Remember that Ye, the Gentiles

Introduction: The Apostle's Concern and the Two Great Contrasts

0:03 The digression in our regular consecutive studies in the book of Ephesians is now behind us, the normal summer digression. And we return this morning to our careful analysis of the words of God as found in Paul's letter to the Ephesians, and in particular chapter 2, beginning with verse 11. Very briefly, let me remind you of the thrust of the Apostle's concern in this section of the Epistle, an Epistle that was not provoked by any particular problem,

0:47 but out of genuine and general pastoral concern for the Church that under God he was pleased to found, if we may use that term without giving due importance to the human instrument, the Apostle's last encounter with him in the flesh, probably some five years, and he's concerned to share with them broader dimensions of the glory of Christ and his Gospel, a more penetrating understanding of the nature and function of the Church as being that instrument through which God himself, in the language of chapter 3 and verse 10, will display unto principalities and powers in the heavenly places his own manifold wisdom.

1:32 And in the first chapter, that chapter of praise and prayer, we are taken into the heights of Trinitarian salvation. We are, as it were, given a stethoscope to feel the pulse of the Apostle's own heartbeat, caught up in wonder and glory at the thought that he should be chosen and redeemed in Christ and become a recipient of the gift of the Holy Spirit. And then in chapter 2, we have the chapter of the two great contrasts. In order to deepen the appreciation of these Ephesians for the grace so wonderfully described in the first chapter, he does so by way of two fundamental contrasts.

2:15 The first of these is found in chapter 2, verses 1 through 10, a contrast that focuses on what the Ephesians were before the coming of the grace of God, verses 1 to 3, and what they now were by the grace of God. By nature, they were dead, bound, and condemned. By grace, they are now quickened, raised, and seated with Christ, created in union with Him unto good works. The second contrast, beginning with verse 11, is the focus of our study this morning.

Reading of Ephesians 2:11-22 and the Focus on Collective Identity

2:54 And I shall read verses 11 through 22, and then we will begin our study of that portion. Wherefore, remember, that once ye, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called circumcision in the flesh made by hands, that ye were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. But now, in Christ Jesus, ye that once were far off, are made nigh in the blood of Christ. For He is our peace,

3:39 who hath made both one, and break down the middle wall of partition, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, that He might create in Himself of the two one new man, so making peace, and might reconcile them both in one body unto God through the cross, having slain the enmity thereof, that He might make peace with them that were far off, and peace to them that were nigh. And He came and preached peace to you that were far off, and peace to them that were nigh. For through Him we both have our access in one spirit unto the Father. So then, ye are no more strangers and sojourners,

4:23 but ye are fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself, being the chief cornerstone, in whom each several building fitly framed together groweth into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye also are builded together for a habitation of God in the Spirit. Now the concern of the first contrast is clear at the first reading, and even in a rather careless reading.

5:04 It is clear that the apostle is constantly contrasting what all the Ephesians were. Whether their background was Jewish or Gentile, he includes himself, among whom we all had our conversation. He uses such phrases as even as the rest. And so there is this indiscriminate description of Jew and Gentile by nature, dead, bound, condemned, Jew and Gentile by nature, when quickened by the grace of God, coming into this blessed union with Christ and all the privileges that flow from that union.

5:43 However, the contrast of this section obviously is concerned with something more than individual salvation. You will notice that at the very outset there is a specific reference to a specific class of people. Wherefore remember that ye, the Gentiles, there is in verse 12 a specific reference to another class of people, the commonwealth of Israel. Then there is a group of people described as those that are far off in verse 17.

6:19 Another group described as those that were nigh. And so in this second contrast we are looking beyond individuals who are dead, bound, condemned, individuals who are quickened, raised and seated in union with Christ. And our focus is being broadened to consider matters that relate to large groupings of people. In other words, the contrast here in the latter part of chapter 2 has to do with what the Ephesian Gentile Christians were prior to their being quickened by the grace of God.

