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Amen, all right, keep your place there in Philippians chapter three. So I have a toothache tonight, so if I start yelling all of a sudden for no reason, it's not anything in the sermon, it's just because my tooth hurts. So it's funny, my teeth didn't hurt until I went to the dentist, now my tooth hurts. I mean, how does that work? Anyway, okay, Philippians chapter three. So it's not a long chapter, but it's a great chapter in the Bible. A couple big things Paul is talking about here and we're gonna tackle tonight. We'll start out, he's kind of giving a warning in Philippians chapter three. He's kind of warning against certain things. We get a hint of some certain things that might be happening in the church in Philippi. So if we look down at verse number one, the Bible says, "'Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord, "'to write the same things to you. "'To me, indeed, is not grievous, "'but for you it is safe.'" Then he says, "'Beware of dogs, "'beware of evil workers, beware of the concision.'" Turn to Psalm chapter 22. So dogs, he uses this word dog. So I'm not gonna spend a lot of time on this, but if you're a dog lover, the Bible might not be for you because the Bible pretty much never talks about dogs in a good light. The word dog here is obviously not being used literally, but it's talking about people who are evil workers who are doing things that are wicked in the church. If you look at Psalm chapter 22, I'll just give you another example of the Bible in this. Look at verse number 16 where the Bible is, it's given a prophecy of Christ here. The Bible says, "'For dogs have compassed me. "'The assembly of the wicked have enclosed me. "'They pierced my hands and my feet. "'I may tell all my bones they look and stare upon me. "'They part my garments among them "'and cast lots upon my vesture.'" So Paul's not talking about nice people. He's talking about the people that killed Christ. He's talking about dogs, evil workers that are in the church that are doing bad things. And then he kind of switches gears in verse number three and we kind of get an idea of some of the things that might be happening in the church. And you look at Philippians chapter three and verse number three, the Bible says, "'For we are the circumcision, "'which worship God in the Spirit, "'and rejoice in Christ Jesus, "'and have no confidence in the flesh.'" Now, I know that we've studied this extensively in the book of Romans, but this is an interesting statement here in Philippians chapter three and verse three because he says, "'For we are the circumcision.'" Now, is Paul talking to people who are mainly Jews here? No, he's talking to the church at Philippi, which is in Greece. So he's talking to people who, it would be assumed are mainly Gentiles. And he's saying, "'We are the circumcision, "'which worship God in the Spirit, "'and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have what?' They have no confidence in the flesh. Okay, now turn to Romans chapter nine and verse number six. We'll just do a quick recap on what Paul talked about in the book of Romans because he's talking about the exact same thing here in Philippians chapter three. Go to Romans chapter nine and verse number six. Romans chapter nine and verse number six, where the Bible says, Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect, for they are not all Israel, which are of Israel. Verse number seven, Neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children, but in Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. Now, I'm not gonna re-preach the whole Romans chapter nine sermon because he goes into this huge thing about how the promise was split off between Isaac and Ishmael and the whole thing, but if we look down at verse number 30, he's talking about that the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God, okay? Look at verse number 30 of Romans chapter nine. What shall we say then, that the Gentiles which followed not after righteousness have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of what? Of faith. But Israel which followed after the law of righteousness hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore, why not? So he's saying the Gentiles have attained to this and Israel has not. And then he says wherefore, which means why not? Because why? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were the works of the law for they stumbled at that stumbling stone. So look, Israel had fallen into apostasy. The religion of the Jews had fallen into apostasy. And I sound like a broken record, especially after the American heresy series, but what was the apostasy that they appeared to have fallen into? Works, that you can work your way to heaven, okay? Turn to Romans chapter four. We could go Bible, I mean, we could just go into the, I mean, this is taught very clearly in all of the Bible. Turn to Romans chapter four and look at verse number one. Let's look at Abraham, okay? Let's look at Abraham. Abraham, in the Old Testament, in Romans chapter four and verse number one, the Bible says, what shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? It's saying what has the fact, what did his flesh get him? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God. Now this is what James chapter two is about. It's about people seeing your works and your works profiting other people. So what he's saying here is that Abraham, if he had works, if he was justified by works to men, he would be justified by works to men, but not before God. Because no one can be justified before God by their works. Verse number three, for what sayeth the scripture? It says Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Abraham was saved the same way that you are. The gospel has not changed. Verse number four, now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. It's a very powerful verse right there. Saying if you wanna work your way to heaven, you are gonna come up short every time. All you will find, I don't care how good you are, you are going to come up with debt. That is it. Look at number five, verse number five. But to him that worketh not, but what? But believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Those are two great verses to bring to people who believe that you have to do good works to get to heaven, right there. Here you have a man that worketh not, but he's justified. So you have two men here in verse number four and verse number five. One man, the man in verse number four, you as a man may look at and think they're a better man, a better person than the person in verse number five. But the guy in verse number five is going to heaven and the guy in verse number four is not, according to the Bible, because he's gonna come up with debt. It's about believing on him that justifieth the ungodly. That's it. Verse number six, even as David also described it, the blessedness of the man unto whom God impudeth righteousness, what? Without works. The Bible is so clear on this. Abraham was saved the same way you are, the same way I am, and it's by faith. In faith alone. Go back to Philippians. So we see that, you know, there was this apostasy that Israel had fallen into was this apostasy of works. Now Paul goes even deeper into this in verse number four. Philippians chapter three in verse number four where the Bible reads, though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more. Okay, now what he is saying here is very similar to when people were speaking in other languages, when we talked about speaking in tongues. Paul said, hey, don't be speaking in other languages in the church. No one can understand what you're saying. He's like, I speak more languages than all of you. All right, so he's saying it's the same type of speech that he's doing here. He's saying, though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more. What do you mean, Paul, why? Look at verse number five. He's saying if people think that they can trust in the fact that they're Jewish or of Jewish heritage is what he's saying. He's like, I can do that the most, he says. And look at verse number five. Circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin and Hebrew of the Hebrews as touching the law of Pharisee. Paul knew his heritage. Look, the northern kingdom is gone, which was the 10 lost tribes, but there was a remnant of Benjamin that went down to the lower kingdom of Judah, and there was the Levites and Judah in the lower kingdom, and there were some Benjamites in Judah. So Paul knew where he came from, okay? So not only was he circumcised like he was supposed to do, he was of the stock of Israel, he's talking about his bloodline of the tribe of Benjamin and Hebrew of the Hebrews, and we'll talk about that in a minute, as touching the law of Pharisee. I mean, he just wasn't any Jew. I mean, he was a top dog. So he's saying, you know, is there value there? It's interesting wording. You know, this is the kind of, of the stock of Israel, this is the kind of, this is the kind of language we would use in the livestock business. You know, that's good stock, we would say. We would drive all the way across the country to buy a ram, or buy, you know, sheep that had good bloodlines, a good stock. We would drive thousands of miles for that. It was super important. Let's look at what Paul says about it. Look at verse number six. He continues, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gained to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ my Lord. And this is how much he thinks of all those things he just listed. For whom I have suffered the loss of all things, all those things he talked about. And do count them but dung, that I may win Christ. Look, he gave it all up. He gave it all up. Now who was he? Paul was really somebody. Turn to Acts 23. What did he give up? Let's look at it. Acts chapter 23. Acts chapter 23. Let's just look at a few verses in the Bible that tell us who Paul was. So we know he was of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, and as touching the law, he was a Pharisee, the Bible says. Acts 23, six, the Bible says, but when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the others were Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. Of the hope and resurrection of the dead, I am called in question. Turn to Galatians chapter one. He was a Pharisee and he was the son of a Pharisee. He was carrying on the family tradition here. Turn to Galatians chapter one. Galatians chapter one. Look at verse number 13. And the Bible says, for you have heard of my conversion, or my conversation, I'm sorry, in time past in the Jews' religion. Okay, so he used to be of the Jews' religion. This is super important, don't forget those two words. How that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God and wasted it, and profited in what? In the Jews' religion above many my equals