Our scripture reading tonight comes to us from Paul's letter to the Ephesians, chapter 2, and I will be reading verses 1 through 22, the entire chapter, Ephesians chapter 2, verses 1 through 22. Hear now the word of God. As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in transgressions. It is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called uncircumcision by those who call themselves the circumcision, that done in the body by the hands of men, remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now, in Christ Jesus, you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. Beloved, may God bless his word to our hearts and to our minds this evening by his Holy Spirit. When someone says the word racism, many things come to our mind. As children and as adults, we think maybe back to what we learned in school or back to what we experienced as adults growing up in a very divided country in the 1960s. We think of historical persons and events. We think of Rosa Parks, who just died within the last month. We think of Martin Luther King Jr. We think of the day in the South when schools were segregated. We think of Malcolm X, George Wallace, the KKK, Adolf Hitler. The amount of things and names and events that come to our mind are endless. Because we live, indeed, in this country and all around the world in a place where racism exists. because men are embittered against other men as a result of sin. But as bad as racism is today, and indeed it is very bad, this is nothing compared to the situation in the first century. When we look at what took place in the first century, we see a society in which Gentiles were alienated from Israel. in which Gentiles were neglected. Gentiles, that's you and me. In this room, most of us here are Gentiles. We were neglected, looked down upon as second-class citizens just because we were Gentiles. In Acts chapter 21, we read about such an event. Paul's traveling in Jerusalem with a good friend of his, Trophimus, in Ephesians. He's traveling in Jerusalem with this Ephesian, going about his duty. And some Jews see him and they think, whoa, Paul, you're here in Jerusalem with Trophimus. And immediately they think, they assume that Paul must have brought Trophimus into the temple. And we know that the temple is divided into a court for the Gentiles, a court for the priests, a court for the men and women of Israel. It's divided. And they assumed immediately that Paul must have brought him in there. Hatred and enmity and strife was the result. Paul was almost lynched. He was driven out of Jerusalem. Now when we hear that, we see the deep bitterness and the sin that existed at that time. But Paul comes to us here in the book of Ephesians, and he's writing to us about the church. He's writing to us about us, the people of God. And he says the church is one, it's holy, and it's apostolic. One people of God, Jew and Gentile, together under Christ, our exalted head. And in particular, in chapter 2, verses 11 through 14 of Ephesians, which is what we will be focusing on here tonight, Paul moves for us from alienation to reconciliation. And he does this by talking to us, Gentile Christians. And he answers one specific question for us. The question is, how can Gentile Christians be brought near to God? How in the world is that possible? And his point is that you Gentile Christians, you and me, and the Gentiles throughout history, have been brought near to God through the blood of Christ, it says in verse 13. And you have been made together into one people of God, the church, under Christ, our head. As we look at these verses tonight, we'll be looking at two points. First, what we once were as strangers. What we once were as strangers. Secondly, what we are now in Christ. To begin with then, what we once were as strangers. Look with me here at Ephesians 2, verse 11. Paul says, Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called uncircumcision by those who call themselves the circumcision, that done in the body by the hands of men. Now, that seems like a strange place to stop, and it is. But what we need to look at here is this word at the beginning of this verse. Two words, in fact. The first word is therefore. And children, you know, you're taking grammar probably over here at Calvin Christian, and you know from your teachers that when you see the word therefore, you need to ask what it is therefore. And the key to this text is asking that question. Because Paul says, therefore, and he's telling the Gentiles the second word to look at here. He's telling them, in fact, he's commanding them to remember. Remember what? Well, remember what we just read in Ephesians chapter 2, verses 1 through 10. Remember, O Gentile Christians, the former state in which you once lived. We all know verses 1 through 10. It's a familiar section of scripture. And for good reason. This is what we once were. We once were alienated from God because of our sin. We once were dead in our sins and trespasses. So, Paul is saying, Gentiles, take a step back here. Take a step back and look at your history as a people. And this is not a pretty thought, beloved. This is us now, us Gentile Christians, looking back at what we once were. And it's not pretty. Dead in trespasses and sins. By nature, children of wrath. Walking according to the course of this world. and what Paul is doing