Alright guys. Ephesians chapter 2. Obviously I wasn't planning to preach for you guys today.
Brother Dave was going to get up to preach, so thank you Dave for letting me take your spot back off you.
Basically it's good. You know, you heard me preach for Ephesians chapter 1 on Sunday,
so Ephesians chapter 2 just follows on perfectly with what we left off on chapter 1.
Look at verse number 12 there. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 12.
Ephesians chapter 2 verse 12. It says that at that time ye were without Christ being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel.
The title for the sermon tonight is the commonwealth of Israel. The commonwealth of Israel.
So where I want you to, as we start chapter 2, before we get into the chapter,
I want you to look at how verse number 1 in chapter 2 ends.
Look at verse number 1 and look how it ends. Does it have a full stop in verse number 1?
No, there's a semicolon. Now when the Bible has a semicolon, the sentence has not finished.
The thought has not finished. So it continues to verse number 2.
Look at verse number 2. If you look at the end of verse number 2, is the sentence finished?
Is there a full stop? No, there's a colon now. There's a colon.
So look at verse number 3. Look at the end of verse number 3. Does the sentence finish?
Yes, there's a full stop at the end of verse number 3.
Now this is important. As you study your Bibles, as you read through the Bibles,
I don't want you to become somebody that kind of reads half a sentence because it's in one verse and you run with it.
Now the entire sentence that begins chapter 2 is verse number 1, verse number 2 and verse number 3.
This becomes important because I've seen those that try to add a works gospel or a repent of sins gospel
to the message of salvation, they love to take part of the sentence.
They love to take a verse and they don't look at the entire sentence as to what's been spoken of.
And before we get into the chapter, please keep your finger there and go to Galatians chapter 5.
Galatians chapter 5 verse 16. Galatians chapter 5 verse 16.
And if you know me as a preacher, you'll know one of my favorite topics immediately.
And that is the difference between the old man and the new man.
The difference between the flesh and the spirit. The new creature.
Or the carnal mind, the difference between the carnal mind and these things, walking in the spirit or walking after the flesh.
These are two very different things and yet it is such an important teaching in the Bible.
When you ignore it, when you forget it and you read the Bible,
you can get into bad doctrine if you forget the truth of this dual nature that we all have.
Now you're in Galatians chapter 5, I hope. Galatians chapter 5, look at verse number 16.
Galatians chapter 5 verse 16, it says,
What's the thought there? That we all, these are believers, these are written to the Galatian church,
we're all able to do the lust of the flesh. We're all able to commit sin, according to the Bible.
So what's the command? As believers, if we're all able to commit sin, just like the rest of this world,
what was the command? It says,
You see, our instruction, our command to overcome sin in our lives is to walk in the spirit,
to walk after the ways that God asks, to put on the new man, to put on Christ, to walk in that new creature.
That's our command. That's what we should be striving to do.
But that doesn't remove the fact that we still have the flesh.
It doesn't remove the fact that we still have the old man.
And believe it or not, believers, saved, you can commit the same sins today that you committed before you were saved.
Why? Because you still have the flesh. You can still commit the lust of the flesh.
This is so important. Let's keep reading verse number 17. Look at this.
You see, there's this constant battle within us that says,
Brethren, you know, there are things we want to do.
There are things we want to do to serve the Lord.
Maybe it's going soul-winning. Maybe it's just reading the Bible cover to cover.
Maybe it's spending more time in prayer.
There are things we desire to do in the new man, but the reason we don't do it,
the reason we fail and we don't accomplish the task that we have
is because we see the battle of the flesh and the spirit.
And that's a true battle that we have within ourselves.
Let's keep reading verse number 18.
Now look at this.
So now we're going to look at some of the works of the flesh.
The flesh is another way of saying the old man.
It goes here.
A manifest, which are these?
Emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envience, murders, drunkenness,
rebellions, and such like, of that which I tell you before,
as I have told you in time past, that they which do such things
shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
You say, oh man, I can't inherit the kingdom of God?
I've done many of these things on this list.
In fact, maybe I'm still struggling with some of these things on this list.
Does that mean I'm not saved?
No, what did we just read about?
The flesh. These are the works of the flesh.
And the Bible says that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.
So it's true when it says there that they which do such things
shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
You see, none of you, nor I, are going to enter the kingdom of God in this flesh.
It's got a sin nature.
This is why we have the promise of the resurrected body.
Because this flesh is not going to do it, guys.
But we have the spirit.
We have the power of God, which I covered on Sunday morning.
We have been given that power so we can live after the spirit.
So we don't have to give in to the temptation and the lust of the flesh.
But you see that, right? You see that in the Bible.
We've got the lust of the flesh. We all have it.
And we're commanded to walk in the spirit.
We're commanded to walk in the new man.
Let's go back to Ephesians chapter 2 now. Ephesians chapter 2.
I've taught on this in the past, but it's such an important concept.
Because as you start reading chapter 2, you've got to keep this in mind as you read it.
Otherwise, I've seen people that I thought were brethren in a church that I highly respect
take these verses and teach a workspace gospel.
