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SERIES: EPHESIANS: THE CALL AND CONDUCT OF THE CHURCH, WEEK 18

TITLE: A HOLY REMINDER

TEXT: EPHESIANS 2:11-13

INTRODUCTION: (1) R. C. SPROUL IN HIS COMMENTARY ON EPHESIANS QUOTES A STATEMENT MADE BY ONE OF HIS SEMINARY PROFESSORS FROM YEARS AGO.

* THAT STATEMENT WAS: “GENTLEMEN, THE ESSENCE OF CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY IS GRACE, AND THE ESSENCE OF CHRISTIAN ETHICS IS GRATITUDE.”

** NOW SPROUL WENT ON TO SAY THAT THAT LITTLE STATEMENT HAS STAYED WITH HIM OVER THE YEARS AND THAT HE COMES BACK TO IT AGAIN AND AGAIN IN HIS THINKING.

*** THE REASON BEING, WE AS DISCIPLES OF CHRIST ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE MOTIVATED TO GODLINESS BY FEAR OF THE CONSEQUENCES OF BREAKING THE LAW, BUT RATHER MOTIVATED BY GRATITUDE.

**** LOVE NOT LAW SHOULD BE OUR MOTIVATION AS CHRISTIANS, AND OUR LOVE COMES FROM A GRATEFUL HEART THAT GOD FIRST LOVED US, READ I JOHN 4:19.

(2) SO LOVE AND GRATITUDE SHOULD PERMEATE OUR HEARTS AS WE CONSIDER THE PIT FROM WHICH WE HAVE COME.

* IN FACT, PROBABLY NOTHING MORE INSPIRES GRATITUDE IN A SAVED SINNER THAN A LOOK BACK TO THE PIT FROM WHICH HE HAS COME.

** AND GRATEFULNESS AND NOT FORGETTING WHAT WE WERE B.C., BEFORE CHRIST, IS A GREAT MOTIVATING FACTOR IN SELLING OUT FOR CHRIST AND HOLY LIVING.

*** FOR UNDERSTAND THIS, IN THE O.T., THE ROOT CONCEPT OF APOSTASY OR DEPARTING FROM WALKING WITH THE LORD WAS THE IDEA OF FORGETTING.

**** AS LONG AS GOD’S REDEMPTION WAS CLEAR AND FRESH IN THE EXPERIENCE OF GOD’S PEOPLE, THEY WERE ZEALOUS IN THEIR WORSHIP AND OBEDIENCE.

(3) BUT AS THE MEMORY OF GOD’S BLESSING FADED, THEN THEIR ZEAL BEGAN TO FADE AS WELL AND THEY LAPSED INTO SIN.

* FOR EXAMPLE IN DEUTERONOMY CHAPTER 4, THE LORD GOD GIVES AN EXHORTATION TO OBEY HIS LAW AND RESIST IDOLATRY.

** DEUT. 4:1&2 SAYS: “AND NOW, O ISRAEL, LISTEN TO THE STATUTES AND THE JUDGMENTS WHICH I AM TEACHING YOU TO PERFORM, IN ORDER THAT YOU MAY LIVE AND GO IN AND TAKE POSSESSION OF THE LAND WHICH THE LORD, THE GOD OF YOUR FATHERS, IS GIVING YOU.”

V. 2 – “YOU SHALL NOT ADD TO THE WORD WHICH I AM COMMANDING YOU, NOR TAKE AWAY FROM IT, THAT YOU MAY KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS OF THE LORD YOUR GOD WHICH I COMMAND YOU.”

*** NOW THE WORDS “LISTEN TO” INTRODUCE THE PRACTICAL CONCLUSIONS TO BE DRAWN FROM ISRAEL’S EXPERIENCE IN THE WILDERNESS.

**** AND BECAUSE OF THE LORD’S FAITHFULNESS, MERCY AND JUDGMENT DISPLAYED IN ISRAEL’S RECENT HISTORY IN DELIVERING THEM OUT OF EGYPT, THE NATION WAS RESPONSIBLE TO OBEY HIS DECREES AND LAWS UNCONDITIONALLY.

(4) AND FOLLOW ME THROUGHOUT THE NEXT COUPLE OF CHAPTERS AND SEE WITH ME A WORD THAT IS REPEATED.

