Well, what a privilege it is for us, once again, to be able to turn to the precious truth of the Word of God, study it together. I'm always excited when we start a new section, and that is today. On the agenda for today, we're ready to take a look at a new section in Ephesians chapter 2, that last half there, beginning in verse 11. And so if you want to take your Bibles this morning, please, and begin to move in that direction, Ephesians chapter 2. And I'm going to try to lay out this new section for you today. Just by way of reminder in the first 10 verses, we were there for a number of weeks, in the first 10 verses Paul has given us all the details, glorious details I might add, of what God has done for us as individuals by saving us and making us the members of Christ's Church, a section that we very appropriately called the miracle of salvation. God took you when you were spiritually dead and made you alive together with Christ and all of those wonderful things, raised you up with Him, seated you with Him, all of those wonderful things that we have studied through in the first ten verses. This morning now, we're going to turn the corner, move into the last half of the chapter, Ephesians chapter 2, now beginning in verse 11 down through the end of the chapter, verse 22. And in this section, Paul is going to go on now to show us what God has done for us as the members of Jesus Christ's church corporately. That's really the difference, the major difference as we move now from the first half of the chapter to the second. We move from what he has done for us as individuals to what he has done for the church corporately. And this is a section, as you can see by your outline, that I'm going to call the unity of the church, Jews and Gentiles, reconciled in one body. Follow along, please, as I read this new section of text, Ephesians 2, 11-22, and as I do, would you notice right away some divisions that are very similar to the ones that we saw when we were in verses 1-10. This time there are three divisions instead of two. And in fact, before I read, would you just glance at the text for a minute and let me show you these divisions. I'll point them out to you. Notice what it says in verse 11 at the beginning of that verse. It says, it begins with the phrase, therefore, remember. Therefore, remember. Verse 13 now begins with the phrase, but now. And those two phrases ought to be very familiar to you. They're very similar, aren't they? To the ones that we had in verses 1-10, and you were but God. Except for the fact, of course, as I said, that Paul is dealing with the church corporately now instead of with the individual Christian as he was in verses 1-10. And then, we only had two divisions in the first section, now this last section is going to add even a third division beginning in verse 19 with the phrase, so then, which will of course give us a conclusion to the matter at hand. Well with that, I just wanted to point those divisions out to you, and with that now behind us, let's go ahead and read the text. Pick up with me in verse 11 as I read the inspired word of God. Here's what it says, Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by the so-called circumcision which is performed in the flesh by human hands. Remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded 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 formerly were far off, have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who made both groups into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in his flesh the enmity, which is the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in himself he might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. And he came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near, for through him we both have our access in one spirit to the Father. So then, and here now begins that third section, final section, so then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and are of God's household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole building being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit." Some wonderful, fascinating things there for us to explore in the weeks ahead. Let me begin by saying this, Never forget, as we study this book of Ephesians, what the main theme is. What is the main theme of Ephesians? The main theme of Ephesians is the church from beginning to end. It's all about the church in the first half of chapter 1. If you recall, we got to eavesdrop as the Trinity laid out the plans for Jesus Christ's church. And when did He do that? Way back there in eternity past. In the last half of that chapter, we got to listen as the great apostle Paul bowed his knee to pray for our comprehension of it all, and we worked through that prayer, marvelous prayer that he prayed for you and for me. And then in the first 10 verses of chapter 2, the section we just finished, we got a detailed description, didn't we, of this miracle of salvation, which is what enters one into the church. Some verses that I told you many times, never forget this about verses 1 to 10, verses that describe what it really means to be a Christian. That's it, right there in verses 1 to 10. What you have there in Ephesians 2, 1 to 10 is the real thing, people. And also mark this, nothing less than that is ever the real thing. That's what it means to be a true believer in Jesus Christ. Now this morning we come to the last half of the chapter, chapter 2, where Paul is going to focus our attention, again the theme is the church, still the church, is going to focus our attention now on a very special, unique, and I could even say exclusive feature or characteristic of the church, and that is the unity of the church. We're going to talk about the unity of the church from here down through the end of this chapter. Paul's point here will be to say that it's only the church Start with this. Mark this. It's only the church people, the church of Jesus Christ, that can truly unify people. That is Paul's message here, and he gives us that message in a context and in a culture where there was perhaps the most bitter kind of disunity that ever existed between two groups of people. Who were they? The Jews and the Gentiles. I mean, this thing was deep, and it was bitter, and it was hard. We just learned about one miracle, didn't we? In the first ten verses of this chapter when God takes a spiritually dead individual and breathes into that person's spiritual life, makes him alive. Now in the last half of the chapter, can I say that we're going to learn about another miracle? When God takes two groups of people who were as far apart as the Jews were from the Gentiles and reconciles them together into one body. That's what we're going to see here in this section. I'm going to have to give you a little bit of history here of that Jewish and Gentile kind of animosity that I'm referring to. And I will do that here in a little bit when we get into the text of verse 11, because I really want you to know and understand just how much of a miracle, when I say it's a miracle that God did this thing that he did in this last half of the chapter, I really mean it's a miracle. I want you to understand how much of a miracle by just kind of touching on some of the history behind this thing. But before I do that, Would you allow me to just deal with this subject of unity for a few minutes in a more general way? Let's sort of back off from this text now that we know what it's all about and talk about unity just for a little while in a more general way as we approach this text on that great subject. Unity, of course, is the great goal in God's plan of redemption. We learned that, didn't we, back in Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 10? A goal that will be accomplished someday in eternity future. Let me remind you of what it said back there. God made all of his plans for the church, it says in verse 10 of chapter 1, remember this verse, with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. What does that mean? I know that's a long time back for you to remember, but so let me remind you what it means is this, it means that everything, literally everything in God's plan is heading toward that perfect unity that