Practice English Speaking&Listening with: Les Feldick - 36-3-1 - Through the Bible Program #9905

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ANNOUNCER>> (Music) Welcome to

Through the Bible with Les

Feldick, a 30-minute walk

through the scriptures teaching

in-depth Bible truths that

change people's lives.

Now here's your host,

Les Feldick.

LES FELDICK>> Okay, good to

see everybody in again this

afternoon. And for those of

you watching on television,

I think most of you are

aware now that we produce

four programs in succession

and we just like to welcome

every one of you in the

studio here as well as our

television audience. Again,

we always like to remind

folks that all of our past

programs are available

on video and the printed

page, audio and if you're

interested in any of these

materials, we don't push

them as a money making

scheme whatsoever, but if

you're interested in any

of this, you call us on

our 800 number or drop us

a note and we'll get this

information to you. We

have a list that shows

the subject matter of all

the last eight years of

television, is that what it

is, Honey? And it's gone so

fast, but anyway, it is all

available and you call us

and let us know if we can

help you in any way. All

right, I guess we're ready

to get right back into The

Book where we left off in

our last taping, or our

last program. Now when

these people see this daily

of course, it's not a month

ago for them, but for those

of you in the studio it was

a month ago when we left

off in Ephesians chapter 2

and we're going to pick up

as Roy's already got it on

the board, Ephesians 2

verse 11. And now again,

Paul is going to use that

word that is almost one of

his favorites and it's

'wherefore.' And the first

thing I always point out is

that when Paul uses that

word 'wherefore', it's a

flashback of what he has

just covered. And he

repeats himself, not as

much as I do, but just

about and so what he is

referring to is, what he

has just covered in these

earlier verses of chapter 2

which deals primarily with

the whole concept that we

become new persons in

Christ. We become a new

creation, not by virtue of

anything that we have done

but all by Faith plus

Nothing! And I know that

rankles a lot of people

because they still are

under the impression,

you've got to do this,

you've got to do that but

if they would just study

Paul's emphasis, is the

word I want to use. If they

would just look at Paul's

emphasis of how we enter

into that Salvation

experience, it's not

by what we DO it's by

BELIEVING what Christ has

already done. And so in

these previous verses

he says that by Grace,

dropping down just to take

a quick review, verse 8,

"For by grace are you saved

through faith (see and

there's nothing else listed

in there. It's just our

Faith and made possible by

the grace of God and that

it's) not of ourselves it

is the gift of God." And

then he goes on to say why

we are then as Believers to

serve, because after all

God didn't just save us as

a fire escape, as I've put

it so often. He saved us

to serve Him while we're

here on earth and in this

earthly pilgrimage. All

right now then, he comes

into verse 11 and I imagine

these are a couple verses

unless they've heard me

teach it, they are almost

unknown to most church

people, Bible students or

whatever, and yet these are

two verses or three that

have made such an impact,

at least on me. Because I

was just like everybody

else, I just saw the whole

thing thrown into a bucket

you know and mixed up and

parceled out until I

started teaching and began

to realize that God was

dealing with Israel on

Covenant ground and then

when Israel rejected the

Messiah and everything and

He turned to the Gentiles

through the Apostle Paul,

and then that's when these

verses became so important

to me and I've used them a

lot in the past programs.

