Middle Wall of Partition

Introduction: The Gospel's Transformative Power and Horizontal Changes

0:05 We continue our studies this morning in the second chapter of Paul's letter to the Ephesian church. Our concern being to understand precisely that which God has given to his church as part of its abiding heritage in the words of the Apostle Paul contained in verses 11 through 22, the second major division in this particular chapter. And I am sure, at least I trust, that many, if not all of us, have come to a fresh awareness that there are no changes like unto the changes which the gospel makes in men. Changes that affect not only their relationship to God, vertical changes, but changes that radically overhaul and transform their relationship to their fellow men. Horizontal. And it is precisely in the realm of the horizontal changes that the Apostle Paul lays tremendous emphasis in these verses.

1:17 I shall read verses 11 through 16 this morning. 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, who hath made both one, and break down the two, and make one. For he hath broken 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 thereby. Let us once again ask God's help, as we attempt to understand this portion of his word.

2:43 Oh Lord, we have prayed in the words of the hymn that we sang together. Come, dearest Lord, by faith and dwell in every breast, that we may know, that we may taste, that we may feel. Oh Lord, come by your spirit, that our eyes may be opened to behold wondrous things out of your law, that our hearts may be open to see, that we may feel, that we may feel, that our hearts may respond in faith and obedience to that which is revealed. And what we pray for ourselves, we pray for our brother Bob Fisher as he labors in the gospel there in Hackettstown.

3:22 Come to that people through the preaching of the word. Meet us, Lord, as we confess our need of your help. Through Christ our Lord we pray. Amen.

Recap: Gentile Alienation and Christ's Bringing Near

3:33 In our study of this paragraph thus far, we have noted that in verses 11 and 12, the Apostle Paul gives to us that which the Gentile Christians were prior to the coming of the gospel and the revelation of God's grace in the person and work of Jesus Christ our Lord. He addresses himself to the Gentiles in particular, though he does also describe the Jewish. A segment of the church are those who were Jews by nature and birth. But primarily addressing himself to the Gentiles, he commands them to remember what they once were. And he describes their position essentially as being separate from Christ. He describes their position objectively as one of being alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and from the covenants of the promise. Their condition subjectively one, embodied in the words, without hope and without God in the world.

4:46 And in that description we see that they have a two-fold problem. They are not only without hope and without God, alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, chapter 4 and verse 18, but they are cut off from that means by which God can be known. As Gentiles they were outside of the orbit of that, that nation with whom God had peculiar dealings. The nation with which he entered into covenant and to whom were given the promises and the prophets and the scriptures and the sacrificial system and the priesthood and all of these pointers to Christ.

5:28 Therefore in being alien to that nation, they were utterly separate from Christ, the promised Messiah. But then in verse 13 the apostle gives, gives this amazing statement of the contrast that now obtains in their experience. But now, this is what you once were, but now in union with Christ Jesus, ye that once were far off are made nigh in the blood of Christ. And this is the capsule statement of how the transformation has come to pass.

6:04 It is a transformation embodied in those words from the posture of far off, far off they are now near. It comes about on the basis of the work of Christ upon the cross and it becomes their possession when they are united to Jesus Christ. And from verses 14 onward, the apostle then simply expounds, expands, amplifies, reemphasizes and enlarges upon that which is given to us in capsule, in distilled form in verse 13. Well, we began our study last week in verse 14, the expanded statement of how those who were far off were actually brought nigh. And in verse 14 we are given essentially two things. The agent in this mighty work, for he is our peace and all of the attention is drawn to the Lord Jesus Christ as the one by whom those who were far off were made near. The ones afar off are made part of the people of God.

The Agent and Activity of Peace: Christ and His Cross

7:16 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.

7:50 And one day as you were coming home from school, he was picking on three or four of you, beating you up and taking your books and maybe pulling your hair if you were a girl and calling your names if you were a boy. And you were in real trouble. You couldn't get around him. Every time you tried to go around him, he'd stand in your path and he was really playing the part of the neighborhood bully.

