WEBVTT 00:01.897 --> 00:12.429 [SPEAKER_00]: Alright, yeah, if you have a Bible going to open up to Ephesians, we will be in Ephesians today, Ephesians chapter 2, I have not gotten any word otherwise. 00:14.251 --> 00:14.912 [SPEAKER_00]: I'll be real, man. 00:14.932 --> 00:17.134 [SPEAKER_00]: I walked in here a little bit on egg shells today myself. 00:19.488 --> 00:20.929 [SPEAKER_00]: What do we preach into today? 00:21.069 --> 00:24.132 [SPEAKER_00]: No, Ephesians 2, 14 through 18 this was last week's. 00:24.933 --> 00:30.238 [SPEAKER_00]: Meshes been really just had an extra week to think on it, pray on it and hopefully just that this will be helpful to us today. 00:31.139 --> 00:36.644 [SPEAKER_00]: We've been walking through Ephesians for a while now and Lord Willon will continue to go through this wonderful little letter. 00:37.184 --> 00:38.565 [SPEAKER_00]: And this is such a helpful letter. 00:38.585 --> 00:39.686 [SPEAKER_00]: Ephesians is such a helpful letter. 00:39.706 --> 00:56.775 [SPEAKER_00]: I think to the church, just help us to know one, who Jesus is, what Jesus is done, but also who we are, what it means to be in Christ, over and over and over again in this letter, not just Ephesians, he does this in Galatians, he does this in 1 Corinthians and Philippians, and all of his letters Paul talks again and again about being in Christ. 00:56.795 --> 01:04.580 [SPEAKER_00]: That is sort of the main way in which he distinguishes us as separate from the world that we are in, 01:05.380 --> 01:06.802 [SPEAKER_00]: Christ is in us. 01:06.882 --> 01:07.664 [SPEAKER_00]: We are in Him. 01:08.104 --> 01:08.745 [SPEAKER_00]: We live in Him. 01:08.765 --> 01:09.547 [SPEAKER_00]: We abide in Him. 01:09.567 --> 01:10.168 [SPEAKER_00]: We trust in Him. 01:10.188 --> 01:10.768 [SPEAKER_00]: We follow Him. 01:10.829 --> 01:11.630 [SPEAKER_00]: We listen to Him. 01:12.131 --> 01:12.671 [SPEAKER_00]: We obey Him. 01:12.712 --> 01:13.012 [SPEAKER_00]: And so... 01:14.660 --> 01:34.555 [SPEAKER_00]: being in Christ as now the church has he's kind of gotten to this part of his letter he's really focusing in on more of the we more of the we talking he's it's really all plural he talks a lot to the church he's not so much talking to individuals but he's really focusing in here now about what does it mean that we are one body in Christ what does that look like what does that mean? 01:35.556 --> 01:54.532 [SPEAKER_00]: Um, if you've grown up in church and you've been around church for a long time, you've probably been around in some way a church conflict of some kind, church issues church messiness, we did a we did a message several messages through first Corinthians a couple of years ago called messy church and really you could do that for many letter in the New Testament because church has always been a little bit. 01:54.792 --> 02:12.501 [SPEAKER_00]: messy and if you like I said if you grew up in church you've probably seen some of it and some of y'all probably have stories of and it's really nothing to laugh about stories of real church hurt real real messy things that happened in the church where you were heard or you were around that or collateral damage to that or whatever maybe but that's nothing new. 02:13.982 --> 02:15.463 [SPEAKER_00]: The church has always been like that. 02:15.483 --> 02:18.845 [SPEAKER_00]: In fact, when we get to the book of Acts, we see pretty quickly, Acts chapter 5. 02:19.585 --> 02:21.667 [SPEAKER_00]: The church starts to get really messy. 02:21.787 --> 02:23.608 [SPEAKER_00]: Pretty quick, there starts to be conflict in the church. 02:24.048 --> 02:29.792 [SPEAKER_00]: In Acts 5, there's these people called Anonis and Sapphire, this married couple, and they lie to the church about their offerings. 02:30.372 --> 02:31.093 [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm God. 02:31.473 --> 02:33.536 [SPEAKER_00]: pretty harshly deals with them pretty quickly. 02:34.016 --> 02:40.264 [SPEAKER_00]: And Acts chapter 6, the Greek and Jewish, the Greek Jewish widows are being overlooked in the ministry and they complain about it. 02:40.684 --> 02:43.408 [SPEAKER_00]: People come to the apostles and they're like, hey, our widows are being overlooked. 02:43.428 --> 02:45.931 [SPEAKER_00]: We need to do something about this, so they have to fix that. 02:46.291 --> 02:50.596 [SPEAKER_00]: And then in Acts chapter 10, really 10 through 15, we see this struggle. 02:51.277 --> 02:59.186 [SPEAKER_00]: between the Jews and the Gentiles and this idea that the Gentiles could be co-ares of salvation with the Jews. 02:59.226 --> 03:04.271 [SPEAKER_00]: The Jews, in particular, were really struggling with this idea that the kingdom of God was not just for them. 03:04.291 --> 03:06.013 [SPEAKER_00]: It was also for the Gentiles. 03:06.353 --> 03:11.098 [SPEAKER_00]: And so they were kind of wondering, shouldn't the Gentiles have to become Jewish first? 03:11.699 --> 03:12.980 [SPEAKER_00]: in order to receive the kingdom. 03:13.000 --> 03:14.561 [SPEAKER_00]: Shouldn't they have to obey the law of Moses? 03:14.801 --> 03:16.402 [SPEAKER_00]: Shouldn't they have to keep the Sabbath the same way? 03:16.422 --> 03:18.883 [SPEAKER_00]: Shouldn't they have to tie to the temple the same way? 03:18.903 --> 03:20.644 [SPEAKER_00]: Shouldn't they be circumcised the same way? 03:20.885 --> 03:22.306 [SPEAKER_00]: Shouldn't they eat the same way? 03:22.906 --> 03:24.827 [SPEAKER_00]: And this was a big controversy in the early church. 03:24.847 --> 03:28.369 [SPEAKER_00]: And so in Acts chapter 15, we have this Jerusalem Council. 03:28.389 --> 03:29.510 [SPEAKER_00]: It's called the Jerusalem Council. 03:30.090 --> 03:30.591 [SPEAKER_00]: Acts chapter 15. 03:30.671 --> 03:32.672 [SPEAKER_00]: I actually want to read you a little bit of that if you want to. 03:32.712 --> 03:34.533 [SPEAKER_00]: Just flip over with me to look of Acts. 03:34.553 --> 03:35.694 [SPEAKER_00]: So flip backwards a few books. 03:36.554 --> 03:37.235 [SPEAKER_00]: Acts chapter 15. 03:38.679 --> 03:44.821 [SPEAKER_00]: And I want us to see what Peter's answer to this question is about Jew in Gentile. 03:46.262 --> 03:51.964 [SPEAKER_00]: Peter, Peter kind of makes a speech in this council because they're again, they're debating, what do we need to impose upon the Gentiles? 03:52.044 --> 03:57.746 [SPEAKER_00]: Now again, I asked the question a couple of weeks ago, is anybody in here by lineage, by heritage or you Jewish? 03:57.806 --> 04:01.607 [SPEAKER_00]: Nobody raised their hand, maybe there is somebody in here, but I think we all are 04:01.967 --> 04:02.387 [SPEAKER_00]: Gentiles. 04:02.407 --> 04:03.408 [SPEAKER_00]: We're in the category of Gentiles. 04:03.428 --> 04:03.949 [SPEAKER_00]: We're not Jewish. 