here in verses 11 and verse 12 is he's summarizing what he said for us in the first three verses, and he's showing us Gentile Christians that we have no reason to boast, no reason to be proud, because remember from where you came. Remember that you're called the uncircumcision, Paul says here in verse 11. The uncircumcision. This is a word that carries a lot of weight. In the Old Testament, God made a covenant with Abraham. He told Abraham to circumcise his son, which was a sign and a seal, of course, of God's promise and his grace. Those who were not circumcised were profane. They were polluted. They were outside of the covenant. No spiritual benefits. No grace. And indeed, far off from God. That's what Paul is saying here. You Gentiles, the uncircumcision, formerly were far off from God. And he lists for us now, as we go on into verse 12, he lists for us five specific ways in which we Gentile Christians formerly, that's the key word here in verse 11 as well, formerly were far off from God. So look now as we read verse 12 once again. Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. Five things here, beloved. Five statements about what we once were. before the coming of Christ, we Gentile Christians were separate from Christ, he says. Now, what he means by that is that the spiritual benefits, which Paul talked about in Ephesians chapter 1, the fact that you have redemption through Christ's blood, the fact that you have this glorious inheritance sealed for you, these things aren't yours. At one time, you were separate from these things. You have alienated God because of your sin. But not only that, he says you're excluded from the commonwealth of Israel. In the Old Testament, of course, we remember God entered into a covenant with his people. God chose the Jewish people to be a holy nation, a people set apart for himself. And there was enmity, there was hostility, there was strife. between the Jews and the Gentiles. An example of this is seen in the fact that if a Gentile woman was about to give birth, a Jewish woman was forbidden to help in the process of giving birth. Janie Brown had a baby this morning. If someone was there that could help her, and this person refused to help her, we'd have a problem on our hands. So if you're a Jewish woman, and you're in the neighborhood of a Gentile woman who's giving birth, you better not go help out. Because if you do, you'll be helping to bring another Gentile into the world. If a Jewish boy married a Gentile girl, the funeral for that Jewish boy was carried out. Example after example, enmity and strife. But perhaps the most striking example comes to us from our text. You see there, at the end of verse 14, the dividing wall. Hmm, the dividing wall. Now, I say this word because it's important to think about this. Often we'll just read through this text without realizing what this dividing wall is. Well, if you lived in the first century, you certainly would know what it was. Because, again, this goes back to the temple. And children, you know all about the temple. You probably read about it with your family at home. During catechism class, you hear your teachers telling you about the temple. Well, the temple was built on a platform. On the same level as the temple was the court for the men, the court for the priests, the court for the women of Israel. If you go down five steps, right here there's four steps, so go down about one more. Go down 14 more steps, cross a wall, cross another wall, and then on the other side of that other wall, a lot of walls here, that's the court of the Gentiles. And a Gentile who was in that court could see the temple, but he couldn't approach it. There's a wall, and that's the dividing wall separating Jews from Gentiles. A sign on this dividing wall says, trespassers will be executed. This is the wall that separated Jew from Gentile. An example of enmity. This is the wall that Trophimus, Trophimus, Paul's friend from Acts 21, he couldn't go beyond that wall. He's a Gentile. You can't enter. But not only that, if Paul stopped there in verse 12 with the fact that they're excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, that's bad enough. But he goes further. He penetrates further and says, you Gentiles are strangers to the covenants of promise. what he's saying here is that he's again going back in redemptive history God's unfolding of his purposes throughout time and he's saying that the covenant of grace that covenant I promised in Genesis 3.15 that covenant I made with Abraham in Genesis 12 you're strangers to that covenant Gentiles you're strangers to that covenant Because before Christ came, you did not realize that this was going to be fulfilled and one day would include you. You're strangers to that covenant of promise. And this is seen in the fact that you're without hope. The fourth disability here in verse 12. You're without hope because you don't even realize that in God's plan, in his grace and in his mercy, in his sovereign plan, he plans to include you. people from among the Gentiles. But you don't know that, so you're without hope. And literally, you're without God. You're godless. The Greek word here is the fact that you're an atheist. Now, the Gentiles, they believed in gods, sure enough. Great is Artemis of the Ephesians. We read that again in the book of Acts, chapter 19. The Gentiles worshipped all the pagan gods of the first century. And in Ephesus here, they did very much the same thing that they did elsewhere. So they worshipped gods, but they did not worship the God of Scripture. And according to 1 Corinthians 8, verse 4, if you worship an idol, that idol is worthless. You might as well be an atheist, worshipping nothing. Because those who do not worship the true God are godless. They're without God. And those who are without God are without Christ. 