8:09 Well, just about that time, the big brother of one of the kids who happens to wrestle for Montclair State in the light heavyweight division comes around the corner and the bully doesn't see him. And he sees the kids being harassed by the bully and suddenly he is the agent of your deliverance. And he puts his hand upon the neck of the bully and he says, that's enough now, buddy, get. And sure enough, when the bully sees who it is, he turns tail and he goes back to his own home.

8:37 Now, who was the agent in your deliverance from the bully? Well, your neighbor's big brother who wrestles for Montclair State. But the activity by which he delivered you was his hand upon the neck of the bully saying, now beat it. So you have the agent and then the activity by which he carried out his purpose.

8:55 Well, that's what we have in this passage. Who is it that has dealt with this problem of the distance between Jew and Gentile from each other and Jew and Gentile both at a great distance from God himself? Well, the agent is the Lord Jesus. He is our peace.

9:16 So that the Apostle Paul would have us whenever we think of how this problem was dealt with never to divorce it from the person and work of Jesus Christ the Lord. But he's not content simply to say for he is our peace. He is concerned to go into great detail concerning the precise activity by which Christ was constituted our peace. Now, follow carefully as I re-read verse 14b through the end of verse 16.

9:52 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 making peace and might create in himself and might reconcile them both in one body unto God through the cross having slain the enmity thereby. Now, do you find those thoughts hard to untangle? Well, if so, you're just normal. Because these words comprise one of the most difficult sections in this epistle.

10:33 Men who have given themselves to years of study trying to master some of the language in which Paul wrote wrote these words who have given themselves to years of careful analysis of the words of scripture even they can't agree as to how this sentence should be punctuated. Because the apostle Paul did not write it with punctuation the original manuscripts were not given to us with punctuation and so it's difficult to know precisely which words are modifying which words, which ones are set in what we call not opposition but apposition to other words to explain them. to qualify them and so to untangle them is difficult and if you found it difficult just reading them through you'd see that the difficulty was increased if you tried to analyze them and even a knowledge a working knowledge of the original languages doesn't help you too much to disentangle them. But one thing is clear one thing is very clear that when the apostle would describe the activity by which Christ has been constituted our peace he says that this activity centers in the cross of Christ for he mentions him as abolishing in his flesh the enmity he mentions reconciliation through the cross and so whatever was done to effect this peace

12:01 and to bring the far off Gentiles near to God and near to the visible people of God it is rooted in the work of Jesus Christ upon the cross and whatever we do get or don't get from the passage I trust that by the spirit of God that truth will be burnt into our hearts. But there are several other things that I believe are quite clear and I'll mention them before we go into a detailed study of the passage. Number one the dominant idea is that a middle wall of partition existed between Jew and Gentile and that Jesus Christ has abolished that wall. He speaks of a breaking down of a middle wall of partition and Christ has become our peace by doing something with something that is called a middle wall of partition and that middle wall of partition has reference not to our vertical problem but to our horizontal problem as we shall see. And Christ has become our peace dealing with this problem of alienation between Jew and Gentile by destroying that which was the cause of that alienation this middle wall of partition. And secondly and this is the emphasis of course

13:30 in verse 16 the secondary idea is that there was a problem downward there was not only enmity horizontally but there was enmity vertically and Jesus Christ has reconciled both Jew and Gentile in one body through the cross and he has reconciled them notice the emphasis in verse 16 falls not upon to one another but he has reconciled them unto God both in one body unto God. So the dominant thought of the passage is the barrier between Jew and Gentile has been abolished in the death of Christ the barriers between Jew and Gentile and God have been abolished in the same death of the same Christ. Our attention today will be focused upon that first barrier the middle wall of partition and what is told us concerning that wall in verses 14 and 15. And the best way I know to attempt in opening up the words is to ask five simple questions or to make it into figurative language to construct right now a five pronged rake with which to go through those two verses. Alright?

The Nature and Effects of the Middle Wall of Partition

14:53 Question number one is this in what did this barrier this partition consist? Look at the language having abolished in his flesh the enmity even the law of commandment contained in ordinances. This barrier between Jew and Gentile was composed of the law of commandments in ordinances or the law of commandments in decrees. Now what is he talking about?

