Israel, Hamas, & How Christians Respond In Times Of War | Acts 1:6-8 | October 22 | Derek Neider

Speaker [00:00:12] Without warning. Violence and chaos erupts in the Middle East on October 7th as videos begin to flood the Internet and news stations begin reporting about Israelis being senselessly murdered and tortured, dragged away as hostages. The majority of the world responded with an overwhelming sense of compassion and dismay at the reckless disregard for life demonstrated by the Hamas terrorists. However, before Israel even responded in defense, riots and protests over Israel and its existence began to emerge worldwide. Now the world is embroiled in a fierce debate over the existence of Israel as a nation state and Hamas, which is seen by some as a legitimate response to the perceived occupiers. How are we as Christians to understand this situation? How do we sort out propaganda from truth? More importantly, what does the Bible say about Israel and its place in God's kingdom? And how do we respond in times of war? In a world where factions frame themselves for what they are against, we must frame our position by what we are for. Christians are for God's kingdom, the value of life, the pursuit of truth, and the keeping of God's justice. Anchoring ourselves to these four things will align us with God's eternal purposes. His Kingdom plan and the advancement of Christ gospel to all nations. The Bible says in Acts Chapter one, verse six. So when they had come together, they asked him. This is the disciples Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? He said to them, It is not for you to know times or seasons that the father has fixed by his own authority. I want you to notice what he doesn't say. He doesn't say no. He doesn't say God is done with Israel. He just simply says it is not for you to know.

Speaker [00:02:06] Times are seasons that the father has fixed by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth and God's people said, Father, thank you so much for your Word today. God, we are grateful for your presence that permeates this place. God were thankful for your truth. That brings clarity in the midst of misinformation and darkness. God, thank you that we as your people do not have to fear. Thank you, God, that we don't need to be caught up in the the messaging of fear because our God is mighty and He sits on his throne and all things are working out according to your divine plan. And so God may today we be strengthened by your Word. We may be lifted up by the presence of your Spirit. God made this church be a light in the midst of dark times. In Jesus name. Amen. You can have a seat. You know, like many of you, I've over the last handful of years been burned by the polarization of our society. And, you know, when I say polarization, I'm not talking about just global polarization. But, you know, we feel the division. We feel the division in our world not just on a global scale, but we feel it on a national scale and we feel it on a personal scale in our families and even in churches. I was reading a recent article by Axios, and the title I thought really succinctly identified how divided our times are. The title of the article said, This polarization eats the developed world. And I thought, Man, that's true. Polarization does eat the developed world.

Speaker [00:04:06] I want to take that a little bit deeper. I would reword that title and really identify what the root cause of the polarization is. I would reword the title and I would say it would go something like this. A loss of moral clarity creates polarization, which is eating the developed world. Like really at the root of the issue in our society today is a loss of moral clarity. You know, many of us are students of the scriptures. And so when I say this, I'm sure that you probably believe it if you do. You can say, amen. We're living in the end times. We're living in the end times. These are the last days. Jesus talked a lot about what these days would look like, and the cultural moment during the last days is going to be characterized by an absence of moral clarity. The Bible says it like this It will be a time where good is evil and evil is good. It will be a time where the love of many will grow cold. In fact, Paul is he's writing to his young disciple, Timothy, who is the pastor at Ephesus. Paul was talking about what is going to be like in the end times, and he says it is going to be so severe that there will be people whose consciences have been seared past feeling. You know, I said this a couple of weeks ago, I stand by it. But but I said something like this As Christians, sometimes we expect the unbelieving world to have the same moral clarity that we do. And, you know, it's an unfair expectation because we've been born again by the spirit of God. Right. I mean, the darkness, the Bible, it says that there is a veil that covers the eyes of people, a veil that's been placed there by the god of this age.