7:03 Not so much with reference to what they were viewed individually, but what they were viewed collectively with respect to the visible people of God, the commonwealth of Israel, that nation of special privilege and opportunity. And it is Paul's concern that the Gentile Christians at Ephesus, although he has some indirect things to say to the Jewish Christians, or Christians of Jewish background is probably a better way to describe them, unless we elevate them as some kind of a special thing, here Paul even bypasses them. Rather than making heroes out of Hebrew Christians and calling them Messianic Christians,

7:46 he almost ignores them for a whole paragraph in the section of this epistle. Far from making them some kind of heroes as is being done in so many circles in our day. But that's just a little aside. But his concern is to address himself to these Gentiles that they might come to a more accurate understanding of just how bad off they were.

8:08 Not only viewed in isolation as dead, bound and condemned, verses 1 to 3, but as being at a great distance from the very means that God would make effectual to the salvation of sinners. And it's only as the Gentiles appreciate as it were their double dilemma, not only sharing in a common spiritual debt, and bondage and condemnation with all mankind, Jew and Gentile, but in a peculiar way being part of the nation of the Gentiles or the nations of the Gentiles who were afar off from everything that was peculiar

The People Addressed: Gentiles in the Flesh

8:50 to God's method of salvation in Jesus Christ. So this is as it were a general word of introduction to the section. Now consider with me as we attempt this morning to understand verses 11 and 12, first of all the people addressed. And then secondly we shall consider the command given and thirdly the condition described.

9:14 First of all then the people addressed. Wherefore remember that once ye the Gentiles in the flesh. At this point the apostle is addressing himself specifically to a class of people called the Gentiles. And it is obvious that he is referring to the Gentiles not in a spiritual sense but in a literal sense.

9:44 The pagan nations contrasted with Israel not spiritual Israel, but Israel after the flesh. Hence he uses this language, lest any misunderstand to whom he is speaking. Remember ye the Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision by that which is called circumcision in the flesh made with hands. You see what he is saying?

10:11 He is saying I am speaking to you the group of people who are constantly derided by another group of people. Here is national Israel much of it in its blindness according to Romans 9 through 11 who pride themselves that they are the circumcision. And whenever they were full of pride they were the circumcision. It was with reference to circumcision merely as an external sign of identity with the nation towards which God had shown such favor.

10:42 Circumcision has deeper significance. Paul deals with it in Romans chapter 2. And you have it dealt with even in the Old Testament. But he makes it obvious in this passage he is thinking in terms of these external differences the Gentiles, the nations who did not have the law and the covenants and the promises of God in contrast with that nation Israel including of course the true Israel within it but he is thinking of it in its broadest sense.

11:14 And therefore if we are to grasp the whole burden of this paragraph and as it flows on into chapter 3 we must have some degree of understanding concerning the tremendous differences that existed between these two groups the Gentiles and the Jews. The circumcision in opposition to or in contrast with the uncircumcision. This difference or these differences were wide and they were deep. They created a whole difference of perspective and attitude toward all of life.

The Roots and Development of the Jew-Gentile Division

11:57 And unless we know something of the breadth and the depth of that difference we will never be caught up in the wonder of what this passage is telling us. So think with me for just a moment about the roots of this difference a little bit about the development and then the present manifestation of it when Paul wrote this epistle. Now what were the roots of this difference between the circumcision and the uncircumcision? Well when you read your Bible you know that the answer to that question lies in God's sovereign selection of a man called Abraham and God's commitment in a covenant of promise that he would make of that man a great nation.

12:41 And he would do so with reference to bringing universal blessing through that nation and through the seed of Abraham. Up until the calling of Abraham God had a line the line of Seth that in a special way were to be identified as his people but that line was mingled among the other nations. But with the calling of Abraham God begins to separate to himself a people. He begins to isolate and to insulate unto himself a people.

13:14 And then you know the Bible history there's the history of Egypt and the deliverance from Pharaoh and the opening up of the Red Sea and then the wanderings in the wilderness the giving of a whole way of life that touched every detail of external conduct that touched the most intimate matters of approach unto God the whole Levitical system and all that God revealed through Moses. What was the end of all of this? It was this setting apart of this people unto himself to be in the language of Scripture a people his peculiar his special possession so that God could say as he did in Amos chapter 3 you only have I known of all the peoples of the earth. What nation is like unto this nation

13:59 to which God has revealed himself to whom he has given the prophets and the scriptures and all of these great blessings. So the roots of this difference or the first root of this difference between Jew and Gentile was a root of God's own creation. It was God who separated the Jews unto himself or separated the people who came to be known as the Jews. Now then in its development the Jews seldom understood their real purpose.