04:03.969 --> 04:05.270 [SPEAKER_00]: So this really does apply to us. 04:05.290 --> 04:09.893 [SPEAKER_00]: We need to hear how do we know we're grafted into the kingdom of God because you read the Old Testament. 04:10.393 --> 04:11.674 [SPEAKER_00]: It's to the Jews, right? 04:11.694 --> 04:12.855 [SPEAKER_00]: The kingdom is to the Jews. 04:13.536 --> 04:17.399 [SPEAKER_00]: God's God's blessings and God's provision and God's salvation to the Jews. 04:18.380 --> 04:26.202 [SPEAKER_00]: And so here's Acts 15, here's what Peter says, and I'm certain of verse six, it says, the apostles and the elders met to consider this question. 04:26.602 --> 04:30.023 [SPEAKER_00]: And after much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them, brothers. 04:30.683 --> 04:38.045 [SPEAKER_00]: You know that some time ago, God made a choice among you, that the Gentiles might hear from my lips, the message of the gospel, and believe. 04:38.065 --> 04:45.247 [SPEAKER_00]: So Peter was the first one in Acts 10, to bring the gospel to the Gentiles, men named Cornelius and his family, and they received the gospel. 04:46.067 --> 04:55.916 [SPEAKER_00]: He says, God, who knows the heart, showed that He accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as He did to us. 04:56.316 --> 05:03.463 [SPEAKER_00]: He made no distinction between us and them for He purified their hearts by faith. 05:04.418 --> 05:11.703 [SPEAKER_00]: Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the next of the disciples a yoke which neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? 05:12.143 --> 05:18.107 [SPEAKER_00]: No, we believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved just as they are. 05:18.127 --> 05:18.667 [SPEAKER_00]: Do you hear that? 05:18.947 --> 05:28.934 [SPEAKER_00]: We've been walking through Ephesians and just kind of doubling down on this reality that we are saved how, how are the Gentile saved by the grace of Jesus through faith in Jesus? 05:29.754 --> 05:34.318 [SPEAKER_00]: That's Ephesians 2, 8, 3, 10, and Peter all the way back in Acts, this is Paul right in Ephesians. 05:34.358 --> 05:38.340 [SPEAKER_00]: But Peter says the exact same thing, how are the Gentiles saved by the grace of Jesus? 05:38.621 --> 05:39.421 [SPEAKER_00]: Through faith in Jesus. 05:39.441 --> 05:42.283 [SPEAKER_00]: How are the Jews saved by being Jewish? 05:43.084 --> 05:46.246 [SPEAKER_00]: No, by the grace of Jesus, through faith in Jesus. 05:46.406 --> 05:47.407 [SPEAKER_00]: All people, right? 05:47.427 --> 05:52.711 [SPEAKER_00]: And so that was the point in the early church, and they were trying to help everybody to see that really there. 05:52.771 --> 05:53.952 [SPEAKER_00]: There's no distinction now. 05:53.992 --> 05:56.334 [SPEAKER_00]: Peter said that no distinction between people groups. 05:57.054 --> 06:01.698 [SPEAKER_00]: You have faith in Christ Jesus for your salvation no matter who you are, where you come from. 06:01.718 --> 06:06.401 [SPEAKER_00]: And so there's really two very important applications of this section in particular of Ephesians. 06:06.421 --> 06:09.663 [SPEAKER_00]: Before we get into this, two really important applications that I want you to see. 06:09.683 --> 06:12.906 [SPEAKER_00]: Number one, no separation of peoples. 06:12.926 --> 06:13.827 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what we just talked about. 06:13.867 --> 06:14.867 [SPEAKER_00]: No separation of peoples. 06:14.887 --> 06:18.170 [SPEAKER_00]: Not know, in English, we don't always use the word peoples and persons. 06:18.190 --> 06:19.931 [SPEAKER_00]: But those are correct English words. 06:20.131 --> 06:20.912 [SPEAKER_00]: No separation of peoples. 06:20.932 --> 06:24.695 [SPEAKER_00]: That means people, groups, groups of people, Jews and Gentiles, all people. 06:25.255 --> 06:29.056 [SPEAKER_00]: have been called to peace and unity in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. 06:29.636 --> 06:31.957 [SPEAKER_00]: Y'all, we have brothers and sisters all over the world. 06:31.977 --> 06:32.537 [SPEAKER_00]: Do you all know that? 06:33.117 --> 06:41.879 [SPEAKER_00]: As Christians, we are family unified with everybody on this planet who calls upon the name of Jesus, no separation of peoples. 06:41.899 --> 06:50.801 [SPEAKER_00]: But number two, and maybe this is a little bit more appropriate for some of us in here, and especially I think 21st century Americans, no isolation of persons. 06:52.057 --> 06:54.240 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus saves individuals, yes. 06:54.801 --> 06:59.227 [SPEAKER_00]: You individually, you personally are saved by Christ by putting your faith in Jesus. 06:59.727 --> 07:05.375 [SPEAKER_00]: But he never meant for you to be saved and to remain an isolated individual just doing life and faith on your own. 07:06.096 --> 07:07.538 [SPEAKER_00]: The New Testament knows nothing about that. 07:08.564 --> 07:13.847 [SPEAKER_00]: Again, all of these letters are written to the church and they're written to a collective group of people. 07:13.867 --> 07:20.751 [SPEAKER_00]: There's no separation of people groups, but there's also no isolation of persons, individuals, who go, okay, well, I'm saved. 07:20.932 --> 07:28.636 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm good, so I'm just gonna separate myself out and just kind of make my life and my faith all about me, just like everything else is, about me. 07:28.696 --> 07:33.199 [SPEAKER_00]: No, the New Testament teaches us Paul, teaches us Peter, teaches us Jesus, teaches us, no. 07:33.419 --> 07:34.960 [SPEAKER_00]: You are now part of a unit, 07:38.522 --> 07:43.023 [SPEAKER_00]: of individuals now to get there as one new people. 07:44.083 --> 07:48.205 [SPEAKER_00]: And Falliman won six, and I actually want to read you this verse to this more. 07:48.225 --> 07:56.967 [SPEAKER_00]: If you know, the little tiny book of Falliman flip over a couple of books through the new testament there right before Hebrews, okay, Falliman. 07:57.567 --> 08:00.088 [SPEAKER_00]: This is one of the letters written to a particular person. 08:01.648 --> 08:03.148 [SPEAKER_00]: He writes this letter to Philemon. 08:03.188 --> 08:04.789 [SPEAKER_00]: He was a slave owner. 08:05.029 --> 08:06.029 [SPEAKER_00]: That's who Philemon wasn't. 08:06.049 --> 08:09.230 [SPEAKER_00]: He's actually encouraging him to let his slave be free. 08:09.250 --> 08:10.790 [SPEAKER_00]: So what this letter is about. 08:11.270 --> 08:11.790 [SPEAKER_00]: But he says this. 08:11.810 --> 08:13.791 [SPEAKER_00]: He says, I pray talking to Philemon. 08:13.971 --> 08:21.733 [SPEAKER_00]: I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ. 08:22.500 --> 08:27.661 [SPEAKER_00]: active in sharing your faith so that we understand so that you understand all the good things we have in Jesus. 