 So we're in John chapter 4 and John chapter 4 is the beginning of a very well-known story in the Bible, a very well-known encounter with Jesus, with the woman at the well and more specifically the Samaritan woman at the well. And I want to show you tonight how hopefully we can come away tonight kind of realizing this story. It's interesting. This story gives us a lot of context and a lot of explanations on some things that are actually happening in the world today, happening in the Middle East right now. And this story hopefully can give us some context, not about what's happening there, but more on how we should take these things and how we should look at these things. It's very confusing. You can find almost any narrative that you want on what's happening in the world today, especially when it comes to the situation in the Middle East in this area of modern-day Israel or the Palestinian areas and things like that. But let's look at this story and we'll see if we can figure out, just from the words of Jesus, he gives us some context on what's important and what's not here. Look at verse number one. So Jesus is heading to Galilee. Look at verse number one. It says, When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus had made and baptized more disciples than John, and then we get a little bit more context. We kind of talked about this already. We get some more context in verse number two that it wasn't Jesus actually putting his hands on people and baptizing. It was his disciples doing it. But again, I'm not going to preach this again, but you have basically had the baptism of John happening and then the baptism of Jesus happening. And then John explained that we need to transition to that. Jesus must increase. We've already talked about that. He left Judea at verse number three and departed again into Galilee. Verse number four says, And he must needs go through Samaria. And all that means is that, you know, he's in Judea. He left Judea, which is in the south. And then the next territory that he gets to is Samaria. And then after Samaria, he gets into Galilee. Remember that Jesus is from Galilee. He's from this area north of Samaria, which is a little bit ironic in itself. Maybe I'll explain that a little bit later, but especially when you see what this Samaritan woman says, but basically Samaria was this area that kind of used to be, it's kind of the remnant of the northern kingdom of Israel, if you want to think about it that way. So what happened with the northern kingdom of Israel was they were carried away about 160, 170 years before the lower kingdom of Judah was taken into captivity. First of all, there's a difference there, okay? So the lower kingdom of Judah was taken into captivity for 70 years by the Babylonian Empire then becoming the Persian Empire. But 160 years prior to that, the ten tribes of the northern kingdom were basically wiped out. The Assyrians came in and they basically mixed in with these people. There was no captivity. It was just like, you're Assyrian now. And now these Samaritans are this mixed people. And the Jews are, well, I mean, it's basically modern day racism, if you want to think about it that way. The Jews just didn't want to have anything to do with these Samaritans because they were of mixed people with the Gentiles basically, all right? So they weren't considered to be Israelites or Jews anymore after this Assyrian thing happened. They're called Samaritans, okay? And there's a real divide here and you can see that with what this woman says to Jesus. So that being said, Jesus on his way to Galilee, he's got to go through Samaria, all right? Look at verse number five. One cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sikar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son, Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being worried with his journey, sat thus on the well and it was about the sixth hour. So whenever you see this hours type thing, you just add from 6 a.m. So it's about noon here, okay? Verse number seven. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water. Now he's in Samaria and a Samaritan woman comes to draw water. Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink, for his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat, again, not buy beef, to buy food, okay, to buy, you know, things to eat. Then saith the woman to Samaria under him, How is it that thou being a Jew asketh drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. So she's basically saying, you know, that, you know, the Jews won't even talk to the Samaritans. That's how, you know, quote, unquote, you know, racist they are towards the Samaritan people. And so she's surprised that Jesus, you know, was even speaking to her. Okay, look at verse number 10. Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith unto thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. The woman saith unto him, Sir, Thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. From which hast thou that living water? Still again, Jesus is using here, he is using the same, you know, he's using the same picture of the bread of life here. He's using that same thing as we need to drink water, and we, you can't just drink water, you know, once in your life. You need to drink water, you know, every, you know, few hours in order to live. Jesus is saying, hey, you're going to get, drink this water, you'll never have to drink again. He's, he's referring to salvation of him being the Messiah. Look at verse number 12, art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well and drank there of himself, and his children his cattle. She's still applying it to physical, you know, physical water, just like they applied it to physical bread, saying, we never were supposed to eat this guy, you know, and they're just, you know, so she's not understanding. Verse 13, Jesus answered and said to her, whosoever drink of this water shall thirst again. Talking about the water of the well, but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. The exact same picture here of the bread of life. Look at verse number 15. The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw, still applying it to actual water. Jesus saith unto her, go call thy husband, now Jesus shifts gears here, go call thy husband and come hither. The woman answered and said, I have no husband, and Jesus saith unto her, thou hast well said, I have no husband, for thou hast had five husbands, and he whom thou hast is not thy husband, and thou say it's in that sets thou truly. So she's saying, you know, I have, you're like, he's like, I know you don't have a husband, you've had five, and the person you're with right now, number six, isn't even your husband. You're in fornication. So basically, what does Jesus do here? Jesus, number one, he's showing her a miracle here. That's the first thing he's doing. He's showing her a miracle so she understands. And if you look down, actually if you look down, the miracle works. Because if you look down to verse number 39 of chapter 4, the Bible says, when this woman goes and she says, here's a man, he came and he told me, he told me everything about my life. In verse 39, some people actually believed just because of this fact. They believed on Jesus. Look at verse 39. And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him. What does that mean? It means they trusted him. They believed he was the Messiah. See, these people were Samaritans, but they were waiting for a Messiah. They were waiting for the Messiah, just like the Jews were. And here, this is a super important story in the Bible. Because this is the first time that the gospel goes to the Gentiles right here. This is the first time that we see that in the Bible. So many of the Samaritans believed on this miracle that Jesus did. But you know what else Jesus was doing? You know what else Jesus was doing with this lady? He was doing the exact same thing that we do when we go out soul-winning. You know what he did? He's saying, for all have sinned. This is what Jesus is telling this woman. Go back to John chapter 3 in verse number 17. So a lot of people will teach some stupid doctrine about this story saying, oh, see, Jesus doesn't care about sin. Jesus doesn't care about fornication. It doesn't matter. Jesus didn't care about any of this stuff. He didn't judge. No, Jesus is just saying he is pointing out her sin. Why? Because Jesus is there to save. He is there to save the world. That's Jesus' purpose, is to come to save the world. Look at verse number 17 of John chapter 3. Right after the most famous verse in the Bible, the Bible says, for God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. So Jesus wasn't there to pass the law onto this lady, but he does tell her about her sin to show her her need for salvation. Because nobody can get saved unless they understand that they are a sinner in need of salvation. I mean, it's just simple logic. That's what we start out with that point. When we go out soul-winning, just like Jesus did, here. It's not that Jesus doesn't care about sin. He literally points out her sin to her. But what he's doing is trying to point out that he is the Messiah that she needs because of her sin. Go back to John chapter 4. John chapter 4. So I mean, obviously, he just did this miracle, told her about her life. I mean, just imagine if somebody came up to you and told you that you'd never met before, and they told you about the worst things you've done in your life over the last 20 years. I mean, you'd be like, whoa. I mean, you'd be like, that's a miracle. The woman said unto him, sir, I perceive that thou are a prophet. So I mean, he's getting somewhere with this lady because of that miracle. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. So this lady right away, it's so interesting here, but she points out that she's like, OK, you're clearly a prophet, but she's saying that the difference between the Jews and the Samaritans is that in Samaria, she's talking about Mount Gerasim here. If you remember Mount Gerasim and Mount Ebal from Deuteronomy chapter 27, where Moses stands in the valley and there's blessings on Mount Gerasim and curses on Mount Ebal, these are the two mountains. One was in Judah and one was in Samaria. Moses stood in the middle. Well, the Samaritans, their holy place, became this Mount Gerasim, the mountain that this woman is talking about. She's saying, we worship in this mountain because why that? Because that's a place that they had that was within their borders that had spiritual significance to them. In Judah, of course, where do they worship in Judah? They worshiped in Jerusalem in the temple. So she's