Holy Scriptures and Israel

Guest (Female): Shalom. Holy Scriptures and Israel is a ministry designed to share with the Jewish people the good news of the Lord Jesus, Yeshua the Messiah, and to instruct Christians on the Jewish roots of their faith. And now, teaching God's word from a Hebrew-Messianic perspective, here is Gideon Levytam.

Gideon Levytam: Shabbat Shalom. We will begin today, with the help of the Lord, the study of the book of Ephesians. In Hebrew, we call it El Ha'Ephesim, to the Ephesians. This is a very important letter that was written by Paul, by Sha'ul, the servant of the Lord, writing to the believers, not only in Ephesus, not only the Ephesians, but it's really written for the body of Messiah, for the body of Christ, for believers both Jewish and non-Jewish, those who came to trust in our Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

I would like to really give an introduction to the book and at least to dwell mainly on chapter 1, verses 1 and 2. We'll take one step at a time as the Lord enables us so we can have a systematic teaching of this letter that was written for all believers in the present day dispensation of the church age, of the Ecclesia, of the Kehilah. Let's just read chapter 1, verses 1 and 2.

"Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus, in Messiah Yeshua. Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ." I would like, beloved brothers and sisters, just by way of introduction, to open this study and ministry meeting today with the introduction to the book of Ephesians. Let me just say something by way of introduction.

I've noticed for myself, as an Israeli-Jewish believer in Yeshua the Messiah, that since I became a believer over thirty-five years ago, I've noticed one or two things that have happened in the body of Christ, in the church of our Lord Jesus the Messiah. If you find yourself among Gentile Christians, often they will emphasize the teaching of the book of Ephesians. If you find yourself among Jewish Christians or Messianic Jewish people, they will emphasize Romans chapters 9, 10, and 11.

I would like, by the grace of God, to have us all understand the importance of balance in the things of the Lord. We don't want to be imbalanced because an imbalanced believer is biased and is not just when it comes to the teaching of God's word. And what we need all to learn, it is not my word or your word; it is the word of God. It is the plan of God. It is the purposes of God that we need to submit to.

Not your plan, not my plan, not what you have as an idea in your mind or what I have as an idea in my mind, because all our purposes and our own plans, in the end of time, will have to be set aside. What we really need to learn as believers is to submit ourselves to the authority of God's word. Because if we submit ourselves to the plans and the purposes of God, we can be in tune with what God has in mind for His own people, whether it is for Israel or whether it is for the church, the body of Messiah.

The purpose, the reason that we read today in Exodus chapter 19 and in Deuteronomy chapter 7 is simply this: God have elected the people of Israel to be His chosen people, and no believer who is not Jewish should doubt about this for a moment. I've been listening to many who have already said that the Jews and the purposes of God for Israel have been done away with and we, the church, have replaced Israel. It is not what the Bible teaches, and it is not healthy to take this position because God have chosen Israel as a nation for His own pleasure and His own purposes.

When it's come to the church, to the Ecclesia, it is the very same thing. God have chosen the believers, and we will see it in our study. Not what I think, but what the Bible says. He have chosen Jewish people and Gentiles to be united in one body called the church, the Ecclesia, and He put us together. And He has a purpose for us. He has a purpose for this heavenly company, and He want us to understand it as we study His word and as we walk here in this world.

He's not going to change His mind. You and I have to change our minds. His plan will be carried through whether you and I like it or not. He is going to carry through His purposes whether we like to fit ourselves into it or not. At the end, God is sovereign. He has His own plans, and you and I are not going to change His plans for a moment. We need to submit to His plan and take His word as its face value and simply say, "Lord, I don't understand everything. I have my feeling and my opinion, Lord, but help me with the help of the Spirit of God to submit myself to your authority. And even if I don't agree with it, Lord, help me to see what you have in mind."

Now, I'm just saying this by way of introduction because the book of Ephesians is one of the most beautiful books, letters, that is found in the scripture. One of the lessons that it teaches us is that we who belong to Yeshua, to Jesus the Messiah, are so rich because of our association with Him. We are so wealthy, and I'm not talking about material wealth, because of our relationship with the Messiah, with God, the eternal Son of God, the Son of the Father who came to this world to give His life a ransom for many.