Let's have a look at this.
Ephesians chapter 2 verse 1.
And you, these are two of the believers, hath here quickened...
Now the word quickened means made alive.
You were born again of the spirit. You were made alive.
Who were dead in trespasses and sins.
Let's think about that for a moment. Let's look at that statement.
And you have here quickened who were dead in the past.
Were dead in trespasses and sins.
So I've heard people come up with this.
Oh, see? The Bible says here that you were quickened.
You were made alive. What saved you?
Well, you're saved now.
But now because you're saved, you're dead in trespasses and sins.
And there is a truth in that.
But then they'll say, see, if you're still committing trespasses,
if you're still committing sins, this means that, well, you're not alive.
You're not saved. You haven't been born again, they'll say.
It sounds that way if you read a third of the sentence.
All right? So look at verse number 2. What does it say?
Wherein time pass, ye 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.
Brethren, who is, according to here, who is the prince of the power of the air?
Who do you think that's the title of?
Satan. The devil. The devil. Okay?
And so they say, see, if you walk at the beginning of the two,
if you walk like the world, if you commit sins just like the world,
you're not saved. They'll say.
Because it sounds like that, right? In time past, you walked like that.
And if that's the way you walked in the past,
then I guess that means you're not walking that way today.
If you're saved.
Yeah, it sounds like that. Again, right? Let's keep reading.
Let's go to verse number 3. Verse number 3 completes the sentence.
Among whom also we all had our conversation, or our behavior,
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.
What is this Bible speaking about here then, guys?
What are these sins, these trespasses and sins?
You know, living after this world, giving into the spirit here of the power,
the prince of the power of the air,
it's talking about the battle that we have in the flesh.
You see, in time past, before you were saved,
you had no power, you had no ability to overcome those lusts of the flesh.
People that try to live a good life,
they're just trying to reform the outward flesh.
They're trying to reform the old man.
Yeah, they can fix it up a little bit, but it'll never save them.
And a lot of people have trust in reformation of the old man,
reformation of the flesh, as their way to heaven.
But God has given us the spirit.
God has given us the new man, has given us the new creature,
so we can walk in accordance to that way.
And when you do walk in accordance to the spirit,
when you put on the new man, when you put on Christ, guess what?
You are going to overcome sin.
You are going to look at the times past when you were a sinner,
and you'll say, well, now I have victory over sin
because I'm walking in the new man.
Because I'm walking in the spirit, I'm no longer giving into the lust of the flesh.
But here's the thing.
You can still give into the lust of the flesh when you stop walking in the spirit.
When you're tempted to sin, and you sin,
that's not the new man sinning.
That's the flesh, that's the old man committing those sins.
And so when we position what we're seeing here in verses 1, 2 and 3,
it's not saying reform the old man to be saved,
clean up your life, stop sinning, stop committing trespasses.
No, no, no, you can't clean up the flesh.
The command is, what we saw later on in Galatians, is walk in the spirit.
And if you were here on Sunday,
we heard about how God has given us the power to live holy lives,
to live blameless lives.
And a continuation of that same thought.
So don't let anybody turn around and try to trick you into saying,
see, you know, you've got to stop committing sin,
or see, you've got to be less worldly.
I mean, I'll teach those things.
Yeah, stop committing sins, guys.
Yes, stop being worldly.
But don't take those things and say,
well, you need to stop doing this in order to be saved.
That is a false gospel.
And if you just keep reading, you'll see how false that is.
Let's keep going.
And actually, before we keep going,
the thing about these first three verses in Ephesians chapter 2,
is it identifies the three enemies,
the three enemies that we have as believers.
The warfare, the constant fighting that we're having.
What were they again?
It was the prince of the power of this air.
So it was the devil.
It also said, wherein in time passed,
he walked according to the course of this world.
Our other enemy is the world, you know, the world system.
And then in verse number 3, it spoke about the lust of our flesh, right?
And our flesh, our flesh is our other enemy.
Guys, as believers, you've got three enemies.
There are three battles to be fighting every day of your life.
That's the battle against Satan, the battle against this world,
and what this world finds acceptable versus the Bible,
and the battle within yourself that you have,
the old man, the new man, the flesh versus the spirits, okay?
You remember that.
I think the hardest battle for me, anyway, is to battle the flesh.
Because it's right there.
I wake up every morning and it's right there, okay?
It's not like I wake up and I'm facing persecution on the world, right?
It's not like I wake up and the devil's, you know,
trying to destroy me or something.
No, when I wake up, guess what's there?
The old man, the old man.
And so that's the very personal battle that we keep having.
But let's keep going. Verse number 4.
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love,
where if he loved us, look at this,
even when we were dead in sins,
have quickened us together with Christ.
Remember that word quickened means made alive.
And then it says, by grace are you saved.
Amen. It's God's grace.
Unmerited favor.
You know, grace is free.
And it's by grace that we are saved.
But what I want you to notice there,
it says in verse number 5,
even when we were dead in sins,
have quickened us together, made us alive.
How did we get saved?
How did God give us this new life
when we were still dead in sins?
