Former Enemies Made One in Christ (Ephesians Sermon 13)

Well, for the next two weeks, we’re going to be looking at this incredible passage of scripture that Chase just read, Ephesians 2:11-17. And it’s a powerful text, I think, that gives us hope for some of the most poignant issues that are facing us even in this day. It’s the only hope I think there is for racism, for dealing with the issues of racism in our country. We’ll talk much more clearly and directly about that next week. But these problems of division in our world, and hatred, and hostility, and what this text calls a barrier dividing wall of hostility. These things can only be removed by the sovereign grace of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They cannot be removed by diplomacy, or government regulations, or United Nations, or any of those things. Those barriers, those dividing walls of hostility, will not come down that way, but only through the Gospel of Christ. The only hope for unity in our world is the Gospel, and this morning we’re going to zero in specifically on the division between Jews and Gentiles. The Jew-Gentile division in the scripture and what Christ has done for that.

And I think the overwhelming majority of us who are here today, are Gentiles. There may be some of Jewish descent here, but the overwhelming majority of those that assemble on Sunday mornings to hear the good news of Christ, and to study the scriptures are Gentiles. And we need to hear what Paul is saying to us. What you just heard in the text. How it was for us as Gentiles. We need to understand the astounding work that Christ has done in bringing us as Gentiles, who were so far away from hope, so far away from God’s work in redemption, in the world, and bringing us near in Christ, and we need to celebrate that. It’s amazing. And this text has the power to do that. Paul here goes to the root of hatred and hostility between Jews and Gentiles, and shows us how the work of Jesus Christ on the cross has removed that forever among those that believe in Christ.

Now, from the Gentile side, there is the arrogance, and the military superiority, and the vicious persecution, and even genocidal mania that has stained the pages of history. We know that very well from the 20th century from the rise of Nazism, and its virulent anti-semitism, and 6 million Jews slaughtered in what they called the final solution of Auschwitz, and other death camps, but that wasn’t the first expression of anti-Semitism in history. It’s not the first time we see that hostility or hatred from the Gentiles toward the Jews.

Throughout history, if you saw a fiddler on the roof, for example, there’s a pogrom right in the middle of that in Czarist Russia. That gives you a sense of the history there. The Jews have been persecuted throughout the nations of Europe. They were persecuted during the time of the Inquisition. Going further back, the Crusades were focused not just on driving the Muslims out of Jerusalem, but also they were anti-Semitic in nature. And it goes all the way back even within the scriptures to what happened in the Book of Esther, as Haman was seeking some kind of a genocidal work on the Jews, wiping them out entirely. So, Gentile history of hatred for the Jews is well-established, along with their military superiority.

But the Bible also makes plain the other side. The hostility of the Jews toward the Gentiles. The Jewish jealousy and hatred of the Gentile world as well. The arrogance, religiously. The fact that the Gentiles were, as the text says, “excluded from citizenship in Israel.” They were cast out in effect by the Law of Moses, as we’re going to talk about today. They were outsiders, and that had the tendency to make the Jews feel religiously superior to those that were inferior to them. They were the chosen people. Then, in the course of time, when the Jews rebelled against God’s covenant, as God said they would through Moses, but when they rebelled in the Promised Land, against God’s covenant, failed to keep it, God began to give the Jews over again and again to Gentile conquest.

Again, and again, God would raise up Gentiles to come in from the surrounding nations and punish the Jews. You see this in the Book of Judges, you see God raising up the various nations that surrounded them. The Midianites, the Ammonites, Syrians, the Philistines, the Egyptians. And again and again, God would give the Jews into the hands of the Gentiles. The very thing that God said He would do as a curse in the Mosaic covenant, in the Old Covenant. He said this in Deuteronomy 28:25, “The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You’ll come at them from one direction, but flee from them in seven. You will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms of the Earth.” And then again in Deuteronomy 32:21, God says this, “They, the Jews, made me jealous by what is no God and angered me with their worthless idols, so I will make them jealous by those who are not a people,” speaking of the Gentiles. “I will make them angry by a nation that has no understanding.” So, you Jews made me jealous by your idolatry, then I’m going to make you jealous by giving you over militarily to the Gentiles. This is the very thing you said you would do in the song of Moses before they even enter the Promised Land. Ultimately, this was completed, consummated in some ways, by the exiles under the Assyrians, and under the Babylonians, as the Jews were driven out from the Promised Land militarily.

Then one succession of Gentile overlords after another rose up to dominate them even when a small remnant under Ezra and Nehemiah, came back to rebuild the Jewish presence in the Promised Land, they were still, as was said in those books, slaves in their own land. They were under Gentile domination. And that was very, very difficult. So you see some of that hatred in that history. It’s interesting, even this morning I was looking at a couple of verses in Ezra and Nehemiah. It says in Nehemiah 2:20, as Nehemiah’s just beginning his work of building the city wall around Jerusalem, some Gentiles come and show up and begin talking to him about that project, and this is what Nehemiah said to these Gentiles. “You have no portion, no right, and no claim in Jerusalem.” Well, praise God we do have a portion, right, and claim in the New Jerusalem. Amen. We were outsiders. What was Nehemiah building? A wall. What was that for? To keep them out.

And then again in Ezra as they’re starting to build the temple, in Ezra 4:3 says, “You have nothing to do with us in building this temple for our God in which we will worship.” Again, spoken to the Gentiles. “You’re outsiders.” Well, this attitude, this hostility, Jew toward Gentile, which is made much more fierce because they were, in effect, under Gentile domination, and slaves in their own land, came to a fever pitch in the New Testament. When God raised up Saul of Tarsus, converted him, made him the Apostle to the Gentiles, and he began to go from place to place, teaching that in Christ, the very things he’s saying here in Ephesians are true, “we gentiles have become sons and daughters of Abraham. And that we’re now included in the covenant, the new covenant in Christ.” The nationalistic Jews were extremely angry about that, those that had not yet come to faith in Christ. And they were enraged actually. Started riots in many cities in reference to Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles. Well, you see that in Acts 21, when Paul’s there and he’s with a Gentile, and they assumed that he had brought this Gentile into the temple area, which was absolutely forbidden. And they started to try to kill him, and started a riot and all that. The Romans came in and rescued Paul, and they’re bringing him to the barracks where they’re going to beat him. Paul had a hard life. I mean really. What a ministry. But here he says, “Just a minute, I’d like to speak to the crowd.” I just think that’s amazing, Acts 22, it’s a witnessing moment. A chance to share the Gospel. I mean, how he thought was amazing. But he stands up and he’s sharing his testimony and for the second time in the Book of Acts.

