That was from the 139th Psalm,
and there's something that really hit me where David says, and
I know this is the Lord speaking, but this is also every individual
believer without exception. How precious also are thy thoughts
unto me, that to think of the living God having thoughts with
my name in them. And that's true of every believer
without exception. That's amazing. What is a Hebrew? Now, this is the first time we
read of this in the scripture, Abraham, the Hebrew. And you know, as long as I've
been a believer, however long that is, I've never even thought
of this. What's a Hebrew? What does the word Hebrew mean? One from beyond. One from beyond. Now, how do we use the word beyond? Well, what is the afterlife called
by us? The beyond. Beyond our comprehension. Beyond our explanation. It's just beyond. Beyond our
comprehension. Beyond us being able to give
a definition. Beyond. Abraham was one from
beyond. So is Isaac, so is Jacob, so
is every one of Abraham's spiritual descendants. One from beyond. Where are you from? Every believer
can honestly say from beyond. And you could say that to an
unbeliever and they would say, you're crazy. Well, maybe so,
but that is the meaning of the word. And if you're a believer,
you can't give any explanation to yourself, but the Lord. You're one from beyond. You're not of this world, are
you? You know, the Lord said concerning His children, they
are not of this world, even as I am not of this world. One from beyond. Turn with me for a moment to
Romans chapter two. I love this passage of scripture.
The Hebrews are also called the Jews. The Jews, the Hebrews, who are
the Jews? Who are the Hebrews? Who are
these people who are from beyond? Verse 28, for he is not a Jew, which is
one outwardly. Now that, there it is. People
talk about, you know, the Jewish nation and Israel and so on.
Well, Paul puts all that to rest. When he says he is not a Jew,
which is one outwardly, someone that was born in Israel and can
trace their lineage back to Benjamin, like Paul did, that doesn't make
him a true Jew. Oh, a physical Jew, a national
Jew, but that's not a true Jew. He is not a Jew, which is one
outwardly, neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh.
Now, what was the mark of a true Jew? Circumcision. Paul says
physical circumcision is not circumcision. It's not. But he is a Jew, which is one
inwardly. Something you can't see from
the outside. And circumcision is that of the heart. In the
spirit. Now. Let me say this, I hope
it makes understanding, but a man that is not born of God doesn't
have a spirit. He has a soul, he has a body,
but he doesn't have a spirit. Remember when the Lord said to
Adam in the day, you eat thereof. Not you're gonna die in 930 years,
in the very day you eat thereof, you shall surely die. The moment you eat, you'll die. Now, he didn't die physically.
And his soul was still alive, but he died spiritually. The
natural man is dead in trespasses and sins, dead, graveyard dead. He doesn't have a spirit. But
when God gives somebody the new birth, They are born of the Spirit,
and they now have a spiritual nature. Now that is what it is
to have your heart circumcised. Circumcision is that of the heart,
that of the Spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not of
men, but of God. Now, what does it take for God
to praise something? or someone. They're born of God. That is the man who is a true
Hebrew, not of this world, from beyond. Turn with me to Philippians
chapter three. This is a similar passage of
scripture. This is a passage of scripture
that is not dealt with enough by anybody. I think it's Me included,
but it's so powerful. Verse three. Well, verse two, beware of dogs.
And he's not talking about canines. He's talking about false prophets.
That's what he calls them, dogs. Beware of dogs. Beware of evil
workers. Beware of the concision. Now,
this is a play on words. Beware of the mutilators. They
talk about being circumcised, and they make a big issue about
circumcision, but that's not circumcision. These are the concision. For we are the circumcision. We're the true Jews. We're the
true Hebrews. And he gives three marks, and
these are so very important. We are the circumcision, which
worship God, number one. which worship God. And if you
know anything about the worship of God, you know that the only
way you can worship Him is in the Spirit, by the Spirit of
God. The flesh cannot worship God. Something I never say is, come
worship God with us, to unbelievers. I say, come hear the gospel.
I say that want people to come hear the gospel and hear the
truth, but I don't say come worship with us, because you can only
worship if you have the Spirit of God. Somebody says that's
splitting hairs. I don't think so. I don't think
so. We worship God in the Spirit,
the spiritual nature, by the Spirit of God. What's he say
next? Here's the people who worship
God in the Spirit. They rejoice. Now, that's not
the word that generally means, you know, get happy and joy and
so on. It's the word they glory in Christ. They glory in Christ. They boast
in Christ. They look nowhere but Christ.
