Ephesians 2:11-22

September 11, 2022

That He Might Create One New Man: God's Creation of the Church

Part 1

When it comes to past memories, the Christian must both remember and forget. Understanding when to do which is crucial.

Therefore, remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh called to serve uncircumcision. by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands, remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, You who were once far off, have been brought near by the blood of Christ, for he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing the law of commandments and ordinances that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who are far off in peace to those who were near. For through him, we both have access in the spirit to the Father. So, then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but your fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In Him, you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God, by the Spirit. So, as we begin in verse 11, here, I want to take just a few moments, and I want to just sort of lay out some of the beautiful parallels and the symmetry of the passage, because if you just read through this, you might miss this. And it's really laid out very, very well for us. So just to kind of notice here, the symmetry, we could go all the way back to the beginning of chapter one. And we would notice how all of this is fitting together perfectly, but we won't go back that far. But if we just go back to the beginning of chapter two, in chapter two, if you look down at your Bibles, you'll see probably in your Bible, you'll see a subheading, halfway through the chapter between verse 10 And verse 11. And that's a good subheading, because it's a good division of thought, right there. And so that breaks Chapter Two into two blocks of thought for us. The first block of thought is Paul's speaking to us of how God deals with the loss sinner in order to bring the lost sinner into relationship with Himself. And Paul is speaking of how he does that on the individual basis. The second block of thought is how God deals with the same lost sinner to bring the same lost sinner into relationship with Himself in the context of the church, or God's people or the corporate aspect of God's people. So these two blocks of thought, parallel one another and mirror one another. The first one speaking to God's activity, God's directed activity towards the individual, the second speaking to God's directed activity towards the church. And so, beyond that, notice further some more parallels, you'll notice that Paul begins in verses one, two, and three, speaking of the incredible depravity of the individual, we were dead in our trespasses and sins in which we want to walk we were lockstep with the ruler of this world, we were in accord with the culture around us. We were sons of disobedience, we were children of wrath. That parallels of course, what Paul says in verse 11, and verse 12, speaking here, of those last people who will become the church, he says that they were called the uncircumcision that was made by the flesh that you were at one time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope, without God in the world. So Paul says, this is parallel to the individual who walks in their sins and in their trespasses, then we see this radical shift in focus this turn on a dime that comes in verse four, But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses and sins, made us alive together with Him, and has raised us up with Him and seeded us, with Christ in the heavenly places. So, this dramatic radical change this intervention, this intersection that Paul makes into the life of the individual last person is paralleled in verse 13, with the same dramatic shift verse 13. But now in Christ Jesus, you who are who are once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ or he himself is our peace, and on it goes from there. So we see the same radical shift. And then after that Paul spends verses 567 and eight, speaking of the blessings of this relationship of grace, the state of grace that we're now in, and as an individual sinner who was dead to God now being made alive to God, and redeemed in our hearts and our souls, we now enjoy this relationship of grace, this relationship of acceptance and love from verse six, even when we were dead in our trespasses, he made us alive, He raised us up, he seated us with Christ in the heavenly places that parallels all of the grace, the state of grace that we see spoken about the church from verse 19. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you’re fellow citizens with the saints, members of the household who God built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Himself being the cornerstone, and who and whom this whole structure is being built together. So you see there, the clear parallels, the incredible depravity of the individual, the depravity of the church prior to conversion, the radical change by God in verse four, the radical change by God in verse 13, the state of grace in verse 567, and eight, the state of grace and verse 19, 20, 21, and 22. So we're parallel here, together individuals and in the church. And then in the first section, verses one, two, and three, we are united together in our sin, as well as verse 11, 12, 13. We are united together in our sin, verses 567 and eight were united together and Grace verses 19, 20, 21, 22 were united together in grace, you can't miss all those parallels. Once you kind of see that it becomes obvious―this cannot be coincidence. This is Paul's train of thought. He wants us to see these two trains on these two parallel tracks, so to speak. One track is the track of the individual in their radical depravity. God interjects himself into their life, and then they're in the state of grace. Parallel to that is the train of the church who is also traveling along and their radical depravity, interjection by God, and then state of grace that is to follow. So those two parallels are how Paul's working this out in his thoughts, that's where he's leading us to. He's still in this section in which we're talking about the blessings and the privileges and the graces that are ours in Christ Jesus, he began all of that back in chapter one, verse four, when he said, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ, with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. And he's still talking about every spiritual blessing that is ours in Christ. Only now he's come to this spiritual blessing, which he will