We get the story of the road to Damascus, and how he’s converted, and they’re listing quietly, until he gets to one word. One word. And this is what it says, “Then the Lord said to me,” this is Paul talking about his own testimony. They’d been quiet up to this point. “Go. I will send you far away to the Gentiles.” The crowd listened carefully to Paul until he said this. Then they raised their voices, and shouted, “Rid the earth of him. He’s not fit to live.” And then they’re shouting and throwing off their cloaks, and flinging dust in the air. One word sent them into anger, “Gentiles.”

So there’s that Jew Gentile hostility. We’ve seen it both sides of the equation. Now, it is true that God had chosen the Jews and blessed them. They were in a very special way, the focus point of his redemptive work on Earth. He said at Mount Sinai in Exodus 19:5-6, to the Jewish nation, “Now if you obey me fully and if you keep my covenant, then out of all the nations, you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole Earth is mine, you will be for Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” But it was for the purpose of blessing the entire world with the Abrahamic blessing. “Through you,” Abraham, “all peoples on Earth blessed,” and I don’t think they understood that. They didn’t see that. And that theme had long since disappeared from the Jewish mindset, and from the Jewish way of life. In Christ, it is fulfilled. In Christ, it is consummated. “We Gentiles, who were once so far away have now been brought near” and are included in what God had always planned to do through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Well, that’s all by way of introduction.

I. Gentiles Formerly Excluded and Without Hope

Let’s look now very carefully at these verses that teach so much about our condition as Gentile believers in Christ. Let’s begin in verses 11 and 12 where it makes it very plain that Gentiles, who are formally excluded and without hope, have now been brought near. We were formally excluded. We were on the outside, and without hope. Look at Verse 11-12, “Therefore remember that formally, you who are Gentiles, by birth, and called uncircumcised by those who call themselves the circumcision, that done in the body by the hands of men. Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.”

So Paul here calls on the Gentiles to remember what they were formally. We’ve already seen that earlier in the worship service today. The benefit of going back and remembering how it was. Now, Ephesus, these Ephesians, they were from the city of Ephesus. It was in Asia Minor, modern day Turkey. And that was a Gentile region, a Gentile city, and a Gentile region. And they worshiped Pagan deities, like Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, whose image had supposedly fallen out of Heaven. And they built this huge temple to her, that was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. There was paganism, it was a pagan place, they worshiped idols. Their men were uncircumcised, as Paul mentions in this text. They were seen by Jews, by some Jews anyway, to be unclean dogs. “They were,” verse 11, “Gentiles by birth” or more literally “Gentiles in the flesh.” Their genealogy, their racial lineage, was Gentile, not Jew. Paul wants them to look back and to remember how it was for them as a nation, and group. Why is that?

Well, it’s just a truth. And we’ve been seeing this again and again. The more you realize what you were before you were converted, the more joyful and thankful you’ll be now and energetic in service to Christ. The more you know just how black, and dark, and distant all of that was, the better it is for you. I just love singing that song, Jesus, Thank You. Don’t you? I leaned over to Daphne this morning? I said, “I love this song. It gives me a chance to tell Jesus, ‘Thank you.’ Just to say, ‘Thank you for saving me.’” And we’ve already seen this already, this morning, and earlier in Ephesians 2, how Paul has already brought their minds back. In verses 1-3, look, “As for you,” he says, “You were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live. When you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air. Spirit who is now at work and those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.” That’s what we were. Remember how you were. Look back at how you were. Understand that condition.

Now, he wants to tell these Gentiles even more about their situation. God had begun a work of redemption through the Jews. Think of the world like a dark howling wasteland. Like a blizzard in some mountainous region, and there’s some light shining and a fire that started, and there’s some food cooking, and there’s this place of warmth, and you’re in the blizzard. But it’s like you can see the light, and then as you draw nearer you find that there’s this huge wall erected around it. You are on the outside and there was a wall there preventing you from coming in. You couldn’t be included, that’s what he’s saying. You were on the outside. Now, Paul himself was raised in a Gentile region. He was also raised in Asia Minor. He was in the city of Tarsus, 700 miles to the east of Ephesus, right along pretty much the same latitude, right across. And he knew what it was like to be surrounded by Gentiles. He himself was a Roman citizen and he understood this situation. So, he doesn’t know how much these Gentiles knew about Jewish laws and regulations, but he’s going to tell them. He’s going to say, “Remember that formally, you who were called the uncircumcision.” Alright, “Gentiles in the flesh and called uncircumcised, by those who call themselves the circumcision.” You’re seen to be outsiders by these Jews, “called uncircumcised by those who call themselves as circumcision.”

Now, to some degree, this statement here is a bit of a digression an aside. Paul’s interrupting his thought and said, “There are some people who think hard thoughts about you and they call themselves the circumcision. These Jewish nationalists. I understand them, I was one of them myself at one point. And they call themselves the circumcision. They have a sense of spiritual superiority to you, hostility toward you. They have a certain hatred toward you, but their circumcision,” Paul alludes to this, “their circumcision is merely external, and physical, it’s not spiritual.” He’s going to talk about this in Romans 2:28 and 29. He says, “A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly. Nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly, and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise does not come from men, but from God.” So that’s a true Jew. Okay. They’ve had that inner-work of transformation by the Holy Spirit. It’s a circumcision of the heart. They’ve been transformed. The very thing that happened in Ephesians 2:4-5. Go ahead and look at it. “But God made us alive even when we were dead in transgressions, it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up.” That’s another way of saying the same thing. That spiritual circumcision, by the Spirit, not by the written code, that hasn’t happened to these people, they call themselves a circumcision and they’re only focusing on the physical.

Okay, well anyway, you Gentiles, alright, what should we remember? Well, let’s remember six devastating things about you in that condition. “Remember that at that time, when you were not a Christian. Back then, before you were converted, alright, you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of the Promise, without hope, without God in the world.” Six different things that Paul says was true of us as Gentile, unconverted people.

So first he says, “You are separate from Christ, you are outside of Christ, you are apart from Christ, you are not in fellowship with Christ.” Christ for us is everything. Christ is life, Christ is our hope. We have nothing apart from Christ. And so, when you are not a Christian you had nothing from Christ, you were separate from Him. Christ is the fullness of joy. He is life and power and peace and everything good in the universe. But more than that, you Gentiles, you didn’t even have any promises or any hopes or any thoughts about Christ? You didn’t have a heritage of waiting for the Messiah. You didn’t even know about Him. You didn’t know that one had been promised who would come would be the Savior of the world. You didn’t have those kinds of thoughts. So you were separate from Christ. You had nothing like that.

