Now, if you'll turn back with
me to the book of Ephesians, it may be a while before we get
to this chapter, but I want to make some comments about it to
you this morning in Ephesians chapter 2. He says in verse 11, that you, these people in this church at
Ephesus, these people who at one time were steeped in idolatry
and pagan temple worship. He said, remember where you come
from. Remember that you being in time
past Gentiles. Gentiles in the flesh. called
uncircumcision, that is called irreligious by those that are
religious, called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision
in the flesh made with hands. That at that time you were without
Christ, being alien 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, you
who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. Now, in the Old Testament Scriptures,
as I said to you in the Sunday School lesson this morning, in
the Old Testament Scriptures, the church is pictured or presented
in figure. It's presented in type. It's
presented Whole of men's lives are allegories, pictures, types,
patterns. You can read about it in the
book of Hebrews where he talks specifically to the Hebrew people,
to the Jewish people, and he goes all the way back to Abraham
and he begins to talk to them about all of these things concerning
their religion, concerning what they believed and what they had
experienced and what had been passed down to them from their
fathers. These things are all represented
in the Old Testament as figures. And this is how the nation of
Israel appears. Now, in Romans chapter 9, verse
2, the Apostle Paul said, I have
great heaviness. He was a Jew. Did you know that,
the Apostle Paul of the tribe of Benjamin? circumcised the
eighth day, a Pharisee of the Pharisees. This was no ignorant
man. This man here knew what he was
talking about when he talked about Jewish customs. He said, I have great heaviness
and continual sorrow in my heart, for I could wish that myself
were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according
to the flesh, who are Israelites. Now, who's he talking about?
Well, let's look. To whom pertaineth the adoption
and the glory and the covenant and the giving of the law and
the service of God and the promises whose are the fathers, that is,
the prophets and patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph,
David, Solomon, all these men, they were their fathers. They
were related to them, John. They were all white heads. Far back as you could go, they
were all related to Abraham. They all had the same name. Go
all the way back. who are the fathers, and of whom,
as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God bless
forever, amen, or so be it. He said, I'm not going to change
that. That's so. That's so. And you cannot find
in the Old Testament scriptures anything that has to do with
true worship or promises of salvation, of
life, of hope, of rest, of covenant, of sonship, of adoption. You can't find anything in the
entire Old Testament that's not connected directly to Israel. Israel. You can't find anything about
knowing God, God revealing himself, or of his coming, or of this
coming Messiah, except in direct connection to Israel. God chose
a man out of Mesopotamia. That's nowhere land. Mesopotamia. Out of the land of Ur. I think that's where our word
Ara comes from, the land of Ur. He was an idol-worshipping heathen.
And God told him that he was going to make of him a great
nation. And through his seed, he's going to bless all the nations
of the world. Abraham. He told him that his
seed, his wife was barren, could have no children. Abraham's over
100 years old. Sarah's creeping up on 100. He said, I'm going to raise up
seed to you like the stars of the heaven and like the sands
of the seashore, told that old man. And as his children were born,
this covenant of grace was confirmed to them and was made clearer
and clearer and clearer as it come down to the scriptures. Out of the tribe of Judah, the
Messiah was going to come. This long-awaited seed of woman
would appear and raise up Israel. Going to redeem Israel. Going
to reconcile Israel. Going to forgive Israel. Going
to raise up Israel to glory and strength and rest and prosperity. But, Christ came, this long-awaited
Christ, the seed of Abraham. He saith not unto him, and of
seeds as of many, but unto thy seed, which is Christ. The seed
of Abraham appeared. But the Jews stayed under Roman
bondage. They weren't released. They weren't
glorified. They remained servants of Rome. They lived on whatever scraps
the Romans were pleased to give them. Israel, as the people of
God, rejected the Christ of God and sold him for a few pieces
of silver. Now what's that mean? What's that mean? All through
the Old Testament scriptures, everything of God promised the
sinful man came by way of Israel. It came to Israel. It was particular
to Israel. God chose Israel. He tells you
that. Go ask anybody up and down any
city in this land who these Jews are, and I guarantee you if they
got any sense at all, ever read this book, they're going to tell
you that's God's chosen people. Whether they believe it or not,
that's what they're going to tell you. Now what's that mean? Does that
mean that something happened to alter the promises of the
covenant of God? Something happened in time that
God didn't foresee? Something come along and thwarted
Him from His purpose, caused Him not to be able to do it?