But unfortunately, we live in our life here, and I'm speaking spiritually, as if we are so poor and have no understanding of the wealth that we have in the Messiah, in Christ. One of the writers that I read spoke about a lady, a woman who had been very, very wealthy, but when you look at her, the way she lived, she lived like a poor woman. She could buy herself a castle, but she was living in poverty. She could be fed by servants taking care of her, but she was conducting herself in such a way as she was really unable to meet her own need.

And that's sometimes what happened to you and I, spiritually speaking. We have such wealth because of what the Messiah have brought us into as believers in Yeshua, in Jesus the Messiah, but in our lives, spiritually, we often starving ourselves and living in a spiritual poverty, in carnality and not a spiritual mindset. And I don't speak about you; I speak for myself. No wonder we are so unstable in our walk with the Lord. No wonder we are often time not blessings to others, and we don't use the gifts that God had given to the believers in Christ, in Mashiach, in Messiah Yeshua, all the wealth and the riches that we have because of what He have done.

If you will just turn with me to John 10, Yeshua is speaking there to His disciples and speaking also to the Pharisees who was listening to Him. In verse 10, He says, "I am come that ye might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." Now that expression, "more abundantly," is come from the Greek word "Perissos," which simply mean beyond measure. In Hebrew, we use the word "Yeter," beyond measure, to live the Christian, the Messianic life beyond measure.

Not only have the life, eternal life, but to live that life in such a way that is live more abundant, to have the abundant life. Why is it at time that we don't live the abundant life? It's not because we don't have it; it's because we are not using what our Lord Yeshua the Messiah had given to us when He have given His life for us and have redeemed us out of this world, Jewish and non-Jewish, and united us together in Himself in that one body. And so, beloved brothers and sisters, we have the abundant life, but we not always live the abundant life.

We have life eternal but we have abundant life but we don't always live as those that have that wealth that God had provided for us through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. So this special book, special letter, was written by the Apostle Paul by divine inspiration to help the believers to grow and to appreciate what they have in the person of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. Now, let's just look for a moment at some points as we study the book of Ephesians.

We want to make sure that we communicate this. We have this before us before we are actually going to go verse by verse systematically throughout this whole book. The first thing that come to mind is immediately who is the writer who wrote such an amazing book? Well, notice that it says here in Ephesians 1, verse 1, the first word of this letter is "Paul." An amazing thing when you really think about this man by the name of Paul.

Now, this is important to bear in mind. Who was Paul? Paul, according to the scripture, according to the Bible, was a Jewish man. But more than just that, not only that Paul was linked with Abraham and was linked with Jacob whose name was changed to Israel, but also Paul was Jewish from the tribe of Benjamin and was a Pharisee. In Hebrew, we call him "Parush." He was zealous for the God of Israel, and rightly so.

Everyone among our people of Israel needed to be zealous for the God of Israel, just the same like every believer in Jesus the Messiah are to be zealous for our Lord Jesus the Messiah. Paul, his Hebrew name is Sha'ul. It was not changed to Paul; it was always Sha'ul, and it was always Paul. Sha'ul was his Hebrew name; Paul was his diaspora name, his dispersed name. His name in the earlier days of the book of Acts always was Sha'ul, but as he was ministering to the nations of the world, less and less he used the word Sha'ul, more he used the diaspora name by the name of Paul, which we see it right here in this first stanza or the first word in the book of Ephesians.

But I want you to see something about Paul in the book of Philippians. If you turn to Philippians chapter 3, look what he said about himself in verses 4, 5, and 6. "Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof that he might trust in the flesh, I have more. I was circumcised on the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, I was blameless."

Now, can you imagine, beloved brothers and sisters, here is a man by the name of Paul and he said to someone, "Listen, if you want to exalt yourself in anything, I want to tell you, I have much more that I can exalt myself, lift myself above so many. Why? Because look at my history. Look at who I am. I was circumcised on the eighth day," linking him with Father Abraham, whom God commanded every Jewish boy to be circumcised on the eighth day. Paul and his parents followed these instruction that had been given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

"I came from a stock of the nation of Israel, the nation that God have chosen. When it's come to the tribe, I was born to the tribe of Benjamin." If you remember, Benjamin was one of the favorite sons of Jacob whom Jacob didn't want to send to Egypt because he so much was concerned for this little boy lest something going to happen to Benjamin. And then he said, "You want to talk about Hebrews? I was a Hebrew of the Hebrews. I was a solid, genuine Ivri. I'm a descendant of my forefather Abraham."

