Race and Grace

I realize when I was sitting down, one thing, I was negligent. I didn't welcome all of our guests. I see we have quite a few, and we're glad to have you here.

Which I hope that... Well, I don't think this will seem too disjointed, but my sermon today does follow a little bit on from last week, but certainly not that you would have had to been here last week for it to make any sense.

But one of the things I wanted to point out... If we watched the news these days, we could get a wrong... Well, maybe a partially wrong impression. We hear about political parties that can't reach an agreement. We see our national debt skyrocketing and the country just falling apart with sequester and this and that. It would be easy to think that the United States has become a dilapidated, broken-down country with no power and no resources.

Well, we are heading in that direction, it seems. Matter of fact, I'm confident that we are. But it's also good to remember how high the apex is from which we're declining.

The fact is, we're still the most wealthy and the most powerful country, not only that it is now, but ever has been on the history of the planet.

We still have the most powerful military force in the world. And we can exercise tremendous influence around the world and project power in a way that no one else can, and many who could attempt it wouldn't try to.

Now, I'm not going to give a rah-rah America talk today, although I might be... I was thinking in terms of looking ahead until after camp, but the Fourth of July comes up. I might do that a little bit then.

But whether or not we're praising the United States or not, it's good for us to remember as Christians who understand God's truth that we're enjoying all this because of blessings promised to men long, long ago. And let's start by turning to Genesis 12, if you will.

To remind ourselves of these promises.

Of course, these were made to the ancestors, at least, of most of us in this room. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Perhaps, probably all of us in one way or another. But let's read where God first begins these promises, and we'll see them escalate over time. Genesis 12, beginning in the first verse.

Now the eternal had said to Abram, Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I'll show you. I will make you a great nation. I will bless you. And those are three power... no, four powerful words. I will bless you. When God's saying that, that's something. And make your name great. And you shall be a blessing. And I will bless those who bless you and curse him who curses you. Now in my New King James Version, there's a semicolon there because it's about to start a new thought that is related. It says, And in you all families of the earth shall be blessed. So he promises all these great things. You're going to become a great nation. Not you as an individual, but you're going to have a lot of children. And they'll be blessed. And they'll become a great number of people and become a nation. And he mentions all that. But also, And in you all families of the earth will be blessed. I'm making that distinction because we know... And actually, this is fairly common knowledge to most Christians Bible scholars. That this is a dual promise. God promised Abraham two separate things. And they often break those things down into what are called, for rhyming purposes, race and grace. Race meaning you're going to have a great family of descendants and you'll become a great nation. And we'll see later even a company of nations. But also, grace. Referring to the fact that when it says, In you all families will be blessed. It means that the Messiah, the one who would eventually pay for the sins of all mankind, would be descended from Abraham. And that would be a blessing to all families. Not just to Israelites. Now, it's worth noting, most professing Christians, even though they understand this, they see race and grace. They often have a flawed view of how that would be fulfilled. Many of them look and say, well, they think that when Moses succeeded by Joshua, led the children of Israel over the Jordan River and into the Promised Land, that God began fulfilling that promise. And we don't disagree there, but they would say, okay, the nation became great. It reached its pinnacle under David and then Solomon. And then, of course, they fell into idolatry. They split and eventually were taken into captivity. They would say that under Solomon, that was the pinnacle of God's fulfillment of the promises of race. And by their reckoning, God fulfilled completely the promise of race. And then, when that was finished, turned to the promise of grace and began doing that when he sent the Messiah. That's a common belief, you know, most people that aren't in the true Church. We would see that as being a somewhat narrow view of God's promise.

And one that really underestimates how great the promises were and how great the blessings would be. When God said he would multiply Abraham's descendants and make them rich and powerful, it would go beyond what was done in ancient times. Let's move ahead to Genesis 22.

Genesis 22, and we'll read verse 16.

Now, this is after God tested Abraham by telling him, okay, take your son to a nearby mountain and sacrifice him. And Abraham didn't hesitate. He went to do it, trusting that God would resurrect Isaac if necessary. But God didn't make him actually do that. He halted him before Abraham could plunge in the knife. And then he said this in verse 16. He said, By myself I have sworn, says the Eternal. When he swore by himself, as we read in the New Testament, it's because there's nothing greater to swear by. But we interpret this to mean he made his promise unconditional. God was saying, I'm going to do this no matter what. By myself I have sworn that because you've done this thing and not withheld your son, your only son, blessing I will bless you, multiplying I will multiply your descendants. This is starting to talk in exponential terms, which I'm not a mathematician, but I still know exponential means things get a lot bigger a lot faster. Maybe I should teach math class. I can make math real simple. Much bigger, much faster. Anyways, I'll multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand that's on the seashore. And your descendants shall possess the gates of their enemies. Okay, that's a lot. And in your seed all nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice. Again, here's a reference to this two parallel promises, both race and grace. And I'm not going to turn there now, but later in the sermon we'll see the Apostle Paul discuss both of these things. And it is clear from Paul's writings that there was the dual promise being made. And as I said, by looking and understanding we can see that even at the height of Solomon's greatness, Israel never fulfilled these promises in ancient times. They would be much bigger. And these promises will still get bigger yet. Let's go ahead to chapter 48 of Genesis. Genesis 48, and we'll begin in verse 15.

Now here, of course, after Abraham died, God passed the promises on to Isaac, repeated them there, then to Jacob, and now Jacob is going to pass those promises on, not directly to his son, but to two of his grandsons, the sons of Joseph. And we'll see that happen as we read this passage. It says, he, that is Jacob, or Israel as his name was at this point, he blessed Joseph and said, God, before whom my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, walked, the God who fed me all my life long to this day, the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, blessed the lads. The lads he was talking about was Joseph's two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. Let my name be named upon them, and the name of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac. Okay, so he's saying, I'm adopting them. They're mine. Let my name be named on them, and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. Now there's a little issue here that Jacob was doing something a little different than Joseph thought he should. Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the hand of Ephraim, and it displeased him. So he took hold of his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's. Joseph said, not so, my father. This one is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head. Meaning Manasseh would have the foremost place. But his father refused. He said, I know, my son. I know. He also shall become a people, and he shall be great. That's funny. When we realize these blessings are referring to what's the United States now, can you imagine? Oh, you know, the United States will also be great. It'll be okay.