Okay, do you see that?
While you're dead in sins, God makes you alive.
By grace. Free. Okay?
This is so important because this is a perfect verse
to use against those that say you have to turn from your sins
to be saved. Okay?
No, no, no. We've got to be dead in sins.
Right? To be saved.
If you're trying to stop sinning to be saved,
well, you're not counting on the grace of God anymore.
Okay?
The Bible says here that God saw us dead in sins,
sinners breaking his laws,
and even in that state,
look later on, if you believe in Christ,
he will quicken you. He will make you alive.
And that is the one requirement that's necessary.
And one of the verses a lot of us use when we go
door-to-door soul-winning is Romans chapter 5 verse 8,
that God commendeth his love toward us,
in that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us.
What a powerful verse because when you think about it,
it's not like God looks down on human beings and say,
well, they're trying hard. They're trying their best.
And I'll send Jesus to save them.
No, he says, look, while they're sinners,
while they're sinners, he had enough love for us
to send Jesus Christ to die for us.
And so, no, we don't have to turn from our sins to be saved.
You can just be in a state of dead to sin
and be saved by grace.
Verse number 6, who have raised us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
Now, when we look at verse number 6,
this is the whole theme of the book of Ephesians.
And again, I cover this in chapter 1,
is that as far as God is concerned,
we're already in heavenly places.
As far as God is concerned, and that's what it says there, right?
Have raised us up together and made us
sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
I'm looking at you now. You're sitting here in Fairfield East.
This is not heaven, all right? It's not.
I mean, the Sunshine Coast is closer to heaven.
But Fairfield East is not, right?
I can see you guys sitting here.
Obviously, you're not seated in heaven.
But this is the truth of God's word,
is that as far as God is concerned,
if you're in Christ Jesus, as far as God is concerned,
you're already seated in heavenly places.
The once saved, always saved.
The assurance of your salvation.
Once you have it, you might as well just be in heaven
according to God.
And this is the challenge of the book of Ephesians,
is that as far as God is concerned, you're already in heaven.
So we ought to strive to live that way.
We ought to strive to live as though, yeah, we're already in heaven
and not to use the excuses of this world,
the excuses of the flesh and the devil
and this world to cause us to sin.
We should be striving hard to please the Lord.
And look at verse number seven. It says,
that in the ages to come,
He might show the exceeding riches of His grace
in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
What's amazing about this is that
it says in ages to come,
He might show the exceeding riches of His grace.
What's exciting about that, guys,
is that we've already received His grace, right?
When you were saved, you were saved by grace, right?
And as you learn knowledge, as you learn to love God,
you learn to love the Bible,
you know the difference between right and wrong,
you start walking after His ways,
and the reason you can do that is because of His grace.
And then one thing we don't tend to think about
is when we get to heaven,
it's hard for us to wrap our heads around this,
but it says there, in ages to come,
He's going to continue giving us the riches of His grace.
You know, going to heaven is going to be exciting.
It's going to be new all the time.
We're going to continually experience the grace of God in heaven,
learning new things.
I don't even know what we're going to do.
I don't know what we'll be doing for all eternity.
But it sounds exciting because I know salvation is exciting.
I know learning the Bible is exciting and knowing what's right and wrong.
So how much more excited is heaven going to be
when we continue, as the ages come by,
as we continue having the riches of His grace
and kindness toward us, given to us, for all eternity?
You know, 1 John 3, verse 2 says,
Beloved, now are we the sons of God,
and it doth not yet appear what we shall be,
but we know that when He shall appear,
we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
I don't understand that, brethren.
You know, that's what it's saying there, right?
It's saying there that it doth not yet appear what we shall be.
We don't fully understand the great promises,
you know, the greatness of heaven,
how much joy we're going to have,
you know, the great experiences we're going to have.
All we know, we're going to be more like Jesus Christ.
We're going to be like Jesus Christ.
But what does that mean, brethren?
I can't wrap my head around that fully.
You know, the eternal God, we're going to be more like the eternal God.
Well, praise God, you know.
We'll continue learning and growing and experiencing His riches.
Verse number 8, and verse number 8, 9, and, you know,
are the verses we love to quote, of course,
which says, For by grace are ye saved.
This was again confirmed from us before in verse number 5.
For by grace are ye saved through faith,
and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God,
not of works, lest any man should boast.
Brethren, how are we saved?
By grace.
God's grace.
That's how we're saved.
Not by your grace,
not by your works,
not by your church,
okay, not by you cleaning up, you know, living a clean life.
We're saved by grace.
But how do we have access to that grace?
What did it say?
Through faith.
Okay.
God's grace is available to all of man.
Okay.
All of man.
But how do all men access that?
Through faith.
Okay.
By believing on Jesus Christ,
and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God.
Now, it's so important that we understand this,
is that God's grace actually just means freeness already.
And so when it says here that it is the gift of God,
what is the gift of God?
What is the gift of God according to this?
Well, I'll tell you straight away, it's salvation.
It's God's grace.
That's the gift.
I'll tell you that.
