Christ is Our Peace Pt. 1

The message from Pastor Jason Booth is about the power of remembrance. He asks the Ephesians to remember their state before encountering Christ, highlighting their separation, alienation, and lack of hope without God. Through Christ, they have been brought near and reconciled to God. Pastor Booth emphasizes that remembrance helps magnify the saving power of Christ and allows us to give praise for His grace and mercy. He also emphasizes that Christ is our peace and eternal offering for sin, and His sacrifice is sufficient and never insufficient. The message encourages believers to remember their past and the greatness of God's grace and mercy in their lives. The following message is brought to you by the people of Redeemer Church of Piketon, Ohio. For more information, please visit RedeemerPiketon.org. And now here's Pastor Jason Booth with the message. Christ is our peace. Ephesians chapter 2, verses 11 through 22, and we will read the word of the Lord. Therefore, remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision by what is called circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands, remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off, have been brought near by the blood of Christ, for he himself is our peace who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh, the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments and expressed in ordinances, rather by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two. So making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility, and he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, for through him we both have access in one spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets Christ Jesus being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. We trust that he'll add his own blessing to the public reading of his word today. Amen. Amen. There is a powerful call to action in this portion of scripture. And the word is, remember, remember. The Apostle Paul writing by inspiration of the Holy Spirit calls the ancient Ephesians to remember. What a powerful learning tool remembrance is. Should anyone doubt this, simply ask a child who has had the misfortune of touching a hot skillet, if he would do it again. Ah, the child remembers what happened the last time. And remembrance can be a powerful teacher indeed. The Apostle calls the Ephesians to remember exactly who they were spiritually before their encounter with Christ in the preaching of the gospel. Remember. Great lengths are given to describe their sorrowful state before Christ. The Bible describes the Ephesians before Christ as being separated, alienated, strangers, no hope without God. That's a five-fold curse of what we are before we encounter Christ. Such is the sad state of affairs with every person apart from Christ and his saving mercy. Separated, alienated, strangers, no hope without God. The Ephesians were called to remembrance in order to properly magnify the mighty saving power of Christ. When we testify to the goodness of God, what do we say? Just as the Ephesians were commanded to do here. We too remember our sorry state. And we sing songs and we testify just as the psalmist. He brought me out of the miry clay. He set my feet upon the rock and established my going. He put a song, a new song in my mouth. Praise to our God. Many shall see it and fear and trust in the Lord. What do we do? We run like the woman from the well into the villages, into the highways and the byways. And we say, come and see a man who told me everything. He knew what I was. He knew where I was and he showed me where I would be one day through him. I was lost, but now I'm found. I was blind, but now I see. This is the miracle and majesty of the working mighty power of God's grace in Christ. And as we remember our sin. So that we can magnify his grace, we know full well that he remembers our sin no more. Hallelujah forevermore. What I cannot forget, my God cannot remember. What I cannot forget, my God cannot remember. For he has cast our sin into the sea. Hallelujah forevermore. Christ's blood has cleansed us from all unrighteousness. Hallelujah forevermore. I remember. I remember where he brought me from. I know where he keeps me today. I am excited to know that my life is hidden in Christ. And as the Ephesians remembered so that they could magnify, we too remember. So that we can give him praise for his grace and mercy. It's his grace and mercy that brings us through, beloved. It's his grace and mercy that holds us fast. It's his grace and mercy that won't let go. Now, preacher, how do you know he won't let go? Because he says in the word of the Lord that he holds us in his hands and that no one can snatch us out. We're in the grip of his grace, beloved. And that's exciting and that's humbling. And that ought to cause us to realize that the assurance we have, that steadfast rock that we stand on, isn't the rock brought by human hands of our works or our doings or our not doings. You know, the taste not touch not crowd that says, well, if you just do this and you do this and you do this and you don't do this and you do enough of this and you do and you don't do a lot of that, then maybe you'll be okay with God. Well, that's not good news for a lost, undone sinner, stubborn