now dwell upon for the remainder of the book, because Paul has now reached the topic of the book. So everything up until this point we could rightly think of as introduction material, and you say, wait a minute, that was, that was one crazy introduction, because in chapter one, and then through the first half of chapter two, Paul has shared with us some of the most profound truths about our position in Christ about the salvation that God has purchased for us. He has told us about the work of the Father and choosing us prior to the foundation of the world and adopting us to work with the son, as he redeemed us and purchased our forgiveness on the cross the work of the Spirit, as the Spirit convicts us and seals us seals us for that blessed inheritance and illumines our minds to the truth so that we grow in our sanctification. So, he's told us about all those glorious truths plus, plus, he's told us about this glorious truth of how it is that God interacts with the individual lost sinner to make a person who is dead to God, to be alive to God. And you say, Oh, that was introduction. Yes, that was all introduction. This is some of the most profound truths about the Person of Christ and the work of Christ, and the work of God and our salvation. Yet, all of this was building up to the point of the letter and the point of Ephesians, the purpose of Ephesians, the topic of Ephesians is the Church. That's what the Letter to the Ephesians is written about and written for. It's written for the church, and it's about the church. Now, in a real sense, we could say, Well, every book in our New Testaments is about the church. And in a connected sort of way we could say every book in our Bible is about the church. And that's true. However, there is no other book in our Bibles that is about the church like Ephesians is about the church. Nothing else in our Scripture is going to speak as loftily as profoundly about the nature of the church, than Paul's letter to the Ephesians. So if you want to understand the nature of the church, then Ephesians is where we go to see that. And this is the point that Paul has now built himself up to begin speaking to us about this, what I think of as the most beautiful thing on planet earth, and that is the bride of Christ, that Christ Himself has given birth to and is here, awaiting his return. So from this point, we now just sort of have a little bit of an idea he, of how Paul got us to hear how his mind is tracking the ways thoughts are tracking. And we're now ready to begin in verse 11. And again, at points is going to seem like we're skipping over some things that would be wonderful to dig into a little bit more. But we do have 11 verses to go to cover. So let's begin with verse 11. Therefore, so we made it one whole word. Therefore, we need to pause there and just understand therefore always tells us that what is to follow is an extension of what was just said. What is to be said, what will follow that word is an expansion of, building upon what was just said, What is what Paul is about to say, is based on what he just said, and is expanding upon what he just said. So therefore, what did Paul just say? So he just spent the last two verses of the previous section, emphasizing for us two points. Number one, your salvation is by grace and grace alone, For by grace, you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing it is the gift of God. All of this is the gift of God, the faith and the grace to salvation to being made alive to God, all of that is God's gift. Therefore, it's not the result of your works, nothing that you have done, therefore, no one may boast in it. So those are his two points right there that he finishes up the previous section, he wants to really hammer home, this is all of grace, this is God's saving you. Therefore, because this is a gift that you have received, this is not something that you may boast in doing, you are not better than another because of this, you cannot look down on others, you cannot think more highly of yourself than others because God has given this gift to you. Therefore, now he's gonna say what he's gonna say. And you will see how that will play into this this mindset of because what we have from God is a gift. Therefore, there is the elimination of all boasting. So keep that in mind as we work forward. So therefore, the next word is remember. So let's talk for just a moment about that word, remember, because remember, here is anybody know, it's an imperative. You know, difference between imperatives and indicative is right? Indicative indicate something, they make statements. Imperatives are…commands, imperatives tell you to do something. Our scriptures are filled with imperatives, with commands. Don't fear, a fear not or Thou shalt not murder. Our scriptures are filled with commands. Paul's letters are filled with commands to the church, chapter four, five, and six will be filled with commands. However, we've not seen one yet. This is the first imperative that we've seen in the Letter to the Ephesians. So Paul has now reached nearly the end of two chapters, without a single imperative. And furthermore, we're not going to see another one until chapter four. So three chapters of some of the densest, most profound teaching in the New Testament, with one imperative. You may say, well, he says, ‘remember’ there twice, verse 12, he says, remember, again, actually, that second remember, is supplied. So Paul didn't say―if you’ve got an italicize King James, you'll see that that remember is italicize. Paul says, remember one time, our editors, the editors of our Bible, add that second one to help us follow Paul's train of thought, because sometimes, let's admit it, Paul's train of thought is a little bit hard to follow. So they add that second, remember there to help us stay focused on what Paul is telling us to do. But Paul says one time, one command one imperative in three chapters, and it's this, remember, now he's going to tell us in just a minute, what we are to remember, or specifically what these Ephesians are to remember. But before we get there, let's spend a few moments just on the idea of remember, how is it that we as believers, how are we to think of this idea of remember, or to put it another way, memories, memories from the past things that have happened to us memories that we have, we all have these? And sometimes they can be delightful? Sometimes they can be comforting, sometimes they can be wonderful. Sometimes they can be torturous. You'll know what I'm talking about. How does the Christian deal