saying, look, you say that we should worship in Jerusalem, and we say that we should worship in the mountain. And she's literally comparing that to whether which one is right with God or not on where they actually worship. Yet she's looking for the Messiah just like the Jews were looking for a Messiah. But she's obsessed with the place. Isn't that interesting? That even at this time, men were fighting over where the right place to worship is? You say, when did this start? Well, I mean, here we are. In Jesus' time, it's already starting now. Well, I mean, how's Jesus going to get around this? What's he going to say to this lady who's obsessed with, oh, in order to worship God correctly, we must be in this mountain. And you say we must be in Jerusalem. This is like a divide that we can't solve. What are we going to do? Look at verse number 21. Jesus, I bet you we could solve the Middle East crisis tonight through the words of Jesus. Let's try it. Look at verse number 21. Jesus said unto her, woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father. Jesus literally says to her, he doesn't say, no, you're wrong, Samaritan, I am the Christ, you should be at Jerusalem. You know what he says? He says the time will come. He's like the hour cometh, when it doesn't matter whether you worship in this mountain or at Jerusalem. You'll worship neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem. Look at verse 22. Ye worship ye know not what. We know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews. So first of all, in verse number 21, before I cut that one up, in verse number 21, you know what Jesus is basically saying to her, the place is not important. That's what he's saying. Let's go to verse number 22. And then we're gonna look back at that in just a few minutes. But look at verse number 22, it says, ye worship ye know not what. We know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews. Now, I mean, silly Christians will be like, aha, see the Jews are God's chosen people, and wah, you're like, how could you misunderstand this? He is talking about where salvation comes from. Where does salvation come from? What is the only way to salvation? It is through Jesus Christ. That's the only way. Jesus Christ came from the line of Judah, from the tribe of Judah, from the line of David. Turn to 2 Samuel chapter seven. He is simply talking about the messianic promise given to King David right here. That's all he is talking about. Look at verse number 16 of 2 Samuel chapter seven. Let's look at what Jesus meant by salvation is of the Jews. It says in verse 16, and thine house and thy kingdom. So what happened up to this point? I don't wanna read the whole chapter, of 2 Samuel chapter seven, but David wanted to build the house of God. David wanted to build the temple, and of course the temple isn't built yet. It's still a tabernacle. David feels bad that there's not a temple. He wants to build the temple. So he starts putting the materials together and getting everything ready to go to build the temple. God sends Nathan the prophet to David, and he says that because of the blood that you shed, your son is gonna build the temple. Your son is gonna build the temple. I'm gonna have mercy on him. He's gonna be a great king. He's gonna build this temple. But then in verse number 16, it's kind of, I mean, you hate to say it's not a consolation prize, but God makes this great promise to David in verse number 16. It says thine house and thy kingdom shall be established forever before thee. Thy throne shall be established forever. According to all these words, according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David. This is the messianic prophecy that God gives to David. God literally says to David, the Messiah is going to come from you. The only way, turn to Luke chapter one. The only way for David's kingdom to be established forever into eternity is if the Christ, the Messiah, comes in that line somewhere. Look at Luke chapter one and look at verse 31. Luke chapter one, look at verse number 31. So David was of the tribe of Judah. You know, he was a Jew, if you wanna call it that. And Jesus literally says salvation is of the Jews because that's exactly where Jesus came from, from that tribe. Not in the sense that it's important that he's of some genealogy except for the fact that God made this promise. That's the only reason it's important. It's because God promised David that the Messiah would come from his line of kings that come after him or it calls it before him. Look at verse number 31 of Luke chapter one. And behold, this is the angel talking to Mary. And behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth the Son and shall call his name Jesus. And he shall be great and he shall be called the Son of the highest. The Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father, David. And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever in his kingdom there shall be no end. That is how, I mean, God kind of goes up to David who wants to build the temple. And he's like, look, you're not gonna build the temple. Your son's gonna do that. But here's this thing that's much greater. He gives to David. He's like, because you were a man after my own heart. This is why I believe, of course, that God blessed David so greatly with this great blessing upon the