WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:04.719 Well, like I said, it'll be necessary for me to leave it to you to do much of the work 00:00:04.719 --> 00:00:11.259 that goes into understanding the background and setting of this passage in Ephesians. 00:00:11.900 --> 00:00:17.440 And I assure you, if you take the time to do that, it will be a fruitful study for you. 00:00:17.539 --> 00:00:22.320 I know some of you of recent times have done specific studies through Ephesians. 00:00:22.519 --> 00:00:25.780 Mark and I have talked about this, maybe even in relation to your podcast. 00:00:25.920 --> 00:00:27.199 Did you guys do Ephesians recently? 00:00:27.199 --> 00:00:32.719 You will find that we could spend many, many weeks just in these first two chapters. 00:00:33.140 --> 00:00:38.240 And if you were to take your time and really look through it and study it and digest it, 00:00:38.259 --> 00:00:39.740 you will be blessed for sure. 00:00:40.379 --> 00:00:42.420 We don't have time to do all of that today. 00:00:43.079 --> 00:00:48.560 But it would probably be helpful to our purposes this morning to make just a few contextual notes. 00:00:49.299 --> 00:00:55.079 This is a letter written by the Apostle Paul as he was imprisoned in Rome. 00:00:55.079 --> 00:00:57.759 It's one of the prison epistles in that sense. 00:00:58.239 --> 00:01:05.920 And the audience to whom he is writing were Christians in the very pagan city of Ephesus. 00:01:06.780 --> 00:01:09.739 And you will remember through our readings through the book of Acts, 00:01:09.900 --> 00:01:16.840 Ephesus experienced a tremendous revival as the gospel was brought there through the preaching of Paul and his team. 00:01:16.840 --> 00:01:22.920 About a year and a half, it seems, that Paul stayed in Ephesus discipling these people. 00:01:23.540 --> 00:01:30.000 We see the relationship that he had with the church there as he was on his way to Rome in his imprisonment 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:35.400 or on his way to Jerusalem, knowing that he would be ultimately arrested there. 00:01:35.960 --> 00:01:40.359 Remember, he stops and he meets with the elders of the Ephesian church. 00:01:40.359 --> 00:01:45.319 It's in Acts chapter 20 and there's such tenderness and intimacy and love. 00:01:45.900 --> 00:01:50.700 There is wonderful relationship between Paul and these Christians. 00:01:50.920 --> 00:01:55.039 And this letter really has two major themes that we would point to. 00:01:55.439 --> 00:01:58.960 Both of them are seen in the passage that we study today. 00:01:58.960 --> 00:02:05.500 The first one is this, that in the gospel, Christ has reconciled us to God. 00:02:05.500 --> 00:02:08.740 That we, by nature, are enemies of God. 00:02:08.860 --> 00:02:13.580 But through Christ and what he has done in the gospel of the cross and of his resurrection, 00:02:13.939 --> 00:02:19.300 he has made us no longer enemies with God, but he has reconciled us to God. 00:02:19.360 --> 00:02:22.659 And you see that all through this letter to the Ephesians. 00:02:23.259 --> 00:02:26.560 And the second major theme is that in the gospel, 00:02:27.379 --> 00:02:34.599 Christ has united people from all nations as his new kingdom people. 00:02:34.599 --> 00:02:36.379 What we call the church. 00:02:37.199 --> 00:02:41.419 So not only has God reconciled, Jesus reconciled us to God as individuals, 00:02:41.599 --> 00:02:46.539 but in reconciling us to God as individuals, he has created a new people. 00:02:46.959 --> 00:02:50.519 The church of God, citizens of the kingdom of God. 00:02:50.560 --> 00:02:54.979 And he has united us who were not only enemies of God, 00:02:55.079 --> 00:02:57.519 but who were also enemies of one another. 00:02:57.699 --> 00:03:00.780 And we see these two themes coming to the surface very quickly 00:03:00.780 --> 00:03:03.120 in these verses that we've just read. 00:03:03.120 --> 00:03:08.680 Now, beginning at chapter 1 and verse 1 through chapter 2 and verse 10, 00:03:09.659 --> 00:03:12.900 Paul beautifully describes God's grace and salvation. 00:03:14.219 --> 00:03:17.099 Beginning in verse 11 of chapter 2, 00:03:17.900 --> 00:03:23.800 he explains that this gospel of grace that unites believers from all nations 00:03:23.800 --> 00:03:27.719 to be a dwelling place for God's spirit. 00:03:27.719 --> 00:03:34.539 Again, we who were once enemies of God are now the very people of God. 00:03:35.340 --> 00:03:40.300 Not separated from him, dead in our sins and in our trespasses, 00:03:40.460 --> 00:03:44.400 but united with him in eternal life. 00:03:44.400 --> 00:03:52.040 And so we begin this series with this passage because before we can ever really understand 00:03:52.040 --> 00:03:54.920 what God has called us to be as the church, 00:03:54.920 --> 00:04:00.680 we must first understand who we are in Christ as the church. 00:04:00.680 --> 00:04:05.200 And at the root of it all is the gospel. 00:04:06.540 --> 00:04:12.680 That Jesus, the perfect son of God, who died on the cross for our sins 00:04:12.680 --> 00:04:16.780 and he rose from the dead to give us life. 00:04:16.960 --> 00:04:18.399 That is the gospel. 00:04:18.899 --> 00:04:21.379 It is the gospel that makes us what we are. 00:04:23.139 --> 00:04:24.860 Jesus makes us what we are. 00:04:24.860 --> 00:04:28.600 And his gospel must be at the forefront of all we do. 00:04:29.240 --> 00:04:35.500 So it makes sense that as we consider what are the things that we care about the most as a church, 00:04:36.020 --> 00:04:38.220 as it relates to our study of the scripture, 00:04:39.040 --> 00:04:43.120 how could we begin anywhere other than a gospel focus? 00:04:43.819 --> 00:04:46.480 The person and the work of Jesus. 00:04:47.080 --> 00:04:51.100 I've divided this particular passage for this time into three sections. 00:04:51.100 --> 00:04:56.240 Three things I think that Paul is communicating to the Ephesians to encourage them. 00:04:56.720 --> 00:05:02.620 Three things that he, by extension, would be encouraging us to do as we think on these things. 00:05:02.860 --> 00:05:03.840 The first thing is this. 00:05:04.439 --> 00:05:06.340 Remember what you were. 00:05:07.420 --> 00:05:09.600 Remember what you were. 00:05:10.680 --> 00:05:11.840 Look at verse 11. 00:05:11.839 --> 00:05:26.679 Remember what you were. 00:05:26.680 --> 00:05:37.939 Undergirding this section is the natural hostility that existed and continues to exist in some cases 00:05:37.939 --> 00:05:40.939 between Jews and non-Jews. 00:05:41.300 --> 00:05:43.139 Jews and Gentiles. 