Let us turn to God's Word and
directing you this morning to words that we find in Ephesians
chapter 2. In the second chapter of Paul's
epistle to the Ephesians, I'll read from verse 14 and reading through to verse
17. For he is our peace, who hath
made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition
between us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even
the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make himself
of twain one new man, so making peace, and that he might reconcile
both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity
thereby, and came and preach peace to you which were afar
off and to them that were nigh. You might observe in our authorised
version that these four verses are marked punctually as a single
sentence. We do have such sentences many
times in the translation that we have the familiar words of
the authorized version we have sentences with clauses and sub
clauses and so forth and it is such a verse it's a long sentence
that we have then from verse 14 through 17 but I want to concentrate
on the end of the sentence really the words that we have in verse
17 and clearly the the subject of this sentence
is Christ Jesus and he is the one he was spoken of who came
and preached peace says Paul to you which were afar off writing
to the church at Ephesus principally a gentile church Christ came
he says and preached peace to you which were afar off and to
them that were No. And the theme then that I want
to try to address is that of the preaching of Christ. When we think of that statement,
the preaching of Christ, we can take it objectively in a certain
sense. We can say that Christ is the
object of preaching, is the one who is spoken of. And we know
that that was very much the case with regards to the ministry
of the apostles. We read those words in both the
1st and the 2nd chapters of 1st Corinthians where Paul is speaking
of his preaching. He says we preach Christ and
him crucified. There in chapter 1 and verse
23 and then again in the 2nd verse of the 2nd chapter in that 1st letter
to the Corinthians he speaks of his determination. I determine. not to know anything among you
save Jesus Christ and Him crucified." The very matter, the content
of the preaching of the Apostles, the Gospel, centers in the Lord
Jesus, in His person and in His work. We can take that statement
then, the preaching of Christ, and speak objectively. But then also, when we think
of such a title, and that's the theme that I said I want to try
to address, the preaching of Christ, we can think of the verb
preaching, we can think of it more subjectively. The preaching of Christ in the
sense that Christ himself is the preacher. It's his preaching
that is being spoken of. And certainly we see that that
is the case with regards to this statement that's forming our
text this morning. Christ is not only the content
of the preaching, but He is the one who is preaching. He came,
it says. He came and preached peace to you which were afar
off and to them that were nigh. And I want to try to consider
the preaching of Christ in that sense. Christ comes personally
in the preaching. Christ is the one that is clearly
the preacher here in this passage of Scripture. Christ did come,
we know that. There was the great promise that
was given even in the days of Moses. The law came by Moses,
but Moses, great man that he was, there would be a greater
than Moses that would come. A greater prophet than Moses.
All the prophets of the Old Testament, they would appeal to the words
of Moses, to the law and to the testimony, says Isaiah. That
was the authority of those men. They brought that Lord of Moses
to the nation of Israel. The man speak not according to
these words. There's no truth in him, says
the prophet Isaiah. The appeal is to what Moses had
said as the Lord's servant, but there was to be a greater than
Moses. And Moses himself speaks of that. Remember back in the last book
of Moses in the book of Deuteronomy and there in the 18th chapter
we have Moses speaking we also have God speaking of another
prophet Deuteronomy 18 and verse 15 Moses says to the people the
Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst
of thee of thy brethren like unto me unto him ye shall hearken
But then God himself repeats that same word through the mouth
of his servant, the prophet Moses. Verse 18 of that chapter, I will
raise him up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee,
and will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto
them all that I shall command him. Oh, the law was given by
Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. He is that one
then who is the great prophet and he comes when the fullness
of the time has come God sends forth his son made of a woman,
made under the law and then we see Christ entering into his
ministry as a preacher. He is that one who comes after
the death of the last of the prophets and the greatest of
all the Old Testament prophets and that was John the Baptist
and we're told in the opening chapter of Mark after that John
was put into prison Jesus comes into Galilee preaching the gospel
of the kingdom of God saying the kingdom of God is at hand
repent ye and believe the gospel Christ comes in but he comes
as we see in the gospel he comes not to the Gentiles. His ministry is very much to
Israel, his ministry to the Jews. I am not sent but under the loss
of the tribes of Israel, he says. And he sends out his own apostles. In the Gospel we read of the
twelve being sent forth to preach the Word of God in Matthew chapter
10. We have the names of those who
were the Twelve Apostles from verse 2 following. And then at verse 5 there, we're
told these, 12 Jesus sent forth and commanded them saying, Go
not into the way of the Gentiles and into any city of the Samaritans
enter ye not, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel." And yet when we come to what
we are considering this morning, and this preaching, as I've already
intimated, Paul is addressing a Gentile church. and he speaks here about how
Christ even comes and preaches to the Gentiles the whole passage