with the past? That's difficult to think about? That's difficult to remember. How does the Christian deal with that? Are we supposed to remember that? Or are we just supposed to put it behind us and only look forward and keep on going? Well, the Scriptures tell us actually, both. Paul says here, of course, we just said that, here's the imperative, remember, and he's going to tell the Ephesians here's what I want you to remember. And what they're going to remember is something that's going to be less than pleasant. Actually, it's gonna be quite unpleasant for them to remember this. So Paul is saying to them, remember this and what you what I want you to remember is not necessarily something that's going to warm your heart. But we also see other places where the Scriptures also tell us that the Christian lives a life of memory of, of dwelling, at times upon the past and things that have happened in the past, for example, even the Supper, when we come together for the Supper, Jesus tells us when you do this to do this, remembering Me, remembering that this is me, this is about Me and for Me, or we see other places like Paul will say to the Corinthians, he will say to them, after listing this list of heinous sins, he'll say, ”Such for some of you.” Remember that such worse some of you don't forget, some of you were these types of sinners. Or he'll say to Timothy, First Timothy, chapter one, verse 12, he'll say, “I was the worst persecutor of the church, I imprisoned the people of God, I murdered the people of God.” And Paul never got over that. He never got over the fact that he was the greatest persecutor of the church. And God had grace upon Him, to not only save him, but to call him as an apostle, even though he was the greatest persecutor of the church. Paul never forgot that, you get the sense that Paul never stopped talking about it. Six times, the book of Acts will tell us a Paul's conversion. And I think that's because Paul was always talking about it. He was always talking about how God who is this incredible God of grace, that though he was a persecutor of the church, God had grace upon him. So Paul never forgot that. And he remembered it, he dwelt upon it. So, we see instances in which we're told to remember these things from the past. And they're not necessarily heartwarming memories. But then I think of places like for example, Philippians, chapter three, when Paul is speaking here, and in Philippians, chapter three, and he's recounting this time in his life, in which he was succeeding, in certain ways, succeeding at being a Pharisee, a Hebrew of Hebrews, and he has this bright future ahead of him, and how he took glory in that, and that he was finding in his achievements, and in his progress in Pharisaism, he was finding acceptance in Go―or so he though―he was justifying himself before God by his achievements. And Paul says, I think back to that, and it says in verse 13, one thing I do one, one thing I do, here's the one thing I do, says, Paul, I forget that. I leave that behind. I'm done with that. I don't think about that anymore. I'm past it. So here we have Paul saying, Remember, and here we have Paul saying, that's put behind me, I don't think about that anymore. What's the difference? And how do we apply that to our life, so that we know well how it is that we deal with our past memories? Well, both of these things that Paul has to say, remember and forget, both of them have the same goal. And the goal is to help you run your race well. So he says to the Ephesians, remember this. And the point of remembering it is so that they can run their race well. He says to the Philippians, I forgot that stuff. And the point of me forgetting it is so I can run my race well, because here's the difference. The things that Paul says he forgot; his excelling in the law, his excelling is as a rabbi, his excelling and Pharisaism, all of those things, were things that Paul could look back upon with fondness. And that's the difference. When you can look back upon your past times of sinfulness and your past sinful activities, and be tempted to think fondly of them―that's what the Christian is to forget. That's what the Christian is to put behind them. Those are not the memories, we dwell upon those memories when we think and you know what I'm talking, boy that remember that time. Remember what we were like back in college, remember, we do that? Boy, those were some good times. If those were sinful times, that's what Paul's saying. No, you don't look back upon those things that God has delivered you from with fondness with attraction. But to look back on those things in which you say, I'm so glad God delivered me from that. I'm so glad I'm not trapped in that anymore. That's what Paul says. You never get beyond that. You use both of them to aid you in your race. It's kind of like what Jesus says, Remember Jesus a couple of different times he'll say, basically the same thing, when he'll say, the one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back, he’s not worthy of the kingdom of God. And that's what Jesus means. He means the one who commits themselves to follow Jesus but then looks back on a prior life with fondness with attraction. Jesus, that's not how you can follow me. Once you follow me, you don't look back upon sinful lives and sinful habits that you've left behind with appreciation and with sort of this reminiscing kind of attachment to them. But instead when we look back on things that God has delivered us from and we say, Oh, God, isn't God wonderful to deliver me from that? That's the things that we never want to get beyond. I think this can all be summarized in Jesus's words about Lot's wife. Remember, Jesus said, “Remember Lot's wife.” And so we all Remember Lot's wife. Remember, remember how the angel had such a hard time to get a lot in his wife and his family to leave Saodom before the destruction came. And then as they're leaving, Lot's wife looks back. And we can only we can only conclude from that passage that she looks back with some fondness in her heart with some regret in our heart for leaving Sodom. And of course, then there's judgment. And Jesus says, remember that, because that is an example to you, when you look back upon your past, what God has delivered you from and you have that part of your heart that says, It would be nice to kind of go back and do that one more time or remember those good old days when we do this, and we do that. Those are the things to be careful to guard our memories about.

Part 2

What's so powerful in the blood of Jesus?