08:28.022 --> 08:30.182 [SPEAKER_00]: That word sharing your faith and believe in one six. 08:30.202 --> 08:32.243 [SPEAKER_00]: That's the word coin and ea sharing, coin and ea. 08:32.623 --> 08:35.624 [SPEAKER_00]: He's not telling them, he's not talking about sharing your faith like evangelism. 08:35.864 --> 08:38.224 [SPEAKER_00]: He's talking about sharing your faith with the people around you. 08:38.524 --> 08:39.265 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what he's talking about. 08:39.385 --> 08:41.685 [SPEAKER_00]: Coin and ea fellowship with brothers and sisters. 08:41.725 --> 08:44.886 [SPEAKER_00]: He actually said to file eaman, you can't now listen. 08:45.386 --> 08:50.508 [SPEAKER_00]: You cannot know fully the grace and the goodness of God if you're not sharing your faith in community. 08:50.908 --> 08:51.368 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what he told 08:52.828 --> 09:03.293 [SPEAKER_00]: There is a way in which you experience God and no God deeper and better and more richly and more fully in community, you cannot do on your own. 09:04.333 --> 09:05.214 [SPEAKER_00]: I think that's important. 09:05.234 --> 09:10.976 [SPEAKER_00]: So anybody who would want to isolate themselves as a Christian person is kind of actively confessing, you know what? 09:11.056 --> 09:13.658 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm good not really knowing God deeply. 09:14.918 --> 09:18.260 [SPEAKER_00]: Because there's a way in which we'll know through community, through fellowship, that we can't know them. 09:19.062 --> 09:20.262 [SPEAKER_00]: any other way. 09:20.382 --> 09:21.662 [SPEAKER_00]: All right, let's look at Ephesians 2 here. 09:22.543 --> 09:27.363 [SPEAKER_00]: So he says, he himself, Jesus, he himself is our peace. 09:27.383 --> 09:29.544 [SPEAKER_00]: He's in fatic about that, that this is Christ. 09:30.064 --> 09:35.265 [SPEAKER_00]: And it's Christ alone who is the source and the substance and the sustainer of our peace. 09:35.305 --> 09:40.746 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, he's talking really peace between, again, people, groups, peace between you and others, peace between. 09:41.066 --> 09:45.307 [SPEAKER_00]: This group of people and that group of people specifically to them, Gentiles and Jews. 09:45.327 --> 09:47.367 [SPEAKER_00]: There would have been Jews who lived in Ephesus as well. 09:47.947 --> 09:56.757 [SPEAKER_00]: spread out over the Roman world, and so probably a group of Jewish people, now that we know that there were a Paul started in the synagogue, right, in Ephesus, so that's where the Jews would hang out. 09:57.278 --> 10:00.622 [SPEAKER_00]: Peace out and now, God, Jesus has brought peace, peace between these two groups. 10:01.634 --> 10:06.296 [SPEAKER_00]: So there's peace in Christ, and the concept of peace, especially for the Jewish people. 10:06.316 --> 10:09.557 [SPEAKER_00]: This was kind of all of their life and faith was about this concept. 10:09.577 --> 10:10.477 [SPEAKER_00]: It was about peace. 10:10.577 --> 10:12.538 [SPEAKER_00]: They called it Shalom in the Hebrew language. 10:12.938 --> 10:18.020 [SPEAKER_00]: Shalom was about wholeness, internal wholeness, external wholeness, completeness. 10:18.420 --> 10:19.760 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not complete without peace. 10:19.820 --> 10:21.321 [SPEAKER_00]: That's the way the Jews thought about this. 10:21.681 --> 10:24.522 [SPEAKER_00]: So falls really speaking Jewish language here, because he's trying to help them see, 10:25.302 --> 10:30.527 [SPEAKER_00]: You are not separate from the Gentiles, y'all are one people in Christ. 10:30.567 --> 10:32.028 [SPEAKER_00]: You have peace with God. 10:32.128 --> 10:48.262 [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, we are justified by faith, for given, made holy, but we also have peace with one another, brought into the same family with the same father, the same big brother in Jesus, and the same spirit who lives within us and collectively unites us in faith and hope and in love. 10:48.342 --> 10:49.583 [SPEAKER_00]: That's really Ephesians 2 here. 10:50.832 --> 10:59.377 [SPEAKER_00]: And that's why I said a second ago, you cannot fully understand or experience the whole gospel, the whole grace of God and the goodness of God on your own by nature. 10:59.917 --> 11:10.644 [SPEAKER_00]: A part of the gospel is that Jesus is not only our justification, he's not only our redemption, he's not only our adoption, he's also our reconciliation, two God and two one another. 11:11.124 --> 11:13.525 [SPEAKER_00]: So what Jesus' work is, that's what the gospel is. 11:14.105 --> 11:21.907 [SPEAKER_00]: And so again, if we're not living in that kind of active pursuit of peace with others, we are missing out on part of the gospel. 11:22.507 --> 11:23.728 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what we're missing, all right? 11:23.768 --> 11:25.988 [SPEAKER_00]: So again, we're not living just as individual. 11:26.008 --> 11:27.889 [SPEAKER_00]: That's my heart this morning that we would see this. 11:28.529 --> 11:31.390 [SPEAKER_00]: We are united as one in Christ. 11:32.070 --> 11:32.631 [SPEAKER_00]: Christ. 11:33.151 --> 11:35.613 [SPEAKER_00]: And he says, he has made the two one. 11:35.733 --> 11:37.175 [SPEAKER_00]: He has made the two one. 11:37.235 --> 11:38.916 [SPEAKER_00]: Again, the Jews struggled a bit with this. 11:38.976 --> 11:41.038 [SPEAKER_00]: They really, in particular, struggled with this. 11:41.058 --> 11:45.162 [SPEAKER_00]: The Gentiles would have struggled with it too, because, you know, the Jews didn't just didn't always get along. 11:45.182 --> 11:46.603 [SPEAKER_00]: They saw each other very differently. 11:47.144 --> 11:50.427 [SPEAKER_00]: The Gentiles probably saw the Jews as he's kind of stuck up religious people. 11:50.987 --> 11:53.569 [SPEAKER_00]: And the Jews saw the Gentiles as unclean dogs. 11:53.689 --> 11:55.371 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, this is how they viewed one another. 11:55.911 --> 11:58.214 [SPEAKER_00]: And now Paul's taking these two groups of people and go, no. 11:58.854 --> 12:05.496 [SPEAKER_00]: Again, Christ, you've been made one by his blood, by his work, by the gospel. 12:06.617 --> 12:20.342 [SPEAKER_00]: And so the Jews, even though they struggled with this Paul and the rest of the New Testament writers and Jesus himself, I mean they're often alluding back, not just a New Testament but to the Old Testament to help them to see, they really, this was always God's plan. 12:21.761 --> 12:29.263 [SPEAKER_00]: God speaks to the Jewish people and uses the Jewish people in the Old Testament to enact his plans and it begins in the New Testament with the Jewish people. 