back in verse 13 Paul writes, knowing Christ Jesus ye who sometimes
go far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ for he is our
peace who hath made both one and hath broken down the middle
wall of partition between us Christ has done away with that
middle wall of partition he goes on to say in verse 15 how he
has abolished in his flesh the enmity even the Lord of Commandments
containing ordinances all that distinguished the Jew from the
Gentile in the Old Testament has gone For what has he done? He has in himself of twain or
of two made one new man, so making peace. The Old Testament distinction
is now done away. And the Gospel is not only for
the Jew but also for the Gentile and of course this man, Paul,
is to be the great apostle to Gentiles. And we mention these
things before he goes on, doesn't he, in the beginning of the third
chapter, to speak of this mystery that's been hidden from the foundation
of the world. But God always had a purpose
to save Gentile sinners. Oh yes, the nation of Israel
serves a purpose throughout the Old Testament, because Christ
is to come. He will be of the seed of David.
He will be of the tribe of Judah. but he will come not only to
be the soldier of Jews but also of Gentiles and this man who
himself was such a proud Pharisee at one time and so boastful of
his pedigree the Hebrew of the Hebrews he calls himself but
he is the one whom God has called to be the Apostle to the Gentiles and to preach
that ministry of grace to Gentile sinners as he says in chapter
3 verse 8 unto me who am less than the least of all saints
is grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the
unsearchable riches of Christ and to make all men that is both
Jew and Gentile see what is the fellowship of the mystery which
from the beginning of the world has been heeding God who created
all things by Christ Jesus and so coming back to our text and
what he says here concerning preachers Christ came he says
and preach peace to you which were afar off that would be the
Gentiles they were excluded from the covenants
of Israel and to them that were nigh that was the Jews who had
all those favours in the Old Testament. You only have I known,
says God, of all the families of the earth. But now, all this
mystery has been revealed. There's a gospel for Gentile
sinners. Christ comes to Gentile sinners.
And he says, doesn't he, in verse 4 of chapter 3, whereby when
ye read ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ,
which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as
it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the
Spirit, that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same
body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel. So there is a preaching here
to all manner of sinners, Jews as well as Gentiles, the old
distinction is gone and gone forever. But surely Paul is saying
something more than this really. He says that Christ actually
comes. He comes personally to sinners
in the preaching of his gospel. That's what he says. He came and preached peace to
you which were far off. And yet, as we've already sought
to establish, the Lord Jesus Christ never went to preach amongst
the Gentiles. The fallacy that he even came
to Great Britain, which of course the British Israelites would
say, and he preached here, as if we were the ten lost tribes
and all that nonsense. No foundation for such anywhere
in the Word of God. He preached only to the Jews,
and sends his apostles initially to preach only to the Jews. And yet as Paul is writing to
this church there at Ephesus in Asia Minor, far away from
Palestine, how was it that the Lord Jesus
ever preached there in that city of Ephesus? And yet Paul clearly
says that He did come. Later in chapter 4 and verse
20, He tells them you have not so
learned Christ if so be that ye have heard him and have been
taught by him as the truth is in Jesus. He is simply underlining
what he is saying here in our text this morning. He came and
preached to you. How did Christ come? He didn't come in any physical
sense, but he comes in that spiritual sense. He comes in the preaching. We have those words in the 10th
chapter of Romans, where Paul is very much speaking of the
preaching of the gospel, Romans 10.14. Then shall they call on
him in whom they have not believed,
and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? But it's interesting, that verse,
because there are those who argue that the middle clause, that
little word of, is really quite superfluous. It reads, how shall
they believe in him of whom they have not heard? But the construction,
really, The construction in the original indicates that the word
of is quite superfluous. It literally says, O shall they
believe in him whom they have not heard. There's a vast difference
between hearing of someone and actually hearing that person. And in that chapter, Romans 10,
The Apostle does speak of just how close the Lord Jesus Christ
comes in the ministry of the Word, in the preaching. In verse
6 there he says, "...the righteousness which is of faith, that is, the
righteousness which is in Christ, the righteousness which is Christ,
that one who is the Lord our righteousness, the righteousness
which is of faith, speaketh on this wise. say not in thine heart
who shall ascend into heaven that is to bring Christ down
from above or who shall descend into the deep that is to bring
up Christ again from the dead but what says it? the word is
nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart that is the word
of faith which we preach oh Christ comes so close to us in the ministry
the preaching of the word And he speaks clearly of preaching
in what follows the verse that we have already quoted, verse
14. Now then shall they call on him
in whom they have not believed? How shall they believe in him
of whom they have not heard? Or more correctly we might say,
in him whom they have not heard. And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? As
it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach
the gospel of peace and bring their tidings of good things. The Lord comes in the preaching.