* IN DEUT. 4:9&10 IT SAYS: “ONLY GIVE HEED TO YOURSELF AND KEEP YOUR SOUL DILIGENTLY, LEST YOU FORGET THE THINGS WHICH YOUR EYES HAVE SEEN, AND LEST THEY DEPART FROM YOUR HEART ALL THE DAYS OF YOU LIFE; BUT MAKE THEM KNOWN TO YOUR SONS AND YOUR GRANDSONS.”

V. 10 – “REMEMBER THE DAY YOU STOOD BEFORE THE LORD YOUR GOD AT HOREB, WHEN THE LORD SAID TO ME, ASSEMBLE THE PEOPLE TO ME, THAT I MAY LET THEM HEAR MY WORDS SO THEY MAY LEARN TO FEAR ME ALL THE DAYS THEY LIVE ON THE EARTH, AND THAT THEY MAY TEACH THEIR CHILDREN.”

** IN DEUTERONOMY 4:23 IT SAYS: “SO WATCH YOURSELVES, LEST YOU FORGET THE COVENANT OF THE LORD YOUR GOD, WHICH HE MADE WITH YOU, AND MAKE FOR YOURSELVES A GRAVEN IMAGE IN THE FORM OF ANYTHING AGAINST WHICH THE LORD YOUR GOD HAS COMMANDED YOU.”

*** IN DEUTERONOMY 6:12 IT SAYS: (READ IT).

**** THEN IN DEUTERONOMY 8:11, 14 & 19:

V. 11 – “BEWARD LEST YOU FORGET THE LORD YOUR GOD BY NOT KEEPING HIS COMMANDMENTS AND HIS ORDINANCES AND HIS STATUTES WHICH I AM COMMANDING YOU TODAY.”

V. 14 – “THEN YOUR HEART BECOMES PROUD, AND YOU FORGET THE LORD YOUR GOD WHO BROUGHT YOU OUT FROM THE LAND OF EGYPT, OUT OF THE HOUSE OF SLAVERY.”

V. 19 – “AND IT SHALL COME ABOUT IF YOU EVER FORGET THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND GO AFTER OTHER GODS AND SERVE THEM AND WORSHIP THEM, I TESTIFY AGAINST YOU TODAY THAT YOU SHALL SURELY PERISH.”

(5) NOW CLEARLY WE SEE THAT THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL WERE WARNED AGAINST FORGETTING CERTAIN KEY TRUTHS, THEY WERE TO REMEMBER CERTAIN THINGS TO KEEP THEM FOCUSED IN OBEYING AND SERVING THE LORD.

* AND WE ALSO SEE THIS IN THE ANNUAL FEASTS THEY WERE GIVEN AND MEMORIALS THAT WERE SET BEFORE THEM.

** AND MY POINT FROM ALL THESE VERSES IS, GRATITUDE OF GOD’S DELIVERANCE FROM EGYPT OR IN SALVATION FOR US, IS SET BEFORE US AS HOLY REMINDERS TO KEEP US FOCUSED AND ON TRACK AND NOT WAVER AND DRIFT, WHICH WE ALL HAVE A TENDENCY TO DO.

**** FOR YOU SEE THE LORD KNOWS THAT HIS PEOPLE CAN EASILY BE SWAYED BY THE FLESH AND SATAN AND GET SUCKED INTO THE WORLD AND BECOME WORLDLY IN OUR THINKING AND PRIORITIES.

(6) AND THAT’S ONE OF THE REASONS WE AS A CHURCH HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE MEMORIAL OF THE LORD’S SUPPER, AS A HOLY REMINDER OF THE LOVE OF OUR LORD FOR US AND THE COST OF OUR SALVATION AND THAT HE IS COMING BACK AGAIN.

* AND AS WE REMEMBER, BY LOVE WE ARE MOTIVATED TO BE FAITHFUL. WE CAN NEVER FORGET THE LORD’S DEATH AND THAT HE IS COMING BACK!

** WELL, AS WE COME TO OUR TEXT TODAY, WE COME TO A NEW SECTION, A NEW PARAGRAPH IN OUR STUDY OF EPHESIANS WHERE WE AS GENTILES, NON-JEWS ARE TOLD TO REMEMBER SOME THINGS.