will exist someday when we are all together. We're going to be one all together, folks, someday. in heaven, and then even beyond that in the Millennial Kingdom, and then even beyond that in a perfect, perfect, perfect way in the New Jerusalem. There's going to be oneness, unity, perfect unity. Everything is heading in that direction. And then, just let me throw this out here too, just another thought about this unity. Certainly it was the master plan that God had in mind when he did all that he did in planning the church, but I think you also know that unity was a major concern on the heart of Jesus Christ, wasn't it? When he prayed his high priestly prayer in John chapter 17, he said this, I am no longer in the world, Jesus prayed, and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to you, Holy Father, keep them in your name, the name which you have given me, that they may be one. just as we are one. Jesus prayed that we would be one. And so listen, unity among His people is very important to God, and unity in His body is very important to Jesus Christ. Unity is the theme of this text that we are opening this morning. Unity is a very, very important subject in the Word of God, and yet, at the same time, Unity is a very misunderstood subject among believers in the church today. Let me say that again. Unity is very important to God. It is very important to Christ. And yet, at the same time, it is a very, very misunderstood subject among believers in the church today. And so what I want to do here, before we get right down into the text of verse 11, and we will get there and at least get a start on that today, But before we do that, I want to make three preliminary statements here this morning that I think will give you a pretty good overview of what Paul is going to teach us about unity in these verses. You can even think of these three statements as Paul's three-part thesis statement, if you will. I really think that they will accomplish that for us. Now, again, keep in mind that Paul is going to apply this truth about unity very specifically to the most serious disunity problem that existed in the culture of his New Testament era, and that was the disunity that existed between the Jews and the Gentiles. But as we look at these basic truths about unity first in a more general way this morning, I think that we'll be able to see how they apply even beyond that, how they apply to really all kinds of disunity problems among people, even beyond the issues that Jews had with Gentiles and vice versa in the first century church. All right, now think with me, if you would, please, about these three statements, progressive statements, that I think will give us a good handle on the subject matter that is going to be taught in all kinds of detail in this text. Three statements that will summarize the truth that Paul is going to teach us in this new section of Ephesians chapter 2. Statement number one is this. Division has always been a normal part of sinful human nature. Let's start there. Division has always been a part of normal sinful human nature. That's where we always have to begin on this subject of unity with an understanding of the problem, with an understanding of the root cause as to why unity isn't there when it isn't there. And as you may have guessed, what do you suppose the problem is? The problem is sin. It's always sin. We already know, don't we, that sin is a killer. The wages of sin is death. Ezekiel said in Ezekiel 18.4 that the soul who sins will die. We've talked about sin all along in our study of the scriptures. Sin is that great black mark people on God's creation. Sin is what ruins everything that is good. Sin is what brings death where there was life, and now as we're talking about unity this morning, let's understand something else about sin. Let's understand sin as that which separates what God intends to be together. Okay? Let's understand sin as that which separates that which God intends to be together. Sin is what separates men and women from God, right? Why are unbelievers separated from God by their sin? And also now, let's understand that sin, in turn, is what separates men and women from other men and women. And so this thing goes horizontally and it goes vertically, right? And sin is the problem. Sin is the root cause of the problem. And if we wanted to isolate one particular sin as the main culprit in this unity problem over other sins, it would have to be the ugly sin of pride. Don't you agree? Here's what happens when sinful men and women begin to think of themselves as being smarter, or more attractive, or more talented, or more privileged, or sometimes even Nationally or racially superior, what do they do? They begin to despise other people. They begin to build walls and barriers around themselves that shut other people out. History is filled with examples, isn't it? And sin, perhaps the ugly sin of pride more than any other sin, is the root cause of the problem. Let me give you some examples. There has always been disunity among nations, hasn't there been? How do we know? Because the history books are filled with wars, aren't they? And there continue to be wars. In New Testament times and even more recently in the South, right here in our own country, there was some racial disunity, horrible disunity between blacks and whites, between slaves and free men. That wasn't God's plan. Ever since the fall and the curse, There has always been disunity in varying degrees between the sexes. Your desire will be for your husband. It says there is a part of the curse as God spoke to Eve in New Testament times. We know that men sometimes didn't treat their wives much better than they treated their slaves, and so there's that kind of disunity. How about this one? This is just a huge one that we see all over the place today. How about disunity caused by social and economic reasons? Social and economic status have always caused sinful men to despise and separate themselves from other men. In fact, A scripture came to mind when I thought about that. James deals with that problem that existed even in the church. rebuking his readers in James 2, 1-7. I'm not going to read it, but you can on your own. You're probably familiar with that text. He rebukes his readers in that text for giving special attention, if you recall, to the well-dressed rich man that came into the church, and yet they neglected the poor man who came in with sort of shabby, tattered clothing. And they said, well, you can sit back there. And so there was that kind of thing going on even in the church, and James offers that rebuke. And then how about this example? even in the New Testament church now. The Corinthians, of course, had all kinds of problems. We just read about Paul rebuking them for their abuse of the Lord's table, but they had other problems. They were taking one another to court, and they were doing all kinds of crazy things that they shouldn't have been doing. But here, in this context, now we're talking about disunity. How about this? In 1 Corinthians 1, the Corinthians were dividing themselves up, all up, around their favorite teachers. Do you remember that? One said, well, I'm of Paul. And the other one said, well, I'm of Apollos. And another one said, I'm of Cephas. And then there were the super elite ones who said, well, you know what, guys? I'm of Christ. Christ is my teacher. And so what do we have here? Just another example of what? Sinful human pride causing divisions among people that God never intended to be there. I could go with those examples, but I think you get the point. As I said earlier, the specific disunity problem that Paul deals with in our text is the disunity that existed between the Jews and the Gentiles. Because of sinful human pride, the Jews despised the Gentiles. And again, we're going to talk more about that here, yet even this morning, because that's the major problem that's addressed in this text. That doesn't mean that the Gentiles are off the hook by any means. The Gentiles had their own sinful disunity issues. Think about the Gentiles. You know, the Jews hated the Gentiles. I think most of you know that. But the Gentiles didn't think very highly of the Jews either throughout biblical