The Lord speaks directly through the preaching. He says, doesn't
He, that His sheep know His voice. They hear His voice in the preaching.
And surely when we come to the ministry of the Word of God,
this is what we should desire, not to be hearing the words of
some preacher, but to actually hear Christ, that He would come
and speak to us in that direct and that personal manner. I always remember Our friend
Don Underwood saying to me on probably more than one occasion,
he didn't like the idea that when you advertised services
you always stated who the preacher was. He says there are so many
people you see who like to go and hear a preacher. They have
their favorite preachers. I can understand in a sense that's
understandable. There might be some man that
you've been so blessed under that man's ministry and you want
to hear his ministry. That's understandable. But I
also understand what Don Underwood is saying there. We're not to
be those who are hearers of May, but we want to hear the Word
of God and we want above all things to hear that voice, the
voice of the Lord Jesus Christ coming to us and addressing us. You see, preaching in many ways
is the principle means of grace we speak of the means of grace
and we see the means of grace when we gather in this fashion
the singing of praises we see that as a means of grace
we sing to ourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs
we're exhorting, we're encouraging one another in our praises public prayer is a means of grace
One can think of occasions when one's been in a service, a public
worship, and the prayer has been more the means of grace than
the preaching maybe. But I would still contend that
really preaching is the principle. He pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believed. It was the great Church of England martyred, of
course, Eulatima, Bishop of Worcester, and also martyred at the time
of the Reformation. Great preacher himself said concerning
preaching, this is the only office that God hath ordained to save
us by. Let us maintain this. And of
course, the Reformation was very much a preaching movement. Great
preachers raised up. But the preaching centered in
the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord that we might
be those then who as we gather to worship God desire above all
things that we might know what it is for Christ to come to us
so personally, so directly. He came and preached peace to
you which were afar off. Well I say here we can understand
that Christ is the is the subject of the verb when we speak of
the preaching of Christ. He is the preacher. But secondly,
I want to say something with regards to the content of the
message that he preaches. What does Christ preach? He preaches
peace. He came and preached peace. It's as simple as that. That
was the very content of his gospel. And the gospel centers in him,
his person. His person. Look at what we have
previously. We've already referred back to
verse 13. And what follows in verse 14.
Now in Christ Jesus. You sometimes were a far off
are made nigh by the blood of Christ, for He is our peace. In His very person He is our
peace. This man shall be the peace. We read back in Micah
chapter 5 and verse 5, the Old Testament prophets, when the
Assyrian comes into the land, this man shall be the peace. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
Is He not one of the names that's given unto Him in the Scriptures? He has many names. We have several
of those names mentioned in that familiar verse in Isaiah 9, 6.
Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. The government
shall be upon His shoulder. This is the name whereby He shall
be called Wonderful Counselor. And finally, the Prince of Peace. He is so many things and amongst
the many names that are given to him there is that of the Prince
of Peace. The government upon his shoulder.
Oh, he reigns now in his mediatorial kingdom. It's a kingdom of peace.
But it's not a kingdom of this world. Oh, in the world for the
believer there's nothing but trouble and tribulation and trial
and persecution. But there is that reign of grace
and how we should desire that we might know it in our own hearts.
The Lord Jesus Christ reigning in our souls, the Prince of Peace.