"I really cared for the God of my people, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then he says, touching the law, I was Parush, a Pharisee, a scribe. I sought to submit to the requirements of the law. Legally, I was seeking to be submissive to the law. I was a Pharisee, Parush, he was saying here in verse 5 of Philippians chapter 3. And then he said, concerning zeal, do you want to talk about zeal? I persecuted the church, the Ecclesia, the called out ones."

Of course, the early believers in the church were Jewish. He never persecuted non-Jewish believers. He always persecuted his own brethren, the Jewish believers. But in a sense, he thought, "Wow, I'm doing something for God. I'm going to persecute all those Jewish believers who are part of the Ecclesia of the church because they are following a false God, and I'm not going to let them do so," he was saying in the beginning of his life when he was persecuting the church at that time before he became a believer in Yeshua the Messiah.

And then he says, "touching righteousness which is in the law, I was blameless." In other words, Paul sought to live a life in accordance with the will of God. Who of us today can say, "I live a blameless life"? We would just have to look at each other and talk with each other for five minutes, and we can see that there is so much blame in us. We know it in our heart. But Paul could say it by divine inspiration. He sought to live a righteous life that is pleasing to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

It is amazing to think, here is a Jewish man who cared for the God of Israel, who loved his own people so much that he wanted to harm those who went astray from the God of Israel. Now he's writing a letter, mostly to non-Jewish people, Gentiles who became believers in Yeshua the Messiah. And you can see what a balanced man Sha'ul Paul was. I believe, beloved brothers and sisters, it is essential for us to be balanced. Paul loved his own people, the Jewish people, but he loved the Christians, the believers from among the Gentile world.

He loved them because he knew that they are part of a redeemed company that is part of the assembly, the church of our Lord Jesus the Messiah. He was a balanced believer. On the one hand reaching out for his own people, on the other hand reaching out for the nations of the Gentile world, and he sought to bring a balance to the truth that God have given to us in His word. Now, his name is first mentioned in the New Testament in Acts 7:58 when Stephen was stoned by the Sanhedrin.

Those witnesses that witnessed against Stephen, when they were stoning him, they lay their outer garments by the feet of a man by the name of Sha'ul. That's this man's name: Sha'ul Paul. Sha'ul is Hebrew name; Paul his diaspora name, as dispersed name. But notice in Acts chapter 9 what happened to him and what made him to be an apostle to the Gentile world, to the uncircumcision. In Acts chapter 9 in verse 1, first of all, it says that Sha'ul was breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord.

He went unto the high priest and desire of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues that if he found any of the way, whether they were men or women, that he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. He really wanted to bring those early believers to Jerusalem in order to condemn them and judge them. So he went to the high priest, he took some letters, he went Damascus. But on the way to Damascus, he had an amazing experience and conversion, Teshuvah you might say in Hebrew.

He turned his heart towards the living Messiah. And if you remember it was on the way to Damascus, it says in verse 3, "As he journeyed he came near Damascus and suddenly there shine round about him a light from heaven: and he fell to the earth and he heard a voice saying unto him, 'Sha'ul, Sha'ul, why persecutest thou me?' And he said, 'Who art thou, Lord?' And the Lord said, 'I am Yeshua, Jesus, whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.'"

He was like riding on a horse and kicking as if he wanted so much to get his own way. And the Lord meet him on the way to Damascus and He said to him, "Sha'ul, Sha'ul, why do you persecute me?" The "me," the Messiah glorified and the believers on earth, the head in heaven, the body on earth. And He says, "why do you persecute me?" And then he says, "who art thou, Lord?" And by calling Him Lord, we understand that he recognized the lordship of Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah, and he have accepted Him into his heart.

He recognized that He is the answer for his sin. And I hope as we are hearing the message today that every one of us can say today, "I've accepted our Lord Yeshua the Messiah as my Lord and my savior. I confessed my sins and I realize that He is my Lord and my savior." And then the Lord send him to become a servant of His. Notice He said in verse 15, the Lord said unto him, "Go your way," he speaking of course to Hananyah that went to Paul's house, and he said to Hananyah, "Hananyah, you go your way for he is," namely Sha'ul, "the chosen vessel unto me to bear my name before the Gentiles," notice first of all the nations, the Goyim, "then kings, then the children of Israel: for I will show him how great thing he must suffer for my name's sake."

That was the call of salvation of Sha'ul. He became a believer in Yeshua the Messiah, and from here on we see the development of Sha'ul's ministry as he was ministering among the nations of the world. Now turn to chapter 13 of the book of Acts. Again, it is very important to make sure that we know who is the writer. And notice in verses 1 to 4, Sha'ul is in the place that is called Antioch in Syria. There is a local assembly there in Antioch in Syria.