But as we spoke about on Sunday,
the Calvinists will say,
because they don't like the idea.
They don't like the idea of us making a conscious decision
to put our faith on Jesus.
They don't like that.
Because remember, they believe that God has chosen some to be damned to hell
and some to be saved regardless of what they,
regardless of anything, okay?
It's just God's choice before the creation of the world.
And so what they believe is that if God already has chosen you to be saved,
He will give you, according to Calvinists,
He will give you the gift of faith, they'll say.
All right?
So instead of reading the gift as salvation,
they'll read the gift of God as faith.
God has given them the gift of faith to believe on Him.
All right?
Now, that's such a...
Look, first of all, as you just read this naturally,
I don't think you can conclude that whatsoever, okay?
But let's just show...
I'll show you how we can prove that the gift of God is salvation,
or His grace, okay?
Please go to John...
Keep your finger there.
Go to John chapter 4.
John chapter 4, please.
John chapter 4.
Because all we have to do is a Bible study.
All we have to do is look up the words or the phrase, the gift of God.
Now, there are many things that are the gift of God in the Bible.
There are many things.
But when it comes to salvation,
it's always consistent as to what that gift is.
John chapter 4, please.
We're turning to the story of when Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well.
Remember that story?
We're not going to go into the whole story,
but as Jesus and the Samaritan woman are talking,
He says this in verse number 10.
John chapter 4, verse 10.
Jesus answered and said unto her,
If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee,
Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him.
Well, asked what?
The gift.
And he would have given thee living water.
So, Jesus says if you knew the gift, you would ask for it,
and you'd be given living water.
So, what is the gift according to verse number 10 so far?
The living water, right?
If you ask for the living water, you'll get the gift.
Let's drop down to verse number 14.
Look at this.
Verse number 14.
So, what's this living water?
Everlasting life.
What is everlasting life?
The living waters.
What is the living waters?
The gift.
So, what is the gift according to Jesus in John chapter 4?
Everlasting life.
Salvation, right?
Salvation.
Please now go to Romans chapter 6.
Romans chapter 6.
Romans chapter 6, verse 23, please.
Romans chapter 6, verse 23.
Again, a verse that we commonly use when we go out door to door soul winning.
Romans chapter 6, verse 23.
It says,
Eternal life, the other one was everlasting life, right?
The same thing.
It's the salvation, everlasting life, eternal life.
And so, when you go back and you read Ephesians chapter 2,
and someone's trying to tell you the gift is faith.
No, it's not.
All you need to do is look at the other two passages that deals with the gift of God,
in context of salvation, and it's always eternal life.
Okay?
That is the gift of God.
Alright?
We receive it through faith by us, consciously, decidedly,
making a decision to put our faith and trust on Jesus Christ.
And just like a gift, guys, you can receive it or you can reject it.
We go out, we knock those doors, we offer people the free gift.
It's up to them if they want to receive it, or receive it, or reject it.
It's up to them.
And listen, brethren, if they want to reject it, let them reject it.
Move on.
You move on.
Okay?
You've made the offer of the free gift.
You offer the living waters.
They don't want it.
You move on.
Okay?
And you go find the person that wants to receive the free gift.
Let's go back to Ephesians chapter 2, verse 10.
Ephesians chapter 2, verse 10.
Well, actually, before we read verse 10, let's read verse 9 again.
Salvation is very clear, not of works.
I feel like saying that again.
Not of works.
Okay?
Now, brethren, I don't know what's going on.
I will have people say to me,
Salvation, yeah, it's by grace through faith, and not of works.
But then they'll turn around and say,
but if you don't have the works, you're actually not saved.
Can you make sense of that, brethren?
Does that make sense to you?
Salvation is by grace through faith.
Okay, this box is grace through faith.
That's how you get saved.
This water here, not of works.
Not of this water.
Okay?
Not of works.
That's not salvation.
This is salvation right here.
But then they'll say, but if you don't have this, you're not saved.
Not of works!
Don't you understand?
Salvation is not of works.
Put that over there.
Salvation is free.
The grace of God by faith.
That's how you receive it.
Okay?
Oh, but if you don't have the works.
Yeah, good.
If you don't have the works, you're still saved.
Because it's not of works.
I mean, look, any kindergarten child would understand this.
Any five-year-old would understand this, right?
You get to churches and the pastors play these word games with you.
You don't even know what to believe anymore.
Is it by works or not of works anymore?
Can you explain it to me?
Man, you know?
You know, this church, I know you know the truth.
And you're being like, we know this already.
Yeah, but I just have to keep saying it.
Because one day, you might not be in this church,
or your children might grow up and be somewhere else in life.
And we don't want our kids to get mixed up on this.
Okay?
I can't trust anyone anymore that says,
salvation is just by grace through faith and not of works.
I have to dig in.
What if I'm not doing the works?
Am I saved?
That's what you've got to ask people, right?
Because otherwise, they just play games with you.
They know where people stand.
And you know what?
There's a lot of pastors that know where they stand,
but they don't want to tell you.
Because their church is made up of two groups of people.
People that are saved and people that are unsaved.