Speaker [00:06:01] And when you put your trust in faith in Jesus Christ, that veil is torn and the light of the glory of the gospel. Second Corinthians Chapter four says, Shines into your heart. That's a good thing. Some of you know what that feels like, right? And not only that, but you have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. And not only that, but but your conscience, which was which was dead and seared, has been made alive in Christ. And not only that, but you have the word of God. And so I stand by those words. It's right for us to remember that the unbelieving world, of course, is not going to have the same moral clarity that we do. And so overlaying expectations that we have for ourselves on them is disproportionate. But having said all of that, let me say this. Every human being that's born into this world has a moral conscience that's been placed into their life by God. There is a moral law that has been given by the moral law giver. I mean, of course, you know, before you were a believer in Jesus Christ, you had this innate sense of what was right and what was wrong in a general sense. And the Bible teaches us that in the end days, that conscience, that that that capacity to have some sense of moral clarity is going to be seared. It's going to be seared to the point where people will be unable to distinguish what is right and what is wrong. It's going to be seared to the point where that feeling of the pricking of the heart when the conscience is violated, it no longer exists. And that's true for every issue that we're talking about in this particular series, maybe not as acutely felt as it is when we're talking about the nation of Israel.

Speaker [00:07:49] I think the nation of Israel in a way, is like a moral litmus test. You can really see where a society is at based on how they handle the nation of Israel. And, you know, in the last 150 years, we have seen societies rage with anti-Semitism. And we're seeing that today. You know, you look at situations like the ones that have. Folded on October 7th. While initially there was a response of compassion, it seemed to be by the world. We watched that before Israel even had an opportunity to respond in self-defense. People around the world began to protest them. We've watched as we've seen a situation unfold in Gaza where a hospital with patients and people seeking refuge is totally destroyed and our hearts are grieved over that. No one wants to see the destruction of innocent life. And, you know, when the original messaging was it was Israel's fault. It was it took the world by fire. But once people began to understand that Israel wasn't at fault, but it was a misfired rocket by an Islamic terrorist group, all of a sudden it's total silence. I'm saying to you today that the things that we see are indicative of the reality that we are in the end times. There's an absence of moral clarity. Maybe more than ever, it is incumbent upon us to be seeing the world through a biblical lens. I want to just strongly encourage you today. You need to be a thinking Christian. You need to be a thinking Christian. You can't just parrot the position of your favorite pundit. You can't just be living off what what your your favorite commentator has to say. You can't just get swept into student movement groups that are gathering together and declaring what oftentimes is simply propaganda and misinformation and the issues not just on the outside.

Speaker [00:09:56] The issues also with Christians on the inside. You know, during those events that were instigated on October 7th, there were so many Christian leaders saying so many crazy things. You know, they were looking at the paragliders that were coming over from Gaza and they were saying, hey, the war of Gog and Magog is upon us. Jerusalem is being sieged. And it's like, first of all, that's not Jerusalem, right? And maybe you have a misunderstanding of what the events are going to look like that precede the war of Gog and Magog or another very well known pastor who who was leveraging fear was exhorting Christians. The Muslims are coming, the Muslims are coming. Stockpile your weapons be because maybe you're going to be the next victim. And let me just tell you what I'm for and what I'm not for. I am for the Second Amendment and for our rights to bear arms. I'm not for fear mongering. I'm not for. I'm not for misusing scriptures and mis interpreting them and then using those scriptures to create fear among the people of God. Because let me just remind you, today, our God is on the throne. He is in control. You might be thinking today, you know, I came to church. You know, I don't really want to hear about Israel and Hamas and how we respond in times of war. What does that have to do with me? It's a world away. But remember, with me, the church is supposed to be light in the midst of darkness. Light in the midst of dark darkness. The Bible. The Bible says that we are to be the pillar of truth. And so today what I want to do is I want to share with you four things that Christians should be for.