*** AND REMEMBERING THESE THINGS WILL HUMBLE US AND MOTIVATE US TO BE AS ONE WITH OTHER PEOPLE THAT ARE NOT OF OUR RACE OR ETHNIC BACKGROUND AND WILL MOTIVATE US TO SERVE TOGETHER IN ONENESS IN OUR CHURCHES WITH OTHER BELIEVERS WE WORK WITH.

**** AND THESE MOTIVATIONS WILL BE HOLY REMINDERS TO LIVE OUT THE WORKS AND WILL OF GOD LAID OUT FOR US IN CHAPTERS 4-6 OF EPHESIANS.

(7) BECAUSE OF THAT, I’VE TITLED OUR MESSAGE TODAY “A HOLY REMINDER”.

* AND UNDER THAT THEME WE’LL LOOK AT 3 POINTS AS WE STUDY EPHESIANS 2:11-13. NO. 1 THE COMMAND TO REMEMBER, V. 11; NO. 2 THE CONDITION WE WERE IN WITHOUT CHRIST, V. 12; AND NO. 3 THE CONTRAST NOW FOR US AS GENTILE BELIEVERS FROM WHAT WE WERE BEFORE, V. 13.

** AND WITHOUT FURTHER INTRODUCTION, LOOK AT V. 11 WHERE WE’LL START TODAY BY LOOKING AT THE COMMAND. LOOK AT EPHESIANS 2:11 PLEASE.

I. THE COMMAND, (READ V. 11)

A. NOW THE VERB REMEMBER IS IN THE IMPERATIVE MOOD IN THE GREEK MEANING IT IS A COMMAND.

* SO THESE GENTILE BELIEVERS AT EPHESUS ARE ADDRESSED SPECIFICALLY BEGINNING HERE IN V. 11 AND ARE COMMANDED TO BE MINDFUL OF SOMETHING, TO KEEP IN MIND SOMETHING, TO CALL TO THEIR MINDS.

** AND NOTE THAT THE WORD THEREFORE OR WHEREFORE IF YOU HAVE A KJV TAKES US BACK TO THE PREVIOUS PARAGRAPH IN VV. 1-10 OF CHAPTER 2.

*** SO AS ALL BELIEVERS JEW AND GENTILE ALIKE ARE TO REMEMBER THE GRACE OF GOD THAT SAVED US AND MADE US ALIVE WHEN WE WERE DEAD IN TRESPASSES AND SINS.

**** THE GENTILES NOW SPECIFICALLY ADDRESSED BEGINNING IN V. 11 ARE CALLED TO BE ESPECIALLY GRATEFUL FOR THEIR DELIVERANCE FROM THEIR OLD SITUATION THAT THEY COME TO FULLY APPRECIATE THEIR NEW SITUATION OF UNION WITH ALL OTHER BELIEVERS, SPECIFICALLY THE JEWS.

1. AND BELOVED, PAUL WANTS TO CALL THESE MATTERS TO THEIR ATTENTION AS GENTILES, SO THAT THEY WILL HAVE A GREATER UNDERSTANDING AND APPRECIATION OF THE PAST AND THE MIGHTY REVERSAL CHRIST HAS EFFECTED ON THEIR BEHALF.

* IN OTHER WORDS, THE PRIVILEGES WHICH THEY NOW ENJOY WOULD BE APPRECIATED ALL THE MORE IF THEY REFLECTED CAREFULLY UPON THE SPIRITUAL CONDITION FROM WHICH THEY HAD BEEN RESCUED.

** AND SPECIFICALLY IN V. 11, AS PAUL STARTS TO ADDRESS THE GENTILES, THEIR CONDITION WAS EVEN WORSE THAN THE JEWS IN SOME WAYS, ALTHOUGH THE JEWS WITHOUT CHRIST WERE DEAD IN THEIR SINS ALSO.

*** BUT NOTICE THAT PAUL CALLS THE GENTILES HERE IN V. 11, “THE GENTILES IN THE FLESH” IN ORDER TO EMPHASIZE THE PHYSICAL, EXTERNAL NATURE OF THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN THEM AND THE JEWS, BY RACE, BY BIRTH, THE PHYSICAL DIFFERENCE.