history, did they? Was Satan himself behind their efforts? And of course, we know that there's something bigger behind that, right? Because who was to be born of the Jews? of the Lord Jesus Christ, right? And so what happened? What did the Gentiles try to do throughout history? Was Satan himself behind their efforts? The Gentiles throughout history have always hated the Jews and have, on many occasions, even tried to exterminate the Jews. They've never been successful, have they? Why? Because God is sovereign, right? That's why they're not successful. But you can trace that all the way from Haman in the book of Esther. You can trace that all the way up to Herod in the New Testament. Remember what he tried to do? He tried to kill all the babies just to snuff out the Christ child. You can even trace that on up to Hitler and even beyond. Various attempts as Gentiles have tried to snuff out and exterminate the Jews. I don't want you to think that the Gentiles are innocent here. They hated the Jews just as much as the Jews hated them. Let me give you a couple other examples. Another example of disunity that we see in the New Testament was between two groups of people that Paul identifies as the Greeks and the barbarians. just a slang term is really what it was. The Greeks in that New Testament era, who were the Greeks? Well, they were just one segment of the Gentiles. By the way, when we talk about Jews and Gentiles, that divides all of humanity, right? If you're not a Jew, you're a Gentile. The Greeks were just one segment of the Gentiles, and they considered themselves to be intellectually superior. Here we go with that pride again. They considered themselves to be intellectually superior to everyone else, and thus we have this division. Paul mentions it in Romans 1.14, a division between Greeks and barbarians. It's kind of interesting, perhaps you've read about this before, it's kind of interesting to note how that term barbarian came to be. Here's what happened. Whenever someone spoke in another language other than Greek, the Greeks thought that their unintelligible chatter sounded like bar, bar, bar, bar. And so they scornfully then classified everyone who wasn't a Greek. Everyone who didn't speak Greek as a barbarian. Again, it was a slang term in another division that arose out of sinful human pride. Many more examples could be cited, but please understand statement number one here. Division, folks, is just a normal part of sinful human nature for which, mark this now, for which there is no cure apart from Jesus Christ. Division is a normal part of sinful human nature for which there is no cure apart from Christ. And even with Christ, even with Christ, it can still be a problem in the church, right? It can be. And why is that? That's because your redemption and my redemption is not quite complete yet. We are brand new all on the inside, aren't we? Holy and righteous and pure. God has made us new on the inside. But those newly redeemed and spiritually alive members of Jesus Christ's church live for right now where? in old and yet unredeemed human bodies of flesh that can get in the way and still cause disunity problems. I'm waiting for that trumpet sound, aren't you? Because that's when this thing is going to get fixed and my salvation will be completed and I'll get a body to match what I already have on the inside and so will you. But for now, would you understand that Even though disunity can still be a problem in the church because of unredeemed human flesh, it doesn't have to be a problem in the church anymore. Those new creatures in Christ, for those new creatures who are all born again and new on the inside, this disunity problem is not an insurmountable problem like it used to be. And that brings me to my second statement in the flow of this thesis statement now, this three-part thesis statement, and it is this, statement number two. Within the body of Christ, there already is positional unity. Very, very important. This, in fact, I would have to say, having at least gotten my mind around the gist of this text so far in my study of it, I would have to say that this is really the essence of what Paul is teaching in this last half of Ephesians chapter 2. Within the church, within the body of Christ, there already is positional, what I'm going to call positional unity. You see, unity doesn't have to be created in the church. Unity is already there in the church. And why is it there? Because Christ established it there. You and I didn't establish it. We didn't make it there. He made it there. He created unity. Now, this unity that's already there within the church does need to be nurtured, right? It does need to be preserved in the church at the outer man level and the Spirit's power And we're going to learn about that someday when we get to chapter 4 and verse 3 of this letter. But the point now is to say, Paul's point here in this text is to say that unity is already there positionally in the church of Jesus Christ. At that inner man level, we are all perfectly one with each other. How does the dictionary define unity? It says this. The dictionary defines unity as the state of being one. Would you all please understand this morning now as we approach this text in Ephesians 2, that the only place, let me underscore that, the only place in the world, the only place where that true unity really exists among people, the only place where people are really in that true state of being, one is in the body of Jesus Christ, no exceptions. No exceptions. The point that Paul wants these predominantly Gentile believers in the church at Ephesus to understand, and by the way, that's who he's writing to, Right? We have a church in Ephesus. There were probably Jews in that church, but it was predominantly Gentile believers in that church in Ephesus. What he wants them to understand is this. At the very moment that God makes you spiritually alive, back up in the first part of this chapter, practical unity becomes a very real possibility, and positional unity is already there. Got it? At the very moment that God makes you alive spiritually, practical unity now becomes a very real possibility. Positional unity is already there in that very instant and in perfection. At the new spiritual inner man level, you are immediately one and you are immediately perfectly one with every other true believer in Jesus Christ. And so, you know, I mentioned that prayer that Jesus prayed in John 17 a little while ago. Let me go back to that now and say, That that prayer that Jesus prayed in John 17, that we would all be one, is a prayer that has already been answered. We would expect that, wouldn't we? Jesus always prays according to the Father's will. We would expect that His prayers always get answered, and this one did. It has been answered. Let me give you several quick verses of support now, this positional unity that we're talking about that is already there within the Church of Jesus Christ. Lots of verses, I just picked a couple of them, three or four. But the one who joins himself to the Lord, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6.17, is one spirit with Him. That's not a hope, that's not a wish. That is a statement of fact. If you've joined yourself to the Lord, you are one spirit with Him. How about the head-body analogy that we see all through this book of Ephesians? That also speaks very powerfully to this positional unity that we're talking about that already exists in the church. Paul is going to deal with that again when we get to chapter 4, saying this in verses 4, 5, and 6. Listen to this statement. Here's really a very important statement on unity. Here's what it says. There is one body and one spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. We'll get to that someday, but for now let me just say that there are seven wonderful things there listed. in those verses that unify all true believers in Jesus Christ together. A couple more verses. Galatians 3.26, it says, For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And in Romans 10.12, Paul said that there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him. And so, I could give you more, but I'm going to stop with that. And so we understand so far That