Middle Wall of Partition

In this part of the sermon: Martin distinguishes between the 'agent' (Christ as our peace) and the 'activity' (His work on the cross) that brought peace. He highlights the difficulty of untangling Paul's…

This analogy illustrates the difference between an 'agent' (the big brother) and the 'activity' (his intervention) in delivering children from a bully, clarifying how Christ is the agent and His cross-work is the activity of peace.

And then the rest of that verse, all the way down through the end of verse 16, we have a description of the activity by which this was brought to pass. So you have the agent, he is our peace, who made both one and then the activity described in great detail by which they are actually made one. Now you children, you know the difference between agent and activity. Suppose there was a neighborhood bully who constantly plagued all of the kids in your street.

7:16 - 7:49 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He addresses the first two questions: what the barrier consisted of (the ceremonial Mosaic law, which God used to hedge Israel but which Jews also raised higher in carnal pride)…

Used to explain why God instituted the ceremonial law as a 'hedge' around Israel, protecting them from the degenerate and wicked lifestyle of the Canaanites, thereby justifying God's actions in Canaan.

He had to hedge that nation with laws with a system of worship and a way of life that would set it apart from those pagan nations of the world. Now if any of you have any reservations about the justice of God in sending the Israelites into the land of Canaan and driving those people out and slaying them by the thousands just get some book on ancient history that describes the lifestyle of the ancient Canaanites. We're coming fast to it in our own nation. When you read in the Levitical law and the law of God where God forbids some of the basis forms of sexual perversion bestiality and all the r...

16:47 - 18:08 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He addresses the first two questions: what the barrier consisted of (the ceremonial Mosaic law, which God used to hedge Israel but which Jews also raised higher in carnal pride)…

The story of Jonah is used to exemplify how Jewish carnal pride raised the 'wall' of separation even higher than God intended, showing deep-seated antipathy towards Gentiles.

Instead of realizing that he was sheltered by God and enclosed with this system of ordinances in order to be a light to the Gentiles the Jew in his carnal pride said God has hedged us off because we're something special in ourselves. And instead of being humbled in the light of the fact that they were favored by God they became proud thinking they were the favorites of God. And you see that exemplified in a man like Jonah who was a man who though a prophet of God and a man of God when commissioned to go preach to Gentiles says in essence I won't do any such thing. It's not right that Gentile d...

18:09 - 18:50 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He addresses the first two questions: what the barrier consisted of (the ceremonial Mosaic law, which God used to hedge Israel but which Jews also raised higher in carnal pride)…

A reference to Thomas Goodwin's writings on antiquity is used to underscore the profound and often 'X-rated' mutual hatred between Jews and Gentiles, emphasizing the depth of the 'middle wall of partition'.

It's not right that unclean uncircumcised Gentiles should have judgment turned away through the preaching of Jehovah God and so he runs in the opposite direction. So there was a sense in which God raised the wall this high to accomplish his own redemptive purposes he hedged in the nation and then through their own carnal pride they raised it even higher. And living so far removed from the breaking down of that wall in history we find it difficult to realize how deep was the antipathy between Jew and Gentile. I was reading this week in Thomas Goodwin in volume 2 some quotes from antiquity conce...

18:50 - 20:18 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He addresses the first two questions: what the barrier consisted of (the ceremonial Mosaic law, which God used to hedge Israel but which Jews also raised higher in carnal pride)…

This analogy illustrates that physical proximity does not equate to peace, showing that even if a Jew and Arab sit close, their hearts can still be 'a thousand miles apart' due to enmity.

And even if they are forced together into physical proximity they can be a thousand miles apart. Suppose you've got a Jew and an Arab in the Middle East who have to sit down with one another at a treaty table. That doesn't mean that the fact that there may be only 16 inches between them physically has brought their hearts any closer together.

21:18 - 21:39 Read in full sermon

Driving home: If the substance has come then there is no more need for the shadows.

The sacrificial system of the Mosaic law, particularly the bleating lamb, is used as an analogy to show how these rituals pointed forward to Christ's ultimate sacrifice on the cross.

Now Jesus Christ when He dies upon the cross dies in the fulfillment of everything to which the Mosaic legislation pointed. What was the purpose of every bleating lamb in the tabernacle in the temple? Every time the knife was raised and plunged into that lamb and there was the dying bleat of the lamb and its blood is spilt and coughed and sprinkled. What was the end of all of this?

24:16 - 24:46 Read in full sermon

Driving home: If the substance has come then there is no more need for the shadows.

The annual activity of the high priest entering the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement is used to illustrate how this ritual pointed to Christ, the great high priest, entering God's presence to plead His own blood.

