Sin divides. Pride divides. We're proud of our face. Proud of our place. Proud of our race. We're proud
of grace. And God hates pride. And in all
those Things in which we become so proud as nothing more than
sin causes division. But the one thing that helps
us as we go day by day and as we face the trials and the burdens
of our own sinfulness, the thing that helps us the most is when
we behold where we were. and where we now are. Our God calls on us to remember
sometimes. To remember. Tell the believer
to remember where you were and where you
are now and why you are where you are now. And if you can get
a hold of that, Why you're where you are now? Then you'll know
that tomorrow everything will be alright. Let's start out here
in Ephesians 2 verse 8. By grace are ye saved through
faith. And that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For
we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."
The grace of God has no respect of persons, our thoughts, or
our actions. The glory of grace is that God
performs all the work necessary to honor His holy name while
accomplishing the work of salvation for totally helpless sinners.
That's the glory of grace. You're saved through faith, which
is the gift of God. This gift of salvation is so
much so the work of God's grace. He has to give us the gift of
faith so that we receive Him freely. so that we don't look
at man, so we don't look at the things that we once looked at
with our carnal eyes, but now faith looks at the things that
aren't seen with the eye, with the carnal eye, with the fleshly
eye. And faith is the substance of things hoped for. Then it
says here that it's not of works, lest any man should boast. God's
made it clear to every believer here If you're truly one of His,
truly born of the Spirit of God, He's made it clear to you that
if He permitted you to perform one work, whether it was a work
to give ourselves spiritual life, a work to bring ourselves to
believe on Christ, a work to justify ourselves before God,
a work to make ourselves holy, a work to keep ourselves, to
free ourselves from the bondage of our own minds, anything at
all that He put into our hands, we'd brag on ourselves instead
of God. He said, everyone that's called
by my name, I've created him for my glory. I formed him. Yea, I've made him. He said,
for mine own sake, even for mine own sake will I do. For how should
my name be polluted? I won't give my glory unto another.
Believers are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto
good works. Unto good works that God before
ordained that we should walk in. He ordained before that some
sinners out of this wretched mass of corruption would be saved
out of this world by His grace, by the gift of faith, by His
workmanship to walk by faith, not by sight. To walk in love
as Christ loved us and gave Himself for us. To walk in wisdom redeeming
the time. To walk in light. To walk in
truth. To walk after the commandments
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so God brings each of His
chosen children to do so. He ordained before that they
would. Well, how did you come to walk in these good works? If you can find out and be brought
to remembrance how you came to walk in these good works, then
you'll know how you're going to walk in them tomorrow. Ephesians 2.11, he says, Wherefore
remember. Wherefore remember. It's good
to remember times past. You and I were Gentiles in the
flesh. Dead in trespasses and in sins. Hating God under the power of
the Prince of the air. fulfilling the lusts of the flesh
like brute beasts. The Ephesians were awful sinners,
lewd sinners, walking in banquetings and riot and excessiveness and
the lusts of the flesh. Awful, awful immorality. And
yet, as we've seen in Ephesians, in the book of Acts, the Ephesians
were religious. They had a temple. They had a
God. They had an idol. They had services. They had men who made items that
they used to worship. They had religion, and they thought
that their religion was true. They went on the day of worship,
and they worshiped their God. And they went then, live like
they wanted to live the rest of the time, every day, day to
day, and they went back and they worshiped their God. Their worship
was sort of a counterbalance to their sinful way of life. In reality, both were just as
evil and sinful, just brute beasts. He says in verse 11, Remember
that ye, being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called
uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in
the flesh made by hands. You see, the Gentiles and the
Jews put their confidence in the flesh. Now, everybody in
here who has been brought to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
by God's grace probably has a different experience of how you got there.
There's a few things we have in common. And one thing is this,
before we were brought to trust Christ, we all walked according
to the flesh. We trusted in our flesh. We judged
men according to the flesh. We looked at the outward appearance
of things. We looked at practice. And the only thing that made
us differ from anybody else was practice, what we could see outwardly. That was it. You note this phrase here, in
the flesh. The Jews held the Gentiles in
contempt. They held them in reproach. Because
the Jews called them foul dogs. Because the Gentiles didn't have
circumcision. They weren't circumcised in the
flesh like the Jews were. This was something given by God.
This was a ceremony that God gave. And they put much confidence
in that. And the Gentiles didn't have
it. They exalted themselves above the Gentiles. But if you notice,
the phrase here says that the Jews had it in the flesh as well.
