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May I turn in your Bibles to 
Ephesians chapter 2 for meditation this evening, Ephesians chapter 
2. Ephesians 2, I'll begin reading in verse 1. Our focus this evening 
will be on verses 11 to 22, but I do want to set it in its larger 
context. So beginning in verse 1, and 
you he made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which 
you once walked according to the course of this world, according 
to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works 
in the sons of disobedience. among whom also we all once conducted 
ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires 
of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of 
wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy 
because of his great love with which he loved us, even when 
we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. 
By grace, you have been saved. and raised us up together and 
made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that 
in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of 
His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace 
you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it 
is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For 
we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus four good works 
which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. 
Therefore, remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh, who 
are called uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision 
made in the flesh by hands, that at that time you 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. But now in Christ Jesus, you 
who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of 
Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made both one 
and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished 
in his flesh the enmity that is the law of commandments contained 
in ordinances, so as to create in himself one new man from the 
two thus making peace, and that he might reconcile them both 
to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death 
the enmity. And he came and preached peace 
to you, who were afar off, and to those who were near. For through 
him we both have access by one spirit to the Father. Now therefore, 
you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens 
with the saints and members of the household of God. having 
been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, 
Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the 
whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple 
in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for 
a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. Amen. Well, let us pray. Our Father, we thank you for 
your word and we pray for the ministry of your Spirit now We 
pray that you would encourage our hearts and establish us in 
the faith and cause us again to marvel at the glorious redemption 
that Christ has accomplished on behalf of both Jew and Gentile. We give all praise and all glory 
to you that Christ fulfilled what the prophet spoke, and we 
pray in his most blessed name. Amen. Well, this morning, if 
you remember our exposition of Isaiah the prophet in chapter 
55, God looks forward to the time when the nations shall run 
to the Lord Jesus Christ. And when Christ comes and the 
preaching of the gospel goes forth, churches are established 
and planted, and the missionary enterprise is launched, God does 
that work. Gentiles come to Israel's Messiah. Gentiles come to the Lord Jesus 
Christ. And we see that fulfillment of 
what was spoken in the prophets. Now initially when this occurs, 
you see traces as you read through the book of Acts, there was a 
bit of puzzlement on the part of the Jews. There was a bit 
of questioning going on with reference to Gentile inclusion 
in these covenant promises. Well, Paul is treating that particular 
subject now And he is highlighting the gloriousness of this corporate 
entity, the Church of Christ, that he has purchased with his 
own blood, men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. 
That's the essence of verses 11 to 22. He reminds the Gentiles 
of what they were, and then he reminds them of what they had 
become, and he tells them the reason why, or the purpose rather, 
behind that particular transaction. Now there is a larger context 
in the flow of the epistle. If you go back for just a moment 
to chapter 1, go back to chapter 1 and you'll notice that you 
see the Apostle Paul at prayer. We get something about what Paul 
prays or how Paul prays in some of his letters. He lets us into 
his closet and he tells us what it is that he entreats or that 
he sets before the Lord on behalf of people. Notice in chapter 
1 verse 15, Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in 
the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease 
to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. 
Isn't that a wonderful statement of pastoral concern or apostolic 
concern for the people of God that Paul had come to know and 
value and prize? And then notice in verse 17, 
he begins to specify or highlight the things that he prays on their 
behalf. Verse 17, that the God of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the 
spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. the 
eyes of your understanding, having been enlightened, that you may 
know what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches 
of the glory of his inheritance in the saints." Now notice verse 
19. This is something Paul wants for his Ephesian readers. and 
what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe. Paul wants believers to understand 
something about God's great power. And then Paul illustrates or 
demonstrates how that power has been manifest. It is manifest, 
first of all, in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. verses 
19 and following, according to the working of His mighty power, 
verse 20, which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from 
the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places. 
So when you consider the fact that God raised His Son up from 
the dead and stationed Him at His right hand, that is a display 
of almighty power. But Paul doesn't stop there. 
