429 - Les Feldick Bible Study - Lesson 3 - Part 1 - Book 36 - Once You Were Separated From God

https://lesfeldickbiblestudy.com Through the Bible with Les Feldick LESSON 3 * PART 1 * BOOK 36 ONCE YOU WERE SEPARATED FROM GOD Ephesians 2:11a "Wherefore..." Ephesians 2:8 in Acts chapter 9. And then when Israel rejected the Messiah, He chose Saul of Tarsus to go to the Gentiles. Ephesians 2:11a "Wherefore remember that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh,..." To primarily Gentile believers. Now when I teach this facts of Gentiles, the non-Jews, being so completely different than anything that had happened before, you want to remember that at the time that God called Abraham every last human being on the face of the earth was pagan, idolater, Gentiles. At that time there had never been any Jews, and these pagan, idolater, Gentiles knew nothing of the one true God. It was at that time God decided to do something different and appeared to Abraham, and pulled out the Jewish race, and the nation of Israel. Then the Scriptures also refers to us Gentiles as we see here in verse 11, as the uncircumcision. Ephesians 2:11 "Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision (Gentiles) by that which is called the Circumcision (Jews) in the flesh made by hands;" Now come back with me to Acts chapter 10, and I'm doing this just to show that when the Bible refers to the uncircumcised it's Gentiles, and when the Bible refers to the circumcision, then it's Israel, the Jew. "Surely God you don't have anything to do with Gentiles", but God says, "Peter get going." All right when Peter got there, here's where you see that the circumcision is Jewish, and the uncircumcision are Gentiles. Now verse 44 of Acts chapter 10. I mean Peter was in no mood to go to a house of a pagan Gentile by himself. Now coming back to chapter 10 and completing verse 45. Acts 10:45 "And they of the circumcision (Peter and these six other Jews. The Scripture calls them circumcision. Now come all the way down chapter 11, and verse 1. Next verse) 3. What were they called up in chapter 10, verse 45? Gentiles! The Gentile on the other hand is referred to as the uncircumcision. We refer to them as Jew and Gentile. Now verse 12, and we find Paul writes to these Gentiles, and to you and I where we came from, and what the situation was concerning our Gentile forefathers. Ephesians 2:12a "That at that time..." Well at what time? When God was only dealing with the covenant people of Israel from Abraham to begin the nation of Israel, until the fork in the road when Paul was called to go to the Gentiles. Now if he was only dealing with the nation of Israel, then where does that leave the Gentiles? Well read on here in chapter 2. Ephesians 2:12 "That at that time (from 2000 BC until Paul is sent to the Gentiles) ye (Gentiles) were without Christ, (now we don't have the word Christ in the old Testament, but what is it? "Only Israel had a knowledge and a contact with, and a belief in the One True God from Abraham to Paul." So not only were we (our Gentile forefathers) without a Messiah, the Christ. Ephesians 2:12b As soon as God begin to deal with Abraham He made all these promises. Remember the Gentiles were outside the covenants of promise. Genesis chapter 12, verse 2. Now just look at the promises, and since God is speaking these are promises. Genesis 12:2 Genesis 12:3 Sons of Abraham. Luke the physician was not a Gentile, but rather he was a Jew that had taken on a Gentile name, but so did Saul of Tarsus when he was given the name, "Paul" so that wasn't so unusual. When Paul was out in the Gentile ministry he was given a Roman name. Now come back to the Book of Ephesians chapter 2. So the Gentiles during this 2000 years before Christ, when God was dealing only with His covenant people the non Jewish world were what? "...strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:" The whole human race had access to God, it wasn't just one group of people. "...no hope, and without God in the world:" Our Gentile forefathers up until Paul had no knowledge of the One True Creator God. A lot of times 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. So my friend said, "In other words you're calling God a liar?" Now if you want to see what the Jews thought of Gentiles turn quickly to Acts chapter 22. In this chapter Paul has already been out in the Gentile world establishing little congregations, and he's back in Jerusalem, and he's trying to explain to his Jewish listeners what God had been doing though him with the Gentile people. In verse 17 we find Paul in a trance while praying in the temple in Jerusalem, and now let's look at verse 18. 21. And he said unto me, Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles. (what word? Gentiles at the end of verse 21.) Can it get any plainer how the Jews felt about the Gentiles? #LesFeldick #BibleStudy #Bible