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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/daniel-shutt/ephesians-2-1-22/
Let's read together Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2. And you happy quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation in time past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as of old.
But God, who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sin, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace we are saved, and hath raised us up together and made us together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding richness of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
For by grace are we saved through faith, and that not in ourselves it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should go astray. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Wherefore remember that we being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called unto circumcision by that which is called the circumcision of the flesh made by hands, that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the providence of the promised land, no hope then without God in the world.
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 those one and hath broken down the middle wall and partitioned between us, having avowed Jesus Christ the entity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of twenty one new man, so with him peace.
And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enemy thereby, and came and preached peace to you which were far off, and to them that were nigh. For through him we both have 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 prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth, unto a holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye also are built together for inhabitation of God through the Spirit.
I trust Romano will bless his word and the comments that we make about it, together with what you've already been listening to. I have made an outline for this reading, this is just by the way, particularly for young believers who are here.
I have not in this outline tried to tell you everything I know about it, although that's ahead of getting done, but I have just tried to create a simple takeaway for you, so that you have something to write on, and record some of the truths that are going to be explained, but it also creates something that you can go back to when you get old, and you come to Ephesians 2 in your regular Bible reading.
One of the things that I have kept over the years is a big heavy series of binders, filled with notes from Bible readings, and they have been of inestimable value to me, and so I just offer this to you as just a simple reminder of where we're going to go in the Bible reading today.
Let me say one other thing before I start, and that is this. There are a lot of parts of the Scripture that we can discuss somewhat dispassionately, but I cannot do that with Ephesians chapter 2, because 45 years ago, I came to know the Lord Jesus, and here's this chapter, and while we might discuss repentance and all sorts of things, this is my salvation, and He gives everything to me.
And so I would like to plead with everyone, in our efforts to clearly explain this, let us keep a pure devotional tone, and understand that what is being described here is the very pinnacle of our blessing, that God, by the mighty power that raised up Christ from the dead, has reached down into a valley of high mountains, and it isn't told by you or me.
That is the wonder of God's grace, and if we ever lose sight of that, we're salt. And so I hope the Lord will help us to be warmly devotional, in light of all that He has done for us. Now, we have a massive task, and I'm going to try to be polite, but I'm going to be assertive as well, because we have 22 verses, and we have just about an hour.
So let me do this. Let me tell you that the chapter divides itself into two great parts. In the first half of this chapter, verses 1 through 10, there are dead people that are regenerated. And in the second half of the chapter, there are distanced people that are brought near.
That's wonderful. The first half of the chapter is moral. It is about the forgiveness of my sins through the Lord Jesus. The second half of the chapter is dispensation. It is an explanation of what God is doing in Christ, in His age, in uniting Jew and Gentile.
And so I think we're going to just plunge right into the chapter. Long introductions are not to be appreciated by me or by anybody else. And so I just want to show you that chapter 1, even though the subject shifts from the glory of Christ and the immensity of His wisdom and power, certainly chapter 2, beginning with this little word, and, finds itself in a wonderful continuity.
Let me just try to tell you how I think the opening lines of chapter 2 are linked with what has gone before. When Mr. McCullough was reading in verse 18, for example, about this great list of Jews, the whole of His calling, verse 18, and the riches of His inheritance, and the power of His resurrection.
Now, I think that the Holy Spirit is not done speaking about His power. Because we've talked about the resurrection of Christ, that is His power. We have talked about the employment of the dominion of Christ, that is an exhibition of His power.
We have talked about His headship and the place that He has taken. I think that is a great display of divine power. But, now we are going to see something new. We are actually going to see the power of Him that raised up Jesus, our Lord from the dead.
We are going to see that mighty power displayed in His image. I cannot imagine a darker scene than the lines that open Ephesians chapter 2. Someone has written that we begin as spiritual corpses, that is very colorful, and I like colorful descriptions.
I think that is a good one. But I like what William Macdonald wrote a number of years ago. He said, no scene irrelevant ever advanced from such rank to such riches. And I think that is just a really sweet little thing to remember about Ephesians chapter 2.
God's delightful and powerful purposes begin with very dreadful materials. We are going to see the depths of our innate natural depravity, inflamed by the world in which we live, and driven by the prince of the power of the end.
We are going to see that God, who is rich in worth, has stepped in and rescued those just like you and me. So, let's just begin with this. On our outline, I have written about these four things that we have in this first half, and we will spend the first half hour on this.
The darkness of sin. And that is verses 1 through 3. Then the design of love. How could we miss this? The rich mercy and the great love that we have just been singing about in our hymn. And then the dawn of salvation and life.
And here we are going to be paused to worship because this is all of God. I will tell you, these boys that want to add works to faith. I will tell you, they ought to just get a good reading of Ephesians chapter 2.
I want to tell you something. God saved me when I was dead and dark and helpless. And He reached in and He rescued me and saved me. And I am happy about it today. I hope that shows. What a wonderful thing.
And then in verse 10 we are going to talk about the duty of new life in Christ. Because God has selected us, God has chosen us, God has saved us with a purpose. God has not saved you to lean back and hear a spiritual change loud and ride off into the sunset of glory.
