Man, Ephesians chapter number two.
Last week in Ephesians chapter one, one of the big things that was driven in over and
over again was the fact that the Gentiles were predestined to also, with Israel, receive
all the blessings of being saved and being in Christ and inheriting all things and so
forth.
And that was brought up over and over again.
Well, in chapter two, we're going to continue that same thought where he's speaking to the
Gentiles, the church at Ephesus, and telling them about all the blessings involved with
being saved.
He mentions a little bit how they're saved and then he talks about all the benefits of
being saved and everything that happened to them when they got saved.
It says in chapter two, verse one, and you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses
and sin.
Quickened means brought to life.
It says you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past
he walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power
of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also
we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the
desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath even
as others.
So what the Bible's teaching here is that anyone who is not saved and who is just living
their life in the flesh, fulfilling the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling the lusts of their
mind is actually a tool of the devil.
You know, the devil has a plan in this world, the devil has an agenda, and unsaved people
are part of that agenda.
Even if they're not wicked, just reprobate type people, they still unknowingly and not
necessarily complicitly, but they are being used as part of the devil's plan.
There's a spirit that works, the Bible says, in the children of disobedience.
And the Bible calls the devil here the prince of the power of the air, and the Bible says
in verse 3, among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of
our flesh.
And then it says down at the bottom of verse 3 that we were by nature the children of wrath
even as others.
So when the Bible talks about us being dead in trespasses and sins, that's not just talking
about our body, obviously, because our bodies were alive, we're walking around, we're thinking,
we're talking, we're breathing.
It's talking about the spirit.
Man is made up of a body, a soul, and a spirit, and I think the best way to explain this is
that our body is that which interacts with the physical world around us.
Our soul is what interacts with our fellow man.
That's our personality, our character, who we are.
And then our spirit is that which interacts with God.
And so the unsaved man has a body and a soul that are alive and well, but his spirit is
dead.
He's spiritually dead.
He cannot have communion or fellowship with God whatsoever.
The unsaved man can pray unto God, but God's not going to hear him, because God does not
have communication with the unsaved man.
Obviously, if he's calling upon the name of the Lord by faith, that's the one prayer that
he will hear, of course.
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
But unsaved people, they don't have communication with God.
They don't have communion with God, because their spirit is dead.
Now Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden were told that in the day that they ate of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil, that they would surely die.
They did not physically die that day.
And people could say, well, they died years later.
But he said in the day that you eat thereof, you'll surely die.
That's referring to the fact that their spirit died.
And so he says here, you hath the quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins.
And I don't, you know, I already preached against Calvinism last week.
I don't want to spend a lot of time on this this week.
But Calvinism will twist this by saying, well, if you're dead, what could a dead man do?
Nothing.
So God has to do everything.
God just has to just bring you back to life and you're dead and you have no will in it,
no part in it.
I'm not going to spend the whole sermon preaching against that foolishness.
But all of the arguments for Calvinism are like this, where they're not based on clear
scripture.
They're based on logic.
And it's a faulty logic.
Now there's nothing wrong with logic, except when your logic contradicts clear scripture,
something's wrong with your logic.
The Bible tells us over and over again that Jesus Christ died for everybody and that whosoever
will may come and that we have free will and even use the word free will over and over
again about offerings in the Old Testament.
They bring a free will offering of their own free will.
But supposedly God's up there controlling them like, okay, now you're going to bring
a free will offering.
It's foolishness.
It's nonsense to think that we are being controlled right now and that we have no will.
Every day we decide what we're going to do.
Every day we decide whether we're going to walk in the spirit or walk in the flesh.
So this idea that God chooses who goes to heaven and who goes to hell because what can
a dead man do?
That's human logic.
You know what a dead man can do?
Lots of things.
Because our whole world is filled with unsaved people and they're spiritually dead.
And what do they do?
They do a lot of things, friend.
What can a dead man do?
They do everything in this world.
Look around.
Because they're not literally dead, friend.
They are spiritually dead.
They're metaphorically dead.
It's not, they're not a literal dead corpse or, yeah, you're right.
What could they do?
But that kind of faulty logic is constantly coming up in Calvinism.
Their whole doctrine of limited atonement doesn't come from scripture.
Scripture says he died for all.
He's the savior of all men, especially of those that believe, meaning that he's even
the savior of those who don't believe.
But that doesn't make them saved because they have to call upon him.