15:27 Well I agree with the commentators who say that Paul is putting primary emphasis upon the ceremonial law. All of that mosaic law legislation that was peculiar to the Jews as a nation in covenant with God. He gave to them the whole system of the clean and the unclean the system of washings and of approaches to God the system of worship. He gave them a whole way of life that touched every detail of life which was to mark them as that one nation upon whom God had set his sovereign law and into which he had entered with which he had entered into a covenant. And that barrier the ceremonial law the mosaic legislation was the thing that separated Jew from Gentile. Now one aspect of that separation was a wise and a gracious separation. If God was to keep that chosen nation through whom the Savior was to be brought into the world from being utterly neutralized by contact with the heathen world he had to put a hedge around that nation.

16:47 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 rest God had to do it because that was part and parcel of the lifestyle of the Canaanites. And when they would be driving them out they would be exposed to this degenerate degenerate and wicked lifestyle marked that was marked was the mark of those nations. So God gave this hedge to protect his own people to act as a barrier that they might be preserved until their mission was accomplished in being the vehicle through which Messiah would be brought into the world. But now there's a sense in which that wall was raised even higher by the carnal prejudice of the Jew.

18:09 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 dogs should be the objects of mercy.

18:50 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 concerning what Jews said to Gentiles and Gentiles said to Jews it's hardly worth it printing. I mean it's X-rated stuff. The way they spoke of one another the Jew despising the Gentile dog and the Gentile dog despising the Jew and here was this barrier this middle wall of partition which finds its main ingredient its main construction material is this system of commandments in ordinances and you must not miss that point. In what did this wall consist in that mosaic system that was peculiar to the Jew and became the badge of his Jewishness.

20:19 Alright? Question number two. What were the effects of this barrier? Although given by God and instituted by God with a view as we mentioned that Israel might be his praise throughout the earth it had become the very symbol of enmity.

20:37 Enmity. One would even arrange the words in this verse so that the word the enmity in verse 15 would actually be a description of this system of commandments comma the enmity. It is the enmity that Christ has abolished the enmity which is to be found in this system of mosaic legislation. And so as we've already hinted the effect of this barrier was mutual hatred and hatred between people always leads to non-association and to distance.

21:18 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.

21:42 And so regardless of what physical proximity there may be between Jew and Gentile as they were dispersed through the nations the effect of that barrier was enmity. Enmity. Jew to Gentile Gentile to Jew.

Christ's Action and Intent in Destroying the Barrier

21:59 Now third question is what did Christ do to that barrier? In what did it consist? The mosaic legislation. What were the effects of it?

22:07 Enmity. Both directions. What did Christ do to the barrier? Look at verse 14 in verse part B.

22:14 For He is our peace who made both one and break down the middle wall of partition. He destroyed it. He undid it. And how did He do it?

22:30 The text tells us having abolished in His flesh the enmity even the law of commandments contained in Him. In ordinances. How did Christ break that wall down? By abolishing in His flesh the law of commandments.

22:51 Now what does the little phrase in His flesh mean? Well it has reference to His death. The context clearly indicates this. Verse 13 the summary statement it's in the blood of Christ that all this has occurred.

23:05 Verse 16 it speaks of His being slain upon the cross. Therefore Paul is telling us this and follow closely dear people. I know this is hard going and I've labored and sweat and prayed and been up early and the rest trying to see if we can make it clear and this is the best I can do and such as it is I offer it to you. When Christ hung upon the cross what was His precise relationship to the Mosaic system?

23:33 If you understand that then the text will open up. Well the scriptures tell us in Colossians 2 that all of the Mosaic system legislation was a shadow of Christ. In Colossians chapter 2 Christ is called the body or the substance and all of the ceremonial trappings are called the shadow. In other words they were not only given to insulate the nation of Israel from the heathen nations around them.

24:02 These types and shadows were given to be pointers to Christ may I say it referently inadequate substitutes for Christ until He should be manifested in time.

24:16 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?

24:47 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 purpose of all of this? That He should go into that mysterious presence alone no one accompanying Him and from thence He would come out with upraised hands to pronounce blessing upon the people. What's the meaning of this? Year after year after year after year it's pointing forward to the time when the great high priest the Lord Jesus would enter in in the language of Hebrews into the very presence of God and by the eternal Spirit offer Himself up without spot unto God and would now minister in the true sanctuary pleading the merits and the efficacy of His own precious blood.