**** AND SPECIFICALLY THE PHYSICAL DIFFERENCE CAME THROUGH CIRCUMCISION, FOR PAUL SAYS IN THE NEXT PHRASE “WHO ARE CALLED UNCIRCUMCISION”.

***** AND AS FAR AS JEWS WERE CONCERNED THE GENTILES WERE OUTCASTS, REFERRED TO AS THE UNCIRCUMCISION, A TERM OF DERISION, DEFAMATION AND REPROACH.

2. FOR YOU SEE, FOR JEWS, CIRCUMCISION, WHICH HAD BEEN GIVEN BY GOD TO ABRAHAM IN GENESIS 17, WAS THE PHYSICAL SIGN OF THEIR COVENANT WITH THE LORD, THE GOD OF ALL THE EARTH.

* AND CIRCUMCISION, WHICH WAS THE CUTTING OF FORESKIN OF THE FLESH FROM THE MALE JEW, WAS AN OUTWARD SIGN OF GOD’S COVENANT WITH HIS CHOSEN PEOPLE ISRAEL.

** NOW BECAUSE GENTILES DID NOT HAVE THE PHYSICAL MARK OF CIRCUMCISION TO SET THEM APART AS THE PEOPLE OF GOD, MANY JEWS HAD COME TO CONSIDER THEM TO BE INFERIOR, IN FACT, OF NO CONCERN TO GOD.

*** NOW PAUL CARRIES A TONE OF DISDAIN FOR SUCH JEWISH HATRED, AS EVIDENCED IN HIS CHOICE OF WORDS TO DESCRIBE JEWS BY USING THE PHRASE HERE IN V. 11 “BY THE SO-CALLED CIRCUMCISION”.

**** AND THEN HE ADDS “WHICH IS PERFORMED IN THE FLESH BY HUMAN HANDS.”

3. SO PAUL MAKES CLEAR THAT HE DID NOT AGREE WITH THAT JEWISH ATTITUDE OF SUPERIORITY EVEN THOUGH HE WAS A JEW, BY POINTING OUT THAT CIRCUMCISION WAS ONLY PHYSICAL AND NOT SPIRITUAL.

* IT WAS IN THE FLESH, EXTERNAL AND NOTHING MORE AND DID NOT MEAN THERE WAS A RELATIONSHIP TO GOD BY IT.

** CIRCUMCISION OF THE HEART WAS THE KEY ACCORDING TO PAUL IN ROMANS 2:29, THE INWARD NOT THE OUTWARD IS THE MOST IMPORTANT.

*** SO THE SEPARATION OF THE TWO GROUPS FROM EACH OTHER, JEW AND GENTILE, WAS SYMBOLIZED BY THE MARK OF CIRCUMCISION, A PURELY PHYSICAL DISTINCTION.

**** NOW PAUL WILL MOVE FROM THIS PHYSICAL DISTINCTION TO TALK ABOUT THE SPIRITUAL CONDITION THAT SEPARATED THE JEWS FROM THE GENTILES IN V.1 2, WHICH WILL BE OUR 2’D POINT OF STUDY TODAY, THE CONDITION. LOOK AT V. 12 PLEASE.

II. THE CONDITION, (READ V. 12)

A. NOW AFTER SPEAKING OF THIS PHYSICAL SOCIAL ALIENATION BETWEEN GENTILES AND JEWS, PAUL RETURNS TO HIS MAIN POINT OF URGING HIS GENTILE READERS TO REMEMBER THE INADEQUACIES OF THEIR PRE-CHRISTIAN PAST SO THAT THEY MIGHT APPRECIATE MORE FULLY THE MANY SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS OF THEIR PRESENT STATUS IN CHRIST.

* AND ALTHOUGH THERE WAS NO MORAL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN JEW AND GENTILE, ALL ARE SINNERS AND DEAD AND NEED GRACE, THERE WAS A DIFFERENCE IN GOD’S DEALING WITH THEM BEFORE CHRIST CAME.

** TO PUT IT A DIFFERENT WAY, BEFORE CHRIST CAME, THE JEWS WERE THE PEOPLE OF PROMISE FROM GOD, AND ON THE WHOLE, THE GENTILES AS A PEOPLE WERE CUT OFF FROM GOD IN 5 DIFFERENT WAYS.