And secondly he says, “You were excluded from citizenship in Israel.” Citizenship, the language of citizenship is something these Gentiles would have understood, dominated as they were by the Romans, and there was such a thing as Roman citizenship. Paul himself was born a citizen of Rome,. And so being a citizen of Rome brought you certain rights and privileges. Certain advantages and benefits. Well, they were outsiders, they had no rights and privileges when it came to Israel. And why? Because the law of Moses kept them out, it excluded them, told them they were not permitted to enter the assembly of the righteous. They were outsiders. In Deuteronomy 23:2-3, it says this, “No one born of a foreign marriage nor any of his descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord even down to the 10th generation.” That’s right in the law of Moses. “No Ammonite or Moabite or any of his descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord even down to the 10th generation.” When they came back under Ezra and Nehemiah, they were all about genealogies. You’ve read those books. Genealogy all the time. “Are you Jewish?” That’s the question. And then in Nehemiah 13:1-3, it says on that day, the Book of Moses was read aloud and the hearing of the people and it was found written, “that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever be entered into the Assembly of God.” Now listen to this, the kind of extension of this “when the people heard this law, they excluded from Israel all who were of foreign descent,” everybody. So you might say, “Wait a minute. I’m not Ammonite I’m not a Moabite.” Well, you’re included, excluded, included in the excluded. If you’re not Jewish, you’re out.

What’s interesting though is honestly the entire Old Covenant was about exclusion, for everybody. Wasn’t it? Wasn’t the tabernacle, just a bunch of cloth walls that kept people out? Wasn’t the Temple, a more permanent bunch of walls that kept people out? Wasn’t it true that you couldn’t enter the Holy of Holies, unless you were descended from Levi and descended from Aaron and it was the Day of Atonement, and you brought blood, and you better get out of there, quickly?  So there are these barriers, all of this. We’ll get back to that in a moment. But God had set this up, He had set up this barrier, He had set up this dividing wall, He had set all of this up with its commandments and regulations. It excluded all uncircumcised people, from the sacred assembly. The Gentiles were outsiders. Look at Verses 14-15. Do you see the words there? “Barrier.” “Dividing wall.” See it? Verse 15, “the Law with its commandments and regulations.” That’s what kept us out. The circumcision rule, the dietary regulations, all of the Jewish laws. Kept us out.

Thirdly, foreigners to the covenants of the Promise, what is this? Well, God made a promise to Abraham, when He called him out of Ur of the Chaldees. “Leave your country and your people, and go to the land I will show you.” “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you, I will curse, and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” So that’s a promise. Then He made him even more promises, He says at one very incredible time. It was night time, and He takes him out, God takes Abraham out of the tent and has him look up at the stars and he says, “Look up at the stars and count them if you can”, then He makes him a promise, “So shall your offspring be.” “You’re going to have descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky,” that’s a promise made from God to him. The very next verse is key to our salvation. “Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.” So you first have to hear a promise, then you can believe it. But the Gentiles had no promise made to them, none that we could believe. And then, it mentions the “covenants of the Promise,” “the covenants of the Promise,” and so in Genesis 15, that very same chapter He makes him the second word. “I’m going to give this land that you’re walking on here to you and to your descendants forever.” So how do I know that I’m going to get it?  It’s not looking too good right now God. So then God had him make a covenant. He had him have animals, and he sacrificed them, and laid them out and made a path between them, as that was a covenant cutting ceremony, and suddenly, mysteriously, this fire pot, representing the presence of God, moved between the pieces and in effect, God said “May I personally cease to exist, if I don’t keep this promise to you, I will keep my promise to you, I will keep this covenant, you will get the land forever.” Well, that was Jewish though.

The Gentiles had no such covenant cutting ceremony, they had no covenant made with them. Nope, no such promises have been made to the Gentiles, their outsiders. God wasn’t making them any promise at all. And notice, it’s plural “covenants.” The second covenant I think that Paul has in mind is the covenant made with David, that God would raise up one of David’s sons and seat Him on His throne, the throne of David, and he would reign forever and ever a king reigning over a chosen people, in an eternal land that would be theirs forever and ever. That’s what God was doing through the covenants, but the Gentiles were outsiders. They were excluded from the covenants of the Promise.

Fourthly, they, “were without hope.” I would say just like Ephesians 2:10 I would say, there’s very few days that go by I don’t think about Ephesians 2:10, “that I am God’s workmanship created to do good works today, which I want to do which God has prepared for me.” How about this one. That the non-Christians that surround us, the lost people are “without hope and without God in the world.” Think about that every day, think about what it would be like to go through life without hope and without God. It’s inconceivable how much misery, human misery, is packed into these words. “Without hope.” What do people do when they’re hopeless? Well, some of them kill themselves. Other people drown their sorrows in drugs and alcohol. Or in workaholism or achievements or material possessions, or entertainment, or sports. Because they don’t have anything, and as they go on there’s more and more sense of despair that just doesn’t satisfy doesn’t satisfy it’s “Vanity of vanities, it’s meaningless.”

Now, I think there are three types of hope. I’ve talked to people, non-Christians and Christians alike about this, and it just has to do with a time frame. Hope always has to do with the future. “Who hopes for what he already has?” We don’t hope about past things. Hope always has to do with the future. What is hope? Hope is a feeling in the heart, a positive feeling that the future is bright. “I’m looking forward to the future, the future will have good things for me.” Okay? Time frame. First, let’s start with eternity, that I’m looking forward to eternity. I’m not afraid to die, I believe in eternal life, and I think eternally, I’ll be happy, eternal hope. No one on earth but Christians has any reason for eternal hope, none. Then there’s long range hope. “I like how my life is going.” Might have to do with your career, might have to do with a long-term goal. Maybe you just got married, and you’re looking forward to a beautiful life with your wife, with your husband. looking forward to that. Things are looking good for you down the road and from now until death, it’s going to be good, long range hope. And then there’s that short-term, immediate hope. “We’re going out to eat tonight at my favorite restaurant. Looking forward to that! Future is looking bright. Short, short range future.”

