you will find a colt tied on which no one yet has ever sat. Untie it and bring it here. So, are you to go ahead on to the village ahead of you and go get a donkey and bring it to Jesus?

Is that your job? Probably not, right? So in truth, my brother's point, even if I'm not quite sure I'd take it to the point that he has, he's got a point. We always have to look and say, what part of this applies to me? There is some application in all of God's Word. It is inspired by God for that purpose. But we do need to look at every passage and figure out what part of this is written to me. Each one of the books of the Bible is written to somebody, right? And what part of it applies to me is an important question to ask. Okay. For every passage we need to be asking who is this written to and then what part of it applies to us. And what I'm going to do here is give you some principles. They're actually not that numerous or difficult. But we'll start with the first one on the bottom of page one.

If the passage is about something that does not change with respect to time, or has not changed since some long past point in time, then it is as applicable to us now as it was back then. These kinds of truths would include God's existence and character, long-standing doctrinal truths about how things began, or things clearly stated as being the case since things began at the time of creation or at the time Adam sinned. Alright, what do we mean by that? There are some bullets in the middle of page two, not any you'd shoot yourself with, just ones that you look at on a piece of paper. The character of God is always the same and does not, God does not lie or change his mind. So if the Bible, whether it's Old Testament or New Testament, and you have multiple references there, if it says God does not change, guess what? God does not change.

And you know what? We can count on that, can't we? As a matter of fact, we counted on it this morning when we came here. We didn't come here expecting Vern to say, sorry folks, I got a revelation last night. God changed his mind. We don't have to gather here anymore. Does that make sense?

God doesn't change and that's always true. God is always the Creator and everything else has a creature relationship to Him. That is always true. So, no matter whether it was written to the Jews, or the Gentiles, or the Church, or anybody else, God is always the Creator and everything else has a creature relationship. It is always true.

Once having fallen, all those in Adam have the same nature. It starts in Genesis 3, continues on into the New Testament. And matter of fact, chapter 15 in 1st Corinthians is quoted there, or at least referenced. We'll be looking at those verses before very long here.

The next one, salvation for all those in Adam is always by faith in God's provision. Always. Abraham was saved by what? Faith. And then we're saved by? Faith, right? And during the Tribulation period and on into the Millennial Kingdom, people will be saved by faith. Always true. Always. God has always made faith the criteria. The next one, the earth that we walk in is cursed until the time when all things are restored.

It was true yesterday. It was true a thousand years ago. It's true several thousand years ago. So these are truths that, regardless of who the particular book was written to, these are truths that stand. These are truths that we can count on. Yeah, Art? Since the Bible isn't written to us, it's written for us. Yes. The Bible is not directly written to any of us, but it is all written for us. It is always a matter of understanding what part of it then applies to us. The next one, the last bullet there before point number two, Christ answered questions about marriage, which was from the beginning. When was marriage instituted? Day 1, right? Day 1. Day 1 of the time man was created. Creation day 6, day 1.

From the very beginning we see it in Genesis chapter 2 where it's put in place. Marriage has continued as God's institution on the earth. He added some insights about singleness in Matthew 19, 3-12. Aside from some details about the Law of Moses, everything that he said applies from that time forward to all people because marriage was instituted from the beginning and will be as long as this earth remains. Singleness, addressed rather uniquely in that passage, has application from the time of Christ's revelation forward to the end of the present heavens and earth.

Okay, point number two at the bottom of page two. There are some truths about believers in Israel that are likewise true of those in the church, and there are some things that are different. Scripture itself will clarify which things are true of and apply to both Israel and the church, and which things are different of each people group. On the following page are two charts. The first one presents some of the things that are the same, both for Israel and the church. The second chart presents some things that differ between Israel and the church. Okay, so on page 3, most of the page is taken up with charts there. What you'll see, and we won't go into immense detail, but what you'll see there is on the top chart, some of the things that are in common between Israel and the Church.

The point we made previously, how was Isaiah saved? How was Isaiah saved? By faith, right? Okay. And how are we saved? By faith. Identical. And you'll see passages that support both of those. Those saved are called saints. Now, it's interesting. This word saints is for the saved of all time. You'll see that in the Bible. The saints of all time. The Old Testament refers to saints. The New Testament refers to saints.