in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my father. So this guy was like going above and beyond. If you remember on the road to Damascus, he went to Damascus on his own will accord to get more orders to get more Christians and throw them in jail, okay? And he was at the stoning of Stephen. Saul, before he got converted, was there. And it said he was consenting unto his death, the Bible says. So he was in the Jews' religion, okay? He was higher, he was more ambitious than even the people that were his equals, the other Pharisees. Turn to John chapter five. So what was the Jews' religion? Turn to John chapter five. Now look, I used to think growing up that the only difference between the Jewish religion and the Christian religion was that the Jews just didn't believe the New Testament. That's what I used to think, okay? But let's look at what Jesus says here, because the Bible explains this very clearly in John chapter five and elsewhere. We're gonna read this whole story in John chapter five. In John chapter five, we have a situation where Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath day, okay? And many people of the religious Jews of the time are upset with him for doing this. Let's look at verse number one, where the Bible says, after this there was a feast of the Jews and that Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. So these handy, can't even say that, these disabled people would come down to the water and they would wait to be healed by this miracle of this water, okay? And the Bible says in verse number four, for an angel went down at a certain season into the pool and troubled the water. Whosoever then first, after the troubling of the water, stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had had. And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity 30 and eight years. This man was 38 years old. When Jesus saw him lie, and he knew that he had now been, now a long time in that case, he said unto him, wilt thou be made whole? The impotent man answered him, sir, I have no man when the water is troubled to put me into the pool. But while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. So this man has probably been doing this for some time and he can never be the first one in because other people are having people help them into the pool and all these types of things. Jesus saith unto him, rise, take up thy bed and walk. Jesus says, just, he just heals him. And immediately the man was made whole and took up his bed and walked. And on the same day was the Sabbath. The Jews, therefore, said unto him that was cured, it is the Sabbath day, it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed. He answered them, the he that made me whole, the same said unto me, take up thy bed and walk. Then asked they him, what man is this that said unto thee, take up thy bed and walk? And he that was healed was not who it was, for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that place. Afterward, Jesus find him in the temple and say unto him, behold, thou art made whole. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus which had made him whole. And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus and sought to slay him because he had done these things on the Sabbath day. So this is just one more case of it's just very interesting that it didn't really matter that they know, they saw him do a miracle, or it was the same thing when he raised Lazarus from the dead. They never questioned the miracle or questioned that, it's just that they just didn't, they just wanted, they wanted him dead after this happened. Okay, so he had healed on the Sabbath, look at verse number 17. So that's the first thing he did, he healed on the Sabbath day. But Jesus answered them, my father worketh hitherto and I work. Verse number 18, therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him because he had not only had broken the Sabbath but said that God was his father, making himself equal with God. Now skip down to verse number 45. So here he had basically called himself God and he had healed this man on the Sabbath day. Look at verse number 45, Jesus is basically just ripping face on these people at this point. Because they don't believe him, they don't believe in him. Okay, and Jesus explains why, right here. Verse number 45, do not think that I will accuse you to the father, there is one that accuses you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me, for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words? That is the problem, right there. The Jews did not believe the Bible. Because Jesus said that if they would have believed the Bible, they would have believed him, who he was. It's very simple, turn to Luke 16. Look, this is not the only time that Jesus said this, that the Bible says this, turn to Luke 16. So what does that have to do with believing in Jesus? Well, the whole Bible talks about Jesus. The whole Bible prophesies the coming of Jesus. Jesus showed up in Genesis 14 as Melchizedek. Jesus showed up in Daniel chapter three, in the fiery furnace, where Nebuchadnezzar looked, and he threw three men in, and there was four. He said, one is like the son of God, capital S. It was Jesus, in the Old Testament. The Bible talks over and over, there's dozens and dozens and dozens of prophecies. We already read one in Psalm 22, where the Old Testament talks about Jesus. Jesus said, if you would have believed Moses, you would have believed me. Look at Luke 16, in verse number 23. This is the rich man who's thrown into hell. In verse number 23, the man has just died, and he wakes up in hell, and in hell he lifts up his eyes, being in torments, and seeing Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. A terrible story here. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receiveth thou good things, and likewise Lazarus, evil things, but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all of this, between us and you, there's a great gulf fixed, so that they that which pass from you hence cannot, neither can they pass to us, that would come from hence. Once you're in hell, that's it, you're done. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, Father, that thou would send him to my father's house. He's saying, okay, I can't get out. He's like, but please someone go and tell my family, so they don't end up here too. For I have five brethren, that he might testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham said unto him, they have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. Isn't that interesting? Verse number 29, and he said, nay, Father Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto them, if they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. A miracle isn't gonna help. Jesus did all these miracles in front of all these Pharisees. And the Bible says that they could not believe. They could not believe. They still didn't believe, okay? So look, those that did not accept Christ did not believe the Bible. Or maybe it's if they didn't believe the Bible, they would not accept Christ. That's the way it worked. That was the religious leader of the Jews. They were teaching works. That's the religion of the Jews. They were teaching works. Now look, there's a great parallel to this today. There is a great parallel to this today, and I've said this before, but I have seen this dozens of times. If someone does not believe the Bible, if you find someone that doesn't believe the Bible, they will not accept the gospel. I've seen it over and over. If they don't believe the Bible's true, they don't believe the Bible is God's word, there will be some point of the gospel. They may let you give them the gospel. That's what's really interesting about it. Because that would be a logical conundrum, wouldn't it? If you gave the gospel to someone who didn't believe, because Jesus is the word became flesh, and this is the word. But isn't it interesting that if they don't believe the Bible, which is the word, which is Jesus, that they won't believe on Jesus? Isn't it funny how that works? That's what's happening. It's a great parallel to this. If people don't believe the Bible, they won't accept the gospel. And here's another thing. What is most Christianity today teaching? Lordship, salvation, repent of your sins to be saved. Most Christianity today is teaching works. Super interesting. The Jews' religion has gone the same way that Christianity today has gone. That's the same thing has happened, okay? Look back at verse number nine in Philippians chapter three. Verse number nine in Philippians chapter three. I'll reread for you verse number eight, where the Bible says, yay, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ. All those things, him being a Pharisee, him being of the tribe of Benjamin, he counts all that as dung, he says. And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. The opposite of works, folks. Verse number 10, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death. So basically Paul is saying, look, the only thing that's important is having faith on Jesus Christ. And the works of the law is the opposite of that, okay? Look at verse number 11. If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead, not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow after that I may apprehend for that which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Of course, are we perfect? Are we complete? No, we will always have this flesh as long as we're on this earth until we're resurrected on that day. Look at verse number 13. Brethren, I count myself not to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before. This is another interesting little note here. He's basically saying, look at Paul's past. I mean, can you imagine? Some of you may think you have a past, a sinful past. Look at Paul's past. He literally murdered people, okay? And he's saying, look, don't focus on the past. Focus forward. He's saying, that's what we're supposed to do. Your sins of your past, if you're saved, are under the blood. That's it. I mean, just think about this. Would obsessing over your past help or hurt your Christian life going forward? Think about that. I mean, I've used this analogy before. I'll use it again. Think about being lost in the forest. You're lost in the forest. You have no idea where you are. You're scared. You're lost. And somebody just runs out to you and gives you a map and says, hey, here's exactly where you are. Here's how to get out. And here's where you need to go to get home. And you just, you get the map. You understand the map. You're good to go. And you just sit down on the ground in the forest and you just pout for years. Think about it. That's what people do. People that get saved and just focus on their past. I don't care how old you are, anything like that. If you're saved, focus forward. That's it. God doesn't even remember your sin, he says. Look at verse number 14. So what does he do instead of focusing on the past? I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded, and if anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule. Let us mind the same thing. Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye would have for us as an example. For many walk of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping that they are the, I tell you even weeping that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things. So these people that come in and they're after, they're here to split up things, and they're here to bring in false doctrine, these evil workers as he talks about in the beginning, they're there for their own benefit, their own belly. You know, these prosperity gospel preachers that lead these mega churches, they're there for their own belly. Okay, they're there for their own earthly things. They're private jets. He's saying watch for deceivers who have their own gain in mind. So look, I mean, you know, that'll happen here too. I mean, people will come here for their own motives, money, vanity, pride, whatever, people will come, and we're just gonna have to deal with that when it happens. But any church that's following the Bible, that's why Paul warns over and over and over to watch for these types of people, okay? Look at verse number 20. For our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is even able to subdue all things unto himself. Turn to 1 Corinthians 15. So he's talking about the first resurrection here, okay? 1 Corinthians chapter 15. So right now we have this vile body, and Paul's saying that this vile body's gonna be changed at some point, okay? Let's look at 1 Corinthians chapter 15, and I'll show you where that's gonna be changed. He's talking about the resurrection. In 1 Corinthians 15, we get the order of these resurrections. We'll just recap it. Verse number 23. But every man in his own order, Christ the first fruit. So the first thing that happened was Jesus was resurrected. Afterward, they that are Christ's at his coming. This is the first resurrection. Verse number 24. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when he shall put down all rule and all authority and power. Now jump down to verse number 50. Verse number 50 of the same chapter, for sake of time, where the Bible says, Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. What in the world does that mean? But look, he explains it now in verse number 51. Flesh and blood, this vile body, will not inherit the kingdom of God. Look at verse number 51. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible shall put on incorruption. This mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible should have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. Look, your body is in corruption right now. I hate to break it to you. You have a corruptible body right now. Your body is dying every day. But you're gonna get an incorruptible body. This vile body is going to be changed in the twinkling of an eye, just like that. And all of you, once again, the good news is, all of you will be part of the first resurrection. So you will rule and reign with Christ in the millennial kingdom, all right? The rapture. At that point, you will put on incorruption. All right, you will be changed. All right, so that's Philippians chapter three. I just wanna make an application out of this whole chapter tonight, though. I think that Paul might have been having some of the same problems in reading this chapter that they were having in Acts chapter 15, where, you see, Jesus came to the Jews, and they preached the gospel to the Gentiles. So now you started having these churches with Jews and Gentiles in these churches. And I mean, there were some cultural problems here. And Acts chapter 15 is a perfect example. Even Peter had to be rebuked by Paul at one point, okay? So let's talk about heritage and this genealogy and wrap it all up together for you, because there's some strange teaching on this out there. So look back at verse number five of Philippians chapter three. Verse number five. Paul basically just lays out his genealogy right here. He says, circumcise the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law of Pharisee. But he said he counted it all as dung. He's like, it meant nothing. It meant nothing. He was high up in the Jewish religion of unmixed, you know, Jewish blood, is what he's saying here. Okay, now this genealogy thing today is very popular. There's a lot of things going on with genealogy today, with like DNA studies. I mean, look at, they're catching all these killers now with this genealogy stuff, you know, because people, you don't even have to, you don't even have to have ever taken a genealogy test, and they can find some cousin or something, and they can match you up with, you know, somebody that's committed a, not match you up, but that's how they found these killers, because their relatives had taken, you know, ancestry.com. That's how they caught the guy that was living a mile away from me in Sacramento. I mean, he was literally a mile away from my house. He had never filled out any kind of genealogy, blood test, anything like that, but what they did was they found somebody, they had DNA from crime scenes, they found somebody who had a match of that DNA, and then they just looked for people of relatives of that person that were living in the places of the murders over the last 30 years, and they narrowed it down to two people, and then they