What ends up happening is more and more non-Christians get down to that final one. More and more, and they just live for today. “Let us eat and drink and be merry, because I don’t even know if tomorrow’s ever going to come and if it does, it’s probably going to be bad.” So that’s what it means to be without hope. We have a God who has gone ahead of us, in time, and has basically said, “Not only have I been to your future and seen it. I’ve ordained it, I’ve decreed it, and nothing will stop it. Your future is bright. So be filled with hope. Be filled with joy.” We have that as Christians. Non-Christians, don’t have that. “Without hope, and without God” means without God as a blessing. God sees everything they do. He is a constant watcher of men and women, He knows everything that we do, that’s not it, that’s like Hell. That’s God. There to punish. God, there to curse. God, there to pour out wrath, not God to bless. That’s what, “without God” means here, that God isn’t making any commitment to bless you. He’s made no promises to bless you. “Without hope and without God in the world.” The world is just Satan’s world where Satan is in charge and dominant.

Can I just stop and just do an application here?  Do you not see how we have to be evangelistic in this world? Do you not see how we have got to reach out to non-Christians? We’ve got to see non-Christians that we live with differently, that these folks have no hope and we have hope in our hearts! Our centers are radiant with hope! By the way, you need to live that out, right? Just live out hope, just speak your hope all the time. Because somebody’s going to come and ask you to “give a reason for the hope that you have,” so you have to be putting that hope on display. Amen?  So just put that hope on display and hopeless people will say, “What is going on with you?” They’re out in the howling wilderness and it’s dark and cold and you’re like, sitting around a very warm campfire, eating well, and you’re protected, and they’re like, “I want in. How do I get in?” “Repent and believe in Jesus.” Well, they’re “without hope and without God in the world” But now, He says, in verse 13, “In Christ Jesus, you who were once far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. But now,” isn’t that almost exactly like, “But God?” Isn’t that fantastic just like, “But God”? In verse 4, we have “But now.”

II. Gentiles Now Brought Near by Christ

You who were once far away you have been brought near, and how amazing is that we’re near, near to what? Not so much near to the Jews. Although we’ll get to that.

You’ve been brought near to God. This infinite, high and holy God, the one who, as Daniel quoted earlier, “I live in a high and holy place.” “I live in a high and holy place,” but also with him who is contrite and “lowly in spirit,” “I live with people that are broken-hearted and that come to me through faith in Christ.” You’ve been brought near. This is the God who sits, “enthroned above the circle of the Earth, and its people are like grasshoppers.” We were as sinners distant from God, and now we have been “brought near” and it says, “through the blood of Christ,” or “by the blood of Christ.” There is no salvation for us sinners, apart from the “shed blood of Christ,” we will never be done talking about the blood of Christ, it says in Leviticus 17, “the life of the creature, of the animal, is in the blood, and I’ve given it to you to make atonement for your sins.” Well, that was in the old covenant, but we learned in the new covenant that “the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin.” It was just a symbol, And “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness,” but blood has been shed for us, amen? Isn’t that beautiful? “The blood of Christ has brought us near.” Jesus died on the cross, He shed His blood in our place that we, who were once distant might be now brought near to God.

Now, here’s the key to the “barrier, the dividing wall of hostility coming down.” We’re going to talk much more about this next week. This is the key to the end of racism. This is the key to the end of the hostility between Jews and Gentiles. This is it. Christ has made us one. Look at verses 14 and 15, “For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in His flesh the law with its commandments and regulations His purpose was to create in Himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace.” Well, Christ is our peace. This section here, verses 14 and 15, begins and ends with peace, and so, Christ by His bloodshed on the cross has taken away the wrath of God. So, the peace horizontally takes a back seat to the first, and that is peace vertically with God. God was at war with us, we were His enemies, but now, in Christ, God has reconciled us to Him, through faith in Christ. And so we now have as we saw earlier, Romans 5:1-2, “we have peace with God” through our Lord Jesus Christ.

So vertically, we now have peace with God.

And so what that means is horizontally we are drawn close to oneness with one another. We, having been reconciled to God, we can be reconciled to each other. Look at verses 15 and 16, “His purpose was to create in Himself one new man out of the two,” one out of two, “thus making peace and in this one body, to reconcile both of them to God through the cross by which He put to death their hostility.” So, the war is ended. The war is ended with us and God, and then with us and brothers and sisters in Christ, we are one with each other, we are reconciled to one another, we have been made at peace with each other. So he says that the two, Christ has now made one. Now, the key to that is our spiritual unity with Jesus, if you come to faith in Christ, you are made one with Jesus, look back at verses 4 through 6, “But God who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ, with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions. It is by grace you have been saved.” Verse 6, “And God raised us up with Christ, and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms, in Christ Jesus.” We are one with Christ, And that’s true of every single Christian on the face of the earth. We are one with Christ, all of us. It is impossible for two individuals to be each of them, one with Christ and not one with each other. We are in a status of oneness with Christ.

Now, we need to act like it in terms of our walk with Christ, in holiness. We are also in a status of oneness with each other, and we need to act like it and walk like it. And so on that basis, Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians are made one with each other, as well, one body united in Christ. Now, later he’s going to say this in Ephesians 4:3-6, he says, “Make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace.There is one body and one spirit just as you were called to one hope, when you’re called – one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is overall, and through all, and in all.”

III. Christ Makes Us One

Now, there are some difficult passages to interpret in the Bible, but what’s the main important word there? I think it’s “one.” I mean It’s kind of like you have to be dense, not to see it. One. There’s “one Lord, one faith, one baptism.” “One” hope we are one, we have all been made one in Christ. Now the way he does that is by transforming us individually, making us new men and women, new boys and girls. Look at verse 15, “His purpose was to create in Himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace.” 2 Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old is gone, behold everything has become new.” We’re changed, we’re transformed and we’re going to talk next week about racism and all of those issues. So much of it just has to do with the change of the heart, and covering of the history, and forgiveness, and all of those things God has done that for us, he has transformed our hearts and made us into new people. So, no longer Jew, no longer Gentile. Now with a new name Christian, A believer in Christ. Amen? One new man, one new work he’s doing, it’s the only designation that matters and the Spirit takes that hatred, that bitterness, that’s based on history, based on actual sins that have occurred and takes it away.