disunity, statement number one, disunity is a normal part of sinful human nature, no cure apart from Christ. Statement number two, we understand that within the body of Christ, there already has been established what we could refer to as positional unity. At the level of the new inner man, we find the only true unity that exists between men and other men, and between those men and God. A truth then that forms the basis for statement number three. Alright, here's statement number three. Only where that positional unity already exists is there ever even the possibility for practical unity. Only where that positional unity already exists is there ever even the possibility for practical unity. Now let me put it to you another way. Until a man or a woman is in Christ and reconciled with God vertically, There is no hope for any real and lasting practical unity in their horizontal relationships with one another. That is only possible, people, in the Church, where that necessary foundation of positional unity already exists. Now, I'm sure that I said this many times during our Heaven Study, but let me say it again now, this morning, as we're talking about unity. The Church is, in God's design, the prototype for heaven and the New Jerusalem. The church, in God's design, is the prototype for heaven and the New Jerusalem. Think of it this way, God has created a body here, folks, with Christ as its head, where spiritual or positional unity already exists, and because of that, it's also a body within, at the local level, at the outer man level even, where practical unity can exist, when those members walk by the Spirit and not by the flesh. What Paul wants his believers in Ephesus and us to know is that there is the very real potential here in the church, yes, right here in this church, for us to experience the kind of oneness, the kind of unity that we're all going to know someday in the New Jerusalem. And I think that's kind of exciting. The potential for that is here, right now, in this place. It's nowhere else, but it's here in the Church of Jesus Christ. We already have that now at the inner man level. And what Paul is saying here is that we can enjoy that now, even at the outer man level, if and when we're filled with the Spirit and living under His control. Only in the Church, people, is that possible. Only in the Church. But again, please understand, we will not know that oneness that we have at the inner man level. We will not experience that oneness unless we are living in victory over sin, which again is always the enemy of unity and is always the cause of disunity, even when it happens in the church. Now, we do need to get into the text of verse 11 here this morning, but there's one more very important thing I think I need to say about this third preliminary statement that I've made that I think will help you to understand it even more, even better. Let me say this, if it's really true that practical unity is only possible where positional unity already exists, then that understanding ought to dictate the way we do ministry, shouldn't it? If that's really true, if practical unity is only possible where positional unity already exists, then that ought to dictate the way that we do ministry. But for some reason, it hasn't always done that. And I want to cite a couple of examples of where it hasn't done that, because I think it will help to solidify the understanding of this principle. Just think about the history of the church, even the recent history of the church. There have been numerous ministries going on within evangelicalism over the past years, 20 years, maybe 30, that have been all about trying to create some kind of pseudo-practical unity outside the boundaries that we just defined, outside the boundaries of where positional unity already exists. Mark that as something, folks, that cannot be done, and even mark it as something that should not even be attempted. And I'm going to give you an example, or two examples, a couple of examples that immediately came to my mind. Some of you have been around the church long enough to remember the Promise Keepers Men's Movement. How many of you remember that? Some of you remember that, some of you may not. But I'm going to cite that this morning as the perfect example of exactly what I'm talking about here in this statement number three that I just made. If you know about the Promise Keepers movement, if you remember that, you remember some of their mottos and slogans and kind of what they were all about. And they had the t-shirts and the hats and you name it. I mean it was a big popular thing at the time. Tear down the walls was one of their mottos. Another one was doctrine divides. Remember that one? Well, you know what, there's a little bit of truth in that. Doctrine does divide, not in the way they meant it to be, but you know what doctrine divides? Doctrine divides true believers from false believers. That's what it divides. That's not the way they meant it, but they said doctrine divides, they cried, and they would cry that out, and let's set aside our differences, they would say, and come together and be one, and you know what, so you know what they did, right? They had big rallies in football stadiums all over this country. Big thing going on in the church. where they gathered thousands and thousands of men together, listen, from every false religion known to man. They gathered these guys together. They brought them in these football stadiums for a weekend rally. They cranked up their emotions with pep rally type sermons and tear jerking kind of music. They cried on one another's shoulders and they had a great old time for the weekend and they called that whole thing Christian unity. The problem was, the serious problem, the critical problem was that the vast majority of those men who were there weren't really Christians at all. They weren't Christians at all. You see, Christ had not yet made them alive. Christ had not yet made them one in Him, and so what we had going on there was not Christian unity at all. Would you please understand that that's not biblical unity by any stretch of the imagination. You know what that is? That's nothing different, in fact, than what you might see going on among the comrades in any given local tavern. They cry on one of their shoulders too. I spoke out strongly against that promise keepers men's movement And I spoke out against it because of the horrible deception that it was causing. And I spoke out against it from the pulpit right when it was at the peak of its popularity, which I can tell you for sure didn't make me very popular at the time. And that's just really an understatement. An understatement. But you know what? I dare to say that now, There may be some of you, probably not, but maybe some of you right here in this room this morning who have never even heard of the Promise Keepers Men's Movement. I don't even know if it exists anymore. I don't think it does. If it does, it's all but gone because that thing was built upon a lie and not the truth. You know what it was? like so many Christian faddish things, it was flashes and ashes. That's what it was. It died. It's gone. It's not anymore. And let me give you one more example. But that's a good example. What they were trying to do is create unity outside of the bounds where the positional unity already exists can't be done. It cannot be done. Another embarrassing attempt in the history of the church at creating practical unity outside the bounds of where positional unity already existed. was a document that got drafted some years ago. I can't remember, 20 years ago maybe. A document called, have you ever heard of this one? Evangelicals and Catholics together. It's a big thing going on at the time. And this document was drafted and it was signed. How ridiculous, folks. How incredibly ridiculous. You know, some of the evangelicals who were involved in drafting that thing, I'm sure themselves were confused about the gospel. But let me tell you what we know for sure. We know for sure that the Roman Catholic Church teaches a false gospel, right? I don't hesitate to say that here. The Roman Catholic Church teaches a false gospel. Listen folks, there can be no real unity between