Amen. Take your Bibles and turn with me to Ephesians chapter 2. Last week we were in Ephesians 1 and we examined the wonderful salvation that we have been granted. We saw in verses three through 14 how God's sovereign plan of salvation to the praise of his glory demonstrated his plan for our lives rather than the random chaos that surrounds us in our culture. We saw how Christ's redemption to the praise of his glory bought us from the passions which once enslaved us. We saw how the Holy Spirit's sealing to the praise of his glory secures our position in God, rather than having to strive to secure a position from the insatiable gods that surround us. Last week, we were introduced to a character who is a fictive character, but his name is one that you might have recognized, Trophimus. He is one of the Asians who traveled with Paul from Ephesus, so that's where I stole his name from, at least. The thoughts going on inside his head, whether he was a pastor at the churches at Ephesus or not, we'll use our sanctified imagination for. But as he continues on his journey this evening to prepare his home for the Lord's Day tomorrow, His heart became burdened with another care. The church at Ephesus was beginning to fracture with divisions. See, there were those in the church who ethnically were Jewish and those in the church who ethnically were not. Those who were ethnically Jewish had begun looking down on those who were born Gentiles. As a result, those who were born Gentiles had begun resenting their Jewish brothers. Trophimus and the other pastors were struggling to figure out a way to solve the tension as their hearts broke to see those for whom Christ died being at odds for such petty reasons. And this is something that Paul is going to address in the letter that is on its way to the church at Ephesus by the hand of Tychicus. In the passage we will be looking at this evening, chapter two, verses 11 through 22, Paul addresses these issues, desiring to help the church to appreciate her new identity, which she has in Christ. In verses one through 10 of this chapter, the outline is very similar to verses 11 through 22, where Paul starts off reminding us what we were before Christ. And each of those sections has a wonderful two-word phrase after Paul goes and he lists what we were before salvation. He says, but God. Without God doing something, without God intervening, we are lost on our way to an eternity of judgment. But in verses 11 through 22, Paul specifically focuses on the change that has occurred to the Gentiles. And as I look around the room this evening, I think that's where the majority of us would find ourselves. Not to say that verses one through 10 don't apply to us, they do, but we're gonna focus on these verses dealing with what's so special that God did for those of us who were not part of the nation of Israel. In this passage, he highlights God's making a new covenant people. Paul is going to introduce three themes in this passage that will be the basis for practical daily living. You know, sometimes as we read through the scriptures, we come across passage and say, wow, that's great on this level, but how do I live it out on the earth that I'm walking on? Three of these themes Paul is going to address in the later parts of the letter So we'll look at them when it comes to the practical side of things as we continue through this series But he begins and he addresses the fact that our peace with God is a basis for a call for Christian unity Sometimes we can be at odds with our physical brothers and sisters. Growing up with three brothers, there were times where it was not a quiet household. And many of you had us in Sunday school classrooms or youth group or classrooms, and you may have noticed some of those things. And sometimes that can also happen with brothers and sisters in Christ. And Paul's stressing, hey, God has done something special with our relationship with God that ought to affect how we treat one another in Christ. The second theme that Paul is going to address later in this letter, specifically in chapter four and five, our former separation from God is a demonstration of how we should now live separately from the world. When before we were saved, we wanted nothing to do with what God had for us. We wanted nothing to do with God's plan. We were all about what we wanted. And we should then take that, how much I didn't want God now, and turn that around to how much I shouldn't want to live like the world. And Paul is going to introduce, thirdly, a metaphor in this passage of the temple as an appeal for believers to be filled to all the fullness of God, and in chapter five, to be filled with the Spirit. But what Paul is going to do in these passages today, looking at our new community, is he is going to contrast our former godlessness and exclusion, specifically as Gentiles, from the people of God with a new experience that we have of closeness with God and inclusion in his people. And all of this is because of what we looked at last week, his wonderful salvation. Let's go ahead and read together verses 11 through 22. Paul writes, wherefore remember that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called to uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands. that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope without God in the world. But now, In Christ Jesus, ye who were sometimes afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ, for he is