They believe Christ is everything in their salvation. And they
say from the depths of their heart. I've heard people say,
all you need is Christ. No, all you have is Christ if
you have him. He's all you have. And you rejoice only in Him. You're not allowed to rejoice
anywhere else. And what about these people who
rejoice in Christ? They all have this in common.
They have no confidence. None. Nada. Zilch. Zero. No confidence in the flesh. Now that is the truly circumcised
person. That's the true Jew. That is
the true Hebrew. Now I am Todd the Hebrew. Just like Abraham is Abraham
the Hebrew, every believer can say this of themselves. Put your
name in there if you are a true Jew. I'm, fill in your name,
the Hebrew. I like being Hebrew, don't you?
One from beyond. All believers are from beyond. God calls himself the God of
the Hebrews. You know, when he sent Moses
into Pharaoh, what did he say? Thus saith the God of the Hebrews,
let my people go. He said that six times. Thus
saith the God of the Hebrews. God identifies himself as the
God of the Hebrews. Let my people, well, who are
the people he calls my people? Well, the same people spoken
of in Matthew 121, thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sins. The same ones of whom God said,
I'll be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. The same people that Paul was
speaking of when he says, if God be for us, who can be against
us? Who's the us? His people. Not
everybody's his people. Now, if God's not for you, you're
in trouble. There's no way you can win a
battle against him. But if God's for you, who can be against you? Thus saith the God of the Hebrews,
let my people go. Now, in the immediate context,
they are the people who refuse to take a shoe latchet, like
we saw this morning. Remember Abraham? The king of Sodom says, you can
keep the spoils, just give me the people. He said, no, you're
getting it all back because I'm not gonna take a, shoelatch it
from you. I'm not gonna take a thread from
you. Let's you say I've made Abraham rich. Now here's what
you can be sure about Hebrews. They give God all the glory and
they refuse. They categorically refuse just
like Abraham for a shoelatch it from anybody else. Now notice when God tells Moses to go to Pharaoh. He says,
thus saith the God of the Hebrews, let my people go. Let my people go. Now let me
tell you something that every Hebrew has in common. They have to have freedom. Thus saith the God of the Hebrews,
let my people go. Janine, you're gonna like this.
I didn't put this in, it was already in my notes, not even
knowing you were here, but the first person I ever heard make
this statement, it just resonated with me, was Bill Clark, Janine's
father. Here's the rule of the believer's life. Trust Christ
and do what you want to. Trust Christ and do what you
want to. Soon as I heard that, I knew
it was so. Trust Christ and do what you want to. You know, there's
a lot of people who find that to be dangerous. Now, Aaron Greenleaf
and I were talking about this, and you might have wanted to
use this statement. This came from him, but I'm gonna
beat him to it, so I'm gonna give it to you. And so, Aaron,
sorry, I hope this doesn't mess you up if you were planning on
dealing with this, but he said, if somebody gave me a blank check,
and said, here it is. Any sin you wanna commit, you're
free on this one. You can have this one. Blank check, you're
not gonna have any repercussions for committing this sin. Blank
check, there it is. No. No. I don't wanna blank check to
sin, but I have to have freedom. I gotta do what I want. Let me
tell you what freedom is. Freedom is made of two things. Number
one, Freedom is being absolutely debt free. Now if you owe any money right
now, there's a sense in which you don't feel free, do you?
The only way you can feel freedom is to not owe anything. And that's
what every believer has, stand fast in the liberty wherewith
Christ hath made us free. I do not owe anything. I stand before God without debt,
perfectly justified, perfectly righteous. There's nothing he
can look and say, I need more. No, God is satisfied with me.
All my debts have been paid. I owe nothing. I stand before
God just free. Now the second thing that is
known in freedom, first, you don't owe anything, and number
two, you do what you wanna do. What is it about vacation that
you enjoy? You don't have to work. You're doing what you want to
do. You're going where you want to go. You're being where you
want to be. Everybody loves vacation. Somebody
says, I don't love vacation. Well, something's wrong with
you, man. Everybody loves vacation. And everybody loves the free,
but the thought, I think of what the Lord said to Bartimaeus.
After he gave him his sight, you know what he said? Go thy
way. He didn't say, here's the way you need to go. He said,
go your way. Set free. You know what the scripture
says about Bartimaeus? He followed Jesus in the way. You see, that's a believer's
want to. You know what my greatest freedom would be? To never sin
again. To be rid of this corrupt, evil
nature. To never sin again. Let my people go. You know, I'm not a bit afraid
of saying, trust Christ, do what you want to. If you say anything
else, you've messed it up. You've made laws, you've made
work, say it. People say, well, that'll lead
people to sin. Not a believer. It might lead
a goat to sin, but there's nothing you can do about a goat anyway.