unbelievers, and there can be no real unity between believers and unbelievers. And it was actually kind of shocking, I remember, at the time it was kind of shocking to see some of the names of the well-known evangelicals that showed up. on that foolish and very unbiblical document called Evangelicals and Catholics together. And I just cite that as a second example. But all of those kinds of things are good examples of what we would have to call misguided ministry. And let me go back to something we talked about a month or two or three ago. Remember our study in the Scriptures. The Word of God is what? Our final authority, what did the reformers say? The Word of God is our final authority, our ultimate and final authority, I think is how that was worded, for all matters of faith and what? Practice. For all matters of faith and practice. And so, listen, if we really understand this truth about unity, that Paul is going to teach us in these verses, and this truth about unity that I've just summarized for you with these three statements this morning, then what will we do? We will not, listen, we will not spend any of our time or effort preaching unity. We will not spend any of our time holding rallies. We will not spend any of our time drafting truce documents among religious unbelievers. What will we do? If we understand the truth of the Word of God about this subject of unity, what will we do to promote that? What do you suppose we could do that will really promote unity? We will spend our times, folks, preaching the precious truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, because that is the only thing that can ever truly unify people. The Gospel believed The life transformed is the only thing that will ever unify people. And then, once those people have that positional unity that we're talking about, once they've been made one in Christ by the power of the gospel, then what will we do? Well, then we'll spend our time doing what we do here every Lord's Day morning. I don't apologize for what I do here every Lord's Day morning. We teach the scriptures. We'll spend our time then teaching the precious truth of the Word of God, because people need to know what it means by what it says in its context, because that's the only thing, folks, I have nothing that's going to change your life. I have no message for you. God has a message for you, and it's written in a book. My job is to explain that message to you, and if I've done that adequately by the time we're done, if you know a little bit more about that verse that we looked at, then God has spoken to your heart. And He will use that to change your life. And then my responsibility is not only to teach you that Word of God, my responsibility is then to exhort you to obey that Word, because then, when you do that, you have the practical unity from the Gospel believed. If you obey that Word of God that is taught, now we're going to experience what? This horizontal kind of unity that is potential, after the positional unity is already there. This is a beautiful, beautiful text, folks. Let's get into it now. Let's go. As I mentioned earlier, there are three divisions here in verses 11 and 12. Let me give you the flow. The flow of it goes like this. It goes from alienation to talking to a people now, a people group. It begins with alienation, then the flow goes to reconciliation, and then the flow goes to unification. In verses 11 and 12, we have The alienation, as indicated by the words, therefore, remember. From verses 13 to 18, we have reconciliation, as indicated by the words, but now. And then finally, in verses 19 to 22, we have unification, as indicated by the words, so then. I want you to look with me now this morning, for the rest of our time, at verse 11. We're going to get just one of them here. I want you to look with me at the alienation that Paul describes in verses 11 and 12 with the words, therefore, remember. Now you already know, I've told you several times that the specific kind of disunity that Paul is dealing with here is the disunity that existed in that New Testament era between the Jews and the Gentiles. Paul is writing to the predominantly Gentile church in Ephesus and he wants them to understand their new relationship now to the Jews in that same church. Something, by the way, mark this right off the bat, I've already alluded to it, but something, by the way, that would be very, very difficult. for these gentile believers to understand coming out of such a long, long history of deep-seated animosity from the Jews. And you can't blame them for even asking Paul the question, how in the world could that ever be? They read this, and then they look up at Paul and say, You've got to be kidding. How in the world could that ever be? You've already told us that God has plucked us up out of our spiritual graves, crying out loud, made us alive, given us life. Now, of all things, you're going to tell us, you're going to try to tell us that he has joined us together with the Jews and made us one with the Jews? Paul, you've got to be kidding. Jews and Gentiles together in one body? Please understand how difficult this would be. for those Gentiles to grasp. I don't know how else to put it to you, but there was some deep-seated stuff here between those two people groups going back hundreds of years. The Gentiles were the Hatfields and the Jews were the McCoys. I guess that would be another way to put it. But this is some deep-seated stuff that went back a long, long ways. And so Paul begins here by going back to all of that in verse 11. Therefore, remember your alienation, he says in verse 11. And then notice this is kind of a digression here. As you begin to read verse 11, a digression for the rest of verse 11 until Paul then kind of picks up the thought again at the beginning of verse 12 with the word remember again. Now verse 11 is the one that we're going to work through today where Paul just kind of interrupts himself. That seems to be what's going on here. He just kind of interrupts himself long enough to zero in on the Gentile social alienation from the Jews. And then next Lord's Day we'll pick up in verse 12 and talk about the Gentile spiritual alienation, which I think is what Paul was going to say in verse 11 until he interrupted himself. I do that sometimes and so do you. We start to say something and then a thought goes through there. That seems to be what happened here. And so Paul stopped. He interrupted himself to talk about the social alienation first in verse 11. And so that's what we want to talk about this morning. And I'm going to break that further down for you into two more sub points this morning you've noticed in your outline. There are two things about that social alienation that Paul wants these Gentile believers to remember both, which will make their new unity in Christ all the more precious to them. This kind of has the same effect as the and you were that we looked at in the first part of this chapter. It's there to make our hearts thankful for what we have and what God has done, and it'll do the same thing here now corporately that it did there individually. And so there are two sub points here. Let me give them to you. First of all, Paul says at the beginning of verse 11, just remember the fact of your nationality. That's where we're going to start. Just remember who you are. That's a good starting point here, Paul says. And then secondly, he goes on to say, remember the bitterness of Jewish alienation. And I'll kind of explain how he does that here. Remember the bitterness of Jewish alienation that has been a part of your history for generations and generations and generations. Notice first the fact of their nationality at the beginning of verse 11. Therefore, remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, And right here is where Paul kind of interrupts himself, picking up that thought again in verse 12. Again, I think his intention was to go right into the things he's going to say in verse 12 about their spiritual alienation, but then he interrupts himself just long enough to add these reminders that went through his mind about their social alienation as well from the Jews. Please remember, first of all, Paul says, the simple