And the people that are saved,
they know it's by grace through faith and not of works.
The people that are unsafe still think,
well, I've got to put my effort in.
I've got to put my works in.
And so they don't want to cause a church split.
They don't want to cause any problems.
So they just kind of give both versions somehow.
You know, they say both the same thing.
They say the complete opposite
just to keep the churches in line, to keep everybody happy.
But that's horrible.
Because half your church could be unsaved going to hell
believing a false gospel.
Anyway, Brevin, let's keep moving on.
So it's definitely not of works, right?
And then it says here, verse number 10,
For we are His workmanship.
This is important.
Created in Christ Jesus.
So are we saved at this point?
If we're in Christ Jesus, yes, we're now saved, right?
Unto good works which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them.
Am I saying we shouldn't do any works?
Of course not.
You know, you guys are out there every week knocking doors.
Guess what? That's works.
Guess what? We did some baptism on Sunday and on Tuesday.
Guess what? That's works.
But is anyone trusting the baptism?
Is anyone trusting those who are so willing to go to heaven?
No.
Okay? No, I'll tell you why.
Because every other false religion gets baptized.
You know, the JWs and the Mormons go and knock doors and preach the gospel.
None of that's going to get you saved.
Well, false gospel I should say, right?
None of that's going to get you saved.
Salvation is not of works.
But when you're in Christ Jesus and you are saved,
He's given us the new man, He's given us the Holy Spirit
that we should be able to then walk in those good works
that God has asked us to do.
But here's the thing.
Whether you do it or not does not mean you're not saved or if you're saved.
Okay?
It's just that that's what God has ordained or says there, right?
Ordained that we should walk in them.
You know, if I say to you, brother, brethren, if I say here, brethren,
you should preach the gospel.
Okay? And should you?
Absolutely you should preach the gospel.
But what if you never preached the gospel once in your life?
Are you still saved?
Absolutely you're still saved.
But you didn't do what you should do.
Okay?
And there are sins we're all battling with.
We all have weaknesses.
We all have sins in our lives.
Hey, brethren, you should overcome those sins.
You should, you know, you should repent of those sins, brethren.
But whether you repent of that sin or not, does that change your salvation?
No, you're already saved because salvation is not of works.
But you know what? You should do many things.
This Bible's a big book, you know.
It's not all about salvation.
There's a lot of commands of God that we should live by.
We should do all of this stuff, pretty much.
Except for the things that have changed in the new covenant.
Okay?
We should do all of those things.
But does that mean if you don't do them, you're not saved?
No, of course.
Okay?
You're saved because of God's grace and you receive His grace through faith.
Alright?
I don't want anyone to ever say, or Pastor Kevin says,
you shouldn't do the works.
You should do the works.
But don't trust the works for your salvation, is what I'm saying.
Okay?
You do the commandments of God
because it's not going to save your soul,
but it's going to save your flesh many times, right?
Instead of destroying yourself early in life,
instead of bringing the consequences of sin upon your life,
you should strive to do what God has asked us to do.
And God has given us that ability.
He's ordained us, as we've been saved in Christ,
to walk in the commandments that God has given us.
The Bible, once again, in Galatians 5, 16, you don't need to turn there.
This I say then, walk in the Spirit,
and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh.
That's how you do the good works for God Christ.
You don't do the good works in this flesh.
You do it in the Spirit.
And when you're walking in the new man,
when you're walking in the Spirit,
the flesh is subject unto that new man.
Okay?
And you'll be able to control yourself against the sins that we all commit.
Verse number 11.
Wherefore remember that ye been in time past Gentiles in the flesh,
who are called uncircumcision,
so the Gentiles, they were never commanded of God to be circumcised, right?
So they're called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision.
So who was commanded to be circumcised?
The Israelites, right?
Abraham and those that would be descended from him later on,
in the flesh made by hands.
So just very quickly, verse 11,
uncircumcision is the Gentiles,
and the circumcision are the Israelites.
Verse number 12.
And that, sorry, at that time ye were without Christ,
okay, so there was a time in the past when the Gentiles were without Christ.
Look at it.
Being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel.
What does it mean to be an alien?
A stranger, foreigner, okay?
From the commonwealth of Israel.
And strangers from the covenants of promise.
What are the covenants?
The main covenants that we know about, of course,
the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, the Old Testament and the New Testament, right?
Having no hope, okay?
Without Christ you cannot have hope,
and without God in the world.
So what I'm saying here, there was a time in the past, Gentiles,
where you didn't have Christ, you didn't have God,
you didn't have the covenants, you were aliens,
you were strangers from the commonwealth of Israel.
Now think about this for a minute, brethren.
I spoke about dispensationalism last, on Sunday,
and how they want to separate, well, no, God's God in Israel just for the Jews,
and because you're Gentiles, you're not part of that.
Well, as we're reading verse number 12, it says in times past,
we were strangers of the commonwealth of Israel.
Well, what do you think is going to happen next then?
If in times past we were strangers to the nation,
guess what the message is going to be as we read on?
Things have changed, okay?
Things have changed.
Look at verse number 13.