I'm sure a lot of people

will recognize this, but

since it's in the verse by

verse now, why we're going

to hit it again. And he

says, "Wherefore remember

that you being in times

past Gentiles in the

flesh." Now immediately

that reminds us then,

to whom is the Apostle

writing? Well, he's writing

to Gentiles, us. And so

I don't think we have any

Jewish people in here that

I'm aware of but he's

writing primarily to

Gentile people. Now

whenever I teach this

fact of Gentiles being

so completely different

than anything that had

gone before, you want to

remember that at the time

that God called Abraham,

and we'll probably refer to

this before the afternoon

is over again, that when

God called Abraham, every

last human being on the

face of the earth was pagan

idolaters who knew nothing

of the One True God. Not a

soul and that's when God

appeared to Abraham and

pulled out then the Jewish

race or the Nation of

Israel. But the rest of

the world, we lump into the

category of Gentiles. Now a

lot of people, I think, got

the idea that Gentiles are

the Caucasians and that the

Orientals and the Blacks

and the various other races

are something else. But,

Scripturally you see, we

now lump everyone who is

not of the Twelve Tribes

and the beginning of

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,

anyone who is not in that

category is a Gentile,

whether they be black or

white or whatever. Then

the Scripture also refers

to them, as we see here

in verse 11 as "the

uncircumcision." And now

let's read it, "Wherefore

remember that you being in

times past, Gentiles in the

flesh, (that is by virtue

of our genetic background

and our birth) who are

called uncircumcision by

those who are called The

Circumcision in the flesh

made by hand." Now the only

reason I'm going to take

the time to do this,

believe it or not, I've had

people tell me, well I've

mentioned some of this that

you teach to my pastor or

Sunday School teacher and

they'll just say, well,

circumcision doesn't mean

anything so far as one

group of people. It was

just a matter of the

surgical process of the

flesh. And that doesn't

mean anything. Well, I beg

to differ. Now come back

with me if you will then to

Acts chapter 10, and I'm

going to do this just to

show that when the Bible

refers to the uncircumcised,

it's Gentiles. When it refers

to the circumcision, it's

Israel and right here in a

few verses I can prove my

point. And as I tell my

classes here in Oklahoma

all the time, the main

reason I teach is not just

for you to learn, but for

you to teach others. And

we're finding that that is

coming to fruition in so

many areas of the country

where people are actually

taking what they've learned

and using the Scriptures

and going out and teaching

others. Because this is the

way it has to work. All

right now, in Acts chapter

10 and of course for

background, this is when

Peter went up to the house

of Cornelius. First time

that Gentiles have been

approached at all. And

we'll see in another

program how even the Lord

Himself went only to the

Lost Sheep of Israel. But

here, Peter has miraculously

been led by an act of

God up to Caesarea on the

Mediterranean seacoast to

go to a house of Gentiles.

And Peter had a lot of

trepidations. You know

I've always put it, if

you've heard me in the

past, 'heel prints in the

sand' all the way from

Joppa to Caesarea! He

didn't want to go. Anymore

than Jonah wanted to go to

Ninevah. The same kind of

a mindset. Well those are

Gentiles, God, you don't

have anything to do with

Gentiles, but God said

Peter get going, get going!

All right, now when he got

there, here's where you see

that the circumcision is

Jewish, the uncircumcision

are Gentiles. All right

verse 44 of Acts chapter

10 and that's all I'm

trying to show here is the

definition of these two

words, "And while Peter yet

spake these words, the Holy

Spirit fell on all them who

heard the Word and they

of the circumcision who

believed." Now in order to

find out who was in there

of the circumcision other

than Peter, you jump across

the page at least in my

Bible to chapter 11 verse

12 where it says, "And the

Spirit bade me go with

them, nothing doubting

moreover these six brethren

who accompanied me and we

entered into the man's

house." Well, who were the

six brethren? Well, they

were Jews that had come

with Peter from Joppa to

Caesarea. I mean Peter was

just in no mood to go to a

house of a pagan Gentile by

himself. So, I guess for

spiritual protection or

whatever, he took these six

Jewish believers with him

and so there were seven, of

course. All right, now back

to chapter 10 verse 45 and

so, "They of the circumcision

who believed were astonished."

In other words, Peter and

these six other Jews, so

what are they called? 'Of

the circumcision,' see?

"They of the circumcision

were astonished as many

as came with Peter because

that on the (now what's the

word?) Gentiles.that on the

Gentiles was poured out the

gift of the Holy Spirit."

Now come all the way down

to chapter 11 verse 1. Now

this is after the fact,

"And the apostles and

brethren that were in

Judea." Now that means at

Jerusalem where of course,

the core of the early

church was located, "And

the apostles and brethren

that were in Judea heard

that the Gentiles has

received the word of God

and when Peter was come up

to Jerusalem, they who were

of the circumcision (who?