fact of your nationality. The starting point on this is to remember that you are Gentiles in the flesh. What does he mean by that? Well, we could be confused because if you're familiar with Romans chapter 8, that's a phrase that shows up there, but it means something different there. In the flesh here clearly does not mean in the flesh in the same sense as it does over in Romans 8, where it's referring to unbelievers. Over there in Romans 8, in the flesh is the opposite of being in the spirit. Here that's not it. Here, in the flesh, just means that literally. Here Paul is simply calling on these believers in the church at Ephesus to remember the simple fact of their nationality. And why is that important? Well, because of what we know from the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, who were God's chosen people? The Jews, right? They were God's chosen people. Paul says, remember that. The Jews were God's chosen people. You, folks, are not Jews. You are Gentiles. Just remember that. Under that dispensation, and in that Old Testament era, The only way for a Gentile to know God and worship God was for him or her to come in through the Jewish system. That Gentile who wanted to worship God and know God would have to be circumcised and then would have to adhere to all the Jewish rituals and laws and ceremonies and all those sorts of things. Paul is just reminding them of that here. It's not your fault, he says, to these Gentiles. That's something that was completely out of your control, but listen. It is what it is. Remember it. God sovereignly chose the Jews. You guys were born Gentiles. That's what he's reminding them of here, which we will see this morning is not something at all that should have resulted in the kind of Jewish bitterness and alienation that resulted. But let's go on. That's the first reminder. Let's go on to the second sub-point now and get right into the alienation a little further that the Jews had always experienced, or the Gentiles, rather, had always experienced from the Jews. Remember, Paul does not say the bitterness of Jewish alienation. Therefore, remember, and notice how he does it. Therefore, remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision. I know what the Jews used to call you people, Paul says. And I know exactly what they meant when they said it. And why do you suppose Paul would have known that? Paul was one of them who had called them that. As a Pharisee of the Pharisees, before his conversion, the Apostle Paul had formerly hated the Gentiles as much as any Jew had ever hated the Gentiles. That is until God saved him on the road to Damascus. called him to be the apostle, the great apostle to the Gentiles. So Paul himself already had experienced firsthand this transforming reconciliation that we're going to talk about in this text that resulted in unity. As he found himself saved, remember when he got up off that road to Damascus, he was blinded, but when God gave him his sight back and he went to Ananias' place and so forth, But Paul now found himself loving and investing his entire life in a ministry to the Gentiles that he had formerly hated and despised. And can I stop there long enough to say for us that that's only, only the gospel can do that. Only the gospel can do that. And Paul had already experienced that. Now the Jews, of course, were all circumcised, right? That was the sign of the old covenant that God had made with Israel. You can read about that in Genesis 17, 10, and 11. And so when the Jews would call the Gentiles the uncircumcision, please understand something here. Please understand that they were not just stating a simple fact. They were not just saying, well, you know, we're circumcised and you're not. That expression, folks, was an intentional derogatory slur. That's how they meant it. That's exactly how they meant it. And Paul knew that. And by the way, that wasn't the only derogatory slur they used to refer to the Gentiles. The Jews often referred to the Gentiles as dogs. Gentile dogs. Jewish men would pray every morning, Lord, thank you that I'm not a Gentile. Jews would never even think of eating with the Gentiles. Acts 11, 2, and 3, according to extra biblical sources, Jews growing up, imagine this, Jews growing up were even taught to think that God created Gentiles only so that he would have fuel for the fires of hell. It wasn't lawful for a Jewish woman to help a Gentile mother in giving birth because that would make that Jewish woman responsible for bringing another Gentile into the world. I don't know, I could go with this, but you can see here, there's some hatred here that is really, really strong and very, very deep and going back for hundreds of years. That's how the Jews thought of the Gentiles. There's a long, long history here. That's what I want to get across to you. There's a long, long history here behind the words of our text in Ephesians chapter 2 of bitter and very deep-seated animosity toward the Gentiles from the Jews. There's so many ways that I could illustrate this for you. Between the north and the south parts of Jerusalem, there was a little area known as Samaria. Samaria was inhabited by half-breeds. The people there were not full-blooded Jews, and so perhaps you already know how this worked when A Jew would have to travel from one end of Israel to the other. He would always cross the Jordan on the east and go way out of his way, go way extra miles and come back in just to avoid going through the dreaded Samaria. You know what happened if he ever did get Gentile dust on his feet? Before he would return to his own country, he would shake that Gentile dust off his feet. And again, on and on we could go, but please understand that all of this and more is behind this incredible announcement that Paul is about to make in our text. Imagine being a Gentile hearing this, having all this history and then hearing Paul say this, reading this text, this incredible announcement that Paul is about to make in our text, that in the church now, Jews and Gentiles have been reconciled together into one body, an unheard of and seemingly impossible thing. that, by the way, continued to be a nagging problem even in the church during those early years of her existence. Let me give you just a couple of examples of that, and then we'll get to that last phrase there in verse 11 and wrap this up. Paul, the great apostle to the Gentiles, went on one of his great missionary journeys into the area of Galatia. He preached the gospel there. Some Gentiles responded. He taught them the Word of God. And after a church and some leaders had been established in that place, Paul did what he always did, he moved on to another place. But shortly after he moved on, some false teachers moved into that church. If you've read that book, you know about them. They were known as the Judaizers. And what they did is come into that church, newly formed church, and they told those new Christians there that they couldn't possibly be saved without first becoming Jews. You know, folks, if you really want to be saved, I don't care what Paul told you, if you really want to be saved, you have to be circumcised, they said, and you have to keep the law of Moses and so forth and so on. Well, Paul heard about this false teaching. And that's what prompted his letter to Galatians. That's why we have that letter called Galatians in the Word of God. That whole letter is a rebuke from Paul of the Judaizers' heresy and written for the specific purpose of getting the Gentiles back on track again doctrinally. And you know what he said, let me give you this one verse, Galatians 1.8. He said this to them, but even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be a curse." Paul used very strong language when it came to false teachers, and rightly so. Another good example of this deep-seated animosity toward the Gentiles that you'll probably be aware of from the Jews, even after the church had been established, was how the Lord had to prepare Peter in Acts chapter 10. for his commission to take the gospel to the Gentile household of Cornelius. Remember that? This was even before Paul's conversion. Paul wasn't even saved yet. Peter was actually the first one to take the gospel to the