He Is Our Peace

I'm Lord. I'm worshiping on the word as it goes out, Lord. Lord, just soften our hearts this morning, Lord. As somebody said earlier, Lord, just make us soft and pliable, Lord. Just mold us. Make us into what you would have us to be. Prepare our hearts to receive from you, Lord. Give us ears to hear and hearts to receive, Father. We love you, we praise you, and we thank you.

In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Praise God. You guys can go ahead and have a seat if you like, and we'll continue on.

Yes, Lord God, there is going to come a day when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess, Lord, that you are Jesus, that you are King, that you are King of kings and Lord of lords. And God, what an awesome day that's going to be. Sing that chorus with me just one more time.

Yes, Lord God, we will praise you, God, no matter what comes, Lord. God, sometimes when we're in just plentiful seasons of life, Lord, where things seem to be going our way, Lord, we will praise your name. And the opposite is also true, Lord. When life seems hard and it seems like we're in a desert and it seems like you're being quiet, Lord, we will still praise your name, God.

I cast my mind to Calvary Where Jesus bled and died for me I see his wounds, his hands, his feet My Savior on and drenched in tears Moses to be stoned Messiah still Those of blazing sun shall pierce We just lift praise to you this morning, Father, because you're worthy of all of our praise, Lord God. And one day, you're going to return. You're going to claim your bride. And God, you're going to take us off to be with you, where we will praise your name forevermore, Lord.

And God, what a glorious, awesome day that's going to be, Lord God. We look so forward to that day. Oh, praise the name of the Lord our God. Oh, praise his name forever.

We'll sing, oh, Lord, beyond all measure. He should give his only son. Wretch his treasure. Face away the chosen one. And he stands to. He is so.

And I hear my mouth.

I don't know where. It's in Jesus Christ. I know it. Beyond all measure. His only son.

Oh, God, how deep and awesome the love that is, Lord, that you would give your only son to pay the price that we rightfully deserve on a cross, Lord. God, I can't fully comprehend that, Lord. But I know that the love that would do that for us, Lord, that we would do that for you. God, that love is deep.

God, how much you must truly love us, Lord, that you would send your son to do that for us, Lord. God, we thank you. God, we lift praise to you this morning, God. Because you're worthy of all of our praise, Father.

God, you are good.

You're great and powerful, Lord. You're merciful. And you're gracious, Lord, God. We can praise you forever and ever. God, we love you. We praise you, God. And we thank you. God, this morning, let's pray that as Pastor Ryan comes, Lord, I just pray that you would prepare our hearts to receive from you, Lord God. Help us to set everything else aside that's going on.

Whatever distractions in life might be going on, help us to set those aside. And just to simply focus on you, Lord. Give us ears to hear what you would have us to hear. God, minister to us this morning, God. I pray that you would just overflow Pastor Ryan with your Holy Spirit. Give him the words to speak that you would have us to hear, Lord. We love you, we praise you, and we thank you.

In Jesus' name, amen. Let's have some fellowship.

Good morning.

Hey, would you get the door for me? If you would locate your seat, we'll get ready to get started. Go over a few announcements here.

Welcome to Calvary Chapel. Glad you're here this morning. A few things to take note of. Sorry, no bulletins today. We had some guys working on some electrical stuff. Yesterday, so there was no power a good portion of the day. So I told the girl that usually makes them, hey, don't worry about it. So, but just a handful of things for you to take note of. Ladies, there is no, if you usually come to the Monday women's study,

that will not take place this week. But you do need to remember that starting Thursday, the Ephesians study will begin. So you need to pick those up. Those are out on the, not the usual place they are over on the left, where you usually get your bulletin. That's where those are going to be laid out there. And then also just a reminder, that this week is the Bible conference up at Johnson County,

starting on Thursday evening. And it'll go through Saturday morning. We have a baptism coming up August the 13th. I've got lots of people coming forward for that. I'm pretty excited. And then this coming Wednesday, we will begin a new series on Wednesday nights for the next three weeks on how to study your Bible. So if you're interested in getting plugged into that,

it's a great time that we're going to have doing it. So, take note of that. And then those are the things that are going on. The big things to pay attention to. So if you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced. And for our responsive reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm 30. Psalm 30, as always looking at the new American standard. So we sound the same.

If you need one, there should be one around you. And as you're turning to Psalm 30, if you would stand in the honor of the reading of God's word,

I will read the odd verses. If you will follow along with Pastor Allen and the even verses. Psalm 30, a Psalm, a song at the dedication of the house, a Psalm of David. I will extol you, O Lord, for you have lifted me up and have not let my enemies rejoice over me.