But his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations. So he blessed them that day, saying, by you Israel will bless, saying, God make you as Ephraim and Manasseh. And he said Ephraim before Manasseh.

Now, let me look one more. It's just across the page, because I've been purposely, and believe it or not, I'm still on my introduction, but I've been wanting to show how these promises get bigger and bigger, and how important they were. This takes up a lot of time in the history of mankind, and it's significant in God's plan and purpose. So in Genesis 49, if you'll turn to verse 22, we see this is a prophecy that Jacob was giving of his sons of what would happen to their descendants in the end time, or later time. And he says of Joseph, Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a well. His branches run over the wall. We take that to be symbolic of Joseph's descendants later becoming a colonizing people. They couldn't be contained in the place they were, and we know that company of nations did come to exist. Ephraim didn't consist only of England, but they established colonies here in North America, Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand. Where else did they go? They got to Falkland Islands and various other places.

I lost...where was I now? Oh yeah, the archers have bitterly grieved him, shot at him and hated him, but his bow remained in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God. From there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel, by the God of your Father who will help you, by the Almighty who will bless you, with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lie beneath.

That's talking about the resources. And of course, later, he talked through Moses about digging mineral wealth out of the land and blessing their crops. Blessings of the breasts and the womb, meaning a huge increase in population. The blessings of your Father have excelled the blessings of my ancestors. Up to the upmost bound of the everlasting hills. That's well beyond a small kingdom in the Middle East in ancient times.

They'll be on the head of Joseph, on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brothers.

Now, I'm just going to make a reference to a passage in 1 Chronicles 5, verses 1 and 2. That confirms that what Jacob did was give the birthright to Ephraim and Manasseh, but in Chronicles, in that passage, it mentions, though, the Deceptre promise, the promise of the kingly line, that he would still stay within Judah, or would go to Judah. And, of course, King David was a Jew, and Jesus Christ came from his lineage.

But having said all that, I'm not going to spend the rest of our time today exploring the Scriptures that show how these promises would be fulfilled. I think we essentially know that they have been. But we also know that there was a gap of those blessings being poured out. And if we understand the prophecy correctly of Leviticus 26, where God said, if you refuse to obey me, I'll punish you, and then he says, if you still refuse, I'll punish you seven times. Now, you could argue, is it seven times in intensity as in multiplication, or seven times as in seven years, and if you apply the day-for-a-year principle that comes out to 2,520 years. And simple, well, not simple math, because it's complicated to me. We know that the northern kingdom of Israel fell 721 B.C. If you add 2,520 years to that, you reach the year 1800, when suddenly two great nations, or an empire and a great nation, suddenly skyrocket to wealth, power, and influence. We believe God withheld the promises for a time and then fulfilled them in every bit as great a way as it seemed there in the Scriptures we've read in Genesis.

And we have books and magazine articles, and I've spoken here on that subject before, so I don't want to hammer that home, but I did want to establish how important those blessings and prophecies are. And then I want to address today that some people who understand that truth continue to focus on it.

And I think there is a movement within the broader Church of God community that tends to focus so much on the promises of race that they, in some ways, discount the promise of grace. And they lose sight of that other aspect of the promise to Abraham. Now, and I will mention, you could make the case, and I fully agree, the promises of wealth and power that came on Abraham's descendants have been a blessing to other nations.

So those alone, in some ways, would fulfill the promise that in you would be a blessing to all the families of the earth. I mean, we give away money. We give away in direct foreign aid billions of dollars that we send sometimes to people who don't even like us or treat us well. Our industry and technology has benefited peoples around the world. Our invention of vaccinations and ways to treat diseases are teaching people how to run governments and how to do education.

Not to mention, we've sent our armies into war on behalf of other peoples to protect them from oppression or free them. But, even though our wealth and power have benefited people around the world, that's not the primary meaning of that secondary half of the promise, the part that we call grace. That was a promise that all other nations of the world would be blessed through Abraham's descendant, known as his seed.

The main way that was done was through the Messiah, through Jesus Christ. John the Baptist called him the Lamb, which takes away the sin of the world. I love that phrase, and I wonder if John was thinking, they're going to write this down one day, when he saw Jesus, he said, Behold, the Lamb, which takes away the sin of the world. That's a pretty major blessing, a major promise to Abraham. And I mentioned this morning, I've been coming to see that more when you say, Your son, or one of your descendants, is going to do this.

You know, before I used to think, well, telling Abraham, someone, thousands of years from now, will be a sacrifice for all mankind. So what? So what if it's descended from me or someone else? But when you have your own children, which I know most of you here do, you think, Your son, or one of your descendants, will do this, you start saying, Wow, that is a pretty good blessing.

You know, if someone told me, Connor is going to do something that will affect the whole world, I'd probably swell my chest a little bit. So I'm sure Abraham, he wanted that blessing. He didn't see it as a minor thing. And I want to particularly address how much this is a benefit for the world, partly because, as I said, there's a movement out there that, of some who say that these great promises and God's greatest blessings really are limited to Israel, that physical Israel are the inheritors of these promises, not everyone else.

That there's a lesser destiny awaiting them. And as I said, that's a movement, it's in print in some areas, and people talk about it. So let's consider God's promises. Let's consider the differences between the descendants of Israel and others. I mentioned earlier, the Apostle Paul addresses this very issue head-on. He addressed it very strongly, and I want to turn to Romans 11. We're going to spend a lot of time in Paul's writings. But it dawned on me as I was preparing this, that it's a good thing Paul did discuss this, because if he didn't, there wouldn't be a good way to disprove it.