They have to trust him.
They have to put their faith in him.
But they'll have this logic of, well, if Jesus already paid for their sins and then they
paid for it, then that's a double payment.
And so that wouldn't work.
So Jesus must not have paid for their sins since they're paying for it.
And they have all this logical leap.
But, you know, things get paid for twice all the time in this world.
I don't know what they're so hung up on about that.
I mean, you know, people accidentally pay for things twice.
You know, we had some cab driver in Guyana try to rip us off where he'd already been
paid and then he asked somebody else to be paid and he gets paid again.
You know, I mean, it happens all the time that people pay twice.
Look, Jesus died for everybody's sins.
That's what the Bible says.
I don't care about some logical argument about, well, but if one person already paid, that's
double blah, blah, blah, double, double, whatever.
Just why don't you just believe what the Bible says?
He died for everybody.
Whosoever will may come unto him.
Jesus said you will not come unto me that you might have life.
So this passage here is talking about people who are spiritually dead and what does that
look like?
Well, what it means to be spiritually dead is that they don't have any communion or fellowship
with God.
Number one, they can't pray to the Lord and have fellowship.
Their prayers are hitting the ceiling, okay?
Number two, it means that they don't have any understanding of the word of God because
the Bible says the natural man received not the things of the Spirit of God for their
foolishness unto him, neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned.
So those are some of the symptoms of being spiritually dead, not being able to fellowship
with God, not being able to understand the word of God.
Basically, you can't really communicate with him and he's not really communicating with
you in that sense because you're spiritually dead.
That's why in order to be saved, someone has to come whose spirit is alive, who's saved,
and they have to come preach the word of God to you.
You can't just as an unsaved person just pick up the Bible and just start reading it and
get saved.
That's not how people get saved.
You get saved through human instrument that God uses, okay?
So the Bible says, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
But he said, how then shall they call upon him of whom they've not heard and it's, I'm
sorry, how shall they call on him in whom they've not believed?
How should they believe in him of whom they've not heard and how shall they hear without
a preacher?
And the Bible says, ministers by whom ye believed even as the Lord gave to every man.
So the Lord gave us all someone who explained the word of God to us, who preached the word
of God to us, who won us to Christ.
And so that's what it takes to get someone saved.
It takes someone who's saved with the Holy Spirit to come and expound the word of God
to you.
You can't understand it on your own because you're spiritually dead, you're unsaved.
Then when you hear the preaching of God's word from the mouth of whatever man, woman,
boy or girl gives you the gospel, then you have the decision of whether you're going
to accept or reject the gospel.
And sometimes people have to hear it obviously over and over again.
The seed is planted, the seed is watered, and then eventually there's a harvest.
So the Bible says that our spirit was dead and because of a dead spirit, we walked according
to the prince of the power there.
We followed the devil's plan without even knowing it, without even being wicked or evil
in our hearts and just desiring to follow the devil.
We actually were unwittingly following the devil before we got saved.
Then once we got saved, we're free from that now.
Now we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us and we're no longer a part of the devil's
program.
Now we're part of God's program.
It says, but God who is rich in mercy, verse four, for his great love wherewith he loved
us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ.
By grace you're saved, and hath raised us up together, and hath made us sit together
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding
riches of his grace and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is the gift
of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
So when it comes to salvation, there are two parts to it.
There's God's part and then there's our part.
God's part is the grace that he provides, and our part is the faith.
We have to decide to put our faith on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now everybody in this world has faith.
We as human beings have been created by God with faith, but we have to decide where we're
going to put our faith.
Now you say, well, atheists don't have faith, but they're trusting in their scientists that
they worship, or Richard Dawkins, or Stephen Hawking, or their biology professor, or their
ASU professor.
They haven't seen all that stuff that they talk about with the Big Bang, and evolution,
and the fossils, and all the different scientific evidences out there.
They haven't really seen all that stuff.
They're trusting other people that have told them that.
They're trusting that that's what supposedly happened billions of years ago, and they need
to be saved by taking their faith out of science, falsely so called, and putting it
on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Or taking their faith out of Roman Catholicism, or Mormonism, or Islam, or Hinduism, and putting
it on the Lord Jesus Christ, but that's a decision that they're going to have to make.
Jesus said to the Pharisees, you will not come to me that you might have life, meaning
you don't want to.
You will not.
You don't want to.
And so man has to put his faith on the Lord Jesus Christ.