Jews, see?).and so they who

were of the circumcision,

(the Jewish believers at

Jerusalem) contended with

him." Why? Next verse. "And

they said, you went into

men (what's the next word?)

uncircumcised." What were

they called up in chapter

10? Gentiles, see? Now

that's all I'm trying to

show. The Jew over and over

in Scripture is referred to

as 'the circumcision.' The

Gentile on the other hand

is referred to over and

over as the 'uncircumcision.'

We refer to them as Jew

and Gentile. But they're

the same. See? All right,

now then, if you'll come

back to Ephesians chapter

2, I hope I've made my

point. It's just a matter

of definition. That when

we speak of the circumcision,

it's the Jew. It's Israel.

When we speak of

uncircumcision, it's the

non-Jew. And that's all

I put on it. A non-Jew.

Anyone who was not born out

of the lineage of Abraham,

Isaac and Jacob and the

Twelve Tribes of Israel

regardless of whether

they're Oriental, or

whether they're African or

whether they're European or

American or whatever, if

they are a non-Jew they're

a Gentile. And they are

referred to in Scripture

then as the uncircumcision.

All right now back to

Ephesians chapter 2 and we

probably won't finish

everything that's in verse

12 in this half-hour but

that doesn't matter. Now

verse 12. He writes to

these Gentiles. He's

writing to you and I, to

remember where we've come

from and now he tells us

what the situation was

concerning our Gentile

forefathers. Now of course,

we're another 2000

years almost removed from

when Paul wrote but

nevertheless, as we look

back through human history,

it's still the same and so,

"At that time." Well what

time? When God was only

dealing with the Covenant

people of Israel. Now I

guess maybe it's as good a

time as any to put it on

the board, I should have

probably put my timeline up

and been more equipped to

keep it straight because

usually I can't do it when

I draw it without any help.

But you want to remember

that from the time of the

call of Abram and we've had

this on the board over and

over and over, over the

years, 2000 years BC when

God pulled off of this

mainstream of humanity, He

pulled off what we now call

the Nation of Israel by

virtue of the Abrahamic

Covenant. And we'll be

looking at that probably in

the next half-hour again.

And so we always refer to

it as a period of time of

Jew only, but of course

there were exceptions. As

I've already referred to

Jonah went to the city of

Ninevah and Rahab on the

wall of Jericho and Ruth

out of Moab and so forth

but by and large all the

way from Genesis 12, 2000

BC, it's all God dealing

with Israel and not a

Gentile, with these

exceptions. Now as we

finally came to Christ's

earthly ministry then, it

really was pointed out that

God was only dealing with

the Nation of Israel. Now,

if He is only dealing with

Israel where does that

leave the Gentile? Well

read on, see, read on.

"That at that time (from

2000 BC until Paul is sent

to the Gentiles) you (as

Gentiles) were without

Christ." Now we don't have

the word Christ in the Old

Testament but what is that?

Messiah. See? The Messiah.

And so he says, 'You

Gentiles for those 2000

years that God was dealing

only with Israel,' "you

were without a Messiah." No

hope of a Messiah. They

were never promised a

Messiah. All right read on.

"You were aliens from the

commonwealth of Israel."

Now if you're an alien what

are you? You're a

non-citizen. You don't have

any rights. Now you take

today, even with the laxity

that we're showing toward

immigrants, basically

according to our laws and

our constitution, how many

rights does an alien have?

None. He by right of law

has no reason to expect

governmental help, he can't

vote. He's a non-citizen.

All right, now this was the

lot of the Gentile all

during this 2000-year

period of time, with these

exceptions. Now I don't

want to have anybody come

at me and say well what

about Ninevah. Well that

was an exception. But the

rest of the Gentile world

were out there in their

pagan darkness. Worshipping

all their idols of gold and

silver and wood and what

have you. And then of

course, came the

mythological gods and

goddesses of Egypt and

Greece and Rome. But it was

all tied to that same

concept of many gods and

goddesses, which began of

course at the Tower of

Babel. That was the lot of

the Gentile world. Only

Israel had a knowledge and

a contact with and a belief

in the One True God. And

this is what we have to

understand before the

Scriptures open up and

begin to make sense. All

right, now read on in this

verse 12. So not only were

we without a Messiah. Now

when I say 'we' I'm talking

about our Gentile

forefathers. Not only were

they aliens from the

commonwealth of Israel,

they were "strangers to the

covenants of (what?)

promise." Now we always

like to talk about the

point that as soon as God

began to deal with Abraham,

in fact let's go look at

it. We'll have to look at

it again later anyway, but

come back to Genesis 12 and

you'll see why Paul uses

the word, 'the promises'

that the Gentiles were

outside the covenants of

promise. Genesis chapter 12

starting at verse 2.