You know, it'd be easy for that claim to say, well, it is true. God's only working through Israel, and others are left out in the cold. So first of all, let's clarify some of our terms. Romans 11 and verse 13, Paul says, I speak to you Gentiles, and as much as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry. So Paul says, well, I'm talking to you Gentiles, so I'm making myself look good, because I'm the apostle to the Gentiles. Who is he speaking to? Well, the Greek word for Gentile here, or that's translated into Gentile, is ethnos.

Ethnos. That should sound familiar. It's the base word from which we get ethnicity or ethnic group or whatever. It means basically a race or a people or a tribe. And throughout the Bible, or especially the New Testament, if ethnos is used, it means a race or a group, not Jewish. And by implication, we might say not Israelite.

Actually, when I looked it up, the primary meaning in my lexicon said, heathen people. Which, you know, that's the way that the Jews would have looked at it. Now, there are a few places in the New Testament that the word Gentile appears, and it's translated from the Greek word helene. Helene is the Greek word for Greek. I love saying that. The Greeks didn't call themselves Greeks. They called themselves Helenes. So if they called someone who was Greek, they're automatically not Jewish, if that's the thing they were trying to get across. Now, just to cover our bases, if you look in the Old Testament, the word Gentile appears there a number of times in English.

Only one Hebrew word is translated from Hebrew into the English Gentile. That's the Hebrew word goi, G-O-Y. Goi means nation or people or ethnic group. And it's interesting, the way in Hebrew, in Hebrew, to make a word plural, you add I am, rather than adding yes. So it's goim, means non-Israelite people. I think that's interesting, because actually, if you would live in New York, you'd hear that term all the time if you went in certain circles. Now, I don't live in New York, but I know that Jews today still call non-Jews goim.

So, and I guess that's neither here nor there, but if you've heard it, that's where it comes from. Now, the base word can mean goi can mean any nation. But throughout the Old Testament, I looked, I double-checked it. It's never used to refer to Israel. It's never used to refer to any of the tribes of Israel, only non-Israelites.

Now, you might be wondering, why am I explaining what seems to be such a simple matter? It's pretty clear. Well, I'm saying it because there are writers out there who have made the claim that when the Bible uses the word Gentiles, it should be translated instead nations. Like, goim should be translated nations, and that that's often referring not to heathen nations, but to the twelve tribes of Israel. So that's the case. In other words, where it says Gentiles, it means nations and nations of Israel.

Well, that's not the way I read it. And I'm trying to be clear that that's what some people teach. This is one of, you know, it could fall within that category that I discussed last week of heresies, in the fact that I think it's a false idea that's gained some traction in some areas. But I don't think that the Bible supports that teaching, and it's certainly not the official teaching of the United Church of God, or any of the major Church of God groups that I'm aware of. Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles. And when he said that, he meant, I'm the apostle to non-Israelites.

With that understanding of what Paul meant, he explained elaborately and in detail that non-Israelites are, and always have been, part of God's plan, including all the way back to when God called Abraham. Gentiles are to inherit the promise. Let's go to Galatians chapter 3. Galatians 3, and we'll begin in verse 13.

And I wanted to make a note to myself. I told some people before service, this is a little bit of an academic message, and sometimes when I get into this mode, I get into where I sound like I'm arguing. And I don't mean to sound like I'm arguing, so if it sounds like I'm being in your face, I apologize. I'm trying to tone that off, but it's sort of the professor part of me coming out saying, let me put this logical argument together. I basically want us to understand this, and we can use it as a case study for... Remember, last week I said if there's a teaching that some people say is false, rather than just snap it off saying, oh, we don't believe that, sometimes you have to dig down and say, why do we believe what we believe? Do I understand it so that you can take care of that root, or else the doubt can linger? So that's what I want to do today. Dig through the Scriptures and make sure we see what they mean. So Galatians 3 and verse 13, Notice Paul wrote the word blessing in singular. Now I'm making a case of this only because a little bit later Paul is going to point out when he's using singular and not singular. But I think he doesn't intentionally hear, because not all of Abraham's blessings were to come to the Gentiles. The blessings of race, of wealth, power, of enormous number of descendants, that doesn't necessarily apply to the Gentiles. But this blessing of grace would be able to apply to the Gentiles.

Through Jesus Christ, because that's through whom we receive the Holy Spirit. We'll continue and see this in more detail in verse 16. Now to Abraham and his seed where the promise is made. He does not say to seeds as of many, but as of one. And to your seed, singular, who is Christ. And this I say that the law which was 430 years later cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of none effect. That's saying that though later the Israelites violated, disobeyed the law, including the sacrificial system that was added 400 and some years after Abraham, that didn't undo the promises that were made to Abraham. We pointed out that God said, by myself I vow that I will do this. But God could impose punishments along the way before he would fulfill those. But God's promises could not be disannulled by their disobeying of the law, whether, you know, the spiritual law that was always in effect, or the sacrificial law added 430 years later. For if the inheritance of the law is no longer of promise, but God gave it to Abraham by promise. When Christ, of course, became the ultimate sacrifice, the sacrificial system was done away.

Let's move to verse 22, Galatians 3, 22. Now, Scripture has confined all under sin that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. And that includes the promise that all nations would be blessed through Abraham. They would be blessed through Abraham through the one seed, that one descendant of Abraham, Jesus Christ. And they could receive that blessing through faith. But not through genealogy. Receiving the blessing that came through Jesus Christ has nothing to do with whether or not you're physically descended from Abraham. Looking to verse 26, For you are all sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ. And he doesn't say you're all sons of Abraham, although we'll address that later. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. You become Christ, in a sense. There is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female. You're all one in Christ Jesus. And if you're Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, heirs according to the promise. Notice when he said, if you are Christ, you're Abraham's seed. He's still using the singular. You're Abraham's seed, meaning you're descended from that one seed, Jesus Christ, not many. Is that... To me, it's not that complicated, but I had it clear in my head before I tried to put it on paper.