See God's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
He will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
And so he's ready to save.
His arm is not shortened that he cannot save.
He's ready and prepared.
He's got plenty of grace.
His grace is sufficient, but you have to come to him by faith to be saved.
And then the Bible says, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves
it is the gift of God.
Now some people will try to twist this verse to say that faith is the gift of God.
To try to say you just sit back and do nothing, and you know, God just picked certain people
to save.
But here's the thing about that.
That is turning the grammar of this verse on its head, number one, and it contradicts
other scripture, because the Bible uses the term gift of God in multiple places.
And the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, okay.
Over and over again the Bible says the gift of God is eternal life.
Jesus said to the woman at the well, if you knew the gift of God, you would have asked
of him, and he would have given you that living water.
And then he explains that the living water is eternal life.
It's everlasting life.
So when the Bible says for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves
it is the gift of God, that is referring to salvation is the gift of God.
Being saved is the gift of God.
That is not, being saved is not of yourselves, but it is the gift of God.
And being saved is not of works, lest any man should boast.
Now you say, well, I think it is the gift of God is referring to the faith.
That's what they say.
Here's why that doesn't make any sense grammatically.
If you look down at your Bible there, it says, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift
of God.
Okay, so we have a couple of pronouns here, that and it, right.
But then verse 9 is not a new sentence.
Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Now if that, we're referring back to faith, that wouldn't make any sense.
Does it make sense for God to tell us, hey, listen, faith is not of works?
Or would it make sense to say, salvation is not of works?
Because whatever the that and it is of verse 8 is the same thing that verse 9 is referring
to, because it's not a new thought, it's not a new sentence.
It's a fragment.
Not of works, lest any man should boast.
What's not of works, lest any man should boast?
Being saved.
Faith not being of works would just not make any sense and not be similar to anything else
that the New Testament says anywhere.
I remember one time, I was sitting with these Baptist pastors who were, they were all getting
together with one another and working on their statement of faith for their websites.
And they were saying, you know, I really want to put a point in there about how when we
get saved, God gives us that faith.
He does it for us.
And they just said, but I just can't find any verses on that except Ephesians 2, 8 and
9 is all I've got, but I just feel like it's not enough.
You know what I mean?
They're like, I just wish I had something else.
And they're like, do you know of anything?
And I'm like, no, because I don't believe that.
And they're looking and they're looking and scouring and you know, a couple hours later
they hadn't come up with anything else to prove that point.
Okay.
And so it's not biblical.
It isn't, it isn't true.
So he says in verse 10, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which
God had before ordained that we should walk in them.
So what the Bible is saying here is that we're not saved by our works, but that we're saved
unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.
So we believe on Jesus Christ to be saved.
And then God has some foreordained, predestined, pre-chosen works for us to do after we're
saved that we should do those things.
Now, obviously we don't always do those things.
And obviously some people, they get saved and they don't do any of those things, but
God has all kinds of works ordained and planned for us to do.
And so when we get saved, we should, we should do good works because we're saved unto good
works.
We're saved unto good works, but we are saved unto good works, meaning that God wants us
to do good works, even though we don't have to do them to get into heaven.
We do have to do them in order to please God and in order to follow his plan for our lives,
his foreordained predestined plan for our lives involves us working for him.
And so we have to choose to work for him in order to be on that program.
Now, the Bible says in verse number 11, wherefore remember that ye being in time past Gentiles
in the flesh and notice those three words in the flesh.
Now the Bible is real clear here that we are not Gentiles anymore.
And you say, well, but physically we are well, really, is that what the Bible says here?
Because the Bible says that we were in time past Gentiles in the flesh.
So it doesn't say, well, you know, spiritually, you're not a Gentile anymore.
He said in the flesh, you're not considered a Gentile anymore.
I mean, do you see that?
Why?
Because the word Gentile has a connotation of being a non-Jew and that doesn't really
matter to God anymore.
That means nothing in the New Testament.
Once you're saved, you're not a Gentile anymore.
But yet you'll hear these dispensational type preachers get up and, oh, you Gentiles, blah,
blah, you bunch of goyim.
Don't they say that?
And they, oh, you Gentiles are a bunch of dogs and you Gentiles are, you know, whoa,
buddy.
Don't talk down to me because I'm a Gentile when the Bible says I was in time past a Gentile
in the flesh.
You can't sit there and talk down to me and act like, oh, you Gentiles think the whole
world revolves around you.
