(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

All right. Amen. Ephesians chapter number three. The title of the sermon is The Goyim that Annoyum. The Goyim that Annoyum. Anybody know what a goy is? It's a derogatory term that Jews use to describe non-Jewish people or Gentiles. Okay. For more information on that you can pay attention today. It's not all about that, but you can go back and listen to Simping for Semites, which will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about Jews and who real Jews are today. So, with that in mind, the Goyim that Annoyum. Okay. Let's get started here. Chapter three. Look down at verse number one. The Bible says, For this cause I Paul the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles. Okay. So again, how does this chapter start off? Well, he starts off by saying, For this cause. Well, what cause? What is he talking about here? What does that mean? So, so we can get some context here. Go back to chapter number two real quick and let's look at verse number 19. Look at chapter number 19. I'm sorry. Chapter 19. Look at verse number 19 of chapter two. So, Paul says this, Now therefore ye, and that ye there, keep in mind, who is that? Well, that's the believers. Okay. Now keep in mind here, these Ephesians are not Jews by nature. They're not ethnic Jews or nothing like that. They are born again, Bible believers. And he says, Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God. So again, we've been saying this for a while now. When people come up to you and say, yeah, you're, you know, you're, you're lucky that the Jew dropped the ball. Otherwise you wouldn't have a chance. You wouldn't be where you are today. We know that's false doctrine. We know that that's not true. We know that only a Jew would make something up to say something like that to make people feel bad. Okay. And what is this passage here telling us? If you're saved, it's very clear. Okay. You are the household of God. You are special. We are God's chosen people. Okay. And chapter three is going to make that abundantly clear. In fact, chapter three is going to make that so clear that there's one verse in this chapter, if you're not familiar with it, it could possibly blow your mind. Look at verse number 20, it says, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. So wait a second here. What does that mean? How, how are we Gentiles? How are the, these Ephesians built upon the Hebrews and the prophets and all that stuff? Well, because we've been graphed in, we're saved. We're the people of God. Look at verse 21 in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto unholy temple in the Lord. So somebody might tell you, okay, well once the Jews get their temple boy, it's going to be on and they're going to look to God. They're going to realize the antichrist betrayed them and they're all just going to get saved and all Israel be saved. False doctrine. That temple means nothing. The only temple that means anything is the temple of believers. The temple that believers make up. That's what this is saying. Look at the verse again in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto unholy temple in the Lord. Are you in Christ? Well, if so, then you are the temple of God. And look, I've brought this up not too long ago, so I don't want to spend too much time on it, but I think it's very clear over and over and over again in the Bible, we are told that if you're saved, if the Lord God is your God, you are the chosen person, you are chosen people. Look at verse 22. Again, in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the spirit. So where does God habitate? Where does he reside? Okay, well in the body of Christ, in believers, okay? I mean, think about it. When a person gets saved, what happens? Well, you get indwelt by the Holy Ghost, okay? God is within you now, helping you, guiding you and calling into remembrance the things that you read and trying to help us out, making intercession for us through prayer and things of that nature. One more time. In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the spirit. Because a lot of people say, well, God lives in everyone. He's in everybody and, you know, even people that don't love him. That's not true, okay? That's a Hollywood fable is what that is. But let's get back to the context here. What is the context? Verse 19. Now therefore ye, okay, ye believers, ye Ephesians, ye saints are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints. That's it. There's no more debate. Oh, but the Jews, the apple of God's eye, not according to the Bible, not the religious Jew, not the Christ rejecting Jew, not the ethnic Jew. No, the believer is the apple of God's eye. The believer is where God dwells. The believer is what God uses to manifest his wisdom to the world and beyond, okay? So that concept there, okay, that Jew and Gentile mean nothing because we're both in Christ, okay? God is not a respecter of persons. So with that in mind, now look at verse number one. He says, for this cause, okay, this cause we just read about, because there are no more strangers, there are no more foreigners. So because that's a fact, okay, he says, for this cause I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles. He's saying, look, the reason why I am a prisoner at this point is because I've spent my life doing what God told me and preaching truth to the Gentiles because it means something. It's going to go somewhere. You guys are doing great things for God. And so what he's telling them is this is all worth it. This is more than worth it because they are the people of God. Look, do you think Paul who used to be a Pharisee who said himself that he's a Hebrew of Hebrews, okay? I mean, you want to talk about the Hebrew of Hebrews, it would be the apostle Paul. But