12:29.303 --> 12:31.623 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus even says, I came to the Law sheep of Israel. 12:32.004 --> 12:38.025 [SPEAKER_00]: I came for the Jews to preach the kingdom to the Jews, but we see again and again that it was never really just about the Jews. 12:38.045 --> 12:42.426 [SPEAKER_00]: In fact, even from the very beginning, there are fathers who would the Jewish people call their father. 12:42.446 --> 12:43.967 [SPEAKER_00]: Who was that Abraham? 12:44.527 --> 12:45.267 [SPEAKER_00]: Was Abraham a Jew? 12:46.207 --> 12:46.667 [SPEAKER_00]: No! 12:46.688 --> 12:48.869 [SPEAKER_00]: He wasn't even a Jew, right? 12:49.069 --> 12:52.312 [SPEAKER_00]: He couldn't have been a Jew because when God called him, there were no Jews. 12:52.332 --> 12:53.893 [SPEAKER_00]: It didn't exist yet, right? 12:54.253 --> 13:01.518 [SPEAKER_00]: Abraham was a Gentile from the land of Error and then God called him and then God made him a the father of the Jews, right? 13:01.538 --> 13:04.060 [SPEAKER_00]: But he started as a pagan Gentile, right? 13:04.080 --> 13:07.262 [SPEAKER_00]: So even their lineage, it was from the nations. 13:07.302 --> 13:13.167 [SPEAKER_00]: It was from a Gentile person because all people originally, you could say, Regentiles, right? 13:13.187 --> 13:13.387 [SPEAKER_00]: And so 13:13.667 --> 13:19.452 [SPEAKER_00]: just to remind them of that and when God made his promise to Abraham, what did he tell Abraham? 13:19.472 --> 13:24.616 [SPEAKER_00]: He told him, I'm going to bless the whole world, all people through you. 13:24.636 --> 13:29.901 [SPEAKER_00]: It's not just going to be not just your physical descendants, I'm going to bless all people through you. 13:29.941 --> 13:33.284 [SPEAKER_00]: Romans 4, 9 through 11, Paul makes this point. 13:33.304 --> 13:36.607 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not going to read it right now, but you can go and make a note on that, go read it later. 13:36.847 --> 13:40.109 [SPEAKER_00]: Romans 4, 9 through 11, Paul talks about Abraham in particular because he's 13:42.111 --> 13:51.699 [SPEAKER_00]: Abraham was justified before, and this is the point he was making a couple paragraphs before there are a couple sentences before this and we're in Ephesians about circumcision. 13:52.019 --> 13:57.864 [SPEAKER_00]: The Jews saw circumcision as the physical sign of the covenant, but when was Abraham justified before God? 13:58.484 --> 14:00.205 [SPEAKER_00]: before he was circumcised. 14:00.505 --> 14:05.148 [SPEAKER_00]: The point being, stop making circumcision the dividing line, Jewish and Gentile, right? 14:05.168 --> 14:06.068 [SPEAKER_00]: That's not the point. 14:06.588 --> 14:12.772 [SPEAKER_00]: Even our father Abraham was justified before God before he received that covenant sign. 14:13.212 --> 14:15.393 [SPEAKER_00]: Because really the covenant sign is faith. 14:16.093 --> 14:17.154 [SPEAKER_00]: It's always faith. 14:17.554 --> 14:20.476 [SPEAKER_00]: It's always been faith that the deepest part of it, faith in God. 14:20.536 --> 14:21.216 [SPEAKER_00]: Abraham had that. 14:21.556 --> 14:23.957 [SPEAKER_00]: The Jews have that and if the Gentiles have that, guess what? 14:28.792 --> 14:29.693 [SPEAKER_00]: and throughout the scriptures. 14:29.713 --> 14:32.015 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, God uses notable Gentiles. 14:32.396 --> 14:36.540 [SPEAKER_00]: Over and over again, Ray Hab in Jericho, Ruth, the owner of the story of Ruth. 14:36.640 --> 14:37.621 [SPEAKER_00]: She was a Moabite. 14:38.002 --> 14:38.983 [SPEAKER_00]: She was a Gentile. 14:39.343 --> 14:43.627 [SPEAKER_00]: And one of the great great, you know, grandmothers of Christ, grandmother of King David. 14:44.548 --> 14:59.591 [SPEAKER_00]: Isaiah prophesied, Isaiah 60, he prophesied about the Gentiles coming to the Messiah, then nations coming to the Messiah's, really a prophecy about the magic, the wise men, who were, guess what, Gentiles, the first ones to come and worship King Jesus were who, Gentiles. 15:00.191 --> 15:12.733 [SPEAKER_00]: And who was the last person, Pope quiz, who was the last person, in Jesus' earthly life to confess Him as Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God, who was the last person, a Roman centurion at the cross, a Gentile. 15:13.492 --> 15:16.756 [SPEAKER_00]: So all throughout the Scriptures, God was pointing them to y'all. 15:16.816 --> 15:32.836 [SPEAKER_00]: It's not just about the Jewish people, it's about the world coming to see the one, the Messiah, the Lord, the Savior, the Redeemer Jesus Christ, and all who put their faith in him, shall be saved and shall be made the people of God. 15:33.096 --> 15:44.626 [SPEAKER_00]: And so he continues, he says, he destroyed the barrier, destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, a couple of weeks ago we talked about the temple complex, brought that picture again just one more time. 15:45.247 --> 15:51.633 [SPEAKER_00]: So we can see the temple here is the temple complex in first century Jerusalem there, here it's temple. 15:52.530 --> 15:57.052 [SPEAKER_00]: And that middle part, that's the proper temple, the bigger round wall, that's sort of the temple complex. 15:57.193 --> 15:58.793 [SPEAKER_00]: Anybody could go in the wall, right? 15:58.813 --> 16:01.335 [SPEAKER_00]: The Gentiles could go in the wall, so all the little dots out here, these are Gentiles. 16:01.595 --> 16:03.716 [SPEAKER_00]: The Gentiles couldn't go into the temple, right? 16:04.156 --> 16:08.439 [SPEAKER_00]: And I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, a round of the temple, right, where they're steps are that kind of go up in the temple. 16:08.459 --> 16:12.080 [SPEAKER_00]: There was this thing called a ballastrod, his little fence, that would go around that. 16:12.321 --> 16:16.223 [SPEAKER_00]: And Paul's make like using this picture, right here to say, 16:17.023 --> 16:23.189 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus has destroyed that barrier, that fence that would go around that temple that would separate you from Gentile. 16:23.570 --> 16:25.612 [SPEAKER_00]: He's destroyed the barrier. 16:25.652 --> 16:27.454 [SPEAKER_00]: He's destroyed the ballastrod. 16:27.494 --> 16:30.296 [SPEAKER_00]: Now there is no distinction between you and Gentile. 16:30.517 --> 16:34.420 [SPEAKER_00]: As it pertains to their ability to be in relationship with God. 16:35.475 --> 16:40.037 [SPEAKER_00]: all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God, Paul wrote that in Romans 3, 23. 16:40.697 --> 16:44.899 [SPEAKER_00]: All are justified through grace by faith in Jesus. 16:44.939 --> 16:46.280 [SPEAKER_00]: So what grounds is there now? 16:46.360 --> 16:46.940 [SPEAKER_00]: What grounds? 16:46.960 --> 16:47.521 [SPEAKER_00]: Let me ask you this. 16:48.041 --> 16:52.083 [SPEAKER_00]: What grounds is there for hostility between Jew and Gentile? 