Replacement Theology Part 4

PART FOUR

If you have your Bibles let’s turn to Malachi Chapter 3.
Before we pick up where we left off last week, we’re going to be looking at the consequences to the Replacement Theology that’s so common, because I fear that maybe some of you may not understand how perverse and how widespread this thing really is.

This Replacement Theology benefits certain groups that mainline Bible-believing, true to the Word Christians, find objectionable. First is, it benefits the Palestinians. You will hear from time to time on the news certain Christian groups who are advocating the Palestinian cause rather than the Israeli cause. And the Replacement Theology goes hand in hand with this. They support the Palestinians, they oppose the Israelis, because Replacement Theology basically says “God’s through with the Jews. That’s the end of them. There is no need for them anymore.” And so they see the Palestinians as taking part of the land promised by God to the Jews. Now the Bible points out that God clearly did not do away with His promises to Israel, to the Jewish people, whether it deals with them spiritually or dealing with the land.

In Malachi Chapter 3, if you will take a look at verse 6. It says:

“Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” Now one of the issues that the Replacement Theology people bring out is, they say “But Christians are now modern day Israel. We are the lost tribes. We are the ones who have replaced the Israelis of old.” It’s not talking about a new group, it’s talking about the sons of Jacob, the sons of Jacob. God says “My Word stands true. I don’t change, therefore the sons of Jacob are not consumed.”

If you will turn with me to Romans Chapter 11. While you are turning there let me ask you this, and most of you know this just off the top of your head. Did God call Israel to be His instrument, to be His peculiar people ? Yes, of course He did, and there are many, many scriptures that identify this calling. Now I want you to notice what the scripture says. In Romans Chapter 11, in verse 29. It says:

In other words once God gives it He doesn’t take it back again. He doesn’t turn around and change His mind. God called Israel therefore that calling is valid even today.

Over in Titus Chapter 1. Of course we are looking at the immutability of God’s Word, the unchangeableness of God’s Word. A lot of people think “Well, God changed His mind after He saw that Israel wasn’t going to be as faithful as He wanted it to be, then He changed His mind and said ‘I’m going to make the Church to be my instrument and that’s the end of Israel.’”

In Titus Chapter 1, in verse 2, it says:

“God that cannot lie” Now if God gives a promise, and He says “Oops, changed my mind. Sorry !” Isn’t that lying ? Sure it is, that’s lying. Especially if it’s God because He knew what the Children of Israel would do. Did He know that the Children of Israel would let Him down when He called them ? He sure did. But He called them anyway. He knew what was going to happen, and when He gave His promises to Jacob, and Isaac, and Abraham, didn’t He know that the Children of Israel were going to try to weasel their way out of it, and try to follow the gods that were around them ? Of course He did. But He made those promises anyway.

And the point that this Scripture makes is that God does not change. When He gives a promise it is rock solid, it is not going to change, it’s going to be there forever, and so therefore God cannot lie and the Children of Israel are still very much a part of His plan. Now I want you to notice some of the people involved here, and who this benefits, this idea that other people have taken the place of the Israelites, the Jewish people. The Palestinians obviously.

Then you have the New World Order. The New World Order (saying it slowly) One thing that fights against the New World Order is the idea that Israel must always be dependent upon God. Now in the United States, we’re following the New World Order. We’re doing some very, very foolish things, and we’re going to pay the consequences for it. And yet Israel has said “We are not going to absorbed by the New World Order.” Because Israel is in a different situation. Israel is going to depend upon God. So Israel is at odds with this New World Order.

Also, now this doctrine, this Replacement Theology supports the Nazis and the Neo-Nazis. It supports the White Supremacists, it supports various other anti-Semitic hate groups. This whole doctrine that is held by so many churches today, can you imagine it supports Neo-Nazis and White Supremacists ? Yet that’s exactly what it’s doing. It is supporting the Palestinians, it is supporting the New World Order. It supports the White Supremists. All these things as a result of one demonically-produced false doctrine. Now we’ll see the Scriptures apply to these other points as we go along.

Number One. If God doesn’t mean everlasting to be forever when speaking to the Jews we cannot be certain of the promise of everlasting life when it applies to us. That creates doubt about the entire Word of God. If God’s Word to the Jewish people is not solid and it doesn’t mean what it says, how can we be sure that God’s Word is true to us ? So the whole Replacement Theology leaves you with a group of people that have very serious doubts. Just think about some of the people you know who are in Charismatic churches today, the majority of them are concerned about their salvation at some point or another. “Am I really saved ? Is God going to be true ? Is God going to get me home to heaven ?”