God has saved you to serve Him. And we are going to talk a little at the end of the first half hour about the great dignity of living for the Lord Jesus and fulfilling His purpose in our lives. So let's just begin with that.
We are going to start with verse 1. And you were dead in trespasses and sins. Let's read another chapter in verse 10. In fact the word that he uses here is the word for corpse. It indicates an estrangement that is complete, a sensitivity to God and to His Lord.
And you know for those of us who were raised in Christian homes, we sometimes fancy ourselves to be very acquainted with the God of the Bible. This verse gives us really God's insight as it were. But someone is dead in burial.
But we were dead in God's messes. So there's a great contrast. Remember my brother had said, this is what chose me. And all these beautiful truths I've been considering are not, but constructed into this building.
What kind of material can be used? Dead, devoid of any living principle of Godhood at all. So this is what we were by nature. Not merely what we had done. Trespasses and sins. But it switches down to what we were or being.
Being dead. And the evidence of our nature was in our acts. And so trespasses we definitely violated what we knew to be short of the door of God. And then of course sins, I take it as a more general term.
It could even be sins of ignorance. It could be a falling short in any possible way. But certainly the nature always acts. And God sees not only the root, but He sees the fruit. And we were dead. It unfolds in Genesis 3.
The day that Thou atest the fruit Thou shalt surely die. Then you find Adam hiding behind the trees in the garden of God. Thank you brother Robert. There's actually a close connection I think in these verses with Genesis chapter 1.
Because Genesis 1 begins with darkness. And yet there is a display of divine power. And light is imparted. And then order is seen. And that clearly is the theme of these first ten verses. So I do think there's a very intimate connection.
Five little statements in my Bible. Let me read them. I don't read other things in my mind. It's a statement. God is. Verse 1. We're dead spiritually. Verse 2. We're dominated physically. Especially the verses.
And verse 3. Verse 3 also. We're disillusioned morally. Verse 3. We're a selfish necklace to the desires of the mind. And verse 3. Again. We're condemned to this world. So we're not God. So there's five points that I think are very simple.
Let me read them. In the Assyrian. In the Assyrian novel. It was probably June 25th. Or in the same ground. The same model. The very long distance. Dispensational. But in the very same model. And I wonder.
Maybe this is wrong. Maybe this is right. We're dead of transplants and sins. And I thought maybe genitalia were dead due to transplants. But it's true of them all no matter how you look at it. Yeah. And I think Romans 3 would be the exact counterpart to that story.
Paul surveys humanity under different circumstances and under different relationships. But it includes Paul. You know, as being, I think. As you conclude these verses, Brother Dan. It would be good to remind our hearts that this is the place that the Lord Jesus took for us in substitution.
Under the judicial justice of God. I was thinking, Brother Dan, that in the early verses he's reviewing the facts. He's reminding them of what they were. Then he comes in verses 4 and 6. Regarding the present.
That they've been brought into which exists because of the work of Christ. And then he reveals the future. In verse 7. He takes them on to that glorious day. Under the authority of Jesus Christ. I think the Bible is very clear that while there is a holy trinity.
And it's upon the Son of the Holy Spirit. There is an unholy trinity as well. We are by nature. Dan, I think the phrase alluded to. But there is a world and a devil that are conspiring together to keep us in that condition.
And so verse 2. There is the course of the age. And I want to just touch on this for a minute. There is a spirit in this age. I'm preaching the gospel now. I'm talking to believers. There is a worldview.
There is a way of looking at things through a particular lens. And you have the choice in your life of seeing life and reality and spiritual things through the lens of God's word. Or you can look at it through the course of this world.
Or the spirit of this world. That is often contained in a diagonal flat screen sometimes four to seven inches wide. And I will tell you that the worldview is promoted in the media and in the entertainment and even the sports and things of this world.
And what this chapter sees is that there is a spiritual conspiracy. And there is a spirit to this age. If you think this world around you is harmless, you're wrong. I'll take it back. The question about death in trespasses and sins.
We've been reminded in Genesis 1 that a spiritual death would not create the whole human family. But I wouldn't have added, if that was the question here, I wouldn't have added in or through trespasses and sins.
What significance do you see for that added expression? In fact, maybe the manuscript did it in your perspective. I had just thought that he was personalizing it to their experience. But what did you have to say?
It seems to me to be going maybe beyond just the native conditions. True for all of us. That all of us have participated in this willingly. So that not only are we the result of what Adam did, but we have made the very same choice.
I think he's involved in this. So yes, we are naturally dead. But we have participated in making that difference to our sins. Yeah, I mean the sense of accountability of personal guilt. I think it was around the time of World War II or just before.
Someone wrote it in the newspaper back in Great Britain. What is wrong with the world? And G .K. Chesterton wrote a very short and sharp answer. He said, the answer, sir, is me. And I think we need to understand from Ephesians chapter 2 that it is not merely a capacity for thought in the spirit of the angel, in the spirit of the works, but it's me.
No, and he's going to prove that in the next verses. Whether the chief Gentiles or we Jews, he's going to show that it's according to the law, or the other manner of life. So it's very obvious that there's a void of energy for it.