14:33 Instead of regarding themselves as the favored of God to the end that they might be the special servants of God they began to regard themselves as the favorites of God. Teacher's pet who can do no wrong. And there developed in Israel this smugness this contentment with their heritage and again and again God had to discipline them through judgment etc. until finally God says I'll cast you out of my sight and scatter you among the nations.

15:04 Now in this development from being God's favored ones to accomplish his purposes they began to regard themselves as his favorites who could do no wrong and that found its most dis-sickening expression in the Phariseeism that existed in the day of our Lord. In which the Pharisee prided himself that he had nothing to do with these Gentile dogs. So if he even was out in the marketplace where some Gentile might have sneezed he was careful to come home and thoroughly cleanse himself with ceremonial washings lest he be defiled by this contact with the Gentile dog.

15:47 And the contemporary manifestation of this division in the day in which Paul wrote this epistle was one in which this division was still very very deeply felt. You remember that much of the New Testament addresses itself to the problem of this division even within the visible church. Although Peter had come through that mighty and doom into power on the day of Pentecost God still had to as it were beat him over the head to get him to go preach the gospel to a Gentile. And even after that Paul tells us in Galatians that when he came to Antioch Peter was still concerned Peter was still conscious of this division between Jew and Gentile and he said I had to withstand him to his face because he started hobnobbing only with the Jews

16:31 he was embarrassed to be found mingling in social intimacy with Gentile Christians. They had the council at Jerusalem Acts 15 Why? Because you had this problem of this division in which Jews said no if you're to really be right with God you've got to come over onto our side. I mean God just isn't going to accept Gentiles as Gentiles.

16:51 Now his heart is wide enough to accept you just so long as you begin to look and act like a Jew. So they said you've got to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses or you can't be saved. Christ is not enough. And much of the New Testament grows out of whole sections and chapters and even a book the book of Galatians grows out of this contemporary situation in which there was this great chasm between the Jew and the Gentile.

The Command Given: Remember Your Former Condition

17:18 The Gentile dog with whom the Jew would have nothing to do. Now then if we understand the roots of this division to be the activity of God on the one hand separating the people to himself and the sin of the Jews on the other hand raising up you see barriers of carnal separation and carnal pride then we can begin to understand why Paul writes as he does addressing the Gentiles he now gives them a command and this is their command the command wherefore remember

18:01 wherefore in the light of all that has been done to you as described in verses 1 to 10 though dead you've been quickened though bound you've been liberated though condemned you've found acceptance wherefore in the light of all these mercies that have come to you you Gentiles remember something and the word remember simply means to engage in a conscious act of mental reflection and it's a present imperative be he continually calling to remembrance if we stated it negatively he's saying don't ever forget certain things positively make certain things a matter of constant conscious

18:46 mental reflection and what is it there to remember he said it has to do with certain periods of time wherefore remember that once ye the Gentiles were verse 12 that ye were at that time separate from Christ what they are to remember has reference to a certain period of time it has reference to a block of time in which certain conditions obtained with reference to them as Gentiles now this remembering is not idle daydreaming irresponsible nostalgia but it's a unprincipled reminiscing

19:30 he's calling to sanctified reflection he's calling to disciplined ruminating upon certain things in the past well I thought the Bible said we're to forget the things that are past well there are certain things you are to forget but there are certain things you are never to forget remember you Gentiles not only understand all I've told you in the first ten verses that being dead you're now alive you're now alive being bound you're free being condemned you're accepted not only fill your mind with the glory and wonder of what you are in Christ but remember what you were as Gentiles remember

The Condition Described: Essentially, Objectively, and Subjectively

20:15 what you were so the people addressed Gentiles the command given to remember now the heart of our study the condition described and it's described in verse 12 that ye were at that time separate from Christ that's their condition described essentially alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of the promise that's their condition objectively no hope and without God in the world that's their condition subjectively and so he tells them

21:00 to remember their previous condition essentially separate from Christ objectively alienated strangers and subjectively no hope and without God first of all then they are to remember their condition essentially he says you were separate from Christ and the word basically means to be apart from something or someone out of connection with it's the word used by our Lord in John 15 5 and it's the word that's the word that's the word I am the vine you're the branches apart from me that's the word severed from me out of living connection with me