And so I'm not worried about what a goat's gonna do. I don't
wanna be callous about that, What can you do about a goat?
Sheep aren't gonna do that. Trust Christ and do what you
want. Now, he gives two reasons for
letting them go when he says to Pharaoh, thus saith the God
of the Hebrews, let my people go. He gives two reasons as to
why he wants them let go. Number one, that they might sacrifice
to me. Now, a true Hebrew is always
aware of the necessity of the sacrifice of Christ. There's
never a time when that's not uppermost in your understanding
that the only reason God has anything to do with you is because
of the sacrifice of Christ. A true Hebrew understands exactly
what Paul meant when he said, God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now that's the
thoughts of a true Hebrew. He never wants to be viewed in
any way under any condition apart from the person and work of Jesus
Christ the Lord. Only Hebrews are like that. Somebody
that's not a Hebrew, they won't understand it. But somebody that's
from beyond, They understand that. They understand why Paul
said, I've determined not to know anything among you, save
Jesus Christ and him crucified. They understand that. And the
second reason he says, let my people go, doth say the God of
the Hebrews, let my people go, that they may sacrifice unto
me and that they might serve me. Here's my only purpose, to serve
Him. What do you do for a living?
Serve Him. I pay the bills being a plumber
or a carpenter or whatever, but my only purpose, this is all
I want, is to serve Him. That's a Hebrew. He's from beyond. You know, when Jonah fled from
the Lord's presence and got on the ship to Tarshish, the Lord
sent a great storm. You remember that? Sent a great
storm. And the men in the ship cast
lots to see whose fault this is. That's the way men always
think. You know, who's brought this on you? You've done something.
And so they started casting lots, but you know what? The lot fell
on Jonah. And here's what they said. What
is your occupation? Whence cometh thou? What is thy
country? What people art thou? You know
how he answered? I'm a Hebrew. I'm from beyond. I am a Hebrew. I fear the Lord, Jehovah, the
God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land, this
sea, this storm that we're so scared in. He made it. He made
the storm. He made the dry land." Now, what
do Hebrews say? I fear the Lord. Now, there is a language called
Hebrew. I dare say that nobody here can
speak the literal language. You know, I look at the letters,
it looks like Chinese to me, you know, and when I look at
what it looks like, you know, but I know the language of Hebrew,
it's the language of grace. And only those people who are
from beyond understand that language. The language of grace. And the true Hebrew is an abomination
to the Egyptian. They always are. And let me read
you a scripture to tell you why I'm saying this. In Genesis 43,
verse 32, we read that the Egyptians might not eat bread with the
Hebrews, for that is an abomination unto the Egyptians. To eat with
the Hebrew? To have any kind of intercourse
with a Hebrew and to speak with them and to have fellowship,
no, that's an abomination. And you know, the Egyptian, the
world, salvation by works, salvation by bondage, that's always, a
Hebrew's an abomination to them. They can't understand that, they
don't wanna be around it, they don't love it. When Pharaoh told
the Hebrew midwives to kill all the males who were born. I love
this story. You know, Pharaoh wanted to wipe
out, he heard about, he was afraid that the Hebrews were getting
too numerous. And he wanted to get rid of them.
I love the story. So he says, kill all the two-year-olds. Everybody that's two years or
older that's a male, kill them, throw them in a river, drown
them. Well, it just so happens that
one of those two years olds ended up coming into his house. He
didn't know it, and it became his grandson. And he, Moses is
who it is, he was trained in the very house of Pharaoh to
destroy Pharaoh. He learned all the wisdom of
the Egyptians. I mean, the Lord brought, that's just the way
the Lord would work it. And he brought this Pharaoh who,
who is the Lord that I should obey him? I love when he said
that to Moses. Moses, you're fixing to find
out. And he, Pharaoh the whole time,
he knew, or he didn't know, he's raising the person, he's feeding
the person, he's educating the person, he's training the person
who's gonna kill him, Moses. But listen to this scripture,
when Pharaoh told the midwives to kill all the males who were
born, they wouldn't do it. They found a way not to do it,
and Pharaoh asked this question, he says, Why are they still alive? And they said, listen to this,
they said, because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian
women. They are lively. Oh, those Egyptian
women. Now, I can't say this regularly,
because pregnancy would be horrible to have a baby. I'm not trying
to discount, you know, I'm glad I'm not a woman, you know. I
couldn't take it, I'm sure. They said the Hebrew women are
lively. They're not like the Egyptian
women who have to shut down for who knows how long after this
has taken place. They're lively. Well, the Hebrews are lively. You know what that means? They
have the life of God in their soul. That means they've been
born of the Spirit of God. They're lively. They have life. When Potiphar's wife, I've looked
wherever the word Hebrew is used, when Potiphar's wife lied about
Joseph and accused him of an attempted rape, and he was thrown
in prison, it didn't happen, he was thrown in prison for 10
long years because of that false accusation. But here's what she
said. She said to her husband, the
Hebrew servant, the Hebrew servant, and she said that with such contempt,
The Hebrew servant, which thou hast brought to us, came in unto
me to mock me. Now, I want to say this the right
way. I want to be respectful to every
human being. That's important. I want to be
respectful. I want to be kind. And I need
to realize with regard to that person, I don't know where they're
coming from. I don't understand what all they've
experienced. I can't be hard on them because
I just don't know. But Hebrews mock the religion
of the natural man. They mock it. Now, I'm not talking
about a cruelty. I wanna be a kind person. I wanna be a loving person. But what did Elijah do? And it came to pass at noon that
Elijah mocked them, these false prophets. And he did this under
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And I have nothing but contempt
religion that's not the religion of the Gospel. I've got contempt
for it. Elijah mocked them and said,
cry aloud. Now remember these prophets of
Baal they were cutting themselves. They were leaping on the altars.