In Ephesians chapter 2, verses 1 to 10, God's power is also 
magnified and displayed and manifested in the salvation of individual 
sinners. When God saves a man, when He 
saves a woman, when He saves a boy or a girl, He demonstrates 
His exceedingly great power. That's the flow in the context. And then when we get to chapter 
2, 11 to 22, God's power is manifested in that He has taken Jew, and 
He has taken Gentile, and He has brought them together, and 
He has made one new man in the Lord Jesus Christ. Israel's Messiah 
is the worldwide or global Messiah. It is in Christ that the Abrahamic 
promise is brought to fruition, that in Jesus all the nations 
of the earth shall be blessed. And so in Ephesians 2, 11 to 
22, the apostle wants to remind the Gentiles what they were before 
the cross. He wants to remind them of their 
current status or condition, and then he highlights the accomplishment 
of this particular task. is a structure or outline for 
our study this evening. Now notice first the Gentiles 
before the cross in verses 11 to 12. He says, therefore remember 
that you, once Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision 
by what is called the circumcision made in the flesh by hands. their previous status. Now it's 
just not dealing with ethnicity here. Gentiles were despised. Gentiles were looked down upon 
by the covenant community. Pious Jews were known to pray, 
thank you God that I'm not a woman, thank you God that I'm not a 
slave, and thank you God that I'm not a Gentile. So now when 
Paul is writing to a predominantly Gentile church, he is encouraging 
them, he is reminding them to consider their former status 
and what they have become by virtue of Christ's reconciling 
work at the cross of Calvary. Now notice, he describes what 
that looked like being Gentiles. Verse 12, that at that time you 
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. Now, to be sure, there were proselytites, 
there were people that came in among the covenant community, 
but it was not an evangelistic missionary enterprise as it was 
purposed to be. So you had a smattering here 
and there of Gentiles that came to Israel's God and confessed 
to Shema and took on the signs of circumcision and participated 
in worship and all those particular things. But in terms of corporate 
entity, Gentiles were without hope. Gentiles were outside the 
pale. Gentiles were in a desperate 
state. And that's what Paul indicates 
here. They were without Christ. That's the worst place one can 
be. This is a continuous state that 
they found themselves in. And then he fleshes out what 
it means to be without Christ. They were aliens from the commonwealth 
of Israel. While God was speaking oracles 
to that covenant community, the Gentiles were outside. They were 
strangers to the covenants of promise, those things that God 
had given to Israel as a body, holotech, to instruct them and 
inform them and to hedge them in and keep them together. They 
had no hope as a result. I mean, if you went back a few 
centuries or a couple of millennia prior to the cross, and you were 
a Gentile, you were in desperate condition. You were in a bad 
state. And then notice he says that 
we're without God in the world. As far as I know, this is the 
only place in the New Testament where the word atheist appears. Atheoi, that means without God. Notice here it's not stated as 
a philosophical position. It's not stated as a blessing. 
It's not stated as a mark of independent thought or the free 
thinker. No, to be without God, to be 
an atheist, is the worst possible thing that a man or woman, a 
boy or girl, could ever endure. In sum, they being Christless 
were churchless, hopeless, godless, and homeless. That's how they 
found themselves in this place that we call Earth. Now, we are 
far removed from the letter to the Ephesians, but this is about 
us. This is about you and I. We are 
Gentiles. We were those who were aliens. We were those outside the commonwealth 
of Israel. We were strangers to the covenants 
of promise. We were those without hope. We 
were those without God. We were those in a desperate 
condition. You see what the Apostle is doing. 