Speaker [00:11:46] It's a 4x4 today. All right. Not a 4x4. From the in and out. I just made some of you hungry. You're like, Oh, man. But I'm talking about I'm talking about framing this situation. You know, oftentimes what we hear in the world is people are framing scenarios and situations by what they're against. I think that we can frame scenarios and situations by what we're for. And so as we look at the situation in the middle of Middle East, there are four things I believe that we are for that will help anchor us during these times that will prevent us from being caught up with fear and that will enable us to fulfill the mission that God has for us. If you're taking those today, number one, Christians are for God's kingdom. Christians are for God's kingdom. I love the dialog in Acts chapter one verses 6 to 8, because you remember I mean, it's hard for us to remember sometimes what the disciples were feeling, why they proposed this question. I mean, he's just been raised from the dead. Why in the world are they talking about God restoring the kingdom to Israel? But remember, this was the messianic expectation. This was what young Jewish boys and girls had been taught for so many years, from the major prophets to the minor prophets, that when Messiah comes back, he would institute a golden era, a golden age, a kingdom in which Israel would be brought out of subjugation and would be exalted above the nations. And remember, this was why there was so much heart brokenness, not the only reason why, of course, but this was one reason why there was so much heart brokenness in the disciples. When Christ was crucified, there were messianic expectations that they had.

Speaker [00:13:38] The last thing that they thought would happen would be that Christ himself would would be in some way subjugated by the Roman government and then would suffer crucifixion. And so all of these dreams and aspirations and desires that they had on a national level came crashing down, which is why they asked the question is now the time is now the time. And I just want you to note, it's important sometimes as you're studying the scriptures, to note not only what Jesus does say, but oftentimes what he doesn't say, He doesn't say. He doesn't say, hey, listen, you know, you've you've misinterpreted the scriptures. That was never the plan of God in the first place. He doesn't say, hey, well, you know what? It's kind of too bad because the situation is this God is done with Israel. He doesn't say that. He doesn't say like some Christians do today. He doesn't say, hey, well, you know, the covenantal promises are over because the church, this new thing that God is doing has replaced Israel. The Bible does not teach replacement theology. And so what Jesus does is he prioritizes He prioritizes the gospel. Remember, for us as believers, Christians are for the Kingdom of God, which means we are for advancing God's kingdom through the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And so every news story you wake up in the morning. You go to your phone, you check the news, you have some breakfast, and then maybe if you have time, you get around to a little devotional time with God. I want to encourage you to flip the order of that. Start with the word of God. But but listen, when you are scrolling through the news and you're catching all these different stories that are happening, remember, every single story is about the real story.

Speaker [00:15:31] It's about the gospel story. Every single story is like a paragraph or a chapter in this bigger narrative that God is writing. You say, Well, what is what's God's story? This is God's story. God is redeeming humanity and creation through the sacrifice and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That is what God is up to. Are you for that today? And this this shapes our prayer right when we remember that this is what we start to pray. God make this an opportunity for people to discover your love through Jesus, your son. That becomes our prayer. God's love is important to declare all the time, but especially in times like today that are filled with so much hate. It's just good for us to remind each other that Jesus died for all people. Jesus died for Jews. He died for Palestinians. He died for Arabs. He died for Israelis. He died for Americans. He died for Russians. He died for Nigerians. He died for Nicaraguans. If I missed your country today, I'm really sorry. My simple point is this Jesus died for everybody, right? And. And the gospel has the power to deliver anybody, right? I mean, anybody. Anybody whosoever the Bible says whosoever wills may come. And one thing I love about our church is we have a delivered church. We have a we have a rescued church. When my friends come here to minister, they're like, dang, you know what that is one rescued congregation. There's one rescued congregation. There's some crazy folk that God pulled out of some really dark pits and rescued and renewed. And, you know, if that's you today, like give, give and glory for that, right, I. Right. We carry that. We carry that. We carry the sentiment. If God can save us, God can save anybody.

Speaker [00:17:38] God you can reach the unreachable. You can reach the person whose whose conscience has been seared with a hot iron who's past feeling. God, you can touch anyone in the world at any time, even a terrorist and even a terrorist. Like I can't tell you guys, man. I remember after 911 and you know, we're in prayer groups and we're beseeching and pleading and praying and and I'm like, you know, my prayer for Osama bin Laden was like, God, get the guy with the cruise missile. Get him, get him, incinerate him, like nothing left, vaporize. And then someone in my prayer group was like, and God, you know, we know that the cross is powerful enough to to rescue anyone, even Osama bin Laden. I'm like, Yeah, I was going to say that. I mean, I was going to pray that. No, I mean, it was a paradigm shift for me. It was a paradigm shift for me. I just remember, you know, remember Revelation chapter seven, verse nine, in a time where it's easy for us to drop into categories and and start pitting people, groups against people. Groups. Remember with me, the Bible says, After this I looked in behold a great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages standing before the throne and before the lamb clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice. Say this together with me today, salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb. Like we need. Don't don't forget the mission that we're on. Remember also, because we are for God's kingdom, we remember that Israel plays an essential role in the kingdom of God.