They were crying out, Baal hear us. Baal hear us. And Elijah
mocks them. He doesn't just keep his mouth
shut he mocks them. Listen to what he said. Cry aloud,
for he's a God, isn't he? Either he's talking, or he's
pursuing. You know what that means? He's
going to the bathroom. Maybe he's in the bathroom. Or he's on a journey, or peradventure
he sleepeth and must be awakened. Now that was some pretty caustic
mocking, wasn't it? And I'm sure the people would
say, well, he shouldn't have done that. Yeah, he should have.
Yeah, I should have. You see, Elijah realized that
this was a false God and he was exposing Baal for what he is,
a non-existent God, a God that cannot save. And that's why he
was treating this God with such contempt. And like I said, I
do, I wanna be, I don't wanna be, Somebody that's
just makes fun of people in a wrong way and a caustic way But with
regard to the religion of the natural man there's only one
thing to do with it market because it's promoting a false God that
cannot save and Should be exposed for what it is. Yeah Hebrews
mock The Egyptians in that sense Elijah did didn't he? There's only one true living
God, that is the God of the Hebrews, one from beyond. Now that's true of every believer,
and this is brought out so clearly in the Gospel of John. Now the
word Hebrew is not used in the Gospel of John, but the concept
of one from beyond, one who's not of this world, one whose
birth Their lineage is not of this world, they're from beyond,
is brought out so clearly in the book of John. Now I'm gonna
read quite a few scriptures, and not gonna comment much on
them, but I just want you to see this. Turn to John chapter
one. Verse 10, he was in the world, And the world was made by him,
and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, speaking
of the Jewish people, and his own received him not. But as
many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons
of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born,
not of blood, not because their mom and dad were Christians,
Not of the will of the flesh, not because a bunch of men got
together and said, we're going to pray for him until God saves
him. Not of the will of man, not as an act of man's free will,
but of God. That's where they come from.
Born of God. Look in John chapter six, verse
36. He says to some people, but I
said unto you that you also have seen me and believe not. You see me, you believe not.
But it's almost like he says, and this is kind of reading in
between the lines, that's no discouragement to me. That you
don't believe, that's no discouragement to me. How come? All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. Him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. Now this place of beyond has
something to do with being given to Christ before we had any existence. That's what it is to be from
beyond. It's to be an elect sinner that
God chose before the foundation of the world. And let me remind
you of this. Election, oh I love The electing grace of God. Election
doesn't keep anybody from being saved. If you wanna be saved,
you will be saved. If you wanna know God, you will
know God. If you come to Christ, he's not
gonna cast you out. You can't say, oh, I'm afraid
I can't be saved because I'm not elect. Election never kept
anybody from being saved. Election saves people, though,
who would have been damned if there were no election. Thank
God for election. Here's where we trace. Where
are you from? Well, somehow I was in Christ
before the foundation of the world. That's where I trace my
roots to. That's from beyond. I can't give
much explanation to it, but I know it's so. I'm from him. Look what he said in verse 38.