followed him around, and they followed, one guy was like in a nursing home or something, he couldn't have been the guy. They followed this one guy around. They like found he threw away a coffee cup. They grabbed it, got him, just like that. Now they're breaking all kinds of cases like this, but I mean, that's the interesting side of it, okay, but what does the Bible actually say about it, all right? Think about this. In 2013, there was a couple articles that came out. Now here's the interesting thing about genealogy. This is, the secular science will tell you this, okay? Live science, ABC News, many more people came out. They started studying all these different people's genealogies, because now they can do it. People are signing up for it. They can look at where you came from, your ancestry, all this kind of stuff, right? So they basically found that as early back as a thousand years ago, all Europeans are related to each other. I mean, all Europeans are related to each other. You say, how is that possible? Well, let's just do some math, all right? Your genealogy, your generational count, is basically the formula of two to the X power. It's an exponential equation, okay? So if you wanna look at how many parents you have, two to the one power is two. You have two parents, right? How many grandparents do you have? Two to the two power? You have four grandparents, right? Two to the three power? Anybody? You have eight great grandparents, okay? Now, that's how this goes. It just keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger. It's an exponential equation. So if we just go back five generations, you have 32 ancestors, five generations back, okay? Now, how long is a generation, you say? A generation is typically agreed on that it's from 20 to 30 years, is a generation, all right? You say, I don't believe you. Well, Garrett is 18, and it's possible that he could get married and have children in the next, I don't know, five years or so. That's very possible, right? So that would be a 23-year generation from my child to his child, right? Now, if you take this out 10 generations, you have 1,024 ancestors, okay? That's a lot of ancestors. 20 generations. So 20 generations would be 400 years, okay? If you go back 20 generations, you have 1,048,576 ancestors, okay? If you go back 1,000 years, 1,000 years, which is where these articles came out a few years ago that talked about how everybody's related, basically, right? If you go back 1,000 years, you have 1.1 quadrillion ancestors, okay? Now look, here's a little bit of a confusing thing. In 1,000 years ago, the population of the Earth was about 250 to 300 million. That is a fraction of 1.1 quadrillion. So you say, how does that work? Well, here's why it works that way. Because if you marry your first cousin, don't marry your first cousin, but if you marry your first cousin, you only have six unique grandparents, okay? Great grandparents, I'm sorry. You see how the circles or the fans of your family tree overlap each other because people married relatives. And, you know, everybody's related to everybody. That's what I'm trying to get you to understand. You can prove it by math, all right? So, you know, you say, why do we look different? Well, because not everybody, you know, you inherit the traits of your closest relatives or the people that live closest to you, right? I mean, you don't get traits from all those 300 million ancestors that you have. You only get traits, you know, the traits of, you know, the first, I don't know, several dozen, I suppose. But that's why we look different. Traits are not passed down from everyone to everyone, right? We would have sheep and, you know, if you had a white sheep and a brown sheep, you'd have some white lambs and you'd have some brown lambs and you'd have some brown and white lambs and then you'd have a black and white lamb because that trait is still there, you see? That trait is still carried by the sheep, all right? Now, what does the Bible say about it? So that's how we understand it all, okay? Turn to Titus chapter three because the Bible actually has a lot to say about this, all right? The Bible has a lot to say about this. And Paul's basically saying, look, you know, I count all this but dumb, all right? Look at Titus chapter three. Titus chapter three, look at verse number nine. Verse number nine. Titus chapter three and verse number nine, the Bible says, but avoid foolish questions and genealogies and contentions and strivings about the law for they are unprofitable and vain. It's just vanity. It means nothing. That's what he says, okay? Turn to 1 Timothy chapter one. When I was working with these Armenians and I actually went to Armenia, which is a very, it's a very homogeneous country. Like, you don't see a lot of, like, I'm pretty sure I was the only, you know, brown-haired, blue-eyed guy there in the entire country. I look completely different than everybody. They were all Armenian, okay? And we actually went up to, on some vacation days, we went up to some mountains and there were some churches carved in the mountains and a couple of my friends took me up to these sites to see the sites and these people that lived in the mountains, they were Armenians too, okay? But they were a lot darker-skinned and a couple of my coworkers basically said, oh, those are mountain people, they're trash. I mean, they were racist against their own people, you know? There were Armenians being racist against other