But there's not only the person of the Lord Jesus. Paul says
his determination was to preach Christ and Him crucified, the
work of Christ, as well as the person of Christ. And His whole
work, His obedience, His obedience in life, His obedience unto death,
even the death of the cross. And do we not read of Him here,
in verse 15, abolishing in the flesh the enmity, having abolished
in His flesh the enmity, even the Lord of Commandments containing
ordinances for to make in himself of twain of two one new man so
making peace. The old division, the old enmity
between Israel and the Gentile nations, it's gone. It goes in
the Gospel. That's the only way it can ever
go away. We know that enmity is still
there to this day. We hear it daily in news bulletins. Conflict in the Middle East.
What is the solution? It's only the Gospel, ultimately.
It's Christ who has abolished all enmity. He has made peace through the
blood of his cross, says Paul when he writes there in Colossians
1.20. Oh, he's made peace through the blood of his cross. What
has he done? Well, the sinner is in a state, of course, of
enmity against God. We're alienated from God by wicked
works. We're the descendants, we're
the sons, the daughters of Adam and Eve, and they transgressed
and fell there in the Garden of Eden, which was Paradise. And now in that state of alienation,
and all their offspring, of course, born in that sad condition, far
off far off from God. That's what it says in the text.
But Christ comes and preaches peace to them that are far off. How has He done it? Why? By the
shedding of His precious blood. He is the propitiation for our
sins, says Paul. Here in His love, not that we
love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation
for our sins. It's not Paul, is it? It's John
who uses those words, propitiation. Twice there in his first epistle
John uses that word and it's a wonderful word really, it's
a biblical word. It's a theological word, yes,
but it's a word that we should consider and study and ponder
upon because it tells us something. As I said, many a time it deals
with that Godward aspect of our sin. There's another word, expiation. He made expiation by the shedding
of his blood. That's a man-wood aspect. He's
blotted out all our guilt. All our guilt is gone because
he's satisfied the justice of God. But propitiation speaks
of that God-wood aspect. God is angry with the wicked.
Every day. Justly angry. But the Lord Jesus
Christ has made propitiation. always make peace, there's reconciliation
between the sinner and God. And this is the blessed legacy
that the Lord has left. Peace I leave with you, my peace
I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let
not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Well this is
the message then of the preacher, the message of the Prince of
all preachers. He came and preached peace. And what is the consequence when
we come to know that peace? When we experience that peace
in our soul? When by the gracious work of
the Spirit of God we're brought to saving faith, we're trusting
in Christ, we're resting in Christ. What is the outcome then? Well
it will be seen surely in the way in which the believer conducts
himself, the way he lives his life. In chapter 6 where Paul is speaking
of the Christian's armour, remember amongst other things he speaks
of that that's upon the believer's feet. Verse 15, your feet shod
with the preparation of the gospel of peace. All the believers walk, you see. Our feet shod with the preparation
of the gospel of peace. In the way in which we live our
lives, the way in which we conduct ourselves, all the preparation
of the gospel and the peace of the gospel. Here's the motivation.
Here's the motivation to live the Christian life You can see
how Paul brings it out when he begins to give practical instruction
in chapter 4. He begins there, I therefore
the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the
vocation, the calling wherewith ye are called with all lowliness,
and meekness, with long-suffering forbearing one another in love,
endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of
peace." That is to be the mark of the Christian. He is one who
is for peace. Is that true of us? And what
the motivation is? Why, it's the Lord Jesus, isn't
it? It's the Lord Jesus, as we see
at the end of this fourth chapter. Verse 31 he says, Let all bitterness
and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away
from you with all malice, and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, and the motivation, even as God for Christ's
sake hath forgiven you. Be ye therefore followers of
God as dear children, and walk in love as Christ also hath loved
us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice
to God for a sweet-smelling savour." All the Christians walk the way
in which we conduct ourselves, feet shod with the preparation
of the Gospel of Peace. And there's a witness in all
of this, there's a witness to the world, surely there is. How beautiful are the feet of
them that preach peace. We read those
words in the 15th chapter of Romans 10. Not all are to be
preachers, but we are to be messengers of peace. We believe, therefore
we speak. What do we speak? We speak of
those things that we have known and felt. We are to speak of
the gospel of our God and Savior, our speech, you see, Surely it's
to be affected by the grace of God. Which we're ready to give
an answer to every man that asks a reason of the hope that's within
us. Oh there's a Christian witness
and it centers. It centers in all that Christ
is and all that Christ has done for us. Or the content end of
the message. that this preacher brings he
came and preached peace and then those who are addressed those
who are addressed at the end of the verse to you which were
afar off and to them that were nigh well who were those that
were nigh well that's that's Israel isn't it That's Israel. What privileges belong to them? Remember how Paul speaks of that
great privilege that they had at the beginning of Romans 9. Who are Israelites, to whom pertaineth
the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving
of the Lord, and the service of God, and the promises, whose
are the farthest and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ
came, who is over all God blessed forever. Amen. For those are they that were
nigh us. We've quoted already those words
in Amos 3, to you only, my Lord, of all the families of the earth.