O Lord, you have brought up my soul from Sheol. You have kept me alive that I would not go down to the pit.

For his anger is but for a moment. His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy, it comes in the morning. Now, as for me, I said in my prosperity, I will never be moved. Oh Lord, by your favor, you have made my mountain to stand strong. You hid your face. I was dismayed to you. Oh Lord, I called into the Lord. I made supplication.

What profit is there in my blood? If I go down to the pit, will the dust praise you? Will it declare your faithfulness here? Oh Lord, and be gracious. To me. Oh Lord, be my helper. You have turned for me my morning into dancing. You have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness that my soul may sing praise to you and not be silent. Oh Lord, my God, I will give thanks to you forever.

And father, we do want to give thanks to you forever of the amazing things that you have done for this for us of the great work of salvation that you have worked in our lives. And father, as we spend more time, talking this morning about the great works that you have done for us and what that means in our lives, I pray that you would tune our hearts into what your Holy Spirit wants to say this morning. Father, would you give us ears to hear exactly what your spirit wants to minister to us? And Lord, would you move by the power of your Holy Spirit in this place this morning in Jesus name?

Amen. You may be seated. Oh man, and I almost forgot. Go ahead. Everybody have a seat. We have a little slide show to show you. It. We're not going to keep it like this forever, but we had an amazing VBS and we wanted to leave some stuff up to show you. And I almost forgot because I jumped into autopilot here that we've got just a little bit of a clip to show you of what took place so much fun was had.

Yeah, it went really great. We had lots and lots of kids. The first I think we had 97 the second night we had 101 kids. So, uh, so it was, it was great. Um, I think if I remember correctly, there are seven kids that prayed to receive Jesus. So, so pretty cool stuff went on and um, and, and all of the adults are really tired. So, uh, but it, but we had a great time.

So, um, all right. Now, if you would open up in your Bibles to the book of Ephesians chapter two Ephesians chapter two,

as we continue on talking about the things that God has done for us. Um, today we come to the last portion of chapter two and the title of the message is, he is our peace. He is our peace. And so it's interesting because life, uh, and I share this a lot of times when I do funeral services as well. Uh, if you really think about it, if you think about something,

all of life up, all of life is really made up of relationships, right? Uh, in two main categories of relationships, the relationship that we have with God and the relationship that we have with other people. Well, the first half of chapter two dealt with how God made peace in our relationship with him. He made peace by his work on the cross for us. And all we had to do was surrender to that work on the cross.

Well, now as we come to this last half of chapter two, what we see is that God also brings peace in our relationships with other people. Um, Paul is going to, at this point in time, talk about a major division that took place in the church, a major division that existed in the world at the time that he was preaching at the time that he was, uh, was giving out the truth of the gospel. Because the greatest division between people that took place in the first century was the division between Jew and Gentile. It was the greatest racial division.

It was the greatest religious division that took place. And the only thing that could solve it was the gospel. And that's what he's going to talk about today. But, you know, I got to thinking about divisions that take place in our world. And we live in a very divided world. It's interesting because the word unity is used a lot. Would you agree? Would you agree?

Would you agree that everybody talks, it's about unifying and we need unity and, and things like that. But at the same time, I think division exists maybe to a greater degree than it has in at least my lifetime. And we're usually divided on several lines. We oftentimes are divided over the lines of race or, or culture. If you will, we're divided over the lines of religion.

We're divided over the lines of, uh, of gender. And we're divided over the lines of, of social status or social, class. We'll call it economics if you will. And the only way to bridge any of those gaps is with the gospel. It's not going to be bridged through sensitivity training, and it's not going to be bridged through greater education. It's not going to be bridged in any of those kinds of ways.

The only thing that can truly bring peace is the gospel of Jesus Christ. And that's what Paul's going to tell us here. And so as we look at chapter two, verses 11 through 22, there's going to be three things that we're going to see. He's going to tell us who you were. He's going to tell us what Christ did. Therefore, he's going to tell us who you are. And so we pick up with the first section of who you were.

And it starts in verse 11 of chapter 22, or excuse, excuse me, of chapter two. It says, therefore, remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision by the so-called circumcision, which is performed in the flesh by human hands. Remember that you were at that time, separate, from Christ excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope without God in the world. Now, the first thing that Paul is going to tell us, and again, we're dealing with two groups of people.

