Biblical Reconciliation (Ephesians 2:11-22)

Kootenai Church

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Well, I said it before at Duluth Sunday School class, and I'll say it again. Our conference this weekend was a very rich blessing and benefit to everybody who was there.

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It was a joy to have Daryl Harrison and Virgil Walker here to share with us for that conference. It's Bowtie Sunday.

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I apparently am the only one who got the memo. Did that not go out? Virgil and Daryl said they think they're wearing off on me, and I said, that might be the case.

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I've got an appointment for a spray tan later this week. All right, let me introduce

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Virgil. Virgil Walker serves as Executive Director of Operations for G3 Ministries.

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Along with Daryl Harrison, Virgil co -hosts the Just Thinking podcast, which is a long -form, irregular podcast.

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Phil Johnson said it is the most influential long -form Christian podcast in the world. Virgil has completed his

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Master of Business Administration and is currently working on a Master of Divinity at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

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Virgil's been involved in jail ministry and sidewalk ministry at abortion clinics and street evangelism. He has co -authored

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Why Are You Afraid, which we gave out free with the registration to our conference. Just Thinking About the State, which we had for sale with the conference registration.

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We still have a few copies of that that we'll have out on the bookshelf in the foyer. And soon to be released, actually probably next year now,

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Just Thinking About Ethnicity, which is one of the three Just Thinking books. They're Just Thinking About the

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State, Just Thinking About Ethnicity, and then Just Thinking About the Church are the three books in that trilogy. Virgil and his wife,

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Tamika, have been married for 25 years and have three children. Virgil and Daryl have become widely known for their resolute commitment to the authority of Scripture and for speaking about subjects that very few people want to speak about and for saying it in such a way that, in a way that nobody else wants to say it.

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Resolutely and unbendingly biblical, they do not back down from confronting the progressive spirit of the age in their online articles or their social media posts.

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They simply do not shy away from it. These are two men who do not care what the culture says about them or what anybody says about them.

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People inside and outside the church, it makes no difference. You know him as Omaha, if you listen to the

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Just Thinking podcast, it's because he comes from Omaha. In fact, this week, I got to take a glimpse at the security protocol that the security team had for the event this weekend, and it had pictures of Virgil and Daryl.

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It said, these are the two guys that are allowed in Jim's office at any time without permission.

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And I thought, did you need to put a picture on them? Do you think people have a hard time identifying either one of these guys?

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They're well known. And they had security code names as well. Now, Daryl was

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Hollywood, because he lives outside of Hollywood. Virgil, Omaha, because he's from Omaha.

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And I didn't have a code name, so I asked Thomas, what's my code name? He said, Clark Fork. I'll explain

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Clark Fork to you two gentlemen later on. So with that, please welcome

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Virgil Walker. They're applauding. How about now?

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All right. Man, it's a joy to be with you. We got a packed house. I won't tell you what Pastor Jim said about you all being here.

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In fact, I am going to tell you what he said. He said, they can't believe, one, as I was coming up and he's going down, and he shook my hand, he said, they're actually applauding because I'm not preaching.

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And then he was telling me about how packed the house was and the folks that were coming to be here on the

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Lord's Day. And he said to me, I think they were just curious. They heard a black guy was actually preaching in North Idaho.

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So that's the kind of stuff I've been in store for this entire time while we've been here.

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It's been a joy to be with you. Daryl and I have had an amazing time.

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You guys have absolutely spoiled us. Again, I think Daryl is planning to move here at this point.

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I better stop that. This is on social media, and then he'll have to answer to some things when he gets back.

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And so I don't want to create unnecessary problems for him. But again, it's been a joy to be with you.

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The hospitality has been phenomenal. Your ministry here has been tremendous to us.

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And so if I could and we had time, I would hug each and every one of you and just say from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

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It's been a wonderful, refreshing time. We've worked. Jim put us to work. He made sure of that. But in the downtime, it's been refreshing just to connect with you, to talk with you, to engage you, to hear about people who've come from very far distances, five hours away, six, seven hours away, 20 hours away, and even more to be here for the conference.

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And so we've been tremendously blessed by that. Again, want to publicly just thank Pastor Jim, his wife, his whole family that have been gracious to us.

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We're grateful to you all. The security team has been on point, man. If I move somewhere,

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I see a guy kind of like, this is cool.

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I'm like, okay, can you... That's been really, really amazing.