But now, there's the change, right?
We once were strangers to the commonwealth of Israel,
but now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off,
and by the time sometimes is, like in times past,
you were far off, are made nigh, or that's near, by the blood of Christ.
Wow, what a change.
We were once strangers, we were once foreigners to the nation of Israel,
the commonwealth of Israel,
but now because of Christ, we've been drawn near to that nation, right?
Let's keep going. Verse number 14.
For he is our peace, so Christ is our peace.
He's made peace between the Jews, or the nation of Israel, and the Gentiles, right?
He is the peace who have made both, both what?
The Israelites and the Gentiles.
He's made them both one.
Praise God! That's the best news ever!
Man, I was taught this sensationalism, guys.
I was taught we're always going to be separate forever, for all eternity.
I was taught that when God creates the new heavens and the new earth,
that the new heaven is for the church, the New Testament believers, the Gentiles,
and the new earth, that's for the Jews.
And we're just constantly going to be separated for all eternity.
I'm going to believe the Bible, brethren.
I hope you guys just read it and just, well, that's what it says.
He has made both one, all right?
And have broken down the middle wall of petition between us.
Praise God!
You know, if this was a wall here between the Gentiles and the Jews,
Jesus came along and just goes, knocks down the wall.
I don't want that wall anymore, says God.
He's knocked it down.
But my dispensational brethren is like, no, let's put it back up, brethren.
That needs to remain.
But God's really knocked it down.
We don't need it anymore.
The wall's gone, all right?
That's what Jesus has done.
Why are you trying to rebuild a wall that Jesus has purposely taken down?
Verse number 15.
Having abolished in his flesh, the flesh of Jesus Christ, the enmity.
That means enemy, where we get the word enemy, okay?
Even the law of commandments contained in ordinances
for to making himself of two, one new man, so making peace.
There's nothing special about you if you're a Jew.
There's nothing special about you if you're an Aussie.
There's nothing special about you if you're Portuguese, all right,
or a Peruvian, all right, or Filipino.
Guess what?
We're one.
Great news.
All that racism can go away now.
And when you're elevating the Jews above the Gentiles, guess what you're doing?
If someone elevates one race above another race, what is that?
Racism.
Man, dispensationalism teaches racism.
And Jesus says, no, no more.
We don't need that separation.
It's been knocked down.
We're all one in Christ Jesus.
We're making peace between these two groups.
Let's keep going.
Verse number 16.
And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross.
So it's the one body of Gentiles and Jews, of Israelites,
represents the body of Christ, okay?
That's what Christ represents.
His body that he sacrificed for us represents the unity that we have,
one in Christ Jesus, having slain the enmity thereby.
And look at this.
Verse number 17.
Oh, so important because my dispensational brethren just don't get it.
And came and preached.
Let's pause there for a moment.
Who came and preached?
Who are we talking about so far?
Anybody?
Who came and preached as we're reading this?
It's Jesus.
Jesus Christ.
Important.
And came and preached.
Peace to you which were afar off.
Who was afar off?
The Gentiles.
And to them that were nigh.
Who were nigh?
The Israelites.
Okay?
Now think about this.
When Jesus Christ came to this earth some 2,000 years ago,
according to the book of Ephesians,
it says that he came and he preached peace to both those that were afar off
and those that were nigh.
He came to preach to both the Gentiles and the Jews.
That's what it says there, brethren, right?
It says that in black and white.
I'm not twisting the scriptures.
But what do my dispensational brethren say?
Jesus only came for the Jews.
That's what they say.
And because the Jews rejected him, then kind of like Plan B,
he had to go to the Gentiles or something.
He had to die on the cross for the Gentiles, Plan B.
How ridiculous is that?
The Bible makes it very clear.
Now please, keep your finger there and go to the book of Matthew.
Keep your finger there.
Go to Matthew chapter 15.
Matthew chapter 15.
And I'll show you where they get this idea from.
Matthew chapter 15.
Look at verse number 24.
Matthew 15 verse 24.
And he answered and said, so these are the words of Jesus,
I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Whoa, there it is, right?
Jesus was only sent to the house of Israel.
See?
That's where they get the teaching from.
So he didn't come for the Gentiles,
he just came for the lost house of Israel.
So which one's right?
Well, the Bible never contradicts.
It's always right.
Ephesians told us he didn't just come for the Jews to come and to preach them.
He came to the Gentiles also.
Now we need to backtrack.
Go to verse number 21.
Let's get the whole context of this story.
Matthew chapter 15 verse 21.
And I know we've already gone through the book of Matthew,
so you guys are already familiar with this.
But it says here in verse 21,
Then Jesus went thence,
where did Jesus go?
Here it says,
and departed into the coast of Tyre and Sidon.
Do you know where he went?
He went to Gentile cities.
Tyre and Sidon are not part of Israel.
They're Gentile cities.
Hey, this sounds like Ephesians,
He went and preached to those that were far off as well.
He went to a Gentile city.
Look at verse number 22.
And behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coast,
the same place that he's at.
Why? Because it's Gentile people.
That's where he is.
