1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:10,000
A man was walking across a bridge one day and he saw another man standing on the edge about to jump off.

2
00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:15,000
He immediately ran over and said, stop, don't do it. Why shouldn't I? The man asked.

3
00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:25,000
The first man replied, well, there's so much to live for. Like what? Well, are you religious or atheist? Religious. Me too.

4
00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:35,000
Are you a Christian or Jewish? Christian. Me too. Are you Catholic or Protestant? Protestant. Me too.

5
00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:44,000
Are you Episcopalian or Baptist? Baptist. Wow. Me too. Are you the Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?

6
00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:52,000
Baptist Church of God. Me too. Are you original Baptist Church of God or are you Reformed Baptist Church of God?

7
00:00:52,000 --> 00:01:00,000
Reformed Baptist Church of God. Me too. Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God Reformation of 1879?

8
00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:07,000
Or are you Reformed Baptist Church of God Reformation of 1915? Reformed Baptist Church of God Reformation of 1915.

9
00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:15,000
To which the man replied, die, you heretic scum, and he pushed him off the bridge.

10
00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:24,000
As we continue through our study of Ephesians this morning, Paul is going to address some people that had a very similar attitude.

11
00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:31,000
People who had gotten so caught up in their religion that they had lost sight of what really mattered.

12
00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:37,000
So let's read our passage this morning. Ephesians 2, we'll start in verse 11.

13
00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:48,000
Paul says, therefore, remember that 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.

14
00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:57,000
Remember that you were at the time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise,

15
00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:08,000
having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

16
00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:15,000
Alright, so in the first half of this chapter, chapter 2, Paul writes about the human race in general,

17
00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:20,000
and about the portion of the human race that has been saved by the grace of God.

18
00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:29,000
But beginning here in verse 11, Paul begins to specifically address his main audience of Gentile believers.

19
00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:36,000
He points out that prior to Jesus, there was a barrier between the Gentiles and the Jews.

20
00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:47,000
But as Paul will point out in the following verses, Jesus came to tear down that wall and to initiate peace between the Jews and the Gentiles.

21
00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:52,000
I'm sure there's quite a few principles that we can get out of this text this morning.

22
00:02:52,000 --> 00:03:02,000
Certainly there's this idea that Jesus tearing down the walls that tend to separate us from those who are different from us in some way.

23
00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:16,000
What really stood out to me though is how both groups, Jews and Gentiles, had gotten so caught up in their religion that it had actually drawn them away from God.

24
00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:24,000
I read this week about a plane which had lost both engines and was headed for a certain crash landing.

25
00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:30,000
One of the passengers noticed that she was sitting next to a minister, and so she yelled at him,

26
00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:33,000
You're a minister, do something religious!

27
00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:39,000
So he took his hat off and took up an offering.

28
00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:47,000
One of the things that constantly amazes me is how people react when they find out that I'm a pastor.

29
00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:56,000
They may not say it out loud like the lady in the plane, but I often get the feeling that they're waiting for me to do something religious.

30
00:03:56,000 --> 00:04:02,000
Both the Gentiles and the Jews of Paul's days would probably consider themselves pretty religious.

31
00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:10,000
Obviously the Jews understood themselves to be God's chosen people, and they had the scriptures to study and to guide their lives.

32
00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:13,000
But many of the Gentiles were religious too.

33
00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:18,000
Remember how Paul addressed them earlier in Acts chapter 2.

34
00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:22,000
Paul then stood in the meeting of the Areopagus and said,

35
00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:26,000
Men of Athens, I see that in every way you are very religious.

36
00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:31,000
And so we know that both of these groups, Jews and Gentiles, are religious.

37
00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:33,000
And so we could go further this morning.

38
00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:37,000
We ought to define the term religion and what it really means.

39
00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:46,000
Probably the simplest form is a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith.

40
00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:57,000
That definition seems to encompass a lot of moments today that I would classify almost as religions, if that's the definition.

41
00:04:57,000 --> 00:05:07,000
Political parties and interest groups, radical environmentalism, causes to address social issues such as hunger and poverty,

42
00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:16,000
causes to address various diseases such as AIDS and cancer and heart disease, groups that promote certain lifestyles.

43
00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:24,000
Now every one of those movements consists of people who are committed to a cause, a principle, or a system of belief

44
00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:28,000
that they hold to with passion and faith.