Therefore, remember and what does he say for them to remember: remember that at one time, you Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision, by what is called a circumcision, which is made by flesh and by hands, and by the flesh by hands. So he goes here to this topic of circumcision. And remember, here's what they're to remember, at one time, you are called the uncircumcision, by the ones who are called to circumcision. What's that all about? Well, those two words are just to refer to God's covenant people, God's Old Testament covenant people, the Jewish people, and the bodily sign. That was the sign on their bodies that God gave them as being people of the covenant or God's chosen people, the Jewish people, the sign of circumcision, which was their bodily outwardly sort of sign that they were the people of God. And he says, well, at one time, those who are called a circumcision, called you the uncircumcision. Now, what's important to see here is that what Paul is saying these two names are this, this one name by which you were called uncircumcision. He says, remember, at one time used to be called uncircumcision. And you were called that by the ones who were the circumcision. What Paul is calling them to remember, is a derogatory, pejorative insult. It was not flattering for them to be called the uncircumcision. This speaks of something in Paul's world, that it's helpful for us to remind ourselves about, and that is the fact that Paul lived in a world that was eaten alive by hatred. And we say, well, so do we, we live in the same sort of world. And yes, people are people and hate still exist, it will exist until Jesus returns, but in a different sort of way. Paul's world, Jesus came into a culture and at a time in that culture, at which hatred, racial ethnic hatred was at a fever pitch high. Now, you might say, Well, I think we live in that world today. With all due respect, you don't know anything about racism and ethnic hatred, if you don't understand Paul's world, and the Jewish Gentile hatred that existed primarily, in one direction, from Jew to Gentile. It was reciprocated. But it was it was frothy, in the direction of going from the Jew to the Gentile. Now, the complicated thing about this is that it all started, by God's commands, God commanded that his people were to be separate. They're to separate themselves from the people of the land. And they took that seriously. In some ways that took it seriously. And other ways they didn’t, but they, they kind of took this seriously. And this resulted in this idea that they were God's favorite people. Now, let me ask this question, Does God have a favorite people? Trick question, does God have a favorite people? God does not have a favorite people. But God has a favored people. And there's a difference. And the nuance there is very important. God has a favored people. And those are the people that have received his favor. We know him because he has favored us. The Jewish people were God's favored people. But they had begun to think of themselves as God's favorite people. And the difference is, when you think you're God's favorite person, then that's all your identity, that's you. Being God's favorite person means that you know it. That's kind of a difference that between the two, being God's favored person speaks of someone this is what Paul has been trying to say to us from the beginning of the letter. It speaks to us to someone of someone whose eyes have been open to the incredible grace of God that he would want to know us. And that he would favor us with the grace of making us alive to him. That's God's favored people. God's favorite people are, well, there's obviously something about me that God likes. So I'm his favorite. We're his favorite. And we know it. You're not his favorite, and we know that too. So you see the difference. Gods people had begun to think of themselves, I should say Gods ethnic people had begun to think of themselves as Gods favorite people. And thereby necessarily they thought of everyone else as Gods unfavorite people. And they had begun to think of themselves as being God's favorite, due to something within themselves. So now you see the connection between: by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing it is the gift of God, not a result of work so that no one may boast. Therefore, remember, that at one time, you were hated by those who thought they could boast in what I just talked about, see the connection? So this time in which Paul lived, the time in which Jesus lived, was a time of fever pitch, hatred, on the part of the Jewish people toward the Gentile people. There was a prayer that Jewish men would pray every morning, they would get up and they would thank God for three things. They would thank God for life and another day, they would thank God that they were not born a woman, and they would thank God that they were not born a Gentile. That's the mindset. That's the type of animosity that's the type of lowness that the Gentile was assigned in the mind of the Jewish person. When a Jew on those rare occasions, when a Jewish person would elope and marry a Gentile, the Jewish family would conduct a funeral for the person because the person was dead to them. Anybody seen Fiddler on the Roof? Or read Fiddler on the Roof? So remember that scene where the father is pushing the cart and tears rolling down his face and the daughter that that was going to marry the Gentile, and they're crying, and the father says, You're dead to me. You're dead to me. You're dead to me. That's this. That's this environment. It was illegal for a Jewish person to assist a Gentile woman giving birth to a child. Because by so doing, they were helping another Gentile come into the world. That's the type of hatred and animosity that existed in Paul's world. Then Pentecost happens, right? And the church is born. Remember, there's this big outpouring of the Spirit. And remember, 16 people groups are converted right there. And remember who all 16 people groups were? Jews. They were all Jews, therefore the Jewish festival of Pentecost 10 years after Pentecost. Do you know how many Gentile Christians there are? None. Ten years have passed since Jesus goes to heaven. Since the Spirit has given since the church is born. Ten years have passed, and Jesus's command to take this gospel to Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria, and then the ends of the earth hadn't gotten there yet, the Ethiopian eunuch he was a convert to Judaism. That's why he was there in the temple worshipping and reading the Isaiah scroll. And so this is this is the world we can trace. You really have to grasp this to understand what's happening in the book of Acts. The book of Acts is the story of two worlds colliding. The world of the Jew and the world of the Gentile, both of whom have been converted to Christ, and they collide. And within come all these trappings and how the church had to work out these difficult, difficult problems. And we see these Jews following Paul everywhere disrupting his teaching because they don't believe that the Gentiles should be God's people that they're not God's