I love the scene in the movie, Ben-Hur, one of my favorite movies, and there Judah Ben-Hur, a Jewish man had had a Roman friend when he was a boy, Messala, but when each of them grew up Judah Ben-Hur grew up as it as a Jew, and very nationalistic and caring about his people, Messala grew up as a Roman and grew up very nationalistic, and caring about his people, they came back together after having an apart since they were teenagers, they could not be friends and Messala was bitter and negative toward the Jews, but wanted to use Judah Ben-Hur to betray his people And use him as an informant and all that, and Judah wouldn’t do that.

So, Messala turns and punishes Judah Ben-Hur, sends him on a slave galley, takes Judah’s mother and sister beloved, mother and sister and throws them in prison with no charges where they contract leprosy. Somehow God spares Judah Ben-Hur, brings him back but he is so seething with hatred at Messala, he can’t stand him, he’s filled with bitterness and rage over the history and what has happened, And then when he finds out that his mother and his sister have leprosy, and it’s Messala’s fault, it just goes off the charts. Messala ends up dying in a chariot race, but the hatred doesn’t go away.  It’s like a heat seeking missile, he’s just looking for something, and he hates Rome, he hates the world, he hates everything, but he meets Jesus as he’s on his way to dying on the cross. he actually watches him die in the movie.

And he had met Jesus earlier, Jesus had given him some water when He was on His way to the slave galley. Now, he sees Him dying, and he hears Him say those words “Father forgive them, they don’t know what they’re doing”, and the blood flows down, and in the movie it was very powerful. And then he comes back, he’s just a different man. And he said, “When I heard Him say those words, I felt Him reach down and take the sword out of my hand. That’s What happens when Jesus makes you a new man or a new woman. He Just reaches down and takes the sword right out of your hand and you are one with somebody that you, in every other way would be an enemy with. That’s the power here. And so Christ has done that, and it says in the text, he’s done it by destroying “the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.” Well, this was the last issue in the text. There were laws, there was a circumcision regulation, there were dietary regulations. Jesus, we are told here, has abolished it. Look at verse 15, he talks about the “barrier of the dividing wall of hostility,” verse 15, “By abolishing in His flesh the law with its commandments and regulations.” He abolished them.

Hebrews 8:13 says that in Jesus, “in His blood, there’s a new covenant and by calling this covenant new, He has made the old one obsolete.” So the old covenant is abolished. That’s the text. It’s obsolete. That’s Hebrews 8:13. We now no longer are at any spiritual disadvantage uncircumcised we don’t have to keep the ceremonial regulations, the dietary regulations. That “barrier, that dividing wall” has been removed. That horizontal barrier has been removed because the vertical one has been removed. When Jesus died on the cross, the curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and now “we have access to the Father by one Spirit,” so Jews and Gentiles who have come to faith in Christ, are perfectly one in him. They just need to act like it, they need to live out that oneness.

Now, we’re going to talk next week about how hard that is and more of those aspects. I would say that this text is the most powerful one that I know at getting at the root of racism and bitterness and division. We’ll talk more about that next week. A few other applications, then we’ll be done.

IV. Application

First, as Gentile Christians. Let’s just stand amazed at what He has done. Just do what Paul says. “Remember how it was for you,” formally remember what you were remember the journey that God has taken you from remember how you used to be an outsider, and now you’re in. Now, you’re inside. Now, you’re loved. Keep that in mind and rejoice. If you like, Jesus, Thank You, go home and sing it. Find another song then sing that one. Just praise Him and thank Him.

Secondly, Verse 18 says that “we now both Jews and Gentiles in Christ have free access to God through the Holy Spirit.” Take advantage of it. Come close to God. He has brought you near positionally, now come close in prayer, Bring your problems to Him, “Let us draw near to God, having a sincere heart and pure assurance of faith, as it says in Hebrews 10.

Thirdly, and I’ve already mentioned this and I’ll say it again. Meditate much on the condition of people who are not yet converted. Think about the fact that they’re “without hope and without God in the world,” have mercy on them. Last week I challenged the home fellowships to have each member identify five people that they know to be lost, that you’re praying for by name. Okay, so I’m ready. Home Fellowship, I’ve got my names alright, I was busy this week meeting people, but let’s just let’s reach out, let’s get names of lost people and let’s pray for them. And if perhaps you have a chance like Ben and some others of sharing the Gospel and reaching out, let’s be bold, let’s share.

And then finally, let’s meditate on our supernatural unity, in Christ. We’re going to talk much more about it next week, but this is the only answer there is for the kind of racial tensions and divisions there are in our country and in the world. Let’s meditate on it, let’s Get Ready. So I’d urge you just read this text over in light of some of the difficulties that we’ve been having, even in our nation and around the world and see the answer there.

Close with me in prayer. Father, we thank you for the truth of the Gospel. We thank you O Lord that apart from Christ we had no salvation but now we, who are once far away have been, “brought near through the blood of Christ.” Lord I pray that there wouldn’t be a single person here that would leave this place unconverted, today. I pray that they would trust in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins and find in Jesus, the salvation that they need. And Lord, I pray for all of us who have already found forgiveness and unity and hope in Christ, that we would be filled with thanksgiving and that we would be filled with boldness to take the Gospel to those who are “without hope and without God in the world.” In Jesus’ name, amen.

For the next two weeks, we will be looking at Ephesians 2:11-17, a powerful text that gives the only hope there is for racism, and cultural divisions that separate our world and that the Supreme Court and the United Nations and other forms of justice and diplomacy have never been able to solve…

THE ONLY HOPE FOR RACIAL DIVISION IS THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST

Next week, we will broaden to speak of racism that still plagues our world today, and how the gospel sets us free!

But this morning… we’re zeroing in on the division between Jews and Gentiles… a division that deals with salvation in its core… with the Old Covenant and its rules and regulations… and with the sweetness of the gospel, and what Jesus has accomplished for us as Gentiles

We are all of us Gentiles… perhaps… and we need to realize just how astounding it is that we have become members together with Israel in the covenant of salvation!

AMAZING!!

And Paul gets to the root of the HATRED, the HOSTILITY between Jews and Gentiles here

From the Gentile side, there is the arrogance, the military superiority, the vicious persecution and even genocidal mania… seen most recently in Nazi Germany, the Holocaust, the “Final Solution” of Auschwitz and the other death camps… but also all throughout history… like the Anti-Jewish pogroms Czarist Russia that the musical “Fiddler on the Roof” depicts… to the earlier Anti-Semitic viciousness of the Spanish Inquisition… and all the way back to the anti-Jewish genocide planned by Haman during the Persian Empire recorded in the Book of Esther… Gentile hatred for the Jews is well established, and the military arrogance

“Ben-Hur”: Roman Messala says contemptuously to his Jewish former friend, “Ah, you are a conquered people!”