The promise was fulfilled... Well, the promise of physical wealth, physical blessings was fulfilled to Abraham's physical descendants. The promise of salvation, of the blessing to all, was fulfilled only through Jesus Christ. All of us can inherit those spiritual promises, then, through the one person of the Messiah.

And, of course, non-Israelites might not inherit the physical promises. As I said, that's a different promise. And there are many... Someone might be called into the church and be given salvation and be dirt poor. And, of course, that's the case in some parts of the world, and sometimes in this nation even. But usually, poor in this nation is different from poor in another nation. But what I'm making the point is that the promises can be separated.

How is the promise fulfilled? Let's go back to chapter 2. Galatians 2 and verse 20. It seems like I quote this almost any time I get a chance because it carries such a powerful meaning. Galatians 2, 20 says, I have been crucified with Christ. In other words, in Christ's crucifixion, I'm crucified symbolically by baptism. So it's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. Christ lives in me. I start a new life. And the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. As I said, this process is represented by baptism when we symbolically put our old life to death and bury it.

We come out of the water having a new life begun with the Holy Spirit put in us. And that's possible through Jesus Christ dwelling in us by the Spirit. Paul says that this condition comes only through faith and obedience to Christ. And it has nothing to do with our ancestry. It does relate to the promise of Abraham, though, because it's that grace promise. God promised that the Savior would descend from Abraham. And by that happening, Abraham would be a blessing to all nations. Am I repeating myself a lot? Probably, but... Of course, as I said, that's a separate blessing from the physical blessings.

The physical descendants get those blessings for no other reason than that they were descended from Abraham. And that's great for us, isn't it? We live in this land where, you know, food is overflowing and we have lots of wealth and, you know, there's high-paying jobs. Of course, it doesn't seem that way a lot of times nowadays. But we do live in a land that's incredibly blessed.

Now, it's interesting, though, but for anybody in those lands, any physical descendants of Abraham, if they want to partake of the spiritual blessings, they have to go through the exact same process as a non-Israelite. Because they have to get them only through Jesus Christ.

They have to be baptized into that one seed. And that's why Paul wrote, you know, there's neither Jew nor Greek. In either case, Jews or Greeks inherit the promise through Jesus Christ. And that's how all of us gain access to salvation, to God. Matter of fact, let's turn back to John, Chapter 15. John 15, we just read this a couple weeks ago, it was a Pentecost. This analogy that Christ makes tells the story exactly, I believe.

John 15. Jesus is speaking to the disciples and he says, I am the true vine, and my father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. And every branch that bears fruit, he prunes that it might bear more. You're already clean because of the word which I've spoken to you.

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. So these men who were being called to come to God couldn't do anything unless they were attached to Jesus Christ. He says, I am the vine and you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit, for without me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he's cast out as a branch and withered. And they gather them and throw them in the fire and they're burned.

So we could say, as far as inheriting the promise of salvation, all of us are offshoots of Jesus Christ. No matter who were our ancestors before that. I wonder, and I'm speculating, Paul may or may not have had this analogy in mind when he wrote a similar analogy in Romans 11. And I want to go back to Romans 11 because I suspect maybe he did. Now Paul wasn't sitting in the room with the other apostles because he was still a Pharisee at that time. But he was taught personally by Jesus Christ, so the same concept was alive in his mind. We'll see that in Romans 11 and verse 16.

Romans 11, 16 says, If the first fruit is holy, the lump is also holy, and if the root is holy, so are the branches. So instead of a vine and branches, it's a root or a tree with branches. If some of the branches were broken off, and you being a wowed olive tree were grafted in among them and with them, and with them become a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, well, don't boast against the branches, because if you do boast, remember, you don't support the root, the root supports you.

As I said, this isn't an exact match with Christ's metaphor. In it, Christ said, I'm the vine, you didn't say I was an olive tree. But it's talking about access to and connection with God, and that you're either connected and it supports you, meaning you're connected to God or you're not. Paul is saying that the Israelites had that access because God worked with them. He gave them his law. Of course, they didn't value that access and couldn't take advantage of it, to be honest, because they didn't also have his Holy Spirit. Let's keep reading in verse 19, because remember, he's speaking to the Gentiles.

He says, you'll say then, branches were broken off that I might be grafted in. Well said, because of unbelief they were broken off. You stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he may not spare you either. We know God did have a special relationship with Israel. They had physical blessing. For you visitors, they do a test every week about this time lately.

Although with the forecast, we better keep our eyes open. There have been enough tornadoes in the area. So if the roof goes, we'll take cover. Maybe before then. But, I mean, the alarm does go off normally during services, so please don't think this is an unusual occurrence.

Where was I? Yeah. God had a relationship with Israel. They had the physical blessings, and he revealed his law to them. He taught them how to worship him. So they could, you know, they had the blessings of race.

And they may have been able to also inherit the blessings of grace if they received the Holy Spirit. But God punished them for disobedience because they didn't. Now, you could say in some ways, we know God set up Israel as a model nation, saying, I'm going to give you my law, this is how to live. But in essence, they became a model of how not to do it. Or they became a demonstration of the fact that with everything else, if you don't have God's Spirit, you still won't succeed.

And God knew that. And so he's not going to cast Israel aside, which we'll see. Let's go to Romans 11, verse 21. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he may not spare you. Now, who are the natural branches? Israel. Now, the nation of Israel and the Israelites were the natural branches, so Paul is talking to those who were non-Israelites. Therefore, consider the goodness and severity of God on those who fell... Let me back up and say that again. Consider the goodness and severity of God on those who fell, severity. But towards you, goodness. If you continue in his goodness, otherwise you'll be cut off.

And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. As I said, this is mixing metaphors a little. The passage in John 15 and here are not the exact same, but there is a similarity. And one of the important things is, physical Israel can only receive the important promises by being grafted on to Jesus Christ.