people. They believe it's sinful to take this gospel of the Jewish Messiah to Gentiles. It's just a tremendous upheaval in Paul's world. And so the idea of race relations today, race relations between African Americans and whites or to any two ethnic groups today cannot compare, cannot compare. Maybe race relations in 1840 was something more like that. But you should think more in terms, to understand Paul's world you should think more in terms of the relationship between a radical Islamic jihadist and a Westerner―that's more akin to the relationship between Jew and Gentile in Paul's day. And so this is what the Paul wants them to remember. Remember. Remember, how hated you were. By God's people. Remember, how hated you were? By God's people. Remember what David said of Goliath? Remember that David comes and there's Goliath shouting all these insults and David's like what's going on here? And they tell him this man, Goliath, and David says, “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, to say this about the Lord, the army of the living God?” You hear the insult there. this uncircumcised Philistine, Paul says, Remember, that's who you were. You were the uncircumcised Philistine. Remember the sheet, the vision was sheet that comes to Peter three times? The sheet comes down three times full of unclean animals. Ten years after Jesus has gone back to heaven, Peter still says, “Nope, I don't I don't eat that stuff.” Right. And the vision is all about how he's supposed to go to Cornelius’ house, because God's now calling the Gentiles into the church, right? When we think of that, when we think of that sheet coming down in the unclean animals, that's who we are. We are the unclean animal. We are the disgusting animals on the on the sheet that comes down that Peter says, “Never in my life, have I touched that.” That's us. Paul says to the Ephesians, that’s you. Remember, that's who you were, at one time, you were called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh. And so we're gonna see this in the flesh three times. So the circumcision is made in the flesh by hands, remember that you are at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise. So to skip ahead, just a little bit, but you're far off, you've been brought near by the blood of Christ for himself as our peace who has made both one has broken down in his flesh, so three times in the flesh. Two times he says, circumcision in the flesh, you are the uncircumcision by the circumcision in the flesh, because they are the circumcision made by the flesh. And then he's going to say, you've been brought near by the one who in the flesh has solved it. So you see, the problem is the flesh. The problem is the circumcision in the flesh, and it's going to be solved by another flesh is going to be solved by Jesus's sacrifice in his flesh. So in the flesh causes the circumference causes the difference causes the breakdown, causes the hostility, all that is solved by Jesus in the flesh. So now back to verse 12. Remember that you are that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. Now, there is a mouthful right there that we could spend a great deal of time dissecting, taking apart this five-fold description of the church corporate prior to the grace of God coming to them. But just suffice to say, the picture that Paul paints here: alienated, you were separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, the Commonwealth means the citizenship the people of Israel, the people of God, strangers, to the covenant, a promise. There's the covenant a promise, in which God promises redemption from his people sins, but you were strangers to that, having no hope 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul says that Christ is our hope, but they were separated from Christ, they're separated from their hope. Having no hope, and without God in the world. Now, that doesn't mean they didn't have gods, they had plenty of gods, they were all false, but they have not the true God. So right here, just take a little brief moment and say: right, there is a missions mandate. Right, there is why we are on absolute solid, biblical ground., when the world around us will say we know that that people group that lives over there and that different culture, they've got their own beliefs, their own traditions, their own religions, we should leave them alone, who are we to go and tell them that the way they believe is wrong? I'll tell you who we are. We are the people who stand on the inerrant Word of God that says to us, all of those people are without hope, and separated from God. And there is no connecting to God outside of what's going to become so abundantly clear in the passage outside of in Christ Jesus. So, having no hope, without God in the world, but now in Christ, you see how everything from verse from chapter one, verse four, everything is in Christ, the blessings are in Christ, the redemption is in Christ, the choosing is in Christ, the adoption is in Christ, the inheritance is in Christ, all of it is in Christ. Here also, the church is the church, because of Christ, in Christ is where the church is located. But now in Christ, you who are once far off, have been brought near. So here's this theme of farness and nearness. The ones who are far have been brought near. Now, we have a way of talking here in the church that kind of goes like this, that at certain times of our life, we have a walk with God, a relationship with God that's vibrant, and connected, and energetic. And we'll call that way being…close to God. I need like a Vanna White sort of thing, to turn some letters up here, that we call it being close to God right? But, then there's times when we maybe have strayed. And our thoughts, in our relationship to Christ is not vibrant, not energetic, but disconnected. This disjointed, you know, I'm talking about, and we'll call that being far from God. And we're not wrong to use that terminology. But if we want to be biblical―and we do want to be biblical―right? If we want to be biblical, God sees everyone who is in Christ as near, close everyone. If you are in Christ, you are close to God, and God's way of thinking. So you who are far off have been brought near How have you been brought near? By the blood of Christ, the blood of Christ has brought you near, how has the blood of Christ brought you near? It's important for us to pause here and just remind yourself of how it is that the blood of Christ brings us nearer to Christ. Jesus Christ did not have magic blood. I know that sounds provocative. But there is no saving quality to Jesus's blood, in and of itself. Jesus didn't have magic blood. The blood that Jesus shed on the cross was bodily fluid. The blood of Jesus saves us not because of something in the blood. But because of what it means, of what it stands for, of what the meaning is, because it means his sacrificial death on your behalf. Your perfect life, His perfect life lived for you, and then given for you because the blood is the life. And so that blood that flowed, Jesus wasn't spilling a liquid that itself brings salvation, because you know what, I'd be willing to bet that some of