sheep like me. I need to know that Christ has gone the full way, that he can look at me and say, whosoever shall drink of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst again. Who said those words? Was it not Christ? Did he not say those words out loud? Didn't someone hear him say those words, beloved? So the water of which we drink, if we are to drink this water, if we are to receive what gospel tidings he brings us in his finished work, are we not receiving the water of which once you drink, you will never thirst again? The eternal spring. Oh, he holds us fast, beloved. He keeps us from ever thirsting again and out of our bellies, as says the Spirit of God, would flow rivers of living water. Water in a dry and thirsty land is life. And who gives us eternal life? The Lord Jesus gives us eternal life forevermore. God's people are rescued from our awful state by Christ alone. The Bible says Christ is our peace. As prophet, priest, and king, Christ makes peace with God, having become our eternal offering for sin. So he doesn't just bring some other sacrifice to the altar of God. Christ is our sacrifice on the altar of God. And as he died on Calvary's tree, his blood paid the sin debt of each and every person whom the Lord our God should call to repentance and faith. There isn't one soul, not one soul for whom Christ died that would be left out of this equation. Why? Because the angels themselves said, call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sin. The Lord will not have any lost. The Lord will not have any burning away in eternal perdition for whom Christ's blood efficaciously was shed. No, his blood won't lose its power. He'll lose none, the Bible says. Of all that you have given me, Father, I will lose none, but raise them up on the last day, says the Lord Jesus in the Gospel of John. And this is the will of him who sent me, says the Lord concerning his salvific work. God's people are rescued by our prophet, priest, and king. He is our prophet. He came and he bore the glad tidings of great joy. He is our priest in that he approached the holy place. He is our sacrifice because not only was he the priest of this beautiful covenant, but he was the sacrifice that guaranteed it and sealed it in blood. The satisfaction of God, Jesus Christ the righteous. He isn't just a way to peace. He is our peace. He's our peace offering. He is the blood that covers our sins. He is our peace. He is our portion, our strength forever. Hallelujah forevermore. So he's our eternal offering for sin. People might ask the question, when will the sacrifice of Christ be insufficient? And the answer from Scripture is never. It's the only sacrifice that takes away sins. That's it. Behold the Lamb of God. The Lamb of God. How many times did the bullocks and the lambs and the rams and the doves and even the wine offerings and the grain offerings, all these things were offered to God in the Old Testament temple. And these priests would daily drench themselves in the blood of animals as they would slaughter animals right and left to put on the altar to send up to God by way of burning this offering. And the Bible talks about how the smoke of these sacrifices would raise into the heavens. Priests in the Old Testament were one part Bible teacher and three parts butcher. The blood of these animals was all over the place all the time. It was a bloody, bloody sport they were involved in. And yet the Bible says the blood of bulls and goats can never take away sin. These things were offered up as a reminder of the sins of the people. You offered up a bull because you knew you were a sinner. And if you knew the Scripture and the Lord was pleased to reveal His grace, then you believed the promise of Abraham. You believed the promise of He who was going to come. You believed that this great and mighty nation, Israel, would be a kingdom of priests one day. And the true Israel of God was coming by faith. And the blood of bulls and goats can't take away sin. And yet men in their religiosity fail to do what Paul said to do. Remember what kind of man you are. Remember what you were before Christ. Men like to think that, well, we're a little better than that now. We're cleaned up. We've shaved a little bit. We took a bath. We go to church. And then we like to add our own little doodads of religiosity right back into the mix. Oh, we're going to see it in the text as we get in here. But I want you to remember that as we keep pride in the dust where it belongs, then we can then look up and see the grace which saves us. We can look up and we can smile and know that no matter what comes our way, we are held firm and we are held fast in the grip of His grace and mercy. Because Christ is our peace. Let's look at these first few verses together. Verses 11 and we'll read verse 12. These might be the only two verses we get through this morning as we spend a few more moments together. But that's okay. The word of the Lord. Therefore, remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hand. So the Jewish folks called you the uncircumcision. Gentiles. That's what it says. Verse 12. Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. What an indictment of what we were prior to Christ. Gentiles and Jews, of course, were separated by physical, political, and religious differences in this ancient world, no doubt about it. The Jewish people were still a political entity. They were a religious entity. They were also in some ways an ethnic entity, although we can make the argument that Jewish people can come from multiple ethnicities. Even in this day, there were multiple ethnicities in and amongst the tribes of Israel. But we're dealing with Jews and non-Jews. And Paul is talking to non-Jewish Christians about their life before encountering Christ. The non-Jewish Ephesians were not physically circumcised like the Jews and they were not part of the political or religious system of Judaism. So they were outside of some of the temporal blessings that would come with being born a Jew. In the days of Scripture, for instance, if you were born into a Jewish nation, you would have been exposed to the writings of Moses. You would have been exposed to the writings of the prophets. You would have seen the Psalms. You would have known some of the Psalms. You would have heard the worship to the one true God in the synagogue. Or perhaps if you were lucky enough to live in Jerusalem, you would be able to attend the temple and see and hear all of these things being played out in real time. So you would have had access to this in a real way that pagans would not have had. You would have known about the one true God. The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. Gentiles would not have had access to that. Instead, most of the Gentiles in this day and age would have been just polytheistic pagans. They would have known of the Greco-Roman gods. They would have known of the various temples. Here we see the sorry state of the Ephesians prior to encountering Christ. First of all, they were, the Bible says, separated from Christ. John 15, 4 and 5 gives us a picture of what it looks like to be separated from Christ. The Lord Jesus says, abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine and you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, it is he that bears much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. For someone to say to you that you are separated from Christ, this is a damning indictment. For what can you offer God apart from Christ? The Bible says, apart from me you can do nothing. So to be separated from Christ is horrifying. Horrifying indeed. The Bible says not only were the Gentiles and Ephesus separated, the Bible says that before they knew Christ, they were alienated from the commonwealth of Israel. We've touched on this just a little bit. John Gill provides this commentary. Both from their civil and church state, the Gentiles might not dwell among them nor have any dealings with them in things civil unless they conform to certain laws. So the Jewish people were insulated. They did not allow non-Jewish people to be a part of their system. And why is that? Well, the Lord God called them to be a peculiar people, to separate themselves out. So they had very stringent rules in place that kept the outside world and their peering eyes away. Nor might the Jews go into any or eat or converse with any. So Jewish people wouldn't typically eat with non-Jewish people. They didn't eat the same foods. They didn't have the same culture. And so there was a great alienation, says Gill, and distance between these two people. And much less might they eat the Passover and join with them in religious worship. So the religious worship of the Jews was seen as a strange and foreign and mysterious thing to the non-Jew. And likewise, the Gentiles were written off as dogs. And unclean in the Jewish world. So the Gentile Christians here before Christ were alienated from the commonwealth of Israel. Thirdly, the Bible says they were strangers to the covenant of promise. So not only did they not have access to the political realities of the Jewish people, but they had no connection to any of the promise of Messiah. They didn't hear this yet. They didn't know. They never even knew of a promised Messiah. They lived blindly. The Bible says this, Romans 9, 4 and 5, Paul describes the people of Israel. He says, They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenant, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen. So there was really no connection. Blessed forever. Amen. So there was real benefit to being raised up in Judaism. Much better to be raised in Judaism in this day than to be raised a rank pagan. Even Paul addresses this, and he says there are certain temporal benefits to being raised up knowing at least about the one true God, to know about the covenant, to know about the promises, to know about all of the writings, the Psalms, the histories of the people of Judah and all the tribes. But here Paul says that as Gentile Christians, they were strangers to these promises. Fourthly, they had no hope. 1 Corinthians 15 and 19 says this about people apart from Christ, If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. There is no hope outside of Christ. And Paul goes on to say that if your hope in Christ is just in this life, you too ought to be pitied. Because we have something bigger, grander than this old life could ever afford. And as an aside note, there are so many preachers or so-called preachers today that spend countless hours trying to convince you that you can have in this day