They can receive the spiritual promises through grace, the same as any non-Israelite. And physical Israelites can lose that opportunity. But God doesn't want that to be the case. And here I should point out something that, when I was younger, I'd often just read over this quickly.

And I sort of, for some reason I got the idea that the main stem was Israel. And that God was grafting the non-Israelites onto Israel. And I had to stop and say, wait a minute, no, the stem is God and Jesus Christ. The branches are grafted onto him, not onto Israel. That's an important point I'll come back to in a little bit. Now, it's important, as I said, people can have access to salvation only through Christ. But it's worth noting that if a nation's culture is already pointing that direction, it would be easier. And thus, the natural branches, even without God's Spirit, if everything's pointing to you that way, it should be easier to do the right things and enjoy those benefits.

That was the case in ancient Israel when they had a good king who was encouraging people to follow the true worship. I would make the case if we would go back in this nation several decades ago, when although most people didn't understand the truth, our culture was much more supportive of Christianity and basic values that are found in the Bible. We've been going away from that a great deal. So when your culture's pointing you that way, it's easier.

But even if your culture's not that way, if you're living in the heart of Africa where there's idol worship, cannibalism, whatever, and it doesn't have to just be Africa, but I hope we don't have cannibalism in Sciota County, but no matter what the background, if God's calling is there and God's Holy Spirit is there, you can have access and have salvation by the power of God. Let's read in verse 25.

I don't desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion. Blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it's written. I want to underline that point. He says all Israel will be saved. It was never God's intention to use Israel as that example and then cast them aside and punish them. He made an example of Israel, and he wants to graft them back in.

He wants them to have that opportunity to repent. And I say them, them is us, for the most part. Most of us here are descended from Israel. But for Christians, I missed something I wanted to say. Paul said, though, all people will be the same in Christ, whether Israelite or not.

He said, whether Jew nor Greek, slave or free, and even male or female. That's something that made me pause, and I had to realize that my thinking wasn't as deep as it should have been on that. In the old law given to the nation of Israel, there were some significant differences between male and female. One, you know, he said, three seasons of the year, all your males go before the Lord at the time, at the place I appoint and give an offering.

There's a couple of elaborate chapters about making oaths. And it says, if a woman makes an oath, if she's not married, her father can disannul her oath. If he hears it, no, no, that's not valid. Or her husband can do so. They didn't have equal rights. But Paul's saying, under Christ, male and female are all the same. Spiritually, men and women are the same before God, and have the same spiritual requirements and same opportunity for salvation.

Now, I don't want anybody to think I'm saying that we have the same role in the church, because there are some differences that God makes. It's clear Scripture says that women are not to teach in church, and that within a family, the husband is the head of the household. But as I said, as far as salvation goes and spiritual requirements, men and women are all the same because they're partakers of Jesus Christ. And the same goes for Israelite and non-Israelite.

Now, among the physical requirements for ancient Israel, there was one that particularly represented nearly all the others. Boy, that was hard to get out. This one physical act represented Israel's relationship with God, and it was so important that later on, when many Israelites became Christians, they had trouble thinking that that didn't continue.

And they said, well, Christians must be required to do this, too. That's the requirement for circumcision. So I want to turn to that. As I said, it's a teaching that's been around a long time, and it's not unimportant. As a matter of fact, let's establish it. If we go back to Genesis 17, we'll see when God first gave this to Abraham, we can see that it's important, or it was important. Genesis 17, beginning in verse 9.

God said to Abraham, As for you, you will keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant which you shall keep, between me and you and your descendants after you. Every male child among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be a sign, the original King James says, a token of the covenant between you and me. He who is eight days old among you be circumcised, every male. And it goes on from there. Physical circumcision does not make a person's DNA suddenly change. And I think we instinctively know that, of course, in Abraham's day, they didn't know what DNA was, I don't think. But if you circumcise someone, it doesn't suddenly change their DNA and make them a descendant of Abraham. But it symbolizes a deliberate choice to become part of that covenant with God, as we'll see in Exodus 12. Exodus 12 and verse 48. This is regarding the command for the Passover, and we want to remember that keeping the Passover then, as now, was central to show a person's relationship with God. So when God first gave the instruction on the Passover, He says, When a stranger dwells with you, stranger meaning someone who's not an Israelite, not descended from Abraham, when they dwell with you and want to keep the Passover to the Eternal, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near, and he shall be as a native of the land, for no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. What this meant is a person who's not an Israelite, back then, if their males were circumcised, the term for that was a proselyte. But it meant they were physically adopted into Israel, and every sense, they were legally became Israelites, and they would be considered so, you know, from then on. One of the things that helped me understand that is the fact that many American Indian tribes had similar practices. I don't know of any that involved circumcision, but they would sometimes capture prisoners in battle, and they would keep them for a while, and then if the person looked like they were interested in being part of the tribe, there would be a certain ritual. Often it would include certain bathing or whatever, maybe running the gauntlet or what. But once they went through that ritual, they were in the tribe, and it wasn't a part-way thing. They were full tribe members as though they'd been born that way and always been that way.

There were some records, even some white people, white men becoming chiefs within the tribe, because they'd been adopted and there was no difference made. Circumcision for non-Israelites was like that. They became Israelites.