those Roman centurions who put Jesus on the cross, I'd be willing to bet they got some of Jesus's blood on them. And they didn't sort of leap around all converted immediately. There's, if I had a bowl of Jesus's blood right here, and I would just say, whoever wants to be saved, come up and dip your hands in Jesus's blood. And you came in did so without faith or without repentance, then the only thing you do is get your clothes stained. Because there's nothing salvific about blood, it's about what the blood means. We just sang Power in the Blood. And there's great power in the blood, but not in and of itself. The power is the sacrifice that was made on our behalf, the perfect life that was lived for us, and then given for us, so that his life commends us to God. And his death, pays the penalty that's ours. There was once a tribe of friendly Indians. Some of you've heard the story. But it's been three years since I told the story. And they taught me in seminary that three years, you can tell a story again, so there was this peaceful Indian tribe. And in this tribe that they were, they grew their crops and raised animals, and they were peaceful, didn't fight with anybody. But they were experiencing a great deal of internal strife, because it had become evident that among them was a chicken thief, every day or two, somebody else's chicken would disappear. And this went on for a while. And you can imagine the stress and the interpersonal friction that was happening in the tribe after a week goes by to three a month, a couple of months, and everybody now has lost several chickens. And it just can't seem to find the chicken thief. So they're beginning to fight amongst themselves and everything and, and the unity of the tribe is beginning to kind of break down. So the chief finally in desperation, has to do something, he's got to do something to stop this, because it's tearing his tribe apart. So he makes this radical declaration. He says that just the only thing I know to do is just make this incredible declaration that's going to get everybody's attention, and hopefully put a stop to this. So he declares the chicken thief will be caught. And when they're caught, they will have their shirt stripped off of them, they will be tied to a pole, and they will receive 40 lashes onto their bare back with a leather whip. And the tribe just gasped because nobody had ever heard of a punishment like that. I mean, this was a punishment that only the strongest young men could live through. But the chief thought that they've got no other choice. This is what I have to do in order to smoke this chicken thief out. So a night or two passes and then sure enough, in the middle of night some Braves come and wake the chief up in the middle of night to say we have caught the chicken thief and we've caught the thief red handed. The chief sort of wakes up sort of groggy and everything gets up and they say we we've got the thief outside. You need to come and see. So the chief sort of gets up and stumbles outside is teepee and goes walks into the moonlight and comes face to face with his own elderly mother. What is what is he supposed to do? Everyone in the tribe has heard, this person will be caught. And this person will be beaten with 40 lashes on their bare back. He can't go back on that he would have no more respect. And the tribe would absolutely break down after that. But he can't just say, well, we won't do this. That will be even worse in a way of speaking. So what's the chief going to do? So the sun comes up, the chief sends out word gather everybody in the center of the village there and all the people gather up that morning. And they, the chief comes out and declares we have caught the thief. And here's the thief. And everybody's watching the chief to see what he's going to do. And sure enough, he commands, strip her shirt off, lash her to the post. They do this. And then the chief says, I want the strongest brave in the village. The strongest young brave comes up, he hands him the whip. And he said, the Chief says, no matter what you do under penalty of death, do not go lightly. We don't want to do this again. And the brave, with tears in his eyes, reaches back to make the first blow. And the chief throws off his shirt and wraps himself around his mother, and takes all 40 lashes. That was the only thing you could do. The lashes had to be administered, but his mother could not take them. That's how the blood of Christ brings us near. Our iniquity―Isaiah 62―has made a separation between us and God. That separation must be taken away. And it can only be taken away by death because the wages of sin is death. And so just as the chief sacrifices himself and takes the full punishment for a sin that wasn't his, so also Christ takes our punishment and that is how his blood draws us nearer to him. You have been brought near by the blood of Christ, for he himself is our peace. You see how peace is a person. Peace is Jesus. Peace isn't a status. It's not an achievement. Peace is a person and it is Jesus Christ, who has made us both one, and has broken down in his flesh, the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments. So you see how the peace that Jesus brings is a piece that both builds and destroys. It destroys the hostilities, it tears down the hostilities, but it also builds the unity. Jesus's peace is not a type of peace that just says, Come on, and God will kind of overlook these things. Jesus's peace is a piece that must build and destroy, it must eradicate and it must create, it creates unity, it creates the body, but it also destroys the hostility. So how is this hostility or what is this hostility, he has destroyed, he has made us both one and as broken down in his flesh, the dividing wall of hostility. Now this is a clear reference to the wall of the outer court of the temple. So we know we have this temple and we had this temple in Jerusalem. And we know that the temple was divided into different places there was the temple proper. But then there was the next courtyard out. That was the courtyard that the Jewish men could enter. There was the next courtyard that was the courtyard that the Jewish women could enter. There's the next courtyard out and the next and finally, the outermost courtyard was the courtyard of the Gentiles. And there was a wall all around on the inside with a sign that was placed above the sign has been described as the sign that said, no foreigner may enter under penalty of death. Any foreigner goes beyond this point at risk of your own life. How's that for a welcome sign? How's that for our God wants to know you? Our God wants to be your God, our God wants to forgive your sins? No. This is a sign that says we're God's favorites. You stay out. You can come here, you can come here. But you stay out of here. Paul says remember this. Never forget this. Never forget the hatred. Never forget the animosity. Never forget the prejudice. Never forget the separation. Never forget how you were treated by those who thought they were God’s favorites. Yet they were not Gods favored.

Part 3

The gospel of Jesus Christ is greater than any hatred known to man.