00:05:44.220 --> 00:05:46.899 And you know enough about your Bibles to understand what this was like. 00:05:47.060 --> 00:05:49.819 We saw this in our study of the gospel of Mark. 00:05:49.819 --> 00:05:57.199 There was such hate for the Gentiles in the Jewish nation that Jews traveling from outside of Israel 00:05:57.199 --> 00:06:00.599 back into the proper borders of Israel. 00:06:00.719 --> 00:06:01.819 Remember what they would do. 00:06:02.319 --> 00:06:07.519 They would shake off the dust from their clothes and shake off the dust from their feet 00:06:07.519 --> 00:06:17.819 so as not to let the contaminated Gentile dirt intermingle with the soil of the nation of Israel. 00:06:17.819 --> 00:06:23.259 Israel, that's quite a hatred to take it so far. 00:06:23.319 --> 00:06:27.040 And of course, that was a message that they were sending to those Gentile nations, 00:06:27.180 --> 00:06:29.079 that you are not the people of God. 00:06:29.199 --> 00:06:31.279 And remember, Jesus confronted this. 00:06:31.819 --> 00:06:34.539 He sends his disciples out to the villages and he says, 00:06:34.819 --> 00:06:38.740 anyone who will not receive you, shake off the dust from your feet. 00:06:39.279 --> 00:06:42.759 A message to the Jews that you are not the people of God either, 00:06:42.759 --> 00:06:44.959 so long as you reject the Son. 00:06:44.959 --> 00:06:48.459 The Jews had hate for the Gentiles. 00:06:49.399 --> 00:06:55.979 Some Jews believed and wrote that the Gentiles were the fuel for the fires of hell. 00:06:57.419 --> 00:07:03.919 At times, the portions of their law forbade even assisting a Gentile woman in giving birth 00:07:03.919 --> 00:07:08.579 so that they would not be complicit in bringing another heathen into the world. 00:07:08.579 --> 00:07:17.599 There's hatred, hostility, animosity between these groups. 00:07:18.000 --> 00:07:19.779 The Gentiles weren't innocent in this. 00:07:20.860 --> 00:07:26.620 There was just as much hate for the Jews as there was hate in the Jews. 00:07:26.620 --> 00:07:37.620 And it's against this backdrop that Paul begins to write about how Jesus has united the nations of the world through the gospel. 00:07:39.199 --> 00:07:41.860 And he reminds them of what they used to be. 00:07:42.199 --> 00:07:47.139 He brings to the surface who they were in the eyes of the Jews. 00:07:47.139 --> 00:07:49.819 They had names for you. 00:07:49.879 --> 00:07:50.459 They just called you. 00:07:50.519 --> 00:07:54.659 They identified you based on the fact that you were uncircumcised. 00:07:55.419 --> 00:07:56.979 And he could have taken that much further. 00:07:59.800 --> 00:08:00.979 But then he goes further. 00:08:01.259 --> 00:08:04.740 He reminds the Ephesians, not only did the Jews view this way, 00:08:04.800 --> 00:08:11.139 not only were you at enemies and hostility between you and the Jewish nation, 00:08:11.139 --> 00:08:16.039 but then he reveals to them, reminds them of their true condition before Christ came in. 00:08:16.399 --> 00:08:23.060 Verse 12, remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, 00:08:23.879 --> 00:08:26.079 alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, 00:08:26.599 --> 00:08:31.399 strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 00:08:33.240 --> 00:08:39.120 Now, Paul's not insinuating there that the Jews were saved just by nature of their birth, 00:08:39.120 --> 00:08:45.899 but that they were the blessed people of God to be his conduit of revelation in the world. 00:08:46.980 --> 00:08:49.580 It's not hard to see that that was a blessing to the Jews, 00:08:49.639 --> 00:08:53.320 a blessing they took for granted, but it was a blessing. 00:08:54.019 --> 00:08:59.279 They were near to God in the sense that God had chosen the children of Abraham 00:08:59.279 --> 00:09:02.860 to bring the Messiah, to establish the covenants, 00:09:03.200 --> 00:09:06.259 to reveal himself and his word to the world. 00:09:09.120 --> 00:09:10.399 They had the prophets. 00:09:11.179 --> 00:09:15.080 They had everything that they needed to point them to the truth of God and salvation. 00:09:15.320 --> 00:09:18.200 But that didn't mean they believed God and obeyed the promises. 00:09:18.379 --> 00:09:21.360 It just means that they were blessed in what God had done in their lives. 00:09:22.519 --> 00:09:27.940 On the other hand, the Gentiles were given no revelation from God. 00:09:27.940 --> 00:09:35.480 Before Christ, Paul said they were separated from messianic hope. 00:09:37.100 --> 00:09:40.680 The Jews are given promises of a Messiah who would redeem them. 00:09:40.940 --> 00:09:44.500 The Gentiles have no such messianic hope in their lives. 00:09:45.400 --> 00:09:48.860 Paul says they are alienated from the commonwealth of Israel. 00:09:48.920 --> 00:09:52.100 In other words, they were alienated from the people of God. 00:09:52.480 --> 00:09:56.120 They were on the outsides as far as God's people were concerned. 00:09:56.120 --> 00:10:01.039 He says they were strangers to God's covenant promises. 00:10:01.259 --> 00:10:05.259 They had no promise from God that was given by revelation to them. 00:10:06.700 --> 00:10:08.500 They were without hope. 00:10:09.200 --> 00:10:13.379 And what a miserable place to be, to live without hope. 00:10:14.639 --> 00:10:19.220 And all of that summed up simply, he says, you're without God. 00:10:20.039 --> 00:10:21.159 You're without God. 00:10:21.159 --> 00:10:25.819 The Gentiles weren't just lost. 00:10:26.919 --> 00:10:32.600 They were as far from God and his truth as anybody could possibly be. 00:10:33.639 --> 00:10:37.819 And that's a fitting description of each and every one of us, actually. 00:10:38.759 --> 00:10:41.579 Apart from Jesus, we are without hope. 00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:44.379 We are alienated from God's people. 00:10:44.379 --> 00:10:47.700 And we are without God in this world. 00:10:48.559 --> 00:10:52.980 Which is when Paul begins to echo something he says early on in chapter 2. 00:10:53.059 --> 00:10:53.899 Look at verse 1. 00:10:54.439 --> 00:10:59.200 You were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you once walked. 00:10:59.879 --> 00:11:01.939 Following the course of this world. 00:11:02.399 --> 00:11:04.559 Following the prince of the power of the air. 00:11:04.639 --> 00:11:05.320 That's Satan. 00:11:05.320 --> 00:11:09.740 The spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. 00:11:09.740 --> 00:11:14.740 Among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh. 00:11:15.280 --> 00:11:18.260 Carrying out the desires of the body and the mind. 00:11:18.740 --> 00:11:22.800 And were by nature, Paul says, children of wrath. 00:11:23.280 --> 00:11:25.060 Like the rest of mankind. 00:11:26.260 --> 00:11:30.540 And there's no distinction in those first three verses between Jew and Gentile. 00:11:30.600 --> 00:11:32.720 He says we were all the children of wrath. 