Sermon by Pastor Bertrand L. Comparet

   At this season called Christmas, amid the frenzied commercialism, which has distracted the attention of the multitude, how many give serious thought to the things, which this holiday is intended to represent? Do we ask ourselves what do we celebrate? Yes, a few do and of this few, only a few get the entire answer. We say that we are celebrating the birth of Yahshua, although He was really born almost three months earlier than December 25th . This date is only an old pagan holiday, celebrated many centuries before Yahshua was born.

   Turning our thoughts to Yahshua, do we ask why did He leave His majestic throne in heaven, where no pain or trouble can reach? He took upon Himself the body of a man, able to feel weariness, hunger, thirst and pain. He came to live among sinful man, finally to die a terrible death for men, paying the penalty of man's sins. Of course Yahshua came that the Scriptures might be fulfilled, as He said in Luke 4:21 & John 13:18, 17:12. In the Bible, which Yahweh had written through His servants and prophets, He had foretold both His coming and the purpose of it. Today we hear only a part of that purpose quoted to us, until we forget that His first coming, crucifixion and resurrection served more than one purpose

   One of these purposes was to pay the penalty for the sins of every person who believes and accepts Him as his personal Savior. Since all the sins of the believer were thus fully paid for with no penalty, no judgment or condemnation remains for the believer and eternal life is given to him. Since no man can merit eternal life by his own works, this is the only doorway into life eternal

   This is not all; another purpose of Yahshua's coming was to redeem His people Israel. We know today that Israel is not and never was composed of Jews. Today Israel is known as the Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian and Teutonic nations. Most of them have forgotten their identity as Israel, as Yahweh said they would. In Isaiah 43:18 He said, "Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old." We are blind to our identity. In Isaiah 42:19, 43:8 He said, "Who is blind but My servant, or deaf, as My messenger that I sent? Bring forth the blind people that have eyes and the deaf that have ears

   We are Christian, we try to do right and we severely criticize ourselves for our human failures that in itself should tell us who we are. In Isaiah 51:1-2 Yahweh says to us, "Hearken to Me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek Yahweh: look unto the rock from whence ye are hewn and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged. Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bore you," Look to your ancestry and know your identity, then we will know Yahshua came to redeem us

   Speaking of the birth of Yahshua, Luke says, "Blessed be Yahweh, God of Israel: for He hath visited and redeemed His people, and hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David; as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets." You can save what belongs to another, however you can redeem only what is rightfully your own. Salvation is open to all who believe, but redemption is for Israel only. It is the restoration of our original relation as the sons and daughters of Yahweh.

   In many places, Yahweh promised redemption for Israel. For example in Isaiah chapters 43 & 44, "But now saith Yahweh that created thee, O Jacob and He that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not for I have redeemed thee; I have called thee by thy name: thou art Mine. O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of Me. I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and as a cloud, thy sins return unto Me, for I have redeemed thee, Yahweh hath redeemed Jacob and glorified Himself in Israel." Yahshua accomplished this at His first coming    Some think that Yahweh has cast off His people Israel, that all races are equal in His sight and that all His wonderful promises to Israel are just empty words, which will never be made good. This dim view of His faithfulness greatly wrongs our God; it is just man made doctrine, not out of the Bible. Yahshua warned the Pharisees of His day, "In vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." Some of these misguided people think they can base their views on Paul's teachings; let's see what Paul really said.

   In Romans 11:1-2 Paul said, "I say then, hath Yahweh cast away His people? Yahweh forbid: for I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. Yahweh hath not cast away His people which He foreknew." In Romans 15:8 Paul says, "Now I say that Yahshua was a Minister of the circumcision, for the truth of Yahweh, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers." What promises, made to whose fathers? Romans 9:4-5 tells us, "Israelites, to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law, and the service of Yahweh, and the promises whose are the fathers, and of whom concerning the flesh Yahshua came."

   The same eternal, unconditional promises made to our fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Israel, in the books of Genesis, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Amos. Listen to these promises. "I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven and as the sand of the seashore; I will make of thee a great nation and I will bless thee and make thy name great; and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in thee; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee: thou shalt spread to the west and to the north and to the south; and thy seed shall inherit the nations, and make the desolate places to be inhabited; thy seed shall posses the gate of his enemies; you only have I known, of all the families of the earth; ye are My witnesses, saith Yahweh, and My servant whom I have chosen; thou art My battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms. Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by Me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake; no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of Yahweh, and their righteousness is of Me, saith Yahweh. Therefore, Yahweh gives thee of the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth and plenty of corn and wine; let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee; be lord over thy brethren and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee; cursed be everyone that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee."

   This is what Yahweh promised you. As Paul says, "Yahshua came for the truth of Yahweh and to confirm the promises made unto the fathers". Yahweh always makes good on His promises. In fact we, the Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian and Germanic peoples have already received a large measure of these blessings.

   Yes, we have forgotten who we are and many preachers parrot the old falsehood that we are Gentiles. Yahweh too prophesied this. In Hosea 1:10 He says, "Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sands of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them Ye are not My people (that is, you are Gentiles) there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God."

   We are the lost sheep of the house of Israel. In Matthew 15:24 Yahshua said, "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel." John 10:14, 27-28 records Yahshua saying, "I am the Good Shepherd, and know My sheep, and am known of Mine. My sheep hear My voice and I know them and they follow Me: and I give unto them eternal life."  Yahshua came to redeem us and He did not fail. Of all the nations of the world, we are outstandingly Christian. We have received and displayed to the world the blessings which Yahweh showers upon His people when they are loyal to Him.

   In your gratitude to Yahshua, give thanks not only for your personal salvation as a believer, but also for your redemption as an Israelite, restored to your position as a child of Yahweh.