next future generations of his family. I mean, God blessed, I mean, that's a sermon I've preached before, but God blessed generation after generation after generation after generation of people messing up in David's family for David's sake. Because God stopped the Lord so hard with his heart. Look, that is such a motivation for us as Christians that we should be seeking the Lord daily. We should be churning our heart towards the Lord. There's something spiritual in our lives that we don't like or we're pushing up against God for something in our lives. We really need to think about that because there is huge blessings that we are leaving on the table. You just look at what God did for thousands of years after David, because of David, for David's sake. Kings that were eight generations down the line, God granted them mercy for David's sake. It was such a great blessing. And this defect that Jesus Christ came from David's family. So salvation is of the Jews means that God was simply fulfilling his promise to David. That's it. Look at John chapter four in verse number 13. So again, literally the Samaritan woman at the well is the first real proof that salvation is available to the Gentiles too. Salvation is out there for people that are not Jews. And it's such a great proof because not only was she not a Jew, these were people that the Jews despised. The Jews couldn't stand these people. They wouldn't even talk to these people. Look at verse number 23. And in the next breath, Jesus says this. Now remember back in verse number 21, in verse number 21, where Jesus saying to her, woman, believe me, the hour cometh. So Jesus says in verse number 21, the hour's coming. He's saying the time is coming when the place doesn't matter where you worship. Jesus says the time is coming. But look at, I mean, the time wasn't that long. Look at verse 23. He says, but the hour cometh and now is. He's like, oh, by the way, it's now. It's right now. When the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father seeketh such to worship him. So look at those two words there, spirit and in truth. Look at verse number 24. God is a spirit. And they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. This is what I wanna focus on tonight, right here. This is as far as we're gonna get in John chapter four. I wanna look at what Jesus meant by these words that he repeats whenever things are repeated in the Bible, we should pay extra attention. Jesus says the place doesn't matter because the time cometh, by the way, that time is now when people are gonna worship me in spirit and in truth. He says, God is a spirit. God is a spirit, but people are gonna worship him in spirit and in truth. So maybe we can just solve the Middle East crisis right here tonight through the words of Jesus. So first of all, let's look at what the first part of this is. We're gonna look at spirit and truth tonight. What was Jesus talking about? He's saying men were gonna worship in spirit. What Jesus was saying is they're gonna worship Jesus in spirit versus in a place. He's saying people are gonna worship God with their spirit. Look, he's saying the place is not important. Jerusalem, I mean just Jerusalem, the city that this lady brings up, there has been wars over Jerusalem for millennia. I mean from the time of Jesus himself to, I mean up to there's been, I mean just think of the great war with the Romans against the Jews in, you know, 67 to 73 or whatever they call it, the destruction of the temple in 70 AD. There's a great war then. Then these great wars with the Muslims started about 600 AD where the Muslims came in and you know, they just had this empire. Then the Crusades, remember the Crusades, everyone blames that one on the Christians. But what'd you have there? A bunch of Catholics, a bunch of Catholics coming in and just killing a bunch of people. Why? So they could be in Jerusalem. So they could be, they could take over the holy land in Jerusalem. See all these Crusades of these big battles. I mean that went on for like 300 years. The Crusades. Where the Catholics were coming in and trying to push out the Muslims that had come in hundreds of years earlier and just battling over what? Over the holy land, over this place. Why didn't they just read the Bible? Why didn't they just, I mean, I mean, it's not, I mean we're talking about like words of Jesus. We have a red letter Bible. These are red words. Jesus saying, no, I mean the Samaritan woman literally said, oh, you know, you should be in, you know, you say we should be in Jerusalem. Jesus didn't say, you would think that all the wars will be caused if Jesus said, yeah, you should be in Jerusalem. But Jesus is saying, no, you need to worship in spirit. You need to worship in spirit. He's saying, the place doesn't matter. So hundreds of years, you know, all the way up to the 1300s, you know, you got the Catholics attacking the Muslims. And now the stuff that, you say, oh, the man this is crazy, this stuff's going on today. This stuff's the thing going on today has been going on for over 100 years. The same two groups fighting over what? Jerusalem, the Holy Land, over 100 years. You say, didn't it start in 1948? No, it started after World War I. It started after World War I. And there's just been battle after battle after battle after battle over these true groups, the