But the Bible makes just as plain the other side… the Jewish jealousy and hatred of the Gentile world as well… the arrogance religiously, the fact that Gentiles were EXCLUDED from the Temple, EXCLUDED from the sacrificial system, OUTSIDERS made the Jews feel superior… then, when the Jews rebelled against God’s covenant and failed to keep it, and God began to give them over again and again to Gentile invaders (Book of Judges, and all the history of the Kings… Gentile victories under the Philistines, the Egyptians, the Midianites, the Ammonites, the Syrians, etc.) God shrinking the Jewish territory under Gentile victories… the very thing God said he would do as a curse to the Jews if they failed to keep the Laws of the Covenant:

Deuteronomy 28:25 The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven, and you will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms on earth.

Deuteronomy 32:21 They made me jealous by what is no god and angered me with their worthless idols. I will make them envious by those who are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation that has no understanding.

Ultimately, this was consummated in the Exiles under Gentile invaders… the exile under the Assyrians, and then the Babylonians… then one succession of Gentile overlords after another. The Jews were deeply jealous of the Gentiles and hated them, because they were slaves in their own land

In Paul’s day, that was focused on the Romans, the dominant Gentile power of their day. So that whenever Paul proclaimed God’s saving intentions toward the Gentiles in Christ, Jewish nationalists would GO ABSOLUTELY CRAZY with rage!

Paul’s defense before his countrymen in Jerusalem in Acts 22:

Acts 22:21-23 “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.'” 22 The crowd listened to Paul until he said this. Then they raised their voices and shouted, “Rid the earth of him! He’s not fit to live!” 23 … they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air

It is true that God had chosen the Jews and had blessed them

Exodus 19:5-6 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6 you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’

But it was for the purpose of blessing the whole world as the Abrahamic covenant had made plain:

Genesis 12:2-3 “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

The Jews had long since forgotten this theme! Only in Christ has it come true… before Christ came, there was a DEEP HATRED, a DIVIDING WALL of hostility… established in the Law of Moses, but resulting in a hatred that can only be removed by Christ!!

This is the Jew-Gentile division Paul addresses in this chapter

But here, he is speaking directly to Gentiles… to Ephesian Christians, to help them see how AMAZING it is that they are included at all!!

I.   Gentiles Formerly Excluded and Without Hope

Ephesians 2:11-12 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (that done in the body by the hands of men)– 12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

A.   Remember What You Were, You Gentiles!

1.   Paul calls on the Ephesians to remember how it used to be spiritually

2.   Ephesus was in Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey

3.   It was a Gentile city in a Gentile region… they worshiped the pagan deities, like Artemis, whose image had supposedly fallen from heaven, for whom they made a huge temple… they worshiped IDOLS

4.   Their men were uncircumcised… they were seen to be UNCLEAN DOGS by the Jews

Vs. 11 “Gentiles by birth…” or more literally “Gentiles in the flesh”

That was their genealogy… their racial lineage…

5.   Paul wants them to LOOK BACK, to REMEMBER how it was for them as a nation, as a group

6.   WHY? Because the more we remember what we were when we were lost, the more glory God will get for our salvation and the more joy we’ll have in our earthly circumstances

7.   It was for this very reason that he began the chapter the way he did:

Ephesians 2:1-3 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.

REMEMBER how you were? How it was back before you were saved?

The more we know how BLACK it was spiritually, how awful was our condition, the more GLORY will come to Christ for saving us and the more joy and power we’ll have in serving Him, or dear Savior!!

8.   NOW… he wants to tell these Gentiles MORE… how they were OUTSIDERS to the covenant of salvation in Abraham

9.   How would they ever have known this?

10. They were living their messy pagan lives in Ephesus, apart from the unfolding drama in the Promised Land… they knew nothing of Abraham or the Jews; except that the Jews had been scattered by the Assyrians and then the Babylonians, and some had come to live in their locality

11. Paul himself, a Hebrew of Hebrews, an Israelite, had grown up in Gentile territory in Asia Minor, in Tarsus, also in modern-day Turkey… an overland journey of a little over 700 miles… but all part of the same region under the Persians and later the Greeks

12. The Jews were well-known by then, and perhaps had spread their heritage, their lineage from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

13. So maybe the Ephesians knew very well how it was with them… they were NOT JEWS… so he says REMEMBER THAT FORMERLY…

B.   Called “Uncircumcision” by Those Who Put So Much Stock in “Circumcision”

Ephesians 2:11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (that done in the body by the hands of men)

1.   “Gentiles in the flesh” = not BIOLOGICALLY DESCENDED from Abraham … simply put NOT JEWISH

2.   But also SEEN TO BE OUTSIDERS by patriotic Jews, by nationalistic Jews…

3.   CALLED UNCIRCUMCISED… by those who CALL THEMSELVES THE CIRCUMSISION

a.   This is a bit of a DIGRESSION… a PARENTHESIS… but it is important for the Jew-Gentile unity he has in mind here

4.   Paul is bringing up the Jewish attitude about the reality here

a.   Spiritual superiority… hostility… hatred

5.   But Paul is speaking of their circumcision: external and physical

6.   In Romans 2, Paul makes it plain what he means:

Romans 2:28-29 A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. 29 No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise is not from men, but from God.

That is the spiritual resurrection we have already seen in this chapter

Ephesians 2:4-5 But God… made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions– it is by grace you have been saved.

Remember that you Gentiles in the flesh and uncircumcised in both flesh and spirit…

Ok… remember WHAT???

C.   REMEMBER: Six Devastating Things About Unconverted Gentile

Ephesians 2:12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

Separate from Christ… Excluded from citizenship in Israel… Foreigners to the Covenants of the Promise… Without Hope… Without God… In the World

1.   Separate from Christ = outside of Christ, apart from Christ, not in fellowship with Christ

a.   How devastating! How grievous!

b.   Christ, the fullness of joy, Christ is life and power and peace and everything good in the universe

c.   As GENTILES, separate from the PROMISE of Christ the Law and the Covenants had come to give the world

d.   Gentiles had NO SUCH HOPE… no promise of a coming Savior… therefore, they lived in darkness, with no goal, no finish line of human history

2.   Excluded from citizenship in Israel

a.   Citizenship is something the Gentiles under Roman domination would have understood

b.   Paul uses a powerful expression here… alienated from the commonwealth of Israel

c.   They were outsiders, having no rights and privileges as Roman citizen did under Roman law

d.   Why excluded? Because the LAW kept them outside… God had established this plainly

Deuteronomy 23:2-3 No one born of a forbidden marriage nor any of his descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, even down to the tenth generation. 3No Ammonite or Moabite or any of his descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, even down to the tenth generation.