Genesis chapter 12 verse 2.

I'll give you time to find

it because we know that

people all over the country

in their kitchens and in

their living rooms are

finding it while you are.

All right, in Genesis

chapter 12 dropping down to

verse 2, now just look at

the promises! "I will make

of thee a great nation."

God is speaking. What is

it? A promise. No way

that Abraham could see how.

But God's going to make of

him a great nation. That's

a promise. All right, move

on. I will bless thee. He

didn't say I am blessing

thee, He said I will bless

thee. Well if he hasn't got

it in hand, then what is

it? It's a promise.

Somewhere down the road

it's going to come to

fruition. All right read

on, "I'll make your name

great." Hadn't yet, Abraham

was no different than

anyone else in Ur of the

Chaldees but the day would

come when Abraham would be

a name of renown. See? I

will make your name great.

"Thou shall be a blessing."

Future tense. Hadn't

happened yet. So then what

is it? It's a promise.

Promise! Promise! Promise!

See? And then the greatest

one of all is, in verse 3,

"I will bless them that

bless thee and curse him

who curseth thee." Why?

Because through this man to

whom all the promises were

given would come the

Redeemer for the whole

human race. Not just for

Israel, although that will

come first, but it's going

to end up being the Plan of

Salvation for the whole

human race but it began

with Abraham. See and

that's why I'm always

reminding folks, you take

our Bible from cover to

cover, who wrote it? Sons

of Abraham! See? That's

what we can call Jews. The

Sons of Abraham wrote This

Book. To the last man. And

I'm seeing more and more

proof everyday from various

articles and writers that

even the one that a lot of

people try to say is a

Gentile, he was no Gentile

at all and that was Luke,

the physician. He was not a

Gentile, he was a Jew but

although he had taken on a

Gentile name - so did Saul

of Tarsus. So that wasn't

unusual. Saul was his

Jewish name but once he got

out into the ministry his

name was changed to Paul,

which was a Roman name. But

he was a Jew. All right and

the same way with Luke, so

I still stand on the

premise that this whole

Book came through the Sons

of Abraham. Through Jews.

See? All right, now the

promises, come back to

Ephesians 2 once again. And

so the Gentiles during this

2000 years before Christ,

when God was dealing only

with His Covenant people,

the non-Jewish world were

"strangers from the

covenants of promise." Now

this sounds awful. I mean

this just sounds as though

God was cruel and

unforgiving. No, that

wasn't the case at all.

Because you see, for the

first 2000 years from out

here at the creation of

Adam, all the way past the

Flood, past the Tower of

Babel and up until the call

of Abraham, the whole human

race had opportunity for

Salvation. The whole human

race had access to God, it

wasn't just one group of

people and what did the

whole human race do with

it? Well, they rejected it.

And if you don't believe

me, you'll certainly all

believe the account of the

Flood and I think there

were probably four-five

billion people on the earth

at the time of the Flood

and how many were true

Believers? Eight! Eight!

Now we think we're getting

pretty small in percentage

today, but listen, we're

not that far yet. It may

get to that, but I hope

not. But nevertheless,

that's what happened the

first 2000 years of human

history when the whole

human race had access to

God and Salvation but they

walked it underfoot, they

didn't care. And it's

getting to be the same way

today. Most people don't

care. They have absolutely

no interest in the things

of the Spirit. Why? Because

it's always been that way.

When people say, well

things aren't much

different, I agree. It has,

it's always been this way.

But all right now, they

were "without hope and they

were without (who?) God."