Speaker [00:19:30] We remember that Israel plays an essential role in the Kingdom of God. I don't want to. I don't want to burn your grits too much today, you know? But this this might. This might for some of you. There is only one nation that has continuing covenantal promises from God. There is only one nation that has. It's not America. There is only one nation that has continuing covenantal promises from God. And that is that is Israel. It's Israel. You know, I want you to think about this. Your roots as a Christian. Do we have any Christians here today? I'm just curious. All right. We got it. We got a couple. You know what was so funny today? When Kenny's like anybody I know you guys who's got 4 hours on Saturday? Yeah. Look, I mean, no one raised their hand. I'm like, you guys, you're lying. I mean, after that worship said, How can you lie? Who really has 4 hours on Saturday? Raise your hand. I'm just curious. All right? Okay. Okay. All right. Well, look, I mean, come on, hang out with us anyway. It was a total digression from the message. What I was going to say was, what I was going to say was, as a Christian, you remember as a Christian, you remember your roots go deep into Judaism. Right. I mean, this is why we call it the Judeo Christian faith. This is what we remember. We remember that that our roots go deep. The foundation that's been laid was a foundation through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We remember, for goodness sakes, that our own Messiah was Jewish. Paul, you know, was dealing with this sense of disregard among those in the church in Rome. I mean, there was this sense of disregard for Israel and the Jewish people.

Speaker [00:21:19] And he he just weaves this masterful argument from Romans nine all the way to Romans Chapter 11, to remind people of the faithfulness of God, God's enduring promises to the children of Israel, and how we're not to just disregard. Paul uses this beautiful illustration of an olive tree and how Israel is the olive tree. And we, like wild branches, have been grafted in and there's light in us because we're feeding off of the life that has come through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the Messiah all the way to us. And so and so this is what Paul says. Paul Looking forward. Paul looking forward, says in Romans chapter 11, verse 26. It'll get up there in a second. And in this way and in this way, all Israel will be saved. Right. What is Paul saying there? Is Paul saying that every single Jew is going to be saved regardless of whether or not they exercise their free moral agency to respond to the gospel? No, he's not saying that. He's saying that God's covenantal promises with Israel aren't done, that there has been a blindness that has been set in for a moment so that Gentiles, non-Jews could come to faith in Yeshua as Messiah. But when that age, that era is over, there is going to be an enlightening of the eyes of Jewish people, of Israelis, and they're going to recognize and see that Yeshua is in fact the Messiah. He goes. And looking forward to that moment. He says the delivery will come from Zion. He will banish on godliness from Jacob and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins as regards the gospel, their enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers.

Speaker [00:23:15] For Check this out. Check this out. The gifts and the callings of God are Irrevoc. Irrevocable. Now, I know some of us, we use that verse when we're reminded that when we blow it, when we fail, when we struggle, you know, someone comes along, when we're thinking, Man, God's got to be done with me. Because, you know, I've just I've just made a mess of it. Someone comes along and says, Hey, listen, the gifts and the callings of God are irrevocable. God's never done with you as long as you have breath, God's not done. God's got a relentless love for you, man. He's always knocking on the door of your heart. Even when you're wayward. Even when you're on the run. And that is. That is true. Absolutely. But listen, the context of that phrase is with respect to Israel. In other words, the Bible is saying God will be faithful to the nation. God will be faithful to the nation. If you're in a life group, one of the questions in a life group curriculum this week is what does that mean for us? What does the faithfulness of God to Israel mean for you and me? I'll tell you what it means. It means that God will never quit on us. It means that even when we're at our worst, God will always be faithful. So we are for the kingdom. God's national promises for Israel remained. Jesus did not deny that. He just focused His disciples on the priority of the Gospel. The second thing that we are for as Christians is we are for the truth. We are for the truth. There is so much propaganda today. There's so much misinformation today. You know, we live in a different era. I hate to use this word.