00:11:32.720 --> 00:11:36.840 We were all sinners destined for the wrath of God in our lives. 00:11:37.960 --> 00:11:39.440 We were without hope. 00:11:40.540 --> 00:11:41.899 Alienated from God. 00:11:42.340 --> 00:11:43.920 And without him in the world. 00:11:45.960 --> 00:11:49.600 Before Christ, our existence can be summed up in one word. 00:11:51.180 --> 00:11:51.540 Enemy. 00:11:52.980 --> 00:11:53.620 Enemy. 00:11:55.200 --> 00:11:56.940 We are enemies of God. 00:11:57.980 --> 00:11:59.800 And we're enemies of man. 00:11:59.799 --> 00:12:03.620 We have no hope for peace. 00:12:04.059 --> 00:12:05.899 No promise of rest. 00:12:06.759 --> 00:12:08.679 No experience of love. 00:12:10.059 --> 00:12:12.120 And before Paul rehearsed. 00:12:16.299 --> 00:12:22.959 Before Paul rehearsed the glories of the body of Christ with the Ephesians. 00:12:23.919 --> 00:12:26.199 I think quite helpfully he says. 00:12:26.439 --> 00:12:29.539 Remember what you were before the gospel ever came in. 00:12:30.339 --> 00:12:33.319 You know, if we're going to understand who we are in Christ. 00:12:33.539 --> 00:12:38.279 Best that we take just a moment and consider what we were before Christ. 00:12:40.419 --> 00:12:41.939 So he says, remember what you were. 00:12:42.079 --> 00:12:44.539 Then he says, I think, is what he's saying here. 00:12:44.620 --> 00:12:46.559 Is rejoice in what you are. 00:12:47.139 --> 00:12:49.000 We can rejoice now in what we are. 00:12:49.000 --> 00:12:53.559 It's helpful to remember what you were before Christ. 00:12:53.639 --> 00:12:59.600 But then Paul quickly turns to address what the Ephesian believers now are because of Christ. 00:13:00.600 --> 00:13:10.019 The at one time of verse 11 is set in contrast with the but now of verse 13. 00:13:10.019 --> 00:13:16.659 In other words, a dramatic transformation had taken place in these Ephesian Christians. 00:13:16.860 --> 00:13:23.779 And it's the same dramatic transformation that has occurred in any of us who have come to know and follow Christ. 00:13:24.019 --> 00:13:25.679 This is what we were. 00:13:25.679 --> 00:13:29.279 But now this is what we are. 00:13:31.199 --> 00:13:33.439 And what does he say we are now? 00:13:34.079 --> 00:13:37.039 One, he says we are redeemed by the blood of Jesus. 00:13:37.679 --> 00:13:39.919 We're redeemed by the blood of Jesus. 00:13:40.059 --> 00:13:40.699 Verse 13. 00:13:40.700 --> 00:13:50.820 But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 00:13:52.820 --> 00:14:00.620 Far and near in this sense doesn't refer to religious proximity, but relational access. 00:14:03.480 --> 00:14:06.580 The blood of Christ doesn't get you close to the kingdom. 00:14:07.200 --> 00:14:09.680 The blood of Christ doesn't get you close to heaven. 00:14:09.679 --> 00:14:12.779 And then you got to figure out a way to make it the rest of the way in. 00:14:13.079 --> 00:14:15.500 No, the blood of Christ gets you in. 00:14:15.639 --> 00:14:17.839 He's not talking about religious proximity. 00:14:18.159 --> 00:14:23.839 He's saying now you were far from God, but now you are brought under the wing of God. 00:14:23.939 --> 00:14:25.159 You are his now. 00:14:25.599 --> 00:14:25.959 Why? 00:14:26.339 --> 00:14:32.620 Because of the blood of Christ, you have been redeemed by his blood. 00:14:35.240 --> 00:14:38.019 And he calls them to rejoice, I think, in this. 00:14:38.019 --> 00:14:39.459 How could they not rejoice? 00:14:39.679 --> 00:14:43.219 How could we not rejoice in this truth? 00:14:45.139 --> 00:14:48.159 At one point they were as far from God as they could possibly be. 00:14:48.259 --> 00:14:51.000 Now they are as close to God as they can possibly be. 00:14:52.500 --> 00:14:56.179 They're no longer strangers and aliens without hope and without God. 00:14:56.179 --> 00:15:03.839 Because of the shed blood of Jesus on the cross, they now have direct access to him through the Son. 00:15:04.199 --> 00:15:05.659 The blood has redeemed them. 00:15:06.939 --> 00:15:09.599 Peter picks up on this in 1 Peter 1. 00:15:09.600 --> 00:15:16.139 Knowing that you were ransomed from the futile sinful ways inherited from your fathers. 00:15:16.139 --> 00:15:23.100 Not with perishable things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ. 00:15:23.100 --> 00:15:28.940 Like that of a lamb without blemish or without spot. 00:15:28.980 --> 00:15:31.800 You know why the gospel has to be the focus of everything that we do? 00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:35.480 Because the gospel of Jesus is what makes us what we are. 00:15:35.480 --> 00:15:38.860 It is the gospel that has redeemed us. 00:15:38.860 --> 00:15:41.420 This is the blood of Christ that has redeemed us. 00:15:41.500 --> 00:15:45.139 How could we turn our focus as a church on anything else? 00:15:45.139 --> 00:15:48.199 Hebrews chapter 9. 00:15:48.299 --> 00:15:53.039 But when Christ appeared, he entered once for all into the holy places. 00:15:53.580 --> 00:15:58.879 Not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood. 00:15:59.460 --> 00:16:02.720 Thus securing an eternal redemption. 00:16:03.080 --> 00:16:09.259 We are redeemed eternally by Jesus through his blood. 00:16:09.259 --> 00:16:12.039 And this is the gospel message that we proclaim. 00:16:12.039 --> 00:16:21.360 On the cross, his precious blood was shed as a perfect sacrifice for sin. 00:16:22.139 --> 00:16:27.199 And all who believe have eternal access to God through him. 00:16:28.839 --> 00:16:36.079 We who were at one time far from God have been brought near by the blood of Jesus. 00:16:37.399 --> 00:16:39.240 And we can rejoice in that. 00:16:40.199 --> 00:16:41.659 It doesn't make sense to me. 00:16:41.659 --> 00:16:45.159 Why we would gather from Sunday to Sunday. 00:16:45.279 --> 00:16:54.879 Why there are some Christians that we know in our lives that the overall aroma of their life is one of just hatefulness and spite and depression. 00:16:57.339 --> 00:16:59.039 We have the hope of Christ. 00:17:01.000 --> 00:17:02.919 We must rejoice in that hope. 00:17:02.919 --> 00:17:32.339 What a wonderful truth. 00:17:32.339 --> 00:17:35.099 Are you in Christ today? 00:17:35.959 --> 00:17:37.959 Are you in Christ? 00:17:39.179 --> 00:17:43.559 Can you rejoice that Jesus has redeemed you by his blood alone? 00:17:44.339 --> 00:17:46.439 Or are you still far from God? 00:17:47.619 --> 00:17:49.259 Trusting in your own goodness. 00:17:49.259 --> 00:17:51.980 To get you as close as you can get. 00:17:51.980 --> 00:17:54.019 And you're going to cross your fingers and hope for the best. 00:17:54.480 --> 00:17:55.940 That's not how this works. 00:17:56.940 --> 00:17:58.599 No, it is in Christ alone. 00:17:58.740 --> 00:18:00.059 By grace alone. 