Does that mean Israel did something that stayed the hand of God? What's that mean? That means something took God
by surprise or something was more powerful than God was able
to stay His head? Does that mean that there was
some unforeseen circumstance? Does that mean that the promises
and covenants of God cannot be trusted? Does that mean that
the Jesus of Nazareth was not the Christ, that the scribes
and Pharisees were right in their rejection of Him? What's this
mean? What's this mean? What does this very obvious appearance
and utter rejection of Jesus by the Jews mean? What it means
is that natural Israel had no spiritual understanding of who
Israel was. That's what it means. Romans
chapter 9, verse 6, listen to this. Now he said, I've got heaviness
in heart for my kinsmen. I don't know that I could say
this about anybody. I wish I could. But I don't know,
in all honesty and truth, I don't know if I could wish myself a
curse from God for another. Do you? I'm not talking about
being punished or severely crippled. I'm talking about being a curse
from God. Paul said he could wish that he had a burden for
them. He wasn't trying to needlessly
offend somebody. He had a burden for them. He
wanted them to see. He wanted them to be reconciled.
He said, I've got heaviness in heart for them. But now, watch
this. Romans 9, 6, Not as though the word of God had taken none
effect. Don't you get that idea? 4, They are not all Israel which
are of Israel. Neither because they are all
the seed of Abraham are they all children. But in Isaac shall
thy seed be called, the child of promise, the child of God's
appointment." God said, at this time I'll come. He said, I didn't
tell you to go here and have some kind of fleshly relationship
with a bondservant. I told you when I come, she'll
have a child, and she will. And that be my seed. That's who
I'll make my covenant with, not Ishmael, Isaac. You see what
he's saying here? Neither because they're the seed
of Abraham are they all children. Ishmael was the child of Abraham. But in Isaac shall thy seed be
called. That is, verse 8, they which
are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of
God. But the children of the promise
are counted for the seed." Romans 2, verse 28. 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 in the Spirit
and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men but of God." Now let me read this to you back
over here in Ephesians chapter 2. Having been quickened from spiritual
death and called to faith and repentance, Paul tells these
men, I want you to remember where God found you. Here's where he
found you. You were Gentiles. God didn't
have anything to say to you. Nothing. Silence. God didn't say anything
to the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Jebusites, or any of the
other Hittites. He didn't have anything to say to them at all. He didn't have anything to say
to the Egyptians. What he had to say, he said to
Jacob, and he said to Joseph, and he said to his brethren. You were Gentiles. who are called
uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision. You were called heathens by the
Jews. Called uncircumcision by the
Jews because you had no seal of the covenant. You weren't
circumcised. Circumcision was the seal of
the covenant. You got no confirmation of the
covenant. Nothing in our history to even
suggest that God had any covenant interest in us whatsoever. You know why the Old Testament's
not preached today? Because they can't find any connection
in it to themselves. That's why they don't preach
it. Why you wonder? I've had people tell me, they
call this the Old Bible. Over here, this is the Old Bible.
Over here in the Old Bible, God was severe. Over here, he's not
severe. God's God. He hasn't changed.
Time doesn't affect Him. He said, I'm God. I change not. That's why you're not consumed.
If I change, you'd be gone. You'd be gone. Uncircumcised. Nothing. Nothing
in our history to even suggest that God had any covenant interest
in it. No hint of universal love. No hint of universal peace, no
hint of favor or interest in the heathen. Find it in there
and show it to me." Not in there. Not in there. You can't find
it, can you? That's where God found you, where
He found me. But at that time, verse 12, Ephesians
chapter 2, that at that time you were without Christ. Gentiles
had no promise of Christ, did they? Their hope wasn't in a Christ.