Now, that's part of why it was such a big deal in the first century church. When the church was established, those who were Israelites who became Christians, they understood, okay, Christ is the Messiah we've been waiting for all this time, but suddenly non-Israelites started coming into the church. Some people had the idea that, okay, they can come in the church, but they've got to become Israelites. And that's what we find in Acts 15. Acts 15, and go ahead and turn there. I'll read the first part, because we just read this last week, and it'll sound very familiar, but I want to look at some of the scriptures further down. But that was the thinking of these people that came from Jerusalem. Certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, saying, unless you're circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. Now, that's pretty serious. You can't be saved, meaning you can't have eternal life. You can't be in God's family unless you're circumcised. Well, Moses and Barnabas didn't agree with that, right? Moses and Barnabas had no small dissension, and they argued, and they said, we've got to go to Jerusalem and work this out. We don't all agree on this teaching. And so, of course, the story goes in the rest of the chapter. They called all the elders together and had this discussion. And a key to understanding what was God's will was Peter's witness of what had happened when he was sent to Cornelius. And I'm not going to go back to Acts 10 and repeat it, but remember, Peter was told, and he saw a vision, and was told by a voice from God, saying, go to these people, even though Cornelius was an Italian, in no way Israelite. And while Peter was there speaking to them, wondering why he was there, suddenly the Holy Spirit came on them to show that God was calling them. We see that this in Peter's words in verse 8, Acts 15, 8, he says, So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. So that was an important thing for all the ministers to consider when they were discussing this question. And then they went on, and of course, Paul and Barnabas told about their ministry. And I don't have any single scripture that's easy to summarize that, but if you read the book of Acts, that'll cover it pretty well, and many of Paul's epistles. And they came to the conclusion that Gentiles did not have to become physical Israelites in order to become Christians. That is, to be called, to be prepared for being Spirit-born sons of God, becoming an Israelite was not a necessity. Now, they concluded, though, that they did have to become what we call spiritual Israelites. Now, I'm underlining in my notes, I literally underlined that we call it that. That's a term that's been pointed out to me, you won't find in your Bible anywhere. There's nowhere in Scripture that it says spiritual Israel or spiritual Israelite. It's not there, we in God's Church made those terms up. But we did so to express an understanding that we have that's derived from Scripture. And we've already read several Scriptures, you know, I think, that follow along those lines. Much of Galatians deals with that. Paul is very strong in explaining that circumcision is not required to be a Christian, meaning that a non-Israelite does not need to physically become naturalized into the Israel, the nation of Israel, to be spiritually saved. So if someone would think that, they'd be missing the point, and let's go to Galatians 5 to underline that. Catch a breath. Maybe I am going fast again. Galatians 5, verse 2, says, Well, that's pretty strong. Now, does he mean nothing? Well, he's going to clarify a little further down. Let's go to verse 6.

Now, I want to go to the Scripture because in English that could cause a little confusion, because you think circumcision, uncircumcision, doesn't accomplish anything, but faith working through...it seems to be saying that whether you're circumcised or not does accomplish faith working through love, but that's not what Paul meant. Paul was using a grammatical construction that was common in Greek, called an ellipsis phrase. And if you wonder what ellipsis is, if you ever write something and you put those three dots, you know, dot, dot, dot, meaning fill in the blank, you know what I mean? Let me read it the way it would be if you do that verbally.

It says, And you probably heard that before, but just to make it clear, I brought my handy dandy 26 translations of the Bible to read some different translations of that particular Scripture that bring that out. The Moffat says it this way. In Christ Jesus, circumcision is not valid, neither is uncircumcision, but only faith active in love.

The Knox translation says it well. It says, We are in Christ, or once we are in Christ, circumcision means nothing, and the one of it means nothing. The faith that finds its expression in love is all that matters. So do you see that's what Paul meant, and that's where the ellipsis fills in. There's a similar statement down in verse 15. I want to read some other translations of that because you'll see the same construction. Galatians 6 verse 15 says, See, that's the way it could be interpreted. But what he's saying is neither circumcision or uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation, by implication, avails everything, which we'll see in some of the other translations I have here.

That was verse 15. Neither circumcision nor the lack of it is important, but a new creation counts. It doesn't make any difference whether we have been circumcised or not. What counts is whether we really have been changed into new and different people. The New English Bible is the last one. Circumcision is nothing. Uncircumcision is nothing. The only thing that counts is a new creation. So that's... I think that helps clarify.

That's the essence of the book of Galatians, really. Paul is hammering that point home. Now, I do have a note here in a different color, especially for those of us with some medical background.

I shouldn't say those of us. Those of you with medical background. Paul's talking about spiritual benefits. Whether you're circumcised or not makes no difference spiritually. Now, that doesn't mean there aren't physical benefits. There are good health benefits to circumcision, which women don't have to worry about, but men do. And so I do recommend that infant boys get circumcised, not because it'll make them more spiritual or more righteous.

Certainly not. But it does have health benefits, and I think most of us understand that. I thought it worth pointing out, though, because I think in the medical community right now, there's a debate. Even the American pediatrics, whatever it is, the baby doctors are currently saying, oh, it doesn't really matter, and maybe it's not worth doing. But there's evidence that shows that it is worth doing.

And I don't know how many of us here, most of us that have baby boys, have already been through that. But what God wants is people that are circumcised in the heart, rather than a nation of people who are physically circumcised. And that's what verse 16 goes on. Let me continue in verse 16. As many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God. Now, that might sound like he's addressing two different groups.

As many as people walk according to this rule and the Israel of God. But this is another case of a particular Greek grammatical construction. And I might make it sound like I'm a real Greek expert. I'm not. I've just studied under people who are. But Paul is using what's called a parallelism, where he describes the same group of people with two different names.

The people that walk according to this rule are the Israel of God. And he's making the case that Israel of God, not the Israel descended from Israel, but the people that walk according to this rule are a separate group. And that's the Israel that really matters. That's where we derive the term that we made up, spiritual Israel. Paul was saying that those who are baptized and whom Christ is living by the Holy Spirit constitute a spiritual nation, a group of people that have that common ancestry of Jesus Christ, that common begettle spiritually.

Now, he didn't have to call it Israel, but I don't know, what else would you call it? You know, well, it just makes sense. And that fits with what he said in Galatians 3, 29, where he said, if you are Christ, you are Abraham's seed. And if we're baptized into Christ, we are Christ, meaning we're Abraham's seed. That is to say, you are of Abraham if you are of Christ, because you are of the promised seed, the single seed, who was Christ.