He does it in the individual sphere in chapter 2, verses 1 
to 10. He does it with the Colossians 
in chapter 1, verses 21 to 23. There is something remedial, 
something helpful, something good to ponder from whence we 
came. To consider where it was that 
we found ourselves before Jesus came on the scene. It is a good 
exercise to remember that we were described here. that we were these people, that 
we were undone, that we were desperate, that we were without 
hope. Because when we consider what 
we were and when we consider what we are now, hopefully there's 
a hallelujah brewing in your hearts. Hopefully there's some 
joy and thanksgiving. As we move through the narrative, 
the Apostle Paul goes from this place of darkness, despair, and 
depravity, and he brings the Gentiles to a place where they, 
along with Jews, are the very dwelling place of God Almighty. There is great movement in the 
passage from the depths to the heights, and now we look at their 
present status. Notice in verse 13, he says, Where does he use that statement 
or that convention? He's used it in the individual 
realm in chapter 2, verses 1 to 4. Here is what you were as individuals, 
but now in chapter 2, verse 4. What happens on the individual 
level, he is applying to the corporate level. But now, in 
Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near 
by the blood of Christ. Isn't that a beautiful statement? 
We weren't just off, we were far off. We weren't just hopeless, 
we were hopeless. We weren't just desperate, we 
were beyond desperation. But now the Apostle says, in 
Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near 
by the blood of Christ. You see, when Jesus goes to the 
cross. It is with the view and with 
the purpose of saving individual sinners. And in this we greatly 
rejoice. But there is corporate solidarity. There is a worldwide church being 
assembled. When we get to the book of Revelation, 
who do we see before the throne? We see great multitudes that 
no man can number. On the one hand, brethren, we 
don't want to insist upon the corporate to the neglect of the 
individual, but on the other hand, we don't want to insist 
upon the individual to the neglect of the corporate. And this is 
what happens, unfortunately, and the Church is not valued 
and prized and given its importance as it ought to be. We are the 
body of Jesus Christ, our Lord. There's a statement in the Psalms. God loves the gates of Zion more 
than the dwelling places of Jacob. Now, that's a comparative statement. He's not saying he despises the 
dwelling places of Jacob. He doesn't look down upon Israel 
or Judah and see those individual homes and say, my, how I hate 
them. No, he loves his people. He loves 
them when they're in their individual homes. But according to the psalmist, 
he loves the gates of Zion more. He loves it when they leave their 
homes on Sabbath day and they march to the house of God. He 
loves it when they gather with one another and express that 
corporate solidarity, and they lift up their voices in praise 
to God in Zion. There is something fundamental 
about the place of corporate worship that God smiles upon, 
that He delights in, and according to this passage, it is where 
He is found among His new covenant community in a very special and 
in a very particular way. But now, in Christ Jesus, you 
who once were far off, have been brought near by the blood of 
Christ. This is the redeeming power of 
His blood. This is the efficacy of His cross 
work. Notice there is no contingency 
here. There is no maybe here. There is no perhaps here. When 
Christ dies on the cross, He saves to the uttermost. He saves 
sinners. His work cannot be thwarted. His work cannot be frustrated. His work cannot be devalued. But rather, what He is doing 
is conquering the nations by His gospel. It's beautiful. Now notice the accomplishment 
of this task. Verses 14 to 17. It shouldn't 
surprise us that the focus is on Jesus. How did this happen? How is it 
that a Jew and a Gentile are sitting in the same church singing 
the same praises unto God? Again, we're a bit removed, but 
if you were in the first century, And you were a Gentile wandering 
in the midst of a bunch of Jews singing praises to the God of 
Israel. Somebody might scratch their melon and say, what's going 
on here? What's happened? This just didn't 
used to occur this way. It's a major transition. There's 
a shift going on in the book of Acts that Paul speaks to here. 
And he says that the accomplishment of this task is rooted in, founded 
in, grounded in Christ. He says that Christ himself is 
our peace. He says that Christ makes peace. 
And he says that Christ preaches peace. Isn't that a beautiful 
testimony of peace? People want peace, don't they? 
Most people don't like chaos. Most people don't like turmoil. 