We're dealing with the Gentiles and the Jews, because that was the greatest difference or the greatest division that took place at that point in time. But the first thing that he's going to talk to us about is animosity and pride, because I want you to notice what he says. Therefore, remember that you formerly, that's an important word because it tells us this is who we were, that you were Gentiles in the flesh. In other words, in our physical bodies, we were considered to be Gentiles because we didn't have the right of circumcision who are called the uncircumcision.

Now, we have to understand something about the use of that word in the way that Paul uses it. When you hear that word, you probably think of somebody who has never had that right actually performed upon them, that surgical procedure performed upon them. But as far as the Jews, we're concerned, it was not a technical term. It was a racial slur. Let me put it to you in this in this way.

Do you remember when Goliath came out against the people of Israel and David came back and says, who is this? You remember what he called him? Uncircumcised Philistine. Now, why did he include that first word uncircumcised? Because it was a slur. It was a degrading term that the Jews use for other people. So when Paul says that you formerly, formerly were referred to as the uncircumcision,

it was a slur. It was something that was a degrading term that the Jews referred to the Gentiles as. It was not just a technical term. It was them talking down to a group of people. You see, we call that animosity towards a group of people when you're willing to refer to them as a racial slur. Now, he goes on to say this. He goes on to say, you were formerly Gentiles in the flesh.

You are called the uncircumcision. But notice it says by the so-called circumcision. Now you'll take note of the fact that in most of your translations, the terms uncircumcision and circumcision are both in parentheses. You take note of that because now this word also is a term that they use to refer to themselves. We are the, well, we're the circumcision. That's their way of saying we're better than you.

We're better than everyone else. Because of that, of who we are religiously. You see, we call that pride. As far as the Jews and the Gentiles were concerned, the Jews looked down on the Gentiles and referred to them as less than and the Jews as better than everybody else. And so this is the sort of thing that existed in the world at that point in time. Now,

lest we think that the Gentiles were simply the, if you will, the victims of some sort of racial injustice, we need to understand that the Gentiles hated the Jews too. They thought that they were weird. They mocked them for the way that they wouldn't cut the corners of their beard. They mocked them for the funny little hats that they wore on their head. They mocked them for their religious ceremonies.

And they thought that they were simply an odd group of people and they hated them for it. And so this is what existed. This was the animosity and pride that existed between these two groups of people. But it went farther than that because what he's now going to do in verse 12 is tell us five ways. That the Gentiles were separated not only from the Jews, but from God.

Notice what he says. Remember that you were at that time, number one, separate from Christ. You were separate from Christ or as I have termed it without Christ. Now, what does that mean? Why is that important? Well, it means that they didn't have a Messiah. You see, the term Christ was not just a name, attached to Jesus. It was actually the name of the deliverer.

The word Christ means the chosen one or the Messiah, the one who would eventually save them from their sins. And the Gentiles, which by the way, is you and I were at one point in time without a Messiah. They were without a savior. They were without a promise of one who would come save them from their sins and ultimately deliver them from judgment. They were without Christ.

Number two, it says that they were excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel. Not only did they have no Messiah, they had no nation. They were stateless. If you will. What is the one promise that God continued to make over and over again to Abraham? All of this land, this nation will be yours. This is a promised nation.

For you forever. And it was made to the descendants of whom? Abraham, the Jews. So these Gentiles were nationless. Number three, it says that they were strangers to the covenants of promise. They were strangers to the covenants. They had no promises. There was no promise that one day they would be God's people. There was no promise that he would be their God.

There was no promise that they would be his people. There was no promise. There was no promise that he would always be with them. They didn't have any of that because that belonged to whom? God's chosen people, right? Number four, they were without hope. They were without hope. Why? Because they had no Messiah, because they had no nation, and because they had no promises.

And when you don't have those things, you are without hope. And then number five, they were without hope. God. They were without God. And you may think to yourself, isn't that sort of included in everything else? Well, I want you to think about something. Who were we created to know? We were created to know God. But if you have no Messiah, if you have no promise,

if you have no nation and you have no hope, who can't you have a relationship with? God. Let me sum it up to you in these three things. They were without Christ. They were without God. Therefore, they were without hope. They truly were strangers and separated from all of the things of God. Now, this was true of the nation of Israel in the fact that they could not keep the law,

but it's true of the Gentiles in that they did not have the law. And brothers and sisters, for just a minute, I want you to remember that that is who we were. We had no promise. We had no hope. We had no Messiah. We had no God. We were living in the world. A pretty sad state of affairs if you're a Gentile, right? Can you imagine reading just those couple of verses

without everything else as one of the Gentiles? You're like, oh no. That brings us to the next part. What Christ did. Notice what it says in verse 30. But now, in Christ Jesus, you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall

by abolishing in His flesh the enmity which is the law of commandments contained in ordinances so that in Himself He might make the two of us into one new man thus establishing peace and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross by it having put to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near for through Him we both have our access in one spirit to the Father. What Christ did. Is that not the greatest political commercial you've ever seen in your life?

