The Blessing of
Reconciliation
Book of Ephesians
2:11-22
Reconciliation is a
change from being an enemy to becoming a friend and it is mutual
between both parties.
Before we begin this
lesson today, we must clearly understand God will never compromise
His position or go against His Word to become our friend.
It is we who are
sinners who must make a change. It's called "repentance"!
Today many of the
church are trying to compromise with the sin of the world, and going
against the Word of God.
That congregation
may feel they have done the right thing, but God will never approve
of such things!
We can never
compromise the Word of God because His Word is settled In Heaven and
it cannot be changed on earth!
We need to
understand what God has already done:
1) Before Jesus
Christ, God dealt with man through the Jewish nation. Since Christ
(the Messiah) has come God has dealt with humanity on a world-wide
scale in those who would follow the Lord Jesus Christ.
Note: Those who
claim there were writings before the time of Moses have forgotten the
Tower of Babel, where God scattered all people to their different
locations and certainly there would be many similarities, but the 66
books we have are the complete and the whole truth.
God takes the Jew
and the Gentile (all others than Jews) and creates a new race of
people called the Christian by this evil world!
2) Before Jesus
Christ, God dealt with nations but after the Messiah, God is dealing
with the individual through Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit.
Heb 1:1 God, who at
sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the
fathers by the prophets,
Heb 1:2 Hath in
these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed
heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
3) God is no longer
dealing with earthly divisions of nations. God is dealing with a new
nationality a new body of people, the Body of Christ, the Church!
These are the same ones who will join Christ in His New Kingdom!
These are all those
who have been born again into the family of God.
These are the same
ones who can look back and see how far they have come, since
accepting the work of the Lord Jesus Christ for their salvation.
*****Eph 2:11
Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh,
who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the
Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;
Eph 2:12 That at
that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no
hope, and without God in the world:
As Christians we
should be able to look back at the miserable condition we were in
before coming to know the Lord Jesus Christ in a personal way.
The word Gentile
means all others but the Jews. (Sometimes even called Heathen)
The word
uncircumcision means all those who are not in the covenant that God
made with the Abraham.
The word
Circumcision would mean Jews, but only the Jews who are under the
covenant God made with Abraham. (would include some Proselytes)
Circumcision
involved the removal of a certain piece of flesh by some other human
being, with that skill.
The most important
statement in this Scripture is, "that we were without Jesus
Christ". "We were cut off and separated from God"!
To be a Christian is
to say, "I am not what I once was"! "I am a used to
be"
We were not only
lost through our sin, but we were one step away from eternal death,
eternal separation from God!
When we remember
these things, we should feel joy.
1Co 6:11 And such
were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye
are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our
God.
Col 2:11 In whom
also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in
putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of
Christ:
Col 2:12 Buried
with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the
faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
Col 2:13 And you,
being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he
quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
As Christians when
we look back, we can see that we once lived in spiritual misery!
When I look back, I
can remember many days that I thought I was having fun, but I can
remember just as many days I was in total misery!
The Jews intended to
keep God to themselves and this led to their own downfall!
No one, nor no one
nation owns God!
The Jews rejected
God's Son, and it brought their destruction, a destruction that just
recently has shown signs of recovery.
God turned to the
Gentiles and this allowed the Jews to grow again. The Jewish nation
has always grown through adversity!
The all-time
greatest event by far in the history of our world was the visit of
the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ!
If the world cannot
accept this, then this world will see the wrath of God while still
living in a world with no hope.
In this season of
the birth of Jesus Christ, there far too many who suffer from SAD.
This is Seasonal, Affective, Disorder and the cause of this thing
which brings so much "depression" into their lives is a
lack of light. Many believe it is a lack of sunlight because of the
winter months but , they suffer from a lack of the Light of Jesus.
Do not fall into
this trap of depression but come to know the Savior, who is also the
Light of this world!
Those so full of
depression and live without hope will stand before God in their own
person and be separated from Him forever.
Those who have
trusted in the work of the Lord, the light of this world will stand
before God, with Christ, and will live eternally with God.
To be without Christ
is to be lost and to have no hope!
Isa 45:19 I have
not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto
the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain: I the LORD speak
righteousness, I declare things that are right.
Isa 45:20 Assemble
yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the
nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven
image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.