*** THERE WAS A 5-FOLD ALIENATION. THEY WERE WITHOUT CHRIST, WITHOUT CITIZENSHIP, WITHOUT COVENANTS, WITHOUT HOPE AND WITHOUT GOD.

**** AND ALL FIVE OF THESE DIFFERENCES ARE LISTED ON YOUR OUTLINE AND I WANT TO COVER THEM BRIEFLY.

1. NO. 1 THE GENTILES WERE WITHOUT CHRIST. NOW THAT SEEMS OBVIOUS, BUT THE IDEA HERE IS THEY HAD NO MESSIANIC HOPE OF A SAVIOR, OF A DELIVERER.

* IN THEIR PAGAN STATE THEY WERE NOT LOOKING FOR A MESSIAH LIKE ISRAEL WAS THROUGH ALL THE O.T. PROMISES.

** THE GENTILES WERE NOT LOOKING FOR A SPIRITUAL DELIVERER, THE ANOINTED ONE OF GOD.

*** BELOVED, THERE WAS NO EXPECTATION OF A MESSIAH, LIKE THE JEWS HAD IN THEIR NATIONAL HOPE. THEY WERE NOT A MESSIANIC PEOPLE IN THE SENSE THAT THEY HAD NO THOUGHT OR HOPE OF A MESSIAH.

2. NO. 2 THEY WERE WITHOUT CITIZENSHIP, MEANING THE GENTILES WERE EXCLUDED, SPIRITUALLY ALIENATED, ESTRANGED, SHUT OUT, FOREIGNERS WHEN IT CAME TO THE NATIONAL BLESSINGS OF ISRAEL, A BLESSED NATION.

* FOR YOU SEE THE JEWISH NATION GOD HAD GIVEN THE BLESSING OF HIS LAW, HIS SPECIAL PROTECTION, HIS PROPHECIES AND HIS PROMISES.

** AND THE GENTILES, NOT BEING A PART OF ISRAEL, OF THEIR COMMONWEALTH, NOT BEING A PART OF THEIR COMMUNITY, THEIR NATIONS, ALIENS IN THAT SENSE, NOT BEING CITIZENS OF THEIR NATION WERE EXCLUDED FROM THE BLESSINGS THAT GOD BESTOWED UPON ISRAEL.

*** AGAIN THOSE BLESSINGS WERE HIS PROMISES, HIS LAW, HIS PRIESTHOOD, HIS SACRIFICES AND HIS GUIDANCE.

**** THE GENTILES WERE SHUT OUT FROM THESE BLESSINGS.

3. NO. 3 THE GENTILES WERE WITHOUT COVENANTS. THEY WERE STRANGERS, FOREIGNERS, WITHOUT A SHARE IN THE COVENANTS PLURAL THAT GOD MADE TO ISRAEL BEGINNING WITH THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT.

* AND HERE THE PLURAL COVENANTS SUGGESTS A SERIES OF COVENANTS WITH ABRAHAM, ISAAC, JACOB, MOSES AND DAVID.

** AND WITHIN THE COVENANTS GOD GAVE AND RENEWED HIS PROMISES TO BLESS, PROSPER, MULTIPLY, SAVE AND REDEEM ISRAEL.

*** WITHIN THEM HE PROMISED TO GIVE HIS PEOPLE A LAND, A KINGDOM AND A KING; AND TO THOSE WHO BELIEVED IN HIM, HE PROMISED ETERNAL LIFE AND HEAVEN.

**** AND THE GENTILES HAD NO NATIONAL PROMISES OR COVENANTS MADE TO THEM.

4. NO. 4 THE GENTILES WERE WITHOUT HOPE. AND THIS IS PRETTY OBVIOUS, FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NO CHRIST, NO CITIZENSHIP AND NO COVENANTS OF PROMISE ALSO HAVE NO HOPE.

* FOR TRUE HOPE CAN BE BASED ONLY ON A TRUE PROMISE, ON CONFIDENCE IN SOMEONE WHO CAN PERFORM WHAT THEY PROMISE.