our peace, who hath made both one and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace. and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now, therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye also are builded together for inhabitation of God through the Spirit. And Paul starts this section off reminding us of what we were, pointing out the separation that we had in verses 11 and 12. He starts off verse 11, wherefore, remember, and if we read through verses one through 10, contrasting the pre-salvation you with the current saved you, remember, Remember that because you have been saved by grace through faith. Remember because we are his workmanship. Remember because we are created unto good works. Remember what you were. Paul's call to remember is reminiscent of a common call to Old Testament Israel to remember. Going through the book of Judges in our Sunday school with the men. And as you look through the Old Testament and the history passages, how Moses is getting ready and the Israelites are getting ready to enter into the promised land, and Moses is giving them one last impassioned plea to stay true to the God who redeemed them out of bondage, reminds them to remember the day God brought them out of Egypt. When the Israelites crossed over the Jordan River, When those waters parted, Joshua had one member of each tribe grab a stone from the middle of the river and build an altar. Why? So that future generations would see that pile of rocks and say, hey, what's this for? And you can tell them, this is what God did for us. Remember what God has done. Israel's failure to remember is what led to the time of the judges that were studying with the men in Sunday school. It's what led to their captivity. And as believers, when we remember who we are, or who we were, in contrast to who we now are, as we'll get to at the end of this evening, it ought to cause us to rejoice in one aspect. But on the other hand, it also ought to humble us. We remember that we were his enemy. And despite being his enemy, he loved us enough to send his son to die for us. And our salvation is nothing that we have done, nothing that we have earned. It's all of him. Paul reminds them, remember, being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, not part of God's chosen people. You were called the uncircumcision, both physically uncircumcised as well as spiritually. Who's calling these Gentiles the uncircumcision? Those who are the circumcision in the flesh. The sign of the relationship of the covenant keeping God for the Jew. In the Greek and the Roman mindset, circumcision was something to mock and ridicule. And Paul uses a phrase that he attaches to these Jews who were circumcised in the flesh. He adds to that the phrase made by hands. This phrase was often used by the Jews to refer to the false idols that were made by hands. In Psalm 135 verse 15, the idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. And what Paul is hinting at, and he'll develop further in this passage, is that the physical circumcision is just as effective in pleasing God for a believer as the building of an idol. In other words, it's not something that we can boast of and say, because I am a Jew who was saved, I'm double special. Paul's saying that's not the case. Remember that at that time before you were saved, And Paul goes on to give five different but related descriptions of the life of a Gentile that would have kept them out of the sphere of God's blessing. Remember, first of all, that you were without Christ. Not just the fact that as Gentiles they were unsaved, but they were completely outside of God's covenant people, Israel. These Gentiles would have had no knowledge of a Messiah, of a Christ, let alone any hope in this Christ. In fact, the majority of Gentiles probably never even heard the term Christ. Paul says, remember what you were. You were without Christ. Remember what you were. You were without a citizenship. You were aliens. from the Commonwealth of Israel because, and I'll insert the we because I would put myself in this category, we Gentiles aren't Israelites. We were outside of the sphere of God's blessing because Israel was God's chosen people. And this carries more the idea of the community of Israel as a people of God rather than the political state of Israel. Because we were not of Israel, we were outside of God's blessing. This estrangement from God is not just due to ethnic differences, but also because our heart's desire was not to be a part of Israel. In verses two and three of this chapter, Paul writes, wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world. according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath." Not only were we not a part of the community of Israel, we didn't want to be. We weren't following God because we wanted to follow our own desires, our own passions. And if we follow our own passions, that is going to lead us directly to the doorstep of hell. Now, growing up, we had the wonderful Disney movie come out. Actually, it came out before I was growing up, so I'm pre-predating myself. The story of Pinocchio. You have Jiminy Cricket, who's there, and he's playing the conscience, and he has that little, always let your conscience be your guide. Don't let your conscience be your guide if you're not saved. You're fulfilling your own lust. You're following the prince of this world, which is not God. You know, we live in a society that wants you to follow