Most people don't like stress. Most people don't like clocks 
and time yelling at them to perform better and stronger and faster 
and more diligently. We all like peace. The problem 
is sometimes we search for peace in all the wrong places. Heard 
that statement? Looking for love in all the wrong 
places. Well, people today, Jew and Gentile, 
are looking for peace in all the wrong places. There is one 
source of peace, and it is Jesus Christ. Notice he says Christ, 
or he himself, is our peace. The implication is he alone and 
no other. The prophet Isaiah refers to 
him as the Prince of Peace. Jesus speaks to His disciples 
and He says, My peace I give you. My peace I leave with you. Not as the world gives do I give. Not that fleeting, flying away, 
specious peace. But what Christ gives is lasting. Christ Himself is our peace. The personification of peace. Just as Jesus is salvation. Remember when Simeon saw the 
babe Christ walk into the temple. Actually, the babe Christ didn't 
walk into the temple. He was carried into the temple 
by Mary. Simeon goes over and takes the 
babe out of Mary's arms. This had to be the Spirit of 
God at work. Which one of you mothers is going to let your 
little baby get taken out of your arms by someone, well, hopefully 
Mary had seen Simeon before. He was an old man who stayed 
at the temple. All he was doing was waiting for the hope of Israel. 
He sees the babe in the arms of Mary and he takes the babe 
out and he cradles the babe in his arms and he starts rejoicing. 
He starts singing. He starts praising God. He says, 
my eyes have seen your salvation. The way that Christ is salvation. The way that Christ is the consolation 
of Israel. The way that Christ is the way 
and the truth and the life according to John 14, 6. In the same manner, 
in the same vein, Christ is our peace. If you have the absence 
of peace in your life, you need Christ. If you have the absence 
of peace and comfort and joy, you need Jesus Christ. You can't 
fetch peace out of a bottle. You can't fetch peace out of 
a relationship. Save the relationship with God 
through our Lord Jesus. The way to peace is through this 
blessed one whom Paul says is our peace. Notice he says that 
Christ makes peace. He highlights several things 
that Jesus does. For he himself is our peace who 
has made both one. That's a beautiful statement. 
Again, corporate solidarity. This is why in New Covenant language, 
he is not a Jew who is circumcised outwardly, but he is a Jew who 
is circumcised inwardly. Do you realize that as believers 
in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are Israel? That's what Paul 
says to a Gentile church in Galatians 6.16, and the peace of God be 
upon the Israel of God. Paul in Philippians chapter 3 
says we are the circumcision, the ones who worship God in the 
truth. The Apostle says that what Christ 
has done is that he's made these both into one. He has broken 
down the middle wall of separation. Probably a reference to the enmity 
that existed between the Jew and Gentiles represented in the 
temple. The temple had a wall where the 
Gentiles could not pass. That signified separation. That preached separation. But you see in Christ Jesus that 
wall is gone, and Gentiles have full and free access to the very 
Holy of Holies. Don't you love that statement, 
or love the process, or rather the trajectory in the book of 
Acts? Acts chapter 8. Isn't it unique that Philip comes 
upon an Ethiopian eunuch? got to remember from the Old 
Testament that eunuchs were not allowed full privileges to the 
house of God. When we get to Acts chapter 8, 
What Luke is describing for us is the fulfillment of prophecy. Eunuchs are brought nigh through 
the blood of Christ. When we get to the book of Acts, 
chapter 10, and Peter and Cornelius are brought together such that 
Peter preaches the gospel and the Spirit falls upon Cornelius 
and his household, they believe on the Lord Jesus, and Peter 
commands them to be baptized, we are supposed to think fulfillment 
of the prophets. He has made both one. He has 
broken down the enmity. He has brought Jew and Gentile 
together in this blessed state. He says, having abolished in 
his flesh the enmity that is the law of commandments contained 
in ordinances. This is not the moral law of 
God. Jesus does not dispense with 
the Decalogue at Calvary. Jesus does not get rid of those 
ten words. Romans 3, 31, Paul says, What 
shall we say then? Do we nullify the law of God? Certainly not! We establish it! What is in view here are the 
ceremonies, the ceremonial law. The very idea were tipped to 
that in verse 11 in the sense that they are called uncircumcision. Circumcision was a ceremonial 
right. And because these Gentiles didn't 
have it, they were kept at arm's length. They were distant. They 
were spectators. They were outsiders. But now 
by virtue of Christ's redeeming work at Calvary, They have that 
law abolished, the ceremonies fulfilled in the Lord Jesus. 