He has broken down this wall of hostility. How did he break it down? By the cross in which He abolished the law of commandments and ordinances. So did Jesus abolish the law on the cross? Now He abolished the law of commandments and ordinances by that he means that on the cross, Jesus abolished the ceremonial law, the law of commandments and ordinances. Jesus did not abolish the moral law of God. The 10 commandments―how God tells us to live what's right and what's wrong. Jesus doesn't abolish that. Jesus fulfills it, he lives it for us. What He did abolish was the ceremonial law and the ceremonial law was the very dividing wall, that's what Paul said, He's abolished this dividing wall by abolishing the ceremonial law, which was the basis of their hatred towards you, thereby killing the hostility versus empty, and he came and preached peace to you who are far off, and peace to those who were near. So you remember that trip that Jesus made to Ephesus, in Acts? Remember that? Jesus goes to Ephesus and preaches the gospel to them? No, you don’t remember that because Jesus never went to Ephesus. So how does Paul say that he, Jesus has preached to you? Who were far? How does Paul say that? Because Jesus has preached to them by means of His Spirit that has come, the Spirit of Christ has come and preached the gospel by way of Apollos, by way of Aquila and Priscilla, by way of Paul, by way of Timothy, by way of the apostle John. All of them have come to Ephesus, remember, we talked about that at the beginning, all these leaders of church that have been to Ephesus, and the gospel has been preached to them. Now, what's the common thread between all those people? They're all Jews. So here's what Paul's saying. The Spirit of Christ has come and preached to you by means of the people who hated you. God has sent people from the group of people who hated you. And God has sent them to preach Christ to you. Does it sound like oh, I don't know Jonah? Remember the story, Jonah? Who hated the Ninevites. Yet God said, You are the one that I want to go to them. I want you who has such hatred and such animosity in your heart, I want you to go and preach Christ to them. Not that Apollos and Aquila and Priscilla and Paul hated the Ephesians. They didn’t, they were converted. But it is to say that God in His wisdom, sends to them, the Spirit of Christ by way of those who were their enemies. The Spirit of Christ has come and preached peace to you who are far off and peace to those who are near. Paul clearly has in mind here, some of the passages from Isaiah, “How beautiful are the mountains, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace,” Or Isaiah 57 Verse 19, “Peace, peace to the far and to the near.” So clearly, clearly, Paul is thinking here about prophecies from Isaiah. So, here he says, the that verse 19, by abolishing the law of commandments and ordinances that he might create in Himself, one new man in place of the two, so making peace. So right here, Jesus creates one new man. And here's where some people get confused. Because Paul is not talking about a man. When he says that the Jesus created one new man, he means one new mankind―a new humanity. Jesus created on the cross a new humanity, a new people. That's what Jesus is doing in that. By the way, that's what that's what the piercing of the side was all about. Remember the piercing of the side and John's Gospel where they come and they stabbed Jesus inside and out from his side comes water and blood. And so, Jesus right there is symbolically, He's metaphorically birthing the church. He's birthing the church because he'd already told Nicodemus in John three that unless one is born of water and blood, you can't see God. So out of his side comes water and blood what else came out of a side? Remember the story of Adam? The story of Adam when out of Adam’s side―actually the word there's not ‘rib,’ I don't know where we got rib from, the word there is side―out of Adam side, comes the woman. In the same way that the woman came out of Adam's side on the cross. The church comes out of Jesus, by the spilling of the water and the blood. None can see God without being born of water and the blood. On the cross. Jesus is metaphorically giving birth to his people. And so, Paul says, from the one man came a new man, a new humanity. This is the church. Do you see how loftily Paul is speaking of God's people to church, there's nowhere in Scripture that speaks quite so profoundly and quite so loftily about the church. So, on the cross the church is being born, again, verse 17, and he came and preached peace to you who are far off peace to those who were near. 18, for through Him, we both have access in one spirit to the Father. So, here's the picture that Paul wants you to see. He wants you to see this Jew and this Gentile, grasping hands, putting their arms around each other, with a great big hug with a great big smile, they then walk into the presence of God together. That's what Paul wants you to see. This is the blessing in Christ that Paul has been building up to this glorious reality that here are these two enemies, who hated each other. And Paul wants you to see, Christ has come by way of the enemy. And he's preached peace to you by way of the enemy, using the enemy's mouth, so that from the one man now two join hands, put their arms around each other and walk into the presence of God together because a new man, a new humanity has been created on the cross. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, you are now members of the household of God. So, here's a question. And it just might be another trick question. Can a non-Israelite be saved? What do you think? Yes, and no. If we know our Bibles, we say, all who are saved our true Israel. Isn't that what Paul says in Galatians? Chapter Three, just as Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness? Know, then that is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. Jesus says to the woman at the well, salvation comes from the Jews. The Pharisees come to Jesus., and they say, We're sons of Abraham. Jesus says, You're not sons of Abraham. If you were sons of Abraham, you’d, believe me. But you're not sons of Abraham. Paul says, true Israel, is what you've been grafted into. So, here's what he's saying this glorious truth is: you have now been made part of the citizenship of God, the household of God, which from the beginning, was those who are of Abraham. The true sons of Abraham, aren't those who came from his loins, the true sons of Abraham are those who believe what he believed in Genesis 15. And so, the glorious truth he wants them to see is: those who hated you so much, who thought that they had what you didn't have, and that was the basis of their hatred towards you, Paul says, they're not of that household. You were the one who are out of that household now. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but your fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, or in other words, built upon the teaching of the apostles and the prophets. Christ Himself is the cornerstone. We could spend a lot of time there talking about the cornerstone. Verse 21, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In Him. You see: in him, in Him in Whom, in Him, you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God, by the Spirit, you are being built together. This reminds us of the words of Peter, you're being built together into a spiritual house, you are being built together into the household of God, you are being built together into a dwelling place for God. Revelation, chapter 21. When the new heavens and the new earth come down, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man, He will dwell with them. Matthew one and verse 23. Behold, the virgin shall concede and bear son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, and the parenthetical phrase by Matthew is: which means God with us. You were being built into the dwelling place of God himself. This is what John 14 is all about. I go to prepare a place for you If I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself that where I am there, there you may be also. John 14 is not about mansions in the sky. As much as I love that song, we don't have mansions in the sky, you don't have a mansion in the sky. The dwelling place that Jesus is preparing for us is his church. Jesus is preparing his church as the dwelling place of God. And so, this is the glorious truth that Paul has really been building up to in reaching this point. Chapter Three is all going to be about the mystery of the church, the glorious mystery of this thing called new humanity, the new people of God, the people of God that were chosen from the foundation of the world, who are the true sons of Abraham, who are the true citizens of heaven, and how this has broken down every hatred and every hostility. Jesus came when he did on purpose. He came when he did to a people who were engrossed in some of the deepest, ugliest hatred that society has ever known, because He wants to demonstrate how his gospel overcomes every hatred, every prejudice, every animosity. I'm reading a book now. And it's a very challenging book to read. It's a book about a man named Henry Garrity, Henry Garrett. He was a army chaplain in World War Two. He was 50 in 1943. And the Army up until 1943, had an age limit of 45 for chaplains. So he was a pastor, and he wanted to go and be a chaplain in World War Two, but he was past the age limit, he had two sons already in the war. But in 1943, the army Lifted the age limit. And so Henry Garrick, he goes to Europe as an army chaplain, to spend two years in Europe serving the cause there, so to speak, as an army chaplain in Europe. 12:09 After serving his two years, the war comes to an end in 1945. And at the end of the war, the army asked Henry Gerecke to stay to fulfill another mission in Europe. And that mission was to be the chaplain at a place called Nuremberg, to 22, high profile Nazi war criminals. They wanted him to be the chaplain. He spoke fluent German. So they wanted him to serve as a chaplain to these 22 of the highest profile, Nazi war criminals. Why, why were they assigned a chaplain? Because that's the right thing to do. So Gerecke, who speaks German, was assigned to these 22. And these weren't just concentration camp guards. These are all names that we know, that we've heard through in our history books, these were the ones who among these, these 22 people, millions of people died directly because of them. And they didn't just die. They were starved to death. They were frozen to death. They were beaten to death, they were worked to death. And all of it was not on the other side of the world. All of it was right where they lived, right outside their door. They saw it. They were in charge of it. They orchestrated it. They were the engineers behind it. They were the ones carrying it out. So we all are familiar with the Nuremberg trials. So Gerecke was assigned as the chaplain to these 22 high profile Nazi war criminals. And so the book wrestles with, and this is why the book can be so difficult. It wrestles with questions like: how do you genuinely present the gospel that forgives and saves to people whom you really wish they burn in hell? How do you do that? Makes you feel like Jonah, right? How do you present this gospel that brings forgiveness to the worst of sinners, to people who are monsters. So, Gerecke begins his duties, and after about a year so now he's been gone from his family for three years now his boys are both back home. After about a year, these 22 high profile prisoners get together, and they've heard a rumor and the rumor is that Gerecke’s wife at home has filed a petition for him to be relieved of duty so he can come back home, because their family hasn't been together now for over four years. So she files a petition with the Army asking him to be relieved of the remainder of his duties so he can come back home. They hear rumor of this. And these men write a letter to his wife and their letter is in your notes. Let's read this together. Dear Mrs. Gerecke, your husband, Pastor Gerecke has been taking religious care of the undersigned defendants during the Nuremberg trial. He has been doing so for more than half a year. We now have heard Dear Mrs. Gerecke, that you wish to see him back home after his absence of several years. Because we also have wives and children, we understand this wish of yours very well. Nevertheless, we are asking you to put off this wish to gather your family around you at home for a little while, please consider that we cannot miss your husband now. During the past months, he has shown us uncompromising friendliness, of such a kind that he has become indispensable for us. Our dear Chaplain Gerecke is necessary for us not only as a minister, but also as the thoroughly good man that he is. Surely, we need not described him as such to his own wife. We simply have come to love him. Let me read that sentence again. We simply have come to love him. It is impossible for any other man other than him to break through the walls that have been built up around us―you see the theme of Ephesians two there―in a spiritual sense, even stronger than in a material one, please leave him with us. Certainly, you will bring the sacrifice and we will be indebted to you. We send our best wishes to you and your family, God be with you. And it was signed by all 22 prisoners. How does that happen? Here's a man who hasn't seen his family for three years. Two of those years, both of his sons were in combat, all because of these men. He has been in Europe now three years he has another to go. All because of these men. He has endured some of the worst emotional and mental anguish because as Chaplin he has to now know things. And this is another reason the book is so difficult. He has to hear things and know things from these monsters. And yet, he is able to minister the gospel to them so well, that they love him. And they send a letter, all of them, to his wife, pleading, please don't take him from us. There is good reason to believe that four of those men made a trustable repentance and confession in Christ. And so, if you were in Christ this morning, you have good reason to believe that you will see at least four high profile Nazi war criminals in heaven because of Henry Gerecke. How does the gospel do that? What kind of gospel can do that? Okay, yes, somebody hurts your feelings. And the gospel helps you get over that and love them again and forgive them again. That's wonderful―we're talking about monsters who murdered millions of people in horrific ways. And the gospel can overcome that. This is the church. This is the church that Paul is talking about. All of you, if you have one eye and half a brain, all of you can see that our world is deeply broken. And you can all see how much hatred and animosity are in this world. And you can all see how nobody's solution is ever going to work. The only solution, the only answer is Christ. He is the only One that breaks down the hostility. He's the only one that brings unity out of enemies. And so, if you still think of church as an obligation, if you still think of church as part of your life that you go to one day a week or something, you haven't understood anything that Paul said. You have totally missed the point of everything that Paul has said and you have missed the point of what he has said in this passage. The Church of Jesus Christ is supernatural, because it is a group of supernatural people who have been made into a new humanity, who are indwelt by a Spirit that can create with them of love like that.