To know Jesus Christ
is to be washed in His blood and freedom from sin!
*****Eph 2:13 But
now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by
the blood of Christ.
The world is so
blind not to realize that it is "sin" that separates
humanity from a loving God!
It is sin that
separates one group of people from another.
It is sin that
destroys families!!!!!!!!
Sin not only has
broken harmony with God but has continued to bring this world toward
destruction!!!!!!
Only Jesus Christ
can bring us near to our God, the only God.
We are made nigh to
God "by the blood" of our Lord!
The blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ is the blood of the everlasting covenant that can
never be changed nor made to be void!
Jesus Christ came to
this earth to give every human being an opportunity to draw nigh to
God!
God loved each of us
enough that He was willing to forgive us of all our sins.
God had already said
that the wages of sin was death and this problem had to be overcome
and only He had the power to do this!
Since we as
individuals could not solve this problem without our own death and
since there had never lived a perfect human being, then God had to do
this thing Himself!
God had to provide
the perfect and ideal man who was willing to die, so all mankind
could get an opportunity to be saved that they never had.
The Lord Jesus
Christ came to this earth to die for our sins. This was His mission.
But while He was here He took the time necessary to see that all the
world would have the knowledge of salvation, then named the "Gospel"
which is the "Good News" of God's plan of salvation!
2Co 5:21 For he
hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be
made the righteousness of God in him.
1Pe 1:18 Forasmuch
as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as
silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition
from your fathers;
1Pe 1:19 But with
the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and
without spot:
1Pe 1:20 Who verily
was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest
in these last times for you,
1Pe 1:21 Who by him
do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him
glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.
God had to
physically show us all just how much He loves us!
Rom 5:6 For when we
were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
Rom 5:7 For
scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a
good man some would even dare to die.
Rom 5:8 But God
commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us
It is the Lord Jesus
Christ who has made a way for us to be at peace with a God who
despises sin!
*****Eph 2:14 For
he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the
middle wall of partition between us;
Eph 2:15 Having
abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments
contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man,
so making peace;
The Lord Jesus
Christ did not purchase our peace because the Lord Jesus Christ "is
our peace" in His person, simply because Jesus Christ is the
Peace-Maker!
Jesus Christ has
broken down the wall that was between the Jews and Gentiles to form
the Church, the Body of Christ.
What was the Apostle
Peter's greatest lesson?
Act 10:28 And he
said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man
that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation;
"but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or
unclean".
The majority of our
world still have not learned this lesson!
We are all in this
thing together and together we can be a force for peace, that peace
being in Jesus Christ.
There are no
barriers in the Church caused by God, there are only those barriers
we put up ourselves.
All those who come
to Jesus Christ by faith, not only receive the free gift of
salvation, but all receive a common love, a common purpose, and a
common work.
Rom 12:5 So we,
being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of
another.
If we go back to the
Tower of Babel we know that those who had forsaken the commands of
God, the Heathen, were scattered all over this world and had wandered
far from God.
Gen_11:9 Therefore
is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound
the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter
them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
God then chose one
people who became Israel to continue to bring forth the true Word of
God not like the distorted writings of others.
In fact, it is the
Jews who took so much care to preserve the Word of God!
Because Israel later
forsook God, God then forsook these people for a time. Remember
Israel was just one speck on the globe and God's plans included all
people who would call upon His name in this entire world.
Rom_10:13 For
"whosoever" shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved. (red and yellow, black and white, they are all precious in His
sight)
1Ti_2:4 Who will
have "all men" to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge
of the truth. (all humanity)
The Jews not only
had the Word of God, but they had the laws of Moses. There 613 laws
that the Jews tried to keep just for one year and then they could be
forgiven and then begin a new year, but it was impossible for any
human being to keep all those laws.
Just to break one of
those laws would mean they had failed and the wages of sin was death
even at that time.
This is the thing
that the Lord Jesus Christ abolished with His own death on the Cross
at Mount Calvary, where He also spilled His life saving blood!
Mat_5:17 Think not
that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to
destroy, "but to fulfil".
God would never
destroy the Law because all the Word of God is perfect, but the
ceremonial law was imperfect in that it was not the answer to
salvation.