yet here we see him sacrificing his physical life to make sure that Gentiles can be saved, that anyone who would believe the gospel could be saved, okay? So again, look at verse number two. If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, which is given me to you, word, how that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery as I wrote a four in few words. And note that word there, mystery. There's different mysteries in the New Testament that were told about the gospel, of course, is a mystery to them that are without because they don't understand it, okay? They need somebody to preach it to them. And we'll kind of shed some more light on that here in a moment. But what is he doing here? Okay, we'll look at verse two if ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God. He's just highlighting the fact that God dispenses grace, he dispenses mercy, he dispenses, again, what we don't deserve, okay? And he wants them to understand that. Now look at verse number five. I'm sorry, look at verse number four. He says, whereby when ye read ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. Okay, and he's getting ready to drop another mystery on us that we're gonna clearly understand here in a moment. But he says in verse five now, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the spirit. Now, who is that spirit there? Just any spirit? No, the Holy Ghost, okay? Look at verse number six. That, and here it is, this is the mystery that he's talking about. That the Gentiles should be what? Lucky? Thankful because the Jew dropped the ball? No, what does it say? That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, meaning the same as a Jew. So a Jewish person back in this time who was born in Israel, born in Judea, what have you, can trace their roots back so far, okay? He's saying you're the same as them in Christ. That's what he's saying. You're a fellow heir, okay? That is what he's saying. That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body, the same body, okay? The same body, the same body of Christ, the same body of God, the same kingdom of God and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel, okay? But the Jew today would not like you to believe this. The Jew today wants you to think that you're just temporary, you're just lucky you're here, okay, yeah, okay, you're saved, okay, that's fine, you can play that game all you want to, but the kingdom's gonna go right back to Israel and God's gonna focus on them and in the millennium, you'll have the fine privilege to be able to serve them because they're gonna go back to doing their sacrifices and you might be able to sweep under the table and mop the floor for them and do all the stuff, okay? False doctrine. You think that's crazy? That gets taught in this very town right here. Yes, it does. That is despicable, that is anti-Bible, that is anti-Christ is what that is. What does this mystery say here, okay? What does this mystery say? That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs. Again, corresponding back to chapter number two to the fact that we are no more foreigners, right? We are no more strangers, but we are what? Fellow citizens. So you go back and take the most saved Hebrew in the Old Testament, okay? You go back and pick David. Guess what? You are just as much in Christ, just as much as in God as David was, okay? God is not a respecter of persons, but of course, the world can't have that. They say, no, no, no, we have got to consistently find a way to elevate the flesh, to elevate man above God. How are we gonna be able to do this? Ah, Zionism. We can keep the Christians suppressed as long as we get them focused on the Jew and get them focused on this special group of people, okay? But then people like us come along and actually read what this says and we teach what this says, then we become the goyim that annoy him. And it's gonna get even worse. Verse number seven, whereof I, the apostle Paul says, or I'm sorry, yeah, yeah, whereof I was made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. So Paul, again, is reminding them that God has endorsed him, chosen him to preach the gospel to them, but not only that, but to also confirm them and to comfort them, okay? Because, of course, all these churches here, the Galatians, Ephesians, you know, they had to be on guard because the Judaizers were coming around, coming into church and saying, hey, you know, you circumcise, you this, you that, you know, you got to follow the law. It's great that you love God, but you know, you need all this other stuff. Paul just didn't have time to teach you, okay? And of course, Paul here is basically reaffirming the fact, hey, no, you're special, okay? Don't let your ethnicity get in the way. Don't let your nation get in the way. You're part of a better nation now. You're part of the nation of God, the Israel of God. Now, keep your place here, obviously, but go back in just one book, go to Galatians chapter number three. Galatians chapter number three. Let's take a look at a few things here before we move on. Okay, so again, back in the Old Testament, you, if you were to go back and just pick some people from the different tribes and just be like, you know, there's coming a day where anybody from any nation, as long as they're in Christ or they're saved, they're going to be the Israel of God. They'd be like, uh, where'd you get that from, okay? They wouldn't quite understand what you're talking about because it was a mystery. Now that has been revealed, but guess what the enemy does? He wants to make it a mystery again. And so they create things like Zionism and so on and so forth to keep you out of the loop and to keep you from missing out on verse 10, which is probably one of the most powerful verses in this entire book. So let's