Muslims and the Jews. Then in 1948, the UN says, hey, you know, by the way, a lot of people don't realize, and I'm not gonna try to get too political tonight, but a lot of people don't realize in 1948, there were supposed to be two states. There's supposed to be a Palestinian state and Israeli state. Just kind of forgot about the Palestinian one. And so the Jews were pretty much, if you remember a man named David Ben-Gurion, he's literally on record saying that back in the, I don't know if it was the 20s or the 30s, basically saying, yeah, we know there's gonna be a Palestinian state, but that's just something that we're just gonna take over anyway. So they weren't gonna take that seriously, even if it did come into play. I mean, he was the first prime minister of Israel, and this is what he was saying. So look, this has been going on for over a hundred years. He says, this is crazy what's going on now. A lot of kids, a lot of women and children are gonna get killed in the next, and they're already getting killed every single day. It's a terrible thing. It's a terrible thing for innocent people to be being killed on both sides of the thing, folks. But the point is, this is not something that is new. I mean, look, Bible, it's interesting. You won't find Bible-believing Christians fighting over any holy ground. Why? Because I believe what Jesus said, that's why. Because I worship the Lord. I worship the Father in spirit. These holy grounds, these sites, these historical things, you know what they are? They're stationary relics. That's what they are. I have no desire to visit this hellscape that is the Middle East. None. It's not gonna make you a more powerful Christian. It's not gonna do anything for your faith. I've had a King James Bible right in front of me. Man, man, right. I've got the words of Jesus right in front of me. You know what? More Christians should open up the Word of God and then maybe they would feel the same way. Maybe they would get some clarity on what's actually happening in this world. These places mean nothing, words of Jesus. Man. So what does it matter to us? Turn to Hebrews chapter 10, verse number 25. Places mean nothing. We don't need to go to church. We can have house church. I can just get myself together and my kids in the living room and we can have house church that way, except the Bible tells you to go to church. Man. We hate to ruin Christians' lives with the Bible, but more people need to open it. Look at Hebrews chapter 10 and verse number 25. The Bible says, look at verse 24. It says, let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. So if you just attach that to verse number 24, you know what that shows? Yeah, you are commanded to go to church. You are commanded to go to a, what is a church? It is a local assembly of believers. You're commanded to go to church, but you know what? You coming to church is you considering your brothers and sisters in Christ. Why? As the manner of some is, this is the house church I don't need to go to. This is every person in America right here. As the manner of every person in America, including saved Christians. As the manner of some is, but exhorting one another. This is saying that together going to church, having a local assembly, there is no universal church. It's a lie. I was taught the lie for over 30 years of my life of the universal church. Jesus loves the church. The holy universal, holy Catholic church, Catholic means universal, that's all that means. There is no universal church. Every single time you see the word church in the Bible, it's talking about a local assembly. Why in the world wouldn't Jesus have said in Revelation chapter two, Revelation chapter three, here's what I have to say to the church. No, he says, here's what you say to the church at Ephesus. Here's what you say to the church at Laodicea. Here's what you say to this church, and that church, and this church. Local churches. He's talking about local assemblies of believers. Look, I mean, so you better figure out, you better go to church, you better figure out what is a church? A church, in Revelation chapter two, Revelation chapter three, Jesus literally says, what churches will have candlesticks will actually, which what that means is which churches will actually be churches and which will not be churches. That's why those chapters are in the Bible for us. You're like, why would Jesus put that in the Bible where he's just chewing out these churches? Because he wants us to be able to look at that advice, look at that direction that he's giving those churches so we can look at it and say, oh man, not going to that church, because that was not even a church anymore. When Jesus says you better get right, better not be lukewarm, better be doing the first works, or I will come quickly and remove that candlestick. Remove the candlestick means you won't be a church. A church, not part of the church, is like I will take the candlestick away. And it goes into all these things in Revelation chapter two, Revelation chapter three. That's so we can look at churches today and realize which churches are churches. It's important, but that's where we should be. And look, there's churches in all kinds of places. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what city it's in, what hill it's on. What matters is what it's doing and what it's not doing. What it's preaching, what it's not preaching. That's what matters. Is it doing what Jesus says that it should do? Is the man of God standing up and preaching the word of God? That's what matters. That's a church and that's where Christians need to be. It doesn't matter what valley or hill it's on. Nothing to do with it. It doesn't matter how nice the building is. It doesn't matter what color the carpet is. How many, you know, what kind of chairs there are. That means nothing. We have gold plated anything. You know, we don't have, never gonna happen. But I mean, the place doesn't matter. You just need to be in a real church. What's the second thing? What's the second thing Jesus talks about? So, most importantly, you need to be in spirit. Not the place. Not the place. But the most important thing is the truth. Turn to Acts chapter 20. Turn to Acts chapter 20. So, a church that has and says the truth. Look at Acts chapter 20 in verse number 27. This is just such a great example that Paul gives us towards the end of his ministry before he heads over to Rome. He says, as he leaves these people, he's gone on these missionary journeys to all these Gentile churches in Macedonia, in Ephesus, in, you know, all over Thessalonica. He's just gone all over. He's gone three times to all these islands. He's been shipwrecked multiple times. And you know what he says before he heads off to Rome? He says, in verse number 27, he says, I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. You know what he says? He's like, you know what? I told you the whole truth. He's like, I know I'm not gonna see you again, but my conscience is clear. I've told you the whole truth. So look, in truth means, yes, that we're preaching the correct gospel, number one. That we're preaching Jesus. We're preaching the right Jesus. We're preaching the correct gospel. We're preaching that, you know, it is by faith, by grace through faith, not of works. We are not preaching this workspace salvation that is 99% of churches out there today. We are preaching the correct gospel. And not only that, just as Paul said, we are preaching here the whole counsel of God, the whole thing. Because even churches, you even find a rare Christian church today that's got the gospel correct, they definitely don't have the second one correct. There's so many things that they're not saying. They're not gonna preach against the homos. They're not gonna preach against the culture of the day. They're not gonna preach against, you know, all the wicked stuff that's going on in our country today because they're afraid, they're afraid of their own people, they're afraid of the country, they're afraid of everything. Even if they do have the correct gospel. So look, you need to find the truth. It's not the place, you need to find a church wherever that place is that has the right spirit that's following the word of God and is preaching the whole word of God. That's what Jesus is telling the Samaritan woman here. Now here's the irony. Look, and here's another thing. Yeah, it's hard to come by a church like ours today. That's just preaching everything in the Bible. And I mean, you know, you don't think it's hard for me to preach everything in the Bible sometimes? It's not really hard for me to preach against the world. Like that's not really an issue for me. But you know, I mean, you get into some places in the Bible, especially when we're doing chapter by chapter, you know, studies and things and you get to some stuff and you're like, oh man, I can't believe I'm gonna get up and preach this to the people but you know what? It's in there, so I have to. It's like, you just, you can't hold back because that's what people do. That's what pastors today, too, do. But you know what? It's interesting because as we will have the truth in our lives, look, the truth is hard to come by today. Just in general. The truth is very hard to come by today. But you know what? The Bible truth isn't. The Bible's truth is here. And what I wanna show you tonight and I'm hoping I'm already showing you this but if you know the Bible, if you know the truths of what Jesus said that's important and what is not important, so many other truths will be opened up to you. You will understand so much better of things that are happening in the world. If you're looking for the truth by watching news, you're in trouble. I don't care what news you're watching because no matter what happens, what event that happens, who blew up what or who was involved in what or whatever, look, you can find totally opposite parts of that narrative everywhere you go. And it's more likely that the majority of the answers that you're gonna see today are actually wrong. That's the environment that we're in, in this country, in this culture. Unfortunately. So look, we should be very thankful that we're in a church that you're encouraged to read the Bible, that you're encouraged to listen to Bible preaching, you're encouraged to study the Bible for yourselves, you're supposed to turn to these verses and look, you're supposed to take notes, you're supposed to read these chapters before we study these things, you're supposed to read the Bible every single day on your own. And if you do that and you actually listen to what the Bible says, you're gonna come to parts in the Bible yourself or