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You guys take it seriously. At the same time, I doubt that anybody would be silly enough or stupid enough to come in here and try something.

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My thought is that there are probably more than two or three people packing right about now. It's been awesome.

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I bring you greetings from G3 Ministries. G3, the G stands for gospel, grace, and glory.

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We are a... We've been a conference -based ministry that produces free resources for churches, lay people, and the like.

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We are transitioning to a resource -based ministry that shares content.

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If you're not familiar with G3, shame on you. You absolutely should be. You can check out more by going to g3min,

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M -I -N -G, the number three, M -I -N dot O -R -G, to learn more. I'm thankful for Dr.

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Bice for his vision. He's friends with your pastor. We love what you all do here and would love to connect in the days to come.

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I'll also finally bring you greetings from my wife, Tamika, who's at home holding things down for us as she does.

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I cannot wait for you all to meet her. I tell audiences and people that you don't meet Tamika.

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You experience her. She is an absolute experience, and for those who know her, they understand where that comes from.

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I have three children, Princess, my daughter, Princess, and my son, Princeton, are still in Omaha, Nebraska.

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And then my son, Price, he moved with us as we made the move to Atlanta, Georgia. Tomorrow will be his 18th birthday, so I'll be jumping on the plane to get back and to enjoy some celebration with him.

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With that said, I will get started. If you have your Bible, turn, if you will, to Ephesians chapter 2.

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Ephesians chapter 2. I'll be reading verses 11 through 22, and if you're able,

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I would ask you to stand for the reading of the word of God. This is

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God's word, and it reads as follows. Therefore, remember that at one time you

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Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands.

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Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

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But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ, for he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in the place of two, so making peace and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.

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And he came and preached peace to those who were far off and peace to those who were near, for through him we both have access in one spirit to the

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Father. So then, you're no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,

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Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the

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Lord. In him you are also being built together into a dwelling place for God by the

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Spirit. Take time to pray if you'll be seated. Father God, we thank you for your sovereignty in salvation.

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We are indeed grateful for the selfless sacrifice of your Son who died on a cross for our sin.

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Your wrath was poured out upon your Son as a propitiation for those who have placed their faith in the finished work of Christ.

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We thank you for sealing that promise of salvation by your

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Spirit, who is the guarantee of that which is to come. We recognize that we were once separated from you, dead in our trespasses and sins.

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We acknowledge that we were once sons and daughters of disobedience, following the prince of the power of the air as we carried out our own desires.

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We were overcome with gratitude as we acknowledge that the result of your action toward us in salvation was not the result of our good works or of our kindness or of our faithfulness or of our worthiness.

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Instead, it was the riches of your mercy and out of your great love with which you have loved us that while we were dead in trespasses and sins, you made us alive together with Christ.

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Father, we are overwhelmed by your love toward us. May our lives be lived in such a manner that reflects that gratitude.

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Help us today as we open your word to be even more in awe of the richness of your mercy and grace aimed toward us through Christ.

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It's in his name that we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. It's a joy to jump into Scripture with you this morning and to open up one of my favorite letters of Paul, the epistle to the church at Ephesus.

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One of the reasons that this book in particular can be a favorite for a new believer, there are many reasons, but one of the reasons is that it may be their first exposure to the doctrines of grace.

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As you open the letter, you're exposed to the fact that it was God the Father who chose us in him before the foundation of the world.

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That very thought, that very idea, if you begin to meditate on it, it can actually boggle the mind.

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It should boggle your mind. It should blow you away that before God the

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Father said, let there be light, he had a plan for your redemption, a plan for my redemption.

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If you think about your own wretchedness, your own sinfulness, that a thrice holy

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God, before he would say, let there be light, thought of you and had a plan for you.

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You should be overcome, not only with joy, but just the amazement of it all.

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It's life -giving to think about. When you examine the majesty, the magnitude of God's sovereign plan of redemption, it's never more clearly expressed as it is in this particular book.

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Every follower of Christ, if they're aware of the goodness of God, I believe they should routinely make themselves aware of this particular text, perhaps reading it over and over and over again in an effort to marvel at the goodness and grace of a glorious, sovereign

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God. Yet and still, if the opening pages of this particular letter, the opening verses aren't enough, the entirety of the book of Ephesians goes on to explain yet more.

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The first chapter begins to explain the triune nature of our salvation.