They didn't look forward to the coming Redeemer. They had no
interest in a coming Redeemer. They worshipped Diana. They worshipped
Baal. They worshipped frogs and snakes
and statues of men and they worshipped philosophers and Men of renown. They made unto themselves gods
of their imagination. They become foolish. Bang! He said Gentiles who walk in
the vanity of their mind. We were Gentiles. We didn't have
any hope of Christ. No hope of Christ. You say, yeah,
but people today have a hope in Christ, do they? Stop any one of them that talks
to you and just ask him this simple question, who was Christ? And what's your connection to
it? They can't tell you. You know why? They don't have
Christ. That's right. He said, when God found you,
you didn't have any promise of Christ. You didn't have any foundation
of hope. Now, you tell me the truth. You're
sitting here this morning. I'm unveiling my heart to you.
You unveil your heart to me. Did you have a hope before you
understood who Christ was? Did you see everything God had
for sinners all in this one man? Did you really see that? That
ain't where your hope was, and you know it. Alien. He said at that time you
were without Christ. You didn't even have the promise.
You didn't have the connection. You didn't even have a concept
of who Christ was. Aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise having
no hope without God in the world. They had no oracles of God. They
had no ways and means of salvation given to them in the ceremonial
law. The Jews had the priesthood, the sacrifices, the holy place,
the mercy seat, the Ark of the Covenant. They had hope. Gentiles
didn't have no hope. Gentiles are like Cain who left
the worship of God and the people of God and went off to live in
the land of Nod. Gentiles are those evil men who
went down and said, we're not going to have this thing of God
and His ways and His way to heaven and all. We're going to go down
here and build a tower into heaven and build that big tower of Babel
and settle that big city of Babylon, which become a picture of all
false religion and heathenism and idol worship all the way
through the scriptures. Had no hope, no God-inspired
sacrifice for sin. or atonement or reconciliation.
You have no hope. All you got is this hope, a hope,
a hope. That's all you got. I hope God
don't send me to hell. There was a preacher down in
Louisville, Kentucky years ago. Brother Mayhem was going down
to hold a meeting for him, Dr. Magruder. Dr. Magruder left his work that
day, and he got in the elevator, and there was a drunk in there. And he knew who Mr. Magruder was. He got on that
elevator, and he said, where you going, Dr. Magruder? He said,
well, I'm fixed to go to church. He said, we got a man coming
down here to preach for us. Well, what's his name? He said,
you wouldn't know him. He said, his name's Henry Mayhem.
He said, I know him. And he was slurring and drunk
and wobbling around. He said, he preaches them collected
ones. He said, I sure hope I'm a collected
one, don't you? That's the kind of hope we got, just
hope, hope, hope. Got no basis of it. When did
God promise you Christ? When did God promise you as an
individual? You can have this hope in Christ.
When did he do that? Where'd you find that at? Paul
said, God found you and gave you the hope. And when he found
you, you was a Gentile. You didn't have any hope. You
didn't have any hope without God. Men and women think God's everywhere
present. Anybody that says, Lord, Lord,
they think God's right there in their midst. And I've said
it. I've went to services and had
a feeling, had a good feeling. We was there and celebrated I
don't know what, but we celebrated and we sang hymns and we did
those things. Went home and I look over at
my wife. Boy, the Spirit of the Lord was
really there tonight, wasn't he? Huh? He wasn't in a hundred
miles of that place. Folks, thank God's presence with
men in this thing of redemption and salvation. His presence is
only promised to Israel. His cloud followed Israel, didn't
it? That rock which was Christ that
gushed forth that water and watered millions of people, it followed
Israel, didn't it? That cloud gave no light to those
Egyptians. It gave off a thick smoke. That cloud offered no warmth,
no comfort to Egypt just on Israel. His Shekinah glory. He settled down into that tabernacle.
Who did He give a tabernacle to? Israel. God came down in
presence and filled that little tabernacle with His Shekinah
glory. Who saw it? It's true. Who do
you preserve in the wilderness? It's true. You see what I'm trying to say?
Everybody else was without God. That's where he said he found
us. Without God. And at that time, listen to this.