Armenians because they had a different skin tone than they did, okay? Turn to 1 Timothy chapter one. I don't even know if that's relevant to what we're talking about, but I mean, it's just interesting that people put all this value in all these things that the Bible says there's no value there, okay? 1 Timothy chapter one, look at verse number four, where the Bible says, neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies which minister questions rather than godly edifying which is in faith so to do. It's funny, because when I was reading about this, another thing that popped up was a lot of these people that worked at these sites that had written articles and things, they said, you know what? A lot of times, this just confuses people. Isn't that funny? Because that's what the Bible says it's gonna do, right? They said a lot of times, people, they just end up getting confused because, oh, I think I'm Irish and I wanna have this great Irish heritage and I go and I get my DNA tested and I'm like Italian or something. And you're like, oh, my whole life is wrecked, you know? But the Bible's saying it's just endless genealogies. It just ministers more questions than anything, right? But guess what? I mean, people, there's infidelity in families or maybe somebody wasn't truthful about their family tree or whatever. I mean, it's just confusing, the Bible says. It's just gonna administer questions rather than godly edifying, all right? So look, you shouldn't wanna identify with a group of people, a heritage of people, okay? Or a bloodline of people. Look, don't get me wrong what I'm saying. I'm extremely proud of my grandfather, okay? But I'm proud of him because of the man that he was. I'm proud of him because of his integrity and the way that he raised me, because of his bravery, because of the man that he was, because of the legacy he left behind with his family and who he was personally. But as far as being Ukrainian or whatever, I mean, I count it as done. I mean, it's crazy to even think about it. Turn to Galatians chapter three, Galatians chapter three. We could go all day on Bible on this stuff, all right? Galatians chapter three. Let's look at what Paul was talking about, all right? Because Galatians chapter three pretty much wraps it up right here. Galatians chapter three in verse number 26. I'm gonna wait till you all get there. Galatians chapter three in verse number 26. This pretty much wraps up what Paul was talking about when he was talking about his genealogy and who he was and being a Pharisee. I mean, right here, Galatians three, 26. The Bible says, for ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. So you're the children of God, why? By faith in Christ Jesus. That's how you're the children of God. For as many of you who have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Verse number 28. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither bond nor free. There is neither male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then ye are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Remember Romans? They are not all Israel, which are of Israel. Because why? Because they sought it not by faith. So if you have the faith, guess what? You're Israel. That's it. I'm looking at Israel right here. And it's not of the flesh. Because it's not of the flesh, it's by faith. See? You are Israel. Turn to Acts chapter 17. The Bible even addresses racism. This idea that, you know, something in your genealogy makes you better than somebody else, okay? Acts chapter 17. Look at verse number 26. Acts chapter 17 and verse number 26. Let's just look at racism in the Bible real quick. The Bible says in verse number 26, and hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation. Look, we're all of one blood. That's it. I mean, look, we're not all of the same nation. All nations weren't equal, but nations meant cultures. Okay, different cultures. There was nations that turned against God. And those were the nations that God told the children of Israel to destroy when they went into the Promised Land. Okay? But what about Israel? You know, wasn't their race favored? Turn to Exodus chapter 12. Exodus chapter 12. Let's look at what made Israel special. The children of Israel in the Old Testament. Exodus chapter 12. And I'm gonna show you that it had nothing to do with their race. Nothing. Okay? Look at verse number 48. And when a stranger, Exodus 12 and verse number 48, and when a stranger sojourn with thee, meaning someone from outside of the nation of Israel comes in, okay, a stranger, somebody else, and will keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and let him come near and keep it. And he shall be what? He shall be a substandard person? He shall be, you know, put out from among you? Look what it says. So basically he's saying, if they shall keep the Passover, if they convert to your religion, if they convert to the one true God, who these people were worshiping at this point. Okay, this is not Jesus' time here. And he shall be as one that is born in the land, for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof. Look, if they converted, they were to be as home-born. But it was not about their heritage. It was about what? They believed. In the Old Testament, it's the same. Same, you're saved the same way. In the Old Testament, as you are in the New Testament. It's by belief. Period. More proof, go to Deuteronomy chapter seven. Deuteronomy chapter seven. Deuteronomy