You think that Jesus died for you.
Yeah, I do.
I actually do think that.
I mean, you think God's got a plan for your life.
Yeah, actually, he has good works that he's before ordained that I should walk in them.
And, listen, the Gentiles are not God's plan B. It's not like God was just recovering from
his girlfriend broke up with him and he's on the rebound so he married the first girl
who came along.
You know, he really had his heart set on the Jews but then they said no and he had the
ring.
He'd already bought the ring.
He's like, well, the Gentiles, I guess, were the consolation.
That is a lie out of the pit of hell, stupid false doctrine.
I mean, I can't believe what these dispensationalists preach sometimes.
We're not plan B. That's what Ephesians chapter 1 was all about.
We have been predestined from before the beginning of the world that we as Gentiles would be
fellow partakers with the Jews, that we would all be one body, that we would all be saved
and in the same household of faith.
And so we are not Gentiles in the flesh any longer.
And then the Bible says in verse 11, who are called uncircumcision by that which is
called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands.
So the Bible is saying we're not the uncircumcision.
We're called that but that's not what we are.
Why is that?
Because in Romans chapter 2, you don't have to turn there, but it says, For he is not
a Jew which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh,
but he is a Jew which is one inwardly.
And circumcision is that of the heart and the spirit and not in the letter whose praise
is not of men but of God.
So the Bible says that circumcision is in the heart.
You're not a Jew if you're one outwardly, you're a Jew if you're one inwardly.
So he says you were in time past Gentiles in the flesh, you're called uncircumcision
by that which is called the circumcision implying that they're not really the circumcision.
They're called that.
They're called Jews.
They say they're Jews but they're not.
They're the synagogue of Satan by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made
by hands.
The Bible says in Philippians, another book written to Gentiles, it says in Philippians,
For we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus
and have no confidence in the flesh.
We're the circumcision.
So the Bible says here in verse 12 that at that time ye were without Christ being aliens
from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise having no hope
and without God in the world.
Now this scripture is not saying that we're aliens or strangers.
It's saying that we were aliens and strangers.
We're not anymore.
What's an alien?
An alien is someone who is not a citizen.
It's the opposite of a citizen, right?
Now we could have legal aliens or illegal aliens but an alien is one who is sojourning
among us but not a citizen.
And the Bible says that at the time we were without Christ, we were aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel.
So when it came to the nation of Israel, we weren't a part of it.
We were aliens.
We were foreigners.
We were strangers from the covenants of promise.
Verse 13.
But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
For he is our peace who hath made both one.
Now what does he mean when he said he made both one?
He's saying he made both the Jews and the Gentiles one.
That's why the Bible said in Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile.
There is neither bond nor free.
He said you're all one in Christ Jesus.
He's made both one and has broken down the middle wall of partition between us.
So there used to be a separation or a distinction between Jews and Gentiles.
That distinction no longer exists.
He broke down that wall of partition.
Now we're one in Christ Jesus.
The only distinction now is just saved versus unsaved.
Those who are saved are the citizens of Israel.
Those who are not saved are aliens of Israel.
And it doesn't matter what they wear or what hat they put on or what they claim about being
a Jew.
No, no, no.
They're an alien.
That nation of Israel, that so-called nation of Israel over there in Palestine is filled
with aliens.
It's nothing but aliens.
Nothing but foreigners.
Nothing but strangers.
Those aren't the Jews.
God doesn't look down and see them as Israel.
No way.
They are aliens.
They're aliens, I tell you.
They're not citizens.
It says right here in verse number 15, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the
law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain one new man,
so making peace.
Now some people have misunderstood this verse and become confused.
They read this verse, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments
contained in ordinances, and they'll say, well, Christ has abolished the law.
He's abolished all the ordinances in the law.
I've even seen atheists bring out this verse to say that it's a big contradiction, or people
will try to bring out this verse and say, hey, Paul's a false prophet because Jesus
said he didn't come to destroy the law of the prophets, and then here's Paul saying
that.
But what you've got to understand is the context.
He's saying here that God has broken down the middle wall of partition between us, Jew
and Gentile, and then let's look at the verse after verse 15, and that he might reconcile
both unto God in one body by the cross.
So you have one church with Jews and Gentiles in it, right?
One body, one group of believers.
So what's verse 15 saying?
Verse 15 is saying, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, what did he abolish?