Not by the way he did it. One of the problems is written in the Gospel today, or the one we live in, is speaking to an audience that's conscious of those sinners. And I'm serious on this. This tells us what sinners are.
Sometimes we very blithely use terminology in the Gospel teaching that the unsaved don't understand. Now I never understood this till I landed up marrying a wife who is spiritually unsaved. And someone who found the unsaved and got to understand their inner thinking guide didn't really understand truth before.
And more and more, I feel the need when you're teaching the Gospel, brethren,.
To define what you're talking about. What is sin?
Anything that's contrary to the righteousness of God, it's sin. And to make people conscious that it's you we're speaking about. Not the person who's in jail. Not the murderer and the rapist. It's you.
The upright neighbor who lives in a first-class executive. You are the one. And that's what Paul's speaking about. So we've got to be careful in our Gospel preaching that we make sure that we define.
And are very clear on our terminology. So it's a world order here, isn't it?
Yes, it is. In other words, what characterizes the thinking of the world according to Paul says is world order. And then the master of the world is very clearly seen in the latter part of the verse. And there's truth here that's very important.
The spirit that now is at work. This means that Satan is not sleeping. Satan is personally, officially active in this world. And we, in our sins, willingly submit it to his authority. In fact, we were, I know that King James says, in the shortcut of disobedience, I think of it as the sons of disobedience.
We actually take personal accountability for our obedience to this diabolical leader. There is a point to go backwards a bit in light of what you said about the spirit now working. In chapter 1, you have who works, not who will work or did work.
There is a God who is working all things after the counsel of his own will now, which brings us to the and in this chapter. And he's working and bringing sinners by might and power. But then there's another power that's at work here as well.
And I'm actually going to go, I have to go to verse 3. We had our life in time past and he is reflecting on the fact, as Fr. Bill had said, that both Jews and Gentiles look back to a certain past. And he sees that we, there's no racial distinction in our sinfulness.
In the link with the previous chapter, it may not be really obvious, but we have a head. We ended up with one whose head over all things. Before God saved us, we're seeing from this verse that we had a head in this world.
So it's a prince, what was he called? A prince on a car. A prince on a car in the end. His spirit did not work. He did something to his feet. And Paul wins himself. Look back, doesn't he? He's not saying it was you.
He says I was involved in as much as we are. We all are. And so he sees the roots within us, the desires of our time. There were outward fulfillments of those desires, bodily and physically, but these were also sins of the mind.
I read something one time that I really was impressed with. The elder son was equally guilty with the father. And even though his rebellion had never reached an outward expression, yet his relationship with the father needed to be repaired just like that of the father.
And so really we are seen to be, by nature, this description, maybe our brother can come in on this, the children of wrath, even adults. That's our inheritance. Character isn't a sign of disobedience.
Our inheritance is wrath. That's total wrath. Nobody said whether the verse one, in one sense, speaks to the position we are today. And verses two and three are the expression of that position. We expressed that, we participated in it, we continued in it.
We're the sons, actually, of the disobedient. I think that traces back to Adam. It's the beginning. We carry the same characteristics. So it's expressed in our bodies, lives, and suffering. The greatness, the greatness of the authority of mind amplifies the greatness of the greatness of the necessary authority.
And as Paul shows us, our father, our God, our mighty, and his love. He was in fact laying everything on the devil. If you don't hear about the desires of the flesh, of the mind, the mind is what the enemy works on.
I heard a book years ago by a man named Paul Lindsay called, Saviour's Arrival, Well and Finally, Here's Today. It's worth reading, but don't read it going to bed. It's a nightmare. But it's very true.
He's still alive. He's in control of this world of ours, this world of culture, the world of music, the world of any area of our world. Saviour's in control. We don't realize that. Actually, the principle of power takes us back again to the one for whom rights were handed over by a man who himself had the rights of rule.
So the head problem is that this is the end. He gave over to the power of the air, and the principle of power of the air, and he is active and working. This matter of being dead is a matter of total loss of communication, total loss of capacity to bring joy, total loss of response to God, and that's seen with people all the time.
So I need to I need to do this. We must move forward here. And I like what Fr. David said in a previous comment. By nature, the children are brand new to the public. We've been talking about the greatness of the inheritance of the saints in life.
But I'll tell you, if you're never late with Jesus Christ, that inheritance will never be yours. This is the inheritance of those who were dead and remain that way in their sin. The first thing the Jews the Jews don't know it was there.
So that's what it's bringing in. And the tempest thing that he spoke of, Luke 15, because that's one of the truths dead and alive. Lost and found, there is no one who opens for you. But that's the truth here of the world.
We're both dead. But the Jews, they thought they had great privilege for showing now that they're all in the same awful condition. Verse 4, but not. And as I've said, this might be the most amazing transition in all of written literature.
Because we are turning from a situation that you and I could not by human strength or intellect or human religion ever remedy. And so, we are shut up, hopeless, and dead men to God. But God, who is rich in mercy, he is abounding with the wealth of his compassion, with his great love, and it is not merely love that is possessed, but it is love that is poured out wherewith he hath loved us.
In chapter 1, we have the richness of his grace. There is a difference here now. The richness of his grace tells us what we have to live to do. But this is what God is saying up front, that the richness of his grace, the richness of his mercy, is payment to what deserves only gratitude.
And he has lifted us to the height of what is granted every blessing of life. The Jews thought they had some merit. But God said, no, you need mercy. And mercy takes in the Congo condition. How could God be merciful because he loves us?
Would you, would you, I think we've been thinking of that, would you see that you still refer to Gentiles as a lead bringing, in this case, Jews and Gentiles? Is that where you were going, Bill? Well, I was at the previous verse.
Is that where you're coming from? Yeah, at the first. At the beginning of the verse, yeah, you, you do. Pointing to the depravity of the Gentile world, but then that the Jewish world just shares in that so that all that together means that that's what he's holding on to.
He's holding to Romans chapter 2. Whether Jew or Gentile, we all come to the foundation of God, and perhaps a Jew even more because of the knowledge and the understanding of the truth. Let me go to verse 5.
Even when we were dead in sins, by putting us together with Christ by grace and care, saying, let me suggest that just as in Romans chapter 6, the Lord Jesus is not here seen as our substitute, he is seen as our representative.
So that just as I died as he died, so in this sense I am raised as he was raised. And if I haven't said that as clearly as I ought, some of the brethren will help me with this, but I think that I am seen in the resurrection of Christ.
Now, you will notice that there are three things that happen. We are quickened, we are raised, and they can sit together. If you go back to chapter 1, you will discover that Christ was raised and enthroned, but it's not said of him to be quickened.
We needed to be quickened. We were dead. He was dead physically, he died, but we were dead spiritually, and the necessity of our quickening is seen here so that we might in Christ be raised and seen again.
Is this quickening a process, or does it happen at a moment in time? Well, brother, how can this happen for you? September, October, 1973, by the afternoon meeting. January the 6th, 1963. Yes, sir. But the word seems to indicate that there was initial work that was kept alive as well.
It was sustained by the same power. So it was an initial aspect, but it's also contiguous. I can't help but think, when we were going down this passage, of a man who saw himself as dead, a dead dog, and from his distance a man showed the kindness and grace of God, and so there's an Old Testament illustration of what is here.
What happened with that man who viewed himself as dead and down the place of my past and all the rest. And to him that was as high as he could go in that realm. And that's the attitude of sitting together with him.
How do you define mercy? Well, I think our brethren have already talked about it. Mercy, and this is a simple monastic philosophy, mercy tends to look at the misery that sin inflicts, and that's a very vague point.
It sees the injury of sin, whereas grace seems to be the glory that it introduces into. And I know that those kind of definitions are always inadequate, but I think that mercy often looks at the hurtfulness of sin.
Can we say that mercy is God withholding what we do deserve? I'm not so happy with that one, but if that helps you out, I don't mind. For the reason what we don't deserve. Mercy is withholding what we do deserve.
So verse number six, then, not only has God saved us, I think this verse is a wonderful antidote to the sort of preaching that suggests that God's salvation is really a higher escape from hell. But what we've been saying already over and over again is that God and the purposes of His grace has a bright future for those whom He saved.
And so, verse six, He has raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That in the ages to come, He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
If Brennan will comment on those verses together, I'll give you a minute, and then we'll go on to conversation. Yeah, I just want to go back to, sorry, I'm not helping you all at this time, but, uh, quicken together, raise together, seat together, you've used the word representative, it is the idea that we have been united with Christ, which is basically what is involved in this official.
So, in one sense, Adam was the representative, Frank was the representative, but what we're looking at here goes maybe even beyond that, unique to our age is this togetherness as union of Christ. Yes, and don't think that we can anticipate what comes later in the chapter, this is not Jew and Gentile, this is us together with Christ, is that fair?
So, the moment we relate by faith to Christ, we are united with Christ. All three of them, and I'll commend that all three were simultaneously with Christ. And while we were united with Christ by personal faith, the good of all of that was given to us.
Just very quickly, what are the ages to come? Is this just some point in which we will be displaying glory, or will we always be part of the glory of Christ? It's not just the age to come, and not just the even in the next age.
Whatever else God has done, I don't really think we have any disclosure of what was beyond the day of God. But whatever it is, there will always be a central showcase of God's grace. His glory is by right.
The glory which he had to be before the world was. But our glory is going to be a pure rich one. I'm going to argue today, and I have some help here, that I believe, and I believe that there are other verses in the Bible that point that out.
Let me just instruct in your mind a very simple matrix that might help you with this. There is the issue of what God prompts and what he provides. So we can argue that God, that actually I have prompted myself to trust Christ and in the end I've actually done it anyway, and we would naturally reject that.
The second position would be that God prompts me to trust Christ, but then leads me to figure out how to get that job done. And if you were saved the way I was, that's unacceptable, because I was lost and helpless, I was at the end of my rope, I didn't have any faith, I didn't have anything.
I depended completely on God. And so at least if not theologically, from my personal experience, God not only prompted me to seek Christ, but he gave me the grace to receive him. And so I personally take this, and we're not going to have an argument today, if you feel differently you can stay in your position and I will not argue with you, but I personally feel that of course the salvation is a gift, no one is going to argue that.
I also feel that God in my moment of helplessness gave me actually the faith to receive him. I used to think that, I've come to think now, I've changed my mind before, that the whole concept of salvation by grace through faith is a gift of God.
The whole concept. It doesn't say you have to quickly do it, almost dead. I think I've changed my mind and it's perfect to do it again. We don't want to go as far as Martin Luther, etc., and say that a man does not have a will then because he's dead.
We do have a will and that's what we're talking about here. Let me just say this, all the physicians of all the brethren here, I think likely all of us have changed a little bit at some point in our life and they are all honorable physicians.
We all ascribe our full salvation to Christ alone. And there's nobody here going to argue with me on that one. If you have problems with that, you might need to come to the hospital tonight. So we're just going to get it back and let's go to verse 10.
We are His workmanship to enter into Christ Jesus unto good works. My work should because 1st John says that salvation is not a work but a man's work. It's entirely a grace. You and I can boast of nothing because it's completely nothing.
But now we have been created unto good works. Need to watch the pronouns. Pointing this out. We. He. He. Our. We. You're talking about Gentiles now being brought into the United States. I'd like to say that the focus on the blood here is very important because it shows us that the root of our distance and estrangement was sanity.
And you may deal with the other issues of race and government and all of that. But blood is required for sanity. So sin is seen to be at the root of the problem that Christ now presents. Is there a sense in which the idea of being not indicates we are brought nearer than we ever were.
We have a closer relationship and a nearer access than we ever enjoyed. That's coming up now in the past and we need to find that right here. Blood was placed before and upon the mercy seat and that's where grace has brought us right into Christ and God.
It is true also that there was a lack of the road that led to There was a of road to Jesus. There was a lack of the road that led to Jesus. There was a lack of the road that led There was a the road that led to Christ.
There was a lack of the road that led to Jesus. There And we're brought again to this beautiful word that we began almost our reading with when we gave it back in chapter 1 and verse 2, and He is our peace.
And now it's not we or you, it's our. That's what it is. And peace again, in the Old Testament, peace is pictured by men enjoying what God enjoys. Brought into fellowship of God's enjoyment. That is the extent to which we, this peace, has been brought.
It's developed in terms of animosity and the human level. I think the first thing it said is, we have been brought into a united relationship of fellowship with God. Peace. Yeah, can I just restate that again so everybody can make sure we get this?
In human terms, peace is just the cessation of violence. Somebody in a very raggedy front said that peace is the 10 minutes that people stop to reload their guns. And if you follow human history, there's more truth to that than you'd like to admit.
But God's peace is not merely about laying down hostility. The thing He was saying is, it's actually the positive side. He has introduced us into the whole of this organic relationship that is established in Christ.
Isn't it ironic that in the death of Christ, you and Jen Tyler both brought together in condemning him. Very good. Nice and fast. And then in his resurrection, he brought them both together before he came to us.
Is there a sense, Brother, that you agree that the law, rather than separation, was based upon embodying the principle of law and order? In other words, he said that thing that existed at that point of division was all based on that law that was given to Moses.
And it was carried out in the physical aspect of that law that was directed to the temple. So it was only symbolized by the fact that they were being embodied and considered as separate people. Perhaps in the initial sense it was for their protection, but ultimately the point of division.
So now, in Christ, there are no racial divisions. And let's just extend that to the fullest possible extent. In the body of Christ, racial divisions are not allowed. And even the, while I know that the text has to do with the division between Jews and Gentiles, let's make sure that we understand that there are no racial divisions allowed.
Period. You have a vertical relationship that has been made right now by blood, but not in peace. You have a horizontal relationship that has now been made right by his flesh. One satisfies the requirements of God, the other now brings us into a blessing that we appreciate.
So you have a distinction between that. The enmity due to the commandments and so on, that's the division in terms of the suffering of Christ. Although all Jewish and all Gentile traits are gone, and God has brought in something new.
It's not that he made something, but something that never was before. And so he brings it together in one body, verse 16, we might reconcile both of the gods in one body, and again, by the cross, having slain the enemy thereby.
So he unites us into one spiritual entity, and he brings that spiritual entity close to God. He does not reconcile us individually. He reconciles us corporately, in a sense. But why does he say the cross?
Well, I would think it's because that's where we were. I ended at the cross. God couldn't end me, so he ended me. And so now that I can't meet these traits, because I did, but at the cross. This term, the one new man, he belonged with another.
A number of their seven titles of the church in Ephesians are taken. The one new man is one of the titles that is used, as far as the body, and so on. The one new man is a creation of something that hasn't existed before.
And something totally different in its character. And Joel, does not this help us with what I think Brother David touched on, or someone touched on, the problem with covenant theology? Israel, in this sense, is the enemy.
Now, we do have a picture as a people, nationally, on the earth. But spiritually, there's a new thing here. And I think that any conflating of these truths, any mixture of these truths, will lead you far astray as it comes to you in the rest of the country.
That's what that's asking. And the cross, again, is something both despised by Jew and Gentile. If it's a tree, that would be the curse of the law. But here, it is something that the Jews and the Gentiles are united in becoming.
It's worthless and shameful. And yet, through this, that is disregarded by both God and God is blessed. And for our young friends who are here, there's a tiny point that I do not want to lose. Verse 16.
We have been reconciled to God. That is the biblical language. It's not that God needed to be reconciled to me. The hostility was not on his part. He did not create this guilty business. I created it.
The hostility and the empathy was mine. And so, the language of Holy Scripture is very precise. He's reconciled us to God. So, the empathy in verse 15 is the law of commandments. In verse 16, he explained the empathy.
That indicates to me that the law has no abiding power in terms of the principle upon which it stands. Those who continue to think about keeping the law and trying to gain favor from God are forgotten.
Whether the promise is true, that ends the game. In Colossians chapter 2, we read that he is made of those ordinances of the promise. So, the language of it. It didn't take time. You just dropped that there at the door.
I think it was just swept onto you. But the difference between the cross and the tree. I think it's important for you to make a notice of it. But wouldn't you have thought, rather, that the person is everyone that hangs on a tree.
And it's the curse of disobedience to the law. And, of course, Christ also made a curse for us as a person that hung on a tree. So, the tree has a particular relevance to the curse of God. And that's related particularly to the Jewish law.
Whereas, the cross is the work of Christ as the one who spies and the preaching of the cross, then the parish foolishness. So, the cross has to do with what he conspired on that. And that's the mighty work of God upon the tree.
That's an ambition to God. Peter. He did a lot of sins in his own body on the tree.
We can never, we're never asked to bear the tree. It's associated with the Son of Man. It's associated with the image of God.
But the cross, the image of the cross, you have to follow that. But the reports of the cross. So, that's, we come in association with Christ. But the tree stands separate. And I know some of you are telling me, this is semantic.
Sermon is not. It's a kind of a holy spirit approach. Where do these differences get implicated? Verse 16 is the death of the cross. But now, verse 17 is the preaching of the cross. I love this particular expression, preach peace, because it's actually the word for evangelize.
Peace has been evangelized because of the cross. That was the resurrection message that was preached at the end of the Gospels. You'll remember that when Peter preached to Cornelius, it was preaching peace by Jesus Christ.
He is Lord of all. So, this is the message that is proclaimed universally. I don't need to parse my audience to decide whether they're Jews or Greeks. I just preach peace by Jesus Christ. That's all. What does he mean when he speaks about preaching to you and then peace to them that were not?
Yeah, I think this just underlines my point that the Gentiles were far off. Nobody's going to argue that. The issue is, are the Jews, by covenant relationship with God, near enough to get in? The answer is an unequivocal no.
The distant need to be brought near. The near need to be brought nearer. And the ground of that is the cross and the preaching of peace. I appreciate that you're letting go of me. We actually have about five extra minutes, and Brother Richard has been very gracious to go to my facts.
How many hours do we have? Fifteen minutes. Fifteen. Fifteen? This is pure grace. I think you're underestimating grace. Maybe you're underestimating grace. Where's A .P. Bill? Well, I just want to say, obviously, as a Trinity here, through Him, Christ, we both, you and the Gentile, have access by one spirit unto the Father.
So full access, then, is proof of this peace. What is this access? Let's just put it that way. I've heard these words by Peter, and I struggle with them. What is this access? Is this access in prayer?
Is this in communion? Is this to the heavenlies? Is it the heaven itself? What level do we understand this access? Whatever level you want. Yes. I like that. Although I have wanted to distinguish it from Hebrew, where we have access within the veil of an eternal priesthood.
I don't think this is commensurate. Okay, explain that, because that's a very devastating thing to make. Oh, it is? Unpack. It's full of media, Peter. Okay, the Hebrew truth is that we have been brought into the immediate presence of God as sanctuary individuals, as priests, because of the Lord Jesus, our great high priesthood, and the presence of God.
That access is wonderful, but I don't think that priesthood is what is in this chapter. We're looking at those that were far off and those that were further off. Okay? And now we have full access to fellowship with God.
If peace is this enjoyment of God and his presence, then I think the access is full access to the intimacy of God's presence. Well, the word we use is the idea of someone meeting a dignitary. You would meet an appointment to meet some dignitary or foreign dignitary, and then you would be formally introduced to him.
Now, that's what's happened to us. We've been introduced to the Father, and not simply as a distant introduction and then President Bush never remembers that he met me, but rather this is full access into the intimacy of the Godhead and fatherhood.
Now, we've touched on this before, but I take the position that the Jews did not particularly understand God as their father. Right. Individually. And so, actually, what was interesting to say is we have this relationship where we say, ahola, and so Jew and Gentile now have this appreciation of family nearness?
Is that what you mean? That's exactly what you're talking about. That's the whole flow of this epistle. We have a wonderful relationship with our father, who is the father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And don't use any of this.
It's spirit witnessing, but don't expect, you know, the idea that through the spirit prophesy about family nearness. If you do, then it goes to his nearness, and access to God, to his sacrifices, and so on.
But now, it's a thought I think everybody should have. Someone commented on the word of end reduction. How do you go back to that? It's both end reduction, but it's the same case of nearness to the Father.
I think the Old Testament believers appreciated that they were a holy nation. I particularly appreciate that in our dispensation, we're a holy, let me say, a holy family. And there's a line of thought that follows a family as opposed to a father, who is just nearly God.
You get that right here. He talks about them as a city, their fellow citizens in the city. And then there's the family, the household of God. And then there's a building, a building on the foundation, the apostles and prophets.
I don't think that's a new text among the prophets. It might be some change. But the main thing is that it's access into the spirit realm. Into the closest of all the relationships possible. So this verse teaches us that the basis of our access is the love of Christ.
But the work of the spirit is what makes it real. It's in the spiritual realm, and by the power of the spirit, we rejoin. Yeah, there is certainly something that has been accomplished. That's an absolute fact.
But my apprehension of that, I just restated it, but my apprehension of that is a daily one by the spirit. I would do it again, absolutely. And so verse 19, this is lovely. Now, therefore, we are no more strangers and foreigners.
The old name tags have been ripped off, but fellow citizens of the saints. In the body of Christ, there are no second-class citizens. By the way, there's a practical note. When you talk about other Christians, make sure that you reflect the truth of this chapter.
I know there are believers that are not making living up to everything that's revealed in the New Testament. I know there are fellow believers that are not in the law of the world, as you wish they might be.
But there are no second-class citizens in the family of God. And I hope that we would learn to have the dignity and reflect the greatness of what Christ has done by speaking the dignity of our fellow believers, wherever they might be now.
We know that the local assembly is not directly imbued with the Ephesian epistle, but it's interesting that the words that are used in this passage regarding what we have been brought into as believers, the household of God, the foundation, the holy temple of habitation, are also used for local assembly.
And I think it's important for us to appreciate the fact, while this is probably true, that every believer in the New Testament period was also a local assembly fellow. So the practical enjoyment of what they're talking about here was realized in the experience of the believers in the local assembly.
And Brother Joel, I know you've just written about this, but I appreciate the fact that what is true in the Bible ought to have implications for what is seen in the local church, and that's very important.
And I do, with certainty, the Ephesian letter is about the body of Christ. We make a clear distinction. But certainly there is a belief order in the church period. I think that's very important to look at in the beginning.
Well, 1 Corinthians 12 indicates that what is true in the body is to be seen in the Ascension. So if we're on solid New Testament ground, that's what we're talking about. But what citizenship do they have here?
Their fellow citizens, it's eugenphiles. Their fellow citizens are the same. So I think the eugenphiles are suddenly now Jew and gentile fellow citizens. But fellow citizens of what? Well, I took it that fellow citizens of heaven are eugenphiles, and I thought, well, let's keep that aside.
I didn't mean to make that a dense question. No, I think that's exactly it, which neither had been before. No, no. And so it's something altogether new. It is a relationship with another country altogether.
So the household is up. And again, we're working on that. But let's just grasp that this is fellow citizenship sharing a totally new and sublime citizenship. I, before I was saved, I was a citizen of the United States of America.
If I weren't here, I would be a citizen with all its rights and responsibilities. But I have full citizenship now. I'm still a citizen of the United States, but I'm a citizen of heaven. And that has its rights and responsibilities as well.
And we're going to be, as we go through the epistle, we're going to see that, and as we have seen in verse number 10, citizenship has privilege. I think privilege is what's seen here. And certainly at the end of the epistle, we're going to see that we have a responsibility of it.
I'm just hoping, Dan. Sorry? I'm just hoping citizenship. Well, what about this household of God? What's involved in that? Go ahead. You go ahead. It's a family. The word is family. So it's a family relationship.
Point is, we share. There's one father, and we share together in this family relationship. Is this the same as in which every family on earth is named? We've got to do that over the next chapter. Oh, we're going to do that.
Well, the citizenship also involves the argument of kingdom, and the household, and the relationship of family. Well, that's so close. I just want to say that we've translated into the kingdom of the Son of God.
Never forget, brother, the kingdom is not just a spiritual kingdom in Christ's name. We are subjects of this kingdom, and we're fellow citizens. Why don't we talk about that kingdom? Enough demands. It's fun to deliver that.
But you're saying that Pauline teaching in this chapter about the church goes over into Peter's teaching about the kingdom, and John's teaching about the family. That's it. This is the kingdom of Jesus as well.
I think so. I'm very good at code. Let's look at verse number 20. Because we're at 15 minutes increase, it runs out quickly. And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. We're talking about this household of God, the family of God.
Jesus Christ himself, being the chief cornerstone. Now, there's two things in here that we need to basically deal with. Are the apostles and prophets the foundation? And I'm going to say very unequivocally, the answer to that is no.
This is the foundation that has been laid by the apostles and the prophets. And I take what Brother Eric has said very seriously. This is not going back into Old Testament prophets. This is the work of early evangelists and teachers who preached Christ.
And other foundation can no matter. It's Christ is the foundation. And it's upon this foundation that the building rises. Any doubt or debate with that? I hope not. You're anticipating what Phil's going to take us to tomorrow.