21:43 ye can do nothing it's the word used in James 2 26 as the body apart from the spirit is dead when the spirit flees the body and there is that severance so that there no longer is a vital life-giving relationship death has come that's the word used and the word used he describes their condition essentially as being one characterized by apartness non-connectedness with Christ now on the surface you'd say well that's a description of everybody Jew or Gentile until someone is united to Christ in faith and by the indwelling of the spirit they have no

22:28 connection with and no attachment to no vital relationship to Christ well that's true but he says he's saying something that has a peculiar expression with the Gentiles you see he's saying the Gentiles were apart from Christ and it's interesting he doesn't say apart from Jesus but apart from Christ you see the term Christ is referenced to the Lord Jesus in his official capacity as the anointed one the Messiah of God and you see that's the word used and you see the word and you see the word and you see the coming of Messiah was the great theme of Old Testament prophecy

23:12 the coming of Messiah was the great burden of Old Testament type and shadow and Old Testament history and all of the promises of God for salvation are bound up in the Christ the scripture says how many so ever be the promises of God in Christ is the Amen and through Him in Christ is the Yea and through Him is the Amen and through Him every promise is in Christ all the spiritual blessings that God had promised were blessings to be connected with the reign of Messiah God's anointed prophet priest and king they would be found in Christ mediated and applied by Christ therefore to be out of the orbit

23:57 of all God had revealed in the Old Testament about Messiah the promise of His coming the functions of that Messiah the types and shadows pointing toward Him and reflecting Him to be out of that orbit was to be what? apart from Christ it was to be utterly severed from Christ it was to have no connection to or with Christ and so He is describing their condition essentially the greatest tragedy of the condition of the Gentile nations after God separated Abraham and formed the nation and gave to the nation the prophets and the scriptures through which all of this light came

24:41 the greatest tragedy was there was no connection with the only one who would be the hope of guilty sinners the Christ of God and so Paul is describing their condition essentially as one apart from severed from no connection to the Christ now then what did that mean in an objective way and then in a different way and then in a different way in a subjective way and I share the view that most commentators have that there is strong hint a strong hint in the structure of the language that it is this first essential condition that is the broad statement and those that follow as it were expound and apply it objectively

25:25 he says in terms of external physical relationships and conditions and privileges two things look at them having been alienated from the common wealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of the promise you say oh it's a lot of big words pastor I never heard them before if I heard them I don't know what they mean well that's why I'm here and that's why you put bread on the table so I can sit at my desk and work and labor to try to tell you what they mean having been alienated from the common wealth of Israel the word common wealth found here is only found one other time in the New Testament and the word and it can mean citizenship

26:10 or the order or constitution of the state we speak of the common wealth of New Jersey or the common wealth of Pennsylvania the community itself so in this passage it's referring to Israel as that nation into which God entered by way of covenant with peculiar privileges and responsibilities Israel is viewed as an ordered common wealth or state and a state may I use another term an empire under the rule of the divine king Jehovah it was the nation that became the object of electing mercy now Paul says your objective condition when separate from Christ was this

26:54 you were alienated not so much in terms of a spirit of antipathy but simply to be separated from you were alienated from the common wealth of Israel you had no rights or privileges in terms of the peculiar rights and privileges that God gave to the nation of Israel Romans 3 1 and 2 is perhaps the most helpful commentary on this verse what advantage then hath the Jew he's proved Jew and Gentile equally guilty before God equally in need of a salvation from God well after you say that Jew and Gentile

27:38 are leveled in the dust because of their sinfulness you're not the natural question is what advantage then hath the Jew or what is the profit of circumcision what's the profit of being a part of that common wealth Paul answers much every way first of all that they were entrusted with the oracles of God they were the nation to whom God spoke gave his laws the way of approach to him by sacrifice the way to conduct themselves before him in every dimension of life and in experience and he says you Gentiles were alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and as a result of that further

28:22 you were strangers from the covenants of promise it's covenants plural promise singular you were strangers one who doesn't belong by birth or citizenship it's the word our Lord uses in Matthew 25 I was a stranger and you took me in who's the stranger in a community the one who doesn't belong he hasn't settled in hadn't become a part of it so he says you Gentiles were strangers to the covenants of the promise now what does that mean simply this he says you did not belong to those covenants of God those sovereign arrangements of God which were made in connection with the promise and what is the promise