That's where he's preaching.
And cried unto him, saying,
Have mercy on me, O Lord, our son of David.
My daughter is grievously vexed with the devil.
I believe this woman is saved.
I believe her faith is in Jesus Christ.
She calls him the son of David.
That's another phrase of saying Messiah.
She has a faith in Jesus Christ.
But verse number 22.
And he answered her not a word.
And his disciples came and besought him, saying,
Send her away, for she crieth after us.
But he answered and said, I am not sent,
but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
What's he saying?
Think about that.
What we're reading about as we go through the book of Ephesians.
He's there in the Gentile cities.
Why would he be there if he wasn't meant to be there?
He's there for a reason.
I'll tell you why.
This woman's saved.
Her faith is in Christ.
She is part of the house of Israel.
Jesus Christ came to abolish the difference.
Those that are far off, this woman here,
and those that are nigh,
he brings them together in one body.
This is what Christ is doing when he's on the earth.
She's part of the house of Israel.
She's part of the commonwealth of Israel.
Yes, there was a time when she wasn't part of it.
But now, because of Christ, she is.
As we keep going, we'll understand.
It says in Numbers 25,
And she came and worshipped him.
She's definitely saved.
She's worshipping the Creator of all things,
saying, Lord, help me.
And he answered and said,
It is not meat to take the children's bread
and to cast it to dogs.
And she said, Truth, Lord,
yet the dogs eat of the crumbs
which fall under their master's table.
And look at verse 28, the clincher.
Then Jesus answered and said unto her,
O woman, great is thy faith.
Be it unto thee as thou wilt.
And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.
What was Christ doing then?
He was testing her faith.
He was showing those that are around
that even this Gentile woman
has faith in Jesus Christ.
He's showing, hey, look,
he's putting on this show
that he's kind of rejecting her request,
but she keeps coming.
She has this great faith that Christ will do,
you know, heal her daughter.
And Christ says, look, look how great your faith is.
In front of everybody else that's in the city there,
in front of everybody else that he's teaching,
he's pointing at this Gentile woman
and saying, look at her faith.
Look how great that faith is.
Jesus Christ came,
and if you were here with me in the book of Matthew,
we constantly saw him going, yes,
to the Jewish cities, yes,
but also to the Gentile cities,
you know, many, many times.
We looked at the woman at the well, the Samaritan woman.
Hey, she's a Gentile woman, okay?
I mean, Jesus Christ came,
and it's amazing that people take this verse there
in verse number 24 and say,
see, he didn't come for the non-Israelites.
He's in a city of non-Israelites.
He's full of people around him
that are non-Jewish, okay?
So it's amazing how they take a verse
and they forget the context
of which they're taking it in, okay?
Let's go back to Ephesians chapter 2 verse 18.
Ephesians chapter 2 verse 18.
So I hope if you've had that false idea
that Christ only came for the Jews,
I hope you can just get rid of that idea
because it's a falsehood, okay?
Verse number 18.
For through him, through Jesus,
we both, who's the both,
the Jews and the Gentiles,
have access by one Spirit
unto the Father,
okay, both Jews and Gentiles.
Now I'm going to read a portion of the Bible.
You don't need to turn there.
John chapter 10 verse 15.
As the Father knoweth me,
even so know I the Father,
and lay down my life for the sheep.
Now pay attention to the next word
that Jesus Christ says, verse 16.
And other sheep I have
which are not of this fold,
them also I must bring,
and they shall hear my voice,
and there shall be one fold
and one shepherd.
How many people of God are there, guys?
How many folds of Jesus Christ are there?
Jesus says one fold.
He has sheep that are not of this fold.
That fold that he's talking about
was the Israelites.
He says, look, I've got other sheep.
I've got other people that believe on me.
I've got others that are going to get saved.
Hey, I'm going to bring them all,
and we're all going to be of one fold
and there's going to be one shepherd,
the Lord Jesus Christ.
So as we read there, verse number 18,
the Father.
Verse number 19.
Now, brethren,
I doubt you've heard this preached
in your previous churches
because this is the best news
out there,
and they're so afraid to say they're part of Israel.
Okay?
Verse number 19.
Now, therefore,
ye are no more strangers
and foreigners.
Praise God.
We are now fellow citizens
with the saints
and of the household
of God.
What are we fellow citizens of?
Fellow citizens with the saints.
What were we afar from before?
The commonwealth of Israel.
Okay?
We're no longer strangers of that commonwealth of Israel.
We're now fellow citizens
with the Old Testament believers.
Right?
The best thing where the household of God,
I don't see myself over
Jewish believers or vice versa
or anything like that.
It says here, verse number 20,
and are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets,
Jesus Christ himself,
being the chief cornerstone.
You know, if we want this church
to be the house of God,
and it is the house of God,
we want God to build this church,
have strong foundations in this church.
We need to look at verse number 20.
We need to build our church on the following.
It says, upon the foundation of the apostles
and prophets,
prophets there being the Old Testament prophets,
with Jesus Christ himself
being the chief cornerstone.
Say, where do I get the teachings of the prophets
and the apostles?