you're gonna be like, oh. And if you actually then apply that anyway and just do what the Bible, do what the truth of the Bible tells you to do, your life is going to change drastically. Because you have access to the truth in a world where the truth is scarce, my friends. I mean, the truth is scarce today. So be thankful, be thankful that you get so much truth even though it hurts sometimes. Even though maybe there's some days when you don't really wanna hear it. Be thankful that you have it because if you don't have it, you're lost. You're lost, not only would you be spiritually lost if you didn't have the truth of the gospel, if you didn't have the guiding truth of God's word, you'd be lost in your marriage, you'd be lost raising your kids, you'd be lost in your life. You'd be lost as a man, you'd be lost as a woman. You'd be lost as a kid. These kids out there, they have no chance in this environment. I feel so bad for these kids. My kids aren't in public school. My kids, you know, aren't out in the world. But you know what, we go out so many and we see kids. I mean, we met some really nice kids today and they wanna hear the gospel. And we also met a five-year-old who opened the door for us and his parents weren't home. I'm like, are your mom and dad home? Kids stand in the door, they're open. No, they're not home. I feel bad for these kids today. What chance do they have? What chance do they have without the Bible? What chance do they have without parents that are gonna teach them the Bible? Look, we should always have that heart towards people that don't have the same opportunities that you have. That's why you have to be a soul winner. You have to be, because look, the only way this truth is gonna get out, this Bible is not gonna fly off this pulpit and go fly around Fresno and just explain itself to everybody. We have to do it. Here's the irony, let me close on this. Here's the irony of the people fighting today in the Middle East. Here's the irony, according to what Jesus said that we should be worshiping in spirit and truth. The people fighting in the Middle East today have neither spirit nor truth. They have neither one. And yeah, here they are. I mean, one thing that God is clear about in the Bible is God does not care about these earthly things. I mean, even go to 1 Timothy chapter one. I'm gonna read for you Titus chapter three in verse number nine. The Bible says, but avoid foolish questions. You're going to 1 Timothy chapter one, you're gonna look at verse number four. God does not care about these earthly things. We already talked about relics and idols. These are just stationary, bigger, larger, more acreage idols. That's all they are. People are getting killed all the time for them. It's ridiculous. They don't have, look, it's not in spirit or truth. That's the bad part of it. Neither side's correct when it comes to worshiping God the way he wants to be worshiped or who he is. Look at Titus chapter three in verse number nine. The Bible says, no, you're going to 1 Timothy four. Titus three nine says, but avoid foolish questions and what, and genealogies and contentions and strivings about the law. For they are what? Unprofitable and vain. I mean, Israel's literally a racist country. It's literally based on like nothing but genealogies. I mean, how are people okay with that? What does the Bible say? It says that's unprofitable and vain. I mean, this woke culture is okay. I mean, there's nothing right about the woke culture but when they even see something that actually is racist they're like, oh, they don't even see it. It's like, what in the world? You know, it's weird. Look at 1 Timothy chapter one in verse number four. It says, neither get heat to fables and endless genealogies. Which what? What did genealogies solve? Look, folks, genealogies do nothing. Genealogies do nothing. The only purpose of genealogies in the Bible was back in the Old Testament it was to divide up the land. That's over. That's all done. The land was like a covenant which is a deal. If you do this, you can keep the land. If you don't do this, you can't keep the land. That's another story in itself. That deal was over thousands of years ago, folks. When they got carried away into Assyria and the Babylonian captivity and then the Romans. I mean, it's like, hello? God told them that you wouldn't be in the land if you didn't obey me. The Christ came and they killed him. That's like the opposite of obeying God. So the only point of genealogies was dividing the land and fulfilling David's messianic prophecy that God gave him. That's it. And then God knew that we would be obsessed or man would be obsessed with genealogies as the Pharisees even of Jesus' time were. And so he literally says in the Bible multiple times, forget about genealogies. It means nothing. Genealogies mean nothing. It's just to show you the line of Christ, folks, that God fulfilled his prophecy. Turn to Romans chapter nine. Let me give you some real irony tonight. Look at Romans chapter nine. Romans chapter nine, look at verse number one. Romans chapter nine, look at verse number one. The Bible says this. It says, and I say truth in Christ, I lie not. My conscience also bearing the witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh. This is Paul. Paul? Paul was a Jew. He was of the tribe of Benjamin. So Paul was, you