29:06 it is that promise which is first enunciated in Genesis 350 when God says in the guard of Eden to Adam and Eve I will put enmity between the seed of the woman the seed of the serpent I will initiate a plan whereby sinful man will be rescued by the seed of the woman and now in connection with that promise God made many covenants with his people Israel the covenant with Abraham the covenant and covenants made at Mount Sinai the covenant and covenants made with David so that God will make you that the covenants were as it were God's arrangement in order to secure the benefits given in the promise

29:51 God promises a redeemer he promises a savior now he comes with covenants that have a distinct bearing upon the fulfillment of the promise now he says to you Gentiles he says remember you Gentiles you were strangers to the covenants of the promise when did God ever come to a Gentile and say I will make of thee I will make of thee a father of many nations and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed when did God come to any Gentile nation and some of them were mighty imposing nations it was Israel's despised condition that God uses to remind her he said I didn't choose you because you were great or mighty and all the rest

30:36 no no I chose you because I loved you and I loved you because I chose to love you and I had purposes for you but no Gentile nation had any of these covenants related to the promise and all that God has purposed to do in the Messiah he holds forth by way of promise and he expresses in his covenants and he says you were strangers to all of this you as Gentiles had no part in this you had no right to any of these promises you were strangers to them having looked at their condition essentially objectively now subjectively and I know this is hard going folks but this is hard going folks but that's the only way I know to teach you the word of God so hang in there it would have been easy for me to preach a real fiery sermon

31:20 on without Christ and take off but you see we've got to be honest with the context the flow of the apostles thoughts so hang in there with me will you it's a nice cool morning it could be 90 like it was back in July alright essentially apart from Christ objectively alienated from the commonwealth strangers to the covenants of the promise now subjectively and this is I think one of the saddest statements in all of this in all of Holy Scripture look at it having no hope and without God in the world now hope here is used in its biblical sense it always means confident expectation of promised blessings that's hope

32:03 confident expectation what's it based upon not wishful thinking upon promised blessings blessings promised by the God who cannot lie that's why the scripture says we're saved in hope that is we believe that we shall ultimately be made like Jesus Christ because God who cannot lie has promised that that is the destiny of every believer that's biblical hope now he says you Gentiles had no hope you see the very coming of Messiah was called the hope of Israel Acts 26.8 and 28.20 Paul uses this phraseology for the hope of Israel

32:48 I am in this condition the coming of Messiah was called the very hope of Israel but because the Gentiles had no revelation of the promise no ratification in the covenants there could be no hope how could there be expectation of blessing when no blessing was ever promised you see it marks the godly Jews Anna in the temple Zachariah how does it describe them they were waiting for the consolation of Israel they had hope that God would send a Messiah why because they had the promise because they were within the commonwealth they were not apart from Christ in the sense that the Gentiles were

33:32 but no Gentile had hope because he had no promise and he had no promise because he was not part of the commonwealth and he was stranger from the covenants of the promise there was no hope now some heathen writers occasionally had a glimpse of some rational conclusion that there must be a life beyond death and they might speculate but there was no solid hope a few wispy aspirations a few ephemeral passing longings but no solid hope no solid hope that's why Paul could say in the face of death to the Thessalonians in a pagan society he said I write unto you to the end

34:15 that you do not grieve as those who have no hope death intrudes in your pagan neighbors and their wailing and their desperate crying reflects no hope he says you Christians I don't want you to react with the same emotional despair because you do have hope you have confident expectation of blessings that are promised and then he expounds them and then he concludes this description of the subjective condition with this phrase without God in the world and the word literally is atheists in the world doesn't say that they did not have that which they called gods for Paul says in 1 Corinthians 8 for though there be gods

35:00 many and lords many and in current there were many gods and many lords but he said they were without God that is without the knowledge of the true and living God without the understanding of who the true and living God was without any vital experience and communion with God he says you were without God and the tragedy is you were without God in the world now some commentators would take the phrase in the world and say it applies to all linguistically this is possible I rather believe it applies to the phrase present it is without God in the world and what is that world he's already described it up in the second verse it is that system of things that is under the control of Satan