45
00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:33,000
It's interesting to me that even atheists fit into that definition.

46
00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:39,000
Now I'm not saying there's anything inherently wrong with many of those groups.

47
00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:45,000
There is nothing wrong with taking care of the environment or trying to lessen suffering or eradicate diseases.

48
00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:54,000
But for many people that causes themselves, those causes have really become their own religion.

49
00:05:54,000 --> 00:06:01,000
And if you pay attention to the news, you understand that there is a lot that divides people.

50
00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:07,000
The Berlin Wall stood in the city of Berlin, Germany as a symbol of the Cold War,

51
00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:10,000
the struggle between communism and the West.

52
00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:19,000
On June 12, 1987, President Ronald Reagan stood near that wall and made a dramatic plea to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

53
00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:27,000
Gesturing toward the guarded wall of concrete and barbed wire that divided Berlin and all of Germany since 1961,

54
00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:33,000
Reagan said, Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that wall.

55
00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:41,000
Two years later, the wall did come down. That barrier that had separated the East from the West was now gone.

56
00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:47,000
When Jesus came into this world many years ago, another wall was standing.

57
00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:53,000
Not a wall made of wood or stone, but one built with prejudice and misunderstanding.

58
00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:56,000
For many centuries, it divided two groups of people.

59
00:06:56,000 --> 00:06:59,000
It divided the Jews and the Gentiles.

60
00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:04,000
But that wall no longer stands. It has been torn down by Christ.

61
00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:09,000
Now today, Jews and Gentiles may become one in Him.

62
00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:17,000
So as we dissect this passage this morning, let's keep in mind that it is still applicable to today, to our lives.

63
00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:22,000
We live in a culture of division. That's our world now.

64
00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:25,000
So let's look at two different groups this morning, the Gentiles and the Jews.

65
00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:29,000
As we look at them, we need to beware the pitfalls of religion.

66
00:07:29,000 --> 00:07:31,000
So let's look at the Gentiles first.

67
00:07:31,000 --> 00:07:36,000
What separated the Gentiles from the Jews was circumcision.

68
00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:44,000
Now, why God chose that method of separating His people, I do not know the answer to.

69
00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:51,000
The only thing I can come up with is that living in the flesh is what separates us from God in the first place.

70
00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:59,000
Circumcision was instituted by God in Genesis 17 as a symbol of a covenant between Him and Abraham.

71
00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:03,000
God had promised Abraham, I will make you into a great nation.

72
00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:07,000
That nation, of course, would become known as Israel.

73
00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:13,000
Circumcision was the mark that distinguished the Jews from the Gentiles.

74
00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:17,000
Every Jewish male was circumcised eight days after birth.

75
00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:19,000
The Gentiles were not.

76
00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:24,000
The Jews came to despise the Gentiles because of that difference.

77
00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:28,000
They saw themselves as better than the Gentiles.

78
00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:33,000
Now, people have a way of turning differences into barriers.

79
00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:36,000
We do the same thing today. Do we not?

80
00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:40,000
There are barriers between Republicans and Democrats.

81
00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:44,000
There are barriers between believers and non-believers.

82
00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:50,000
There are even barriers amongst churches that are still part of the same Protestant whatever.

83
00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:53,000
And the list goes on and on and on.

84
00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:59,000
The more the pride of the Jews swelled, the worse the hatred of the Gentiles grew.

85
00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:06,000
If a young Jewish man or woman married a Gentile, his or her family would have a funeral service.

86
00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:13,000
Symbolizing the death of their child as far as religion, race, and family were concerned.

87
00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:18,000
Some Jewish women refused to help a Gentile woman give birth

88
00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:25,000
because to do so would make them responsible for bringing another despised Gentile into the world.

89
00:09:25,000 --> 00:09:31,000
When a Jew entered from Palestine, he would often shake off the dust of his sandals and clothing

90
00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:36,000
in order to not contaminate the Holy Land with Gentile dust.

91
00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:43,000
Some Jews believe that God created the Gentiles as fuel for hell.

92
00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:48,000
Many believe that God loved Israel and hated every other nation.

93
00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:55,000
Now, the prophet Jonah typified the common Jewish attitude towards the Gentiles.