The enmity.
The enmity between whom?
Jew and Gentile.
He abolished his flesh, the enmity between Jew and Gentile, even the law of commandments
contained in ordinances.
He's saying that the laws and ordinances that are abolished are the ones that place enmity
between Jew and Gentile, the ones that place a difference between Jew and Gentile.
Those laws have been abolished.
It's not saying, hey, thou shalt not murder is abolished.
Thou shalt not steal is abolished.
Thou shalt not commit adultery is abolished.
Is that what you think he's saying here?
No.
When he says the law of commandments and when he talks about contained in ordinances, he's
referring to specific ordinances that regard the enmity between Jew and Gentile.
That stuff has been taken out of the way.
The Bible says in Hebrews 9, for the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity
a change also of the law.
So Jesus did not come to destroy the law or the prophets.
He came to fulfill.
But the Bible says in Hebrews, there has been a change in the law.
Certain things have changed.
The meats, the drinks, the divers washings, the carnal ordinances that were imposed on
them until the time of reformation.
But we don't throw out all of the law or all of the ordinances of God.
It's only the ones that he specifically repeals in Hebrews and here and elsewhere where he
explains which ones don't apply anymore because God no longer sees a difference between Jew
and Gentile, he doesn't have ordinances like that because those are obsolete.
The Bible says in Hebrews 8, verse 13, and that he saith a new covenant, he hath made
the first old.
Covenant means testament, by the way.
And that he saith a new covenant, he hath made the first old.
Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away, the Bible says.
So the old covenant is no longer in effect.
The new covenant has replaced the old covenant.
I said replaced.
The new covenant replaces the old covenant.
It is not an addendum.
Now what do we mean by that?
The old covenant was a covenant made with Israel and Judah in the day that God took
them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt.
The Bible says they continued not in his covenant and he regarded them not and he made
a new covenant.
Now let's say for a moment that the old covenant were still around, then that would mean that
the Jews would still be God's chosen people under that system.
So basically there would be two ways of being elect, two ways of being God's people.
One by being a Christ-rejecting Jew and one by being saved.
And this is what these dispensationalist teachers believe.
They believe that there are two covenants going on.
Even though the Bible says in Hebrews 8.13 that he saith the new covenant, he hath made
the first old, now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.
But they believe that both of them are in effect and that's why people like John Hagee
who take this to its logical conclusion say, well, we don't need to convert the Jews to
Christianity.
They say they have their own covenant with God that's still in effect and we have our
new covenant, we've got our new testament, they've got their old testament and so they're
good to go.
That's not what the Bible teaches.
The new covenant supersedes the old covenant.
The new covenant replaces the old covenant and saved born again believers of all nationalities
replace the physical nation of Israel.
In the old testament, they had a physical nation of God's chosen people.
In the new testament, the nation is made up of all believers.
Red and yellow, black and white.
There's not both.
Well, there's two of them.
No, there isn't.
Well, there's physical Israel and spiritual Israel.
No, there's spiritual Israel and then there's fraud Israel.
The Bible says, having abolished in his flesh, verse 15, the enmity, even the law of commandments
contained in ordinances for to make in himself of twain, twain just means two, one new man,
so making peace that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having
slain the enmity thereby and came and preached peace to you which were a far off.
These are the Gentiles.
They're geographically far off.
They spiritually were far off before they got saved.
He preached unto you which were far off and to them that were nigh, meaning that the gospel
was preached unto the Jews as well.
For through him, we both have access by one spirit unto the father.
And you know, without that spirit, neither one of us has access.
The Jews don't have access to the father because no man cometh unto the father but by me is
what Jesus said.
So if they don't come through the son, they don't get there.
And when they're out there praying out on the battlefield as an Israeli soldier, God
can't hear them.
Oh, you know, this Israeli soldier, they prayed and then God diverted all the missiles and
all, you know, you hear all these stories, right, of all the times.
But how can that be when God doesn't hear their prayers?
Why?
Because you got to pray to the father through Christ, through Jesus.
And it's through that spirit, it says in verse 18, that spirit, the Holy Spirit is what gives
us access unto the father.
So if you don't have the Holy Spirit living inside of you, your spirit's dead and you
don't have that mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, there's a gap there
that cannot be bridged.
The only person that can bridge that gap between the unsaved man and God is Jesus.
He's the one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.
And the one who grants access to the father is the Holy Spirit through Jesus.