Both of them, though one putting his confidence in some ceremony
that was given by God, the other putting his confidence in something
else, yet both of them were in the flesh. Both of them. You remember when we determined
a truth from a lie based on religious practice. Did you ever do that? Some do it now. Before God created us anew in
Christ, most everybody here was religious. Most everybody here
had some kind of upbringing in a church-based environment. whether we were like the Gentiles
who didn't have the oracles of God, or whether we were like
the Jews who did. Fleshly religious practice was
what we were proud of. We sinned all during the week
in our immorality, but we were there with Mom and Daddy on Sunday. Most of us. Most of us. And we judge things based on
outward appearance. We were taught to do that. That's
what we were taught to do. We may have spoken of Christ
Jesus, but in our vain imagination, in our sinfulness, our wretchedness,
we thought that what really brought us near to God was what we did
in our flesh. And we thought what separated
us and brought us far away from God was what we did in our flesh. So when we did something that
we knew we shouldn't do, we made sure to do that which we thought
we ought to do. Make up for the difference. Some of us, our confidence for
a long time, if you were saved out of religion, your confidence
for a long time was a decision. or an aisle walk, or a praying
through, or how you walk the Roman road, or some system of
doctrine you learned. I have friends who learned the
five points of Calvinism and preached the five points of Calvinism.
And then God saved them. God saved them and made them
to behold Christ. Our wall of separation was this. Now you tell me if this was not
the case with you. If it's not the case with some
of your loved ones, with just a natural inclination of the
flesh. This is where our wall of separation
was. This is what separated us from
others. Well, our denomination is better
than their denomination. Our choice of songs is better
than their choice of songs. Our church government's better
than their form of church government. Our creed's better than their
creed. Our way of making proselytes is better than their way of making
proselytes. Our way of making disciples is
better than their way of making disciples. Our pastors are better
than their pastors. And every bit of it was a love
for self. self-righteousness, self-justification,
self-sanctification. We called it liberty, but it
was bondage. We wouldn't have admitted it
at the time. We would never have admitted it at the time, but
we were going the way of Cain, bringing our earthy fruits and
mad as we could be at those who came with nothing but the blood
of a lamb. We talked about love, but we
hated in our hearts. We carried on in our sentimentality
as if everything was okay. And everything was okay, as long
as we just made our wall of separation to be practice. Practice. Practice. Let's don't make it
to be Christ Jesus the Lord. Let's don't talk too narrow about
the accomplishments of Christ Jesus the Lord. When you start
doing that, we didn't want any part of that. Those kind of folks
were too dogmatic. Those kind of folks were too
narrow. Those kind of folks acted as if all that mattered was knowing
Christ the Lord. The Jews who put their confidence
in the obedience to God's ordinances were as much without God as the
Gentiles were who weren't even a part of the Jewish economy. So it was with us. We were in
the broad way of death with those that we hated. Well, look here what he says. Verse 12, at that time you were
without Christ. Aliens from the common wealth
of God's true Israel. You know Christ is the wealth
of God's Israel. He's the pearl of great price.
Every believer has this one thing in common. Christ is everything
to us. Christ is all to us. At that
time, we were strangers from the covenants of promise, having
no hope without God in the world. We didn't have the Spirit of
Christ to govern us in the heart. We weren't led of the spirit
of life. We hadn't been freed from the
spirit of death, from the law of sin and death. We didn't have
Christ to rule in our hearts, who is the believer's rule of
life. We didn't have Christ. We were strangers from the covenants
of promise. In those times when we did pick
up a Bible and read it, We had no idea that that first covenant
that God made with Adam was a covenant of works. And that in an upright,
sinless environment, a man couldn't keep himself. A man couldn't
keep himself. We had no idea that when he died,
we died. We had no idea that spiritually
we lost all communion with God. We had no idea that was the case.
We had no spiritual understanding of the covenant of Mount Sinai.
We didn't understand what the law states. When we heard that
the law said, this do and live, we thought it meant that we could
do it and thereby we could live. We thought that's what it meant.
We didn't have any idea. God gave it and was given it
to teach us that we can't do it and we can't live, that the
law is spiritual and I'm carnal, soul under sin. We had no idea
that was the case with us. We had no spiritual understanding
that God's covenant promise to Abraham was an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things insure, fulfilled by the triune God,
and freely given to Abraham, wherein it was declared to him,
your salvation is accomplished. It's not dependent upon you or
anything you do or don't do. God said, I will and you shall. In thy seed, Christ Jesus, the
Son of God, who's coming years and years from now, Abraham,
shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. And it's by grace that it might
be by faith that the promise might be sure to all the seed. Couldn't be sure if it was any
way, if that covenant in any way was conditioned upon something
I did or something you did. And we didn't know anything about
this. We didn't know the depths of our sin. We didn't know that
what mom and dad was teaching us and what we were doing in
religion was just more sin. We didn't even know what we were
in ourselves. We had no idea. We didn't know
what God's Word said. We didn't know that salvation
is by promise. We had no idea of any of those
things. Whether we were using the things
of God or walking in our vain imagination, We didn't know God. We thought that this book was
a book where you went to it and you learned some rules and you
learned how you ought to do some things because that's what we're
taught. We were taught what you do and
what you don't do. We didn't have any idea that
this book was concerning the promise that all the prophets
spoke about through the whole book concerning Christ Jesus,
the Son of God. We had no idea that was the case.
