Why Israel Failed: They Trusted in Their Status I. Introduction A. Recognition of Israel's failure 1. Israel in the flesh, overall, a failure 2. They did not keep their obligation in the covenant 3. God first punished them, exiled them, and then entirely destroyed their religious system in 70CE (cf. Matthew 24:1-36) 4. Parable of the Vineyard shows what happens (Matthew 21:33-44, Mark 12:1-11)-- original occupants (Israel) removed, new inhabitants (Christians) enter 5. Failure of Israel due to many reasons together-- perhaps a few failures could be endured, but the combination caused downfall 6. Nevertheless, we can learn from each instance of failure B. 1 Corinthians 10:6 1. Failure of Israel is designed to be a lesson for us 2. We must learn so that we may not fall into the same temptations! C. Many failures can be listed 1. In the wilderness, Egypt never left them 2. When conquering the land, they did not fully conquer 3. They did what was right in their own eyes 4. They rejected God's form of government 5. They adapted God's commands 6. They conformed to the other nations 7. They never fully reformed themselves E. Let us continue to examine failures of Israel II. "Children of Abraham" A. Luke 3:8 B. Another failure of Israel throughout its history was its trust that since they were God's chosen people that somehow that meant that they could do more as they pleased 1. The mentality seemed to be that since they were God's people they were holy, and their actions were holy 2. Their status came not from obedience as much as that they were children of Abraham, or of a tribe of Israel C. John 8:31-59 1. Protracted discussion between Jesus and some "believing" Israelites 2. Jesus asserts that they are not Abraham's children or the children of the Father in truth, but the children of the devil (vv. 37-38, 42-44) 3. The Jews do not appreciate this in the least; this, with His declaration of being God, leads to them intending to stone Him (vv. 57-59) D. Romans 2 1. When demonstrating how all men are in sin and need redemption (Romans 1-3), Paul establishes how the Jews are in sin 2. vv. 1-11: men to be judged on the basis of their deeds, not status; no partiality with God 3. vv. 12-16: those under the Law to be judged by it; Gentiles who did not have the law but followed it a Law unto themselves 4. vv. 17-24: specific condemnation of the Jew for professing the Law without actually doing it; God's name blasphemed on account of them 5. vv. 25-29: matters of circumcision/uncircumcision: circumcision as matter of the heart, not flesh! E. These New Testament examples attest to the constant problem of the Jews: professing God, trusting in lineage, but not being substantively obedient! III. Old Testament Examples A. This can be seen in the OT in many places also B. Numbers 16: Korah's rebellion 1. While Israel was in the wilderness, some men rose up against Moses 2. Internal logic very interesting in verse 3: holiness of the people manifest in the LORD's presence among them 3. Since the LORD was among them, they must be holy; since Moses and Aaron chided the people for their faithlessness, they had "gone too far" 4. vv. 22-32: the earth swallows up the instigators and their houses 5. vv. 47-50: plague sent out by the LORD 6. It is manifest, then, that Korah's logic was inherently flawed, and it cost him and thousands of Israelites their lives! C. Jeremiah 7: the Temple of the LORD 1. The people of Judah were confident that God would never allow Jerusalem to be destroyed because His house-- the Temple-- was there 2. They trusted in that deceptive thought (v. 4) 3. Their presence was only guaranteed if they were faithful (vv. 3, 5) 4. If not, God would destroy the place and its people (vv. 13-34) 5. God did indeed have Jerusalem and the Temple destroyed and the people exiled (2 Kings 25, 2 Chronicles 36) 6. They trusted in the wrong things! D. These are some of many examples that show how Israel trusted in the wrong things! IV. Obedience and Birth A. We have seen, then, how Israel went terribly wrong in presuming that simple status or birth or being God's people was sufficient for God B. Things have not changed today! C. We cannot expect status, birth, or simply claiming to be God's people will be enough for us to be saved! 1. Yes, it is important for us to be baptized and enter into Christ (Romans 6:3-7, Galatians 3:27) 2. ...but we cannot expect that just because we have been baptized into Christ beforehand, that such is sufficient to guarantee our salvation! 3. We know the many Scriptures that show "once saved, always saved" is not right (Hebrews 3:12-14, Hebrews 6:4-6, 2 Peter 2:20-22, etc.); do we apply them to ourselves? 4. Do we somehow think that baptism gives us a free ticket into Heaven no matter what? We ought not! 5. Neither, however, will anyone be saved just because their parents or grandparents were good Christians 6. Habakkuk 2:4-- the righteous must live by his faith! 7. Nor can we expect that since we have some level of status that such means we will be saved! 8. We might be Christians for many years, or have served in some position-- well and good, but God shows no partiality (Romans 2:11) 9. We will stand or fall based upon what we have done (Romans 2:5-10)! D. The Bible demonstrates that obedience-- being Christ's disciples on earth and doing His will-- is the guarantee of salvation 1. 1 John 2:1-6 2. Matthew 25:14-30: consider the fate of the "one talent" servant! 3. Luke 8:5-18: consider the thorny soil and what can be taken away! 4. Matthew 13:47-50 5. Matthew 7:21-23, Luke 13:25-30: many people who have every reason in their own minds to expect to make it to Heaven will not! E. Part of obedience, of course, involves being baptized and other such things, but being obedient means more than being baptized! 1. Such is where Israel stumbled 2. Yes, they needed to be Abraham's descendants; yes, they received the peculiar blessing of being the people of the One True God 3. That, however, was not enough-- they had to be God's obedient people also, and they failed in that! 4. We, therefore, must certainly become part of God's people...but then we must act in ways that God desires for His people! IV. Conclusion A. We have seen how Israel failed in trusting in status 1. They thought that it was good enough to be children of Abraham, engaging in the basic concepts of Israelite identity, and that God would save them for it 2. God-- and Jesus-- showed otherwise B. Let us not stumble by the same example! 1. It is not enough to get baptized and to warm a pew 2. We must also get busy in God's Kingdom and be His servants! C. Let us do all we can to be found to be God's humble disciples-- not mere professors or pew-warmers! D. Invitation/songbook