Again, right here, guys, in this book.
You know, this book is the word of God.
Jesus Christ has the title of the word of God.
You know, the more you want to know Jesus,
the more you need to know his word.
You know, Jesus Christ is not
detached from his word.
They are both one and the same.
The more we know this book,
the more we know Jesus Christ.
The more we read this book, we'll know
the teachings of the apostles,
the teachings of the prophets.
Let's never build this church on anything else.
You know, a rock band,
and the smoke machines,
and we need to build our church
on the teaching of this book.
Let's go to verse number 21.
In whom all the building
completely framed together
groweth unto a holy temple
in the Lord.
In whom ye also
are builded together
for an habitation of God
through the Spirit.
So, we end the chapter here.
Now, before we move away, though,
I want you to please turn to the book of Revelation.
Revelation chapter 21.
So, we end this chapter
with God saying, look,
he wants to continue building us.
He wants you to be built
upon strong foundations.
Now, I know the reality
of the Christian life.
There are going to be times when
you are in a backslidden state.
I've been in backslidden states
many, many times in my life.
Where you sort of stop attending church,
or you stop reading the Bible.
You stop praying.
You get into a bad place.
You don't sort of feel the power of God
in your life anymore.
God for those.
These things are perfectly natural.
Because we have the flesh.
So, we can fall.
But don't forget God has given us the new man.
God has given us the Spirit and His power
so we can soldier on.
So, he can continue building us
in the faith.
So, if you find
brethren that are backslidden
in a bad state,
he's got the same flesh
and blood that you have.
So, we can fall in the same state
as that person has.
And the Bible says that you that are strong in the Spirit,
you should be edifying
those that are struggling.
You should be going up to them and saying,
hey brother, let me encourage you.
Hey brother, is there anything I can pray for you about?
Is there anything that I can do to encourage you?
Hey brother, I haven't seen you soul winning for a while.
Can I take you out soul winning next week?
Hey brother, I've not seen you in church for a while.
I'm going to give you a call and find out how you're doing.
You know, we should be seeking for those that are spiritual
and brethren that are struggling.
But all too often in many churches
when we see brethren that are struggling in sin,
we just kick them while they're down, right?
We kick them while they're down.
Ah, look at so and so.
You know, he said he'll serve God for his whole life.
And look at him there, you know, back in his old ways,
back in his old sins.
Hey, that's the worst behaviour we could possibly have.
You have that, that you're giving into the flesh.
You're giving into the lust of your own flesh.
And you're committing sins, you know.
When you should be spiritual, you should be
But what I wanted to show you in the book of Revelation,
we're almost done now, Revelation chapter 21 verse 1
is, remember how we started, how, you know, we're not in heaven.
But as far as God is concerned, we're in heaven already.
Well, when it comes to building us up,
we're built by what Christ?
We're also built up by the teachings of the prophets and the apostles.
And when you understand that, you understand that the prophets
basically represent the Old Testament saints
under the Old Covenant, okay?
And the apostles, hey, these are the guys that started the New Testament churches, right?
Christ taught them, Christ was resurrected,
and they went out and started the churches.
Many of them were pastors as well of churches.
And so when we look at the teachings of the apostles,
we're talking about the teachings of the New Testament, okay?
And what I love about the new heavens and the new earth
is that, you know, Christ speaks about this in a spiritual sense today,
but then there's a physical representation of this unity of one body.
Look at Revelation 21 verse 1.
It says here,
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth,
for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away,
and there was no more sea.
And I, John, saw the holy city,
new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
So we have this new heaven coming down from heaven.
Look at verse number 12, drop down to verse number 12.
It describes this new city that's coming down, Jerusalem.
It says here,
And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates,
and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon,
which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel.
That's pretty cool.
Twelve gates the city has,
and each of those gates have the name of one of each of the tribes of the children of Israel.
What do the gates represent then in that city?
The Old Testament saints, right?
The Old Testament nation of Israel under the old covenant.
But drop down to verse number 14.
And the wall of the city had twelve foundations,
and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
That's interesting.
This new city has twelve foundations,
and each one of those foundations are named after the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ.
What does that represent?
The new covenant.
And so what we have is this physical city coming down from heaven
by its gates representing the Old Covenant, the Old Testament saints,
and by the foundations representing the New Covenant, the New Testament saints.
And guess what?
It's one city.
It's not two cities.
It's one city all making up that one place.
And that's our eternal promise.
I don't know.
That city is going to be wonderful.
It's going to be fabulous.
I don't know.
Like I said, eternity blows my mind.
I can't fully grasp it.
And so God has this reality of eternity to come
where we're one in Christ Jesus,
we're one in this new city to come,
and all He wants us to do, brethren, today is to live out that truth
as it were right now.
As if you were in that city today.
As if you were with the Old Testament saints and the New Testament saints
all gathered in one body.
That's how we should be striving to live our lives today.
As if it were that we're in heavenly places.
As if it were we had our new resurrected bodies.
That's how we should be striving to live for the Lord,
doing the works that He's called us to do.
Let's pray.