Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter
2. I want to deal with verses 14
to 22, the end of the chapter, but before we begin, let's ask
our Lord's blessing. Our Father, this evening we thank
you that we can approach you in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Thank you for the privilege to hear the Word of God. Thank
you, Lord, that you've blessed in this place raising up candlestick
and maintaining these many years. Lord, help us to hear, help us
to worship, and Lord, forgive us where we failed you for Christ's
sake. Amen. The Apostle Paul has been dealing
with a subject of comfort to the Gentiles and relating through the inspiration
of God's Spirit, where the Lord has taken them from and brought
them to, those that the Lord eternally loved. You know, it's
always good for us to remember where He has brought us from,
where we've come from. I had a friend of mine in Louisiana,
And just a very successful man. And he had a little room built
on the back of his shop. And it looked like, I went in
it one day and it just was a plain Jane, just four, just rough room. It seemed like it was dirt. And
I just had a potter, you know, I asked him, I said, this is
really something. He said, yeah. He said, I just
want to remember. Kind of a fella come up out of
the swamps or something. Just, you know, it was just a
plain, I thought, you know, that's good. That's good to remember. We need to remember. where the
Lord has brought us from. What we believe this evening
is by grace. You think about where the Lord
brought you from. Whether you came up out of false
religion, like I know some of you have, or whether you've sat
under Brother Scott and heard the gospel of God's free grace,
preached all your life, until the Lord opened your eyes and
gave you sight, you didn't see. You knew some things up here,
and you could give a good argument for it. You knew the difference
in Calvinism and Arminianism, but I'm telling you, until the
Lord gave you heart for it, you could just take it or leave it. It really didn't mean that much,
didn't mean anything to you. Isaiah 51.1, hearken to me, ye
that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord. Hearken
unto me, you that know God, you that are taught of God, you that
the Lord has convinced of sin and righteousness and judgment.
He says, look unto the rock whence ye are hewn and to the hole of
the pit whence you're digged. Mercy is truly mercy to a sinner,
one that by the grace of God can behold. And God's people
do, daily. I'm telling you, if we find ourselves
not struggling with sin, if sin doesn't bother you, there's something
wrong. There's a, he said, remember,
look. Look to that hole, that pit which
you've digged. It's good to remember. There's
none good. No, not one. It's good to remember. We need him every hour. I was going over my notes this
morning and I thought to myself, what if this was the last message
that I preach? What if this is the last time
you ever hear me preach? What if in the middle of the
week, end of the week, I'm found to be in a casket right here.
I'm thinking to myself, Lord help me. Help me to remember. Help me to remember that I've
been cut out of that same rock of rebellion as every other person
born in Adam. Help me to remember that that
was me. that the Lord in grace passed by when my navel was not
cut, when I was not salted, swaddled, washed in water, that it was
by the grace of God that He said to me, live. And I lived. That not of myself, that He quickened
me by grace, kept me. Help me to remember verse 12,
that at that time you were without Christ. Now Paul was talking
to some Gentiles. These Ephesians were Gentiles.
And telling them, he said, you know, you were aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise,
having no hope. Without God in the world, think
about this. I have people in my family, and
you do too, religious, but here's what scripture says about them.
Without Christ, there's no hope. No hope. Sincere, moral, faithful
to their assembly, but without Christ, No hope, but, verse 13,
having been made nigh by the blood of Christ, you who were
afar off, we all who were estranged in
heart, no love, no communion, no care for Almighty God, for His Christ,
Didn't care that there was no faith in him. And now by the grace of God,
been brought near. Verse 14, this is where we'll
pick up. For he is our peace. He is our peacemaker. But I thought upon this, peace
is that something that is established where there's no contention.
But here, the Lord is revealed to be our peace. He establishes peace, that's
right, and we understand that. But he is our peace. He is our physical peace, the
one who ever liveth. He's the mediator. Right now,
according to God's Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Great
High Priest, who ever liveth to make intercession for us, pleading His own merit, being
there. He is our peace. We need a peacemaker. By nature,
we alienate ourselves. That's what we did. But by the
grace of God, he has reconciled us back to God. And we did not instigate it.