This is who you were. You were without Christ. You were strangers to the covenants. You were without a commonwealth. You were without hope. You were without God. But now, in Christ, He gives us six things that are true of us in Christ. Six things that Jesus did for us to not only bring us near but to bring peace. Number one, He brought us near. He brought us near.

Notice what it says. It says, But now, in Christ Jesus, you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. But now, I want you to remember that in verses 11 and 12 He did the same thing that He's done in lots of other sections of Ephesians. He used the past tense in all of the verbs. Because as a believer in Jesus Christ we have to understand

that's who you were formerly. The greatest thing we can ever get believers to understand is you are not who you were. You are. Who you are. Because too many of us live like we were who we were. Like I'm still in the past. Like I'm still living in the formerly. And we need to live in the present. We need to live in the present reality not the past failure. But now,

you who were far off that's us. It was true in two ways. It was true nationally and it was true sinfully. It was true of who we were as a nation. As Gentiles we were far off. About as far off as you can get. But I don't know about you brothers and sisters but when I think about who I was before Jesus really got a hold of my heart I was pretty far off. I was pretty far off away from all of the things of God.

I was about as far off as you could possibly be and yet have you ever noticed that the people that feel like the most far off are actually the closest to being brought near? Because sometimes you have to be far off before you can be brought near. But now, you who were far off have been brought near. What brought us near? It was the blood of Jesus Christ. The blood of Jesus Christ

is what brought us near. Because it dealt with our sin and made peace with God. And it dealt with our sin and made peace with each other. You who were formerly far off have been brought near. And what's brought us near is the blood of Jesus. It's the blood of Jesus Christ. Because that is what truly draws us. Because that kindness of God that He showed to us through the cross

is what ultimately leads us to repentance. We have been brought near. But there's one other phrase I want to point out to you in this. And it's the phrase that's been repeated over and over again in Ephesians. Did you take note of it? Did you underline it when you saw it? But now, in Christ. You see, the key to understanding being brought near always comes with the phrase,

in Christ. I listened to an interesting podcast the other day. It's actually been quite a while back now. I call it the other day because the other day could either be two days ago or seven years ago. But anyway, I listened to a very interesting podcast. And this podcast was sort of, well, I won't sugarcoat it. It was incredibly liberal. It was a liberal Christian

trying to say that we should, and they kept using this phrase, broaden the borders of our tent to allow more people to come. More people in. And they used some phrases from Scripture to try to point this out. They talked about the fact that there was at one point in time this great division that took place between Jew and Gentile. But what they had to realize there

in Acts chapter 15 is that God had welcomed in everyone. That God had welcomed everyone into the tent. It wasn't just a Jewish religion. It was now a religion that was for everybody. And it went across all scopes of humanity. And I wholeheartedly agree with that. But the one caveat to being brought near is it has to be in Christ. And see, for me to be in Christ,

I must be cleansed by the blood of Jesus. And for me to be cleansed by the blood of Jesus, you know what I have to do? I have to confess my sins. And you know what that means I have to understand? That I am a sinner. And everything that I do is sinful. Whether it be the way that I act sexually, whether it be the way that I act morally, whether it be the way that I act

with the way that I use my mind, whether it be the way that I act in regards to truth, whatever it is, those are sinful things. And to be washed in the blood of Jesus, I have to confess those sins. And do you remember the first word of the gospel? We said this all through our teaching in Matthew. The first word of the gospel is what? Repent. Because for me to be in Christ,

I have to leave sin behind. It can't be both. I can't be in Christ and in sin at the same time. And so, we who are far off, nationally, and sinfully, have been brought near. And what's brought us near? The blood of Jesus Christ. Because we are brought near in Christ. And then that brings us to the second thing. Number two, He is our peace. He is our peace. Notice what it says in verse 14.

For He Himself is our peace, who has made both groups into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall. He is our peace. That word peace is an interesting word. The word peace means to join together. Therefore, to make peace means to join together that which has been separated. To join together that which has been separated. Conflict brings division.