94
00:09:55,000 --> 00:10:04,000
Through Jonah's preaching, God produced one of the greatest revivals in history, and Jonah was not happy about it.

95
00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:09,000
He was angry that the city of Nineveh had repented and been spared from God's judgment.

96
00:10:09,000 --> 00:10:13,000
Why? Because those people were the nation's enemies.

97
00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:15,000
They were Gentiles.

98
00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:18,000
In Jonah chapter 4 verse 2, we read about the unhappy prophet.

99
00:10:18,000 --> 00:10:25,000
He says, and he prayed to the Lord and said, oh Lord, it is not this what I said when I was yet in my country.

100
00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:31,000
This is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that you are a gracious God,

101
00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:38,000
and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.

102
00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:45,000
The real reason Jonah didn't want to preach in Nineveh was that he didn't want them to repent.

103
00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:49,000
He wanted them judged. He didn't want them forgiven.

104
00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:55,000
The Jews failed to realize that circumcision did not make them superior.

105
00:10:55,000 --> 00:11:02,000
It was only a physical mark, and we see in Ephesians that circumcision is in the flesh.

106
00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:05,000
It is made by hands.

107
00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:13,000
In Romans chapter 2, Paul says, for no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor a circumcision outward and physical.

108
00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:21,000
But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter.

109
00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:24,000
His praise is not from man, but from God.

110
00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:29,000
Circumcision was an outward symbol of an inward reality.

111
00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:32,000
It's similar to baptism in that way.

112
00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:36,000
It was God's plan that there should be Jews and Gentiles.

113
00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:41,000
There's a real difference between them. The Jews were circumcised, and the Gentiles were not.

114
00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:45,000
Now, we know that the Gentiles were religious people.

115
00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:52,000
Paul addresses that in Acts, and as he stands in the Areopagus and notes that, they worshiped all kinds of God.

116
00:11:52,000 --> 00:12:01,000
Even here in Ephesus, one of the ancient wonders of the ancient world, the Temple of Artemis was there.

117
00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:03,000
But what we know about the Gentiles is this.

118
00:12:03,000 --> 00:12:07,000
Number one, they had no confidence of the Savior.

119
00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:15,000
Our first inclination is to think that Paul is just repeating here the point that he has already made previously.

120
00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:24,000
But we know that both the Gentiles and the Jews were separated from Christ before God completed his saving work in their lives.

121
00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:31,000
So in what sense is Paul writing that this problem that only the Gentiles are facing?

122
00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:41,000
It seems that when Paul uses the word Christ here, he is not using it as a reference to Jesus, but rather in its broader sense.

123
00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:44,000
The Greek word literally means anointed.

124
00:12:44,000 --> 00:12:48,000
It is the Greek equivalent of the Jewish word we translate Messiah.

125
00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:55,000
The point that Paul is trying to make here is that the Jews at least had the hope of a coming Messiah.

126
00:12:55,000 --> 00:12:57,000
A hope of a future Savior.

127
00:12:57,000 --> 00:13:02,000
That was an advantage that the Gentiles did not have.

128
00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:10,000
There is no religion on the face of the earth that can address the fact that we are separated from God as a result of our sin,

129
00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:13,000
and that therefore we need a Savior.

130
00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:20,000
Only a personal relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ can deal with that need.

131
00:13:20,000 --> 00:13:24,000
Now they live by a standard that many people today live by.

132
00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:32,000
If I do enough good, if I worship enough, then I will spend eternity in heaven.

133
00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:38,000
Surely I wouldn't be punished forever because I have done so much good in my life.

134
00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:43,000
I have said it many times throughout this series, but I will say it again.

135
00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:55,000
If the motivation for you coming to church is to think that that puts you in God's graces, then I would find something else to do.

136
00:13:55,000 --> 00:14:03,000
You are wasting your time, and I am sure that you could find something better to do with your time.

137
00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:14,000
I come to church not to earn God's favor, but to celebrate with you how good and gracious He is.

138
00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:19,000
Me coming to church does nothing for my eternal security.

139
00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:22,000
My faith in Jesus does.

140
00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:30,000
I come to church because I want to be more like Jesus, and by being around other believers, it helps me do that.

141
00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:39,000
Church is valuable to me because by being around other believers, I am challenged to be a better husband and a better father.

142
00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:44,000
I am challenged to take my pursuit of Him more seriously.