35:44 and under the condemnation of God you were without God in the world you see how he brings the two together without the knowledge of God without communion with God and in that system which is under the judgment and wrath of God what a terrible state to be in and now the apostle says to these Gentiles remember remember here is the sad but realistic description of the Gentile world before the coming of Christ and the sending of the gospel to all the nations their essential condition out of the world connection with the Christ their objective position alienated from the commonwealth of Israel

The Purpose of Remembering: Deepening Gratitude and Application to Believers

36:28 strangers from the covenants of the promise subjective condition without hope without God and now he says think now here's the burden the heart the whole thrust of what I trust will be the Lord's word to us this morning why does he call upon them so to think and it meant they had to do some thinking like you've had to do this morning though some of the terms need not have had the careful explanation that I've given them in your presence this morning simply because the terminology was more familiar to them they still had to think upon these things now why does Paul call upon them to do this for the simple reason that it is the intelligent

37:13 realistic reflection upon our desperate plight by nature which deepens our gratitude for what we are now by the grace of God it is our intelligent Paul says remember use your head he doesn't say go on out and whip each other up into a hallelujah meeting he says wherefore remember and it's interesting where it comes right after that tremendous description of being quickened with Christ raised with Christ seated with Christ created in Christ it's as though someone's ready to take off in an irresponsible flight of ecstasy he says hey fella come on get your feet back down to the ground and look back over your shoulder

37:58 wherefore remember have an intelligent realistic reflection of what your desperate plight was as a Gentile not only desperate in your deadness and in your bondage and guilt but how desperate you were because you were so far off from everything connected with salvation you were apart from Christ you were strangers to the commonwealth aliens to all of these things and although in the strictest way of life you were not a Gentile in the strictest sense these words can only apply to those who were a part of that world

38:40 the time when the gospel came and in the language that follows the middle wall of partition was broken down and now the gospel has come and is going to the ends of the earth there is a very valid application to each of us sitting here this morning and I found it a very salutary thing this week to meditate on the fact that just a few hundred years ago all my forefathers were a part of the gospel were barbarians and so were most of yours ignorarians without the knowledge of God we have a few who can trace their bloodlines back to Abraham but not many we like the Ephesian church are predominantly a church

39:24 comprised of converted Gentiles after the flesh by that which is called uncircumcision by that which is called circumcision after the flesh and we are not we need this morning soberly to reflect upon our true condition before the Lord laid hold of us every one of us was in a very real sense apart from Christ we lived many of us as though no manifestation of Christ had ever been made as though no revelation of his saving virtue had ever been proclaimed we lived a life apart from Christ

40:07 and certainly it is true to say that there was no union with Christ and that is the saddest commentary upon a human being to be apart from Christ it is both a miserable and a dangerous condition to be in apart from Christ the anointed Messiah who alone can give life who alone can give the knowledge of God who alone can give the solid hope of sins forgiven who alone can give the prospect of eternity with glory and bliss to be apart from Christ is to be in the state of misery but it is also a state of frightening danger apart from Christ means I have none to stand between me

40:51 and the anger of a righteous God a God who has said the soul that sinneth it shall die a God who is a consuming fire a God who has pledged himself to track down all his enemies and not to give over in that quest until they have been banished from his universe in a place called hell oh my friend remember that ye Gentiles were apart from Christ and if you are here this morning and there is no vital union with Christ may you reflect upon both the misery and the danger of your position apart from Christ who alone can save

41:36 in a very real sense we were alienated from the commonwealth of Israel that is the Israelite of God and it is proper to use that language I am only quoting New Testament language in the language of Hebrews 12 believers he says are come to Mount Zion unto the general assembly and church of the first born enrolled in heaven it is a terrible thing to be a stranger to be alienated from the commonwealth of spiritual Israel not to be a part of the people of God is it not in the midst of his visible people that the term of the covenant are expounded is it not in the midst of his visible people that the blood of the covenant is constantly remembered

42:21 in the supper of remembrance that the implications of the covenant are expounded in the preaching and teaching of the word the obligations of the covenant and the privileges and provisions and all the rest oh my friend what a terrible thing to be alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and it is in the church of Christ the spiritual Israel where the wall has been broken down it is in the church of Christ that Christ has deposited what have been called historically the means of grace the preaching of the word the communion of his people the ordinances do despise that commonwealth that visible community of God's people