Nehemiah 13:1-3 On that day the Book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing of the people and there it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever be admitted into the assembly of God… 3 When the people heard this law, they excluded from Israel all who were of foreign descent.

The Old Covenant law was ALL ABOUT EXCLUSION… “Thus far you may come, and no farther!” So even the Aaronic priests could only enter the Holy of Holies once a year… basically, the entire human race was excluded from the presence of God because of our sins, but the Gentiles were FURTHER AWAY than the Jews

God had established it this way! He had SET UP this barrier, this dividing wall, for his own wise purposes

The Law with its commandments and regulations excluded all uncircumcised people from the sacred assembly… the Gentiles were OUTSIDERS because of the Law

Ephesians 2:14-15 … the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 … the law with its commandments and regulations.

3.   Foreigners to the Covenants of the Promise

Genesis 12:2-3 “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

Genesis 15:5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars– if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

Genesis 15:7 He also said to him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.”

a.   And at that time, he made a Covenant with him as well… a dreadful darkness fell, the firepot appeared and passed through the pieces of the sacrifice, and God spoke clearly of what he would do for the Jews, resulting in the Exodus and the conquest of the Promised Land

b.   This idea: COVENANT (is a sworn agreement) … this gave the Jews something to live for, identity, a sense of the presence and power of God at work in the world for their salvation

c.   The word is plural here.. COVENANTS of the Promise; The second covenant was made with David

d.   The Gentiles were EXCLUDED from this… walking through their lives with NO such covenants from God, no promises had been made to them

4.   Without Hope

a.   I think about these expressions almost every day about the people surrounding us

Vs. 12 Without hope and without God in the world

b.   It is almost inconceivable how much anguish and pain this one phrase represents in human history… all the suicides there have ever been by non-Christians have been because of this… this black hopelessness, this thick soupy downward pull toward depression and madness

c.   “Vanity of vanities! Everything is empty… meaningless!” Utter despair

d.   Without hope… nothing to live for

e.   Hope is a feeling in the heart having to do with the FUTURE… it’s a confidence that the future will be bright, the future will be good, the future will be happy and rich and pleasant

i)   Three types of hope

ii)   Eternal hope: based on life after death; that I will most certainly be eternally happy when I die

iii)  Long-term hope: I’m looking forward to the rest of my life; my life is worth living, it is rewarding, it is going to produce a good end

iv)  Short-term hope: I’m looking forward to the rest of today, or this upcoming week

v)   Non-Christians have no good reason for eternal hope: atheists and Darwinists speak courageously about becoming literally nothing when they die, and when microbes eat their brains; people in other religions can’t touch Christian hope: Muslims aren’t really sure what Allah will do; Buddhists and Hindus point toward Nirvana in which they will become lost like a drop in an endless sea, which seems little different than the atheist’s nothingness

vi)  Non-Christians may have long-term hope because they like their career, or they have a lot of money… but the more philosophical ones know that nothing is certain, the stock market can plunge, disease and death may steal everything away

vii)   Non-Christians may have immediate hope, but it ends up sounding a lot like “Let us eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die!” Entertainment is diversion, distraction, “amusement” = a + muse = DON’T THINK about it… forget your troubles for a while

f.   On what basis can any non-believer have for this feeling of HOPE… confidence that the future will most certainly be good? The future is something no one knows… it is dark and uncertain, and based on what you see, it is BLEAK… every good thing seems to turn bad, death and destruction is everywhere, nothing tastes any more, nothing satisfies

g.   But when God speaks into world history and tells us that he holds the future in his sovereign hands, that he actually has ordained and decreed the future, and that he promises it will be beautiful, pleasing and glorious… that’s Christian hope!!

Application: Have mercy on your non-Christian neighbors, have mercy on your non-Christian co-workers and fellow students; Have mercy on total strangers that you sit with on the plane or chat with at the mall… and SHARE THE GOSPEL!! They are “without hope and without God in the world!”

5.   Without God

a.   This means without God as a blessing Father, God in his love for us, God in his care for us

b.   This is the essence of hell… a place where God has withdrawn every evidence of his love and care

c.   Earth is like hell for the lost people… just without a full expression of it or an eternal expression of it… WITHOUT GOD

6.   In the World

a.   Satan’s world, dominant, the “god of this age”

b.   The ruler of the kingdom of the air… “in the world”

c.   How desperate is the condition of the lost people around the world

Application: we MUST be a missions-minded church; passionate for the gospel; passionate for the reaching of Unreached People Groups… IMB… long-term missions; Great Commission Fund, Lottie Moon

II.   Gentiles Now Brought Near by Christ

Ephesians 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

A.   But Now… is like But God in verse 4

B.     “Near”… How Amazing is that!

1.   God is high and holy, infinitely great!

Isaiah 40:15 Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales; he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.

Isaiah 40:22-23 He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. 23 He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.

2.   We are sinners, distant from him through the wickedness of our hearts and lives

3.   God has reached down across the infinite space between him as Creator and us as Creature… and even more distant because of our great sins against his holy person and his perfect law

4.   And he has BROUGHT US NEAR… we are now engraved on his hands and our names are written in his heart

5.   NEAR… we are in fellowship with God through the Holy Spirit and have free access to God any time we want to speak to him

Ephesians 2:18  For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

6.   NEAR… to ALMIGHTY GOD!!

Seated with Christ at the right hand of God in perfect fellowship with Him…

We who once were so far away!

C.   By the Blood of Christ

1.   This amazing grace of God was not free of cost… it was infinitely costly to Christ

2.   We have been brought near BY THE BLOOD OF CHRIST

Leviticus 17:11 For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.

Hebrews 9:22 without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

Hebrews 10:4 it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

3.   This sacrifice of Jesus Christ, once for all, on the cross, has paid for all the sins of both Jews and Gentiles who believe in him

4.   Christ’s death opens the way for sinners to come into the presence of God

III.   Christ Makes Us One

Ephesians 2:14-15 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace

A.   Christ is Our Peace

1.   Only by Christ does the peace the world so deeply longs for come to us sinners

B.   Peace with God First

Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ

1.   This is an unshakeable status of peace between God and us… another word for it is RECONCILIATION, which comes in again at the end of this section… relational harmony with God

Ephesians 2:15-16 His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.

2.   the war is ended; peace with God forever, through the blood of Christ—God’s wrath is satisfied

3.   On the basis of that, we can be at peace with each other

C.   Christ has Made the Two One

1.   Paul teaches that former enemies can be truly, deeply, totally one with each other

2.   In Christ, we can find perfect, God-like unity… patterned after the Trinity

3.   It is impossible for us to be united with Christ and at war with someone else united with Christ

4.   Our spiritual union with Christ was taught earlier in the chapter:

Ephesians 2:4-6 God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions– it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus

5.   That’s true of every single Christian in the world!!

6.   On that basis, Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians are made one with each other as well… ONE BODY, united in Christ

7.   As he will say later in this epistle:

Ephesians 4:3-6 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit– just as you were called to one hope when you were called– 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

D.   Christ Does This By Making Us New Individually

Ephesians 2:15 His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace

1.   The key is the transformation the gospel makes on a sinner BY THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

KJV 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

We are MADE NEW PEOPLE… we think differently, love differently, live differently

The “one new man” has a new name… no longer “Jew” or “Gentile” but “Christian”!!

That’s the only designation that matters now

2.   Just as the Spirit takes out the heart of stone and gives us a heart of flesh toward God and toward Christ, so he does the same toward other Christians

Illus. Ben-Hur; filled with hatred, filled with desire for vengeance because his friend Messala had unjustly accused him and had sent him as a galley slave, and had unjustly imprisoned his beloved mother and sister, leading to their contracting leprosy… he was seething with hatred

But as he stood at the foot of the cross and watched Jesus die, as he heard him say, “Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they’re doing”, Judah ben Hur said “I felt him reach down and take the sword out of my hand.”

So it was also with the Apostle Paul… he was filled with murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples and was dragging them off to prison to be killed…

But on the Road to Damascus, when he saw the resurrected Christ, he lost all hatred for other Christians… the Holy Spirit entered him and he began to love the brothers and sisters

IV.   Christ Destroys Dividing Wall of Hostility

Ephesians 2:14-17 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.

A.   One Last Issue: The Law with its Prohibitions and Regulations

1.   God had actually established the “barrier” the “dividing wall” in the Old Covenant regulations

2.   He established the sign of circumcision and made it a lasting separation between Jew and Gentile, a mark of the Old Covenant

3.   He had forbidden the Jews to intermarry with the Gentiles

4.   He reestablished that plainly after the exile to Babylon under Ezra and Nehemiah

5.   But in Christ’s there is the BLOOD OF A NEW COVENANT… it makes the old one OBSOLETE… the word here is “abolished”

6.   The ceremonial laws that separated Jews and Gentiles— circumcision, dietary regulations, worship regulations, walls and curtains and rules excluding people from entering the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place… all of that was ABOLISHED when Jesus died

7.   The curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom… and a “new and living way” was opened for every sinner through faith in Christ

8.   Indeed, Jewish people had themselves been excluded from approaching God, for the blood of animals had not been able to bring them near to God

Leviticus 16:2 The LORD said to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or else he will die

EVERYONE was excluded!!! Even the Aaronic priests were excluded in the Old Covenant… as God had said to Moses:

Exodus 3:5   “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”

B.   The Ceremonial Laws are ABOLISHED

Ephesians 2:15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations.

Hebrews 8:13 By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.

But now, in Christ Jesus, all those ceremonials laws are abolished and every believer in Christ—Jew, Gentile, male, female, of every tribe and language and people and nation are welcome in the presence of God

C.   This is Basis for TRUE UNITY between sinners all over the world!

Ephesians 2:17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.

The GOSPEL… the message of peace… proclaimed to everyone, near (Jews) and far (Gentiles)

This peace with God leads to peace with each other!!

V.   Applications

A.   Gentile Christians: Stand Amazed at What God Has Done!

1.   How did we become sons and daughters of Abraham??

2.   How did we, wild olive shoots, get grafted into this cultivated olive tree that God has been working on? How are we now receiving nourishing sap from the root system of the promises and covenants made to Jewish ancestors?

3.   Be amazed! Understand how LOST we were… how much OUTSIDERS we were

4.   Understand that we were worse than ILLEGAL ALIENS when it came to the nation of Israel and the covenants of the promise… we were not merely hunted down by border patrol police… but by the Law of God, by the omnipotence and omniscience and holiness of God

5.   We are EXCLUDED! Now in Christ we are BROUGHT NEAR!

B.   Delight in the FREE ACCESS we have to God by the Holy Spirit

Ephesians 2:18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

C.   Meditate Much on the State of the Lost: “Without hope and without God in the world”

1.   Let this motivate us as never before toward evangelism and missions

2.   See people this way!! See them as HOPELESS!

3.   Try to imagine what it’s like to live a truly HOPELESS life!

4.   The Gospel has power to give hope to the hopeless

5.   Let’s live to see Durham reached!

6.   Let’s yearn to see some of the wealthier people moving into these new apartments and condos reached for Christ

7.   Let’s yearn to see some of the more economically disadvantaged folks also reached

D.   Supernatural Unity

1.   Let’s understand what being made ONE IN CHRIST means

2.   Meditate on Christ’s prayer

John 17:20-21 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.

Unity like the Trinity… perfectly united in mind and heart… never the slightest shade or shadow of disagreement

That’s what it’ll be like in heaven between people from every race and nation on earth!!!

3.   America: this is the only answer to RACIAL TENSIONS!!

4.   This is the answer needed in Ferguson… and in Baltimore… and anyplace that racial tensions flare up or there is racially motivated racial violence

5.   The unity described in Ephesians 2:11-16 is the hope for the world

6.   It is also the only unity for Serbia and for the Ukraine and for Rwanda and for China as well

7.   It is the only hope for unity in the Middle East… between Palestinians and Israelis… and there ARE some amazing stories of unity in Christ between former Muslims and formerly anti- Christian Jews

8.   All the old tensions only melt away when people genuinely come to Christ

E.   Surprising Unity Feeds Evangelism

John 17:22-23 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23 I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

If the church is amazingly INTEGRATED… if it looks like heaven on earth in terms of multiracial unity… the gospel will be greatly advanced!

To unbelievers:

COME TO CHRIST

Don’t be filled with hatred or feel isolated

Don’t be “without hope and without God in the world!!!”