00:18:00.200 --> 00:18:01.579 Through faith alone. 00:18:02.480 --> 00:18:04.379 That we are redeemed by his blood. 00:18:05.480 --> 00:18:07.660 We're not only redeemed by the blood of Jesus. 00:18:07.819 --> 00:18:12.000 Paul says we can rejoice because we are reconciled by the peace of Jesus. 00:18:12.279 --> 00:18:13.480 We're reconciled. 00:18:13.480 --> 00:18:18.460 Paul now turns his attention to the peace that Jesus brings. 00:18:19.980 --> 00:18:21.539 You know what reconcile means? 00:18:21.599 --> 00:18:24.620 It means to take two enemies and to bring them together. 00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:28.299 And through the gospel, Jesus reconciles us in two ways. 00:18:28.680 --> 00:18:31.519 Number one, he reconciles us to one another. 00:18:32.559 --> 00:18:33.400 To one another. 00:18:34.360 --> 00:18:38.060 This isn't the first reconciliation, but it's the first in the order that Paul writes it. 00:18:38.080 --> 00:18:39.120 So that's how we're going to deal with it. 00:18:39.259 --> 00:18:39.900 To one another. 00:18:39.980 --> 00:18:40.640 Verse 14. 00:18:41.120 --> 00:18:43.460 For he himself, that's emphatic. 00:18:43.920 --> 00:18:45.740 This peace comes from no other place. 00:18:46.259 --> 00:18:51.740 It is he himself is our peace who has made us both one. 00:18:52.400 --> 00:18:56.720 And has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility. 00:18:56.720 --> 00:19:02.700 And he did this by abolishing the law of commandments that were expressed in ordinances. 00:19:03.240 --> 00:19:10.420 That he might create in himself one new man in the place of the two. 00:19:11.400 --> 00:19:13.620 So making peace. 00:19:14.839 --> 00:19:18.279 There's an allusion here in Paul's writing to the temple in Jerusalem. 00:19:19.140 --> 00:19:22.039 Perhaps you remember again in our study of the gospel of Mark. 00:19:22.140 --> 00:19:24.319 The way that the temple was set up. 00:19:24.319 --> 00:19:26.779 There was the holy place, the holy of holies. 00:19:27.619 --> 00:19:29.859 Only the high priest had access to that. 00:19:29.899 --> 00:19:31.079 And he only had it once a year. 00:19:31.119 --> 00:19:33.119 And it was in terms of a blood covenant. 00:19:33.119 --> 00:19:35.779 And he would make an atonement for the nation. 00:19:37.299 --> 00:19:41.839 The closest any Jew could get was a courtyard outside of the holy place. 00:19:41.859 --> 00:19:43.419 And that's where the Jews would go and worship. 00:19:43.519 --> 00:19:48.879 But then there was a dividing wall between that courtyard and what they called the courtyard of the Gentiles. 00:19:49.759 --> 00:19:51.700 Gentiles couldn't go further than that wall. 00:19:51.700 --> 00:19:57.440 This was the courtyard that the Jews had turned into a marketplace. 00:19:57.700 --> 00:20:00.240 And Jesus came in and drove the money changers out. 00:20:00.299 --> 00:20:01.059 You remember that? 00:20:01.460 --> 00:20:01.860 Why? 00:20:02.120 --> 00:20:06.980 Because that courtyard was to be a place for the Gentiles to come and hear of God. 00:20:07.039 --> 00:20:12.900 And they had turned it into a place of a den of thieves, Jesus said. 00:20:13.400 --> 00:20:15.539 There was a dividing wall of hostility. 00:20:15.539 --> 00:20:21.920 Not only could these people not get to God, but there was no fellowship between them and the Jews either. 00:20:22.180 --> 00:20:25.980 Paul's drawing on that image here as he writes this. 00:20:27.740 --> 00:20:33.740 At the heart of this hostility between the Jews and the Gentiles, this wall of hostility, 00:20:33.740 --> 00:20:39.839 Paul says, was the law of commandments expressed in ordinances? 00:20:40.319 --> 00:20:41.359 What's he talking about there? 00:20:41.759 --> 00:20:44.059 He's not talking about the moral law of God. 00:20:44.720 --> 00:20:53.640 He's talking about circumcision, ceremonial cleanness, Sabbath laws, dietary restrictions. 00:20:53.640 --> 00:20:58.900 These were the things that the Jews made so divisive. 00:20:59.460 --> 00:21:02.620 This was the wall of hostility, what it was built upon. 00:21:02.940 --> 00:21:05.180 But Jesus broke down this wall. 00:21:05.500 --> 00:21:06.540 And how did he do it? 00:21:06.940 --> 00:21:11.259 He abolished that law by fulfilling that law. 00:21:12.440 --> 00:21:14.440 And again, this isn't the moral law of God. 00:21:14.500 --> 00:21:16.340 This is the Mosaic covenant. 00:21:16.520 --> 00:21:20.580 This was the ceremonial law and all the things that went along with that. 00:21:20.579 --> 00:21:28.980 Jesus perfectly fulfills the law and then he abolishes that law in order to make one new person. 00:21:30.519 --> 00:21:36.220 Now notice what Jesus has accomplished by breaking down this wall of hostility. 00:21:36.759 --> 00:21:45.799 Imagine, you remember perhaps some of you in the Cold War era and the breaking down of the Berlin Wall. 00:21:45.799 --> 00:21:53.159 Two people then become one as a result of the destruction of this dividing wall of hostility. 00:21:53.480 --> 00:21:56.079 Imagine you're in the temple complex in Jerusalem. 00:21:56.079 --> 00:21:57.779 You're a Gentile in this courtyard. 00:21:57.980 --> 00:21:59.259 There's the Jews in that courtyard. 00:21:59.399 --> 00:22:00.740 You have no access to one another. 00:22:00.919 --> 00:22:03.799 And then suddenly someone comes in and demolishes that wall. 00:22:03.859 --> 00:22:05.480 And then the two people are then made one. 00:22:05.819 --> 00:22:08.379 That's what Paul says Jesus has done in the gospel. 00:22:08.380 --> 00:22:12.860 He has broken down this dividing wall of hostility. 00:22:13.100 --> 00:22:20.460 And he has created in himself one new man in place of the two. 00:22:20.720 --> 00:22:22.860 Do you see where Paul's going with this? 00:22:23.540 --> 00:22:25.160 You are enemies with one another. 00:22:26.860 --> 00:22:31.580 Well, what Christ is doing is not trying to just purify the two different groups so that they'll get along. 00:22:31.579 --> 00:22:40.059 No, he's making a whole new group, a whole new race, a whole new people through the gospel. 00:22:41.899 --> 00:22:48.720 Jesus doesn't Judaize Gentiles and then Christianize Jews. 00:22:49.799 --> 00:22:52.019 He isn't creating a mixed people. 00:22:52.519 --> 00:22:56.720 He is creating an entirely new kingdom people. 00:22:56.720 --> 00:23:00.740 And this is what we call the church. 00:23:01.660 --> 00:23:12.440 In the gospel, Jesus provides the peace that takes bitter enemies and transforms them into a unified kingdom for the glory of God. 00:23:13.019 --> 00:23:15.299 And we see this all through the scriptures. 00:23:15.940 --> 00:23:17.460 2 Corinthians 5. 00:23:17.839 --> 00:23:21.059 If anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation. 