Speaker [00:25:02] I'm going to use it anyway. But we live in unprecedented times. You know, there are unprecedented times. I was thinking about the difference between the 1973 war. You know, not that I was. I mean, I am old, but. But, you know, I wasn't that old to know what was going on. And today's war, that Yom Kippur War, you know, the Syrians sought to take Israel by surprise. They were celebrating the day of atonement. But, you know, my friends, as they relate the story to me, my older friends, they just they say to me, man, it was crazy. I was living overseas and someone called on the landline and I picked up the landline and I'm like, Dude, who uses a landline anymore? Right. We live in a different era. We live in a different era. You know, today it's like everything you see, everything you hear, everything is coming over your social media feed. There's constant information. And that information oftentimes is being leveraged to to fulfill some agenda, a narrative that's being created by somebody. And so it's important for us to be for the truth, to be able to sort out the misinformation from the true information. And so in saying that, I want to I want to clear up some myths today that are being promoted, number one. Number one truth today is this Israel has a right to the land. Israel has a right to the land. You don't occupied what is rightfully yours. Israel has a biblical right to the land because God promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob the land. He did not promise Abraham in Ishmael the land. He promised it to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. In fact, Genesis 17 eight, one of the many times God declares this promise to Abraham, which, by the way, was reiterated to Isaac and to Jacob.

Speaker [00:27:00] God says to Abraham, I will give you the entire land of Canaan to you and your descendants. Listen, it will be their possession forever. It will be their possession forever. Israel has a biblical right. Israel has a historical right. There have been Jews living in the land since 1440 BCE. 1440 BCE was the conquest of Canaan by Joshua. And since that time there has been a permanent presence of Jewish people in the land, albeit that population number or volume has increased and decreased over that time. There have been times where God has exiled this people, but with the exile, God always allowed a remnant to stay in 135 A.D.. Not that you came to church this morning for a history lesson, but I just. I want you to understand some things. In 135 A.D., the Emperor of Rome, Hadrian. He expelled a majority of Jews, the remaining Jews. After the destruction of the temple in 70 AD, he expelled many more Jews to the ends of the earth. This was called the Diaspora. And as he did that, he wanted to offend the Jewish people as much as he could. And so he renamed Israel Palestina. Palestina, which is a Latin word for Philistine. And so in Hadrian's Mind, what he was thinking is how can I offend these Jewish people as much as possible? I know what I'll do. I will read name this land after their arch enemy, the Philistines. And then what he did is he scraped the remains of the temple off of the Temple Mount and over where the holy place was, he built, he built an altar to Jupiter or, you know, the Greek version of Zeus. And so he desecrated he desecrated the place where the most holy place was.

Speaker [00:29:00] I say all of that to remind you, from that time to the present, there was never an Arab Palestinian nation state created. There was never an Arab Palestinian nation state created. The third thing about this is Israel has a governmental right. They have a governmental right. And I'm talking about from an international point of view. I want to show you a couple of maps this morning that show you how the land was originally partitioned, given to Israel and also parts of it set apart for the Palestinian people. And then how that's changed over the course of time. So the Balfour Declaration of 1917 officially recognized a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine. And the UN partition plan that followed in 1947 divided the land into a Jewish state and an Arab state separate from each other. And so as you look at that map today, as the Jews were allowed to come back into what was then called Palestine, there was a U.N. charter that divided the land, the land with the orange lines, diagonal lines on it was land that was set aside for Arabs for. Palestinians, The rest of that in the Negev, all the way up to the Golan, was given to the Israelis. Map to the Arabs rejected this plan they didn't want. They didn't want Jewish people in the land. They refused to recognize Israel's legitimacy. And they attacked the Jewish state. So in 1948, there were five countries that preemptively attacked the Jewish people to eliminate them from the land. This was Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. In 1948, Israel withstood those attacks, gained its independence, and Arabs lost the land they would have gained if they would have originally, if they would have agreed to the original partition plan.