** AND HOPE IS A PROFOUND BLESSING THAT GIVES MEANING AND SECURITY TO LIFE.

*** AND AS JOHN MACARTHUR SAID IN HIS COMMENTARY ON EPHESIANS, AND I QUOTE, “LIVING WITHOUT HOPE OF FUTURE JOY AND ENRICHMENT REDUCES MAN TO A PIECE OF MEANINGLESS PROTOPLASM.” (END QUOTE)

**** AND BELOVED, JOHN IS RIGHT, FOR HOPE IS THE CONSUMMATION OF LIFE, THE CONFIDENT ASSURANCE THAT WE HAVE A BLESSED FUTURE IN THE PLAN OF GOD.

- I MEAN IF THIS IS IT, ALL WE HAVE TO LOOK FORWARD TO IS DEATH AND BEING BURIED OR CREMATED. THAT’S NOT A WHOLE LOT TO LOOK FORWARD TO.

* BUT IN CONTRAST, BLESSED IS THE PERSON WHOSE HOPE IS IN THE LORD.

** AS PSALM 71:5 SAYS: “FOR THOU ART MY HOPE; O LORD GOD, THOU ART MY CONFIDENCE FROM MY YOUTH.”

*** PSALM 146:5 SAYS: “HOW BLESSED IS HE WHOSE HELP IS THE GOD OF JACOB, WHOSE HOPE IS IN THE LORD HIS GOD.”

**** AND THEN ROMANS 12:12 SAYS THAT WE AS BELIEVERS SHOULD REJOICE IN HOPE (READ IT).

- NOW HOPE IS A BIG DEAL, IT IS A BIG THING AND BASICALLY THE GENTILES BEFORE CHRIST WERE WITHOUT IT.

5. NOW NO. 5 THE GENTILES WERE WITHOUT GOD. AND THE PROBLEM HERE IS NOT THAT THE GENTILES HAD NO GOD, BUT THAT THEY DID NOT HAVE THE TRUE GOD.

* THEY HAD NO RELATION WITH THE ONE TRUE GOD, AND WORSHIPPED FALSE GODS. GENTILES WERE RELIGIOUS WORSHIPPING DIANA SPECIFICALLY AT EPHESUS.

** AND PSALM 96:4&5 SAYS: “FOR GREAT IS THE LORD, AND GREATLY TO BE PRAISED; HE IS TO BE FEARED ABOVE ALL GODS. FOR ALL THE GODS OF THE PEOPLES ARE IDOLS, BUT THE LORD MADE THE HEAVENS.”

*** SO AGAIN THE GODS OF THE PEOPLES, THE GODS OF THE NATIONS ARE IDOLS AND THE GENTILES DID NOT KNOW THE ONE TRUE GOD, THEY WERE WITH GOD IN THE WORLD.

**** NOW AS I SUMMARIZE THE GENTILE STATE BEFORE GOD OPENING OF THE DOOR TO THEM, THEY, WE WERE CHRISTLESS, STATELESS, FRIENDLESS, HOPELESS AND GODLESS.

6. AND I’M CERTAINLY THANKFUL TODAY THAT THE CHAPTER DOESN’T END HERE, THAT THE TRUTHS OF GOD’S GRACE DON’T END WITH V. 12, AND WE WOULD GO HOME WITHOUT HOPE TODAY.

* BUT IN V. 13, WE SEE TWO BIG WORDS, “BUT NOW”. AND IN V. 13 WE WILL SEE A CONTRAST OF WHAT WE ARE NOW IN CHRIST, TO WHAT WE WERE. LOOK AT V. 13 PLEASE WHERE WE’LL SEE THE CONTRAST.

III. THE CONTRAST, (READ V. 13)

A. NOW THE FIRST TWO WORDS OF V. 13, “BUT NOW” ARE HOPE-KINDLING WORDS. THEY DESCRIBE A GREAT CHANGE, A GREAT CONTRAST.

* FOR THE WORDS “BUT NOW” INDICATE A SHARP CONTRAST WITH THE WORD “FORMERLY” IN V. 11 AND THE WORDS “AT THAT TIME” IN V. 12.