00:23:21.420 --> 00:23:24.079 Not a better one, a new one. 00:23:24.279 --> 00:23:26.299 The old has passed away. 00:23:26.299 --> 00:23:27.960 Behold, the new has come. 00:23:28.419 --> 00:23:36.480 And all this is from God who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. 00:23:36.819 --> 00:23:41.919 Now, if that's true of us as individuals, is that not true as the people of God? 00:23:44.619 --> 00:23:45.539 Galatians 3. 00:23:45.539 --> 00:24:05.259 Paul echoes that to the Colossians. 00:24:05.259 --> 00:24:07.980 He says, Christ is all and in all. 00:24:08.740 --> 00:24:10.539 We've been reconciled to one another. 00:24:11.099 --> 00:24:13.619 But then he says we've been reconciled to God. 00:24:14.359 --> 00:24:15.799 Verse 16. 00:24:15.799 --> 00:24:25.599 And that he might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 00:24:26.639 --> 00:24:32.799 And he came and preached peace to those who were far off and peace to those who were near. 00:24:32.799 --> 00:24:38.480 For through him, we both have access in one spirit to the Father. 00:24:39.180 --> 00:24:41.099 Now, here's the point that I want to get to with this. 00:24:41.299 --> 00:24:44.299 We've talked a lot about what the gospel does in salvation already. 00:24:44.419 --> 00:24:46.539 We won't rehearse that over and over and over. 00:24:46.599 --> 00:24:47.799 But let me just say this. 00:24:48.680 --> 00:24:55.019 Breaking down the barrier between Jew and Gentile doesn't matter at all. 00:24:55.019 --> 00:25:00.359 If there's still a barrier between God and man. 00:25:01.759 --> 00:25:03.240 Do you see that? 00:25:04.299 --> 00:25:08.240 What good is it if we get along if we're still enemies of God? 00:25:09.779 --> 00:25:18.039 This is actually why all secular efforts to bring peace and harmony to the world will ultimately fail. 00:25:19.400 --> 00:25:21.440 They cannot succeed. 00:25:21.440 --> 00:25:25.860 I'm grateful for people that want global peace. 00:25:25.920 --> 00:25:33.100 And I'm grateful for the desire that people have to give a message of love and of kindness and all of those things. 00:25:33.259 --> 00:25:37.460 But without God and without Christ, that's impossible. 00:25:38.380 --> 00:25:39.600 It's not possible. 00:25:40.080 --> 00:25:43.000 And it will always, always fail. 00:25:43.000 --> 00:25:47.200 We must start first with the reconciliation with God. 00:25:47.200 --> 00:25:55.920 Because only through the reconciliation to God, through the personal work of Jesus, can enemies in this life then become friends? 00:25:56.519 --> 00:25:58.759 Can we then be made one person? 00:25:59.120 --> 00:26:01.420 Can we then be at peace? 00:26:01.880 --> 00:26:03.319 The Bible makes it clear. 00:26:03.799 --> 00:26:06.000 Sin is what separates us from God. 00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:09.600 It makes us enemies destined to face his eternal wrath. 00:26:09.599 --> 00:26:19.159 But on the cross, God's wrath is then poured out on Jesus, the perfect sacrifice for sin. 00:26:19.160 --> 00:26:28.340 And it is only through Christ that we can have peace with him and have unfettered access to God through his spirit. 00:26:29.120 --> 00:26:34.519 Because the sinless Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free. 00:26:34.519 --> 00:26:40.720 For God the just is satisfied to look on him and pardon me. 00:26:40.720 --> 00:26:44.759 We are reconciled to God in this gospel. 00:26:45.160 --> 00:26:53.759 And Christ transforms us and then unites us into one kingdom people, the church. 00:26:54.779 --> 00:26:56.519 So remember what you were. 00:26:57.720 --> 00:26:59.100 You were enemies of God. 00:26:59.400 --> 00:27:00.740 You were enemies of one another. 00:27:01.140 --> 00:27:03.640 Now rejoice in what you are in Christ. 00:27:04.240 --> 00:27:05.579 Reconciled to God. 00:27:06.339 --> 00:27:07.940 Reconciled to man. 00:27:07.940 --> 00:27:10.880 And that brings us to the third portion. 00:27:12.840 --> 00:27:15.860 Recognize what you are becoming. 00:27:17.460 --> 00:27:20.000 Recognize what you are becoming. 00:27:20.840 --> 00:27:25.799 Now Paul's logic is quite easy to follow if you step back and look at the bigger picture of the text. 00:27:26.539 --> 00:27:27.500 Verse 11. 00:27:28.620 --> 00:27:29.660 At one time. 00:27:30.500 --> 00:27:31.799 That's what you were. 00:27:32.580 --> 00:27:33.100 Enemies. 00:27:33.740 --> 00:27:34.740 Verse 13. 00:27:34.740 --> 00:27:36.839 But now. 00:27:37.000 --> 00:27:37.920 In Christ. 00:27:38.700 --> 00:27:40.099 That's what you are. 00:27:41.099 --> 00:27:42.980 Now we get to verse 19. 00:27:43.640 --> 00:27:45.799 And I love these first two words. 00:27:47.039 --> 00:27:48.220 So then. 00:27:49.559 --> 00:27:51.259 At one time. 00:27:51.920 --> 00:27:53.180 But now. 00:27:53.779 --> 00:27:55.000 So then. 00:27:56.740 --> 00:27:59.200 There's an ongoing work happening here. 00:27:59.200 --> 00:28:08.259 God has done something wonderful in the person of Christ in providing us salvation and making us one. 00:28:08.340 --> 00:28:09.559 But his work is not through. 00:28:10.080 --> 00:28:13.640 He is continuing to do something in this world. 00:28:13.640 --> 00:28:19.319 He is continuing to do something in and through his people by the gospel. 00:28:19.500 --> 00:28:24.080 The same gospel that saves us is the same gospel that now drives us. 00:28:24.079 --> 00:28:26.939 Verse 19. 00:28:27.839 --> 00:28:30.319 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens. 00:28:31.359 --> 00:28:33.799 But you are fellow citizens with the saints. 00:28:34.039 --> 00:28:35.939 You are members of the household of God. 00:28:36.259 --> 00:28:38.859 Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. 00:28:39.299 --> 00:28:42.279 Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone. 00:28:43.119 --> 00:28:44.500 In whom the whole structure. 00:28:45.259 --> 00:28:46.279 Being joined together. 00:28:47.059 --> 00:28:48.839 Grows into a holy temple. 00:28:49.339 --> 00:28:50.039 In the Lord. 00:28:50.039 --> 00:28:54.399 Do you see the fixation on Jesus in the gospel through all of this? 00:28:55.859 --> 00:28:58.839 You are separated from Christ and without God. 00:28:58.920 --> 00:29:00.319 But now in Christ. 00:29:00.519 --> 00:29:03.500 You've been brought near by the blood of Christ. 00:29:03.659 --> 00:29:06.420 For he himself is our peace. 00:29:08.220 --> 00:29:10.019 He is reconciling us. 00:29:10.119 --> 00:29:12.039 He has preached peace to those who are far off. 00:29:12.180 --> 00:29:14.599 He has preached peace to those who are near. 00:29:14.720 --> 00:29:17.019 And through him we have access to the father. 00:29:17.019 --> 00:29:17.099 Father. 00:29:19.039 --> 00:29:23.079 And then he says we are built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. 