Jesus brings peace. How does Jesus bring peace? And actually, I want to point something out to you. It doesn't say that He brings peace. What does it say that He is our peace? How is Jesus our peace? Well, number one, He is our peace because He is our link to God. He dealt with the thing that separated us from God, which is sin. God's arm is not short that He cannot save,

we're told in the Psalms, but your sins have separated you from God. Therefore, the only way, that that can be restored is through Jesus because He is our peace. We did this wonderful demonstration. Matter of fact, the crepe paper is still over there. I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to call Jared up here to do this, but we did this great demonstration

where we ran this crepe paper all the way across, and we had a little kid because Jesus loves us when we're little, and we had a teenager because Jesus loves us when we're a teenager, believe it or not. And we had an adult because Jesus loves us when we're an adult, but there's always a problem. The problem is our sin. And after the last person, we tore the crepe paper.

We said, now our sin has separated us from God. How can we ever find peace? Well, then Jared came in the sweet Jesus costume, right? And he picked up the one end that is us. And he picked up the other end that is God, because He is our peace. That makes sense? That's exactly what Jesus said. That's exactly what Jesus said. That's exactly what Jesus said. That's exactly what Jesus said.

That's the first way that He is our peace. But remember, we're not dealing with our relationship with God today. We're dealing with our relationship with others. So how does Jesus, how is Jesus our peace? Well, what's the thing that separates us in our relationship from other people? Sin, same thing. And Jesus is our peace. You know why? And I'm jumping ahead of myself, I think.

Let me look at my notes. Jumping ahead of myself just a little bit here. Jesus is our peace because we have to understand something. In Christ, there's no longer division. You see, once I understand that Jesus has forgiven me of all of my sin, I can't hold sin against other people any longer. Once I realize that Jesus does not hold a grudge against me, I can't hold a grudge against other people.

Once I realize that my creative Savior is the one who created me, and my creative Savior is the one who created me, and my creative Savior is the one who created you, I don't see a color barrier anymore. I only see a creative Savior who wanted us to be as creative as we possibly can be, and he loves color. Therefore, he made all of us just a little bit different. So I can't hold against you the fact that you're a different color than I am.

I can't hold against you the fact that you're a different race than I am, a different culture than I am. All I can do is celebrate our differences because God created us both, and the same blood of Jesus Christ that cleansed me is the only blood of Jesus Christ that can cleanse you. Therefore, we are no longer a black man and a white man. We're just simply in Christ because he is our peace.

And brothers and sisters, if there's any racism that exists in any of us, you are not understanding the God who created you and saved you. I don't care what color you are because God brings peace. He brings peace through the blood of Jesus. Do you know that that's actually what was prophesied that Jesus would do? I want you to go with me one place in Scripture.

Go over to the book of Micah. That's right. Break open the Minor Prophets. It's the pages you may not have crunched yet on your gilded edges. Go to Micah. I want you to go to chapter 5. I think I even included all the verses I want to read this time. Micah chapter 5, verses 2 through 5. I'll give you a second to turn there. Back to your left. Micah chapter 5, verses 2 through 5.

Micah chapter 5, verses 2 through 5. If you hit Daniel, you've gone too far. If you hit Genesis, you've gone way too far.

Micah chapter 5, verses 2 through 5. This is what it says. But as for you, Bethlehem, Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah. From you, one will go forth from me to be ruler in Israel. Now wait a second, Ryan. It's not Christmas. Why are you reading this to us? Oh, but it does sound familiar, right? So we know, based on the context, that this is talking about the Messiah, right?

Because the Messiah will be born in Bethlehem. Jesus was born in Bethlehem. It says, His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity. Therefore, he will give them up until the time when she who is in labor has born a child. Then the remainder of his brethren will return to the sons of Israel, and he will arise and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord,

in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God, and they will remain. Because at that time, he will be great to the ends of the earth. Ah, first line of verse. Verse 5. This one will be our peace. Now I want you to take note of something. In my translation, the word our is in italics, meaning that it was added for our understanding. So if you read it without that in there,

which was not in the original Hebrew, it says this. This one will be peace. Isn't that great? It was prophesied from long ago that this one would be peace. Because peace, peace is found in Christ. Our peace with God is found in Christ. Our peace with each other is found in Christ. Because he is our peace. He's brought us near. He's our peace. Go back to Ephesians.

Number three. He broke down the dividing wall. He broke down the dividing wall. And in the scripture, it just says he broke down the barrier of the dividing wall. Now what does he mean by that? Well, I'm going to tell you the specific thing he's talking about, but I'm going to tell you symbolically what he's talking about. The specific thing that he's talking about,

undoubtedly, is that Paul is thinking about the temple itself. As a matter of fact, do you remember why we said Paul was in prison in Ephesus at this point, or in prison in Rome at this point in time when he's writing to the Ephesians? Because what Paul had done, what Paul was accused of doing, was taking a Gentile beyond the barrier of the dividing wall in the temple. You have to understand, that there were several courts in the temple.