Speaker [00:31:07] So so the land that that that Jewish people were allotted expanded because of the preemptive attacks against Israel in 1967. Again, three nations sought to attack and annihilate Israel. And this was Egypt and Jordan and Syria. And once again, Israel acted in self-defense rather than aggression. And as they acted in self-defense, they gained Jerusalem, the Sinai, the Golan Heights, Gaza. The Gaza Strip. Jew. Judea and Samaria. So you can see this is called the Six-Day War. It's an absolute miracle, the victory that God gave them. As once again, these nations were seeking to expel the Jewish people from the land. Their their territory expanded because of the victory that God gave them in self defense. After the Six-Day War, Israel offered to give up land to make peace. And so the Sinai in the bottom was given back to Egypt. Gaza, which is obviously in the news today, was handed over to the Palestinian people over the course of time. Hamas, a terror organization, routed itself in Gaza. And then in 2012, I believe was was democratically elected to be the political party that was the controlling party in Gaza. And so the final map today, just so you can see it. This is this is how it stands today. You have the Gaza Strip. You have the West Bank. There is still a security presence that Israel has in the West Bank because of all the preemptive attacks that have come not just from nation states, but also terrorist organizations. That is how it is set up today. The land that Israel has gained has not been an occupation. It's not been preemptively taken. It has been in response to the preemptive efforts of other nations and terrorists to wipe them off of the map.

Speaker [00:33:12] The second thing I would say to this is international law experts reject the term occupier over this disputed territory. Like I said to you, the land that was gained from the Six-Day War, the Arab Israeli war, it included the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and Gaza. From my point of view, at least, it was earned fairly in, in fact, through a war in which Israel acted in self-defense. Oftentimes, international law experts will say, in addition to that, that international law doesn't necessarily apply the way it does normally because the Palestinian people are not technically a nation state. The third thing I want to help you understand today is this factions in the Arab world hate Israel and want to destroy the Jewish people. That's just that's just the truth. Factions in the Arab world. I didn't say the whole Arab world. I said factions in the Arab world hate Israel and want to destroy the Jewish people. Before I say anything else on that, I want to remind you that not all Palestinians are pro Hamas. Not all Palestinians are pro Hamas. There are Palestinian people living in Gaza that don't want war. They just want a life of flourishing. I want to remind you today that not all Palestinians are Muslim. There are a thousand Palestinian Christians living in Gaza right now, and many of them have lost their lives in this current conflict, saying that I also want to remind you that Israel as a nation is comprised not just of Jews, but Israel is comprised of Arabs, Druze and Christians as well. So Israel is not just this monolithic ethnic group comprised of Jewish people. There are a variety of people that have citizenship in the nation of Israel, and I've been there many times.

Speaker [00:35:09] I've watched over the last 15 years the population of Israel grow to by 2.4 million people. And I can tell you when I travel there, I interface with with Arabs and Muslims and Druze and Christians and Jewish people. And for the most part, I mean, there are times where, of course, you know, it's a society with various people. It does get a little a little edgy sometimes. But for the most part, people get along in Israel is a very, very safe place to be. I say all of that to you to say this unequivocally, that Hamas is a terrorist organization. And while the U.N. may be loathe to admit it and most of the major media platforms, the fact remains Hamas is not a freedom fighting group. Hamas is not comprised of soldiers. Hamas is not a viable political party. Hamas is a terrorist organization. In fact, their charter in 1987, their founding charter, called for the wiping of the Jews off of the map completely. And these stated goals that Hamas has, I say that to remind you today, they're never for a two state solution. They're never for pursuing peace. They want the elimination of the Jewish people from the land completely. And these stated goals that they have are shared by Iran. They're shared by the religious leadership in Iran and their shared by the political leadership in Iran as well. The final thing I would say here, just to make sure that we see things clearly is terrorism as a moral equivalence to annexation. Occupation settlements is a false equivalence. Terrorists, the terrorism as a moral equivalence to annexation, occupation or settlements is a false equivalence that you may not know what I mean when I say that right now people are saying, Hey, listen, Hamas was justified.