26:11 What was Christ's relationship to that mosaic ceremony? These things were all but shadows of Him. Now the substance has come and all the shadows that have been cast from Him have been fulfilled in Christ and this is the argument of Paul in Colossians 2. He said why in the world are you Christians going back to shadows?

26:33 These are a shadow of the things to come but the body is Christ. The substance has come. Now listen. If the substance has come then there is no more need for the shadows.

26:45 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.

27:02 God was saying the way is open. He finished all the shapes and shadows of the ceremonial law. Jesus Christ has come and fulfilled them. Now that's what Christ did to the barrier.

27:18 He abolished it by completely fulfilling its whole purpose. Alright? Question number four.

27:27 What was the intent of Christ in the destruction of that barrier? Now look at the text.

27:35 He abolished in His flesh the law of commandments contained in ordinance in order ahina clause of purpose. This was the intent of Christ. In order He might create in Himself of the two one new man making peace. His intent was that in union with Himself He might by the operation of creative power it's the same word we found in verse 10 that He might in Himself that is by bringing those for whom He died into vital union with Himself by an activity of creative power establish Jew and Gentile one new man.

28:33 It is not the intention of God to make Jews out of Gentiles. That was the problem in the early church. Now follow closely. The problem of the early church as the gospel went out through Jerusalem was not was not opposition to the salvation of Gentiles.

28:51 On the day of Pentecost Peter preached the promises to you, to your children to all that are far off even as many as the Lord our God. They had no objection to God saving Gentiles. But you know what their thought was? That when the Gentile gets saved he's got to cover or under or around and into this side of the wall system and become his faith in Christ a true Jew in terms of that barrier the ceremonial system.

29:25 In Acts 15 it is explicitly stated that this was the problem that gathered them together for that council. Acts 15 in verse 5 there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees who believed they were believing Pharisees they were Christians and this was their contention it is needful to circumcise them and to charge them to keep the law of Moses. We've got no objection to Gentiles getting saved but what we don't like is the idea that all our Mosaic system is meaningless. Why if we well welcome those Gentiles as full-fledged members of the visible community of God ritual has no meaning anymore.

30:09 We're saying that all that we've lived in and reveled in for centuries is a thing of naught. We can't do that. We've got to circumcise them. We've got to make them eat kosher food.

30:18 We've got to cause them to keep the feast days. It's alright they believe on Christ hallelujah but no Christ minus the ceremonial law not on your life. That was the contention. That was the problem.

30:33 Why? Because you see they had not realized the intent of Christ. The intent of Christ in his death was not only to extend the channels of mercy out beyond the nation of Israel until it would inundate the nations. I be lifted up I will draw all men unto myself but it was an intention to create a new not a people by making Gentiles Jews.

31:08 No, no. The text says in order that he might create in himself one new purpose not to make Jews out of Gentiles and certainly not to make Gentiles out of Jews but to create a new the new humanity follow me now in which that barrier is a thing of the past. Look at Galatians chapter 3.

31:39 If you'll hang in for about another four minutes then you'll see then I think you begin to get something sweet on your palate.

31:47 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 saying?

32:31 He's saying whatever distinctions exist among men prior to being united to Jesus Christ whether it's the distinction of rank the distinction of bond or free or that greatest of all distinctions Jew or Gentile existent for the moment someone is united to Christ he's incorporated into the new God is made the new humanity in which these distinctions are utterly gone that was the intent of Christ in destroying the wall that he might create a new man and then fifth question what was the ultimate result? The last two words of the text the soul if you have a 1901 edition you'll notice is in italics I believe it is the last words of verse 15 I'm sorry yes the soul is in italics it's not there in the original that he might create in himself of the two one new man making peace that's the ultimate result his intent was to do away with the barrier to create a new man in himself and the ultimate result is the accomplishment of peace and he uses a present participle a work which goes on and will continue to go on until he's incorporated every last Gentile after the flesh and every last Jew after the flesh