143
00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:46,000
That's not religion.

144
00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:51,000
The second thing we see is they have no share in God's blessings.

145
00:14:51,000 --> 00:14:58,000
Paul says, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise.

146
00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:04,000
The Jews were the beneficiaries of many covenants or promises that God had made to them.

147
00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:11,000
It's interesting that Paul writes about the covenants, plural of the promise, singular.

148
00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:21,000
Paul seems to be saying that all the covenants from the Old Testament really flow out of the foundational promise that God made to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12.

149
00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:28,000
This is now the Lord said to Abraham, go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.

150
00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:34,000
And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing.

151
00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:39,000
I will bless those who bless you and him who dishonors you, I will curse.

152
00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:44,000
And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

153
00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:52,000
So although God promised to bless all peoples on earth through Abraham, including the Gentiles,

154
00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:58,000
that promise could only be made operational in the lives of the Gentiles through Jesus.

155
00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:04,000
There is no religion which can ever provide us with the blessings of God.

156
00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:07,000
Only God can provide those blessings for us.

157
00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:14,000
And he chooses to do that through a relationship with him that is made operational by our faith in Jesus.

158
00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:18,000
We also see that the Gentiles had no hope.

159
00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:21,000
That's what Paul says, having no hope.

160
00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:32,000
Because the Gentiles did not share in the hope of a coming Messiah, nor were they the recipients of God's blessings, they had no hope.

161
00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:42,000
There was a school system in a large city, and it had a program to help children keep up with their schoolwork during long stays in the hospital.

162
00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:50,000
One day a teacher who was assigned to the program received a routine call asking her to visit a particular child.

163
00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:56,000
She took the child's name down, took his room number, and talked briefly with the child's regular class teacher.

164
00:16:56,000 --> 00:17:00,000
She said, we're studying nouns and adverbs in this class.

165
00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:07,000
The regular teacher said, and I'd be grateful if you could help him understand that so he doesn't fall too far behind.

166
00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:10,000
Now the hospital program teacher went to that boy that afternoon.

167
00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:16,000
No one had mentioned to her that the boy had been badly burned and was in a great deal of pain.

168
00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:24,000
Upset at the side of the boy, she stammered as she told him, I've been sent by your school to help you with your nouns and adverbs.

169
00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:28,000
When she left, she felt like she hadn't accomplished much.

170
00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:33,000
But the next day a nurse asked her, what did you do to that boy?

171
00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:39,000
The teacher felt she must have done something wrong and as she began to apologize, no, no, no, no, no, no, said the nurse.

172
00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:42,000
You don't know what I mean. We've been worried about that little boy.

173
00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:46,000
But ever since yesterday, his old attitude has changed.

174
00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:51,000
He's fighting back, responding to treatment. It is though he's decided to live.

175
00:17:51,000 --> 00:17:58,000
Two weeks later, the boy explained that he had completely given up hope until the teacher arrived.

176
00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:02,000
Everything changed when she came to a simple realization.

177
00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:09,000
He expressed it this way, they wouldn't send a teacher to work on nouns and adverbs with a dying boy, would they?

178
00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:19,000
One of the greatest problems with religion is that it is unable to give us lasting hope.

179
00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:26,000
No rituals, no good works, no amount of piety can produce hope in our lives.

180
00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:31,000
The only way we can have hope is through our relationship with God,

181
00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:35,000
which is made possible by the death and resurrection of Jesus.

182
00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:39,000
Now, I've been on many mission trips around the world.

183
00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:42,000
I've spoken with people of different faiths.

184
00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:48,000
I've had many conversations with Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons.

185
00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:53,000
They all have in common is the answer to this question.

186
00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:58,000
How do you know that you have done enough good?

187
00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:01,000
They all have the same response in some way.

188
00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:06,000
They will all say, I don't. I just hope that I do.

189
00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:10,000
That's not hope. That's wishful thinking.

190
00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:17,000
I love that through Jesus, I have confidence that I will never be able to do enough good.

191
00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:19,000
But Jesus has.

192
00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:21,000
Their hope is in themselves.

193
00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:23,000
My hope is in Jesus.

194
00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:28,000
There are people who have done a lot more good in their lives than I have.

195
00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:31,000
They have helped more people. They have given more money.

196
00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:35,000
They have championed some really good causes.