** I MEAN FORMERLY WE WERE FAR AWAY, BUT NOW, “BROUGHT NEAR”.

*** AND THOSE WHO FORMERLY WERE FAR OFF WERE THE GENTILES WHO HAD COME TO CHRIST.

**** FOR THE PHRASE “FAR OFF” WAS A COMMON JEWISH TERM TO DESCRIBE GENTILES, THOSE WHO WERE FAR AWAY FROM THE TRUE GOD.

1. AS ACTS 2:39 SAYS: “FOR THE PROMISE IS FOR YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN, AND FOR ALL WHO ARE FAR OFF, AS MANY AS THE LORD OUR GOD SHALL CALL TO HIMSELF.”

* AND THE GENTILES WERE FAR OFF FROM GOD AT ONE TIME, BUT NOW IN CHRIST JESUS, GENTILES WHO WERE FAR OFF HAVE BEEN BROUGHT NEAR BY THE BLOOD OF CHRIST.

** IN OTHER WORDS, FOR THESE GENTILES THAT PAUL IS ADDRESSING, THEIR BEING IN CHRIST WAS THE IMMEDIATE CONSEQUENCE OF THIS COMING NEAR.

*** AND THIS WAS ACCOMPLISHED THROUGH THE SACRIFICIAL DEATH OF CHRIST, BY SHEDDING HIS BLOOD FOR SINNERS, FOR GENTILES AND JEWS.

**** AND IT’S INTERESTING TO ME THAT PAUL USES A SPATIAL IMAGE TO DESCRIBE THE DIFFERENCE.

2. IN THE PAST GENTILES WERE AT A DISTANCE, BUT NOW THEY – WE HAVE BEEN BROUGHT NEAR. AND THE MEANS BY WHICH WE HAVE BEEN BROUGHT NEAR IS THE BLOOD OF CHRIST, THROUGH THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST IN SHEDDING HIS BLOOD, GIVING HIS LIFE FOR SINNERS.

* AND THOSE WHO TRUST IN CHRIST’S ATONING WORK, JEW OR GENTILE, ARE FORGIVEN OF ALL THEIR SINS IN THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST (READ EPH. 1:7, ROMANS 5:9, HEBREWS 9:22, MATTHEW 26:28).

** FOLKS, WE ARE BROUGHT NEAR BY THE BLOOD OF CHRIST!

AND AS I WRAP UP THINGS TODAY: (1) THE BEFORE AND AFTER PICTURE FROM OUR TEXT TODAY IS QUITE A CONTRAST.

* AND I AM THANKFUL FOR THE TWO WORDS, BUT NOW!

** FOR BELIEVER, IN OUR FORMER STATE, WE WERE WITHOUT CHRIST, WITHOUT CITIZENSHIP, WITHOUT COVENANTS, WITHOUT HOPE AND WITHOUT GOD.

*** BUT NOW IN CHRIST, YOU WHO WERE FAR AWAY, ARE MADE NEAR, BROUGHT NEAR THROUGH THE BLOOD OF CHRIST.

**** AND YOU KNOW WHAT? WE SHOULD NEVER EVER FORGET THAT!

(2) AND WE SHOULD NEVER FORGET WHAT WE WERE WITHOUT CHRIST. AND I MEANT WHAT I SAID AT THE OUTSET TODAY, NOTHING MORE INSPIRES GRATITUDE IN A SAVED SINNER THAN A LOOK BACK TO THE PIT FROM WHICH THEY HAVE COME.

* BELOVED, IT IS A GOOD THING FOR US TO REMEMBER WHAT WE WERE.

** AS ALBERT BARNES SAID IN HIS COMMENTARY ON EPHESIANS: “NO FACULTY OF THE MIND CAN BE BETTER EMPLOYED TO PRODUCE HUMILITY, PENITENCE, GRATITUDE AND LOVE THAN THE MEMORY.” (END QUOTE)

*** AND I AGREE 100%. CHRISTIAN, WE MUST REMEMBER TODAY.

**** REMEMBER WHAT YOU WERE BEFORE GOD MADE YOU ALIVE, REMEMBER WHAT YOU WERE WHEN YOU WERE DEAD IN TRESPASSES AND SINS AND REMEMBER WHERE YOU WERE HEADED.

(3) REMEMBER WHAT YOU WERE SAVED FROM AND REMEMBER WHAT YOU WERE SAVED FOR.

* AND LET YOUR MEMORY MOTIVATE YOU TODAY TO MINISTER SACRIFICIALLY FOR YOUR SAVIOR.