You was in the world. My friend, this world is cursed
of God. By one man, sin entered into
the world, and death by sin entered into the world, and death by
sin, and so death passed upon all men. You tired of hearing
that word dead? Dead! Dead! Dead! Dead! Dead! I can't get it across!
You're dead! This world, He found us dead
in this world! cursed of God. No light, no blessing,
no promise, no Christ, no covenant, no nothing. Emptiness. Emptiness. This world given over to the
rules and ways and direction of the God of this world, that's
why He's called the God of this world. He rules over it. What
our Lord said, A strong man keepeth his palace at peace. Huh? He keeps everybody at peace.
Ain't nobody upset. Nobody upset. This world which
is under the curse of God. But now, watch this, verse 13,
Ephesians chapter 2. But now, in Christ Jesus, ye
who sometimes were false, How far were we? As far pole to pole. I can't even tell you how far
apart we were. You who sometimes were apart,
you've been made nigh by the blood of Christ. You didn't even
know it. Huh? You was out there cursing
God. out there worshiping idols, out
there lying on God saying, I got this, I got peace. I made my
peace with God. Huh? Lying on God. I know God. I carry my own little statue.
Huh? You who sometimes were far off,
You out there kicking and doing all... He made you nigh by His
blood. You wasn't even aware of it. For He, listen to this, verse
14, He's our peace, who hath made both one, both Jew and Gentile,
made them one. Made Hittites and Jews one. Made them God hatin' for listening. He made both one and has broken
down the middle wall of partition between us. Now this alludes
to that old partition when they built the temple. was the center
of all Jewish worship. They had a courtyard out there,
and one courtyard was for Jews and one was for Gentiles. Gentiles
come into this court, but they could never come near. They could
never get up here where the glory was, out here in this court,
separated by this partition. Jews over here talking about,
man, they smell like Gentiles, don't they? Huh? It alludes to that old partition
in the courtyard of the temple that separated Jews and Gentiles. But in Christ, the true temple,
we're just one body, one church. We agree in one. We're not at
odds. We agree. We got one faith and
one baptism and one God and Father over all who's in us all. We're
one. Man, we was so far out there,
you couldn't, a man don't even know how far out he was. God
brought him all the way up here. Made him one with God. Made him
one. He made both one and broke down
that middle wall of partition between us. 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." Peace between Jews and Gentiles. Peace between Jews and Gentiles
and God. And peace in the hearts of all
them that believe in Christ. Verse 16, and that he might reconcile
both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity. The enmity thereby. What is this
enmity? What is this contempt that Jews
had for Gentiles? Well, that contempt came from
a false sense of righteousness, a false sense of their being
blessed of God. It was all bound up in a concept
that the Jew was somehow better, cleaner, more acceptable, more
righteous than the Gentiles. And this left them with the idea
that God was with them, but he wasn't with these Gentiles. It
left them with this idea that because they were moral and the
Gentiles were immoral, that somehow that brought on them the blessings
of God. The Jew believed that because
of his ancestry, because of his blood connection with Abraham,
because of his knowledge of certain ceremonies and his observing
certain things, that he was saved, that this was God's confirmation
of His covenant with him. And he was saved and righteous
and pleasing to God. And everybody that wasn't just
like him wasn't. They damned. They damned. The Jews treated Gentiles with
disgust. I hate to be vulgar, but I'm
going to be. They treated Gentiles as unclean. I'm going to show
you that under the law. Under the law, a husband could
not approach his wife during this menstrual cycle. He was
strictly forbidden under the law because she was said to be
unclean. Now that's how the Jews viewed
the Gentiles. Unclean. No way on God's earth
could this man come into any kind of intimate relationship
with the living God because he was unclean. And there was nothing
given him to clean him up. He had no labor. He had no priest. He had no prophet. He had no
law. He had no temple. He had no tabernacle. He had no instruction. He didn't
have anything. And so there was an enmity. And
it came from a false sense of righteousness, a false sense
of redemption. They believed themselves to be
saved. Read Romans chapter 2. Paul said,
I know all about you. He said, I've come from where
you come from. I was a fast thing. I know what
you are. You think you're teachers of
babes and instructors in righteousness and all those things. But he
said, you forgot this. It's not the sayers of the law
that are justified before God, but the doers. And that same enmity exists today
between so-called religion and those who won't submit to their
ceremonial righteousness. Do you understand what I'm saying?