chapter seven in verse number three. Now Deuteronomy chapter seven in verse number three has been used by people who are racist throughout history. Okay? But let's look at what the Bible says. The Bible says in Deuteronomy seven in verse number three, neither shall thou make marriages with them, thy daughter shall not. He's talking about of the people of the land. When they went into the land of Canaan and they conquered, and they were supposed to wipe these people out, but they didn't. Not all of them. So they were not supposed to make marriages with these outside nations, okay? Neither shalt thou make marriages with them, thy daughter shalt thou not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. Well that's teaching against having a mixed marriage. People have taught this before in the past. Let's read one more verse. Look what the Bible says. Why? Why is he saying this? Verse number four. Why? For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods. So will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you and destroy thee suddenly. He didn't want them mixing with the nations outside of Israel because they would turn to their gods. And they would stop following the true God and it would destroy their nation. Turn to first Kings chapter 11. This actually happened several times in the Bible. Turn to first Kings chapter 11. God is warning them against this. He's like, if you want to stay in the land, if you want to be blessed by me, he's given them all these rules about following the one true God. And this was one of them. Don't marry strange wives. First Kings chapter 11. We're talking about King Solomon here. But King Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, the Ammonites, the Edomites, the Zidonians, and the Hittites. These people were pagans. They all worshiped false gods. Some of them sacrificed children to these false gods. These were wicked nations that God wanted wiped out when the people, children of Israel came into the land. For it came to pass, verse number four, when Solomon was old, that his wives did what? They turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. Look, it was all about what you believed, folks. It was about worshiping the one true God. And that's what was wrong with these other nations, and why God was so angry with these nations, and why God ended up destroying the nation of Israel in the north, and the nation of Judah in the south, because they just turned away from him, period. He warned them, and warned them, and warned them. It was never about their bloodline, or who their father was. You know, the promise of the Messiah through David, that was about, that was a promise, that the Messiah would come through David. That was a promise. That David's kingdom would reign forever. And the way God did that was he kept David's lineology all the way through the kings, and then when Jesus was born, he took that promise into eternity. That was about, but that's a different promise, okay? It was all about what you believed, folks. You know, DNA research literally proves this. We all have the same ancestors anyway. So I mean, we might as well just get used to that. So genealogies are to be avoided. They're foolish vanity. You know, the problem, if we go back to Jesus's day, and what Paul was talking about, the problem with the Jews that persecuted and killed Jesus, it was not their bloodline. It was their religion. It was their religion. They followed a religion of works. They did not believe the Bible, and that's why they didn't believe in Jesus. It's that simple, folks. It's not about who your grandfather was. It's what you believe. All right? I mean, think about it. If you believe that you're better than others because of, you know, your genealogy, or God forbid that you think that you have better access to God because of your genealogy, you know, shame on you. That's not in the Bible, all right? You're saved today. You are Israel. Again and again, the Bible teaches this. Your fate is literally, I mean, literally sealed by what you believe, not who you came from, okay? I mean, it's a beautiful thing. So if you don't believe in the Bible, you're not gonna believe in Jesus. I mean, that's the bottom line. It hasn't changed from the fact, from Jesus's time. It hasn't changed to today. So what do I think of the Jews today? I think they need to be saved. I think the same of the Jews today as I think of the Catholics today. They need to be saved. They need to hear the gospel. Okay, they're following a false religion. We study false religion after false religion after false religion over the last several weeks. It's just another Christ denying religion. That's it. They need salvation. And salvation is by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's always been that way, and it always will be that way. That's it, okay? Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this book of the Bible, Lord. We thank you for the Apostle Paul and his great example, and just the fact that he could, he was such a great example to the people in these churches, Lord, and just the wonderful words that you and the Holy Spirit wrote with him is just amazing, Lord. We thank you for these lessons in the Bible. We thank you for all these people that would be faithful to church on Thursday night, Lord. We ask that you bless this church, Lord, grow this church. Bless the rest of everyone's week, Lord, and we love you. We pray this all in Jesus' name, amen.