00:29:23.339 --> 00:29:25.940 Which Christ Jesus himself is the cornerstone. 00:29:25.980 --> 00:29:26.839 Do you see this? 00:29:28.259 --> 00:29:29.500 What is this all about? 00:29:30.599 --> 00:29:31.940 It's all about Jesus. 00:29:34.299 --> 00:29:35.819 And who we are in him. 00:29:37.079 --> 00:29:39.579 And what he is making us for his glory. 00:29:39.579 --> 00:29:41.000 You see. 00:29:41.480 --> 00:29:43.419 When we start to think of our church. 00:29:43.419 --> 00:29:44.259 Or any church. 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:46.259 Or any dynamic of this Christian life. 00:29:46.379 --> 00:29:48.339 In terms of anything that we are. 00:29:48.419 --> 00:29:49.379 That we're trying to do. 00:29:49.419 --> 00:29:50.980 Or some kind of effort that we have. 00:29:51.000 --> 00:29:52.460 Or something that we're trying to do. 00:29:52.579 --> 00:29:53.879 And in our own purposes. 00:29:53.879 --> 00:29:54.960 And in our own will. 00:29:55.019 --> 00:29:56.439 We've immediately gone wrong. 00:29:56.579 --> 00:29:59.339 Because none of this is actually ultimately about us. 00:30:00.439 --> 00:30:02.899 All of this is ultimately about Christ. 00:30:03.019 --> 00:30:04.799 And what he is doing in us. 00:30:04.899 --> 00:30:06.759 And what he is doing through us. 00:30:06.759 --> 00:30:09.759 And what a travesty for churches all around our town. 00:30:09.980 --> 00:30:12.720 And what a travesty for churches all around this world. 00:30:12.799 --> 00:30:15.079 Who have lost focus on that gospel. 00:30:15.299 --> 00:30:17.660 Who have lost focus on Christ. 00:30:17.759 --> 00:30:18.940 And who they are in him. 00:30:19.099 --> 00:30:21.019 And it's all about what they're doing. 00:30:21.200 --> 00:30:23.700 And it's all about the things that they can come up with. 00:30:23.740 --> 00:30:26.720 And it's all about the impact that they might can make on somebody. 00:30:27.180 --> 00:30:28.200 That's not the gospel. 00:30:29.259 --> 00:30:30.379 That's not the gospel. 00:30:31.279 --> 00:30:33.000 We must be a gospel people. 00:30:33.700 --> 00:30:35.619 Paul gives us three illustrations here. 00:30:35.619 --> 00:30:40.319 Three illustrations that tell us what Christ is doing in us on an ongoing basis. 00:30:40.500 --> 00:30:41.019 What's he doing? 00:30:41.399 --> 00:30:43.079 The first one he says we're a kingdom. 00:30:44.039 --> 00:30:44.939 We're a kingdom. 00:30:45.119 --> 00:30:45.739 Verse 19. 00:30:45.859 --> 00:30:47.259 You're no longer strangers and aliens. 00:30:47.419 --> 00:30:51.339 You are fellow citizens with the saints. 00:30:52.599 --> 00:30:55.219 First we're united in the kingdom of God. 00:30:55.220 --> 00:31:03.539 You can study how important the dynamic of citizenship was to people in the ancient world. 00:31:05.319 --> 00:31:15.039 Suffice it for our purpose this morning to say that whereas modern western culture emphasizes the individual. 00:31:15.039 --> 00:31:17.039 In expressive individualism. 00:31:17.039 --> 00:31:18.159 In expressive individualism. 00:31:19.359 --> 00:31:26.399 Ancient eastern culture and probably even modern eastern culture in some ways does not emphasize the individual but rather the community. 00:31:27.139 --> 00:31:32.099 A person's identity was wrapped up in the people to whom they belong. 00:31:32.099 --> 00:31:35.779 When we talked about citizenship in our study of the book of Philippians. 00:31:35.819 --> 00:31:38.980 And it would have been the same thing for the people in Ephesus. 00:31:39.219 --> 00:31:45.319 What they were as Greeks and as Romans and as an Ephesians and as Philippians was everything to them. 00:31:45.759 --> 00:31:46.899 That was their life. 00:31:48.119 --> 00:31:49.719 That's what really mattered to them. 00:31:49.720 --> 00:31:56.100 And now Paul says you can forget about all the Ephesian citizenship and all the Roman citizenship and the Greek citizenship. 00:31:56.100 --> 00:31:59.460 Because you are fellow citizens of a greater kingdom. 00:31:59.740 --> 00:32:02.319 You are fellow citizens of God's kingdom. 00:32:03.220 --> 00:32:07.339 And our true citizenship is not in this life. 00:32:08.059 --> 00:32:10.079 It's in the heavenly kingdom of God. 00:32:11.319 --> 00:32:14.440 And it is that kingdom for which we are to live. 00:32:14.440 --> 00:32:21.460 As grateful as we are for our earthly citizenship as Americans. 00:32:21.820 --> 00:32:26.220 The fact is we are still but pilgrims and strangers in this world. 00:32:27.360 --> 00:32:31.539 And the wonder of it all is as we gather Sunday by Sunday. 00:32:31.539 --> 00:32:32.840 We can look around the room. 00:32:32.960 --> 00:32:35.259 Especially on a Sunday when we take the Lord's table. 00:32:35.259 --> 00:32:37.000 We do this in a really significant way. 00:32:37.120 --> 00:32:39.039 We can look around the room and we can say hey. 00:32:39.500 --> 00:32:41.980 They have the same passport that I have. 00:32:41.980 --> 00:32:45.140 And it's not a United States passport. 00:32:45.700 --> 00:32:47.279 It's a heavenly passport. 00:32:47.779 --> 00:32:50.299 We belong to a kingdom that is not of this world. 00:32:51.019 --> 00:32:54.400 Our king doesn't sit in the White House day by day. 00:32:54.599 --> 00:32:56.120 He sits on the throne of heaven. 00:32:57.000 --> 00:32:58.200 We're a new people. 00:32:59.579 --> 00:33:01.299 Christ is doing this in us. 00:33:03.059 --> 00:33:05.779 We have a different people to which we belong. 00:33:07.519 --> 00:33:10.400 We have a different kingdom for which we serve. 00:33:10.400 --> 00:33:13.960 We look different than the kingdoms of this world. 00:33:14.840 --> 00:33:17.280 We behave different than the kingdoms of this world. 00:33:17.480 --> 00:33:19.940 We worship different than the kingdoms of this world. 00:33:20.120 --> 00:33:23.100 We love different than the kingdoms of this world. 00:33:23.180 --> 00:33:23.860 And so on. 00:33:24.600 --> 00:33:25.360 He says we're a kingdom. 00:33:25.660 --> 00:33:27.360 Then he says we're a family. 00:33:28.380 --> 00:33:29.000 We're a family. 00:33:29.700 --> 00:33:31.019 Look again at verse 19. 00:33:32.180 --> 00:33:33.519 You're no longer strangers and aliens. 00:33:33.640 --> 00:33:35.140 You are fellow citizens with the saints. 00:33:35.140 --> 00:33:39.360 Members of the household of God. 00:33:39.359 --> 00:33:44.599 So Paul takes this illustration a step forward in intimacy. 00:33:45.339 --> 00:33:47.399 And he says we're of the household of God. 00:33:47.699 --> 00:33:50.199 In Christ we are in the family of God. 00:33:50.839 --> 00:33:53.419 Alistair Begg said it's one thing to have the same passport. 00:33:53.699 --> 00:33:56.759 But to have the same father is quite another thing. 