It is no longer the case where people must be circumcised according 
to the law of Moses in order to be part of the covenant community. It truly is glorious. Notice, 
He created one new man. So as to create in himself one 
new man from the two, thus making peace. He is our peace, and he 
makes peace, and the primary way that he makes peace is right 
here in verse 15. I'm sorry, verse 16. And that he might reconcile them 
both to God in one body through the cross. You see, at the cross, 
We have individual salvation. At the cross, we have the church. At the cross, we have the gates 
of Zion. At the cross, we have what is 
going to enter in and into the new heavens and the new earth. 
Because of what Jesus does at the cross, we have those passages 
in the book of Revelation where great throngs bow down before 
God and the Lamb who sits upon the throne. truly His glorious 
corporate solidarity. He has reconciled them both to 
God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the 
enmity. He is our peace, He makes peace, 
and notice He preaches peace. Isn't that beautiful? Jesus preaches 
peace. You say, but Jesus never went 
to Ephesus. Jesus' word did. When Paul and 
his companions entered Ephesus in Acts chapter 19, Jesus came 
and preached peace there. The preaching of the Word of 
God according to the Second Helvetic Confession of Faith is the Word 
of God. That's why it's so important. 
You see, in verse 17, He came. He preached peace to you who 
were afar off and to those who were near the backdrop. In fact, 
this should be set up as an Old Testament quotation. For whatever 
reason, the New King James doesn't have it. It's Isaiah the prophet, 
chapter 57, verse 19. The Lord Christ is the Messiah 
promised to do this task. The promise was given first to 
Abraham. In you all the nations of the 
earth shall be blessed. That is fleshed out through the 
Old Testament. The prophets shine lights upon 
it and tell us that it's one. The deliverer will come to Zion 
to save his people from their sins and assemble this worldwide 
church. He came and preached peace to 
you who were afar off and those who were near." And then Paul 
doesn't stop there. He indicates the privileges that 
we have, and we'll end here. He indicates the privileges that 
we have by virtue of Christ, our peace, who makes peace and 
who preaches peace. Notice verse 18, for through 
him, we both, Jew and Gentile, have access by one Spirit to 
the Father. Mentioned that this morning. 
Mentioned it several times. Consummation of covenant blessing 
is God. Why are we here? For God. What is it that we want when 
we die? God. God made us for this. God made us for communion. God 
made us for intimacy. God made us so that He could 
dwell with us and we with Him. Sin brought breach. Sin raptured 
and ruptured that relationship. Sin cast that intimacy into the 
dust. But because God so loved the 
world, He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth 
in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. What is 
the sum and substance in the very essence of everlasting life? 
It is access to the Father. It is the presence of God Himself. That was what was lost in the 
garden. When Adam and Eve sin, they make 
claws, and they take leaves, and they cover themselves, and 
they hide among the trees. What are they doing? They're 
running from the presence of God. When we go to Revelation 
21 and 22, they're not running from the presence of God. They're 
basking in the presence of God. There have been deaths lately. 
There have been hardships lately. There have been heartaches lately. 
But we have that great confidence that those whom we love, those 
united and knit together with Christ, have access that we know 
nothing of in terms of sight. They stand before God Most High 
and the Lamb who sits upon the throne. And they rejoice because 
that is what God made them for. God didn't make us to degrade 
ourselves with idols. God didn't make us to degrade 
ourselves with sex, with drugs, with rock and roll. He didn't 
make us to degrade ourselves with white collar crime. He didn't 
make us to degrade ourselves with all of the polished refinements 
of this world. He made us to commune with Him. 