16:52.103 --> 16:56.225 [SPEAKER_00]: What grounds is there between any people group on this earth for hostility? 16:56.765 --> 17:01.207 [SPEAKER_00]: Here's a question for all of us, and you can answer honestly, have you sinned? 17:03.132 --> 17:04.913 [SPEAKER_00]: Don't be shy, have you sinned? 17:05.594 --> 17:09.376 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, all right, I'm not gonna make you stand up and tell us, like you've sinned. 17:10.377 --> 17:14.800 [SPEAKER_00]: So if I, you fall in short of the glory of God, do you need grace? 17:15.720 --> 17:17.662 [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, so do they. 17:19.442 --> 17:20.944 [SPEAKER_00]: So does everybody you meet? 17:21.525 --> 17:25.451 [SPEAKER_00]: Sin and grace, y'all, sin and grace are the great equalizers of humanity. 17:26.232 --> 17:28.515 [SPEAKER_00]: All have sinned, all need grace. 17:29.377 --> 17:33.483 [SPEAKER_00]: They're the great equalizers for all people groups, all persons. 17:34.364 --> 17:38.547 [SPEAKER_00]: And listen, of course, we disagree with each other on all sorts of different things. 17:38.567 --> 17:48.034 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, there are people all over from all nations, all skin colors, all languages, all socioeconomic backgrounds, all political affiliations who have sinned and need the grace of God. 17:48.054 --> 17:51.756 [SPEAKER_00]: And we're going to disagree on some things, all of those people. 17:52.597 --> 17:55.679 [SPEAKER_00]: And we probably should disagree on some things because there's things to disagree upon. 17:55.719 --> 17:58.401 [SPEAKER_00]: We should disagree upon what's true and what's not true. 17:58.521 --> 18:01.643 [SPEAKER_00]: But listen, if we ever find ourselves, 18:02.704 --> 18:16.710 [SPEAKER_00]: feeling such hostility toward another group of people that we would rather they stay far away from God than I would say, I think we've lost sight of what grace really means. 18:18.923 --> 18:20.183 [SPEAKER_00]: and what the gospel really means. 18:21.203 --> 18:30.745 [SPEAKER_00]: The death of Jesus didn't just save you from your sins, the cross of Jesus did that and the grace of Jesus did that, but it did that for all who trust in Him for salvation. 18:30.765 --> 18:35.606 [SPEAKER_00]: And therefore it removes barriers between us and God and between us and one another. 18:35.706 --> 18:37.167 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what the gospel does. 18:37.867 --> 18:48.109 [SPEAKER_00]: Every person you know, let me just again, every person you know is potentially a brother or a sister of yours in Jesus Christ, every person. 18:49.222 --> 18:50.804 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't care what you think of them right now. 18:51.785 --> 18:52.887 [SPEAKER_00]: Or what they think of you right now. 18:54.188 --> 18:59.255 [SPEAKER_00]: Potentially, they are your sibling for eternity in Jesus. 19:00.618 --> 19:03.098 [SPEAKER_00]: Man, if Grace has changed us, then that's how we're gonna see people. 19:03.298 --> 19:05.159 [SPEAKER_00]: Don't you wanna see people the way Jesus sees people? 19:05.619 --> 19:05.979 [SPEAKER_00]: I do. 19:06.179 --> 19:07.139 [SPEAKER_00]: And I've been praying for that. 19:07.499 --> 19:08.899 [SPEAKER_00]: And I want us to see people that way. 19:08.919 --> 19:11.640 [SPEAKER_00]: And that's how I think the Lord would lead us. 19:12.420 --> 19:13.400 [SPEAKER_00]: So what is that barrier? 19:13.440 --> 19:14.760 [SPEAKER_00]: What is that wall of hostility? 19:15.401 --> 19:17.441 [SPEAKER_00]: He goes on, verse 15 here, Ephesians 2. 19:18.121 --> 19:21.562 [SPEAKER_00]: Verse 15 says, by abolishing in his flesh, the law. 19:21.762 --> 19:22.742 [SPEAKER_00]: There's the law, okay? 19:23.422 --> 19:25.922 [SPEAKER_00]: The law with its commandments and regulations. 19:25.982 --> 19:26.703 [SPEAKER_00]: That's the barrier. 19:27.143 --> 19:28.723 [SPEAKER_00]: For the Jew and the Gentile, it was the law. 19:29.163 --> 19:43.601 [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, the law of Moses with all of its rules, all of its regulations, that was the kind of fundamental division between Jew and Gentile, the Jews have the law, and the Gentiles didn't have the law, the written law, the law of Moses. 19:44.969 --> 19:45.730 [SPEAKER_00]: So they could grade. 19:45.750 --> 19:46.610 [SPEAKER_00]: This is how that kind of work. 19:46.690 --> 19:49.172 [SPEAKER_00]: The Jews could grade themselves based on the law. 19:49.192 --> 19:50.894 [SPEAKER_00]: So they could grade themselves against one another. 19:50.914 --> 19:51.714 [SPEAKER_00]: Jew versus Jew. 19:52.175 --> 19:54.256 [SPEAKER_00]: Of course, they could grade Jew versus Gentile. 19:54.296 --> 19:59.320 [SPEAKER_00]: If I'm even if I'm not following the law perfectly, I'm still a Jew and I still have the law. 19:59.340 --> 20:02.903 [SPEAKER_00]: So at least I'm following it a little bit and the Gentiles aren't following it at all, right? 20:02.923 --> 20:03.703 [SPEAKER_00]: Do you see how that would work? 20:04.124 --> 20:06.746 [SPEAKER_00]: Socially, they're just looking at the Gentiles like this. 20:06.766 --> 20:07.646 [SPEAKER_00]: They don't even have the law. 20:07.666 --> 20:08.547 [SPEAKER_00]: They don't follow the law. 20:08.567 --> 20:10.949 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm a Jew, I know I screwed up, but I follow it a little bit. 20:11.229 --> 20:12.010 [SPEAKER_00]: So I'm better than them. 20:12.735 --> 20:13.015 [SPEAKER_00]: Okay. 20:13.455 --> 20:17.617 [SPEAKER_00]: And this is the point that he's making about what Jesus has abolished. 20:18.137 --> 20:25.179 [SPEAKER_00]: He said he abolished in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. 20:25.219 --> 20:26.360 [SPEAKER_00]: What does the law of God do? 20:26.580 --> 20:30.141 [SPEAKER_00]: So I wanted us to think about this for a second because did Jesus really abolish the law? 20:30.161 --> 20:32.122 [SPEAKER_00]: If you're in Coinedine with me, we talked about this Tuesday. 20:32.842 --> 20:34.363 [SPEAKER_00]: Here's, I want to understand this. 20:34.443 --> 20:40.205 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus actually said, Matthew 517, Jesus said this, I have not come to abolish the law. 20:40.974 --> 20:44.576 [SPEAKER_00]: I've not come to abolish the law and the prophets, I came to fulfill them. 20:44.796 --> 20:46.818 [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so now this sounds like a contradiction, doesn't it? 20:47.358 --> 20:50.460 [SPEAKER_00]: Paul says, he abolished in his flesh, the law. 20:50.860 --> 20:52.041 [SPEAKER_00]: That's Commandments and Regulations. 