know, an Israelite. And he's saying, it burdens him. Look, this is a great soul winner example right here too. It burdens him that more of his kinsmen did not accept Christ. And he's like, you know what? I wish, he's like, I would give up my own salvation for theirs. Look, obviously you can't do that. But he's just giving such an, he's giving this extreme example of how he just would give anything for them to be saved. And then he says kinsmen according to the flesh. Make sure, you know, he realized he puts that in there. Who are Israelites to whom pertaineth the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law and of the service of God and of the promises, talking about the flesh there. Is kinsmen according to the flesh? Who's are the fathers of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came? Again, there's the Davidic messianic prophecy right there. Saying that concerning the flesh Christ came. That means it came in the line of David. In the line of the tribe of Judah that David was from. Overall, God bless forever, amen. Look at verse number six though. Not as though the word of God had taken none effect for they are not all Israel which are of, which are of Israel. You're like, what does he mean by that? Then verse number seven he says, because they are the seed of Abraham, neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children. So he's saying that just because they're of the seed of Abraham, they're not all children of Abraham. You're like, what? Like, what's he talking about? But in Isaac, shall thy seed be called? So he's kind of using the example of how like, even at Abraham it's split into Ishmael and Isaac, but then he explains it even further in a spiritual sense in verse number eight. He says, that is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God. Hello, how do Christians miss that? Man. He's saying, you know what he's saying there? Genealogy means nothing. That's right. Nothing. Who you're related to means nothing. But what does mean something, Paul? Well, let's keep reading. But the children of the promise are counted for the seed. Turn to Galatians chapter three. You're like, who are their children of the promise? So the seed of Abraham is not of the flesh. It's the children of the promise, whatever that means. Turn to Galatians chapter three. Let's see if we can decode this incredibly complicated doctrine in the Bible. Look at verse number 24 of Galatians chapter three. Galatians chapter three, verse 27. The Bible says, for as many of you, we're looking for who the children of the promise are here. For as many of you have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ. We're talking about people who have clearly been saved through Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek. What's he saying? Genealogies mean nothing. There's neither bond nor free. Neither is there male nor female. For you're all one in Christ Jesus. He's not saying that there's not people that come from Jews, people that are Greeks, people that, you know, there's people. No, it's neither male nor female. He's saying those things don't matter. He's saying those things don't matter. For we are all, those things don't matter in what sense, Paul. He's saying, for we are all one in Christ Jesus. And if he be Christ, then ye are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the what, the promise. So I told you I was gonna give you some irony tonight. Give you some irony tonight is this. We are Israel. The only ones who are actually Israel, the children of God, the children of the promise, the children of the heir, the children of Christ, are the only ones that are not fighting over Israel. Define irony. You say why? Because we worship in spirit and truth. That's why. Not some temple in some specific place. Spirit and truth. As a matter of fact, our place must needs be all the world. Why? Because all the world doesn't have the truth. And it was designed that the children, the heirs of that promise would be the ones that would take forth that promise, that spirit, that truth to the world. How can you do that when we're gonna sit and fight over some birthplace of Jesus' cousin or something? How can you do that? How can you do that? We're all gonna just be obsessed over some rock somewhere. How can you do that? No, it's because we're not supposed to do that. It's like we are Israel. We shouldn't care about the places. And we are the ones that are supposed to take the truth to the world. That's it. That's why the place doesn't matter. The place can't matter. It's just an idol. The place. So I pray for all the people that are suffering, all the people that are getting killed over this, they're getting killed over something that doesn't matter. And you know, once you get past the religious part of it, I'm not saying that there's not real grievances there. I'm not getting into that in this sermon, but the point is this has nothing to do with Jesus Christ because none of those people on either side have the truth. And they all need the truth. Just like every other person and every other religion in the world that doesn't have the truth, if they don't have the truth and they die without having the truth, they're gonna end up in hell because there's only one way. And that's through Jesus Christ. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.