And in Jesus Christ, according to the great apostle, both Jew 
and Gentile now have access by the Holy Spirit to the Father. Now we're going to fully realize 
that in the eschaton. We're going to fully enjoy that 
when we get to heaven. But you know where we experience 
that now? Certainly in our prayer closets, 
certainly at the family altar, certainly when the Bible's opened 
up in your lap. Remember, God loves the gates 
of Zion more than the dwelling places of Jacob. It is the Church 
of Christ, dear brothers and sisters. I hope to promote in 
all of us, not me, but the scripture, the Bible, the Reformed, the 
Puritans, or the Reformers and Puritans, they had a high view 
of the church. It wasn't just a preaching stop. 
It wasn't just a place we wander into occasionally. The church 
is where God is. It is a place especially where 
he dwells with his people. Again, I am not suggesting you 
won't find God in your closet or on a mountaintop or at your 
family altar. You most certainly will because 
he's good, he's kind, he's gracious, but he does love those gates 
of Zion. Notice, we have the privilege 
of citizenship. Verse 19, now therefore you are 
no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the 
saints and members of the household of God. You see, within the context, 
Jews could possibly say, well, you know, they're not full members. This is what happens in Galatians. 
You see, it's good that you believed on Jesus, it's good you believed 
on Israel's Messiah, but you should be circumcised, too, to 
get the full benefit. I imagine they sounded much like 
a car salesman. You sign here for the full benefit. You get everything when you just 
take this step and get circumcised according to the law of Moses. 
Paul says that's not the case. Jew and Gentile are one new man 
in Christ Jesus. Now, therefore, you are no longer 
strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with 
the saints and members. You are fellow. You're on equal 
footing. You are part of this commonwealth. You've been brought nigh through 
the blood of Christ. You've been enrolled in this 
new covenant community. You have access. You have privilege. You have everything. And notice 
what he says thirdly. You have residence in the household 
of God. Isn't that beautiful? Look at what he says. You're 
members of the household of God. Packer in his book called Knowing 
God. has a chapter on adoption. And he says, if there's one doctrine 
we don't talk a lot about, it's adoption. There's one truth we 
don't celebrate a lot. Now I know statements like that 
can be misapplied. Well, I talked about it 15 years 
ago on a Thursday. I remember it very uniquely. 
So he can't say we never. It's a generalization. It's a 
generalization. I saw something recently on the 
internet. Somebody said essentially the same thing. The reform don't 
really talk about what they have now. Always what we were, wretches, 
wretches, wretches, monsters, monsters, monsters, every one 
of us. I like to think we talk about what we have now. Isn't 
Ephesians in some sense a letter that celebrates adoption? Remember 
in Ephesians 1 verse 5, well, let's just pick up at verse 3. 