And then once we turned over our new leaf and got into religion,
then we thought we're alright. We thought, well, we got it now. For some, it was going to confession
every week and talking to some goofy man in a booth. For some,
it was rubbing beads and saying a bunch of repetitious prayers.
For some, it was going to being Tie us in a church pew with our
good Baptist brethren. Look at verse 13. But now, but now, in Christ Jesus,
ye who sometimes were 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.
We were far off, but now we're made nigh. We had no peace with
God, no peace with men, no peace in our hearts, but now Christ
Jesus is our peace. We were separated by that middle
wall of petition, that wall of hatred for God and hatred for
men, that wall that was built up of our self-righteousness. But now Christ has broken down
that middle wall of petition. He broke it down. He abolished
in His flesh the enmity, the hatred, that wall of separation
by taking those things that we thought made us to differ and nailing them to His cross
and making it to where practice don't make us to differ. Blotting out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us which was contrary to us,
He took it out of the way and nailed it to His cross. And now,
in Christ Jesus, you who were sometimes afar off are made nigh
by the blood of Christ. Now, what matters to you is precious
blood. Precious blood. This blood who
justified you. this blood that sanctified you,
this blood that reconciled you to God, this blood that redeemed
you, this blood, this blood is precious to us. And God came
and He took some Jews and He took some Gentiles, He took some
male and He took some female, He took some rich, He took some
poor, He took some in bondage and some free, and He made us
one. in Christ Jesus. You know what
that is? You know what happens? You know
what really happens? Now think of this. What really
happens when that takes place is God takes all of those things
that the sinful, deceitful, deceiving, carnal heart thinks matters out
of the way. And now all that matters is Christ
Jesus, the Son of God, and being found in Him. Isn't that what
Paul said? He said, I renounce all that
stuff that I put confidence in because it's dung. And the promoters
of it are dung beetles. That's all they are. I want to
be found in Christ. Not having mine own righteousness,
which is done by my practice, but the righteousness of God,
which is by faith of Christ. That's what I want. That's all
that matters. It says here, verse 15, He is our peace. He's broken
down the middle wall of petition. He's abolished in His flesh the
enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for
to make of Himself of two, Jew and Gentile, one new man, so
making peace that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by
the cross, having slain the enmity thereby." You know in the synagogue
there was a wall in the synagogue? And there was a wall that separated
male from female. There was a wall that separated
Jews from Gentiles. That's exactly what the majority,
99.9% of religion. is. It's a wall of separation
based on male and female, bond or free, Jew or Gentile, Baptist
or Presbyterian, Pentecostal or Catholic or Hindu or Muslim
or whatever, and it's all nothing more but practice. Our practice
is different from your practice. Until Christ is made unto you
to be all, A-double-L all, All. All. Then all your religion is,
is practice. All it is, is a vain show. All
it is, is sentimentalism. All it is, is thinking it's all
right, just so you believe something. I had a woman tell me that one
time. A woman told me one time, I've told my children, I don't
care, I won't judge you on what you believe, just believe something. Okay? Just believe something. Is truth worth anything? Does
truth matter? Is truth really truth? Can you call something black
and really mean it's white? Can you call something dead and
really mean it's living? Can you call something a failure
and really mean it succeeded? Can you call something broad
and really mean it's narrow? I think words mean something
because I think God the Word means something. I think promise
means something because I think the covenant of God means something.