There was the court of the Gentiles, where anyone could go. There was the court of the women, where only Jewish men and women could go. And then there was the inner court, where the men could go. Outside of the courtyard of the women, in the courtyard of the Gentiles, there was a sign. It says, any Gentile that goes beyond this wall is subject to death. See what I mean by saying,

that we were strangers and aliens, that we were separated from all of the things of God. Well, Paul was accused of taking a Gentile beyond the barrier, beyond the dividing wall, the thing that kept Gentiles away from the courtroom, or from the courtyard of God. So when Paul says, he is our peace, who has broken down the barrier of dividing wall in his mind, he's thinking about the wall, where he was accused of bringing a Gentile beyond. Because in God's eyes, there's no more dividing wall.

There's nothing that keeps us out. Our nationality doesn't keep us out. Our culture doesn't keep us out. Our race doesn't keep us out. Because in Christ, there's no more dividing wall. What does that mean? Well, it means that if we truly understand that, as believers in Jesus Christ, the only way that peace, comes is if we tear down our dividing wall. You know what our dividing walls are?

Our own personal identities. You ever notice that? You ever notice that we all have this identity that we hold on to? For a lot of us in this room, I bet the identity that we hold on to at the top is that we are Americans, right? Then right below that, we are conservatives. Then right below that, we are Christians. Right? And unfortunately, that's the thing.

The dividing wall that we hold up in our lives. And I'm here to tell you something that's going to probably get me in trouble, but I'm going to say it anyway because it's what Scripture seems to indicate. In order for there to be true unity in the body of Christ, we have to tear down the dividing wall. That means you cannot be an American first. Donald Trump's coming to get you.

No, you can't be an American first. Listen, you can't be a conservative first. You know what you have to be? You have to be a Christian. Because your first allegiance, your truth, your true citizenship is in heaven. And your true identity is in Christ. Now, I don't want you to misunderstand me. I think we should be the best citizens of the United States that we can possibly be.

We should love our country, pray for the best for our country, install leaders that are going to make good laws in our country, but our first citizenship is in heaven. Our true identity is in Christ. Because here's what can happen to the conservative church in America. We can become hateful. We can become hateful towards other people. We can become hateful and put up barrier walls towards other people

because they don't think like we do. We just have to understand something. We line everything up with what scripture has to say. And if people aren't lining up with what scripture has to say, it means that they need Jesus as their savior. They are not our enemy. Liberals aren't our enemy, usually. Democrats are not our enemy. Satan is our enemy. Is he using liberals

and Democrats right now? Yes. But those people are not our enemy. They need to be set free by the blood of Jesus Christ. They need to be brought near by the blood of Jesus Christ. And brothers and sisters, as long as we view anybody of a different color, anybody of a different religion, anybody of a different political party, as long as we view them as our enemy,

there will always be a dividing wall. And until Christ in our hearts will tear down that dividing wall in the same way that spiritually he's already torn down the dividing wall, until that happens, we'll never be able to love like Jesus calls us to love. We will never have peace with other people. He says he has torn down, he's broken down the dividing wall.

Number four, he has abolished the enmity. Let me read this to you. It says, verse 15, by abolishing in his flesh the enmity, which is the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in himself, getting into my next point, the word enmity, which is not a word that I use real often, but the word enmity means hatred. It just means hatred. The next thing I want to define for you

is the word abolished. Because the word abolished means to render inoperative. To render inoperative. And so Jesus has rendered inoperative in his flesh the hatred that comes through the law of commandments contained in ordinances. How? By rendering the law ineffective in our lives. By rendering the law, excuse me, inoperative in our lives. Because you and I no longer operate according to the law.

What separated Jews and Gentiles? The law. Why? Because the law said you have to be circumcised. The law said you have to keep all of these things. The law said you have to keep the Sabbath day and all of the sacrifices. And so there was a major divide that took place between Jew and Gentile. It was based upon the law. The Jew couldn't keep the law. The Gentile didn't have the law.