Gentiles. But you know what it took, don't you? It took, I'm not going to take the time to read it, but it took a vision on the rooftop with a sheet and some unclean animals coming down. And the Lord said, Peter, arise, Peter, kill and eat. And he said, no, I've never eaten anything like that. And the Lord told him three times, I think it is in that text. It took a vision on the rooftop with a sheet and some unclean animals and a strong rebuke from the Lord before Peter, even Peter, saved Peter would be able to shed his Jewish baggage enough to do what the Lord was calling him to do. And after that vision, then he told them to go to the household of Cornelius with the gospel. Remember the fact that you're Gentiles in the flesh, Paul says, and remember the bitterness of your Jewish alienation. They used to call you folks the uncircumcision, and they didn't mean that in a very kind way. But watch the point that Paul makes now at the end of verse 11 as we begin to wrap this up. It has to be, at this point now, it has to be a very encouraging one for these Gentile believers, even though it's one that just comes out of a statement that Paul makes to interrupt himself. Notice what it says. They called you the uncircumcision, but Paul goes on to say, listen, what you need to understand is that their own circumcision was only external. Their own circumcision was only external. See, the Jews who were guilty of this bitter animosity toward the Gentiles, for the most part anyway, were not the real Jews, is what Paul is saying here. They were not the Jews who were Jews inwardly. They were just the Jews who were Jews outwardly. Notice how Paul puts it, verse 11. They were the so-called circumcision, Paul says there. I don't know what that is other than maybe even we'd have to call that a little bit of inspired sarcasm, wouldn't we? They're the so-called circumcision which is performed in the flesh by human hands. They're only the so-called circumcision Paul says, in the sense that they've had a little surgical procedure done. They've had a little operation performed in the flesh by human hands. Listen, Gentiles, that's what they're boasting about. And that's what they're holding over you. A little operation. Gentile believers in the church at Ephesus, would you please understand now that these Jews who have been so viciously persecuting you for all of these years are the Jews who were all about the sign, but Jews who had absolutely no clue at all as to what the sign was pointing to, no clue at all as to what that sign represented. In other words, Gentiles, please understand that all of this animosity in your past from the Jews was completely unfounded and absolutely wrong on their part, even when it came from a Jew who wasn't a real Jew, and sometimes it did. And let me just sweep you through some history now of this thing real quick here to show you how God intended it to be. and how the Jews got this whole thing so terribly wrong. Let's start with God's call of Abraham. God called Abram to be the father of the Jewish nation in Genesis 12, 1-3. If you want to follow along, that's fine. If you want to just listen, I'm going to read those verses. Here's what it says. Now the Lord said to Abram, go forth from your country and from your relatives and from your father's house to the land which I will show you and I will make you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great And so you shall be a blessing, and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse." And watch this now at the end of verse 3. Very important. In you, all the families of the earth will be blessed. Very important statement. You see, God sovereignly chose Israel, but not just to be blessed. He clearly chose Israel, folks, to also be, yes, to bless them, yes. but also to be a channel of His blessing to all the families of the earth. You see, God's plan was this. His plan was to bless and save the Gentiles through the Jews. That was God's plan. And it's so interesting and so insightful as you read the Old Testament, as you read about the way in which God designed that plan to work. All through the Old Testament you can read about God's design for Israel. And what was it? It was a design for them to be different, right? It was a design for them to be distinct and separate from the rest of the world. Why? So as to make them attractive to the rest of the world. You see, He didn't want the Israelites to amalgamate and intermingle with all of the other nations. Why? Because he wanted them to stay pure. He wanted them to stay undefiled. from their pagan ways, their idolatrous worship practices. He wanted Israel to be different. He wanted the rest of the world to take notice of them. He wanted the rest of the world to know that they belonged to him, that they were his special chosen people. And listen, that's why there were all of the clothing laws. That's why there were the strict dietary laws, and the marriage laws, and the worship laws, and the festivals, and the customs, and the land laws, and all of that. All of that was designed by God for his chosen nation. Israel, to make them different and distinct as his peculiar people. He didn't want it to be even possible for them to fit well into any other society so that they would stand out in sharp contrast to the rest of the nations of the world. And mark this now, folks. Why was all of that? Evangelism. Evangelism was always the goal of that. Evangelism was always the goal of that. He wanted them to be a people who would clearly represent him to the rest of the world, and a people through whom he could then draw those other nations unto himself. Is there a parallel in the church? Absolutely, yes there is. Works the same way in the church, doesn't it? That's why it's always such a tragic thing when the church becomes like the world. When the church becomes like the world, what happens? We lose our distinction from the world then, right? And listen folks, when we lose our distinction from the world, right along with that, we lose our intended purpose in the world. The world no longer takes notice of us. They no longer find anything attractive in us because at that point we're no different than they are. And so that principle still applies today. Well, I think you know that that's exactly what happened to the nation of Israel, right? They forgot one of the main reasons why God had sovereignly chosen them. They well remembered receiving the blessings part of their call, but guess what they completely forgot? They forgot about that channel of blessings part of their call. And so, instead of doing what God had called them to do, instead of being what God wanted them to be, that channel of blessings of the Gentiles, what did they do? Pride took over. They just got all filled up with pride about being worthy, you know, we're the chosen ones. That's what they were all about. And that spiritual pride then led to their growing animosity toward the very people that God had chosen them to be a blessing to. What was their attitude? They developed this prideful attitude. We have the blessings and you don't. We're the haves and you Gentiles are the have-nots. That's the attitude they developed toward the Gentiles. Let me just throw a side note in here that I think is important for me to mention right now. Because we would think about God's sovereign choice of Israel as a nation. We're talking about the nation now. It's important for us to understand the fact that in the Old Testament, just like in the New Testament, God doesn't save nations, does he? He saves individuals. Israel was the chosen nation, yes, absolutely, but it was only the individuals within that nation who had repented of their sins and exercised faith, not like we do in the Messiah that has come. They exercised their faith in the Messiah who was to come, in the promised Messiah. Those are the only Jews who were truly saved and they were saved as individuals and that's exactly what Paul was getting at when he said what he said in Romans 2, 28 and 29. For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh." Well, this is very important. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. And his praise is not from men, but from God. The bottom line here is this. Paul says to these Gentile believers in Ephesus, listen, being circumcised in the flesh, that little operation, circumcised in flesh meant absolutely nothing at all, unless there was also a circumcision of the heart that had taken place. And again, we can draw a parallel. The same thing could be said about the Church today, couldn't it? Your membership in the Church, your outward profession of faith, and even your baptism, are totally meaningless things, people. unless the Spirit of God has done that work of regeneration on the inside first. Absolute truth, same as it was in the Old Testament. While the Jews for the most part missed the entire point of God's sovereign choice of them as a nation, they disobeyed his laws, They intermarried with the pagan nations all around them like God didn't want them to do. Participated in all of their idolaters' worship like God knew would happen if they did intermarry. And you know what else they even, you remember from Old Testament history, they even begged God for a king. We want a king like all the other nations. And so God gave them a king. You know, before that, who was their king? God was their king, right? Israel was a theocracy. God was their king. That was an awesome thing. But they said, no, we're not happy with that. We want a king like, we want a human king, like all the other nations. And so God conceded and gave them a king. In fact, if you read about the kings, you'll see what happened. He gave them a whole lot of kings. There were a few good ones, but for the most part they were evil to the core and led this long line of evil, wicked kings that led Israel into untold pain and misery. Disobedient Israel lost her distinct identity, folks. She missed the purpose. She missed the point. She lost her distinct identity and she grievously failed in the purpose for which God had called her out. Let me give you a good and well-known example. There was a man by the name of Jonah. I'm sure you've read about him. Jonah was called to take the gospel to Nineveh. And so when God called Jonah to go to Nineveh with the gospel, you know what he did. He jumped on a ship and he went 180 degrees in the opposite direction, as fast as he could go. And even after his little attitude adjustment in the belly of a whale, he finally decided, well, I guess I better go to Nineveh. And so he went to Nineveh, but even then he went to that city and preached repentance only under great duress. And you know what made him even more distraught? He went to that city and preached the gospel. He didn't want to go, but he got even more distraught when after his preaching the whole city repented in sackcloth and ashes. He so didn't want, listen, I'm illustrating this hatred, this animosity. He so didn't want those Gentiles horning in on his God that he sat down and asked God at that point to take his life. I'm not kidding, it says that right here in Jonah 4.3. Therefore, he went to Nineveh, he preached the gospel, the city repented, and Jonah went out and sat down. In Jonah 4.3 it says, Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life. Can you imagine that? That's how much he didn't want those Gentiles horning in on his God. Well, many more examples could be cited, but God eventually judged his disobedient people in an ultimate way. He used pagan nations, actually, to judge them. The southern kingdom of Judah was hauled off to captivity in Babylon. The northern kingdom of Israel was hauled off to captivity in Assyria. And then as we've studied a long time ago now, in Romans 9, 10, and 11, God ultimately did what? He ultimately set the nation of Israel aside as his chosen channel of grace to the rest of the world. And now, who is the chosen channel of his grace to the rest of the world now? We are, aren't we? The church. Israel has been set aside as his channel of grace to the world. The church is now in that place that marked us now. Many would disagree with me on this, but mark this now, I believe it with all my heart, that this is what the word of God teaches. Israel setting aside, people, is only a, very important word, temporary setting aside. Israel setting aside is only a temporary setting aside, and why do we know that? Well, we know that, remember when we studied the millennium? God has made promises to national Israel, a long list of promises to national Israel that have not yet been fulfilled. And what do we know about God? He keeps His promises, doesn't He? Promises that He will fulfill. When will He fulfill them? Well, right now we're in His plan. We're the chosen channel of blessing to the world. And so, by the way, we need to heed the warnings from Israel. We need to not be disobedient like they were disobedient. We need to be faithful with our responsibility now. But the church age is just a temporary thing, right? It's only for a period of time. It began on the day of Pentecost. When will it end? The rapture is going to mark the end of the church, right? When we're raptured away. In Mark this, when the church ages over, as marked by the rapture, God is going to resume his dealings with national Israel. You can read about that all through the tribulation period on into the Millennial Kingdom. God is going to fulfill, Mark this, every promise he ever made to national Israel. You know, as John MacArthur put it so well one time, he said, that's why Israel is still around. He asked the question, have you ever met a Hittite? Good question, right? Those were the nations that were contemporary with Israel. No, you have never met a Hittite because there no longer are any Hittites, but you just might have met an Israelite. They're still here. Why are they still here? Because God has a future for national Israel. Never forget that. And so with all that, much more to talk about, but with all that, we're off and running on a new section of text here in Ephesians chapter 2, a section that is all about the unity of the church. This is a precious thing, folks. I hope I've introduced it to you well enough so that it can sort of gel in there a little bit, but this is a precious, precious thing, the unity of the church, a unique and exclusive feature of the church of Jesus Christ that is able to take two groups of people who were as far apart as the Jews were to the Gentiles, no greater example of that anywhere in history, and reconcile them together in one body, one new man called the church. Speaking to the whole Gentile group now, corporately, Paul begins here in the same way that he began in the first half of the chapter with a reminder of where we were before God intervened. I don't think there's any Jews here. We're all Gentiles, aren't we? So we can take this letter as being addressed to us. As Gentiles, these first century believers were alienated from the Jews socially. That's what we see today in verse 11. Next week, come prepared and we'll pick up our study in verse 12 and understand their more serious problem. See this social alienation? That was minor stuff. Now we're going to talk about their spiritual alienation from God in verse 12. And there's some pretty serious things there that we'll talk about next Lord's Day together. Let's pray. Father, we thank you again this morning for this inspired letter that is all about the Church. The Church, Father, that you've made us a part of. We're so thankful to you for that, Father. for our salvation and for calling us and choosing us and saving us and giving us life. In the church, Father, we've learned this morning that we are all one. With you, we're all one with each other as the individual members of Jesus Christ's body. Father, we ask that you give us the understanding that you want us to have as we study in the weeks ahead. this great theme of unity in the church. And then God, help us to live in the light of that truth for your glory. Help us to live in such a way, Father. Help us to not fail like the Israelites failed, Lord. Help us to live in such a way that the unbelievers all around us will see you in us and want what we have. We love you, Father. We thank you and praise you for this Lord's Day opportunity to gather with your people and open the precious truth of the Word of God. We love you and thank you for it. In Jesus' name, amen.