That's why we got Christian schools. That's exactly right. I won't
let my kid go down there. People are unclean. Huh? That's right. That's why we've
got Christian nightclubs. Did you know there was such a
thing? Christian nightclub. We can't go down to that one. Them people down there is unclean.
Don't go into that restaurant. They're unclean. They serve beer
in there. refused to let their children
participate in any social activities with other children that are
alien to their denomination. They got their own clubs and
schools and colleges and social activities. They've got a zeal
of God, just like Israel, but it's all ignorant. It's all without
knowledge. Romans 10.3, for they being ignorant
of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own
righteousness have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness
of God. Their hope is a false hope because
it rests in themselves and not in Christ. The Gentile is without
God in the world and the Jew is without God in the temple. But God has in Christ Jesus reconciled
both Both the ungodly unbelieving Jew in his temple and the heathen
Gentile, he reconciled both of them. How on earth did he do
that? In Christ. In Christ. He has in Christ Jesus reconciled
both by the person and work of his Son, making one new man. Ain't that what that says? Ephesians
chapter 2, made him one new man. One true Jew. One spiritual Jew. And as natural Israel stood in
figure for the true Israel of God, so she also stood as the
harlot in Hosea. Ain't that what the Lord called
Israel? A harlot. A harlot. And she's a prime example of
all those who in the name only pretend to be the bride of Christ. Let me read you something again
over here in Ephesians chapter 2. Hold your place there in Ephesians
chapter 2 and turn with me to Romans chapter 2. I read you
the end part of that chapter a while ago. Let me read you
a few verses up at the top. Look up here at verse 17. Behold,
thou art a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast
of God, and knowest... Now this is a part of that boasting.
...and knowest His will, and approve us the things that are
more excellent, and being instructed out of the law, and art confident
that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them
that walk in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of
babes, which has the form, that outer shell of knowledge and
of truth in the law." That's what your boast is. Is that what
folks say today? That's exactly what they say. prove of God's commandments.
They have an outward form of understanding of the law. It
forbids idolatry, commands love for God, love for one another,
forbids adultery, stealing, and so on. Paul said, everything
law says, you do. Do you? Do you? That's what Paul said,
do you? Verse 21, thou therefore which
teacheth another, teachest thou not thyself? Thou that preachest
to man should not steal. Do you steal? Do you hold anything back? Huh? Now, come on. Do you hold
anything back? God tells you tomorrow, John,
I'm going to send you to Ireland. Pack up, sell out, go. You gonna
hold something back? There's a famine coming on. We might well have one coming
on in this country. It's coming on. You gonna hold
something back? You see what I'm saying? If you do, you rob God. You teach that men shouldn't
steal? Do you steal? Yeah, yeah. I'm a thief. I admit it. I'm a thief. Verse 22. Thou that say'st a
man should not commit adultery, Do you commit adultery? Now the
Lord said to look on a woman with lust and lust after hers
to commit adultery in your heart. He said you're standing up there
woe and everything coming and going about adultery. Do you
commit adultery? Thou that say'st a man should
not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? Thou that avoids
idols, do you commit sacrilege? Are you one of them ones that
drive along and see a mosque? I did this. I rounded a corner
going up to Detroit one time. I rounded that corner and there's
a big lake out there and this big 80 or 100 foot I don't know
if John the Baptist or a statue of Jesus, I really couldn't tell,
but he was out there in that lake, standing there with his
arms up, and I went... I about ran off the road. That's
what he's saying, is that the way you are? You go in somebody's
house and see a little Buddha over there that somebody's grandma
died and had a cactus in and gave it to them, and they put
it up on the shelf. Might not even know what it was, sitting
up there, and you take a big... You got idols. He said, do you have idols? Do
you commit sacrilege? Well, you do if you worship God
in any other way than he's revealed in this book. You're an idol
worshiper. Man, that comes home, don't it? I'm an idolater. That's just
the truth. That's where God finds us. And
being a Jew, don't cut that out. Paul said, I've already proved
to you. Look over here in Romans 2. Oh, I'm in Ephesians. I'm sorry.