And thus, you're partakers of that spiritual promise, grace, not necessarily race. You're descended from Abraham because you're descended from Christ. That's spiritual Israelites. I just said the same thing that I said earlier, but I wanted... I'm following Mr. Armstrong's footsteps. You know, emphasis by repetition. Let's also turn to Colossians, if you will, because I want to make a point that there is still a token of that nation, a token of the covenant that we enter. Colossians 2, verse 11. It's not physical circumcision anymore, but something just as important.

Colossians 2, 11. In him, that is, in Christ, you are also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands. Now, a lot of eight-day-old boys would like to see a circumcision made without hands, but that's a different... No, they don't know what they're going through, but... By putting off the body of sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, buried with him in baptism, in which you are also raised in him. Here's another case of that parallelism, where you call the same thing by two different names to show that they are.

So, the circumcision of Christ is baptism. Those are two different names for the same thing. God doesn't want the physical token, although, as I said, for health reasons, for men, for baby boys, circumcision is a good thing. Not for men. No, never mind. But baptism is that same. God wants a change to be made of the mind, and figuratively, that's described as the heart. Let's go back to Romans 2, if you will. Romans 2, verse 26. And by the way, I'm talking about health benefits, though. Generally, for anyone that wasn't baptized as an infant, we don't suggest that men go do it, you know, unless there's a health reason that has to be addressed. So, and I don't know if that applies to anyone here or not, and I don't want to know.

So, please don't tell me unless I need to know. Romans 2, verse 26. Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, won't his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you, who even with your written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law? For he's not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor a circumcision that which is outward of the flesh. Paul's saying that outward stuff isn't what counts the most. He is a Jew who is one inwardly. Circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not from men but from God.

Now, this doesn't mean doing any physical cutting on your heart. When it says circumcision of the heart, it's being symbolic. It means of the mind. It's talking about conversion. When we repent, when we turn around and change, that's the circumcision of the heart that God wants. And that's something that applies to women as well as men, which is obviously neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female.

And that's what's described in Romans 4. Let's go over a page, Romans 4, verse 7.

Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven. Blessed are those whose sins are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin. This is quoting from Psalm 32, but then Paul will go on to explain how this relates to circumcision. Does this blessing then come upon the circumcised only or upon the uncircumcised also? We say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. Remember, there's a point where God is talking to Abraham. He says, And Abraham believed him, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. He said, How then was it accounted while he was circumcised or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. Abraham wasn't circumcised yet when God said, He believes me, I'm going to count that for righteousness. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while he was still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that the righteousness might be imputed to them also. This is saying that Abraham is the father of all who believe, or saying that, is the same as saying that those who believe, which is a spiritual matter, are counted as descendants of Abraham. So because you believe, you're baptized, you're attached to Jesus Christ, you're counted as a descendant of Abraham. How can that be if they're not his descendants? Let's read verse 16. Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. Now that's why he's called the father of the faithful. Paul was writing this to the congregation in Rome, which consisted mostly of Romans. I'm sure there were Jews in the congregation of Rome. There were probably small numbers, but pretty good guess that most of them were Gentiles, Italians. But Abraham was the father of them all. And what I'm getting at, I think some people kind of have it backwards. They think God has given better promises to physical Israelites. And then perhaps for some reason, because God chooses to, he'll allow some Gentiles to share the promise. And some people would even go beyond that and say, well, they still have to be proselytes first.

But I don't agree. I think all along, God planned to form a special group that he would call a nation, people that he would pull together through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ being the one descendant from Abraham through whom that promise of grace would be given. Let's notice the called-out ones. Peter writes of that in 1 Peter 2.

1 Peter 2. And we'll read verses 9 and 10.

Peter's addressing Christians. He says, You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. Wow! You're a whole, a chosen generation, royal priest, holy nation, his own special people that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness as marvelous light, who once were not a people but now are the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. Peter is quoting from a passage in Hosea and knowing full well what he's doing. And that prophecy in Hosea, and we're going to turn to Hosea if you want to start flipping there. Hosea is right after Daniel if that's one of the ones that's hard for you to find. God made this prophecy that's basically saying, I'm going to stop dealing with Israel. But he's not going to totally cast them aside. But of course, he makes the point that the physical Israelites would have an opportunity to become part of the new nation that God would form. Not that he would just, okay, you're not my nation, now you are my nation and nothing's changed. But I'm not dealing with you anymore, I'm going to start new and you guys can come in and be part of that, which is a much better thing. Let's read Hosea 1 in verse 6. Now this, of course, if you don't remember the background, Hosea was God's prophet and he was told, Go marry a prostitute, which I'm glad he doesn't tell his ministers to do that today. But go marry a prostitute, which he did, and when they had children, God gave the children names that signified the message that he was giving through Hosea. So he says, she conceived in Boris a daughter. God said to him, that is Hosea, call her name, Lohruhama. Lohruhama is Hebrew that means no mercy. So he said, Call her no mercy, for I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel. I'll utterly take them away. But I'll have mercy on the house of Judah. Of course, at that time, it wasn't yet Judah's time to fall. Moving ahead to verse 8. When she'd weaned Lohruhama, she conceived in Boris' son, and God said, Call his name, Lo Ami. Lo Ami was Hebrew for not people, no people, or not my people. So call his name not my people, for you are not my people, and I will not be your God. Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which can't be measured or numbered. And it shall come to pass, and the place where it was said to them, You are not my people. There it shall be said to them, You are the sons of the living God. I like that. He's going to say, You're not my people. You're not a special nation anymore. But you can be the sons of the living God. If you had to choose between those two, which would you want? Do you want to be part of physical Israel? Even with... I mean, and that's pretty good. The promises of race hold the gates of your enemies, have fabulous wealth and power.

But take that away and let you be the sons of the living God. I think that's even better.