The Ultimate Result: Accomplishment of True Peace

34:00 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 in arm walking down the street together no peace has really been made not enough to bring to an end the open hostility and the manifestation of it there is no peace until there is intimate concord and that's the ultimate result that our Lord will bring to pass because of his death upon the cross well so much for the effort to open up the words now as we close our study this morning what does this say to all of us is this just a nice bit of biblical and theological information does it say something beyond describing an event in history that ought to fill us with praise and wonder well let me suggest several things by way of application

Application 1: Behold the Amazing Power of God in the Gospel

35:30 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 just multiply that about a hundred times over and you know something of the enmity between Jew and Gentile look how long it took God to flush it out of Peter all during his lifetime Christ is telling Peter look I've got a world wide mission in view you're commissioned to make disciples of all the nations the spirit of God comes upon him on Pentecost and he preaches with power and says that this gospel is going to be the means of deliverance to all that are God has to give him a vision three times even to get him to go into the house of a Gentile and even after that years later he starts hobnobbing with the Jews to the exclusion of the Gentiles and Paul has to come down and stick his

36:59 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 far removed from it we need to take ourselves back into the mood of the New Testament may I say it would be something akin to what we would feel if we were to go to one of the sections of our cities where racial hostility has burned and seethed and been a crippling influence for years where little white children are brought up with all the typical twisted thoughts concerning those who are non-white and they're full of suspicion and hatred and bitterness and on the other hand those of non-white groups are filled equally with suspicion and bitterness and hatred

Application 2: Behold the Centrality of the Cross

38:28 and this has been passed on from generation to generation and cultivated and nurtured what do we feel if we go into such a situation and find the people in whose experience the middle wall of partition has gone down and they are dwelling together in true biblical peace oh dear people behold the amazing power of God manifested in the gospel and secondly behold the centrality of the cross in all of God's dealings with human problems now there was no human problem greater than the problem of how are we going to get Jew and Greek together and we're going to get to a place where we can and Paul answers that question by taking us back to the cross he is our peace who hath made both one broke down the middle wall of partition how having abolished in his flesh reconciling them both in one body to the cross to God through the cross in other words the apostle Paul never conceives of any problem whether it's connected with God vertical dimensions how shall man be right with God or how shall man be right with man without coming back to the cross you see we don't grow beyond the cross it's as we grow with an ever increasing

39:58 understanding what transpired at the cross that we grow in true grace and in true knowledge and Paul says in essence if you're having any problem you Ephesians really dwelling together in peace coming in the most intimate activities of the human soul as we shall see further on in the passage having access to God if you cannot approach God with unfettered liberty with your Jew brother at your side with your Gentile brother at your side you don't need the psychiatrist couch heed the insights of the sociologist you need to go back to the cross and say what did Jesus Christ do when he was immolated upon a Roman gibbet understand what he did everything that's erected that barrier he abolished it in his death he slew it in his death it's done away with understand the cross then by faith lay hold of what he's done and pray that the spirit will apply it with power and the barrier will be gone see the centrality of the cross in even dealing with horizontal problems and my friend listen if you're having any problem husbands and wives you're not going to be in the middle of the cross and there are barriers that ought not to be there the answer is in terms of the cross it's because you're either not understanding

Application 3: The Wickedness of Recreating the Dividing Wall

41:26 or living in the light of what your savior did when he died upon the cross well I must hurry on that in itself deserves a sermon behold in this text the wickedness of any attempt to recreate the dividing wall abolished by Christ behold the wickedness of any attempt to recreate the dividing wall abolished by Christ now what were the raw materials of that wall the mosaic system the mosaic system its sacrifices its rituals circumcision Passover listen there is a foot in our day a movement to recreate what was abolished in the blood of Christ we have groups we have groups who claim faith in Christ whose ancestry is rooted in the Hebrew way of life in Jewish mentality and associations and the claim that many are making is that to be true Jews fulfilled Jews there is not only the necessity of embracing Christ adapting some of those peculiarities that have their roots in the mosaic legislation my friend listen any hand that would touch any material that was abolished in the blood of the son of God is a wicked hand