We can never get enough of Ephesians 1. Ephesians 1 3 blessed be the 
God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with 
every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ just 
as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that 
We should be holy and without blame before him in love having 
predestined us to adoption as sons of by Jesus Christ to Himself 
according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of 
the glory of His grace by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. He says to these Gentiles, your 
fellow citizens with the saints, and you are members of the household 
of God. Enjoy your adoption. Enjoy your 
privilege. Enjoy your benefit. In Galatians, 
the Apostle says he has given us the spirit of adoption, whereby 
we cry, Abba, Father. This term of intimacy, this term 
of communion, this term of love and affection and joy is on the 
lips of the Gentile believer as well. And then finally, he 
says, we are being made, we are being built, we are being brought 
into this temple. Verse 20, having been built on 
the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself 
being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building being 
fitted together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. This is, 
in a real sense, the movement of the entire Bible. Genesis 1 to 3, Eden was a temple. Revelation 21, 22, the New Jerusalem 
is a temple. What's temple mean? God dwelling 
with his people. What are we being fit for? What 
are we being knitted together for? We are the dwelling place 
of God. As we move forward, our trajectory 
is in the new heavens and the new earth, the people of God 
will be the temple of God because he will dwell in our midst, in 
whom you are being built together for a dwelling place of God in 
the spirit. It truly is mind-blowing. It 
truly is amazing. So much of the prophets are behind 
Paul's statements here. So much of the Bible is behind 
Paul's statements. So much of Revelation 21 and 
22 is behind Paul's statement. You say, well, maybe it wasn't 
written then. The theology was certainly extant. That's what 
we have in our Lord Jesus Christ. Brethren, bringing it back from 
the corporate level to the individual level, for each and every one 
of us, we ought to consider what we have in our Lord Jesus Christ. We have peace. Whenever I think 
about this whole idea, not whenever, but lots of times, when I'm working 
in Ephesians or in Colossians. Colossians 1.20 is an interesting 
statement as well. Beautiful statement. And by him, 
God by Christ, to reconcile all things to himself, by him, whether 
things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through 
the blood of his cross. It's an interesting statement, 
isn't it? You wouldn't think the blood cross would affect 
peace. In fact, if you lived in the 
days when they did Roman crucifixion, the last lesson you probably 
thought when you witnessed crucifixion was peace. But we know that was 
God's plan. We know that without the shedding 
of blood there is no remission. We know that the blood of bulls 
and goats can never take away sin. It had to be the Lamb of 
God. It had to be the perfect Son 
of God. It had to be one like unto us. And it had to be Christ 
that went to the cross. And it was through the blood 
of his cross that he affects peace with God and man. Gordon Clark says, now when we 
pause to consider, speaking of Colossians 1.20, just jumping 
over there for a moment, this is staggering. The context in 
Colossians 1, beginning in verse 15, he tells us that Jesus created 
all things. He tells us that in Jesus all 
things consist. That means he's creator, he's 
governor, he's also redeemer. It's in that context that Paul 
speaks of the blood of his cross. Clark says, when we pause to 
consider this is staggering, the preceding verses have described 
Christ in transcendent terms. That means removed, that means 
other, that means out there, transcendent. He was the creator 
in whom all the fullness dwells, the heir of the universe for 
whom it was created. Now when the creator of heaven 
and earth, the creator himself, voluntarily suffered on the cross 
for our sins, we can only stand in awe and worship. I think the 
brother was absolutely right there. We have peace in our Lord 
Jesus Christ. We have peace with God, having 
been justified by faith. We have peace with God. We have 
peace with one another. We have peace, Jews and Gentiles, 
believers in Christ. We have peace, white people and 
black people. We have peace, ethnicity here, 
ethnicity there. We have solidarity, we have unity, 
we have commonality in and through our Lord Jesus Christ. He is 
our peace. He makes peace. He preaches peace. He has conferred upon us all 
of these privileges, and it is our great delight and our great 
desire tonight to honor Him, to glorify Him, and in a special 
way, to remember His cross work on our behalf. If you have not 
believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, look at what this text says. 
Christ is peace. So you might have peace horizontally. You might get along well at work. 
Not everybody does, but some do. You might get along well 
at home. You might have peace with your 
family, peace with your parents, peace with your friends. But 
if you don't have peace with God, you have no peace. The most important thing is peace 
with heaven. And the only way it's affected 
is through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. We come back to 
Isaiah's invitation this morning. Come. All who are thirsty, come 
to the waters. Drink and be at peace. Well, let us pray. Our Father 
in heaven, we thank you for your word and we thank you for what 
the Apostle celebrates in this passage. We thank you, Father, 
that you have placed us together with one another in this local 
church. We thank you that we're part of a much larger whole. 
that there is a massive church being assembled from every tribe 
and tongue and people and nation, that one day all of your people 
will be together in the New Jerusalem, where they will praise and honor 
and glorify you, and where they will indeed reflect your victory, 
your power, your grace, and your mercy. And we praise you through 
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Well, we can turn over 
to 1 Corinthians chapter 11 as we transition into taking the 
bread and the cup,