and age your best life right now. So many that will tell you that it's all about how much you can get right now, how much you can amass, how much wealth you can bring in and glean from this old world for your family and for you and you can stockpile it and build big houses and have fancy cars and all these things. And then they go around strutting like roosters when they showcase all the offering money that they're wearing on stage. Look at this new suit you all just bought me. How silly. How wicked. Their eyes are on this world. What's the difference between the average TV preacher and a gangster rap artist singing about all the cars and women and money he's been able to amass playing the game on the street? You got some millionaire huckster preacher in a pulpit dressed like a pimp preaching to a bunch of people and treating them like a pimp would treat their ladies of the night. Give me my money. All to satisfy that preacher's vanity and greed and how does he get his money? By titillating the greed and the selfishness of the people that foolishly think that they can game God with their pocketbooks. And here the Apostle says if you want hope, real hope, it better be in life eternal with Jesus Christ. This old world's going to pass you by. You know one thing's true about all those huckster preachers on the TV especially the ones that have been on for a while? Every one of them are looking a day older every day. And every one of them unless they're buying bottled Egretian formula are going gray every day. They're getting shorter. Their hands are starting to look like old man hands. They're not moving and strutting like they used to. As a matter of fact some of them are sitting down on stools to give their messages. What am I talking about? Well, for their running and their straining after the riches of this world and their terrible prosperity anti-gospel preaching. The one thing is true. Death is coming for them. And they can't take one wagon load of that money with them. They can't take one thing from this old world with them. And yet they're going to preach that selfish aggrandizement garbage until the day they breathe their last. And then some other gospel pimp is going to stand in their place and keep right on preaching that garbage. Why? Because men are wicked. And men love stuff and selfishness. And boy, we love greed. We can call our greed hungering after the blessings of God because we're good at rationalizing garbage. But we need to have a hope that's deeper than the stuff you can get in this old world. Because if you don't, the Bible says you should be pitied. You can have the house and you can have my pity. Because it's all you're going to get. You can have the jets. You can have all the things this world affords. You can have all of that. And you're also going to get my pity as a Christian who knows that there's got to be something more than just what's in this world. That's what Christ affords. That's what knowing Christ truly affords. So take your jet and my pity and get out of my face. It's sad. It's shallow. And ultimately, it's a vanity and vexation of spirit. Fifthly, the Bible says those without Christ are without God in the world. Paul calls to remembrance the Ephesians. He says, listen, you are without God in this world. The funny thing is most pagans would say, no, we've got all our gods. But what did Paul say in one fell swoop? Y'all didn't know anything about God. Now listen to this. In the Greek, the term without God is the same term we use for our word atheist. Atheos. Without God. Atheist. It's where we get the same word in the Greek. The Greeks had dead gods, of course, made from wood and gold and stone. But none of them had the knowledge of the true and living God. I'll give you an example. Barnabas and Paul were preaching. And they had a little bit of a revival service going. And we're going to break in midstream in Acts 14, verse 13 through 18. So there's a little bit of a revival service going. Barnabas and Paul are sharing the good news of the gospel. And listen to what happens in verse 13. And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowd. So you've got all this gospel preaching going on. And here comes the priest of Zeus hauling some sacrifices in with some garlands. And they've got this whole thing going. He says, hey guys, we want in on this. But when the apostle Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd crying out, men, why are you doing these things? We are also men of like nature with you and we bring you good news that you should turn from these vain things to a living God who made the heavens and the earth and the seas and all that is in them. In past generations, He allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. Yet He did not leave Himself without witness. For He did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons. Satisfying your hearts with food and gladness. Even with these words, they scarcely restrain the people from offering sacrifices to them. Isn't it just like people to mess up a good thing with our sinful stubbornness and our idolatrous ways? Barnabas and Paul are there in the city preaching the gospel. They are doing miracles. They are performing the works of God. Justifying the gospel and vindicating the truth of God's Word by signs and