1 John 2.23 says that. In fact, it says, whoever does not have the Son does not have the Father. God is against us, not for us, if we are without God. Now, that's a lot to take in. Boy, we just read five scathing remarks about the fact that we Gentiles are excluded from God. We're far off from the covenant of promise. We're Christless. We're stateless. We're godless. And we're hopeless. Beloved, many of us were raised in a Christian home. Many of you children here today are being raised in the fear of God. And you're raised in a covenant home in which your parents are instructing you about the things of Christ. But even if we are raised in a covenant home, Paul wants us to look back and to remember what our plight would be apart from Christ. Now, there's many of us here as well who were not raised in a Christian home and who can remember that day when we were godless and Christless and without hope. We can remember that day. And what we should do when we read a text like this is rejoice. We should be encouraged because look at what we came from. Look at what God saved us from in his mercy and in his grace. We were far off, but now we have been brought near. Those who do not believe, however, receive a warning in this text. Because this is still the situation for those who are not believers. Gentile or Jew at this point. This is the situation. They are without God. Now you might say, well we're in church here today, so there aren't any unbelievers in church. Well, I'm sure many of you have experiences, and I myself have experiences, of knowing people that would come to church week after week, Lord's Day after Lord's Day, yet not believe. At a church I attended in Minneapolis before I came here, there was an old man. He used to sit way up in the balcony, way in the back. He'd sit there every week to hear the preaching of the word. Every week. But he'd go up to the pastor after, shake his hand, shake his head as well, and say, I don't believe. It's interesting. A lot of interesting things here. I don't believe. The very son of this pastor would come. He would come to hear his dad preach, but he did not believe. Thanks be to God, the son of this pastor does now believe. This text is an encouragement for him now. But at that point when he was coming to hear the preaching of the word, every week he did not believe. There are unbelievers in our churches, and we point them to the cross. We don't leave them sitting in the state of what we once were apart from Christ, but we point them to the cross, which is now our second point. The fact that what we Gentiles are now in Christ is reconciled. We were alienated from God because of our sin, from the Jews as well. Now we are reconciled to God in Christ. Look now at verse 13. But now, in Christ Jesus, you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. Beloved, remember, as we read this text, he's talking about us. You and me, Gentile Christians, and this is an amazing comfort and an amazing encouragement. But now, Paul says, but now you who formerly were far off have been brought near. This language of far and near, this is Old Testament language. We see this throughout scripture. In the Old Testament, God entered into a covenant with his people. And he said in making this covenant promise, I will be your God and you will be my people. He said this to his people Israel. They are brought near because of the promise of God. But now, Paul says, you Gentiles who were far off, you have been brought near. And it's happened by two things. Through the blood of Christ and in Christ. You might think, that sounds pretty similar. It is. But Paul's making two points here by saying this. First, he says, you are brought near by the blood of Christ, there in verse 13. And what he's saying is this. In Ephesians chapter 1, verse 7, if you'll turn there, you can see what Paul means when he says, you have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Ephesians 1 verse 7 in him we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God's grace the blood of Christ here is talking about the sacrifice of Christ on the cross it's talking about what he did on Calvary Christ's blood was shed for the remission of sins a sin offering and a guilt offering took place on Calvary. And that's the contrast here. Paul says the words, but now. In Ephesians chapter 2, verse 4, which we read a few moments ago, we also saw that amazing word, but God. Two words, but God. Talking about how God has been rich in mercy towards us in Christ. Again, we see a contrast in verse 13. But now you have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Formerly you Gentile Christians were far off, dead in sins and trespasses, without Christ, without God. But now, by the blood of Christ, by his sacrifice, you have been brought near. You also have been reconciled, Paul says, in Christ Jesus. We see that in verse 13 