I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will
of him that sent me. And this is the father's will, which has
sent me, that of all which he has given me, I should lose nothing. but should raise it up again
at the last day, and this is the will of him that sent me,
that everyone would seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may
have everlasting life. I'll raise him up at the last
day. Look in John chapter eight, verse
21. Then said Jesus again unto them,
I go my way, and you shall seek me, and shall die in your sins. Whether I go, you cannot come. Then said the Jews, will he kill
himself? Because he says, whether I go, you cannot come. And he
said unto them, ye are from beneath. Where are you from? Right here. You are from beneath. I am from
above. You are of this world. I am not of this world. Look in John chapter eight, verse
45. Because I tell you the truth,
you believe me not. Which of you convinces me of
sin? What a question. And if I say the truth, why do
you not believe me? He that is of God. That's what
it is to be from beyond. You're of God. He that is of
God heareth God's words, you therefore hear them not, because
you are not of God. Look in John chapter 10, verse
24. Then came the Jews round about
him and said unto him, how long dost thou make us to doubt? If
thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you. Was there ever a time that the
Lord wasn't plain? I mean, he was so plain in his
preaching. I mean, there wasn't, he was a lot plainer than I'll
ever be or you'll ever be. I mean, there's nobody that's
spake like him. I told you and you believed not.
The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me,
but you believe not because you are not of my sheep. As I said unto you, my sheep,
the ones that are of my sheep from beyond, hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. Who are those that are beyond
there of this group called the sheep? The sheep the great shepherd
laid down his life for. Look in John 13, verse one. Now, before the Feast of the
Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour was come, that He should
depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved His
own, every Hebrew, having loved His own, which were in the world,
He loved them to the end. Look in chapter 14, verse 15. If you love me, keep my commandments,
and I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter,
that he may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom
the world cannot receive. Because it seeth him not, neither
knows him, but you know him. For he dwelleth with you and
shall be in you. Look in verse 22. Jesus saith
unto him, not ascariot, Lord, how is it that thou will manifest
thyself unto us and not into the world? Jesus answered and
said unto him, if a man loved me, he will keep my words. My father will love him, and
we will come unto him and make our abode with him. John 15, verse 60. You have not chosen
me, but I have chosen you. and ordained you that you should
go and bring forth fruit, that your fruit should remain, that
whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give
it to you. These things I command you, that you love one another.
If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated
you. If you were of the world, the world would love his own.
But because you're not of the world, but I have chosen you
out of the world, Therefore the world hateth you. Look in chapter 16. I'm sorry, chapter 17. Verse two. As thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. There that phrase is again, and
this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true
God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I've glorified thee
on the earth, I've finished the work thou gavest me to do, and
now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the
glory which I had with thee before the world was. I've manifested
thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Hebrews. Thine they were, and
thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word. Look in verse
9. I pray for them, I pray not for
the world, but for them which thou hast given me, For they
are thine, and all mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am
glorified in them. And now I'm no more in the world,
but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father,
keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that
they may be one as we are. While I was with them in the
world, I kept them in thy name. Those that thou gavest me, I've
kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition, that
the scripture might be fulfilled. And now I come unto thee, and
these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled
in themselves. I've given them thy word, the
world that hated them, because they are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldst
take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them
from evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the
world. Now somebody says, explain that
to me, I can't do it. I can't do it, but I believe
it with all my heart. They are not of the world. They don't
find their origination anytime in the world. Now, how is Christ
not of the world? Well, I know this. He's not a
created being. And all of the elect have always
been in Christ. Mysterious, glorious, why me? Why me? But all of the elect
have always been united to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the only
way I know how to understand that is Christ comes first. Christ
comes first. He's before all things. But all of God's elect have been
eternally united to him. Now, I guess the big question
is, is how can I know if I'm a Hebrew? I wanna know, I'd like
to know right now. How can I know if I am a Hebrew? Turn to John 20. And many other signs, verse 30.
Many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples,
which are not written in this book, but these are written,
what has been written. These are written that you might
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing
you might have life through his name. Now, I wanna ask you this
question. I'm not asking you if you're
saved. I'm not asking you if you're elect. I'm not asking
you if you've been born of the Spirit. I'm asking you this. Do you believe that Jesus is
the Christ? God's prophet, God's priest,
God's king. The only way of salvation. Do
you believe he's the Christ? Do you believe he's the son of
God? Do you believe that he is the eternal, uncreated, God the
son, equal with the father? Look what it says. These are
written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God, and that believing you might have life, the life
of God in your soul through his name. Every believer is a Hebrew,
one from beyond. I'm a Hebrew. And I know that's
what Peter was thinking of when he was writing to the strangers. Strangers. I'm a stranger in this world. Pilgrims passing through. This world is not my home. I'm
thankful for the blessings of this world, but this world's
not my home. I like what David said. As for me, I will behold
thy face in righteousness. I'll be satisfied when I awake
in thy likeness. And not before then. Let's pray.