Therefore, Jesus just rendered the law inoperative. How did he render the law inoperative? By fulfilling it. Remember what Jesus said? There is not one little exclamation point no time. T that will not be crossed. No I that will not be dotted from the law until all has been fulfilled. And he fulfilled it all in himself. And once the law was fulfilled in himself

it was rendered inoperative. Therefore, he abolished the hatred. Therefore, he abolished it. Because he satisfied the righteous requirements of the law. And so, he has now abolished that enmity. That brings us to number five. He has made one new man into verse 15. So that in himself he might make the two into one new man thus establishing peace. Thus establishing

peace. Goes on to say and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross by it having put to death the enmity. And he came and preached peace to you who are far away and peace to you who are near. For through him we both have access in one spirit to the Father. But he made the one he made one new man. How did he do it? He established peace. He established peace

between the two of us and he did so by making us one brand new person. Now again, we're reminded that there's only two categories of people in the world. Those who are in Christ and those who are not in Christ. Those who are in Christ need to be built up in the faith. Those who are not in Christ need to be brought to the faith. There are actually commentators

from the first century that said that Jesus actually made one brand new race of people and we'll call it the church. Because now in the church there is this new race of people. A conglomeration of Jew, Gentile, white, black, everybody that is now one. And they now are simply the church born again through Jesus Christ. He abolished the enmity, did away with the hatred

and made one brand new person. How did he do it? Well, he first of all preached peace to those who were far off and he also preached peace to those who were near. What does that mean? The same gospel that saves the Jew is the same gospel that saves the Gentile. The same gospel that saves the white guy is the same gospel that saves the black guy. The same gospel

that saves a Hispanic person is the same gospel that saves the Asian person. It's one gospel. It's one gospel for everyone. Whether you're far off or whether you're near, it's the same gospel. Therefore, he made one brand new person. And that brings us to the last one, number six. We have access to the Father in one spirit. We have access to the Father in one spirit.

There's now one way that we get to Jesus Christ. There's now one way that we get to the Father. Access directly to the Father and that is through the Holy Spirit. It dwells inside of us. That word access is the word entree. It's a word that speaks of direct access to one that you normally would not have. It would be saying that you now have access to the President

of the United States. You name the person that is unreachable apart from another taking you in and that's what the Holy Spirit does for us is he gives us access. And how does he do that? Through him. Who's him? Well, it's Jesus. We have access through Jesus. He is our access to the Father because he grants to us the Holy Spirit that allows us directly in. I want you to go one more place

with me in Scripture. Go to 1 Timothy 2. Super, super important verse. 1 Timothy 2, verse 5.

1 Timothy 2, verse 5. It says this. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men and that's the man, Jesus Christ. You know why that's so important? It's so important because you don't have to go through a priest. You don't have to go through a pastor. You don't have to go through the right person. You don't have to go through the right rituals.

How do you find your access to the Father? Through Jesus Christ who grants to us his Holy Spirit. We are allowed directly into the throne room of God. One mediator between God and man and that's Jesus Christ. That's what Christ did for us. Go back to Ephesians 2. That's what Christ did for us. So in light of that, who are you now? Well, this is who you are.

Verse 19. So then, you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and are of God's household. Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole building being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit. What does it mean?

Three things. Number one, it means that you are fellow citizens. You are no longer strangers and aliens. You are no longer dwelling in the kingdom of God with a green card. You are now dwelling in the kingdom of God as a citizen with full rights and privileges. You are not a stranger. You are not an alien. You're a citizen of the kingdom of God. Not only are you a citizen

of the kingdom of God, but you are a fellow citizen. In other words, there is no hierarchy in the citizenship of Jesus Christ. There aren't super saints. There aren't saints that sit higher than everybody else. One of these days, I hope to achieve to that super saint status. No. We're fellow citizens. It means that there is no hierarchy. There is no class system.

There's just believers in Jesus Christ. Born again believers. And we are citizens with the saints. Now, I want you to think about this because I think this is pretty cool. Just think about who the most amazing person in the Bible you can think of is. Right? I always really love David. David's always been really cool to me. I'm a fellow citizen. I'm a fellow citizen with David.

I think about like Timothy because he's the one who I feel like I relate to the most, at least as far as what I can tell from the pastoral epistles. I really relate to Timothy. I'm a fellow citizen with Timothy. I'm a fellow citizen with Paul and Peter and James and John and all of the apostles. None of them sit on a hierarchy higher than us because we're all

fellow citizens in Christ. And brothers and sisters, that means as we sit here in this building together, nobody is better than anyone else because we are fellow citizens in Christ. You know what that means? I can never, ever, ever treat a believer in Jesus Christ as less than. I can never look at them and treat them like they are less than me because perhaps

in this world's system, this world says they have less than me. They do less than me. You name the thing. But you know what else it means? I can't ever look at myself as less than anyone else. I can't begin to look down on myself and think, oh, I'm not as good as they are. I hear that a lot. You ever hear people say that? Maybe you're one of the people that says that.