Why, he showeth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments
unto Israel. He hath not doubt so with any
nation. As for his judgments, I have not known them. Praise
you, the Lord, says the psalmist." Or those who are favoured. In
many ways, of course, we are those who are favoured. You're
favoured, are you not, if you've been born into a Christian home
and had all the privileges of the Christian upbringing? That's
a great blessing, a great favour. But it's interesting, isn't it,
when we look at the order in which Paul speaks of those who
are being addressed, who are mentioned first. It's those afar
off. He came and preached to you which
were afar off, and to them that were not. There is some significance,
surely, in the order. It's the inspired Word of God. and even the syntax you see is
inspired the order of the words it came first in a sense to those
who are far off isn't that strange that sometimes you know we feel
ourselves to be so far off and we have
to be there, we have to come to the end of ourselves Isn't
that the way in which God deals with us? He shows us ourselves. We have to learn that awful doctrine
of total depravity. That we're dead in trespasses
and sins. That we're impotent and we can
do nothing for ourselves, nothing to help ourselves. Paul says
to the Galatians before faith came, we were kept under the
law. shut up to the faith which would afterward be revealed God
shuts us up shuts us up in all that we are as sinners and then
he says look unto me and be ye saved to all the ends of the
earth or when we feel ourselves in that state and sometimes even
as believers do we not feel on occasions our hearts have become
so hard and so cold and we can scarcely begin to pray And yet
even when we're in that state, there is such remarkable grace
in the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. He comes to those who
are far off. And the Psalmists knew that.
Or the Psalmists certainly experienced that. And we can see it in many
a Psalm. I'm sure as you read the Psalms
you recognize that. But look at Psalm 61. Hear my cry, O God, attend unto
my prayer. From the end of the earth, from
the end of the earth will I cry unto thee. When my heart is overwhelmed,
lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For thou hast been a
shouter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy. Oh, this
is the God that we can come to, because this is the God who first
comes to us. He comes to sinners. The Lord
Jesus comes to save sinners. Verse 13, Now in Christ Jesus
ye who sometimes were afar off are made nigh by the blood of
Christ. What are we to do then? Well
in Christ we can come. He goes on doesn't he in verse
18. to speak of prayer. We have the
preaching in verse 17. What is to be the response when
the Lord Jesus comes and speaks to us so directly in the service
of worship? Through Him we both have access
by one Spirit unto the Father. Oh, that's the blessing, you
see. In Him we have access. He says later, doesn't He? in
chapter 3 and verse 12 in whom we have boldness and access with
confidence by the faith of Him or that we might be those then
who by the goodness and the grace of God respond to the preaching
of our Lord Jesus Christ when He comes and when He speaks or
with those who bear that mark of His sheep we know His voice,
we follow Him Oh, we plead his name. We plead all that he is,
all that he has won. Well, the Lord willing, I want
this evening to go on and look at that 18th verse. The Lord
be pleased to bless his truth to us. Amen. We're going to sing our concluding
praise, the hymn 126. The tune is Tremellon 250. I'll speak the honours of my
King, his form divinely fair. None of the sons of mortal race
may with the Lord compare. Sweet is thy speech, and heavenly
grace upon thy lips is shed. Thy God, with blessings infinite,
has crowned thy sacred head. 126, Tune 250. I'll speak the honors of my king
His form divinely fair, Now all the sons of mortal race
May with the Lord compare. Sweetest I see, and heavenly
grace upon thy lips is shed. Thy God with blessings infinite
has crowned thy sacred head. Bear'd on thy sword, victorious
Prince, Right way, in majestic sway, Strike through like foes and
make the world obey. Thy throne, O God, forever stands. Thy word of grace shall prove my hands to rule thy saints I
love. Justice and truth attend thee
still not mercy is thy choice And God, thy God, thy soul shall
fill with most peculiar joys.