He did. We never even thought of it.
He eternally purposed. Sin had separated us from the
Lord God, but Christ has brought us back. Peace has been established. Whenever men speak of being saved,
being saved, I got saved. This is actually what they're
saying. They're saying I've established peace with God. I've made my
peace with God. You've heard that. I've made
my peace with God. Let me tell you what it takes
for peace to be established with God. And just ask yourself. You that know Him know the answer. Man by nature says he has a will
to do so, but let me ask you this. For there to be peace established,
let me tell you what's going to have to happen. The law is
going to have to be obeyed. The law. Paul said, you hear
what the law says? The law is going to have to be
obeyed in word, in thought, in deed. It's going to have to be
perfectly obeyed. Secondly, justice for sin must
be satisfied. And thirdly, righteousness must
be established. Now, I'm talking to people that
claim that they can establish peace before God with their free
will, Mitch. Keep the law, establish righteousness, and
justice be served? By me, I need Him who is our peace. He is the author, the giver of
peace to His people. Let me share something with you. Every deviation, now from the
moment that we've all gotten here and that's starting right
here in this pulpit, there's not been one person in this congregation
that has not deviated in their mind. I mean you thought about
what you had to do, what you did today at work, what you've
got to do tomorrow, some conversation that you have, we've all done
it. We've all done it. But do you know what it's going
to take? That deviation, that deviation
from faithfulness before God cost the blood of Christ. Every
deviation. The scripture says, He is our
peace who hath made both one and hath broken down the middle
wall of partition between us." Now remember, he's talking to
Gentiles who were aliens and strangers now, but God has reconciled
them. He's talking about how the Lord
has made both. And he's talking about Jews and
Gentiles. That continuation of that teaching
of peace that the Lord Jesus Christ has made for all his people,
Jew and Gentile. He has broken down that middle
wall of petition between us. That wall of prejudice, of division,
disagreement. There was actually, and I'll
show you that in just a second, right here, that actually here
was the middle wall of petition. It was the ceremonial law. That
was that division right there. And it was pictured by that wall
in the temple that separated the Jews and the Gentiles. You
can't worship like we do. You don't come in here where
we are. You're out there. Believers, all believers, Jews
and Gentiles, they have no partition between them. No petition as
to how God saves a sinner. Here's what a converted Jew and
a converted Gentile believes. Converted Jews and Gentiles believe
this, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of
yourself, it's the gift of God. Every Jew that God Almighty ever
saved from the beginning, He saved them by grace, not by the
keeping of the law. Verse 15, having abolished in
his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained
in ordinances. This is what I was just talking
about. There's that wall of petition that he's broken down, that middle
wall of petition between us, having abolished in his flesh
the enmity. even the law of commandments
contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain,
Jew and Gentile, one new man, so make in peace. He has abolished
all the differences concerning reconciliation and satisfaction
before God in his flesh. even the law of commandments
contained in ordinances. Here's what he said, Christ by
his obedience abolished all the need of continual ordinances
that had been done by the Jews for 1500 years. No more. It's finished. For to make in
himself of twain one new man. Talking about the same thing.