Oh, I can't pray out loud because everybody's so much better at me than prayer. No, you're a citizen. It'd be like telling my daughter she's not good at talking to me, right? Listen, if there's one thing I know about my daughters is they're really good at talking to me, okay? They're really good at talking to everybody. But it'd be like telling your kid, well, you're not very good

at talking to me. Jesus isn't like, ah, once you get better, you can come talk to me. No, everybody's the same. We can't look down on ourselves and think, well, I'm not as good as they are. You're a fellow citizen. No longer a stranger and alien, but a fellow citizen with the saints. Number two, you have been built on a firm foundation. You have been built on a firm foundation.

Notice what it says, verse 20, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Christ Jesus being the cornerstone. Let's talk about those three things real quick. Number one, the apostles. Who's he talking about when he talks about the apostles? He's talking about the 12. I believe the 11 minus Judas plus Paul. Those are the apostles. Those are the ones

who set the doctrine for the early church. And once the doctrine for the early church was settled, it was sealed. No longer do we have apostles that are continuing to put out the truth or who are continuing to set new doctrine. You know what the problem is? When you start telling somebody you can set new doctrine, they can make their doctrine whatever they want.

That's the problem with saying, well, there's apostles today. There is this apostolic succession that continues to mean that other people can set the groundwork and the framework for what scripture has to say. We can reinterpret it however we want to. No, we're told by Peter, no scripture is given to private interpretation. It's built on the foundation of the apostles,

which by the way, for their teaching to line up, it had to not only agree with the prophets, but it had to agree with Jesus. And that brings us to the next two things. Not only is it built on the foundation of the apostles, but it's built on the foundation of the prophets. I believe that the word prophets there is speaking about the Old Testament prophets, Moses being included.

Because those Old Testament prophets, in order to be put into the canon of scripture, all had to agree. They all had to be on the same page with things. If one of them started getting off in something else, they cast them out. You know what they called them? False teachers. False prophets. You know what they did to false prophets in the Old Testament? They stoned them.

Right? But it's built on the foundation of the prophets. And who was the cornerstone of it all? Jesus Christ. Why was Jesus Christ the cornerstone? Because the teaching of the apostles and the teaching of the prophets was not only confirmed by Jesus, but it found its fulfillment in Jesus. The cornerstone was what tied the entire building together. Therefore, Jesus is what tied it.

What ties it all together. You and I are built on a really firm foundation because it's the apostles. That's the New Testament. It's the prophets. That's the Old Testament. And it's the cornerstone of Jesus what it all brought us to. Built on a firm foundation. And then number three, you are a dwelling place of God. You're a dwelling place of God. Notice what it says in verse 21.

In whom the whole building being fitted together is growing into a whole building. Holy temple in the Lord in whom you are also being built together into a dwelling of God in the spirit. That means that now both Jew and Gentile together because we're no longer strangers and aliens. We're now fellow citizens together. Whatever your background, whatever your ethnicity,

whatever you went through before you became in Christ, all gets laid aside and now you're fellow citizens with the foundation of the teaching of God's word, Jesus holding it all together. We're being built up into a holy temple. Into the temple of God, the dwelling place of God. Well, how does God dwell amongst us? Through the Holy Spirit. That means that every time

God's believers get together, every time the family of God gets together, you know who's present with us? The Holy Spirit. Because we're being built into a dwelling place of God. I think one of the most beautiful things is a church that comes together, with so many different backgrounds, with so many different ideas, so many different situations that they've been through and they all come together with one common purpose, with one common theme, to know Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

Because when that happens, the Holy Spirit indwells this place and man, we become that dwelling place of God and we see God move in amazing ways. We see God move in powerful ways. Amen? Let's all stand.

And if you'd bow with me.

Father, we come before you and thank you, God, that you have blessed us with your word. Thank you, Lord, for blessing us with all of the truth of who you are. And Lord, just pray that you would continue to take this truth of your word and minister it to our hearts. Father, would you help us to understand more clearly who we are in you, the peace that we have with you, and the peace that we can have with other people.

Lord, move as you see fit. In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.

Lord, God, I just pray that if there are any here today or watching online, that God, that if not, have placed their trust in you, Lord, that have not built their foundation on you, their cornerstone. I pray that today would be that day. Today is the day of salvation, Lord. Now let that day be today. And God, I just pray that as we leave here today, I pray that your Holy Spirit go with us

and continue to minister to us, Lord God. We love you, Father. We praise you, God, and we thank you. In Jesus' name, amen. You guys have a wonderful week. God bless you.