just quick review here about who God's people really are. So again, I mentioned the Judaizers, okay, coming in and causing confusion, so on and so forth. That's exactly what Paul's dealing with here in Galatians, in the book of Galatians, but especially in chapter number three. Look what he says to them in chapter three, verse one. Oh, foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth crucified among you. So he's asking them this question. How could you go from understanding a clear presentation of the gospel, understanding that you're saved, to being bewitched, being deceived, being tricked? How did this happen? Okay, verse two. This only would I learn of you. And then he makes this statement here. Receive ye the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith. That's a rhetorical question. How do we receive the Spirit of God? Is it by following the law or is it by hearing the Word of God and believing it and being saved? I think you know the answer. Verse four. Have ye suffered so many things in vain, if it be yet in vain? So Paul's upset here. He's like, did you really suffer this in vain or did you just believe in vain? Verse number five. He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit and worketh miracles among you doeth he it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith. Okay, keep in mind during this time frame here when the apostles were still setting up churches and, you know, ordaining elders and going through and preaching the gospel and the New Testament was being rolled out. Okay, they still had the gifts. They still had the gifts of speaking in tongues and healings and things of that nature, miracles. And so a quick test to see whether or not these guys were false prophets was do they understand the gospel? Okay, because if you have some people come in here like Pentecostals and they start saying, well, you know, we're saved after all we can do or you just can't live however you want. You got to follow this checklist of stuff to do. Then you know you're saved. Okay, but yet they claim to do miracles. Well, we know based off this chapter here in several other places that they're liars. They are false prophets. Okay, and so he's reminding them this. He's like, hey, are these people that came to you? Are they preaching that they did all this stuff because they're good because they follow the law or by the hearing of faith? Okay, now he exposes to us who these people really are. Look what he does next. Verse number six. Even as Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness, know ye therefore that they which are, look at this, of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. Okay, again, go back to simping for Semites. Who was Abraham? Abraham was the first Hebrew in the Bible. Okay, now who was Abraham ethnically? He was Chaldean. Okay, he was from Babylon before it became Babylon like the Babylon we read about in Nebuchadnezzar's day. So in other words, the first Hebrew, the first Jew, whatever you want to call him, okay, technically it's just a Hebrew, but the first Hebrew was a Gentile. Okay, go tell your Zionist friend that and see what happens. Watch the wheels start to spin. Face gets red, the beads of sweat start forming, and they start to get upset. Gee, I wonder how I know that because I've done it several times. I've done it several times. They have no answer for that. Okay, well, we got started with him. He had to start somewhere, but after that, you know, after that, it's all about that, the ethnic Jew, the ethnic Jew. They didn't even know what an ethnic Jew was back then. Okay, what would happen if you were to go up to Abraham and say, hey, Jew, how you doing? What? What are you talking about? I'm a Hebrew. I'm one of God's people. Why was he one of God's people? Look at the verse. Look at verse 7. Look at verse 6 again. Even as Abraham, what did Abraham do? Follow a list of commandments to be saved? No, he believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. The Bible says that none of us are righteous. So how do we become righteous? Romans chapter 4, very clear. It gets imputed unto us. It gets given to us by God based off of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Look, people got saved in the Old Testament the same way they get saved in the New Testament, only they didn't call upon Christ in the Old Testament because Christ hadn't been revealed yet. So again, look at verse 7. Know ye therefore. So he's talking to the Galatians, and he says, know ye therefore. So he's like, think about this. He's like, think about this, Galatians. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. Verse 8, and the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through the faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, and these shall all nations be blessed. All nations be blessed. Verse 9, so then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. Not they which have a DNA test that prove their genetics. No, that's not what it says. What does it say? So then they which be of faith. So people who are saved, it's the Christian, it's God's child that is the real Hebrew, that is a real Jew. Go back to, you know, if you were to go to Romans chapter 2, you would see that very clearly, and we're not going to do that for the sake of time. But look at verse number 10. He says, for as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. For it is written, curses everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. And so, of course, again, he's reemphasizing here the very fact that we are saved by faith, not by works. And, you know, it's kind of a shame that he's having to rehash this with them. But it's a blessing for us to be able to read this because it's just so prevalent in the New Testament that works are not involved