Application 4: The Error of Interpreting God to Re-erect the Barrier

42:55 it may be ignorant in its attempt but it's a wicked hand nonetheless what Christ abolished in his blood must never be reconstructed by man fourthly behold behold the error of any system of biblical interpretation which says that God will come and raise the barrier that Christ is abolished it's bad enough when men attempt to raise the barrier but there are those who teach that God himself is committed to erect the barrier and to reinstitute the mosaic system according to Paul's teaching here the enmity has its roots in this law and says and will God have his own heart through again by the crime of God my God why have thou forsaken me that barrier once constructed can only be abolished in the death of Christ and God having abolished it in the death of his son will never raise it again without going into the moot question of whether or not God has a future purpose for Israel and I confess that I see certain portions of the word that would seem to intimate that others that seem to militate against it

Application 5: The Vital Necessity of Union with Christ for Corporate Oneness

44:23 and I cast about in my own mind for more light but one thing that whatever this is for Israel after the flesh may be that's they will never be accomplished in the purpose of God by the erection of one stone in that middle wall of partition and all my God will never lead Israel to sacrifice lambs again and then the final word of application behold the vital necessity of union with Christ as the only means to this corporate oneness look at the text again in order that here's the intention of all of this in order that he might create not by himself but this work of the new creation is the work of God the Father Son and Holy Spirit as our dear brother Blaze used to say again and again it takes the whole trinity to save one sinner God the Father God the Son and God the Spirit but the emphasis falls upon the means by which we come into the experimental knowledge of these things that he might create in himself of the two one new man making peace my friend listen it is only as you're incorporated into Jesus Christ that you'll know

45:53 what it means when Paul says in him there is neither bond nor free Jew nor Greek male nor female you're one new man in Christ Jesus do you know anything of union with Christ do you know anything of union with the Son of God oh my friend listen there are few things that will raise such barriers as religion even orthodox religion devoid of the Holy Spirit who alone can bring us into union with Christ and give us to know experimentally the fruits of that union the great cry of our hearts should be as God has brought us back into this gymnasium to meet because of the limitations of our own facilities that with the growth numerically there may be the increasing measures of the Spirit's grace and power among us for friends listen only Christ working in every individual heart of everyone whom he incorporates into this body from whatever background ethnically racially culturally and all the rest it is in union with Christ that he makes of the two one new man making peace and if it glorifies Jesus Christ to see six people of diverse backgrounds and all the rest with all their barriers separating them if it glorifies

47:22 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 and one soul know how the grace of God is magnified when in union with Christ with all the mathematical possibilities of a thousand bricks to construct the barrier high enough to cut us all off from one another the grace of God in Jesus Christ flowing from Mount Calvary causes us to dwell together in the peace and in the power of the Holy Ghost so I leave you now this morning with that first barrier that barrier that existed between Jew and Gentile the agent in its destruction was our Lord the activity by which it was destructed the work of his cross

Call to Repentance and Prayer

48:49 and the means by which it becomes ours experimentally is when we are in union with the Son of God are you joined to him by faith if not I plead with you this morning this Christ who effected peace between Jew and Gentile as we'll see in subsequent studies conveyed his own grace to these people in the preaching of the gospel he came and preached peace and what was the preaching of peace it was just the preaching of the gospel the preaching of the gospel the preaching of the gospel of repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ and so in his name I preach peace to you this morning repent of your sin and lay hold of Christ you will find that in Christ Jesus God will take of you and incorporate you into that new humanity so making peace let us pray our Father we thank you for the richness of your grace the many faceted glory of what our Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished upon the cross for his people oh how we bless you that he has abolished that middle wall of partition he has slain

50:17 the enmity oh we bless you this morning for that measure to which we have experimentally understood and known what it is to be constituted one new man in Christ Jesus oh Lord as only you are able to do take your word and apply it in those many areas where you know we have need individually and corporately as a body of your people may the day of our Lord Jesus Christ reveal that this time together was not spent in vain but that the prayer of our Lord himself for his people has in part been answered Father sanctify them through the truth thy word is truth now we plead that the benediction of your own presence will rest upon us and go with us into the remainder of this your day in our gathering this afternoon and this evening oh Lord make it a day long to be remembered because in it there was a new unfolding of the glory of our Savior new pantings after him created in our hearts fresh fresh and satisfying assimilation of the word of truth by which our Lord himself is conveyed to our hearts hear us and be with us

51:45 we ask for his glory Amen