It was all pointing to that hour when the Lamb of God upon the cross would cry My God, my God why hast thou forsaken me? What was the purpose of all the activity of the priest in the annual day of atonement going in through that awesome barrier through that inner court into the very presence of God with the bells upon the fringe of His garment so that if He should enter ill-prepared and not be acceptable to God He'd be struck dead and not hearing the sound of the bells of His activity those on the outside would know that He had gone in defiled into the presence of the Holy One. What's the purp...

24:47 - 26:11 Read in full sermon

Driving home: If the substance has come then there is no more need for the shadows.

The tearing of the temple veil from top to bottom at Christ's death is presented as God's own declaration that the way to Him is open and the ceremonial law's shadows are fulfilled.

And that's why God Himself when His Son cried it is finished took His own face and starting at the top of that thick veil He ran it through that veil and says it was rent not from bottom to top but from top to bottom.

26:45 - 27:01 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin explains what Christ did to the barrier (He destroyed it by abolishing the law of commandments in His flesh, fulfilling its purpose on the cross) and His intent (to create…

Used to encourage listeners to persevere through difficult theological exposition, suggesting that the 'sweet' understanding gained is worth the effort, like carving lamb chops.

Galatians chapter 3 it's like eating lamb chops it takes a while to carve them off the bone but then they taste good when you've hung in there. Alright? Galatians 3 verses 27 to 29 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ there's the note of union with Christ there it is utterly impossible Paul says that there could be Jew or Greek but there could be Jew or Greek but there could be Jew or Greek but there could be bond or free male or female ye are all one in Christ Jesus and if ye are Christ's then are ye Abraham's seed heirs according to the promise. You see what he's...

31:47 - 32:31 Read in full sermon

Driving home: making peace is not just the cessation of open hostility... there is no peace until there is intimate concord

This analogy of children fighting and being forced to shake hands illustrates that true biblical peace is more than just the cessation of open hostility; it requires 'intimate concord'.

into the one new man and every barrier Godward and manward is eradicated and man becomes in Christ all that God intended he should be now I remind you that making peace is not just the cessation of open hostility sometimes you've seen two guys fighting out in this schoolyard you kids have seen this and the teacher comes out and breaks them up and says now you two guys shake hands and be sweet to one another and they go over and it's obvious it's all just a charade put out the hand well there's no more open warfare but there sure isn't peace after the biblical connotation until you see them arm...

34:00 - 35:30 Read in full sermon

The point: Behold the amazing power of God through the gospel of Jesus Christ to overcome deep-seated enmity between peoples.

Peter's lifelong struggle to overcome prejudice against Gentiles, even after Pentecost and a vision, is used to demonstrate the deep-seated nature of the enmity Christ abolished and the gospel's amazing power.

first of all I call upon you to behold the amazing power of God through the gospel of Jesus Christ we're far removed from that enmity we've not felt it we've not tasted it but some of us have been in situations where we have felt and tasted genuine enmity between peoples some of you have felt the smear and the superior grace of God the glare of someone of a different race some of us have felt the hate stare the rude unfeeling stare that was directed to us because we happen to be of a different racial or ethnic background we've known something and we felt something of what real enmity is well j...

35:30 - 36:59 Read in full sermon

The point: Behold the amazing power of God through the gospel of Jesus Christ to overcome deep-seated enmity between peoples.

A comparison to modern racial hostility in cities is used to help listeners understand the depth of the Jew-Gentile enmity and appreciate the 'crowning miracle' of their unity in Christ.

nose under his face and say look Peter you've moved aside from the norms of scripture now does that give you some idea of how deep it was a man could walk with Christ for three and a half years could be filled with the spirit and have that mighty endowment of power could actually witness the spirit coming upon these Gentile dogs he acts as though the barrier is not good Goodwin says that it may be the crowning miracle of the New Testament to see Jew and Gentile sitting in one congregation blessing and praising the one God through the one Savior Jesus Christ we don't feel that because we're so ...

36:59 - 38:28 Read in full sermon

The point: Behold the vital necessity of union with Christ as the only means to this corporate oneness and experimental knowledge of unity.

The example of thousands of believers in Acts being 'of one heart and one soul' is used to show that numerical growth does not preclude intimacy and unity when God's grace is magnified through union with Christ.

Christ to see six people dwelling together in peace is he not doubly glorified if there are a dozen doing that and trebly if it's two dozen and on we go it's interesting is it not that after the great increase in the day of Pentecost it says of that group that they were of one heart and of one soul and there were thousands of them I used to be scared to death I said Lord if we ever get beyond 150 200 we'll lose the sense of intimacy and God directed my attention not to a miracle or something just in my flipping through the book of Acts to that verse the multitude of them that believe one heart...

47:22 - 48:49 Read in full sermon