Heb_9:12 Neither by
the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in
once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
It was only the Lord
Jesus Christ who could do these things because He was also perfect.
No one has to ever
approach God through laws and sacrifices or works or ceremonies of
any kind.
The only way to
approach God is "by faith" in the work of His Dear Son!
Those that still
choose to try to reach God by some law need to realize that they must
obey all the Law everyday of their lives, which is impossible.
Rom 7:1 Know ye
not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the
law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?
That word enmity is
the opposite of friendship. Those who remain in opposition to the
truth of God!
We do not have the
right to choose what manner we will worship our God and He has
established that we will worship Him by faith in the work of His Son!
There is no way to
worship God beyond this truth!
It is Jesus Christ
that has broken down the wall of partition between all mankind and
God!
*****Eph 2:16 And
that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross,
having slain the enmity thereby:
What is it to be
incorporated?
We must be united in
one body. This is the Church. This is the Body of Christ
We must be
incorporated with Jesus Christ before we can be reconciled to God!
Rom 5:10 For if,
when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his
Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
Rom 5:11 And not
only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by
whom we have now received the atonement.
That word reconcile
means to change thoroughly, (from enemy to friend), to restore the
relationship that Adam once had with God, before sin entered his
life.
Gen 3:8 And they
heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of
the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of
the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
In the death of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the veil of the Temple was rent into from the top
to the bottom and a way was made into the throne room of God because
this is the only way we can approach the throne of "Grace",
it is by His Dear Son.
Col 2:14 Blotting
out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was
contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
There is just no way
to realize all the things that Jesus Christ finished when He gave us
His life to reconcile us to His Father and our God!
Joh_19:30 When
Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished:
and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
As believers we are
not only free from sin, but we are forever free from the punishment
for sin.
God is the One who
has done the reconciling, we had absolutely no part in this work. God
is the One who reached out to humanity and not that mankind reached
out to God!
From the very moment
the Lord Jesus was born upon this earth, His actions were there to
teach us peace.
Luk 2:13 And
suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host
praising God, and saying,
Luk 2:14 Glory to
God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
The Virgin birth.
The Manger.
The swaddling
clothes.
The shepherds.
Many other things.
The Lord Jesus had
to wait until the age of 30 according to Jewish law to be a relevant
preacher and during His short time of 3 and 1/2 years, He preached
not only to the Jews but to the Gentiles.
We certainly must
understand that by the Holy Spirit, The Lord Jesus Christ is still
preaching every day to all those who call on Him through "Faith".
Joh_14:26 But the
Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my
name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your
remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
Jesus Christ will
preach to those who love Him until we meet Him face to face!
*****Eph 2:18 For
through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
Those who reject the
power and the truth of the Triune God certainly do not understand the
truth of God, because only the believer can understand the riches of
God's Word.
Through Jesus Christ
all mankind can have access by the Holy Spirit to our Father in
Heaven.
There is nothing
confusing about these words!
The Doctrine of the
Holy Trinity is at the center of all Christian Doctrines!
This is a thing we
know of our God, but it is only part of His Wonderful Character.
Three natures but One God!
It can be called the
mystery of mysteries to those who are lost but also the absolute
understandable truth to the true Christian!
He is also Creator,
Redeemer, and Sanctifier in three persons but One God!
The source of all
things is One God, whose name is Jehovah!
Exo_6:3 And I
appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God
Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.
Through the Lord
Jesus Christ, all those who believed, have "Faith", can one
day come face to face to Jehovah God!
Jesus Christ is the
only One who can open the door into God's presence!
Jesus Christ is the
only One who can cause us to be citizens in Heaven!
*****Eph 2:19 Now
therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens
with the saints, and of the household of God;
The household of God
begins as the Church here on Earth and ends in the New Heaven
throughout eternity.
1Co 12:12 For as
the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that
one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.
1Co 12:13 For by
one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or
Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink
into one Spirit.
How did we all begin
before we met the Lord Jesus Christ? we must remember verse 12.
Eph 2:12 That at
that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no
hope, and without God in the world:
How did these things
change?
Gal 3:29 And if ye
be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the
promise.
If we be Christ's,
it is because we have the "faith" of Abraham!
1Jn 1:3 That which
we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have
fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and
with his Son Jesus Christ.
We are not angels,
we are not Jews, "we become Christians" if we follow the
example that Christ has given us but more important we become Saints.