It says in verse 1 of Acts 13, "Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simon who was called Niger, and Lucius or Lucas of Cyrene, and Menashe or Menachem which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Sha'ul." Notice verse 1: Sha'ul was with them. As they ministered unto the Lord and they fasted, the Holy Spirit said, "Separate unto me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereon I have called them."

Notice the spirit of God have said to the brothers and sisters in this local assembly of Antioch, Syria, and he was speaking to them, really moving them to realize that Sha'ul and Bar Abba, Barnabas, they will be separated for a ministry that the Lord called them to do. And so notice it says and they fasted, verse 3, and they prayed and they laid their hands on them, they sent them away. So being sent forth by the Holy Spirit, they departed unto Seleucia and from thence they sailed unto Cyprus.

So here we can see now the ministry of Sha'ul, of Paul, to the nations of the world. Wherever the Apostle Paul have gone, his main purpose of course was to reach the nations, the Gentiles, with the message of the gospel. And we know that he have gone everywhere, and he stop in a synagogue first according to Romans 1:16, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. But he went to minister to the nations of the world. I want you to notice in this same chapter 13, and I want you to read with me verse 9, to see that Paul and Sha'ul is the very same person.

His name was not changed to Paul because it says in verse 9 of Acts chapter 13, "Then Sha'ul, who also is called Paul, was filled with the Holy Spirit and he set his eyes on him." Notice this very important verse: "Then Sha'ul." He was already saved a long time. Became a believer in Yeshua for a long time, but his Hebrews name, Sha'ul; Paul's name is the diaspora name. He's also called Paul. From here on, beloved brothers and sisters, as we move on, mostly his diaspora name was used in the ministry among the Gentile world. Paul was now is ministering among the nations of the world.

So the writer of the book of Ephesians was a Hebrew-Israeli-Jewish man who was called to serve among the Gentile world. And he did it with pleasure. He did it out of love towards the nations of the world. You can see what he was willing to suffer for the sake of the believers from among the Gentile world. And you know what I want to say this, that in our little fellowship here, we can be a great testimony because some of us are Jewish and some of us are not Jewish.

And we can gather ourselves together as brothers and sisters in Messiah, not having advantage one over the other. We are all part of this one body, and we can enjoy ourselves in the midst of each and every one of us and the Lord in our midst to serve among the people of God, Jewish believers, non-Jewish believers united together in the body of Messiah. What an example, what an opportunity we have to serve in such a way. And so far, praise the Lord for helping us.

Not many church groups have the privilege that you and I have to be Jewish people and non-Jewish people meeting under the same roof consistently. Many groups, the vast majority, are non-Jewish. You go to many church groups, you're looking to find one Jewish person, none. You're looking on the board to see if there any Jewish ministry, none. And you may wonder why is it that there is not ministry among the Jewish people so we can enjoy practically to be together in a practical way, Jewish people and non-Jewish people together under the sound of the word? Well, the Apostle Paul, a Jewish man, was reaching out to the Gentile world, and he did it out of love in the call that the Lord had called him to serve among the Gentile world.

Now, let's add these thoughts that we have before us. When was this letter written to the Ephesian church? It is important for us to understand that when the apostle, when Sha'ul Paul wrote this letter, he was actually in prison in the city of Rome. He was taken from Jerusalem by the Roman soldiers to Caesarea. And from there, he had a long journey all the way to the city of Rome. And he was there kept in a separate house. He was under house arrest for two years. From this place in Rome, he wrote those four letters that we have in the B'rit Hadashah, in the New Testament.

Guest (Female): You have been listening to the Holy Scriptures and Israel with Gideon Levytam. Gideon teaches God's word from a Hebrew-Messianic perspective. For more information about this ministry, write to Holy Scriptures and Israel, Box 1411, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, L0S 1J0, or visit our website at holyscripturesandisrael.com. You are also invited to Gideon's weekly Bible teaching on Fridays at 11:00 AM and 7:00 PM and Saturdays at 1:00 PM at Willowdale Christian Assembly Hall, 28 Martin Ross Avenue in Toronto. Holy Scriptures and Israel is made possible by your prayers and financial support. If you would like to support the program, visit holyscripturesandisrael.com. God bless you. Shalom, shalom.