whatsoever. Let's see here. Look down at verse 14. Skip down to verse 14 because remember, this was a mystery in the Old Testament, but now we get to see that it is not a mystery. Look at verse 14. He says that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Now look down to verse number 22 real quick. He says this, but the Scripture has concluded all under sin that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that belief. So what is the emphasis here in the Bible? Is it on the Jew or on the believer? It is on the believer. Okay, the believer is the real Hebrew. The believer is the real Jew. See here, one last verse over here. For sake of time, go to verse 29. He says this to conclude everything. He says, and if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. To say anything else other than this is a violation of Scripture. You're pretty much pulling out your weapons and attacking violently the Bible. That's what you're doing, to say anything other than this. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Now, of course, that was a mystery back in the Old Testament. Go back to Ephesians chapter 3, and now that is no longer a mystery to us who are saved because God has opened up our hearts and our eyes to be able to receive truth. And so we, you and I, we can read these things and come to a proper conclusion in what Paul's talking about here. Okay, so again, that is a mystery that he has revealed, that he's revealing to us. So hopefully that makes sense. Looking at verse number 8. He says unto me, who am less than the least of all saints is this grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. So he's saying, look, you know, this is my job. This is what I've been called to do to preach the gospel, not only the gospel, but just the unsearchable riches, the all the wisdom of God to the Gentiles. Okay, not just to a specific group of people, but to all people of the earth. Verse number 9, he says, and to make all men see what is the fellowship of, and here's that word again, mystery. Okay, so we're going to learn about this here, this fellowship of the mystery. Then he says, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ. So again, this was hid in God up until a certain point. Of course, Christ died on the cross and now these things have been revealed. So let's move on to verse number 10 here. And he says this, to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church, the manifold wisdom of God. And that's where we're going to stop and kind of hang out for a little while. Now go back to chapter number one real quick. Let's define here. Let's kind of review what these principalities and powers are. Of course, you're probably already familiar with this, but look down at verse number 21. The Bible says this in chapter one of Ephesians says for talking about Christ, he says, far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in the world to come. And he says in verse 22, and hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the church. Verse 23, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all and all. Now go to chapter number six really quickly. So principalities and powers, okay, whether they be principalities and powers here on earth, like your politicians, your rulers, your elites, what have you, you know, you're very powerful people or whether they be angels that are in heaven, good or bad. He is saying that we, because we are in Christ, we are above all of those things. Let's see here. He says, Ephesians chapter number six, look down at verse number 10. He says this, finally my brethren be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Then he says in verse 11, and of course we'll hit this again in a few weeks, but he says, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. In verse 12 he says, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, okay, right after he mentions devil, right? What does he say we wrestle against? Principalities and against powers and against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Now one more time, okay, this goes a little bit deep tonight. Go back to chapter number three. Okay, so what have we learned so far? Okay, well this idea here that the Jew and Gentile would come together in Christ to make one nation or one body and that this would be his church, this would be his people, okay, was a mystery. Now it is no longer a mystery and furthermore he wants to tell us about this, the fellowship of this mystery and what this means and what we're supposed to do with it. And he says in verse 10, to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places, okay, so now you know what we're talking about. We're talking about these principalities or these angels, whether they be good or bad, that have powers in heavenly places, he says, might be known by the church, the manifold wisdom of God. Okay, keep that thought. We're going to come back and read it again. Go to Matthew chapter number four, Matthew chapter number four, Matthew chapter number four. So, you know, I can remember, you know, thinking myself like, you read through the Bible, it's easy to overlook this verse, it's easy to overlook a lot of things, you know, no matter how many times you've read it. But when you start to study this out, it's very interesting and I've always kind of wondered, like, how, in Matthew chapter four, which we're about to read, how does the devil not like know that Jesus is Jesus Christ, that he's God? How does he not get it? Like, why does he even try and attempt it? Like, it doesn't make any sense. And then when I really started to study Ephesians chapter three and verse number 10 and some other passages that we're going to look at, it all made sense. It's like, oh, wait a second here. Wow. God actually uses the body of Christ, the church, his