Jews and Gentiles to make in himself. Where is the common,
what's the common bond? What's the common hope of a Jew
or a Gentile? At one time Jews and Gentiles
hated each other. What is the one person, you know
who that is, for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making
peace. That ceremonial law for righteousness,
the keeping of that law for righteousness, was the point of contention and
division. And Jews had it. And Gentiles
didn't. Jews would say, we're God's people,
we're sons of Abraham. And you Gentiles are dogs. You're
not even human, you're just the world. We're God's people, and
you're not. But to make in himself of twain. One new man. So making peace. Peace between Jews and Gentiles
and peace before God. Establishing in Himself one body
at peace with God and with each other. Just turn back a few pages
to Galatians 6.15. Galatians 6.15. For in Christ
Jesus Neither circumcision availeth
anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature." What does
circumcision do for salvation? Nothing. What does uncircumcision
do? Nothing. Christ has made in himself
of twain one new man. Now back in Ephesians 2 verse
16. And that he might reconcile both
unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. Not only did he make his people
of one new man. Jews and Gentiles. Not only did
in the abolishing of that enmity, he made one new man between themselves. But here it's revealed that he
reconciled both of them, Jew and Gentile, unto God in one
body by the cross. That is, in his body, in his
human body. This is how he did it. He brought
his people, all of them, Jew and Gentile, together by his
body. Let me read that again, that
he might reconcile both unto God in his body. By the cross, having slain the
enmity, thereby, in that body, that body that was flesh, that
body prepared him, the Lord Jesus Christ obeyed the law of God
as a man. The God made fully man. Fully God, fully man. Not half
and half. God Almighty. Human. The man. Christ Jesus. And he obeyed God perfectly. This is my beloved son in whom
I'm well pleased. And he went to the cross. This
is how he did it. He went to the cross, made reconciliation,
reconciled both unto God in one body, and he did it, laying down
his life, made sin. I've told you before, this is
a real point of contention, not here, not here, and not at the
old grace churches that I know, it's not. But I'm going to tell
you something, you'd be surprised, this is a real point of contention
right here. This issue of the Lord Jesus
Christ being made sin. I mean, that's a real rub with
a lot of people. I'm telling you. Old Brother
Scott told me one day, I told you this, he said, if the Lord
was not made what I am as my absolute substitute, There hanging
on that cross was Marvin Stoniker, in the Lord Jesus Christ. And
he suffered the wrath of God Almighty in my stead, establishing
that the law was right, the law was good, the law was just, the
soul that sinneth, right here, It's going to die. And in Him,
I died. I died under the judgment of
God. God Almighty did not sweep this
thing under the rug. It's not that He just says, well,
let the boys be boys and just bygone be bygone. Forget it.
No, sir. I'm a just God. And He has reconciled
both unto God. in one body by the cross, having
slain the enmity thereby." That enmity that we had before God
and the enmity that the Jews and Gentiles had before each
other, put it away. He came in time to save his people. Verse 17, he came and preached
peace to you. which were far off, and to them
that were nigh. Here's what he said. The Lord
Jesus Christ, he came and preached peace to you Gentiles and to
them that were nigh. How? How? Well, he came in the ministers
of his choosing. Like Paul, Paul was called. Remember
he went in there and the Lord called Ananias, Ananias go, and
there's one Saul of Tarsus. You remember what Ananias said,
Lord, I've heard of this man. He said, he's a chosen vessel
unto me to preach to the Gentiles. Here, Paul reveals, he came,
the Lord came. He came in his ministers. We're
ambassadors for Christ. We preach what he says. The scripture says, and came
and preached peace to you which were far off to them that were
nigh. Through the preaching of the gospel, the sheep hear his
voice that reveals that peace had been established by him. And this same gospel, same gospel
is preached to the Gentiles, is preached to the Jews as one
gospel. And the Apostle Paul says, if
we are an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel than
that which was preached unto you, God will send him to hell. If
he dies in that state, preaching a false, let him be accursed.
That's what he said. If we are an angel from heaven,
Is a false doctrine soul damning? You better believe it is. Don't,
don't, not for one second, not for one second, do you think
that there's anything other than damnable heresy in a false gospel. He came and preached peace to
you that were afar off, them that were nigh. Verse 18, for
through Him, We both have access by one spirit unto the Father. Now I want you to notice something
in that verse of scripture. I want you to notice the declaration
of the Trinity of God. Listen to this. For through him,
who? The Lord Jesus Christ, the one
that came and preached peace through his preachers. For through
Him we both have access by one Spirit, there's the Holy Spirit,
unto the Father. Almighty God reconciling His
people in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ to Himself. Establishing peace by Christ. There's one way unto the Father.
It's through the Lord Jesus as He is revealed by God's Spirit.
As He is revealed by God's Spirit. Everybody says they believe in
Jesus. Well, I can tell you this, the
Lord Jesus that a believer serves is not the impotent little J,
Jesus, that men are preaching. He's not trying to do anything.