20:52.161 --> 20:54.022 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus said, I didn't come to abolish the law. 20:54.462 --> 20:57.624 [SPEAKER_00]: I came to fulfill that is the Bible now making sense here. 20:57.644 --> 20:59.946 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, here's what we can understand from this. 20:59.966 --> 21:01.566 [SPEAKER_00]: There's two different contexts going on here. 21:02.147 --> 21:04.328 [SPEAKER_00]: When Jesus says, I came to fulfill the law. 21:04.348 --> 21:04.868 [SPEAKER_00]: Here's what he meant. 21:05.329 --> 21:08.431 [SPEAKER_00]: He came to perfectly live under the law of God. 21:09.131 --> 21:19.276 [SPEAKER_00]: and the teaching of His Word through the prophets and to fulfill all righteousness so that he could be the perfect substitute and the perfect priest mediating between us and God. 21:19.316 --> 21:20.616 [SPEAKER_00]: That's how Jesus fulfilled the law. 21:20.936 --> 21:21.837 [SPEAKER_00]: He never sinned. 21:22.437 --> 21:23.638 [SPEAKER_00]: He's the perfect man. 21:23.918 --> 21:30.441 [SPEAKER_00]: He's the capital T man, capital M, Jesus alone, perfect, fulfilling all the law. 21:35.563 --> 21:41.028 [SPEAKER_00]: People die every day and their death doesn't do what Jesus' death did because they're sinful. 21:42.115 --> 21:49.937 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus was not, and so His death paid a price for all who would trust in Him, paid the price of their sin, to give us His righteousness. 21:51.017 --> 21:52.457 [SPEAKER_00]: So how did He abolish the law then? 21:52.477 --> 21:53.238 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what Paul says. 21:53.258 --> 21:54.618 [SPEAKER_00]: He did come to abolish the law. 21:54.938 --> 21:55.618 [SPEAKER_00]: Here's what He means. 21:55.878 --> 21:56.438 [SPEAKER_00]: He's talking again. 21:56.458 --> 21:57.799 [SPEAKER_00]: He's talking so shul. 21:57.879 --> 22:01.960 [SPEAKER_00]: And He's talking theological relationship and reconciliation here. 22:01.980 --> 22:02.880 [SPEAKER_00]: Here's what He's talking about. 22:02.900 --> 22:10.402 [SPEAKER_00]: He said, He came to abolish the requirements of the law as that which divides us from God and us from one another. 22:12.302 --> 22:22.727 [SPEAKER_00]: So, in one sense, he fulfills it as the perfect man, and in another sense, he abolishes it as the dividing barrier between Jew and Gentile, or any person from another person, or any of us from God. 22:23.347 --> 22:24.187 [SPEAKER_00]: He abolished it. 22:24.207 --> 22:25.248 [SPEAKER_00]: He took it away. 22:26.448 --> 22:27.208 [SPEAKER_00]: He removed it. 22:27.248 --> 22:28.409 [SPEAKER_00]: So now there's no barrier. 22:29.209 --> 22:32.071 [SPEAKER_00]: There's no barrier except, am I in Christ or am I not? 22:41.135 --> 22:43.517 [SPEAKER_00]: And if they're not in Christ, let's share Christ. 22:44.057 --> 22:45.078 [SPEAKER_00]: So they can be in Christ. 22:45.798 --> 22:58.427 [SPEAKER_00]: And so he says to create in himself, here's his goal, to create in himself, one new man out of the two, Jew and Gentile, two, one new man, thus making peace, verse 16. 22:59.068 --> 23:05.513 [SPEAKER_00]: And in this one body, to reconcile, both of them to God through the cross. 23:06.501 --> 23:09.622 [SPEAKER_00]: by which he put to death their hostility. 23:10.122 --> 23:13.344 [SPEAKER_00]: You thought the cross was just to put to death your sins. 23:14.444 --> 23:14.804 [SPEAKER_00]: It was. 23:15.244 --> 23:16.105 [SPEAKER_00]: Put to death your sins. 23:16.865 --> 23:19.486 [SPEAKER_00]: Trust in Jesus, your sin died on the cross. 23:19.906 --> 23:28.070 [SPEAKER_00]: It was also, here's one of your sins, to put to death hostility between you and any human being in this world. 23:29.730 --> 23:31.291 [SPEAKER_00]: That was the death of that on the cross. 23:33.257 --> 23:35.199 [SPEAKER_00]: at least it should be potentially. 23:35.239 --> 23:52.975 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus did everything that needs to be done to end that hostility, the word is enmity, enmity between you and others, between people, groups and other people, groups, see the law of Moses with all of its rules, all of its regulations was the fundamental substance of the division between you and Gentile, like I said. 23:54.078 --> 23:55.779 [SPEAKER_00]: And here's all of the law really did. 23:55.879 --> 23:57.501 [SPEAKER_00]: It revealed our sinfulness. 23:57.861 --> 23:58.802 [SPEAKER_00]: Didn't make us righteous. 23:58.902 --> 23:59.923 [SPEAKER_00]: It revealed our sinfulness. 24:00.703 --> 24:01.664 [SPEAKER_00]: It didn't bring us to God. 24:01.704 --> 24:02.965 [SPEAKER_00]: It separated us from God. 24:03.506 --> 24:05.487 [SPEAKER_00]: And number three, it didn't bring us close together. 24:05.567 --> 24:06.988 [SPEAKER_00]: It separated us from one another. 24:07.649 --> 24:08.429 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what the law did. 24:08.870 --> 24:10.971 [SPEAKER_00]: It revealed our sinfulness separated us from God. 24:11.772 --> 24:13.013 [SPEAKER_00]: and separated us from one another. 24:13.513 --> 24:15.494 [SPEAKER_00]: So that's why Jesus abolished it. 24:16.215 --> 24:18.656 [SPEAKER_00]: He abolished that brokenness. 24:18.956 --> 24:22.838 [SPEAKER_00]: He abolished that division to create in himself one new man out of the two. 24:22.898 --> 24:30.943 [SPEAKER_00]: This is why, you know, this is why political policies and ideologies will never fix the issues of this world. 24:31.663 --> 24:32.664 [SPEAKER_00]: This is why right here. 24:33.384 --> 24:36.746 [SPEAKER_00]: Think about the issues that we have in the world, think about the issues we have in our own culture. 24:38.057 --> 24:43.739 [SPEAKER_00]: violence, racism, abortion, addiction, greed, you name it. 24:44.299 --> 24:45.960 [SPEAKER_00]: The law, here's what the law can do. 24:46.360 --> 24:53.542 [SPEAKER_00]: The law can try to control and suppress man's wickedness, by putting up regulations and rules. 24:53.862 --> 24:54.643 [SPEAKER_00]: And it should. 24:55.003 --> 24:56.123 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what the law should do. 24:56.663 --> 24:58.444 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what the Jewish law did for the Jewish people. 24:58.864 --> 25:00.845 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what American law does for American people. 25:00.886 --> 25:05.709 [SPEAKER_00]: It puts up regulations and rules, kind of creating barriers around us so that we can't. 25:06.029 --> 25:13.194 [SPEAKER_00]: At least we have a law that says we should not or we cannot do certain things that our natural sinful nature would want us to do. 25:14.075 --> 25:28.385 [SPEAKER_00]: but the law cannot solve the sin problem because it's a hard problem that government can't solve any of that because the law only aims to modify external behavior and the conditions of our culture. 