of chapter 2. this is talking about our union with Christ. It's talking about the blessings that Christ has won for us, that we are now united to Christ. We have become one with Christ through, again, through his blood. In Christ, by the blood of Christ. And the result is, is that there is no more alienation between Gentiles and God. Look at 2 Corinthians 5, verses 18 through 20. Paul again wrote this letter, 2 Corinthians chapter 5. He wrote this letter and he's talking again about this language of alienation and reconciliation. Ephesians, I'm sorry, 2 Corinthians 5, verses 18 through 20. All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. Reconciliation. And how did this take place? It says God has reconciled us to himself through Christ. That's how it's happened. That's how we Gentiles who are Christless and godless have been brought near. It's in Christ. Romans chapter 5, verse 10 says the same thing. In verse 8, many of us know verse 8, God demonstrated his love to us in this, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Then verse 10, we were enemies of God. We were sinners, but we were reconciled to him through the death of his son. And how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life? This is what has happened. What we are now in Christ is reconciled to God through the cross. But not only that, we are reconciled to the Jews. Because as we began our sermon, there's hostility and enmity between Jew and Gentile. But Ephesians 2 addresses that point as well. Look back in our text now at Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians 2 verse 14 For he himself is our peace who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier the dividing wall of hostility. The dividing wall has been removed. This dividing wall that again separates the court of the Gentiles from the rest of the temple this wall has been removed. And what is remarkable about this statement is the fact that when Paul was writing the book of Ephesians, the wall was still standing. Physically, that wall was still there in Jerusalem. But Paul writes here in verse 14 that the wall has come down. It's an amazing statement because if someone read this, they would look and they would say, Paul, the wall's there. What do you mean the wall has come down? The wall has been broken down through Christ, is what Paul says. And the two groups have become one. Reconciliation through his blood. You might ask, well, what are the results of this? Well, verse 15 talks about those results. It talks about the law of commandments. The law of commandments, beloved, that's the ceremonial law. That's the law that said, well, you Jews, in order to be separate from the rest of the nations, don't eat lobster, don't eat pork, all these rules setting them apart. That's been fulfilled, beloved. That has been fulfilled. The two have become one. And as Gentiles, we are part of the true Israel of God. There is one unified plan of salvation. One plan of salvation, one set of covenant promises. Now, we need to let this sink in just a little bit. Because the same covenant that God made with Abraham back in Genesis 12, That covenant of grace, that covenant which the Gentiles were not a part of before, well, that covenant has now been fulfilled in Christ, and as Gentiles, we enter into this covenant. We are inheritors of this covenant. We are, to use the language of Paul in Romans 11, we are grafted into the olive tree. Formerly, we were not a part of the commonwealth of Israel. Formerly, we weren't heirs of these promises. But now, Christ has broken down the wall through his blood, through his righteousness. And we are now fellow citizens with Jewish Christians in the church of Jesus Christ. The result is that, as we see here in verse 14, Christ is our peace, beloved. We have peace with God, peace with Jew and Gentile together because Christ is our peace. This is a new society. This is what all the Old Testament was anticipating. The acorn in the Old Testament in Genesis 3.15 has grown into an oak tree. The promises of God flow through redemptive history. It's organic. It's progressive. And the promise has been fulfilled and we look forward to that day when there will be no more strife, when there will be no more enmity, when we will dwell forever in the new heavens, in the new earth. Together, Jew and Gentile, one Israel God, together, under Christ, our exalted head. So be encouraged, Christian. Be encouraged when we hear these words. Formerly we were far off, but now, those powerful words, but now, you have been brought near through the blood of Christ. Amen. Let us pray. Father, we thank you tonight. We come to you with hearts of gratitude and prayers of thankfulness for the gospel. for the good news and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. We thank you, O God, for the cross where you showed your love to us, where you acted in love to purchase your people, both Jew and Gentile, to bring us near to God. We thank you for this Trinitarian redemption. The plan of the Father was fulfilled by the Son and is applied to us by the Holy Spirit. So, Father, we rejoice and we are encouraged with the news of the gospel. Let us go forth from here, Father, with the joy of Christ in our hearts, singing praises to him with hearts of gratitude for what he has done in so great a salvation. For Jesus' sake, amen.