00:33:57.839 --> 00:33:59.299 And oh how true that is. 00:34:00.099 --> 00:34:02.299 Because blood is thicker than water isn't it? 00:34:02.299 --> 00:34:10.300 Last year my brother and his wife Kathleen had the privilege of adopting a little boy that they named Jaden. 00:34:10.500 --> 00:34:12.719 You've met Jaden here before. 00:34:13.059 --> 00:34:15.159 Perhaps you'll see him again in a few weeks. 00:34:16.259 --> 00:34:22.019 When the adoption was finalized they were given a decree of adoption by the state of North Carolina. 00:34:22.460 --> 00:34:24.059 Can I just read a portion of it to you? 00:34:24.059 --> 00:34:25.840 Here's what it says. 00:34:25.840 --> 00:34:31.860 Now therefore it is hereby ordered, adjudged, and decreed by the court. 00:34:32.320 --> 00:34:35.679 That from the date of the entry of this decree herein. 00:34:36.079 --> 00:34:41.219 The said minor is declared adopted for life by the petitioners. 00:34:42.059 --> 00:34:47.860 And that said child shall henceforth be known by the name Jaden Harold Blankenship. 00:34:47.860 --> 00:34:57.099 That the decree of adoption affects a complete substitution of families for all the legal purposes. 00:34:57.920 --> 00:35:12.300 And establishes the relationship of parent and child together with all the rights, responsibilities, and duties between each petitioner and the individual being adopted. 00:35:12.300 --> 00:35:27.400 That from the date of this decree of adoption, the adoptee is entitled to inherit real and personal property by, through, and from the adoptive parents. 00:35:27.400 --> 00:35:31.019 In accordance with the statutes on interstate secession. 00:35:31.019 --> 00:35:38.579 And has the same legal status, including all legal rights and obligations of any kind whatsoever. 00:35:39.059 --> 00:35:45.360 As a child born, the legitimate child of the adoptive parents. 00:35:47.000 --> 00:35:53.880 Do you realize that in Christ that's exactly what God has done with us? 00:35:55.320 --> 00:35:58.599 He becomes our true father. 00:35:58.599 --> 00:36:00.780 We are not all the children of God. 00:36:00.780 --> 00:36:03.780 Only those in Christ are the children of God. 00:36:03.920 --> 00:36:06.600 Only we have him as our father. 00:36:07.900 --> 00:36:12.780 And in Christ, we become joint heirs with the son. 00:36:13.840 --> 00:36:20.240 And that includes all the rights and legal purposes of inheritance in our future. 00:36:20.240 --> 00:36:23.600 That we will reign with him and we will be with him. 00:36:23.600 --> 00:36:26.360 And we will be seated at his table forever. 00:36:26.360 --> 00:36:28.840 And then we look around the room again and we say, 00:36:29.160 --> 00:36:32.039 Well, Marty really is my brother then. 00:36:34.140 --> 00:36:35.760 He's not the crazy uncle. 00:36:36.280 --> 00:36:37.780 He really is the brother. 00:36:37.780 --> 00:36:45.060 This is where we draw on that verbiage in the Christian church. 00:36:45.060 --> 00:36:47.780 That we truly are brothers and sisters in Christ. 00:36:47.860 --> 00:36:51.600 I won't read it, but you can go to Galatians 4 to see this expressed more clearly. 00:36:53.519 --> 00:36:55.860 There's a uniqueness to the way that we pray. 00:36:55.860 --> 00:37:02.680 No other religion in this world, as far as I understand, ever gets on their hands and knees and says, 00:37:02.860 --> 00:37:03.620 Oh, Father. 00:37:04.500 --> 00:37:05.820 Oh, Father. 00:37:08.140 --> 00:37:09.280 But we do. 00:37:10.420 --> 00:37:11.360 You know why? 00:37:11.360 --> 00:37:17.720 Because in Christ, we are being made the household of God. 00:37:20.120 --> 00:37:21.860 Finally, he says, we're a temple. 00:37:23.019 --> 00:37:23.920 We're a temple. 00:37:25.420 --> 00:37:28.500 The Ephesians were very familiar with religious temples. 00:37:29.559 --> 00:37:35.300 One of the seven wonders of the world, of the ancient world, the temple of Artemis was in Ephesus. 00:37:35.300 --> 00:37:43.080 They were profoundly religious and they were profoundly pagan in the way that they lived their lives. 00:37:43.160 --> 00:37:46.380 They had many, many temples to many gods and to many even rulers. 00:37:47.260 --> 00:37:47.940 Earthly rulers. 00:37:50.240 --> 00:37:51.420 And of course, what is a temple? 00:37:52.580 --> 00:37:56.539 It is a place where a deity is believed to dwell on earth. 00:37:57.760 --> 00:38:04.920 Now, Solomon said at the building of the temple in Jerusalem that the true God cannot be contained on this earth. 00:38:04.920 --> 00:38:06.599 We can't contain him in a house. 00:38:07.180 --> 00:38:12.599 But the temple in Jerusalem represented the dwelling place of God among his people. 00:38:12.599 --> 00:38:20.920 And here, Paul says that together, we are being built as the new temple of God. 00:38:22.920 --> 00:38:29.240 Each believer becomes a dwelling place for God in the gospel by the Holy Spirit. 00:38:29.239 --> 00:38:39.639 But then the apostles draw a unique vision of this as the church becomes a dwelling for God among his people collectively. 00:38:40.859 --> 00:38:42.299 It's an interesting picture. 00:38:43.099 --> 00:38:43.979 Peter says it. 00:38:44.619 --> 00:38:49.739 As you come to him, a living stone, rejected by men in the sight of God, chosen and precious. 00:38:49.739 --> 00:38:57.739 You yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood. 00:38:58.579 --> 00:39:03.199 To offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus. 00:39:05.500 --> 00:39:15.159 Now, we can't pass by this and not at least mention that Paul says that this temple is built on the foundation laid by the apostles and prophets. 00:39:15.159 --> 00:39:22.059 The word order here suggests that Paul intends to say the New Testament prophets, not the Old Testament prophets. 00:39:22.159 --> 00:39:25.319 Not that they were irrelevant, but he's getting to something specific here. 00:39:25.859 --> 00:39:30.839 Now, notice the apostles and the prophets are not themselves the foundation. 00:39:32.279 --> 00:39:34.739 They are the builders of the foundation. 00:39:35.179 --> 00:39:36.299 What's the foundation? 00:39:36.799 --> 00:39:40.199 The cornerstone, which is Christ Jesus himself. 00:39:40.199 --> 00:39:46.079 And you can study the importance of that on your own as far as what a cornerstone actually does. 00:39:46.079 --> 00:39:51.599 But everything that the apostles and prophets are building is related to Christ. 00:39:52.319 --> 00:39:55.259 This is a clear reference to the New Testament scriptures. 00:39:56.359 --> 00:40:06.139 Again, not that the Old Testament scriptures are irrelevant, but in Jesus Christ, everything concealed in the Old Covenant is now revealed in the New. 00:40:06.239 --> 00:40:09.639 And that's what the apostles and the prophets of the first century wrote about. 