people, the Israel of God, whatever you want to call them. We have a bunch of different names. He actually uses us to teach truth to the angelic realm. Okay. And I'm going to prove that to you. Look at verse number one, very famous passage here about the devil trying to tempt the Lord. And it says this in verse one, it says, then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, he was afterward unhungred. Now that's a whole lesson in and of its own. You know, what's something that we need to be aware of when we read this is that when you decide to do something hardcore for God, you know, you got to kind of look over your shoulder a little bit and kind of be aware, you know, and have the right mindset that you're probably going to get attacked at some point. There's going to be some kind of spiritual attack, whether it come from in the form of your family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, yourself, your flesh, there's going to be some sort of attack. Okay. Because the devil does not like people stepping up their game and getting into spiritual battles. Look at verse three, it says, and when the tempter came to him, he said, if thou be the son of God, look at that word. Like he doesn't believe this. He's like, if thou be the son of God, command that these stones be made bread. And of course, look at verse four, but he answered and said, this is what Jesus says, it is written man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. So look at verse five. So he's like, that's not good enough for me. The devil taketh them up into a holy city and saideth him on the pinnacle of the temple. Sayeth unto him, if thou be the son of God, there number two, right? If thou be the son of God, cast thyself down for it is written, he shall give his angels charge concerning thee. And in their hands, they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. So again, the devil can quote scriptures. Okay. But he's not going to be able to give you truth. He doesn't want to give you a truth. He's the father of lies. He's a murderer and been that way from the beginning. That's what Jesus told us. Okay. So again, the wisdom in this for us is that just because somebody can quote a lot of Bible verses doesn't necessarily mean that they're saved or that they're good people. There's a lot more involved. Hey, look, he can't interpret right. Jesus keeps rebuking him. Verse seven, Jesus said unto him, it is written again, thou shall not tempt the Lord thy God. So it's clear. Okay. The devil can just spout these off like chat GPT or something, but he can't actually exposit. He can't actually interpret. So verse eight again, so round three again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them. Hey, verse nine and sayeth unto him. So he kind of gets it a little bit now and he says, all these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me. So he's like, okay, it's probably the son of God, but how, how tough are you? How resilient are you? So he says, fall down and worship me. I'll give you all this stuff. Okay. Verse 10 then sayeth Jesus unto him, get thee hence Satan for it is written thou shall worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve. Verse 11 then the devil leaveth him and behold angels came and ministered unto him. So at this point here, what happens is now they know. Now the devil knows. Now Satan understands, okay, whoa, we've got a big problem. So what do you think he does? Well, he goes back and rallies his troops and then they start possessing people and you start reading about that through the gospels. And we basically are in today's day and age where we're in a spiritual fight. We're in the fight of our lives. It's no longer fighting, you know, nation against nation physically, right? Wrestling against flesh and blood. It is actually spiritual. That is where the battle lies and go back, actually go to 1 Peter chapter one, 1 Peter chapter one. So again, if you've ever maybe wondered, okay, why does the devil do that? Doesn't he like, no, that's just foolish. It's not going to work. Okay. They didn't know. Okay. In fact, to back that up even further, 1 Peter chapter one makes this statement here. Look at verse number 12, 1 Peter chapter one, verse 12. So Peter says this, says unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves, but unto us, they did minister the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy ghost sent down from heaven, which things, okay, what things? The gospel. Okay. Which things the angels desire to look into. You know that the angels desire to look into the things that we do, the things that the church does, the wisdom that we get from the Bible. They desire to look into those things. Okay. That is very important to understand. Now, one more here, go over to chapter number three and look at verse number 22, 1 Peter chapter three, verse 22 says this, talking about, talking about Christ says who has gone into heaven and is on the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him. Okay. So who are the angels subject to? They're subject to Christ. Okay. What about believers? Okay. Well obviously we're subject to Christ. We are in Christ. That's going to be important for you to remember here in a moment. Go to Hebrews chapter number one, Hebrews chapter number one. So if you're in first Peter, you're going to go back to the left in your Bible, Hebrews chapter number one. Before we kind of finish talking about Ephesians chapter three, verse 10, let's understand some things. Quick review here about angels. Okay. Look at verse 13. So the Bible says this. It says, but to which of the angels said he at any time, sit on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. Verse 14, are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation. Okay. So we can see