How did Paul address many of the churches to the saints which are in Corinth and Ephesus, etc. Christ is their shepherd. Interestingly enough, the word picture of a shepherd is used both of Israel and of the church. However, there is reference to a different flock. Jesus said there are others who are not of this particular flock. So the Savior a flock.

Now there's also some similarities in morals and ethics. Why would there be a similarity in morals and ethics, not an identical character, but similarity between what was given to the Jews and what's given to the church? Why would there be some commonality between those?

Because God is the same. God is a God who is moral. And he remains the same, therefore the morality has a similarity or a character of identicalness. Because God, you're right, God remains the same. God doesn't change. It is because of his character.

And by the way, that was not true of all these pagan gods and goddesses that were in existence in ancient times. We have record of people praying that they might lie better in the pagan religions. We have people praying and even offering sacrifices that they might steal better. So there was not a sense of morality with the pagan gods. Why? The pagan gods were immoral. One of the myths involves Zeus hiding himself in a cloud so he could commit adultery. We're not talking about a moral pagan god. Therefore, that morality was not something that was required of people either. The God of the Bible, however, the God who reveals himself in what we call the Bible, is a God who is by nature moral. He is always a God who is by nature moral. That does not change.

Both Israel and the church still look forward to the time of the millennium, this coming time of the kingdom. Jesus came and he came preaching the gospel of the kingdom to the Jews. telling them about, here's how you enter the kingdom, this coming reign of Christ on the earth. Then when you get into the New Testament epistles, you still find the Apostle Paul and the other apostles referring to the kingdom. Still talking about it, even though the church will have a different relationship to the Messiah. than the Jews, the ethnic Jews will. So there are, and these are some others, we could probably think of some additional things, but things that are in common between Israel and the church.

Then we have things that differ. The list happens to be longer, and that's not by accident. Let's look at the first one. Israel is blessed How? Conditionally, with earthly blessings based on obedience to the law. Now, what frequently happens is Christians miss the point and will act like, oh, if we want to be blessed then we've got to do all the right stuff. Not understanding that the church's blessings are already in place regardless of what we do. They're graciously given, not by the law. How many of you have had, in one way or another, quoted to you, if my people will humble themselves and pray.

Remember that one? And then it says, and I will heal their land. Well, which land is he talking about? The land of Israel. Because Israel's blessings are based on the land, that land. Our blessings as believers, and this is the next column, are unconditional. We are blessed unconditionally with spiritual blessings in the heavenlies based on those in the church having been made to be in Christ. You're blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

The Jews are told in Deuteronomy 28, by the way, if you want to put that down, that's the pivotal chapter. That's also in the column there under Israel. Deuteronomy 28 is a pivotal chapter for the Jews that tells them if you do things according to the law, you will be blessed. But if you don't, you'll be cursed. Then you get to Ephesians chapter 1 verse 3. You've been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

Done deal. He waits four chapters to say, now about your stealing problem. Now about your lying problem. Does he deal with the stealing and lying? Yeah. But he doesn't make the blessings based on it. In Deuteronomy 28, Moses talking to the Jews, what does he say? You're blessed if... Here is Jesus speaking to the Jews. He says, if you want to be forgiven, you must forgive.

Here is Paul, Ephesians 4.32, writing to the church, forgive one another as God in Christ has forgiven you. The forgiveness that you have already is the basis for your forgiving, not an earning.

Yes? Does that have anything to do with Israel now? How Israel receives blessings from God? Okay, the question is, does that have anything to do with Israel now? Right now, the program that God is operating with is the church, in which ethnic distinction Jew or Gentile does not matter. Up to the time of the rapture, when the church is taken out, that's God's program. Once the church is taken out, it will be back to the Israel-Gentile distinction. And Israel will be back under the law and back dealing with things as an ethnic group.

Right now, any Jew that wants to be blessed needs to believe in Christ and be made a part of the church, in which case the blessings will be unconditional. Here's how this turns out. Some people have said, oh, that's terrible that the Jews are under this circumstance. But wait a minute.

The New Covenant for the Jews will have the Jews indwelt by the Holy Spirit, every one, all the time. In part, does that sound familiar? during the Millennial Kingdom, and they will have the law written on their hearts, and they will live out the law from their hearts by the continuing and empowering of the Holy Spirit. They will live it out.

Even to the point that, going beyond what the church has, they won't even need teachers for one to teach another. There will be no rabbis. You don't need them. Why? Every Jew will know it. they will know it. From the heart, by the continuing indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

But Barnard, I do think that's where people get really, really confused, that the bulk of people out there still think that, oh, I'm a Jew today, this applies to me now. Yes, yes. And that's really, really difficult. Yes. Yeah, and it's that confusion, that loss of distinction between the Jews and the church, and that does get people confused. And one of the difficulties in the church is people thinking, oh, we're now Israel. Well, that's not the case either. We're not under the law. Here's the interesting thing. For the Jew, the continuing indwelling and presence of the Holy Spirit will allow him to live out the law. For those in the church, whether Jew or Gentile, Christ died on the cross in order that they be dead to the law.

Galatians 2.19, Romans 7, 4-6. Yeah? The line still is that Jews today who are practicing this are lost just the same as any other non-Jew. That's right. A Jew can be very carefully observant of the law. It does them no good. Yes?

Just knowing a few rabbis, knowing head of their temperament, how are they going to let go of their power that they have? The first five books of our Bible, the Torah, and so that the Jews can be fully blessed. Well, let's walk through it. It is possible that the millennium starts as soon as seven years from now. Okay? 2017. That is possible.

Now, if that were the case, let's take the instance of a rabbi who is living and walking on the planet right now. That rabbi is ethnically Jewish. That rabbi believes that the Torah contains his salvation and that he has to do it. That rabbi, if he goes through the time of the tribulation period, which could start today, if he goes through the time of the Tribulation period and then comes to believe by the end of that Tribulation period will enter in this body the Millennial Kingdom, at that point he will have the continuing indwelling of the Holy Spirit which will write the law on his heart.

He will not need to be a teacher. He will not need a teacher. He will have the law written on his heart. And his ego goes away. And basically, all this, I'm a rabbi, that just falls by the wayside. People will say, what's a rabbi? I don't need one. And Jews who believe will not need a rabbi.

Because they all know it. Because they know it. Why are you telling me this? I know this already. I wake up in the morning and that's what's in my head and on my heart. And so it is possible that this person who calls himself a rabbi now, as soon as seven years from now drops off that, I'm a rabbi because everybody knows it already.

And we will live out the law by the continuing indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Yes. But during the tribulation, Israel has, as a nation, because all the other nations are against them, they have to turn to God. That's right. So in a sense they are saved by faith. That's right. They're saved by faith. Isn't that interesting? That's what we were talking about.

And also, like even today though, I mean, God is preserving Israel and the cosmos and world government. I mean it's not that God has forgotten Israel. His codes are eternal and earthly. Here is this guy Abraham who was raised from anything we can tell in a pagan hole. God makes a promise to this guy Abraham and here it is 4,000 years later and God is still keeping his promise to Abraham.

We mentioned, I think it was last week, that Jacob's brother Esau had descendants too. That the last identifiable descendants of Esau died out in 70 A.D. when the Romans attacked Jerusalem. The record that we have is that a group of them said, hey, let us into the city of Jerusalem and we'll help defend. Well, it didn't turn out that way and there's no record that any of them came out alive, or if they did, not identifiable as Esau's descendants. We have no idea if anybody on the planet now is a descendant of Esau.

However, of Jews, different story, right? Certainly a small minority. We made the point that one in every five Nobel Prize awards have been given to a Jew. Very interesting. And identifiable people? Absolutely. population upwards of 10 million by quite a bit. Amazing. Okay. Very specific ethnic distinctions. Oh, I have one right in the middle of there. I think it's an important one. Citizenship and inheritance is in the land of Israel for the Jew. Citizenship and inheritance are in the Lord and are heavenly for the church. Specific ethnic distinction? Most certainly.

The Church, however, no ethnic distinction, and that's underscored in Galatians 3.28, either Jew nor Gentile.

Colossians 3.1 also has a similar statement. Begun by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that's under Israel. Begun by Christ and the Holy Spirit sent from him in Acts, chapter 2. The nation of Israel has designated holy days and excluded foods. The church has no designated holy days nor excluded foods. Very interesting.

The nation of Israel will go through the tribulation on earth, the time of God's wrath. Then some of those of ethnic Israel will be in the millennium, both resurrected in those earthly bodies. The church, however, will not go through the tribulation on earth, the time of God's wrath, but will be rescued by rapture. Then all will be in the millennium with Christ, all having resurrected bodies.

It's a real different character to these two different groups. And finally, Israel did have and will have an earthly temple in Jerusalem. And by the way, the things that are necessary to equip that temple are sitting in a museum in Jerusalem right now. Bob and Margaret Eckel had the chance to look at those items on their first visit. They're already waiting. They're sitting there ready to be put to use.

And then the church however has an earthly temple both in each believer and in the whole church body which looks to the once for all sacrifice. See the Jews when they get their third temple built during the tribulation period, they'll have sacrifices again and again and again and again. But for the Church, one sacrifice, Christ. The once-for-all sacrifice, Christ himself.

So this is where, as we look at various passages, making the distinction between Israel and the Church is critical. We can see things that are in common, but also see things that are quite different. And understanding and knowing those distinctions are important. We can see what is written as applicable to us and what is not applicable to us directly. All things are for insight and understanding, however. Alright, let's turn to page four there.

In regard to the specific passages in the Gospel of John, it's important to keep this point in mind. The Gospel of John was written with this primary purpose. These have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. The Gospel of John still has Jesus speaking substantially to the Jews and even providing some unique insights about the Jews. But the Gospel was written in order, this particular Gospel of John, was written in order that people might believe, which was the basis of salvation for all human beings since Adam and will be until the end of this present Heavens and Earth.

What did Nicodemus need to do? He needed to be born again. And how is that going to happen? He needed to believe, didn't he? Well, guess what? We're in the same boat. And that's the way the Gospel of John is written, even though it's said mostly to the Jews, with some exceptions toward the end, even though it's said mostly to the Jews, John's point all the way through is belief, which isn't specific to the Jews. All people, all people need a belief. Here's Jesus talking, and we'll see this verse in the main service. Jesus is talking to the Jewish leaders, and he says, unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins. Unless what? You believe. The issue is the same. Is it a different group of people? Is it the Jews? Yeah. But you want to be saved? That's by faith. And by the way, let's ask a question.

Did the Jews ever have any hope of being saved by the law? Do you know that the Jews really had no hope of being saved by the law? They were saved by faith, right? The law was not to determine whether or not you're saved. The law was only to determine whether or not you're blessed. See that? The law was never to determine whether or not you're safe. It was only given to determine whether or not they would be blessed.

We are not under law and therefore one of the reasons we are not under law is because we're blessed already. We don't need to have a law to determine whether or not we're going to be blessed. You don't need it. That's why we're not under the law, is the criteria for blessing doesn't apply. You've been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

That's the reason for the distinction here. In John 8, 44, this is just above the middle of page four there, You're of your father the devil and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning. That's one of the key points. From the beginning, so it's been a long-standing truth. That has been Satan's character as a long-standing truth. He does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Long-standing truth, right?

I think what you'll see is is throughout scripture there is this you know from the beginning time and it's looking kind of as a bracket is a general term because you'll find various things that are from the beginning and and not all those are the exact same point in time what you look at is from the beginning is most often used as a kind of a bracket for those beginning events It begins from the point at which he fell, which took place sometime before the events we see described in Genesis 3. Yeah, Art?

Though we're not under the law, why does the Lord reiterate all of the law except the Sabbath worship? The law is reiterated in the New Testament Some of that is in the Gospels, which you would say is specifically applicable to the Jews. But the other is to bring forward the part of the law that is the principle that is applicable. An example would be in Ephesians 6, where it says children are to honor their parents. This is the principle that is applicable. However, it was written specifically to the Jews, because then you'll live long in the land. Well, the land is the land of Israel. And of course, that's only particularly applicable to the Jews.

But the principle of honoring your parents remains. The things that you'll find in the New Testament are there to carry out the principle. But at one point, I think as a point of illustration, is in Romans chapter 7, where he said, we died to the law. And immediately thereafter, what was the one point that Paul brings up out of the Ten Commandments, thou shalt not covet. Right? So he intended even to apply to that. And he said, I can't do it. I cannot do it on my own.

The picture of the Shepherd is given there in the Gospel of John. We see some quotes there in John chapter 10. I'm going to go down to the bottom one on page 4, and this is around John 10, 27, 28, and 29. my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give eternal life to them, which by the way means, that's the present tense, I am giving eternal life to them.

Does that apply to the Jews who believe? Yes. Does it also apply to us in the church? Yes. And here's the thing, and they will never perish and that means that What is translated never, it means not even remotely possible. Not even remotely possible. This is a no one will snatch them out of my hand. That never perish is they will never be condemned to hell of their own doing, it's middle voice. And it is not possible for anyone to take them out of My hand. He goes on in verse 29, My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand either.

So let's ask this question. How about your salvation? We'll probably end up answering this a little more in detail. But your salvation, if it is not even remotely possible for you to be condemned to hell of your own doing, can you lose your salvation? What if you wanted to lose your salvation?

You can't. How about that? There was a time when our second son was extremely frustrated by that. Because he said, I want to not believe. We said, sorry. You're saved and there's no way to undo it. And of course now he's really glad he didn't have any chance of undoing it, but at the time he was really frustrated by that. But there's also no chance that somebody else is going to take you out of salvation either. Not possible. Can't be done.

Yeah, Pat? The Jews that were back there on the Exodus, did they die in the desert? Yes. Okay, Pat has a very good point. All those Jews, all those Jews who died out in the desert, right? Were they all spiritually lost eternally? Not necessarily, right? Because what does the law determine? The law determines your blessings, not your salvation.

There were people who died out in the desert who may very well have been saved. They must have believed, right? Yes. How could they not believe? Yeah, and so there are those who may very well have been saved. They died not because they weren't saved, but because they didn't abide by the law. And they basically failed in their ongoing faith. But that's the characteristic of the law. How about those that, while Moses was on the mountain, started praying at the golden... Yeah. ...lands.

Were they saved then? Yeah, and here's what's interesting. It doesn't say who was saved and who wasn't. Their behavior was a basis for their condemnation and for consequences for a great many of them. But if they were saved by faith, then they fell into sin, but were still saved. As we might today. As might well happen to people today. And it is possible, this is another question that comes up, it is possible for someone to believe and then fall into such a state of sin and denial that the Lord takes them out. They were not allowed to go to the promised land. That's right. And even though God did so many and they still didn't believe. So it still comes down to belief and faith in God. It still comes down to belief. The question is, does one have to have ongoing belief and faithfulness to stay saved?

And the answer would be no. So it is quite possible, as it is now, for someone to believe and be saved at some point in time, and later on to fall away even openly denying the faith, and still be saved. But as Paul puts it in 1 Corinthians 3, verses 10-15, there are some people, and I say this jokingly, but there are some people who will enter heaven naked and smoking. Why? Because they have nothing to answer for what happened here and what they did here, but they still are saved. So they'll enter heaven, like I say, naked and smoking, nothing to say for anything that they did, but they're saved.

And I think that understanding is very valuable. If you have a loved one, whether it's a son, a daughter, a relative, a grandchild, anybody that you love and care about who once held to faith in Christ and has since moved away from that, I would encourage you to hold on to this hope.

And let me tell you, I've got kids and grandkids. That is extremely important for you to be able to hold on to. Because it can really rake you over the coals emotionally if you don't have that to hold on to. It can be a real ripping thing. And even if you're in a spot, you know, if you don't have kids, or you don't have kids that are older, remember this, please. Because it can be extremely valuable during those rough times. It was neat to be able to tell our son who didn't like it.

He says, sorry, you're saved and there's nothing you can do to change it. God's got you, you know, and you're going to walk through heaven's gates. And there's nothing you can do to reverse that. I tell you what, going through that is extremely more complex than we can tackle right now.

But what I will say is this, that that has to do with responsiveness and is not necessarily an indicator of who gets saved and who doesn't. that the responsiveness is the point. And he's talking about variable responsiveness. But that's a good question to put on the back of your question sheet. And we could tackle that one. Yeah. Other thoughts, questions? Yeah, that's a point that I want to underscore. Just that if you have a loved one, whatever position or relationship they have to you, hold on to this. Don't let it go. Because otherwise it can be real difficult to handle if you see one that's kind of wandering away.

All right, let's look at page 5, which is our last and final there. This starts off with John chapter 15. This is the passage. We have the whole passage there, but I'll just read the beginning part. I am the true vine, and my father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. And every branch that bears fruit, he prunes so that it may bear more fruit. This is a passage that was said to the Jews. It was said also, however, at the very end of Christ's ministry and appears to have particular application for the Church.

This word abiding here is, and I'm at the second paragraph, the word abiding here is from the same Greek word used repeatedly in a similar manner in 1 John 2 Even though there are differences between the believer among the Jews who listen to Jesus during his earthly ministry, and we who are of the church who read those words, we are on good ground to make personal application of John 15, 1-9. There is one more reason to see John 15, 1-9 as having primary application to the time of the church.