I think truth is truth and a lie is a lie. It's as clear as black
and white. No gray area in between. I think
when God said, I'm going to send you pastors according to my own
heart and they're going to feed you with knowledge and understanding
that He truly meant He's going to send pastors after His own
heart and they're going to preach Christ Jesus, the power and wisdom
of God. I truly believe that when He
said, I'm going to send them, they're going to preach Christ
in Him crucified, and I'm going to turn you from the ark. I'm
going to turn you from your earthly religion. I'm going to turn you
from your earthly Jerusalem. I'm going to turn you from your
earthly thrones. I'm going to turn you from those things that are
not making the difference, that you think make all the difference,
and you'll never again go back to them. I truly believe that
when He said, when I send those pastors and they preach Christ
to you, I'm going to turn you from your vain imaginations,
and you're not going to take part in that anymore. I believe
Him. Do you? If you've experienced
it, you believe Him. If you haven't, you don't. If
you haven't, you still think you can make men be holy by something
you do. You haven't experienced it. You
still want to use that old gun that won't shoot. Can't get nothing
done. But He did this. Look up at verse
4. But God, whose rich in mercy
for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, before we even knew anything, hath quickened
us together with Christ. By grace, ye are saved, and hath
raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places
in Christ, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding
riches of His grace and His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
But now, the Lord had done this for us. He had redeemed us. And
He had gone to the Father. But we didn't know it. We didn't
know it. We were using our wisdom and
our strength. Everything we did. We counted
His Gospel absolutely foolishness. We regarded those who preached
it as just weak, ignorant men. To us, true wisdom was not to
speak of divine election based absolutely on God's sovereignty.
We thought it was wisdom to use words that made His electing
grace so that a sinner could not be quite so offended by it
and think that it was partly based on his choice. It was wisdom
to us not to speak of Christ Jesus, the Son of God, Somebody asked us about where
we worship. I can remember giving people
an idea of where we worshiped. And I didn't know God. I didn't
know him. I didn't believe him. And I didn't
want to be around any part of it. But I had to be there because
my parents made me. And I remember trying to explain
it to folks. And I can remember I grew up
in a church that didn't have a bunch of extra things. It was
the preaching of Christ and Him crucified. That's what we had.
And I can remember trying to explain to people what we had. What kind of things do you have
for the children? Just preaching. What do you have
for the parents? Preaching. How do you counsel
people? Preach to them. How do you correct
them and discipline them? Preach Christ to them. That's
all they do. It sounds as goofy to me as it
does to you, I thought at the time. That's all they do. And that seemed wise to us to
not do that. To not talk of atonement fully
accomplished for each one that he represented. We thought it
was wise to make God out to be sort of a salesman. through just
offering salvation to everybody without exception. We crafted
our words instead of proclaiming to every man a maggot in need
of mercy. Instead, we put the emphasis
on the sinner and on the sinner's works. Practice, practice, practice,
practice. We made God out to be a beggar
at the beckoning call of a sinner. We took the offense out of the
cross. because it was offensive to us. We didn't want to have
anything to do with that kind of gospel. That was foolishness
to us, and the men who insisted on preaching it were stupid,
ignorant men. That's what they were, base men.
Foolish men that didn't know there's something more. Foolish
men that didn't have any idea there's a whole lot more to the
gospel than Christ. You people make an idol out of
Christ. That's what we're accused of.
We thought it was strength to go along with the majority. We
thought strength was in wise oratory, in outward dress, in man who had something that could
impress you. That was strength to us. Programs. All sorts of things to catechize
people. That was wisdom. Strength to
us. We thought we could make ourselves
and other folks holy men and women. And all the while, like
the Ephesians were doing, we were worshiping an idol. And
that idol, we looked at every day in the mirror. But then one day, look at verse
17. Verse 17. Jesus Christ came. and preached peace to you which
were far off and to them that were nigh." When did Christ come
and preach to the Ephesians? When He sent His pastor, the
Apostle Paul, just like He promised He would, and preached Christ
to them. When did Christ come and preach
peace to you? when he sent his pastor declaring
Christ Jesus the all-victorious King Priest. And you hath he
quickened who were dead in trespasses and in sin. He used no wisdom
of words. You remember, he was the man
that nobody liked. I tried to point out to you Thursday
night, the Pharisees didn't like him because he preached Christ. They didn't like Christ because
He declared, I am the way, the truth, and the life. They didn't
like Christ because He had sinners and publicans with Him. And the
Pharisees, if they found somebody guilty of sin, they kicked them
out of the church. They put them on probation until
they repented and came back. They wouldn't dare receive them
to themselves. Not that harlot. If he knew what
kind of person that was, he wouldn't let her come near him. the Pharisees
said. But you see, what Christ does,
He does in the heart. What Christ does, He does in
spirit and in truth. What Christ does, He does through
faith that can't be seen. You see the effects of it, but
it's Christ Jesus the Lord we lay hold of and it's a spiritual
salvation. And then those who have experienced
it No, no man after the flesh. Do you? Are you still looking
at the flesh? Are you still putting confidence
in? If you're looking at others, I guarantee you're putting confidence
in your own. Guarantee it. But He didn't use
that that wisdom of words, he used the gospel we call foolishness. He used earthen vessels that
the power might be of God and not of us. And he made us fools
to ourselves. We thought we were so wise and
he made us fools. And he made that which we thought
was so wise to be foolishness. that preaching that we thought
was wisdom became foolishness. I'm going to be quite honest
with you. There's some preachers that I'm fearful some folks like
that I can't stand to listen to because they're weak. Their gospel's weak. It's dis-ragged,
weak, dirty gospel. Nothing to it. There's no power
in it. It's all about practice, practice,
practice. He made us to see that all we
are is sin and in everything that we come short of the glory
of God. And He made that gospel we call
wise foolishness and He made the gospel we call foolishness
to be the power of God unto salvation when the dynamite came and busted
our heart. He turned us from our earthly
ark. He made Jews and Gentiles, those we opposed when we were
in our vain religion, while we were walking in the vanity of
our own minds, and looking down our noses at them, and basing
everything. He made all that to go by the
wayside, and He made us to behold Christ Jesus the Lord, the Lamb
of God, and He brought us together with some of the most outlandish
characters we never would have had anything to do with before.