what is the role of an angel. Angels minister to us that have eternal life. Okay. They help us out. They get involved in the spiritual battle. So for example, when we have our prayer time on Wednesday, you have your own prayer time and you're praying for things. We know that the Bible says that the Holy Ghost intercedes and helps our prayers. And somehow in the spiritual world, angels are doing what they do and they're interceding and things and they're there, they're helping. Okay. And that's very evident when you read through the book of Daniel and the Bible says that Daniel had prayed to get some understanding from the Lord. And it took several days, you know, by the time that Daniel actually got an answer to his prayer, an angel came to visit him and basically said, you know, I got held up by the Prince of Persia. Okay. And so what that teaches us is that sometimes when you pray for things, you know, we have to understand there's a spiritual battle that we can't see with our physical eyes. Okay. We can see with our spiritual eyes because we read about it. And so why is that important? Well, it's important to know because we don't want to fall prey to worshiping angels. And of course we want to understand what the role of the New Testament church is. And that's going to be very important here in a minute. Now look down and go just real quickly, go over to chapter number two, look at verse number five. It says this, for unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come where of we speak verse six, but one in a certain place testified saying, what is man that thou art mindful of him or the son of man that thou visitest him? And then he says, thou made us him a little lower than the angels. Verse seven thou crownest him with glory and honor and did set him over the works of the hands. Okay. So real quickly, just a quick crash course on angels. Chapter one, what do we see? Well, we see that they are ministering spirits that they help us out. We see in chapter number two in verse number five that unto the angels he hath not put in subjection the world to come. Okay. So the world to come, the millennium, it's not going to be the angels that rule over the people. Okay. What does the Bible say? Who's going to be ruling and reigning with Christ? Believers. Okay. People that are saved. And that's going to be important here again in just a second. Go back to Ephesians chapter three. Again, look at verse number 10. So he says this to the intent, okay, to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church, by the church, the manifold wisdom of God. When you really stop and think about that, think about how important this is. Okay. What this is saying is that God uses the church to reveal God's wisdom, not only to people on earth, okay, but also to the principalities and powers in heaven, to the angelic realm. Okay. So when you do something that's wise, when we do something that's wise, when we study and we prove what's acceptable according to the word of God, okay, and we have that Romans chapter 12 renewing of the mind so that we can prove what God accepts, that teaches in this day and age, in this moment, that teaches the angelic realm. And so they're able then to better minister to us because that's what it says in Hebrews chapter number one. And this is why we get so upset when people downplay the importance of church, right? You got a lot of people saying, well, you know, the church is wherever two or three are gathered together. Churches are within me. It's in my heart. Okay. That's really cute. Okay. Good for you for saying that. But this says something a whole lot more powerful, that Christ is the head of the church. We're called not to forsake the gathering. Okay. We're supposed to come to church. Why? Just for, just for the pastor? No. What this is telling you is that you have the power, the entire church, every believer, every wise thing that you do throughout the week ripples throughout eternity, ripples through the unseen world. That's what this is saying. Think about that. So how wise is it when people just take church and just, ah, I'm not going to ever go. I don't care. It's all good. God loves me no matter what. It's all good. It's all fine. What does that do? Is that wise? Is that circumspect? Absolutely not. Okay. Again, why is that? Well, because again, to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church, the manifold wisdom of God. God wants to use the local New Testament church to teach wisdom to the world and to preach wisdom, which will again ripple throughout the unseen world. Now, something interesting and some more food for thought for you. Go to first Corinthians chapter number six. So go back in the New Testament to first Corinthians chapter number six. And those verses that we read in Hebrews will hopefully help you to understand this. First Corinthians chapter number six, talking about judgment and talking about litigation between heathens and Christians, it says this in verse one. So Paul says, dare any of you having a matter against another go to law before the unjust and not before the saints? Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world and that if the world shall be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge in the smallest matters? Okay. So again, the Bible also says that the spiritual judges all things. Why do you think there's such an attack on the word judgment today? It's demonic. That's why. Okay. It's demonic is because the devil knows the Bible. Okay. He understands scripture. He can quote it, but he looks at it differently than we do. He looks at it and says, okay, what, what, what boosts the Christian? Oh, judgment. Well, guess what? We got to get rid of judgment. What boosts the Christian church? Oh, we got to downplay church. What boosts the Christian? Oh, the word of God and reading and preaching. Oh, we got to downplay that stuff. We got to cover it up. We got to suppress that stuff, but we can't do it quite outright yet. We got to do it very subtly. That's how we operate. See Genesis chapter number three. Now look at what Paul says next. Know ye not that we shall judge angels and how much more the things that pertain to this life. Okay. Now go back to Ephesians chapter three and we'll get moving on here. Hopefully this kind of kind of makes sense. Paul says we're actually going to judge angels. You might be thinking, what in the world? Like, like think about that for a second. Think about it like this. Okay. Like, like we're, we consider ourselves pretty advanced. We can build things, we can reason, we can do all these things. Let's say somebody hops down on a submarine, say God hops down on a submarine and goes to the bottom of the ocean and ordains, you know, the, the, the lowest of, of life down there. Okay. And elevates it above us. Okay. I can think of a lot of people who get offended. Okay. But think about this. The angels, they don't get offended. They realize their place. They're, they're the ones that didn't fall. They're not sinners. They don't have, they're not made in the image of God. We're made in the image of God. We are the redeemed and we're in Christ. And if Christ is going to rule and reign and we're in him, it makes sense that we would judge angels. Now, how exactly is that going to look? I can't tell you. I don't know. We don't understand a whole lot more than that, but it's something to think about. And the main principle being that we need to be a people of judgment. We need to judge everything. Okay. Now I'm not saying you need to be like, Oh, those pants are a little tight. You know, that shirt's a little tight. You know, we don't need to get like that, like get offensive in that manner. Okay. But we need to judge situations. We need to walk circumspectly like Ephesians chapter five verse 15 talks about. We're called to be a people of wisdom, a people of prudence. Okay. It's not, it's not like a suggestion. It's mandatory. It's what God wants. He wants to use you. He wants to use us together to show the world what is wise, whether or not they get mad or accepted that's on them. Okay. But God is using us to declare truth and to declare the manifold wisdom. Okay. What's a manifold? Okay. Many outlets. If I were to hook up an air manifold and run different hoses off it, you know, we'd be able to work all over the place in here. Well, the Bible says that the wisdom of God is manifold, meaning just multiplies. There are many outlets. There are many ways that we can plug in to that wisdom and show it and demonstrate it to the world. And it's just humbling to understand and to know that he uses the church, which hopefully gives you a great renewing and maybe some appreciation that we still have church and why we take church serious and why we do things the way that we do. We don't want to model our church services after the ways of the world. It does bring in a lot of people. It does bring in a lot of money. Okay. But I would rather be poor. I'd rather be mocked. I'd rather be looked at sideways than to be a cowardly compromising Christian or some cafeteria Christian just doing things to get along with people. Hey, no, we're going to follow the wisdom of this book. This says that God uses the church to preach the manifold wisdom of God. And that's exactly what we're going to do. You know, people say, you know, you're not very wise. Things you say about the sodomites and Jews, blah, blah, blah. Well, I'm just reading the Bible. That's it. I'm just reading the Bible and we're going to follow it and we're going to follow it to a tee. And you know what? At the end of the day, God will be pleased. Guess what? You're going to spend more time in eternity than you ever will here on this earth. So that's what counts. What we do for God, which has ripple effects throughout eternity, throughout the unseen world. That is what this verse is talking about. So again, one more time, to the intent that now into the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church, meaning the church is now being used as the source. Okay. So they know by us, by the saved, by the church, the manifold wisdom of God. And of course that's being thrown out the window today. Okay. Jesus said that we're the salt of the earth, the light of the world. Well, most people today are like, it's a little too much. Can't read that passage there. Romans one. Nope. Nope. That offends people. We don't want to read that. We don't want to read Genesis 19. We don't want to read Genesis 19. We don't want to read these things that about first Corinthians six. Nope. Let's just focus on the love part. Okay. Let's just focus on that part. Okay. And what's the result? Iniquity bounds. Love of many grows cold. And the next thing you know, we're in tribulation. So again, hopefully that helps. Hopefully that makes some sense for you. Look at verse number 11. And then he says, this says, according to the eternal purpose, which he purposed in Christ Jesus, our Lord. So again, one more time letting you know that we are not here by accident. Okay. It's not an accident that the Gentiles get to be the people of God because they get saved. It was always God's purpose. Again, at the end of the day, the first Hebrew was a Gentile. Verse number 12 in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. So again, how do we have all this confidence and access and assurance? Because the Bible tells us that's what we have. There's no mediating priesthood today. We do not have to go to man to get our truth. That's what the Catholics do. That's what the Jehovah Witnesses do. That's what the Seventh-day Adventists