197
00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:39,000
But if they haven't surrendered to Jesus as Savior,

198
00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:44,000
then their eternal destiny is not going to be like mine.

199
00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:52,000
My hope is found in nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.

200
00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:55,000
Okay, so that was the issue the Gentiles faced.

201
00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:57,000
But now let's look at the Jews.

202
00:19:57,000 --> 00:20:01,000
Now, even though Paul was writing to first century Jews,

203
00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:07,000
these are still an issue today with non-Jewish believers.

204
00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:10,000
The first one is pride.

205
00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:17,000
Paul says, you Gentiles in the flesh call the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision.

206
00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:22,000
Now, Paul very clearly describes the contempt that the Jews had for the Gentiles.

207
00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:29,000
In fact, the word Gentile was not one that the Romans or the Greeks used to refer to themselves,

208
00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:36,000
but was a derogatory term that the Jews had coined to describe anyone who was not a Jew.

209
00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:43,000
Not only that, the Jews derisively called the Gentiles by the title of uncircumcision,

210
00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:47,000
while proudly referring to themselves as circumcision.

211
00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:50,000
Now, this is an interesting play on words here in this text.

212
00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:54,000
The literal translation is Gentiles in the flesh.

213
00:20:54,000 --> 00:21:01,000
Now, for Jews, circumcision, which had been given to God by God to Abraham,

214
00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:10,000
let's not flip those, was a physical sign of the relationship with God and the covenant.

215
00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:14,000
Obviously, the Gentiles did not bear that physical evidence on their bodies.

216
00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:19,000
Hence, they are referred to as Gentiles in the flesh.

217
00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:24,000
What really strikes me here, though, is the pride of the Jews.

218
00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:28,000
They had lost sight of the fact that God had chosen them.

219
00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:35,000
Not just for their own benefit, but as his chosen people who were to be a blessing to all peoples,

220
00:21:35,000 --> 00:21:38,000
just as God had revealed to Abraham.

221
00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:44,000
So instead of trying to reach out to the people that God wanted to bless through them,

222
00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:48,000
they were making fun of those very people.

223
00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:54,000
They were so infected with the pride of being God's chosen people

224
00:21:54,000 --> 00:22:00,000
that they missed on the opportunity to be used by God in the lives of others.

225
00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:04,000
I see this often today, not just in the Jews.

226
00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:08,000
I see this in Christian circles all the time.

227
00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:12,000
Us versus them.

228
00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:18,000
Now, we should have some pride, but not in ourselves.

229
00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:25,000
We should have pride that we are considered the people of God through Jesus.

230
00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:30,000
I don't know the best way to say this, because I'm not sure everybody's aware,

231
00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:38,000
but Jesus was not a Baptist.

232
00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:42,000
And he wasn't a Lutheran. And he wasn't a Methodist.

233
00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:49,000
When we become prideful because of what church we go to, or what denomination we are part of,

234
00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:52,000
we are acting like the Jews that Paul is referring to here.

235
00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:57,000
We need to always be like Jesus, speak truth and love.

236
00:22:57,000 --> 00:23:03,000
Now, I might not agree with your lifestyle or your worship style of choice,

237
00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:06,000
but I can still love you.

238
00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:10,000
And if I truly love you, if I see you walking in sin,

239
00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:15,000
I will point that out to you in a way that I hope that you will accept.

240
00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:19,000
I don't want to be accusatory. I don't want to be wagging my finger in your face

241
00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:21,000
and telling you how wrong you are.

242
00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:26,000
But I do want to confront you with the truth that is found in God's Word.

243
00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:29,000
Now, if you don't accept it, that's on you.

244
00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:33,000
But I never want to be accused of being unloving.

245
00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:38,000
There is a real important lesson for those who are Christ followers to learn here.

246
00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:43,000
By now, there is one thing we have learned from the book of Ephesians so far.

247
00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:47,000
It has to be that God's work in our lives is nothing for us to be proud of.

248
00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:51,000
It's all God's work. It's all God's work.

249
00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:54,000
And we have done nothing to deserve it.

250
00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:59,000
So rather than looking down on those who don't have what we have experienced,

251
00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:01,000
our hearts should be broken for them.

252
00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:04,000
Our hearts should be burdened over.

253
00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:11,000
Over that, we ought to do everything in our power to make sure that they are exposed to the truth.