There are more people who have concerns about their salvation in the Charismatic and Pentecostal churches than probably any other issue that is there. That is the one that is most concerning. Why is that ? It all came because of this Replacement Theology. If you can’t be absolutely certain in something that God says then how can you even be sure of your own salvation ? It’s a very subtle thing, but the devil slips it in. He not real obvious all the time. But he slips it in, this very subtle attitude that “Hey, can you really believe what God says ? Because He said this to the Jewish people and then He canceled it. So therefore how do you know He’s not going to do it to you too ?” It’s a subtle thought that planted in the Charismatic churches.

Alright then if God’s promise can be changed and His grace toward Israel is wavering it means that the rest of the Bible is in question, because it states some explicit certainties, and we just read those. If God’s promise can be changed, and His grace toward Israel can be wavering then can you really rely upon the scriptures ? And again, how many Charismatic churches have you seen on TV, the pictures of people coming into churches, Charismatic churches, there are some on some of these Christian TVs, you can watch them coming in, hardly any of them have Bibles. Hardly any of them are carrying their Bibles. Why ? They’re not checking up on what the preacher says. It’s no big deal, because they can’t really rely on scripture anyhow. It’s a very subtle thing. Now they say “Oh, we believe the Bible.” But look what kind of Bible they are generally using. The number one Bible in Charismatic churches is what ? NIV. And you know what, you can talk to some of these people and say “Do you know verses are left out ?” And they’ll tell you “So ?” You can talk to them and say “You know that’s not really all that accurate ?” And do you know what they will tell you ? “No, but it’s easy to read.” What has happened is that this very subtle thing from the Replacement Theology has left many people in the Charismatic movement to doubt the authority and the legitimacy of God’s Word. And so you don’t see them bring their Bibles to church. You don’t see them relying on the Bible. They pick and choose what they want. Then when they really get into a bind, they don’t know where to go. Because they don’t really have a reliance on the Word of God.

Third, Doubts arising from God’s promises regarding Israel will certainly effect the degree of faith a person has on other promises which God extends to believers. And this is coupled with a few other doctrinal errors in some of these churches. For an example if, you know they tell you “Just come forward, God’s going to heal everybody.” How often have you heard that ? “All you have to do is come, God’s going to heal everybody.” And there are people who leave every time who aren’t healed. As a matter of fact most of them, if not all of them leave without being healed. When they start asking themselves why, it is so bothersome it is so troublesome to them, they start asking somebody else. “Hey, how come I went down and I asked the Lord to heal me, and I’m not healed. How come ?” And you know what the answer always turns out to be ? “You didn’t have enough faith.” “You didn’t have enough faith.” Well, now this false doctrine that God’s going to heal everybody coupled with Replacement Theology opens the door to question every aspect of the promises of God. Because suppose God did want a person healed but at the churches that the sick go to, people who go down and they get promises of healing again and again but they never get healed, what does that do to their faith ? It really weakens it.

So, the end results of these two false doctrines coming together is that on very practical everyday things that we need and especially in the area of healing. I don’t want to go too far off on that today, but I just plead with those of you who go to a doctor, please make sure you go to the Lord first. And then while you are at the doctor’s make sure you are still going to the Lord. And then after you leave the doctor’s make sure you are still going to the Lord. And make sure that whatever you ask from the Lord that you get an answer from Him and you don’t settle for what some man tells you. We are down here in this sin-soaked world where your life is only counted in the amount of dollars that you can provide. That’s all your life is worth. And some people’s lives aren’t worth very much because they know they can get very much money. We need the Lord. And especially in these days where more and more Christians are seeing the flaw in our medical system. And they’re having their eyes opened to say “Wow, look what’s going on.” We need to be very much aware that our Savior is still the Great Physician, and He is still able to do great things. He ius still the Great Healer. And when these doctrines come along and they start weakening people’s faith and they start saying “Oh, you really can rely on that because God gave a promise to Israel and He changed His mind. Maybe He gave a promise to you and changed His mind on that too.” These very subtle things play very heavily into our faith at a time when we need to have it the most.

All right, the fourth point of the Replacement Theology error is that the Jewish people are no longer a part of the plan of God and therefore are outcasts. This leads to anti-Semitism and persecution against the Jewish people. This is one of the obvious results of this false doctrine. Now, as I pointed out earlier this embraces other concepts like Neo-Nazism, the New World Order, and other anti-Semitic things, White Supremacy and so on. That it just feeds those organizations and people who lean in that direction and so no wonder there are so many people who are filing the churches that are teaching this false doctrine. It’s because of anger against certain people, let’s face it they have to have a scapegoat. People want a scapegoat, they want somebody to blame for anything that goes wrong and down through the centuries historically, when you allow certain people with this Replacement Theology to have their way before very long what happens is they are influencing the others against the Jewish people. And so you see a Holocaust, you see persecution, you see all sorts of things like that taking place. That certainly is not a part of the will of God.