So you got to have access through the Trinity, not just, well, I'll take the father and reject.
No, no, no, you can't.
It's a package deal, folks.
These three are one.
And so the Bible says, for through him we both have access by one spirit unto the father.
There's no back door into this.
It's only through the front door and Jesus said, I'm the door.
It says in verse 19, now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners but fellow
citizens with the saints and of the household of God.
I don't see how this could be any more clear that I'm a citizen of Israel.
I don't care what, no offense to our Polish visitors, I don't care what those bunch of
Polish people in Israel think whether I'm, you know, a citizen of Israel or not.
The Bible said I'm a citizen of Israel, you know.
And you're the gentleman who helped with the translation for Marching Design into Polish.
So I know you're not offended.
He knows what I'm talking about.
He wrote the film in Polish so he knows what I'm talking about.
You see, we are citizens of Israel and the people over in Israel over there are counterfeit
and fraud.
It's that simple.
Now, you say, well, but who does the land belong to?
You saying you want that land?
You know what, I couldn't give a rip about that land.
Nuts to it.
Because you take the whole world and give me Jesus, right?
That's what I say to every Jew.
Take the world and give me Jesus.
You know, it reminds me of somebody who was trying to tell me that Christianity was bad
for the American Indians.
You know, because we've been giving the gospel to the American Indians and doing a lot of
soul winning on the Indian reservations.
And this guy was telling me, he said, yeah, well, I talked to this Indian and they said,
you know, when the white man came, they had the Bible and we had the land.
Now we have the Bible and the white man has our land.
And I'm thinking to myself, first of all, that's not really the way it happened, but
that's a whole other story.
But here's what I'm thinking to myself.
You got a pretty good deal.
You got a pretty good deal if you lost some of your happy hunting grounds.
But if you got the Bible, you got Jesus, it's, you know, you're not going to hell now.
I mean, what's a man profit if he gained the whole state of Arizona and lose his own soul?
What would Indian give in exchange for his soul?
But it just shows you how man in the flesh, he's so carnal in his desire.
It's all he wants to talk about is the land.
Yeah.
Well, I know what Ephesians 2 says, but who gets the land?
And these pastors that fixate on that are just as carnal as the money-grubbing Jews
who just want the land and the possessions and the gold and the silver and the wealth.
Hey, that's carnal.
And the Bible says after all these things, do the Gentiles seek.
Isn't that interesting that the Jews seem to seek a lot of the things that the Gentiles seek?
Could it be because they're not Jews?
Could it be that they say that they're Jews and they're not, but they're actually the
synagogue of Satan?
Could it be that they're spiritually a Gentile?
And that's why they seek all the things that the Gentiles seek, according to Jesus, which
is just all the possessions and the earthly things.
It's carnal.
And one of the biggest attacks that people will make on people who believe like us, where
we believe that Christians are God's chosen people and where Christians have replaced
Israel and the New Covenant replaces the Old Covenant, this is what they'll attack us with.
They'll say, well, you replacement theology types, you tend to spiritualize things.
I've heard that like a hundred times.
Well, they tend to spiritualize everything.
Well, right back at you, that's better than you tending to carnalize everything.
I mean, I'd rather be accused of being too spiritual in my interpretation than too carnal.
Everything's just the flesh, right?
Everything's physical.
Nuts to that land.
Arizona's better.
There, I said it.
You know what I mean?
I wouldn't give you a dime for that whole place.
It means nothing to me.
I wouldn't.
I don't want to live there.
Let the Polish people have it.
I don't care who has it, the Palestinians, the Israelites, so-called, let them fight
over it.
I have no dog in that fight.
I don't even care, except for the fact that, you know what, I feel pretty bad for my Palestinian
brothers and sisters in Christ that are actually saved since like, what, 20% of them claim
to be Christian or something like that, and obviously they're not all saved, but I'm sure
many of them are.
Unlike the state of Israel where it's like less than 1% even claim the name of Christ,
you know?
Obviously I would always support those who are saved.
That's my allegiance.
I pledge allegiance to Jesus.
I pledge allegiance to the, you know what nation I'll pledge to?
I'll pledge allegiance to the nation that's made up of all believers, you know, the common
wealth of spiritual Israel.
That's who I'll pledge my allegiance to.
I was driving through a border patrol checkpoint one time.
Some of you might have seen this video, but I was driving through a border patrol checkpoint
and I pulled up and they said, what country are you a citizen of?