your hearts. But as believers, we recognize the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. If you follow your heart, it's not gonna take you to God. We were without Christ, we were without citizenship. We were thirdly, as Gentiles, without covenants. We were strangers from the covenants of promise because we were not a part of Israel. We were not a part of the covenant promises to Israel. We were not a part of the Mosaic covenants, the Davidic covenants, even the new covenant that is promised to Israel. The Abrahamic covenant, we could debate on that one. These are covenants of promise. Jewish literature during the intertestamental time used this plural covenants to refer to all of the covenants. Paul uses it this way in Romans chapter 9, where he wishes that he could trade himself for the life, for the souls of his own flesh. My kinsmen, according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertaineth the adoption and the glory and the covenants, the giving of the law and the service of God and the promises. Because we were without covenant as Gentiles, we were separate from the faithful covenant-keeping God. Because we were without Christ, without citizenship, without covenant, we were ultimately without hope. We had no hope. Gentiles, as Paul is writing, would not have had a hope that comes from an anticipation of the Messiah. If you look at various Gentile religions, there was no hope of a bodily resurrection. No hope of a future life. There was no certainty even in the Greco-Roman afterlife that Paul was writing to. In the Greco-Roman world, you die, you cross the river Styx. Who knows what happens? You had no way of knowing. In fact, in the words of the Roman philosopher Seneca regarding the death of a loved one, he says, That's a pretty bleak statement and outlook on life. As Gentiles, we had no hope. Because we were, fifthly, without God. Without God in the world, despite their many gods. Paul here is indicting the polytheistic Romans and the other Gentiles as being godless. We were alienated from the one true God. We were alienated from the source of life. as Paul is going to get to in Ephesians 4, verses 17 and 18, walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart. Before we're saved, we're separate from God. We live in a culture, we live in a society, we live in a time where these people who are walking in ignorance, who are alienated from the life of God, who are blind in their own hearts, are still existing. And may I tell you, they are not just in distant lands for missionaries to go and bring the good news to. These people live right next door. These people sit across the cubicle from us at work. I'll rephrase that, they sit across from you. I hope the person who sits across the cubicle from me doesn't fall into this category. But this is who we were. And when we remember who we were, that ought to motivate us to give the good news of our wonderful salvation that we looked at last week to those who are in that state today. But Paul doesn't just stop there. He doesn't just say, hey, remember, you were separated from God, good luck. He then goes into what God did. Notice it's not what we did. We were separated from God. We couldn't do anything to fix it, but God could, and God did. The work of reconciliation, and that word carries the idea of bringing together hostile parties, In the light of the distressing plight that we as Gentiles faced, the fact that we were without God, we were without hope, we were his enemy, we were alienated, this section shines a brilliant ray of hope. But now, in Christ Jesus. This sentence serves as a proclamation over this entire passage. Something wonderful has happened to bring us hopeless, godless Gentiles into the blessings of the people of God. Those Gentiles, those of us who have experienced the wonderful salvation that we looked at last week, have experienced something new, but now God has intervened in Christ. This intervention is not simply because of the work that Christ did generally, but it is because of our unity that we have with Christ because of a relationship with him. But now in Christ Jesus, ye who were sometimes a far-off. That term far-off was a term that would have applied to Gentiles and even proselytes during the time of Christ. They could come near to God by joining the community of Israel. Paul here is using the term to refer to Gentiles as a whole. Those who would have in order to come near have had to have submitted to the law, but we don't have to. It is by the blood of Christ. This is the means by which a new nearness is possible. Paul just reminds us of the great cost that secured our freedom from sin. He goes on and he lays out the fact that the reconciliation, what God did is twofold. First, it brings together Jew and Gentile. And this is what Trophimus and the church at Ephesus would have been struggling with. the Jews and the Gentiles not getting along. But we've been made nigh by the blood of Christ, for he is our peace. Jesus is the one that brings us peace with God. He hath made both one. Jesus brings peace between the ethnic Jews and Gentiles who are saved. By making these groups one, Jesus brought a unity to the people of God. He hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us. One of the critical ways that Christ created this unity was by removing the greatest obstacle to unity. This dividing wall, this middle wall of partition that he was referring to would have clearly been understood in reference to the temple in Jerusalem. where you have surrounding the inner court of the temple was a four and a half foot high wall that separated the court of the Gentiles from the court of the Israelites and the court of women. So even if as a Gentile, I convert to Judaism, I still can't get in. You know, four and a half feet, I can look over. I can see what's going on, but there is still a division that is there. This wall kept the Gentiles from the sanctuary. Josephus records that along this wall there were 13 inscriptions warning Gentiles not to enter. Two of these have been found. And here's what translated roughly they say, no foreigner is to enter within the forecourt and balustrade around the sanctuary. Whoever is caught will have himself to blame for his subsequent death. So if you were a Gentile and you tried to get closer to God than the court of the Gentiles, your blood is on your own head, is what the Jews were thinking. But Christ has broken down this wall of partition. Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in the ordinances, the dividing wall is further illustrated by the law. The Jews, particularly the religious Jews, would have viewed the law as a protective hedge to keep the Gentiles out. No, keep those people away. We are God's special people, failing to do what Israel was supposed to be, a light to the Gentiles. Contrary to its purpose, the law was supposed to demonstrate how you couldn't meet God's demands. and how you should share with others, but the law led to an ethnocentrism, to an elitism in the Jewish mindset that would further the hostilities. And Paul says, Christ in his flesh, in his death on the cross, he abolished the enmity that came from that, the hostility that came. Christ does not abolish the law. Jesus himself says that in Matthew 5 17, think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets, but rather he has come to fulfill. Christ destroyed, abolished the enmity, not by destroying the law, but by fulfilling it, by rendering the law powerless. And he does it for a reason, for to make in himself of twain one new man. Jesus's death on the cross, his abolishment of the hostilities, is to take the Gentiles, to take the Jews, those who are at enmity with each other, and not just simply get them to, let's just get along. But it's to make something new. Second Corinthians 517, Paul says, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. This new class of humanity is set apart from all other entities because it is in him. And that is us, the church. But this reconciliation doesn't just bring together Jew and Gentile. More importantly, it brings together God and sinners. and that he might reconcile both, Jew and Gentile, those who have broken his law, those who are his enemy, both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. Paul uses the word reconcile to highlight the hostility between God and unregenerate man. If when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, Much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life, he tells the church at Rome. In 2 Corinthians 5.15, God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. Christ's blood reconciles both Jew and Gentile to God. And it is through him that we both have access by one spirit unto the Father. That phrase, having access, carries the idea of seeking an audience with a superior. We saw a little taste of that yesterday if you caught any of the coronation going on over in England. where you have people sleeping out overnight, waiting to be along the parade route. Some of them, during the rehearsal, had the privilege of shaking hands with King Charles III. Can I tell you something? Those people can't go into the palace right now and say, oh yeah, he shook my hand. I want to talk to my buddy, King Chucky III. There's going to be something that's going to separate them, that's going to bar their access. But we have access, and that access is by the Spirit. As Paul tells the church at Rome, ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. And that spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. Later, he tells us the spirit helps our infirmities. The spirit makes intercessions for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit. We have access to God 24-7 because of what Christ did through the Spirit. We were hopeless. We were without God. We were separated. But Christ, God did something. He reconciled us. So what are we now? We see this unification drawn out. He draws out the implications of what he has said, starting with the fact that we are one nation. Now, therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints. The fact that Gentiles are no longer strangers provides a beautiful resolution to the fact that we were strangers from the covenants of promise. We are no longer foreigners, we are no longer Gentiles just happening to live in the land of promise, but we are those who enjoy all of the benefits given to God's people. We are not just one nation, but we are one family. We are of the household of God. Paul does not state that Gentiles have been added to Israel. but rather that there is a new man in a new body that is a new household of God. And that phrase household is used as a metaphor for the family expressing the sense of belonging and closeness that is associated with the family bonds, bringing to mind and recollection the concept of adoption that he refers to in chapter one, verse five. but we are also one temple. We are built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, the foundation of this temple being the apostles, the originals plus Paul. The prophets, you read 10 commentaries, you'll get 11 different answers. Here's what I think the best solution may be. a group of individuals specifically commissioned in the early church whose work was exclusive to the local church. At times, like Agabus, they spoke direct revelation. At other times, like Barnabas, Simeon, who was also called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, and Menean, those who just expounded on the revelation that was already given. But I can say with confidence these groups ended with the apostolic church. We don't have the apostles and the prophets today, which is one of the reasons, rabbit trail, we don't have time to catch, why we don't believe that there are any new scriptures being given today. That foundation's already set. We have what we need. Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. The one who demolished the wall of partition between us now serves as the chief cornerstone of this new building. The cornerstone is the most significant part of the foundation because it bears the majority of the weight. It ties the walls together. Other foundation, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3, can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. in whom all the building, continuing here in Ephesians 2, fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord. God is not only building upon Christ as the chief cornerstone, but he is continuing to build this temple in his Son as more are being saved today. This word being fitly framed together is a word that historians are pretty confident that Paul made up. You don't see it in Greek literature before this time period. You don't see it anywhere in the scriptures. But he uses the prefix together to emphasize unity throughout this epistle. The verb portion of it he uses in 2 Corinthians 11 to speak of man and woman being joined together in marriage. The author of Hebrews uses it in a noun form in Hebrews 4.12, talking about how the word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, dividing even unto the joints and marrow. And the idea here is that the church is not being built by accident. If I am saved and you are saved, then God is building his church and that church fits perfectly together. It conveys an intense closeness and union, both between God and man, but also with man and man. in whom ye also, we are builded together for inhabitation of God through the Spirit. He is building this temple so that the Spirit can reside in us. In the Old Testament, God dwelt in a tent or in a building. His dwelling was self-restricted to Israel, but now God dwells in us. We are the temple of God on this earth. What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you? Which ye have of God, and ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. So as we wrap things up tonight, don't forget what we were. Don't forget where we came from. Remembering what God did for us ought to cause us to praise him. Amen. How often do we just thank God for what he's done for us? As we go through life, it's a lot easier to focus on difficulties we're going through. The joints aren't fitted together as nicely as they should be. It's harder to wake up in the morning. It's too hot, it's too cold. As believers, when we remember what God has done for us, that ought to cause us to praise him. But secondly, remembering what God did for us ought to cause us to proclaim him to those around us who are still in darkness, who are still blinded, following the lusts of their own heart. Remembering what God did for us ought to humble us. We shouldn't think any more highly of ourselves. God didn't save us because we're special. We looked at this last week. God saves us because he loves us, because he wanted to for the praise of his glory. Remembering what God did for us ought to then cause us to live at peace with all men. Sometimes that's difficult. Because if we can be honest, even though we're saved, we still sometimes follow our flesh. We still sometimes say and do things which may cause problems with our brothers and sisters in Christ. But rather than allowing that to continue to generate friction and divisions, God has made us one flesh. He has made us one family. He has made us one temple. Is there someone tonight, maybe sitting here, maybe not, who you are thinking of, you know what? I need to go make things right with this person. I need to have the unity that Christ saved us to have. Father God, we thank you for what you have done for us. recognizing that we were lost, we were on our own, and yet you did a reconciling work for us through your Son to bring peace between us and you, but also to bring peace between each other. Father, I ask that you would help us to proclaim that good news to those around us. Lord, if there is one listening to this who has never put their trust in you, they are still living in darkness. May today be the day that the glorious light of your son shines in their hearts and they be saved. Father, if there are those listening and they recognize that there may be someone that they are holding something against, may they seek to restore that fellowship so that we can have the unity in our body that you desire for us to have. We pray these things in the name of your son who gave himself for us, Jesus Christ, amen.