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We often think about our salvation as simply the work and act of Jesus the

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Christ. There's rightness in that, but that's not all that we need to consider. Paul explains to the church at Ephesus that the salvation that they enjoy, this is not a new idea, this is not a last -minute attempt on the part of God to figure out what he should do given the nature of our sinfulness.

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No, this was a plan of God before the foundation of the world. This was the plan of God the

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Father in eternity past, Ephesians 1, verses 3 -6. This is the work of God the

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Son, Jesus, to Christ in redeeming mankind in time, Ephesians 1, verses 7 -12.

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And this is the work, the work of salvation is the work of the Holy Spirit, sealing that which is to come.

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Ephesians 1, verses 13 -14. By the time we reach chapter 2,

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Paul is beginning to consider as he's pulled back the curtain on the cosmic plan of God in salvation from eternity past.

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Chapter 2 opens with a clear view of the impact of man's need for this salvific plan in time.

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Again, think of it again in this way, that cosmic plan, that curtain was unleashed, unveiled.

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We began to see it and we begin to move in chapter 2 onto the scene of mankind's condition and our need for redemption in time.

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Paul writes in chapter 2, Verse 3.

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What is evident in chapter 2 is our separateness, how far we are, our distance from God.

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Without hesitation, Paul declares we're dead in sin and trespasses. We're not kind of half dead, maybe comatose, maybe we're closer than we think.

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No, the separation is so grave, so vast, our condition is one of deadness to God.

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We're dead in sins and trespasses. Paul explains that we are even more the children of wrath like the rest of mankind.

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This is a grave condition for us. However, instead of condemning all of mankind to the death that we rightly deserve for our sins before a thrice holy

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God, verse 4 begins to explain, but God, those two words should cause us to pause.

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If we understand the magnitude of where we were and of what has taken place, we have to pause and note, but God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he has loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, he made us alive together with Christ.

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By grace, you've been saved. This great love is much more than a warm feeling tingling down the back of God's spine.

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This is an action demonstrated by the fact that God the Father acted in the sending of his

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Son to redeem us, to ransom us, to reconcile us.

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Well, that is background. We pick up in chapter 2, verse 11, where Paul uses the transitionary word, therefore, therefore, therefore remember that at one time you

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Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands.

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Remember that at that time you were separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

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However, before we walk through the next section of the text, if you're a note taker, I want to provide for you at this point some headings as we do a deeper dive into this section of the text.

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What Paul is saying is it is essential for us to remember who we were.

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Remember who we were. He walks that out in verse 11.

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In verse 12, he's charging us, challenging us, telling us that we are to remember where we were.

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This is more than just location. This is distance. This is separateness from God.

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And finally, verses 13 and 14, he's going to encourage us to rejoice, to remember to rejoice in what

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God has done. To understand the transition and the magnitude of our wretchedness,

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Paul begins with a therefore, therefore remember at one time you Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands.

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Remember who you were. Why does Paul want us to remember who we were? What is he getting at in this verse?

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Is there something about the human condition that causes us to forget who we were?

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Well, if you remember who you were, you can fully appreciate what God has done in ransoming us and redeeming us and restoring us, restoring us to a position that none of us rightly deserve.

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If we think about what we rightly deserve, we can do nothing but fall on our face before a holy

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God and give proper worship and thanks for what he has done. Few people have a difficult time in the everyday and the aspect of day -to -day life.

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We have an easy time looking at the world and at culture around us and seeing the total depravity that takes place in the world.

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We have no problem opening up a webpage or watching on television or looking at social media and identifying absolute total depravity.

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Few people have a difficult time, though, thinking about their own depravity. They have a more difficult time when that lens then is placed upon their own lives of really examining themselves clearly.

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If we're honest, we usually give ourselves kind of a wink and a nod, right? I mean, I'm really a mess, but you know, if it weren't for this thing or if it weren't for that thing or if it weren't for the other thing,

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I'd be pretty good. When the average person is asked, well, do you think you're a good person?

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Most people would say, yeah, I mean, comparatively speaking, sure, I'm a good person. Paul doesn't leave us that option.

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The Word of God doesn't provide that option. Paul is challenging the believers at Ephesus and by extension challenging you and I to do a self -examination, examine ourselves so that we can fully appreciate what

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God has done. Paul constantly reminds us of who we were as sinners.

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In fact, he says of himself that he is the chief of sinners. Verse 11,

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What is Paul doing there? Is this just name calling? You're the uncircumcision versus the circumcision?