00:40:09.639 --> 00:40:12.900 What can we contain in the New Testament scriptures that we have? 00:40:13.159 --> 00:40:22.879 And Paul says we are built up as a temple that's founded on the New Testament, founded on the scriptures, founded on Christ. 00:40:23.839 --> 00:40:30.699 Therefore, everything the church does must focus on the person and work of Christ as revealed in the Bible. 00:40:32.400 --> 00:40:34.199 Now, let's finish with verse 22. 00:40:34.199 --> 00:40:47.279 In him, you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. 00:40:47.280 --> 00:40:53.840 Now, I think this verse is important because this is where we begin to get much more practical. 00:40:53.920 --> 00:40:57.400 And understand that the message as a whole has been largely theological. 00:40:57.700 --> 00:40:59.940 When we start to get a little more practical at this point. 00:41:01.480 --> 00:41:09.220 Why would Paul feel the need to echo or reiterate this word or this statement in verse 22? 00:41:09.219 --> 00:41:14.259 Because he's drawing an application for these people in Ephesus. 00:41:14.839 --> 00:41:16.179 Notice what he says. 00:41:18.039 --> 00:41:26.579 So then in Christ, you also, he says, you also are being built together. 00:41:26.579 --> 00:41:35.460 In other words, everything that is true of the big C church, of the people of God from all nations and from all time and in all places, 00:41:35.460 --> 00:41:41.299 is true for each local representation of that kingdom. 00:41:42.159 --> 00:41:44.860 He's speaking of the application of the local church. 00:41:46.139 --> 00:41:52.139 He applies these incredible truths specifically to the individual churches in and around the city of Ephesus. 00:41:52.139 --> 00:41:58.739 The kingdom of God is seen in local embassies of the kingdom. 00:41:59.819 --> 00:42:05.219 The family of God has its individual families that continue to grow and be fruitful. 00:42:05.519 --> 00:42:10.059 The grand temple of God has its expression in local churches. 00:42:10.059 --> 00:42:22.920 And in Christ, Lakeside Bible Church is being built together into a dwelling place for God by his spirit. 00:42:24.920 --> 00:42:31.360 Each of us redeemed by the blood of Christ, reconciled to God through the peace of Christ. 00:42:31.360 --> 00:43:01.340 The kingdom of God is, in Christ, reconciled to God through the kingdom of God by his spirit. 00:43:01.340 --> 00:43:03.340 And in Christ, reconciled to God by his spirit. 00:43:03.340 --> 00:43:07.700 The Bible never speaks of the Christian life in isolation. 00:43:09.900 --> 00:43:12.100 God desires to build us together. 00:43:12.860 --> 00:43:17.440 And we would all do well to remember that we belong to one another. 00:43:19.019 --> 00:43:22.940 Whether we like that or not, we belong to one another. 00:43:24.960 --> 00:43:27.760 And you say, well, what does all this mean practically? 00:43:27.820 --> 00:43:28.880 What am I supposed to do with this? 00:43:28.880 --> 00:43:31.980 That's really what the next five studies are for. 00:43:32.780 --> 00:43:34.440 But this is where we have to start. 00:43:36.340 --> 00:43:37.920 Christ makes us what we are. 00:43:38.660 --> 00:43:41.900 And through his gospel, he is making us what he wants us to be. 00:43:43.140 --> 00:43:44.320 He's the foundation. 00:43:45.320 --> 00:43:49.760 And his gospel must inform all that we do as a people, collective people. 00:43:49.760 --> 00:43:53.680 Let me give you three practical things as we close it. 00:43:54.680 --> 00:43:59.420 Number one, don't live in isolation. 00:44:02.340 --> 00:44:03.940 Don't live in isolation. 00:44:05.640 --> 00:44:14.160 Embrace the church to which you belong on a universal level and on a local scale. 00:44:14.159 --> 00:44:22.299 Yes, Christ has redeemed you by his blood. 00:44:22.920 --> 00:44:30.859 And what he has done beyond that is he has united you with others whom he has also redeemed by his blood. 00:44:31.359 --> 00:44:32.819 Don't forsake it. 00:44:35.199 --> 00:44:37.059 Don't forsake the assembly. 00:44:37.619 --> 00:44:39.239 Don't forsake the congregation. 00:44:39.239 --> 00:44:42.399 Don't live your Christian life in isolation. 00:44:42.659 --> 00:44:43.879 You will fail. 00:44:45.679 --> 00:44:47.099 We need one another. 00:44:48.039 --> 00:44:49.399 God has made it so. 00:44:51.959 --> 00:44:58.500 Number two, don't rebuild what Christ has broken down. 00:45:00.239 --> 00:45:03.599 Don't rebuild what Christ has broken down. 00:45:03.979 --> 00:45:07.959 Remember that wall of hostility that was built on the law expressed in ordinances? 00:45:07.960 --> 00:45:09.480 We have those things. 00:45:10.220 --> 00:45:11.740 We have those things. 00:45:12.360 --> 00:45:17.980 And in different church settings, those things take on different shapes and they take on different topics and all the thing. 00:45:18.659 --> 00:45:27.599 Be careful that as you keep your focus on the gospel, we don't begin to create divisive walls within our church that are irrelevant to the gospel. 00:45:27.599 --> 00:45:28.599 Don't rebuild what Christ says. 00:45:28.599 --> 00:45:39.019 Don't rebuild what Christ has broken down. 00:45:40.299 --> 00:45:45.000 Finally, don't let the focus turn away from Jesus. 00:45:46.440 --> 00:45:48.739 Don't let the focus turn away from Jesus. 00:45:48.739 --> 00:45:50.379 You know what? 00:45:50.439 --> 00:45:54.399 If you get offended in our church, you know what the thing you should get most offended by? 00:45:55.459 --> 00:45:58.919 When somebody makes it more about them than they make it about Christ. 00:46:02.099 --> 00:46:07.679 When somebody takes the gospel of Christ and perverts it in some way, that's the thing that will offend us more than anything else. 00:46:07.679 --> 00:46:08.679 But here's the thing. 00:46:08.739 --> 00:46:15.619 There are so many Christians that they go to church Sunday by Sunday in their churches and the gospel is being twisted and distorted before their very eyes. 00:46:15.639 --> 00:46:19.839 But they don't care about that as long as they get to sit in the seat that they like to sit in. 00:46:19.899 --> 00:46:23.239 And as long as they get to hear the style of music that they like to hear. 00:46:23.299 --> 00:46:27.460 And as long as this person talks to them every week and as long as this person stays away from them every week. 00:46:27.559 --> 00:46:31.519 As long as those things work out, they don't really care what's happening from the pulpit. 00:46:31.519 --> 00:46:35.699 That's a caricature maybe, but I think it might be a true caricature in a lot of places. 00:46:37.199 --> 00:46:39.380 Don't let the focus turn away from Christ. 00:46:43.599 --> 00:46:44.820 This is who we are. 00:46:46.179 --> 00:46:48.199 This is what Christ has called us to be.