I said, Israel, and they said, well, you know, do you have any documentation of that?
I said, oh yeah, I've got all my documentation right here, and they said, okay, pull over
to secondary, and for the one time in my life, I pulled over to secondary, so I drive over
to secondary, I get there, and these guys come around and they say, okay, you know,
we just need to see your documents, you know, your citizenship.
So I pulled out the Bible, and I read for them Ephesians chapter 2, and I read these
exact verses and I'm reading it, you know, now therefore, you're no more strangers and
foreigners but fellow citizens.
So I'm like, well, there you go, I'm a citizen of Israel, and they're like, well, I don't
know what that book is.
I said, well, it's the Holy Bible, you know, and they said, well, you know, we need to
see something.
This is what I've got.
So you know, I go back and forth with them, they were just, the veil was over their eyes.
They didn't understand, they didn't understand scripture because they probably weren't saved.
You know, so it was all going over their head.
And so I tried to expound the scripture to them, but they just didn't get it.
So they kept messing with me and wasting my time, and they just, they couldn't get it,
and this guy walks out and says like, well, this is my authority.
And he hands me some card that says, this guy has authority to check people or whatever.
And I just said, well, this is my authority right here, you know, and eventually they
just let me go.
But they kept saying, well, if you were born in Israel, I said, well, I didn't say I was
born in Israel.
I was born again, you know, that's when I became a citizen of Israel, so I was born
again.
But this scripture is really clear.
And just before we move on, I'm just going to show you again really quick.
And look, underline this stuff in your Bible.
If somebody comes at you with all this pro-Israel, Zionist, dispensationalist stuff, this is
the go-to passage.
I think Ephesians 2 is probably, I mean, there's a lot of places you could go, Galatians 3
would be a close second to this.
But I think this passage is number one, because it's crystal clear.
And if you only have a little bit of time to show somebody this who doesn't understand,
I would just show them verses 12, 13, and 19.
I mean, 12 through 19 is all great.
But if you want to just hit them with the most powerful verses, just 12, 13, and 19
is case closed.
And everything between 13 and 19 just confirms it more.
Let's read those quickly.
That at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel
and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
But now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of
Christ.
Verse 19, now therefore you're no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the
saints and of the household of God.
The Bible says in verse 20, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone.
So the foundation of our faith, the rock upon which we stand is the word of God.
So when the Bible talks about the apostles and prophets, he's talking about the word
of God.
Because obviously we don't have a foundation of faith upon people that we've never met
as far as those literal people, because we've never met James and John.
So they're not really the foundation of our faith in that sense.
When he says we're built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, that's talking
about the word of God.
Because the Old Testament was delivered unto us by the prophets.
Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
And then the New Testament was written by the apostles.
And so that's referring to the fact that through the Old and the New Testament we have a foundation
for our faith.
And then the words of Jesus Christ are part of that foundation as well.
The physical, literal words that he spoke physically while he was on this earth.
That's the chief cornerstone of our faith right there.
But all of it is the foundation of what we believe.
And obviously all scripture is given by inspiration of God.
It's all the word of God.
Christ is the cornerstone and the rest of the foundation is made up by the apostles
and the prophets.
The Bible says in verse 21, in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto
an holy temple in the Lord in whom ye also are
builded together for inhabitation of God through the Spirit.
So the Bible's teaching the same thing that it says over in 1 Peter 2.
Let's go over there and close there.
He's teaching that we're a spiritual temple of God or a spiritual building.
God's building his kingdom out of Jews and Gentiles, both.
And together we're growing together an holy temple in the Lord.
There's no difference between us.
We are the same.
We're all one in Christ Jesus.
And this carnal doctrine that says, well, the Jews are special, the physical, literal
Jews.
Okay, well, how do we know who the literal Jews are?
Because nowadays there are a bunch of black people saying, we're the Jews, the black Hebrew
Israelites.
Well, what if they're right?
And look, I know that's not a possibility.
I'm speaking as a fool.
But they say, you know, we're the Israelites.
Well, here's the thing.
They can't prove that they're the Israelites.
Neither can the people over in Israel today because you'd need what to prove that?
A genealogy.
And what did he tell us to do in the New Testament?
Seek genealogies.
Demand a genealogy.
No, no, no.
He said avoid genealogies.
So if we're told to avoid genealogies, then it doesn't matter.
There are two genealogies given in the New Testament.