43:04 for God has made rich deposits in that community and Paul knew as well as anyone that Israel after the flesh in her history had nothing to brag about there was condemnation and constant declension and decadence and sin and idolatry he knew that Israel in that very day was nothing to brag about but he said what profit is it to be part of that commonwealth much every way and the church has many failures and there are many blots and blotches upon her but my friend do not despise the privilege of being part of the commonwealth of the people of God I would not want to face a week apart from the knowledge that I belong to the commonwealth of God of God's people the supportive influence of their prayers and their love

43:48 and their encouragement strangers from the covenants of the promise my friend there is no promise that you can claim apart from Christ the promises in Christ are yea and amen and you have no title to those promises until you have Christ are you here this morning a stranger from the covenants of the promise that covenant which says I will blot out their sins I will give them a heart of flesh the blessings of the new covenant what a terrible thing to be a stranger from the covenants that have relationship to the promise of a Messiah what a blessed thing to be within the orbit of that covenant

44:32 for remember the covenant is not sitting down and coming to terms with God it is God initiating a saving act on behalf of a people covenant comes from God he initiates it he effectuates the blessings promised what a tragic thing to be without hope what confident expectation do you have of anything beyond this life you get my question what confident expectation do you have of anything beyond this life well my friend if it is not based upon the promises of God who cannot lie you have no grounds for any confident expectation of anything but death and hell

45:14 you say well I hope everything will come out alright I hope God will be merciful I hope my friend what is the basis of that aspiration that is wishful thinking because you see God has promised to be merciful only to those who repent and believe the gospel only to those who have been born of his spirit only to such has he promised mercy are you without hope without any solid biblical hope many of us can think of the years we lived in which we were now God says reflect upon it wherefore remember you were without hope and finally without God in the world

45:59 think of it the creature made to know God to hold communion with God to reflect the image of God without God some of us hang our heads with shame when we think of the years we lived without God you don't need to be a profligate to be ashamed of your sin I've heard people sometimes unthinkingly say oh I just almost wish I'd been more open a sinner so I could feel more depth of repentance my friend calls for greater repentance than to live without God made to know Him made to love Him made to commune with Him you were a practical atheist as though there were no God

46:43 who had claims over your affections no God who had claims over your will your appetites your passions your money your time and all that you are remember some of us can remember and the remembrance humbles us because the greatest boon that has come to us in the way of saving mercy is that we've come in the language of Galatians to know God or rather Paul says to be known of God wherefore remember that's the condition the apostle wants them to remember if you've never faced the fact that that is your condition may God this morning show you that we've not overstated it

Call to Repentance and Thanksgiving for Salvation

47:27 we've not drawn out long descriptive things that are not in the text we've simply opened up the apostles book description of the condition of the Gentiles essentially without Christ objectively alienated from the commonwealth strangers to the covenants of the promise subjectively without hope without God and that's exactly where you are if you're not in union with Christ but you need not remain in that state for this God as we'll see in the further unfolding comes and preaches peace to you in Jesus Christ and if we who sit here this morning remembering say Lord that's true that's true but we can say in the language of the text

48:12 I was we were and put it in the past tense to God and to God alone be glory honor and praise that we are no longer separate from Christ no longer alienated from his visible people no longer strangers from the covenants of the promise no longer without hope and without God and we say from the depths of our hearts to God be the glory great things he hath done let us pray our father

48:54 we acknowledge with amazement and with a sense of wonder that we do not deserve to have been born at this point in history we think of those hundreds of years when great nations rose and fell and went into oblivion having not one ray of gospel left not one promise of a coming Messiah not one prophet to call them to repentance not one covenant securing the blessings of prophets

49:38 Lord what can we say but thank you that we were born at this point in history and the gospel has gone to all the nations of the earth but we remember what we were in our forefathers we remember what we were in our own life history and from our hearts we say thank you oh God for so great salvation be merciful to those among us who've never felt the pain of their estrangement from you the living God Lord wound them this morning give them a deep inward sense of pain that they should be without you

50:23 and then reveal to them by the word the glory of your salvation in Christ and may they too come to repent and to believe the gospel hear us Father and seal to us your word and may the benediction of your own presence rest upon us and abide with us as we part from one another through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen