Please turn in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter two as we continue our study in Ephesians. We'll look at verses 14 through 17. Most outline it and do 14 through 18, but we'll do 14 through 17 this afternoon by the Lord's grace. So follow along with me in your Bibles. in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 14, 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 law of the commandments contained in the 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 flamed the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to you, which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. Amen. Father, O gracious God, bless these words to our heart. O God, fill us with the Holy Spirit. Open ears, Lord God, today. Please give me clearness in my speech, Lord, and accuracy according to your word. and we understand and sense the gravity that when God speaks, it is so weighty. I pray, Lord, please bless this teaching today. In Christ's name, amen. The theme of our passage today is right at the beginning of verse 14. It is peace with men. And you'll see that in the first century, we'll get more into this in the sermon, goes along, there was this division between the Jews and the Gentiles. So when you see the word both, which is mentioned several times in the passage, he's talking about both Jews and Gentiles. But where do we find this piece? This is really the question. Where did we find this piece? Between men, which is what he's talking about. Men are at war with each other. It is obvious the study of human history is the study of war, or the study of one nation rising up to destroy another. Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister during World War II, said, we sleep safely at night because rough men stand ready to visit violence on those who would harm us, end quote. If we did not have strong and well-trained men protecting us, there would be no possibility of human existence. Think about it. What would the world look like if there were no police or no military? We would all be killed or enslaved in a matter of days. We have all heard the saying, those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat. Or some say it a little different. They might say those who do not learn from their mistakes or the mistakes of the past are destined to repeat them. Yet throughout history, if you know anything about history, the same problems recur generation after generation. Men do not learn from history. They cannot learn from history. You think about some tragically dramatic catastrophe like World War II, and everyone wholeheartedly condemns the horrific amount of death and destruction. And yet less than 100 years later, we are, I would say, on the brink of another world war that could make World War II look like child's play. Think of things even on a smaller scale. The city of Philadelphia employs more than 6,400 police officers, and yet crime only increases year after year. There's a major problem. Men hate men, or humanity is at war with itself. And if God and the restraints that he implemented were removed, The world would implode in a very short period of time, or it would collapse upon itself because of the hatred and division and violence in the hearts of men. Look at our nation today. The divisions run deep. People find every reason to hate each other, and hatred fuels more hatred, and we feel like we are standing on the precipice edge of a cliff that descends 2,000 feet and at any given moment we can fall over the edge. Doesn't it feel like that? Fall over the edge and plummet to our destruction. We feel that our nation is only a short distance from total collapse. Many things over the past century, I think that we should be at least somewhat educated on, at least somewhat familiar with, these things that have fueled the spiritual, moral, societal, and political decay and rot of our nation. I think the biggest one is the modernism of the early 20th century that evolved into post-modernism, and from post-modernism blossomed moral relativism. or the idea that morality changes from person to person and from situation to situation. This idea has decimated our country. And post-modernism, if you understand it, has elevated man to be God and has reduced God to non-existence. And these devilish ideas have saturated almost every inch of our educational institutions. Just ask anybody who's in the universities today and they'll tell you that. Any Christian will tell you that. And cultural Marxism that has infiltrated our country for more than 80 years. Are you familiar with this? You should be. It's really infected every part of our culture. for more than 80 years. It has subtly, and even without detection, permeated every aspect of our culture, and it's divided us. It's what's dividing us. There's people that are purposely doing this. Please understand this. Don't be fooled by the political rhetoric. There's people that are purposely dividing us by race, gender, social and economic status, and by people's sexual perversion. It's the age-old strategy adopted by Marx to divide and conquer, or cause us, cause so much chaos that people will accept any solution. And many have forgotten the price that we paid for socialism and communism in the 20th century. even hundreds of millions of dead bodies. Again, relative moralism or a humanistic perception or a perception of morality based upon evolution rather than God as our creator has influenced the masses so that they have lost the fear of God. I think it could be the greatest problem. There's no fear of God. There's no fear of God. and have turned good into evil, or turned good and evil on its head. And when the greater number of people in a society thinks that twisted definitions of concepts like diversity, equity, and inclusion are the bedrock of morality, we are in big trouble. We have passed the point of no return. There is something dreadfully wrong There has been something dreadfully wrong since Adam disobeyed God and fell under God's curse and Adam's first son murdered his brother. And the primary problem is that men hate other men because they hate God. I know that is strong language, but wake up. Look around you. I pray God will cause you to look into your own heart by his grace. or humanity is at war with itself. If it wasn't for the restraints of God, if it wasn't for the institutions that God has established in government and family and the church and the influence of the Holy Spirit and the law of God written on the hearts of men, if it wasn't for these things, what would it look like? Men are at war. with each other. And the problem will never be resolved unless men make peace with God. And peace with God doesn't come through higher education or social or political reform. It doesn't come through a stronger economy or a better medical institutions or a brighter hope for the future as carnal men see it. Everyone is trying to find peace through every possible means. And without Christ, their efforts produce more division. Have you noticed that? And more division produces more social unrest and more hatred and so forth. God-fearing education, social and moral and political reform and prosperity are the fruit of the gospel taking root in a society. If you study the effects of revival, you will find peace and prosperity were often the after effects. This country's running on the inertia of the first and great awakenings and the revival of the middle of the 19th century and pockets of revival that have happened since then. But we are far from revival today. Or when we have peace with God, we have peace with each other. And we have no peace with God, we have no peace with each other. And verse 14 of Ephesians 2 tells us that, that He, Jesus Christ, is our peace. For centuries, or even millenniums, for thousands of years, the Jews were separated from the Gentiles. Let's get more into the text itself. that the Jews and Gentiles were separated or the Jews were forbidden, the Gentiles were forbidden to intermarry with Gentiles and they were forbidden to eat Gentile food or to in any way partake of Gentile idolatry or idol worship. The Jews were set aside as God's chosen people. The seed of Messiah would come through the Jews or the Jews had to be kept ethnically pure so that the Messiah could come through the progeneration or the succeeding generations of Abraham's seed. Or Jesus Christ had to be born of Jewish lineage by the promises and decrees of God. Additionally, God gave Moses all the ceremonial laws or instructions on how to make sacrifices and to arrange all the furniture and items used for the ceremonies in the temple and in the tabernacle, and how to keep all the feast days and other things as all these things were types and illustrations of the real thing, which was Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for his people. You see that all the Old Testament sacrifices and ceremonies and rituals were pointing to Christ But there was this impassable wall between Jews and Gentiles before Christ. And the Gentiles, for the most part, were kept outside of the things of God. Remember, we read it last week. In verse 12, there in Ephesians 2, you can see it. The Gentiles, us being aliens, in verse 12, from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers, from the covenant of promise, having no hope. and without God in the world. The division between the Jews and the Gentiles was a huge problem in the first century church. And you have to understand this to put some or many even things in the New Testament into context. In the first years or decade of the church, the church was almost completely Jewish. And for thousands of years before that, God exclusively spoke through his prophets who were Israelites or Jews. And all the ceremonies and sacrifices were performed by the Jews. But then around 45 or 55 AD, there was a great influx of Gentiles into the church. You might remember even before 70 AD, the persecution in Jerusalem was heavy and many Christians were fleeing the Gentile world. Saul got converted, who became the apostle Paul. And God used him greatly to spread the gospel to large portions of the Roman Empire, or the Gentile world. And thousands of Gentiles were being converted or becoming genuine Christians. And the Jewish Christians didn't know what to do with these newly converted Gentile converts. And the prevailing idea that the Gentiles had to first be circumcised and be brought into the Jewish community before they could become Christians was pervasive in the first century. And the Apostle Paul emphatically, by the revelation of Jesus Christ, denounced or utterly rejected any such proposition that would demand Gentiles to adhere or to follow Judaism to become a believer in Jesus Christ. Often when the New Testament talks about the whole world, right, like in 1 John 2, 2, I would have to believe it's talking about Jews and Gentiles, the whole world. It's another subject, but the problem of Jews expecting Gentiles to conform to Jewish laws to be Christian was so pervasive that in Galatians 2, even the Apostle Peter and the eminent and beloved Saint Barnabas had gotten caught up in this wrong idea And Paul had to publicly rebuke Peter to set the record straight that salvation is by grace alone and not by adherence to any religious system, particularly not by the Old Testament ceremonies given to Moses that were fulfilled in Christ. And the first order of business at the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15 was the problem of how the Jews were supposed to accept the Gentiles into the church. This tension between the Jews and Gentiles or non-Jews caused much conflict between the two ethnic groups. And it was something that had to be addressed in a very forthright or confrontational manner. Not just because it was causing racial division in the church. In Acts 6 we do see that that is true, but I think more so because this issue struck at the heart of the gospel, where people were being led astray by this false doctrine that was extremely popular in the church at that time. This was no small matter, and the Holy Spirit resolution or pronouncement of God's Word on the matter was given to the Apostle Paul by direct revelation, or by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit giving Paul the exact thoughts of God on this serious situation as he wrote Holy Scripture. And we find the answer in the passage that we have before us today. The answer that reconciles Jews and Gentiles And the answer that can reconcile any people, and that answer is that Jesus Christ is our peace. In verse 14, we have our three points, and in the rest of the passage, we have more detail as to how Jesus Christ is our peace. My three points will be a little shorter today with that lengthy introduction. But there you see the three points in the back of your bulletin. Jesus Christ is our peace. Jesus Christ has united his people. And Jesus Christ has broken down the barriers. So first, Jesus Christ is our peace. Or the text says, for he is our peace. Oh, dear ones, you cannot and will not know true peace without knowing the Prince of Peace. Many of us are familiar with John 14, 27, where the Lord said, Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you, not as the world give us, give I unto you. The Lord told us that there is a peace in this world that is not of Him. Beware of this peace. There is a peace, Jesus says, that I give you that is not of this world. This is a different peace, for Christ gives a peace not as the world gives. No doubt that many people have a sturdy but false peace in this world. Large amounts of money and large international organizations and government bodies have been formed and funded to bring about world peace and to calm interracial disputes and conflicts between nations, yet our world is almost constantly plagued with war and the threat of war, while at the same time we live under some resemblance of peace, right? We can go home today and and eat a meal and sleep safely in our beds for the most part. Furthermore, people have money and possessions in this world that makes them feel at ease, and many have enough wealth to live comfortably. There's nothing wrong with that, but they live also with an extra to enjoy the entertainment and pleasure and the consistent supply of luxuries and amenities gives them the illusion of peace. Or they can feel like all is well as they live with few serious concerns. Oh, but it is all an illusion or a false peace because no matter how secure and comfortable someone feels in this world without Christ, God's wrath is coming toward them, whether they realize it or not. They are not at peace without Christ, because when they die, their peace will end. On the other side of the coin, there are people who live in tragic situations their whole life. They have true peace, because they have the peace of Christ. He is our peace. Jesus Christ is our peace because he has reconciled us unto God in verse 16 of our passage in Ephesians 2. It says, by the cross, having flamed the enmity thereby. Or in verse 15, having abolished in his flesh the enmity. The enmity means the war that's going on. Both phrases, by His cross and having abolished in His flesh, are pointing us to the peace that we have through the work of Jesus Christ and what He has accomplished on the cross. We went over this principle yesterday at the Bible study night. I told you at the prayer meeting that three of our four meetings this week, there was this theme of peace and reconciliation running through them as we are going through the Beatitudes on Wednesday night and the Confession on Saturday. And today we're in this passage in Ephesians 2, and they all have this theme of peace and reconciliation. So we went over this principle yesterday at the Bible study, but I will go over it again for those who weren't there. And so this principle will be more firmly planted in our minds. I want to bring us back to those two words that we don't use in our daily conversation but are very important to understand when it comes to Christ's work and what he has accomplished in his suffering and death. And the two words point to who we are saved from. Who are you saved from? Who are we saved from? I think one modern theologian said it well when he said, we are saved by God from God. We are saved by God from God. We are saved from God or from His wrath or His fierce anger was coming toward us, but Jesus Christ made expiation and propitiation. These are the two words I just mentioned that we would get to. Expiation is the work of Christ on the cross. And it means that Jesus Christ took away the guilt or the penalty of the sin of his people. And propitiation in the work of Christ on the cross means that Jesus Christ satisfied or appeased God's wrath or anger towards sin. or should I better say, toward sinners. Psalm 711 says, God judges the righteous and is angry with the wicked every day. I think it's a great default in our thinking. Most imagine the cross of Jesus Christ only in terms of God's love. And without a doubt, we do find an abundance immeasurable degree of God's love expressed at Christ's cross. But why? Why? Why is God's love so magnified or plainly seen at the cross? Can you think of why? Because God's wrath was coming toward you or is coming toward you. And we would have been utterly and eternally crushed by it in hell forever, except that Jesus Christ took God's wrath upon Himself on the cross. This is at the heart of the meaning of the cross. Oh, people say, well, I don't have a problem with God. As if they're doing God some kind of favor by saying that. Or people say, Jesus is just all right with me, man. You may not have a problem with God, but without Christ, God has a massive problem with you. You may not like that, but it doesn't make it any less true. In Romans 118, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against you. all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. God's wrath is pointed toward all sin. And the fact that people don't sense His wrath doesn't mean that it isn't coming. How tragic it is that people think that because they don't suffer the immediate consequences of their sin, that God's judgment or wrath is never coming. As you probably heard me mention before, people say, well, America is going to be judged. I would say America is already being judged because she's given over to her sin. People can live in the most grotesque sins and There's no consequences. Now it's even legalized. And what does it do? It further deludes them into thinking, well, certainly then God must be okay with this. And they're further and further deceived until one day they die and wake up and find that they are in hell. They're under God's eternal wrath. This is the glory of the cross that Christ bore the wrath of his people. And it is the glory of who Jesus Christ is and what he has done is the very heart of the meaning of the cross. That God is angry with sin. Who would ever think even in today's world of naming a sermon called sinners in the hands of an angry God. And yet, it is the most published sermon in American history, preached by Jonathan Edwards. I encourage you to read it, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. It puts things in perspective. This can cause us to ask if there was another way that God could have saved his people. Or why could God not just have forgiven us by an act of His decree? Or God could have just said it, like when He spoke creation into existence, and we could have been forgiven. Or God could have required some work on our part for us to be forgiven. But there's two problems, one problem with each of those theories. In Galatians chapter 3, if you want to flip there in your Bibles, You're only about three pages from there if you're in Ephesians chapter 2. There in Galatians chapter 3, the problem of why we can't be saved by something that we do on our part, there in Galatians 3.21, is the law then against the promise of God, the promises of God? God forbid. For if there had been a law, which could have given life, merely righteousness should have been by the law. Here's the problem in verse 22, but the scripture has concluded, all understand that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. Right? It's Paul's conclusion in Romans chapter three in verse number nine, where he says, what then are we, the Jews better than they, the Gentiles? No, in no wise, for we have before proved, both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin." So first, we must be saved by the atoning or the expiating and propitiating work of Jesus Christ because we are sinners and we are thereby unable to be saved by the law. There's nothing wrong with the law. The law is absolutely not against the promises of salvation, as we just read in Galatians 3.21. But the problem is that we cannot keep the law, and thus we cannot be saved by the law. But secondly, and the point that I want to drive home more clearly, the second reason for us to be given peace with God only by Christ's atoning work on the cross. It's stated in Romans chapter 3 in verse 25 and 26. As I mentioned, God cannot just decree us to be forgiven, right? He cannot just decree it. But why is that so? Why? Well, let's look in Romans chapter 3, verses 25 and 26. whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say at this time, his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. God cannot justify his people simply by making a decree for it to be so because God cannot deny himself in 2 Timothy 2.13 or God cannot deny or change who he is. God is immutably holy and just or God is unchangeably righteous. And the gospel is the display of God's holiness and righteousness and justice, and then an act of His mercy and love. And the pattern must logically flow in that order in our minds. Or, one, because it's the order you'll find in Scripture. But second, if it's not, we will diminish and could even take or make void the glorious work of Christ's self-saving work. Do you see that? We must see it in this order. Oh, I pray that you see it today, that Jesus Christ is our peace by making peace between God and man at the cross. For he is our mediator, as we've been studying on Saturdays. that in His body, on the cross, He took all the wrath that we deserve. And by faith in Him, we know this peace. Colossians 1, 21 through 22 says it very similarly, as you turn there. Sorry about that, it seemed like a couple of you were cold. But Colossians chapter one, 21 and 22, I think it's in plain terms, and you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now as he reconciled or made peace in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. Jesus Christ has reconciled us to God, or He has made peace by the blood of His cross, or He is our substitute, or Christ bore all the wrath that we deserve. He is our peace. But secondly, Jesus Christ has united His people. Our text says in Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 14, who hath made both one. And as I mentioned earlier, the both in this passage are the Jews and the Gentiles, two irreconcilable or conflicting groups that cannot be naturally united. But in Galatians 3, if you wanted to take a look over there, in Galatians 3, And in verse number 28, verse 28 of Galatians 3, there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. In Christ Jesus. Please don't mutilate that verse and say that women should be preachers, please. You learn how to interpret the Bible, if that's what you think. But besides that, We are made one in Christ. There's no difference in our standing with God in Christ. There's certainly differences of office, right? That men are to be pastors and leaders in the church is clear in 1 Corinthians 34 and 35 and 1 Timothy 2, 9 to 11. But here this is speaking that we're one in Christ, that there's no difference in that sense. that we are one in him. Or in verse 15 of Ephesians 2, in our passage, for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace. Or in verse 16 of our passage, and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body. Those in Christ's church have been made one body. In Ephesians 5.30, the scripture says, for we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. And then in verse 32, that same chapter, the apostle says, this is a great mystery, but I speak concerning the church, Christ and the church. Or in Romans 12, four, for as we have many members in one body. And I can go on. There's many scriptures that talk this way. Those in Christ's church are not separated by race or by any other distinctive, but we have been brought together in Christ as one body. Or the universal church or each member that is truly born again are spiritually brought into one body. And in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12, each member has a different function and different offices, as I just mentioned a minute ago. even as we have different functions in our physical body. Or my eye cannot smell and my nose does not see. And yet both are necessary for the body to function in its normal course. And God has brought together his body in local churches. And each of us who are born again are spiritually connected to the other. That's why you can't say, well, I don't go to the church. Or people said, just the guy yesterday said, I am the church. I said, sir, with all due respect, can you give me a Bible verse on that? You are not the church. The church is God's people gathered together and united in one body in this mystical union. That's what the church is. And the church has a government, obviously. There's church government and church offices and there's gifts in the church. But in Christ, we have been made one new man, so making peace. I like what Matthew Henry said about this. He said, God framed both these parties into one new society or body of God's people, uniting them to himself as their common head, they being renewed by the Holy Ghost and now concurring in a new way of gospel worship, so making peace between these two parties who were so much at variance before. There is an enmity between God and sinners, and Christ came to slay that enmity and to reconcile them both to God." This one new man that were formerly two are united by being made new creatures in Christ. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Most of us are familiar with 2 Corinthians 5, 17. If you're not, you probably will be when I read it. But we rarely make the connection between verse 17 and 18. And I think we should, particularly in this context. Look in 2 Corinthians 5, 17 to 18. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. And all things, in verse 18, are of God, who has reconciled us, the church, to himself by Jesus Christ, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation. We are made one new man. How are you going to do that? How are you going to make yourself one new man? This is the work of God making us alive in Christ. by grace through faith. I am alive in Christ, and you are alive in Christ, and the two become one. And this spiritual union between believers is manifested in that we are united in one purpose, even in the ministry of reconciliation. Right? What does that word reconciliation mean? Bringing peace between God and man. or the ministry of making peace, or we comfort one another by pointing our brothers and sisters in Christ to the gospel, or to the fact that we have been reconciled to God through Christ, and we have thereby been reconciled to each other, and we are united in our message to the lost also, that they can have peace with God through reconciliation through Christ by his atonement. Do you see that when I am reconciled to God, and you are reconciled to God, we are then reconciled to each other. And not in a superficial way, but in a real and spiritual way, we are united. In Ephesians 4, 16, we read from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supply it according to the effectual working in the measure of every part make an increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. When the body of Christ or his members are brought together, the body is edified in love or we are united in Christ's love for us because of who he is and what he has done for us. So first, Jesus Christ is our peace. He bore God's wrath on our behalf and has thereby made peace. And Jesus Christ being our substitute in that sense has made peace. Secondly, Jesus Christ has united his people. The glorious truth of the gospel of reconciliation or of Christ making peace has made us new creatures and united us to each other in love and in truth, the love and truth of Christ. But lastly, and in closing, Jesus Christ has broken down the barriers. The last part of verse 14 in Ephesians, back in Ephesians 2, in the last part of verse 14, and has broken down the middle wall of partition between us. The middle wall of partition, many believe, seems to be an allusion to the wall that separated the Jews and the Gentiles in the temple, where the Jews and Gentiles could not worship together. But now Christ has broken down the wall that formerly divided Jews and Gentiles. The first part of verse 15 in Ephesians 2 says, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of the commandments contained in ordinances. The Lord Jesus Christ abolished or did away with the ceremonial law, or he put an end to all the sacrifices, ordinances under the old dispensation. You might remember that when the Lord Jesus died, the curtain that separated the holies of holies was supernaturally ripped from top to bottom, which was a curtain no less than nine inches thick. And how tall was it? 20 or 30 feet tall. Took more than 100 priests just to carry that curtain. And yet, God It was supernaturally ripped from top to bottom when Christ died. It symbolized that the access into the most holy place has been opened to all through what Jesus Christ has accomplished on the cross. Oh, look with me in Hebrews chapter 10 in verses 19 through 22. What a precious passage it is dealing with this topic in Hebrews 10, 19-22. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Christ by a new and living way, which he has consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say his flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. The old system has been done away with, and we now live in a day when it is new and living way. Has your old way been done away with, is the question. Oh, Christ did away with the old way of the Jews. in this new and living way that is available to whoever will come to Christ by faith. And we can come with boldness or with confidence to the text as we just read, not because of us or because of what we have done, but because of the Lord Jesus Christ, that God Almighty's wrath was pointed toward us, for our biggest problem was God, and is God if you're not born again. But Jesus Christ took that wrath upon Himself, for He bore our sins upon the cross by taking the punishment that we deserve. And now we have this blessed condition of being made one new man. For by grace we have been brought into the body of Christ. Or we have been brought into Christ's universal church and thus brought into a local church where we have real interaction and fellowship with Christ through his people. Jesus Christ has broken down the barriers. The Lord Jesus abolished the old system that was no longer needed because it was only pointing to him. Do you see that? It was no longer needed. the old system. And so now Jesus Christ has broken down or destroyed our old religious system. Some of us, as I did myself, grew up Roman Catholics. Some of us were formerly a part of pseudo-Christian cults. Some of us were a part of better churches, but we were not born again. Some of us never went to church when we were younger. And in either occasion, whatever the situation is, we were all religious. And Jesus Christ broke down that wall that must come down. The wall of false religion. The wall that says, I can save myself. The wall that says, I can do it. I can accept Jesus, I can be baptized, I can whatever you want to put in the blank, and I'll be saved. Oh, Christ must break down that wall when we see we have nothing but Him and all of Him. Christ has broken down the wall of partition. What is the stronghold? in Upper Darby? What is the stronghold in Philadelphia? What is the stronghold of our nation? What is it? Yes, we have all those philosophies and things that are woven into our educational systems and into the philosophies floating around in our day. But what is the real problem? What is the real problem? It's religion. Religion is the problem. Religion has been the problem since the beginning of man. Cain killed Abel. Why? Because Cain was offended that his sacrifice was not considered worthy, and Abel's was. Cain should have repented and said, oh, it's me. God is obviously right. My sacrifice is insufficient. But instead, He puffed out his chest and said, why isn't mine as good as his? And resentment built up, and he murdered his brother. It was an act of self-righteousness, I would say. And so you see those who killed Christ, oh, were they the men that came out of the bar room? Were they the prostitutes on the corner that killed Christ? Was it? No. No, it was the white, robed, religious people. It was the people who go to church. Religion, my friend, is the plague. And if you haven't seen it, I'm afraid you're filled with the plague. You're filled with the idea that certainly God should love me because there's something lovable in me that God should love. And yet the scripture says man in his best state is altogether vanity. Or the psalmist would say in Psalms, is it 113 or is it 105.13 where the psalmist says that God has taken me from the dunghills. That's right. He uses geographic language. He's taken me from the dunghill. That's what my life amounted to without Christ. And when we're brought to him, we see this. and all of our religious systems are broken down. They're seen as nothing in light of the glory of Jesus Christ and the perfections of who He is and what He has done. And that He bore the wrath of His people. That He bore my wrath, that He bore your wrath if you come to Christ. So what is the answer for our ailing and wicked world that seems to be getting worse every day? Our last verse in the passage is the answer in verse 17. And came and preached peace to you which were afar off and to them that were nigh. Whatever religious or non-religious people need, they need this message of reconciliation through Jesus Christ. It was preached to us and we believe by grace. Thank God it was preached to me. But my parents, even though it took almost 30 years to get through my thick skull, by the power of the Holy Spirit, I was born again through the preaching of this message, this message of reconciliation. It was preached to us and we believe by grace. May God raise up an army of men and women to share and to preach this same message to change our eternal destiny. It is the only hope of this wicked world. It is the only hope of this wicked world, is the gospel, is that Jesus Christ is our peace. And yet our great hope, dear Christian, is not that peace will come to this earth. I mean, we may have pockets of it. We see revivals and pockets of peace with Christ, but that day is coming when Isaiah explains it in Isaiah 11 and 12 in detail, when Christ will bring perfect peace. The Prince of Peace will rule and reign on this earth. And so the believer is really looking through this double lens. He's looking through the lens of now, of the here and now. And we say, where is the peace? How can peace come? Peace can only come when men are reconciled to God. And they're only reconciled to God through the gospel. And when men are reconciled to God, they'll be reconciled to each other. And I think there's a principle there, a sanctifying work even, could I say, as it's spoken of in 1 Corinthians 7. A little bit of conjecture there, but I think of our society a hundred years ago, and even in my grandfather's generation, he wasn't a Christian. But he said and did certain things that looked Christian because of the Christian influence. But today, it's totally flipped around, right? Instead of unbelievers looking like Christians, Christians look like unbelievers. Am I right? It's the total opposite. But oh, when we are reconciled to God through Christ, when we have this peace and God's people are united, I truly believe that unity will spread outward, that others will be converted, and I pray they'll be converted to a major move of God and revival if God would be so gracious to do so. But it can also move out, I believe, simply through the influence of those Christians who are united in this supernatural way by God's grace. And so may God, by His grace, help us to see that this glorious gospel of peace is what will bring peace to this world. And that's the first lens, but then you're kind of looking through the second lens, which we always have one eye on the sky, do we not? I always have one eye looking upward, waiting for the Prince of Peace, waiting for Christ, waiting for when He will come and reign on this earth in perfect righteousness and in perfect holiness and love and peace will abound. And this is the hope of God, Jesus Christ. is our peace. He's our peace in the gospel. He's made reconciliation between God and man. He's our peace between men, that there's one new man who's formed in Christ, his body. And I believe that peace goes outward. And we have peace because we know that it will only be a few minutes now. Oh, it's not long now, and Christ will appear in the sky, and he will bring everlasting peace to earth, the Prince of Peace, the King of Peace, who will rule forever and ever. And so, dear Christian, dear unbeliever, is Christ your peace? I pray that he is today. Let us pray. Father in heaven, thank you for the peace that we have in our Lord Jesus Christ, that he has made peace with God. He has made peace between man and man. And oh Lord Jesus, you will soon return and bring everlasting peace to earth. Oh Lord, work these truths in our hearts today that we would find this peace, that others would know this reconciliation with God. that all God's wrath and angers is great. But through Christ we are reconciled. May these truths be alive in our hearts. Oh God, send us forth today as we leave this place. Send us forth in the power of the Holy Spirit. Send us forth in the love of Christ in our hearts. And might we know this peace and reconciliation in Christ. And may you give us the grace to give it to others. We pray these things in Jesus' holy name. Amen. Amen.