They're both of Jesus, right?
Because the only genealogy that matters in the New Testament is the genealogy of Jesus.
Because after that, the only thing that matters is just that Jesus begat Steven Anderson.
That's all we need to know.
Here's the only genealogy we need.
Abraham begat Isaac, begat Jacob, begat Judah, all the way down to Jesus, and then Jesus
begat Steven Anderson.
There's my genealogy, buddy.
Well, which tribe are you of?
What tribe is it?
Well, Judah.
Why not?
That's Jesus's tribe and I'm his son.
There you go.
It's a foolish question anyway.
Which tribe?
Here's the thing.
Back in the Old Testament, Gentiles could become Jews even back in the Old Testament.
In Esther 8-9, it talks about many of the people became Jews.
Maybe it's not Esther 8-9, but it's in the book of Esther, I'm telling you.
He says many of the people became Jews.
I think Esther 8-9 is the longest verse in the Bible is why that number popped into my
mind.
But in Esther, he says many of the people became Jews for the fear of Mordecai fell
upon them.
So there are people who became Jews, and the Bible is really clear that anybody who wanted
to come into the land, they would just have to be circumcised and keep the Passover, and
they're in.
Well, which tribe were they?
Well, the Bible answers that question.
It says in whatsoever tribe the stranger would sojourn, then he'll become a part of that
tribe.
That's what it said.
So in the Old Testament, a black dude from Ethiopia shows up and says, hey, I want to
be a part of the nation of Israel.
I want your God to be my God.
I want your people to be my people.
He's welcomed with open arms.
And which tribe is he in?
Well, if he likes it over in Simeon, put him in the tribe of Simeon.
If he likes it in Zebulun, he could be in Zebulun.
If he wants to be in Benjamin, he becomes Benjamin.
Whatever tribe he chooses to live, he's part of that tribe.
That's what the Bible teaches.
So the Bible has all those answers.
This is where we'll close.
First Peter 2.9, but you're a chosen generation, a royal priesthood.
Watch this.
Unholy nation, a peculiar people that ye should show forth the praises of him who have called
you out of darkness into his marvelous light, which in time past were not a people, but
are now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
So we are a chosen generation.
We are a holy priesthood.
We are a holy nation.
We're a peculiar people.
And how many times have you heard pastors preach, we're to be a peculiar people the
Bible says.
Right?
Don't you hear that a lot?
But they don't seem to get the other part of this where it says a holy nation or chosen
generation.
And so we are now the people of God.
In time past, we were Gentiles in the flesh.
Now we are the people of God.
And the Bible says in verse number four, to whom coming as unto a living stone disallowed
indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious, ye also as lively stones, watch this, are
built up a spiritual house.
You notice the similarity with Ephesians 2 about us being built together, Jews and Gentiles.
And holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
So it's really clear we're not plan B. We're not second class citizens.
We're not some kind of a redheaded stepchild or some kind of a consolation prize, rebound
type of a relationship for God.
No, no, no.
He chose us.
He didn't choose individuals, which ones would be saved, which ones would be dead.
But he chose the Gentiles to be one body with the Jews.
He chose that before the world began.
He foreordained that.
He predestined that.
It was his plan all along from day one, from day one.
And even in the Old Testament, you'll see lots of Gentiles receiving Christ, not knowing
his name, but calling upon the name of the Lord and being saved, receiving the Lord as
their savior throughout the Old Testament.
So we are God's chosen people as Christians.
And there's not room for two chosens.
Cast out the bond woman and her son.
We're Isaac.
They're Ishmael.
And when I say they, I'm talking about those who say they're Jews but are not, but are
the synagogue of Satan.
I'm talking about the rabbis, the Pharisees, the so-called Jews, the people who practice
Judaism.
They're Ishmael.
They're of the flesh.
And they shall not inherit with the son of the free.
So it's not going to be a millennial kingdom where Christians and Jews rule side by side.
No, no, no.
Everybody who rules in the millennial kingdom, everybody who inherits that kingdom is going
to be a believer.
It's going to be saved.
Now some of them will have come from the Jews.
Some will have come from the Gentiles.
The majority will have come from the Gentiles.
But we're all going to be there for one reason.
Because we're Christians.
Because we're saved.
Because we're believers.
Old Testament saints, New Testament saints, but it's only going to be saints.
No Jews coming in through a back door through an old covenant.
Not happening.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.