25:28.705 --> 25:30.086 [SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't change anyone's heart. 25:30.226 --> 25:32.148 [SPEAKER_00]: It can't only the gospel can do that. 25:33.021 --> 25:34.583 [SPEAKER_00]: only the gospel of Jesus Christ. 25:35.383 --> 25:40.729 [SPEAKER_00]: Only when the grace of God conquers the heart of men will they be reconciled to God and to one another. 25:41.269 --> 25:44.872 [SPEAKER_00]: Only then will they love God and love their neighbor as themselves. 25:45.293 --> 25:52.560 [SPEAKER_00]: Only then will men of every skin color, background, social status, tribe tongue, and nation be united as one new man. 25:52.820 --> 25:53.300 [SPEAKER_00]: Only then. 25:53.961 --> 26:13.366 [SPEAKER_00]: will violence and addiction and depression and lust and greed and homicide and suicide and selfishness and entitlement lose their stranglehold on our culture, not by law, by grace, not by new policies, by new hearts, not by the regulations of men, by the gospel of Jesus Christ. 26:13.846 --> 26:17.629 [SPEAKER_00]: So the only way it happens, listen, my friends, listen, vote. 26:17.949 --> 26:18.730 [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, vote. 26:18.790 --> 26:19.811 [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, I think it's good to vote. 26:19.971 --> 26:20.771 [SPEAKER_00]: I think we should vote. 26:21.012 --> 26:23.193 [SPEAKER_00]: Do your due diligence there as a citizen. 26:23.233 --> 26:25.755 [SPEAKER_00]: If you want to be involved in politics, be involved in politics. 26:25.775 --> 26:28.557 [SPEAKER_00]: I think we need Christians in those fears of the world. 26:28.657 --> 26:29.258 [SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely. 26:30.038 --> 26:31.860 [SPEAKER_00]: But I want to make this clear, church. 26:32.729 --> 26:47.858 [SPEAKER_00]: We cannot, we must not outsource our God-given right and responsibility as Christians to the government, asking them to do what they cannot do, and that is to change the hearts of men. 26:49.267 --> 26:50.948 [SPEAKER_00]: only the gospel of Jesus can do that. 26:50.988 --> 27:02.415 [SPEAKER_00]: And so it is our right, it is our privilege as Christians to do what, to share the gospel, so that people know Christ and see the one who has destroyed the barriers. 27:02.695 --> 27:04.757 [SPEAKER_00]: There's barriers all over our world. 27:04.937 --> 27:06.918 [SPEAKER_00]: There's barriers all over our culture. 27:07.658 --> 27:08.919 [SPEAKER_00]: The law will never destroy them. 27:09.880 --> 27:11.081 [SPEAKER_00]: And honestly, just puts more up. 27:11.101 --> 27:11.661 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what it does. 27:11.681 --> 27:12.601 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what the law does. 27:13.122 --> 27:14.723 [SPEAKER_00]: Politics bringing people together these days. 27:17.998 --> 27:21.501 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus and the gospel destroys barriers. 27:24.263 --> 27:29.247 [SPEAKER_00]: And so I think we should get a little bit more serious about giving it and sharing it. 27:29.287 --> 27:30.588 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what the government can never do. 27:31.328 --> 27:35.311 [SPEAKER_00]: Know the grace of God, live the grace of God, give the grace of God, tell the grace of God. 27:35.552 --> 27:36.492 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what we can do. 27:37.033 --> 27:43.418 [SPEAKER_00]: Until the gospel reigns over our homes because enmity dies where the gospel reigns. 27:44.218 --> 27:45.479 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what happens in a culture. 27:48.597 --> 27:49.618 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what happened in Ephesus. 27:49.698 --> 27:53.880 [SPEAKER_00]: It said, in Ephesus, in Acts 19, that gospel was prevailing. 27:53.900 --> 27:55.101 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what happened in Ephesus. 27:55.741 --> 27:56.421 [SPEAKER_00]: The gospel. 27:57.522 --> 27:59.443 [SPEAKER_00]: Rome was the conquering nation. 27:59.483 --> 28:00.724 [SPEAKER_00]: Rome wasn't fixing anything. 28:01.984 --> 28:02.645 [SPEAKER_00]: The gospel. 28:03.045 --> 28:03.925 [SPEAKER_00]: It changed everything. 28:05.946 --> 28:07.227 [SPEAKER_00]: And so he concludes. 28:07.247 --> 28:11.069 [SPEAKER_00]: He says this, he came and preached, this is Jesus. 28:11.710 --> 28:17.833 [SPEAKER_00]: He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 28:18.978 --> 28:21.619 [SPEAKER_00]: For through him, Jesus, listen to the Trinity here. 28:22.019 --> 28:27.800 [SPEAKER_00]: For through him, Jesus, we both have access to the Father by one spirit. 28:29.861 --> 28:31.661 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, Jesus, again, here's maybe a contradiction. 28:31.681 --> 28:34.482 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus said, I came to bring a sword, not peace. 28:35.422 --> 28:38.843 [SPEAKER_00]: So Jesus said, Matthew 1034, I came to bring a sword. 28:40.261 --> 28:45.762 [SPEAKER_00]: What he meant there was the gospel, yes, the truth of the gospel, it is a sword that divides. 28:45.782 --> 28:53.043 [SPEAKER_00]: And I told you, the only two groups of people in the world, those in Christ, those who believe the truth, and those not in Christ, those who have yet to believe the truth of Jesus. 28:53.083 --> 28:55.484 [SPEAKER_00]: Now that divides, that's the sword that Jesus came to bring. 28:55.984 --> 29:01.185 [SPEAKER_00]: I am the way the truth in the life, no one comes to the Father, but by me, is Jesus. 29:01.925 --> 29:03.105 [SPEAKER_00]: So that's a sword that divides. 29:03.125 --> 29:04.905 [SPEAKER_00]: But he also came to preach peace. 29:07.066 --> 29:08.046 [SPEAKER_00]: God so loved the world. 29:09.404 --> 29:14.149 [SPEAKER_00]: who ever believes, they gave us only something who ever believes in Him will not perish. 29:14.169 --> 29:16.871 [SPEAKER_00]: That would be eternal life. 29:17.532 --> 29:18.193 [SPEAKER_00]: That's peace. 29:19.133 --> 29:24.198 [SPEAKER_00]: And Jesus came to preach that peace to those far away into those near again. 29:24.238 --> 29:25.379 [SPEAKER_00]: He's talking to you and Gentile. 29:25.420 --> 29:28.302 [SPEAKER_00]: The Jews would have considered themselves to be the ones who are near. 29:29.103 --> 29:33.686 [SPEAKER_00]: and they were, they had the scriptures, they had known God, Yahweh, for thousands of years to this point. 29:34.046 --> 29:41.370 [SPEAKER_00]: They should be the first ones coming and listening and amenning and hallelujah in at the Messiah, Jesus, but they were often the ones rejecting Him. 29:42.631 --> 29:51.916 [SPEAKER_00]: And it was the Gentiles who were far away who were just common in droves to the feet of Christ, to see and believe in the Messiah. 