There is no other
way to become a Saint of God!
As Saints we are set
aside for God's use as He sees fit!
We speak of people
and we speak of nations but as saints we are citizens of the New
Nation that God is creating!
A nation that
consist only of one family, the family of God.
We are adopted
children who will be before the Lord continuously throughout
eternity!
To understand
adoption, we should understand we have a new relationship with God
forever.
Our relationship is
as a Father to His newly born child, "a baby".
We will always, even
throughout eternity, have moment by moment contact with our Father.
We will have a
special relationship, a family relationship, with all the other of
God's children.
We are no longer
under the authority of the powers of this world but are now under the
authority of our heavenly Father!
We have already been
adopted and we are waiting our Lord Jesus to pick us up and take us
home to be presented to our Father!
Our big Brother, who
is our God, will soon come to take us home.
1Th 4:16 For the
Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice
of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ
shall rise first:
1Th 4:17 Then we
which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in
the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with
the Lord.
And we will be just
like Him!
1Jn 3:2 Beloved,
now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall
be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for
we shall see him as he is.
All because we have
faith in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ and the words He gave to
those 12 Apostles and by understanding that God had said these things
could happen all along.
*****Eph 2:20 And
are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus
Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
Notice how God
builds His Church to house His Saints.
Every building needs
a solid foundation!
The greatest of
buildings also have a Chief Cornerstone!
Each "Born
Again" child of God are then the building material to construct
the greatest of buildings which is the Church.
Psa 46:5 God is in
the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and
that right early.
Remember that word
dispensation actually means "house-management", God
personally manages the building up of His house.
Remember the Tower
of Babel how those people tried to build a building that would reach
into Heaven, but this could never be done because it did not have the
proper foundation.
God also builds His
army by making the Lord Jesus Christ the Captain of our salvation.
Heb 2:10 For it
became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in
bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation
perfect through sufferings.
God has written the
Words of salvation by His Personal Author.
Heb 5:9 And being
made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them
that obey him;
The Church that God
builds will be "fitly" framed together!
*****Eph 2:21 In
whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy
temple in the Lord:
To have a perfect
understanding here, we must remember the Temple that King Solomon
built how the stones were so perfectly cut that when they were put
together they did not require any mortar because there were no gaps.
Mortar would
represent sin in this example.
Those who reject the
Old Testament, reject some precious examples that God used to explain
the "Gospel" to the Jewish People.
Those that reject
the Old Testament reject that salvation came by "faith"
such that Abraham had, just as it does today. A faith such as Abraham
had in the truth of God!
We cannot reject any
part of the Word of God and "yes all denominations", we
must understand "a literal translation" of the Word of God!
Just had to throw
that in.
The whole structure
of God's Church rises like a great pile of "everlasting living"
materials into an Holy Temple of the Lord!
This structure is
dedicated to Jesus Christ and will be inhabited by Him in New
Jerusalem!
The Church is alive
today and the Church will always be alive because it cannot die!
Every living member
of this Church will always have a function and a purpose.
Every believer from
every "Age" since the time of Adam, will have a part in
this Holy Temple of God!
It is the Lord Jesus
Christ and only the Lord Jesus Christ who places every believer in
their required position! (He decides this not us)
With every believer
being filled with the Holy Spirit, what a magnificent building it
will be! Glory, Glory, Glory
*****Eph 2:22 In
whom "ye" (you) also are builded together for an habitation
of God through the Spirit.
This "you"
represents each believer, each Christian, in the church in Ephesus.
This "you"
also represents the Church itself.
Each and every
Church that is built with these same guidelines is a building
structured for God's purpose!
Each member is an
essential, living, stone, placed into this building.
The stability of the
Church lies in each stone placed by the hand of God into the exact
place, so this building can carry the load, each stone carrying its
own load therefore fulfilling the purpose of the Church!
The Holy Spirit of
God will dwell within each believer to conform this glorious work of
the Lord to an image of God's will in this evil world!
A church is not a
church if the Holy Spirit is not in control of its members!
Psa 68:16 Why leap
ye, ye high hills? this is the hill which God desireth to dwell in;
yea, the LORD will dwell in it for ever.
The place that the
Lord has chosen is the same place we need to be!
Amen