254
00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:14,000
And we need to continue to pray for those people.

255
00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:17,000
We also see that the Jews were deceived.

256
00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:21,000
Paul says, which is made in the flesh by hands.

257
00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:27,000
The second problem that the Jews are facing as a religion is that they are deceived.

258
00:24:27,000 --> 00:24:31,000
They figure that since they had participated in the ritual act of circumcision,

259
00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:34,000
that they were okay with God.

260
00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:38,000
But in his letter to the Galatian church, Paul addressed that attitude in Galatians 5.

261
00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:44,000
He says, for in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value.

262
00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:49,000
The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

263
00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:55,000
Now, although God, although Paul specifically writes about circumcision here,

264
00:24:55,000 --> 00:25:02,000
the broader principle is that nothing we do in the flesh has any value.

265
00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:06,000
As we saw a couple of weeks ago when I shared a recent poll from Newsweek,

266
00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:10,000
and as evidenced by the results of many other polls throughout the years,

267
00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:14,000
most people today who consider themselves religious,

268
00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:20,000
even the majority of those who consider themselves to be Christians, have been deceived.

269
00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:26,000
I hope that you're not deceived.

270
00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:31,000
I hope that you're not deceived when it comes to right standing before God.

271
00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:36,000
If you've been here throughout Ephesians, I don't know how many times,

272
00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:47,000
or in how many ways, that we can say that all of our righteous deeds are like filthy rags before a holy God.

273
00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:52,000
Did you know that blood speaks?

274
00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:54,000
God's Word says it does.

275
00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:58,000
The first reference to blood in the Bible is found in Genesis 4.

276
00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:04,000
In that chapter we read that Cain, filled with jealousy, murdered his brother Abel.

277
00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:07,000
In verse 10, God confronted Cain and said,

278
00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:09,000
What have you done?

279
00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:14,000
The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground.

280
00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:18,000
Hebrews 12, 24, we find that Christ's blood also speaks.

281
00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:21,000
That verse tells us that the blood of Jesus in verse 24,

282
00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:24,000
into Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant,

283
00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:30,000
into the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

284
00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:32,000
Blood speaks.

285
00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:35,000
Abel's blood cried for vengeance.

286
00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:38,000
Christ's blood speaks of forgiveness.

287
00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:41,000
Abel's blood demanded judgment.

288
00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:47,000
Christ's blood disclares his love.

289
00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:51,000
Jason Tuske was a 17-year-old high school honor student.

290
00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:57,000
He was close with his family, his mom, his dad who was in a wheelchair, and his younger brother, Christian.

291
00:26:57,000 --> 00:27:02,000
Jason was an expert swimmer who loved to scuba dive.

292
00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:09,000
He left home on a Tuesday morning to explore a spring in Underwater Cave near his home in West Central Florida.

293
00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:15,000
His plan was to be home in time to celebrate his mother's birthday by going out to dinner with his family that night.

294
00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:18,000
Jason became lost into the cave.

295
00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:23,000
Then in his panic, he apparently got wedged into a narrow passageway.

296
00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:30,000
When he realized he was trapped, he shed his yellow metal air tank and unsheathed his diver's knife.

297
00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:37,000
With the tank as his tablet and the knife as his pin, he wrote one last message to his family.

298
00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:41,000
I love you, mom, dad, and Christian.

299
00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:44,000
Then he ran out of air and drowned.

300
00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:46,000
A dying message.

301
00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:52,000
Something communicated in the last few seconds of life.

302
00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:54,000
It's something that we can't ignore.

303
00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:59,000
God's final words to us are etched on a Roman cross.

304
00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:01,000
They are blood-red.

305
00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:09,000
They scream to be heard because they too say, I love you.

306
00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:13,000
If you are coming for religion, you're in the wrong place.

307
00:28:13,000 --> 00:28:17,000
If you find your worth in religion, you are in the wrong place.

308
00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:26,000
If you think that anything that you can offer God is going to earn you favor with Him, you are in the wrong place.

309
00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:38,000
My hope and desire is that every single one of us in this room is not here to earn a sticker on our attendance sheet.

310
00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:50,000
But I hope that every single one of us in this room is here because we want to celebrate the fact that God is good and gracious and loving.