They had no knowledge

whatsoever of the One True

Creator God. They had no

concept of Him; all they

had were their gods. And

their goddesses. And their

temples and what have you.

But so far as the True God

of Creation, there wasn't a

Gentile that knew anything

of Him whatsoever. And so

this was the lot then of

the whole non-Jewish world,

up until we get into the

book of Acts. Now let's go

back and look at it. And

that'll almost be an

introduction then for our

next half-hour. Go to the

book of Acts and I guess

I'm going to start first in

chapter 11. Because a lot

of times I think people

have a hard time believing

me when I say that Christ

in His earthly ministry had

nothing to do with

Gentiles, with two

exceptions. The Canaanite

woman and the Roman

Centurion. Those are the

only Gentiles in Scripture

that Jesus had anything to

do with and that's all we

can go by. I know a lot of

people try to say that

Galilee was Gentile and

since He performed so many

of His miracles, He must

have done it on behalf of

Gentiles, but The Book

never says that. Our Book

says, that they were only

Jews that He dealt with.

Now as you come into the

book of Acts and this is a

recap of course, of

everything that took place

when they were stoning

Stephen, which I maintain

was about seven years after

Pentecost and now in Acts

chapter 11 and verse 19,

seven years after

Pentecost. "And they who

were scattered abroad upon

the persecution that arose

about Stephen, traveled as

far as Phenice and Cyprus

and Antioch preaching the

word." And you want to

remember there's no New

Testament yet, not a word

of New Testament, so what

are they preaching? Old

Testament. Now who in the

world had the Old

Testament? Not the

Gentiles. The Jews. All

right but now read on. They

"went everywhere preaching

the Old Testament to none

but Jew only." See how

plain that is? How can

anybody, well I know they

do. I had a gentleman the

other day, tried to show a

friend of his something and

showed it to him in the

Scripture and the guy read

it, looked him in the eye,

and said, 'but I don't

believe that.' (Laughter)

And he said, 'In other

words, you're calling God a

liar?' Well, he said, 'I

don't care, I don't believe

that.' Well isn't it sad.

But see there's multitudes

of men with beaucoup

degrees behind their name

that just literally would

say, 'I don't believe that.

I think that Jesus

ministered to Gentiles and

Peter ministered to

Gentiles.' But our Bible

says that all the way up

until the stoning of

Stephen they ministered to

'none but Jew only.' And

that's when I started using

the term. When I saw this

verse, years and years ago,

that it was Jew only. All

right, now how did that

come about that it changed?

Now back up if you will to

Saul's conversion, in

chapter 9 and we've got to

do this quickly. The

half-hour is gone. Back to

Acts chapter 9 and I'm not

going to go through all the

ramifications of Saul's

conversion, I haven't got

time for it, but drop all

the way down to verse 15,

where it's a recap written

by Luke of course, of

Saul's conversion and what

happened. Now while Saul is

meeting the Lord on the

road outside Damascus, God

of course, is dealing with

Ananias inside the city.

And so to Ananias the Lord

said in verse 15 now, "Go

thy way for he (this most

feared Jew from

Jerusalem).go thy way for

he is a chosen vessel unto

me to bear my name before

the Gentiles and kings and

the children of Israel."

Now, if you want to see

what the Jews thought of

Gentiles, turn over

quickly, we've got one

minute. Turn over quickly

to Acts 22 and Paul has now

been out amongst the

Gentile world establishing

little congregations. He's

back in Jerusalem and he's

trying to explain to his

Jewish listeners what God

had been doing through him.

And he says in verse 18 now

of Acts 22, "That the Lord

spoke to him while he was

in a trance and said, 'Make

haste get thee quickly out

of Jerusalem.' And then you

come on over to verse 21 as

he comes to the end of his

dissertation he says, "And

the Lord said to me depart

(that is out of Jerusalem)

for I will send thee far

hence to (what people?) the

Gentiles." And goodness

sakes what does the next

verse say? "They listened

to him until that word.

ANNOUNCER>> We want to

invite you to visit

LesFeldick.com where you'll

find all our programs

available on audio, video and

in Book form. You'll also find

many of our on-location

teaching seminars held across

the country, as well as the

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