We're in Romans chapter 2. Romans 3, I'm sorry. Verse 9. What then? What's the summation of all this
stuff that Paul's talking to these people about? He said,
what then? Are we better than they? Are
the Jews better than the Gentiles? For all they're doing and knowing
and advantage and oracles and all these things that God's given
them, are they any better off righteously than the Gentiles? No. Now listen. in no wise. You mean tell me a man could
go to church all his life and not advantage him one bit? That's
exactly what I'm telling you. You mean I can pray? My dad read
the Bible through on his knees four times. He was so proud of
that I heard about that from the time I was that old till
the time I left home. read this Bible through on my
knee. You mean tell me none of that benefited me? Not at all. Not at all. You're just as unclean
and minstrous and bloody and wormy as any other Gentile. Now all the hour walking and
experiencing and dreaming and all this other nonsense that
you can do ain't gonna benefit you one iota. There's only one
way. Your way over here can be brought
back to God, and that's through the blood of Jesus Christ, who
makes you one. One with Him. To be saved, you
can't be over here a little closer than they are. You got to be
one. You got to be made one with Him. Oh, He said, you remember now, You better remember, we got one hope, and that is
in the righteousness of God in Christ that enables God to be
just and justifies those that believe on Him. And then back
to Ephesians 2 verse 15, the last part of the verse, to make
in Himself of twain one new man, so making peace. and that he
might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having
slain the enmity." This grace of God and the redemption in
Christ is the great leveler. It takes that old heathen Canaanite
and puts him on the same ground with Abraham. Puts him right
up here with the Apostle Paul, side by side. When you see that
big, over in Revelations, that vision of John that saw the church
of the living God as it was in heaven, there's just one body
of them. Wasn't no distinguishing marks.
Huh? There's Moses back there and
William standing right beside of them. Huh? And when it does this, it doesn't
leave us any room to boast. He gives all the glory up to
God. He gives all the glory. And we don't think like we used
to think. We don't think, get away from me. Man comes in, sits
down, everybody piles up, goes back to the back, leaves them
up there by his head. We don't do that anymore. We don't bow our head, boy, I
sure thank God I'm not like him. Oh, you're worse than him. You
wouldn't pray like that if you wasn't. Sinners. You see what Paul is
saying here? Sinners. He said, don't you forget
where you come from. Don't you start doing like the
Jews. Don't you start doing like the Jews. When I set out to structure
this church, when I lay this gospel out, when this light of
God is revealed to you, He raises you from the dead and gives you
this spiritual insight and vision. Don't you run back here and start
acting like those Jews. You remember where God found
you. And you remember Him with thanksgiving and gratitude and
love on your heart. You serve Him that way. Don't
you run over here. Don't go over here. Don't start again that practice. Don't start restructuring this
thing again. You remember where God found
you, and you remember what I'm telling you. And if you do, if
you do, He's going to build you a spiritual house and a holy
temple. And He's going to abide with
you, and you're going to worship Him in one. All of you together,
all of you remembering where you came from, All of you celebrating
that grace of God in Christ. All of you worshiping the God
who chose you for no other reason than the good pleasure of His
will and redeemed you through the precious blood of His Son
and made you an heir of glory. And don't you forget it. Now,
the rest of your days on this earth, you go tell. You go tell
the rest of them heathens where you got your bread. and tell
them on what foundation you were built. And if they laugh at you,
that'd be okay, because you laughed too. If they get mad at you,
that'd be okay. You got mad too, didn't you?
Huh? Sure you did. You remember that
grace that bought you and brought you and taught you. And don't
you forget it. Our Father, we thank You. We thank You for a right understanding
of Your Word. Oh, the blindness that sin has
left upon these eyes. And the unwillingness of these
hearts and minds to receive such a treasure Oh, our God, cause us to submit,
to bow, to see ourselves on the bottom looking up, not at the
top looking down. Use the lessons this morning
for thy name's honor and glory. We ask it for Christ's sake.
Amen.