311
00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:59,000
And then as we interact and as we go get donuts and as we go to our ABFs and as we sit through Sunday school and as we teach the younger ones and as we gather again next week,

312
00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:07,000
I hope that as you're rubbing elbows with people, as you're communicating with people, you too will be encouraged to grow in your faith.

313
00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:13,000
That you too will understand, hey, that guy's a pretty good dad. I want to be more like him.

314
00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:26,000
And what unites us is Jesus. What divides us is how we feel and our emotions.

315
00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:30,000
What was that? We just sang a song and it was on its kind of...

316
00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:33,000
What was the third song we sang?

317
00:29:33,000 --> 00:29:39,000
Build My Life. Put the words on the screen. The bridge. Please.

318
00:29:39,000 --> 00:29:45,000
No, next.

319
00:29:45,000 --> 00:29:53,000
No, next. No, no. I might have the wrong song.

320
00:29:53,000 --> 00:30:00,000
Didn't we sing something like I will not go by my feelings? Didn't we just sing that? What song was that?

321
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:03,000
Christ Be Magnified. Okay. I won't bow down and I'll stand strong.

322
00:30:03,000 --> 00:30:12,000
Next. Next. There it is. Thanks, pal. Thank you.

323
00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:23,000
I won't be formed by feelings. I'll hold fast to what is true. What in the world does that mean? What did we just declare?

324
00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:29,000
That... What? I can't hear you. I'm not going to be formed by feelings.

325
00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:37,000
We're going to stand firm on God's word and God's word says this isn't about religion. It's about relationship.

326
00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:44,000
And so we're going to sing one more time. I don't think we're singing that song. You can. It's up to you.

327
00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:56,000
But my prayer is if there's anything in you that feels divisive, if there's any hurt feelings in this room

328
00:30:56,000 --> 00:31:04,000
and you're looking across the room and like I'm not happy with them. Can we reconcile those things today?

329
00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:11,000
There's no barrier. There's no more barrier. We're all God's people.

330
00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:17,000
And so I pray that we will continue to be as a church united by the blood of Jesus, even though we might think differently.

331
00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:25,000
Even though we might have different opinions and different feelings, but we're going to always be united by the blood of Jesus.

332
00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:32,000
And I pray that as we interact in the community, when we come across those Lutherans and we come across those Catholics

333
00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:38,000
and we come across those Baptists of whatever denomination that God pushed them off the bridge for,

334
00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:45,000
that will respond in love. Or respond in love. Let's pray.

335
00:31:45,000 --> 00:31:53,000
Father God, I pray that you will speak to our hearts. I pray that you will convict us.

336
00:31:53,000 --> 00:32:01,000
I pray God that you will remove any sort of division in us. That we will not be an us versus them.

337
00:32:01,000 --> 00:32:08,000
It won't be believer versus nonbeliever. It won't be this lifestyle versus this lifestyle.

338
00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:13,000
But God, we will stand on your word, we'll walk in your love.

339
00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:21,000
I pray God that we will continuously be united in you. I pray that we will continuously plead the blood of Jesus.

340
00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:27,000
So God, we thank you for him. We thank you for his sacrifice.

341
00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:33,000
We thank you that the curtain has been torn in two from top to bottom.

342
00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:38,000
We thank you that we can approach you.

343
00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:44,000
I pray that you speak to our hearts right now.

344
00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:48,000
I pray that we will leave any division at the altar.

345
00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:51,000
We ask all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

346
00:32:51,000 --> 00:32:56,000
I don't know how to end this thing today. I don't know how to end it.

347
00:32:56,000 --> 00:33:03,000
But I mean, we'll sing. So that's okay.

348
00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:08,000
But if there's somebody in this room that there's some conflict with,

349
00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:12,000
I'm going to challenge you to make it right today.

350
00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:17,000
I'm going to challenge you to be the bigger person and rip down the barrier.

351
00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:21,000
So that we walk out of here in peace. So that we walk out of here united.

352
00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:24,000
So that we walk out of here walking in forgiveness.

353
00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:27,000
And if they're not in this room, maybe you just bring that to the altar today.

354
00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:29,000
Maybe you just lay that before the Lord and let him deal with it.

355
00:33:29,000 --> 00:33:36,000
Maybe let him fight your battles for you so that you can walk in true love. Amen.

356
00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:48,000
All right. Thank you.