Speaker [00:37:05] Look at all the things that Israel has done. And I'm just saying to you today that is that is a signifier of a society that has lost moral clarity. There is no moral equivalence there when you think that rape, murder, torture, slaughter of the elderly and infants burning of civilians alive is justifiable, you have lost all moral clarity. I'll tell you. I'll tell you what it is. It's demonic. That's demonic. Right. When when when a people group when a people group are doing this or even advocating this as a as a justifiable response. What they're advocating is demonic behavior, because that's not just at all. The third thing I want to remind you of today in our 4x4 is that Christians are for valuing life. Christians are for valuing life. I've said this a lot in this series, and I'll say it again All human beings have worth and value and should have dignity because because they're made in the image of God. All human beings are made in the image of God. And not only that, but Christ had all ethno linguistic people groups in mind when he died on the cross. I'm just saying the Bible uniquely, listen to me. The Bible uniquely establishes value, worth and love through being made in the image of God and through the cross of Jesus Christ. We know the disposition of God for all people because God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. We value all life. Christians, of course, are for avoiding war if possible. And I would say to you today that Israel also is for avoiding war, and so are many Palestinians. When you look at the 1948 war, the 1967 war, the 1973 war, the first Intifada, the second Intifada, and their most recent action, what you discover is that there are Arab nations and terrorist groups that will initiate action against Israel, like I said, because they have one desire and that is a final solution.

Speaker [00:39:26] We do. Then maybe I'll just I'll just say this personally. We maintain the right for people to defend themselves. We maintain the right for people to defend themselves. We're not for innocent men, women, children suffering during war time. And we hope for a meaningful solution for the Palestinian people because they deserve the opportunity to pursue a flourishing life. But as you look at this situation, every time there's a negotiation attempted is derailed by either terrorism or Palestinian political entities that really don't want to pursue peace. Are you with me still today? The fourth and final thing is this Christians are for keeping God's justice. Christians are for keeping God's justice. I want to encourage you guys sometime this week, maybe today, to take a look at Isaiah Chapter 58, Isaiah chapter 58. I mean, it's a beautiful context that it's placed in, but God is addressing his people and the people he is addressing are in the southern part of Israel, the southern kingdom. They're the people of Judea. And Judea was where Jerusalem was. It was where the Temple Mount was. So this was the place where people three times a year would gather together and they would travel up to celebrate a pilgrim feast or the Passover, Pentecost or Tabernacles. And God says to his people, and I'm going to paraphrase today a little bit. He says, Hey, y'all, I'm tired of the nonsense. This is like a real paraphrase. Okay? I tired of the nonsense that you all think that, you know, you can just do these religious rituals. You coming up, you're celebrating the feast, you're making your offering. You know, you're dressed in you're dressed in your finest. It's all for the show. You're singing the songs. And he's like, this is the problem that you're observing the fast.

Speaker [00:41:20] He's like, This is the problem that I have. You're tolerating the exploitation of people. You're tolerating the victimization of people. You have this religious garb that you're wearing that makes you look so self-righteous on the outside, and yet you're walking by people who are suffering. And so, you know what? Stop with all the rituals. And and let me tell you, the fact that I want I want you to stand up for the victim. I want you to deal with those who've been exploited. I want you to be able to discern between right and wrong. I want you to be able to keep my justice because you're my image bearers. Like, what value do you think I get out of you playing a game and coming to the temple and offering what in your eyes is the best while you let all this other stuff go on in society around you? And listen. God hasn't changed. God's not changed. And in our culture, this is an issue that we have because, you know, Sundays for us can be that very thing. Hey, we're we're cruising to church. We've got we've got our religious ritual to do. We look good on the outside. We've just been yelling at our wife. We just kicked our dog. We you know, we did all this other stuff. We we're driving by people that are living in poverty and we don't even care. There is exploitation happening all around us. There are people who are being made victims. And we're like, well, you know what? They need to figure that out on their own. And I'm just saying God says, That's not baring my heart. That's not baring my heart. When we see people exploited or victimized, we can't just stand by and do nothing right.

Speaker [00:42:58] We address issues like poverty or sex trafficking or slavery. We have an opinion on wicked regimes that promote evil and terror organizations. And this is this is one reason why God has instituted government. The purpose of government fundamentally is to protect the people and to prevent and punish evil. In fact, the Bible says in Romans 13 for God, talking about the individual who's been given authority because all authority comes from God, and that person who's in a position of governmental authority is there for a reason, as though Paul says, if you do wrong, be afraid for that person does not bear the sword in vain. He is the servant of God in Avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrong doer. God has placed governments in position so that people can be protected and that evil can be prevented and punished. And we should not back down from that reality. I I'm not saying to you guys today that I agree with everything that the government of Israel does, because I don't agree with everything my own government does. You know what I'm saying? I mean, it's like. Don't don't miss. Don't misunderstand me. Today there are people in positions of power that that are there with their agendas. Right. And misusing power. But at the same time, right is right and wrong is wrong. And the best thing for the Palestinian people and is and Israelis is to eradicate Hamas is the best thing for everybody. I agree with the deputy mayor of Jerusalem who said that. She said our goal must be to dismantle the Hamas terrorist infrastructure that is an existential threat to the existence of Israel. And so let me just say, as I punctuate this point, there are times when wickedness needs to be dealt with because if you don't eliminate it, you promote its growth.

Speaker [00:45:06] You promote its growth. I, I posted, you know, and kind of all this was unfolding just at the request for us to be praying for the peace of Jerusalem. And, you know, we're compelled by scripture to do that. We should be praying for the peace of Jerusalem. At the same time, I want to remind you that peace will only be fully realized when Messiah returns. I did the solution. The solution to the discord in the Middle East is going to be solved by the return of Jesus Christ. And so let me just say as I wrap up. We're not living in the last days. We're living in the last seconds. We are living in the last second. Some of you know what I'm talking about. When you when you exercise, you know, you've got 5 minutes of exercise. That's what you're doing and you're on the bike or maybe you're running, you know, and for you old people, you got your you got your watch or your stopwatch is analog, the hand is spinning. You know, you finally get down to those final seconds and you're like, man, they they're like, lasting forever. The rest of us have our iPhone out and we're watching the seconds go by, and those final seconds seem to last forever. But listen, we are in the final seconds. We are living in the end times. And I want to remind you today, you don't you as a Christian, you don't live your life governed and bound by fear. You don't you don't live your life waiting for the next tweet on X, formerly known as Twitter. That's coming. That's coming from your favorite pundit or the the religious person that you follow. No, you wait. Braided baited breath on the book, on what it is that God has to say, because that's where you're going to find peace for your soul.

Speaker [00:46:53] That's where you're going to be reminded that you can have God confidence. That's where you're reminded that that God is in control. And everything in this world is working out just as He is predetermined. It doesn't mean he causes the events, but make no mistake about it, Jesus Christ is coming back soon. I was reading an article. It was titled Six Steps to World War Three. I know you want to hear this today, right? I mean, that's not your that's not your normal self-help title. But this guy, presumably not a Christian, he says, listen, these are the steps that will lead to World War three. Number one, Israel overreacts. I don't agree with that, by the way. Number two, war spreads to Lebanon. Number three, Syria and Russia. Team up. Number four, Iran kicks off. Number five, the U.K. and U.S. enter the fight. And number six, Saudi Arabia is forced in. What did he just do? He just described the war of Gog and may God like the guy probably doesn't even know the Bible. And I'm just say to you, we are living in days where there are alignments among nations that have never existed in the history of the world. He is coming back. I say that to you today to say this. Today is the day of salvation. Today is the day of salvation. Man. Maybe you've been coming for some time. You've been warming up to this idea of Christianity and Jesus and these crazy people called Christians. Well, listen, don't just get warmed up. Make a choice today. Make a choice to follow him. Make this the day that you've decided that Christ is going to be your Messiah. Revelation one seven says this. Behold, He's coming with the clouds.

Speaker [00:48:45] Every I will see him. Even those who pierced him, All the tribes of Earth of the Earth will wail on account of him. Even so, amen. Amen.