We were far too holy to have anything to do with some of the
people that He made us call a brother and a sister. Because He took
our eyes off of one another, and our religion, and the world,
and the earth, and our practice, and He put our eyes on Christ
Jesus, His Son, in full, complete salvation and acceptance with
God. That's how He brings people together.
That's how He It breaks down the wall that divides. Verse
18, For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the
Father. Galatians 3.28 says, There is
neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there
is neither male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. All those distinctions, all those
things that made us to differ, we thought in our minds, are
gone now. Because we are one in Christ
Jesus. And if you be Christ, then are you Abraham's seed and
heirs according to the promise. Now look here in verse 19. Let's
just read this out. 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 prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the
chief coroner, in whom all the building fitly framed together
groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye also are
builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. Now
then, brethren, look over to Ephesians 4 with me. having remembered
where we were, and having seen how we have been saved by grace,
through faith, not of works lest any man should boast, but with
God's workmanship, because God foreordained that we should walk
in these good works, walk by faith, not by sight, that just
shall live, how? By faith. Now watch. Having seen this,
brethren, what's our constraint? What is it that brings us together
to forgive, to help one another, to look over to infirmities in
one another, to turn from our sinfulness and those wretched
ways that we used to walk in, in immorality and in that old,
vain, sinful, God-hating religion? What is it? Look at verse 1 of
chapter 4. I therefore, the prisoner of
the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith
ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering,
forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity
of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, one
body, Christ is the head. We're the members of His body. One body. One Spirit. Even as you're called in one
hope of your calling. Christ Jesus, the hope of glory.
Christ in you, the hope of glory. One Lord. One faith. One baptism. One God and Father
of all who is above all and through all and in you all. We've been
made one. Verse 22, that you put off concerning the
former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to
the deceitful lusts. Oh, how we love sin. Oh, how
we loved it. Deceitful lust. Oh, how we love
to... Walk in religion and call that
righteousness when it was just sinful, deceitful lusts. Everything
about us, outside of the church and in the church, deceitful
lusts. Don't walk anymore that way.
Be renewed in the spirit of your mind. And put ye on the new man,
which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore, putting away lying,
speak every man truth with his neighbor, for we are members
one of another. And look down at verse 32. And
be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as
God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. when the Lord is talking in Matthew
5 and 6, and He's talking about don't resist evil. He's talking
about if you know that your adversary has ought against you, go to
him and be reconciled to him. When you know that adultery and
fornication is a heart matter, know this, brethren, we don't
have any reason to defend ourselves. None. None. You are a worm and
I am a worm. We don't have any reason to defend
ourselves, to try to justify ourselves, to try to separate
ourselves, to try to exalt ourselves over another. And how wonderful
it is when God makes us one in Christ. to not have to worry
about trying to justify ourselves. To not worry about trying to
sanctify ourselves. To not worry about, but to be
knowing, to know what we are so that it's so easy to be reconciled. It's easier to
forgive. It's easier because you know
what you are. And I know what I am. And the
only thing The only thing that has made us to differ is grace,
the gift of faith, being His workmanship, being brought to
have all our practices taken away and become vanity to us,
to behold Christ, Christ alone. That's what makes sinners one.
That's what makes sinners walk in love. That's what makes sinners
walk in truth. Forgive. Be kind to one another. Be long-suffering to one another.
I pray God would remind you where you've been, how you got to where
you are, and who's going to deliver you tomorrow. Grace, grace, grace. One in one. That's what we are,
one in one. Amen.