do. That's what the Mormons do. That's what all these other religions out there do. They have to go to man. They have to go to man to get their truth. Whereas we get the direct privilege of approach to go right to God through Christ. Look at verse 13. Wherefore, I desire that you faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory. So again, Paul again saying, hey, I don't want you to be sorrowful. I don't want you to think twice about this. I'm doing this because you will demonstrate that manifold wisdom to not only the earth, but also to the invisible forces in heaven. Verse 14. For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. So again, keep this in mind. The kingdom of God in heaven is connected to the kingdom of God down here. We are one. Look at verse number 16. It says that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man. This is why we spend a lot of time going through the epistles. Keep in mind, yes, we use these epistles to get people saved and to preach truth and to preach the gospel. But a lot of these epistles are really about Christian conduct. There is so much information, so much doctrine in here about Christian conduct. Again, why is that? Again, because God is using us to display his wisdom to the angelic realm and to the people and forces on this earth. So that's why I say in there, hey, strengthen the inner man. Read the word of God. Read the Bible. Take this stuff in, and you're going to be stronger. You're going to be a better person. You're going to grow thicker skin, and things aren't going to offend you. Remember this warning. Great peace have they which love thy law, and nothing shall offend them. Let's see here. Look at verse number 17. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye being rooted and grounded in love. Okay, now people love to take that. You're not rooted and grounded in love. You have hatred. Okay, don't even get me started on that. I don't want to go down that road. Those people clearly cannot rightly divide the word of truth. I hate what God hates, and I hate who God hates, and I'm authorized to do so, and I've proven that a thousand times it seems like from the word of God. Verse number 18. May be able to comprehend with all the saints. What are we talking about? Comprehension. Understanding. Okay? Saying, hey, make sure that you're rooted and grounded in love one toward another, and that you love the lost too. Right? That's why we go out and preach the gospel, because we do love people. We do want to help them. We don't want to see people go to hell, and then he says in verse 18, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge. So that's the idea. That's the important thing for being in the word of God on a daily basis, coming to church, being around people of God, all those things that we talk about, and then he says that you might be filled with all the fullness of God. Okay? We're either going to get filled with the fullness of God, or we're going to be filled with the foolishness of the world. Okay? And that's just kind of how it goes, and we definitely want to minimize that stuff so that we can be effective. Okay? So that we can be wise people. Look at verse 20. He says, now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us. So keep that in mind the next time you're feeling down and out. Okay? Our God, Christ, is able, look at what it says here. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. So when we have problems, and we're concerned, and we're getting filled with anxiety, which all of us do from time to time, we need to remember this. Okay? That he is exceeding, he's able to do exceeding abundantly more than what you think. You get in a situation, you're like, okay, if I could just have this much money, if I could just have this much, you know, whatever it is. Okay? God's able to give you way much more than that and to bless you and to be able to take care of you in ways you don't even understand. Okay? All things work together for good to them that love God. Verse number 21, and we're done. Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Okay? So again, he's saying, hey, understand this, guys, understand that our world doesn't end. Okay? You can kill me, you can do whatever you want to, you can kill the body, you can put the body down, but you can never, ever take away my eternal life. All you can do is change my location. And so again, unto him be the glory in the church. Okay? And that's the thing. Most churches today, is Christ the glory? Is he really the center? No. And look, any church that has, you know, a false Bible version, do you think that Christ is the center of that church? Absolutely not. It's impossible. We've gone over this a thousand times. Okay? God's not using them in the way that he wants. He's not using them to demonstrate his wisdom to the principalities and powers. He can't because they have no power. They're using a book that has been butchered, had verses extracted from it, twisted, having things inserted. Okay? That doesn't produce wisdom. That produces the wiles of the devil is what that produces. And people are, oh, I can't believe you'd say that. You're so divisive. Yeah, fine, whatever. I don't care. You're going to say it anyway, so just say it. So we're going to stop right there and just remember, okay? At the end of the day, you ought to be proud. Hey, look, you ought to be proud and thankful that we are the goyim that annoy him. Okay? It's just what it is. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Thank you so much, Lord, again, for this building, for everything that you do for us, for this church. Let's pray that you'd bless our week, Lord, and be with us. Bless the fellowship after the service. Bring us again safely on Wednesday. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.