And remember, Paul in Romans 11, 1 said, God has not cast away His people. Even though he told Israel, You won't be my people anymore, he didn't cast them away forever.

But he was making a case that the Gentiles would not need to be circumcised, and thus physically become Israelites to participate in the spiritual promises. But the physical Israelites do need to be converted through the Spirit. That is, the physical Israelites would have to be circumcised in the heart to participate in the spiritual promises. So, as I said, some people, I think, sort of see it backwards. And God always wanted that from Israel. Let's look in Deuteronomy chapter 10, just quickly. And believe it or not, I'm about to pull it all together, so... I know this is a fairly academic topic. Deuteronomy 10 and verse 15.

Deuteronomy 10 and 15. The Eternal delighted only in your fathers to love them. He chose their descendants after you. This is talking to the descendants of Abraham. Above all the peoples as it is this day. Therefore, circumcise the foreskin of your heart. Circumcision of the flesh doesn't matter. Circumcise the foreskin of your heart. God always wanted that with Israel. He always wanted them to accept his spiritual law and be converted. The way I see that, you might say to physical Israelites, You've got the advantage. I'm working with you. The law is here. Take advantage of it. Move on to the spiritual level. Don't be the branches that are broken off from the vine. If you were broken off, repent. Get grafted back in again. Let's go to Romans 9. Romans 9, and we'll start in verse 23, because Peter is not the only one that was aware of that prophecy. And Hosea Paul was very aware. And of course, remember all these things we've read from the Apostle Paul, about how the way to salvation is open to non-Israelites. He understood the special relationship that God had with Israel. Romans 9, beginning in verse 23, Now as I said, some people will read this and say, See, there's proof. God's only calling physical Israel. He might have made them stop being his people, but he's going to call them back. But I think if that's the case, Paul really ruined his case. He undermined it by all this time he's been saying, no, it's not just Israel. You know, Paul said God is calling not only Jews, but Gentiles. Why would he quote a scripture that says the opposite? But what Paul was saying is that the meaning that was in Hosea all along was that God never planned to work with Israel alone forever, or only on a physical basis. God's plan was always to move to the spiritual realm. He planned to make a new nation out of those who formerly were not a nation or a people, because he was going to make it a spiritual nation. And now, as I said, it wasn't plan B, it wasn't a second thought, Well, the Israelites didn't make it, what can I do now? He planned it all along. And that new nation is indeed the inheritors of the promise to Abraham. Now, that promise that through you all families in the earth will be blessed. And of course, we know that as we've been saying over and over again, that promise was fulfilled because the Messiah would be descended from Abraham. So now, anyone that God calls now who repents and is baptized, they receive the Holy Spirit, they have Jesus Christ dwelling in them. And thus, they're a branch attached to the vine that is Christ. And in that way, all of us as Christians are Abraham's children, because Christ is in us, and anyone who is called. And fortunately, in His mercy, God allows Israelites, physical Israelites, to also share in that blessing, despite a long history of rebelling against Him and disobeying His law.

Now, why is this an important matter for us to discuss? Well, I think it's partly important for us to understand God's long-term plan, partly because He includes us in it. But also, we do need to be preparing to be teachers in His kingdom, because there's a lot of non-Israelites who are going to rise up in the resurrection, that we need to explain to them how they always fit in this plan, and how they can be part of the spiritual nation that God's building. And we have to be honest with ourselves. If we look back at our ancestry, most of our forefathers rejected God's way when it was handed to them. It happened in Moses' time, it happened in... All through the Bible, we see over and over again Israel worshiping idols, rejecting God. And I thought of that not long ago. If you remember the History Channel back around... Well, I would say Passover time. I think they were building up to Easter. They had that special on the Bible, and Sue and I were checking that out, and afterwards came on this new series called Vikings. We watch some of that now. It's not one that I'm telling you. We rush out to watch that, because it has a lot of people killing each other with swords and stuff. But I thought it interesting. They'd show a really basic, poor, pagan society. I mean, they worshipped Odin and Thor, and they showed them praying and making sacrifices. And at one point I stopped and said, wait a minute. The Vikings were Israelites. We're all pretty confident. They were Israelites. And yet, they were as bad a pagans as anybody anywhere. And, you know, I'm not meaning to criticize them, but we don't have great claims as far as our ancestors go. We do have benefits because of the promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But we have much greater blessings, because Jesus Christ dwells in us. People of Gentile ancestry, when they understand the truth, might look back at the Israelites and say, Man, how could you have messed up so bad when God was showing you the truth? And we'll just have to shrug our shoulders and say, well, it takes God's Spirit. And of course, I'm not meaning to badmouth our ancestors. Not by any means. And I don't mean to run down our country today. We live in the greatest country that ever was. And I love the United States, and I love the British Empire, even, even though I'm not a British citizen. But God has done special wonders through them. But the goodness and the blessings that our people enjoy have been in spite of our people's worthiness, not because of it. God has fulfilled His promises when people didn't deserve it. When we go into the waters of baptism, when we take the Passover bread and wine, that's a reminder to us that we're saved only by the blood of Jesus Christ. Ancestry has nothing to do with it. Now, we have blessings because of our ancestry, and I want to hold fast to those blessings. But it's Jesus Christ's life in us that matters the most, and that's the same for anybody. Jew or Gentile, man or woman, slave or free. Not one of us is better off than anyone else in the world, but we are... Now, let me say that not one of us is better because we're Israelite or not, but living here, we are better off. We enjoy those blessings. We've all learned the death penalty. We don't want to give them up.

But we enjoy them not because of who we are, but because of who our Savior is.

I enjoy those blessings, and I think of that, as I said, I've been looking ahead to the 4th of July, maybe because camp will be wrapped up by then, and I'll be able to relax and look at fireworks. But I just want to say, we enjoy tremendous blessings. Let's appreciate them, but appreciate the greatest blessings of all, our calling to be in God's family.