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Circumcision was given to Abraham as a sign of God's covenant people. We see this in Genesis chapter 17, verses 9 through 14.

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This was an outward sign of our belonging to God, of the people of Israel's belonging to God.

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And the people of Israel took this very seriously. Some believe that circumcision was akin to salvation as it pertained to their connection to the covenant.

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I won't belabor the point here, but simply to say that the term, the uncircumcised, was definitely a term of derision.

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You can remember David using this term on the battlefield as he's about to slay

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Goliath. He's there looking around, seeing the children of Israel on one side and Goliath and his people on the other.

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He's trying to examine what's taking place. And this is what's written in 1 Samuel 17, 26. What's being done there?

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The idea that David is expressing is this is someone who's separate from God, separate from the people of God, and who

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David is referring to are the Philistines, but by extension, the Gentiles.

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And this is akin to our separation that we had before God as Gentile believers not connected to the covenants of promise.

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This was definitely a term of derision, a term of separation.

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The idea goes beyond conveying more than simple name -calling. The idea is, again, someone who does not have relationship with God.

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As we move to verse number 12 in Ephesians chapter 2, Paul challenges us for a second time to remember.

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Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

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Here in verse 12, Paul desires to remind the believers in Ephesus of the fact that they were separate from Christ, alienated from God, that they had no hope and without God in the world.

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What's interesting about this verse as you look at it very closely is that the verse actually bookends two ideas about our separateness from God.

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It begins that we're separated from Christ. The verse ends with the fact that we have no hope and are without God in the world.

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Between the two bookends is the idea of our separateness from the people of God.

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You have our separateness from God, our separateness from one another. That's what's taking place there.

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Allow me to identify these two ideas. First, our separateness from Christ.

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This is huge because Christ is central to everything. Once we're separated from God, we have to understand that there's a magnitude in a separation like that.

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In fact, as we examine Christ, that division is clear. In fact, let me provide you some

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Scripture verses for context. John 14, 6, Jesus said, He is the head of the body, the church.

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He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead so that in everything He might be preeminent.

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Ephesians 1, 22, You're familiar with the passage from John 1, verses 1 through 5, which read,

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In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was

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God. This is Christ. This is Christ, the preeminent one.

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This is Christ, the Messiah. This is Christ. This is the greater prophet.

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This is Christ, the Lamb of God. This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

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This is Christ, the King of kings, the Lord of lords. This is Christ, the

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Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. Apart from Him, no light dawns.

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Apart from Him, the entirety of the world collapses upon itself, folds back into the nothingness that it was before He stepped onto the scene to say,

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Let there be light. This is Christ. I mentioned who

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Christ is so that we can understand that if we were separated from Him, we are separated from everything.

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I mentioned there were two parts, our separateness from God, but secondarily, kind of between the two bookends is the idea of our separateness from God's people.

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The verse reads, Alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise. Our separation from God also involves our separation from God's people.

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The separateness can be no more evidence than it is in the Jewish -Gentile divide, the divide that takes place within worship.

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While there were a few God -fearing Gentiles, overall, the vast majority of the

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Gentiles were engaged in some form of pagan, idolatrous worship. For those few

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God -fearing Gentiles, however, they were still, even still, though they were worshiping the true and living

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God, there was still a separateness about their worship. Amplifying this idea, if you take a quick peek down at verse 14, you can see that fact.

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Paul speaks to it from a standpoint of the fact that Christ and His body has removed the dividing wall of hostility.

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What this is referencing is the idea of temple worship. Even the manner in which we worshiped

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God was different. We couldn't be joined together. Even though we may have believed in the true and living

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God, there was still a separateness about it. In the temple, the

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Jews had a literal wall of separation, a division that prevented the

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Gentiles from coming near and fellowshipping to God, fellowshipping with God and the people of Israel.

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The temple courts their separation. Allow me to walk you through what took place there. The temple was constructed of courts.

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You had the court of the priests, which only male members of the tribe of Levi were permitted to participate in.

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You had the court of Israel, which only males were permitted in, male Jews were permitted in.

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You had the court of women where any Jew could enter, but no woman could go beyond that certain point.

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After this, you had five steps down in the Jewish courtyard, was a five -foot -high stone barrier that extended all around the temple enclosure.

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And then another 14 steps downward to a level of the courtyard known as the court of the

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Gentiles. Now, according to Jewish historian Josephus, the dividing wall between the

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Jews and Gentiles was marked at intervals by stone inscriptions stating that no foreigner was permitted to enter the

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Jewish enclosure upon penalty of death. In fact, the statement that Josephus captures reads as follows.

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No foreigner may enter within the barricade which surrounds the sanctuary enclosure. Anyone who is caught doing so will have himself to blame for his ensuing death, end quote.

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Ephesians chapter two, verse 12, we're reminded of our separateness from the commonwealth of Israel.

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The fact that we're strangers to the covenants of promise. And this could be no more dire, no more sadder a state than the end of that particular verse which says we were without hope and without God in the world.

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We had no hope and were without God in the world. So verse 11, we remembered who we were.

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Verse 12, we remembered where we were, our separateness from God. And finally, the beauty of this particular section of scripture goes on in a way that we can rejoice in understanding that God has done something about our condition.

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Verse 13 and 14 read this way. Verse 13, but now in Christ Jesus you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

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As we look at the words in verse 13, they're but an echo of what we read earlier, right?

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We have in verse 13, but now. If we go back to verse four, we had but God.

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But God being rich in mercy. There's an echo here in verse 13. But now in Christ you who were once far off have been brought near.

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This is the good news. This is news that should cause us to rejoice.

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When we can understand the nature of our dire condition and what Christ has done, we should again rejoice.

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At the outset, I mentioned earlier that this gospel that we now enjoy, the good news, the good news of the gospel, it's not a new gospel.

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This is not something that God the Father in eternity past had missed, had overlooked, had not thought about.

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And now that things are the way they are, he's gotta fix things, he's gotta rearrange things.

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That's not our condition. In fact, Acts chapter two verse 39 echoes that promise.

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It says, for the promise is for you and for your children and all who are far off.

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To everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord. Verse 13, you were brought near by the blood of Christ.

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Not some program, some process, some policy that brought you near. This was by the blood of Christ you've been brought near to God in relationship.

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I mentioned earlier that the separation that took place with the children of Israel and the

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Gentiles, it was a real separation. In our current culture today, there's a desire to divide each and every one of us.

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We spent the weekend talking about a number of those divisions. We talked about the idea that there's this division with ethnicity and there's a division around gender and all of the ideas that are part of culture.

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We further went on to talk about how many of those divisions are entering the church.

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The reality is we need to understand that this division, this wall has been abolished.

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That has been abolished by the blood of Christ. Our separation was not abolished by legislation from a government entity.

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It was not abolished by a march on the streets. It was not abolished by a rally or a riot.

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It was not abolished by the Supreme Court decision or a presidential proclamation.

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What abolished it? The wall of separation that we read about in verse 14. It was

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Christ himself. Let's read verses 14 and following. For he himself is our peace who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law and commandments expressed in the ordinances that he might create in himself one new man in the place of two.

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I could stop there as we spent an entire weekend talking about division. It's on the

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Lord's day that we gather to rejoice in the fact that we are one body of Christ.

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With everything that we see all around us, the threats that desire to invade the church, they'll not succeed because the work of Christ in uniting us into one body is finished.

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It's not going to be finished. We're not waiting for it to take place.

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It has taken place and it is incumbent upon you and me, the believers in Christ, to celebrate that.

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We come together on the Lord's day to celebrate that truth.

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It could not be a clearer understanding of our unity than the fact that we are one body in Christ.

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Reading the text again. For he himself is our peace who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law and commandments expressed in ordinances that he might create in himself one new man in the place of two and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross thereby killing the hostility.

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The hostility is over. I don't need a program or a process or a racial reconciliation book.

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I don't need someone to explain the definitions of critical race theory or social justice.

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All I need to do is open up my Bible to turn to Ephesians chapter two, verses 14 and following to understand that the wrestling and the challenges and the hostility, it's over because you and I are in Christ.

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As we follow the text to verses 17 and 18, we find out the outcome intended by God the

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Father through Christ as we read. And he came and preached peace to those who were far off and peace to those who were near for through him we both have access in one spirit to the

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Father. John Calvin in his commentary said the following. He said that, quote, all that Christ has done towards effecting a reconciliation would have been of no service if the gospel had not proclaimed it.

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I want to read that again. All that Christ has done toward effecting a reconciliation would have been of no service if the gospel had not proclaimed it.

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I'm gonna stop there because I want to amplify something that Calvin is saying. Something that you heard us say over and over and over again during the course of the last two days if you've been with us.

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The reconciliation that the world is seeking that the church may not recognize or realize that has already been won is done by the proclamation of the gospel.

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It's gospel proclamation that allows anyone to have access to reconciliation both to God the

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Father and to one another. This was the plan of God from the beginning.

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This was the idea that God the Father had before he said let there be light.

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And for any one of us to think that we have a better plan than God the Father who created it all, we're lost in our mind.

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This is the plan of God. Let me continue reading the words of Calvin.

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And therefore the fruit of this peace has now been offered both to Jew and to Gentiles since it follows that to save Gentiles as well as Jews was the design of our

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Savior's coming as the preaching of the gospel is which is addressed indiscriminately to both.

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This gospel is not for a specific group of people and not the other. It's not for this kind of person who's well educated or this kind of person who doesn't have much.

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The gospel is not simply for, well it's for the black man has his own gospel and the white man has his own gospel.

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That's garbage. We have one gospel that saves.

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This gospel reconciles us to God. We are reconciled to God through Christ by the

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Spirit. This is true biblical reconciliation. This is what happens to Jew, to Gentile, to male, to female, to black, to white.

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All relationships can be reconciled both to God and to one another.

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There's a question, however, that begs to be asked. Do we see this in culture?

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Do we witness this? Do we recognize this in those around us? Are we truly engaged in the celebration of the reconciliation that we enjoy?

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What has been a joy for Darrell and me this weekend has been we recognize that we've been reconciled to God the

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Father as each of you have been as well. As a result, there is a rejoicing in our celebration with one another.

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All that we've experienced in the equipping conference, the crescendo of that is this

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Lord's Day. As we gather together as the people of God and rejoice, not in our goodness, not in our ability to relate well to one another, but in the fact that God has done something that you and I cannot do.

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He reconciled us through his finished work to God the Father and reconciled you and I to one another.

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Culture, however, desires that we replace the worship of God with the idolatry of self as they separate and divide.

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They desire to blaspheme the character of God by claiming something about him that's not true or by ignoring him at all.

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All of these things are a violation of God's commands. It's imperative that you and I stay focused, stay encouraged, stay equipped.

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My heart breaks when I hear and see churches and local assemblies that are bowing the knee to what we're seeing in culture regarding our separation.

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They are like Aaron who provided Israel with a golden calf. Far too many evangelicals are adopting a substitute religion all the while believing that they hold the real thing.

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However, more important than walking through those challenges as we spent the whole weekend doing,

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I want to focus on what the word of God says in verses 19 through 22 as I close.

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The text goes on to read this way. So then, you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.

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Selah. You are built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets.

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Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into the holy temple of the

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Lord. In him you're also being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

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If you today are here and you're in Christ, this is absolutely true of you.

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And the Lord's Day is a celebration for us to gather and enjoy the koinonia, the fellowship, the love that is only a foretaste of what we'll experience when we meet him.

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He ransoms us to be with him in glory. We rejoice in that.

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We enjoy that. However, if you're here, you have yet to trust in the

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Lord Jesus Christ. The earlier part of what we shared is your condition, you're dead in your sins and trespasses.

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You're separated from Christ. You have no hope and are without God in the world, but here's the good news.

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The good news is that this morning you're hearing the gospel. You're hearing the good news that God the

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Father who loved you before the foundation of the world had a plan to redeem you, to ransom you in the sending of his son.

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That Christ the Son lived a perfect life in word and thought and deed.

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That in that perfect life he committed no sin, but yet suffered and bled and died paying the penalty that you and I rightly deserve for our sins against the holy

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God. He suffered the death for us. He was our propitiation.

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He was the payment, the wrath -absorbing power of God that fell from God the

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Father onto the Son for you, that you in the hearing of this gospel will be moved by the

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Spirit of God to respond in repentance and faith in the

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Lord Jesus Christ. My hope would be that if you're here today and you have not repented of your sins, have not placed your full faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ, that you would do so today and that as a result you could understand the joy that those of us who are believers in God have when we engage one another and are reminded of the goodness of God aimed toward us in Christ Jesus.

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With that said, I'll close with prayer. Father God, we're thankful for your word.

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We're thankful for your plan. We're grateful for the redemptive work that you've done through Christ our

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Lord. My prayer would be that if anyone here in the sound of my voice has not trusted in you that they would feel in their heart your tug in such a way that they recognize that they are indeed sinners and are in need of your saving grace.

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I thank you for the opportunity to open your word, to share it with these, your people.