The time of the Lord's crucifixion was near at this point, only hours away. Only hours away. While it was the Lord's intent for his disciples to be the ones to found the church and declare church-specific truth for the church, we've talked about that before, he did leave them with some initial guidance for use in the church. This passage is part of that guidance.

One will notice alongside the John 15, 1-9 passage that Jesus talks about the soon coming ministry of the Holy Spirit in John 14, 15, and 16. This is said in the context of get ready, the Holy Spirit is going to come. The coming of the Holy Spirit at the beginning of the church was just 50 days away. See the chart below.

So viewing John 15 as a key part of Christ's preparation of these believers for the coming of the Holy Spirit and the soon coming church made lots of sense. What you have here is a chart that kind of gives a time frame for the things that the Lord did and said from the week in which he was crucified up until the time of the giving of the Holy Spirit.

Okay, that's a very quick answer to what could be in certain circumstances a more complex question. Any other questions, observations? Yes? So what was the point to a change of take away? I didn't address this here. Let me try to address it now. This verb, airo, means to lift up.

And I think here's where, you know, being a farm boy, you actually used to work out in the grape vineyards. I'll tell you the difference that the translators don't particularly have, and they can be a Greek scholar, right? But it doesn't make them a farm boy. What would happen with the grape branches that fell on the ground, if the grape branches fell on the ground, the leaves then would not, you know, they'd start getting exposed to rot and insects and things of that sort. And you would get, then any grapes that started to come from those would sit on the ground and they would tend to rot and be eaten, you know, instead of growing into a healthy fruit.

So what the people who manage the vineyards now do is something similar and just more technologically advanced. They'll take that bottom row of branches and they'll tie it onto a wire, a horizontal wire that runs between the vines. That's to lift the branch up. During the time of the New Testament, what they would do is they would go and get rocks and put them underneath those branches to lift them up so that the branch would stay healthy and be fruitful and have good, healthy, harvestable fruit all the way to the end. So what would they do is they would lift it up.

The translators have used a possible, in other contexts, translation of that word and said, taken away. I don't believe that. First of all, it's not consistent with what Jesus said in John, including that one in verse 10. Because it sounds like you'd lose your salvation, right?

What it means is He lifts us up so we can grow. That's what it's talking about, not taking anybody away. He lifts us up, takes us out of the place where we're fallen down and are subject and vulnerable, and he lifts us up to a place where we can grow.

That, I believe, is the intent and how the translators ought to have brought it across. Does that help? Yeah. Yeah, I think it helps a lot because instead of being something that's fearful, and frankly inconsistent with the rest of even what the Gospel of John says, even chapters later and earlier, instead it ends up being an uplifting insight that what he intended was not those branches that are down there on the ground, he doesn't cut them off, he lifts them up so that they can grow healthy. It's a constructive, body-building verse then instead. Other questions? Thoughts? Exasperations? Inspirations? Yes? No? Okay. This is a real valuable insight to have that We need to look at, okay, who is this written to?

The understanding that things written to Israel are directly applied to the church has created a great deal of difficulty, and frankly, a great deal of frustration. Because we understand then that our blessings are conditional, or we start claiming Israel's blessings, instead of saying, oh, these are the church's blessings, and understanding that our blessings are unconditional. As Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus, you're blessed with every spiritual blessing.

In the heavenly place, your blessings are not at issue. Your forgiveness is not at issue. Now, yeah, you've got some issues to talk about. Let's talk about it. But first, make it clear, you're blessed with every spiritual blessing. Who you are in Christ gets addressed first. Then we'll talk about the issues in your life.

That's even what he did in 1 Corinthians. There's a church with lots of trouble. He starts off, the very first verses after he gets through saying, Hi, I'm Paul. He tells them that they're sanctified. Perfect tense, that's a completed past action, ongoing results of the future. And he says, God is faithful, he will do it.

Verses 8 and 9. Okay, let's pray. Lord, thank you for the assurance that we have from you. And Lord, We see that though you have blessed us and carried out our salvation differently from how it was and will be with the Jews, that it is indeed a salvation by faith. It is indeed saints. It is indeed those who believe who will spend eternity with you. And we thank you for that. We thank you for the eternal life that we have by faith in you. In Jesus' name, amen.