Exactly. Now revealed to the holy prophet, the holy apostles and prophets over there. It's interesting that you allude to this, that they're in the foundation. They're teaching the doctrine. It's not that they would be seen.
It's not that they put themselves to the fore. But it's so that the Lord Jesus would have that place of re-eminence and adornment in this building. It's a false evidence. We have to lay the foundation.
I don't know about that. I don't know if it's false. But he's not the foundation. It's a speech I've seen. I've received from the Lord. I had to come to the church. The body of the Lord Jesus said, on this rock I will build my church.
The bedrock, the foundation, the revelation. And in relation to it then, he is himself. I like that. The chief cornerstone. Look, we're not going to have a fistfight over what the cornerstone is here.
Some have seen it as the apex of a triangle. And others have seen it as the capstone of an arch. I'm personally just going to go out on a limb and paint you all the sauce. But what is the topic of this section?
It is that two have been joined together in Christ. And the cornerstones that I'm familiar with are the intersection of two walls. At the point at which they meet. And upon which they rest. And so Christ is the foundation.
But Christ is the intersection. He's the point of the journey. We don't meet together in one body because we have ecumenical counsel and ironed out our differences. He's met through Christ. And by the virtue of his blood, he protects us humanely.
And more than that, the cornerstone holds both of the walls in place. He establishes a plumb line for all of us to follow. So the work is that you're coming to a standard. Yes. And that's what it's all based upon.
No longer are there 600 odd statutes and laws that deduce labour value. No longer the idolatry that the Gentiles labour at Christ. That is a standard. And he never changes it. There's a richness chapter also of the tabernacle.
He goes up to it at the end of the morning. There's a jar. And the boards of the tabernacle have been brought from a rough environment. Shaped and hewn and made good for a beautiful dwelling. But the corners were held together.
Yes. They had to be held together for it to be able to stand firmly. Yeah. So there's a hint of that anyway, I think, in this passage. He's not the cornerstone. He's not the center. The corner ring or whatever it was that held the corners together.
There is a sense, too, in which the cornerstone here has taken a quotation from Psalm 118. It's the chief beauty of the building, as well as the United Bible. Now, let's go to these last two verses. And I have a question that I brought because I'm not open.
I do not know the answer to it. But from all the buildings, put the frame together. And I'll highlight the words I'm thinking about. Grow it unto a holy temple, Lord. In whom ye also are builded together at the advocation of God in the Spirit.
I've heard your friend, who argues strenuously with me, that this building is not at all complete. It's in the process of being completed. Now, I was raised with the idea that on the day of Pentecost, God saw the church as complete.
And yet, when I come to Ephesians 2, I see it, at least in my simple reading, as being something that's not going to be seen as complete. It's something that's growing, and it's being builded, and that it really won't have its full function as the holy place of God until the millennium.
So, all of you wise brethren here, help me wind my way through those two verses. No one starts doing it alone. And it's not all of us. It's got to be several of us. You Ephesians, in other words, every several buildings, just as you Ephesians, are being built, and they were growing.
The word is not static, it's progressive. Maybe you mean by the occasion. It won't be known as appropriate. No, no, the name of it is indivisible. Indivisible. But it's the whole structure. All the structure.
I don't think that we agree every several buildings. I don't think that's right. I think there is one building, and I think the Greek supports that. So what is it? I think it's the body of Christ. The body.
The body of Christ. The building of Christ. The body of Christ. We do have in the epistles here, we have the body of Christ. They were building it with the bride. That is 3 Bs, but they're brought together.
They're all talking about the same energy. So, there are roads that are being added to that. I think that the body is complete at its birth, but it grows. And that's maybe where your difficulty lies. But, the building is being built, being brought to completion with a future day of manifestation of who God is, and dwelling as well.
So, in other words, there is an organic fullness that was created at Pentecost. So I'm not growing a third arm. But the two arms that I have aren't growing to their full function anymore. Is that what you're implying?
That's all. As individuals that I was in. That's the view of the building. Don't judge it. It's not the new assemblies being formed. That has got to be emphasized. The idea of every central building is then taken by some of the men who are historically helpful teachers to us.
And they're showing that the building here, which is the body, is a composite of assemblies, assemblies, assemblies, assemblies, assemblies, that is not here. And there is a distinction between the Church of God, which we have used as the second earth today, and this body of Christ, this building that is on God.
If God were to turn it up, it would leave all the earthshakers. They don't gather with us. It would leave the mountain of gold. And so then, that's the conclusion that draws the body of Christ to the Church on earth.
Far from it being true. I'm just saying, if you look at the illustrations of the lines, of all the assemblies, like the second of its own, that's nonsense. Wasn't nobody on the discipline? Are they not in the body anymore?
So on. We have good brethren in other places. They're not going to leave the mountain. And so, I'm going to bring this to a close. We also are willing to do this for the dwelling place of God. Jesus Christ.
I thank you all for your help and contributions. I brought the verse again. It's all right. I'd love to end by bringing you a good note. This is from Thomas Kennedy. Grace is the sweetest sign. It ever reached our ears.
When conscience charged injustice crime, it was grace that moved our ears. May God help us today to appreciate the grace of God. Thank you.