29:54.217 --> 29:55.178 [SPEAKER_00]: Listen, if you are, 29:56.411 --> 29:57.192 [SPEAKER_00]: near to God. 29:57.232 --> 30:01.073 [SPEAKER_00]: If you would consider yourself to be a person right now, and you are near to God. 30:01.093 --> 30:03.915 [SPEAKER_00]: And I just mean, I don't mean your life is perfect or your faith is perfect. 30:04.355 --> 30:07.896 [SPEAKER_00]: You know Jesus, you would say, I'm walking in faith in Christ. 30:08.016 --> 30:09.177 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm a disciple of Christ. 30:10.177 --> 30:11.978 [SPEAKER_00]: I would just encourage you at this this morning. 30:12.418 --> 30:13.739 [SPEAKER_00]: Remember how you got there. 30:15.300 --> 30:18.261 [SPEAKER_00]: You got there by grace through faith in Him. 30:18.541 --> 30:19.341 [SPEAKER_00]: That's how you got there. 30:20.322 --> 30:22.483 [SPEAKER_00]: You didn't get there to patch yourself on the back. 30:24.242 --> 30:34.126 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, not one of the songs that we sang this morning had your name in it, or mine, we came to Christ by grace through faith. 30:34.546 --> 30:37.867 [SPEAKER_00]: So if you're near to him, praise God, you're near to him, by grace. 30:37.987 --> 30:51.773 [SPEAKER_00]: And if you're far away, listen, Jesus died to reconcile you to God and to people, to humanity in Christ, Jesus. 30:52.572 --> 30:53.353 [SPEAKER_00]: And I'll tell you this. 30:53.413 --> 30:56.196 [SPEAKER_00]: If you feel far away this morning, you're not too far. 30:57.417 --> 30:58.358 [SPEAKER_00]: You haven't gone too far. 30:59.480 --> 31:00.481 [SPEAKER_00]: You haven't done too much. 31:00.501 --> 31:02.142 [SPEAKER_00]: You haven't sinned too much. 31:02.182 --> 31:03.224 [SPEAKER_00]: You're not too impure. 31:03.544 --> 31:04.565 [SPEAKER_00]: You're not too broken. 31:04.645 --> 31:05.686 [SPEAKER_00]: You're not too lost. 31:06.027 --> 31:07.068 [SPEAKER_00]: You're not too far away. 31:08.469 --> 31:09.030 [SPEAKER_00]: Through him. 31:09.050 --> 31:11.413 [SPEAKER_00]: I just want to hear that last line again. 31:11.473 --> 31:12.073 [SPEAKER_00]: Through him. 31:12.153 --> 31:12.514 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus. 31:13.883 --> 31:21.014 [SPEAKER_00]: We both, we all, near and far, have access to the Father, free access to God. 31:21.675 --> 31:28.324 [SPEAKER_00]: No, no temple, no fence, no ballastraud, free access to God by one. 31:29.085 --> 31:29.505 [SPEAKER_00]: Spirit. 31:29.605 --> 31:30.626 [SPEAKER_00]: That's the new sign. 31:31.006 --> 31:33.066 [SPEAKER_00]: That's the new seal for all of God's people. 31:33.106 --> 31:36.607 [SPEAKER_00]: It's no longer the external physical regulations of the Jews. 31:36.667 --> 31:41.749 [SPEAKER_00]: It's simply to act trust in Jesus and have I been filled now with the Holy Spirit of God. 31:41.789 --> 31:45.350 [SPEAKER_00]: If that's true of you, your his son, your his daughter, draw near to him. 31:46.429 --> 31:47.449 [SPEAKER_00]: and draw near to one another. 31:47.710 --> 31:52.612 [SPEAKER_00]: We're not divided by law and regulation, where you nighted by Christ through the power and the gift of the Spirit. 31:52.632 --> 31:58.714 [SPEAKER_00]: So draw near, clean hands, pure hearts, washed in the blood of Christ. 31:58.815 --> 31:59.615 [SPEAKER_00]: He is our peace. 32:00.375 --> 32:00.655 [SPEAKER_00]: Amen. 32:01.376 --> 32:02.236 [SPEAKER_00]: He is our peace. 32:02.336 --> 32:03.457 [SPEAKER_00]: That's a good news for us today. 32:03.737 --> 32:04.457 [SPEAKER_00]: The band's gonna come out, y'all. 32:04.477 --> 32:05.277 [SPEAKER_00]: We're gonna sing one more song. 32:05.557 --> 32:06.958 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm gonna sing one more song in praise. 32:07.418 --> 32:08.259 [SPEAKER_00]: Our Jesus today. 32:09.019 --> 32:13.521 [SPEAKER_00]: One more time, but while they get ready to lead us in worship one more time, y'all, let's pray together. 32:13.901 --> 32:15.162 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's just pray and let's ask the Lord 32:16.598 --> 32:19.341 [SPEAKER_00]: To sanctify us and lead us out of this place, the way He wants us to. 32:19.402 --> 32:19.702 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's pray. 32:19.822 --> 32:20.403 [SPEAKER_00]: Bell your heads with me. 32:25.689 --> 32:26.490 [SPEAKER_00]: Father, we thank you. 32:26.651 --> 32:28.092 [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you so much for your Word. 32:29.394 --> 32:31.056 [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you so much for your Son, Jesus. 32:32.438 --> 32:33.880 [SPEAKER_00]: He Himself is our peace. 32:35.347 --> 32:38.969 [SPEAKER_00]: He is our PC, he has made the two, one. 32:39.029 --> 32:47.954 [SPEAKER_00]: He has removed every barrier, every dividing wall of hostility that is separating us from you and us from each other. 32:51.196 --> 32:52.596 [SPEAKER_00]: And through Christ, you're son. 32:53.097 --> 32:54.537 [SPEAKER_00]: We have access to you this morning. 32:55.678 --> 32:59.860 [SPEAKER_00]: That is why when we pray, we pray in Jesus' name because we know we are coming to you, Father. 33:00.581 --> 33:04.423 [SPEAKER_00]: In His name, by the Holy Spirit within us. 33:05.567 --> 33:09.588 [SPEAKER_00]: And so Lord, I just specifically want to pray right now as we are about to stand and sing to you. 33:10.188 --> 33:14.329 [SPEAKER_00]: And we would also just honestly worship you in whatever way you would lead us to this morning. 33:14.869 --> 33:23.511 [SPEAKER_00]: And if that means a prayer of just repentance and confession right now, that we are not doing whatever we can do to live at peace with our brothers and sisters. 33:23.551 --> 33:33.573 [SPEAKER_00]: If that's true for any of us, if there's unforgiveness in any of us, if there's bitterness in any of us, if there's hatred, if there's racism, if there's violence, 33:34.743 --> 33:44.872 [SPEAKER_00]: If there's enmity between me and any other person and especially my brother or sister in Christ, God, would you convict me? 33:44.892 --> 34:01.046 [SPEAKER_00]: Would you convict us of this this morning and remind us that it is by grace we've been saved and so that we would be people of grace and we would extend grace and we would come and do a Jesus did, we would preach peace to those far away. 34:02.327 --> 34:03.409 [SPEAKER_00]: and peace to those near. 34:03.549 --> 34:06.613 [SPEAKER_00]: And maybe this morning, you would preach peace to our hearts. 34:07.895 --> 34:08.476 [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you, Lord. 34:09.137 --> 34:11.681 [SPEAKER_00]: Let us worship you now in spirit and truth in Jesus' name.