The scripture says, Through Him, we both have, Jew and Gentile,
access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore, ye are
no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the
saints and of the household of God. and are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and the prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the
chief cornerstone. Let me tell you a beautiful word
in there. Fellow citizens. Fellow citizens, you're not aliens. If Almighty God, Paul, was telling
these Gentiles, if the Lord has called you out of darkness, given
you a new heart, given you life in Christ, revealed Himself,
He said, you're not outcast. You're not outsiders. You're
not visitors. But you're natives. Natives of
the people of God. You're not guests in God's family,
but you're members. You're children. You're not spectators. You're fellow citizens with the
saints. Fellow citizens of the household
of God. We're family in Him. We're family. God's people are one in Him. And we have the same privileges,
same heirs, we're heirs of God, joint heirs of Christ. All that's
promised to Him is to us, our strangers, fellow citizens. And Scripture sets forth You're
of the household of God. You're built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets. Jesus Christ himself being the
chief cornerstone. We're built upon not works of
righteousness. You take a false religion that
is built upon whatever their foundation is. You've got to
be baptized, you've got to speak in tongues. We're built upon
the foundation of Christ himself. Built upon the foundation that
the apostles preached and the prophets preached. The same gospel
were built upon him, who is the cornerstone himself, the chief
cornerstone himself, in whom all the building fitly framed
together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye
also are built together for a habitation of God through the Spirit, in
Christ, in whom all the building fitly framed together. It's three words and they're
all three words in one meaning. This is what it means. Close
jointed. Close jointed. Close jointed. You know, if you do any kind
of construction work, you know, one of the things that you want
to see, your house, You know, whenever you build a house, if
you've got a house, somebody's building a house for you, you
know what you want? I want some good workmanship.
I don't want any shoddy work. I mean, I want my corners to
be right. If you're going to cut some corners around my windows,
I don't want cracks that look like this with a lot of putty. I don't like a lot of caulk in
there. What a good job. This building
that he's building, it's perfect. It's perfect. In whom all the
building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in
the Lord. All the parts, Almighty God has
placed them all exactly where they are to be as he see fits. But now has God set the members,
every one of them in the body as it is pleased him. Don't ever
think for one second, believer, that your place in his body is
insignificant. It is not. How needful is every
one of God's saints. I need your fellowship. I need
your fellowship. I need your prayers. I need your
encouragement. We all do. And he's made us so
we're family, fitly joined together. And here's what it says, it groweth
unto an holy temple in the Lord. Whether that means, and I'm going
to give you two things it could mean, and I think it means both
of them. It either means That building that's fitly framed
together that groweth in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord
and Savior. We grow in grace as we hear and
know and understand as we're taught of God through the preaching
of the gospel. through the study of the Scriptures,
the reading of Scriptures in prayer. It means that, and also
groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord, meaning this, as the
Lord calls His people out of darkness and adds them visibly
to the church. Now, He's eternally known them. God's people have always been
God's people. There's not been one sheep that's ever been added
since eternity. God has always known and loved
and chosen his people. Not one sheep has been added
to God's elect. But visibly, when God calls one
out of darkness, one that before we didn't know he was one of
God's sheep. But as He calls them out of darkness, there may
be some sheep now that's never been born, that God Almighty
has not birthed physically yet. But if they're His, He will.
And they're going to hear, and they're going to come. In whom
ye also are builded together for a habitation of God through
the Spirit. If there's ever been a verse
of scripture that sets forth and reveals the need of our seeking
after Him, striving after Him, in chapter 4 of Ephesians, verse
3, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of
peace. Has there ever been one? This
is it, right here. In whom ye also are built together,
listen to this, for a habitation of God. Not only in the individual believer,
a habitation of God, but in this local assembly right here, an
habitation of God. When we meet together, he promised
he's here. He said, I'm there. I'm there. I'm there. And then the church
universal, all of them. This body is a part of the church
there in Lexington, the church there in Rocky Mountain, the
church there. We are built it together for
habitation of God through his spirit. Oh, what encouragement
to see how God has reconciled his people to himself, made peace,
joined together. Brethren, they love one another.
They love one another. They pray for one another. They
seek one another's comfort and company. May the Lord bless these
words to our heart for Christ's sake.