wonders following them just as Jesus said would happen. And yet the people in their religiosity, here they come, priest of Zeus hauling in some bulls. We're going to sacrifice to these new gods. Barnabas and Paul weren't going to have any of that. They ripped their clothes and they said, are you crazy? We've called you to account to the living God of heaven. Not these dead old gods of this pantheon of yours. This God has winked at you long enough. The gospel is here now. The good news is here to be proclaimed to you. It will be a sweet smell of life unto life or it will be a sweet smell of death unto death, but the gospel is here. God's not winking at any of this anymore. He's not allowing any of this to go on unchecked. You've heard the gospel. This is the truth. Don't sacrifice those bulls to us. We're like you are. We're men. And we're calling you to take heed to the message that the living God sent us in Christ. And the Bible says even the words of the apostles was barely enough to get those men to not do it. That's what it says in verse 18. Even these words they scarcely restrain the people from offering sacrifice to them. You see, apart from the grace of God in Christ, men are without God. They'll do what's right in their own eyes and they would gladly just add Jesus to their pantheon of other false gods. They don't care. They just come on in. Without God. Without hope. Without promise. Strangers. Alienated. Separated. This is our state apart from Christ. Paul says to the Ephesians, Remember what you were and praise God for who you are now. And know that none of it, none of where you stand today is a result of what you've done. But it is and you are the workmanship of Jesus Christ. And that should excite our souls. Verse 13, But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Jesus Christ. Beloved, it is the blood. I've been watching a heretic on TikTok rant and rave about what he calls belief alone salvation. He makes so many category errors that it's just nauseating. He makes the case that men would say all you have to do is believe in Jesus and that's how you're saved. And I want to look at him and say what do you mean all you have to do is believe? Does he not understand that it requires a miracle working touch from God Almighty to cause anyone to become a believer in Jesus Christ? What do you mean belief alone salvation? This belief itself is a gift of God not of works lest any man should boast. This belief alone salvation let me tell you God has to do more than just give you some facts that you can consider and then make a free will decision. No, no, no. He's got to raise your dead hell bound soul up from death unto life. He has to regenerate you. He has to make you willing in the day of His power. And the belief that you offer Him back is nothing more than a reply of the faith that He has birthed in you. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And it's not of yourselves. It is the gift of God lest any man should boast belief alone salvation. It's like looking at a skyscraper and saying you know I've got a toothpick and some pebbles I can put that together. Give me a break. Oh yeah, all you've got to do is believe. What do you mean all we have to do is believe? There is none righteous, no not one, none that doeth good, no one seeketh after God. The heart is desperately wicked. Who can know it? Those that are in the flesh cannot please God. What do you mean just believe? You have to understand that God Himself died on Calvary's tree so that His people would be willing in the day of His power. He died and paid for their sin-debt in full. He died. He rose again on the third day victorious over death, hell, and the grave and He sent God the Holy Spirit into this world to testify of this truth in Holy Spirit power. And beloved, it took the work of God to cause any of us to believe this gospel. Otherwise, we'd be like the priests of Zeus in the dead works thinking we could just add this new thing to it. We're good enough. I can see that guy, that priest of Zeus that they talked about in the 13th chapter of Acts probably walking out there wearing his temple vestments looking all official. Everyone in town would have known who he was. He was a dignitary and an official. He may have been the 10th or 11th generation in his family to do just that job. Who knows, right? Got me some sacrifices for these two new gods. We're going to get this thing started. Belief alone, salvation. Yeah, sure. Listen, you're not saved by belief. That's his other category error since we're on that topic. Belief alone. Friends, you believe God for righteousness because He has done a work of sovereign grace in your heart. And all the things we do for God from that moment on we do by faith in Christ. We do because we love the Lord. I am baptized because I love the Lord. I want to follow Him in those waters. I want to be baptized in water. Who would hinder me from being baptized? There's much water here. Baptism by immersion. Why? Because that's how my Lord did it. I believe that you need to have much water there. And that's why John the Baptist was baptized in there. He didn't go around spritzing people out of a little decanter of water. I don't believe that signifies any kind of death, burial, and resurrection. I believe you've got to be baptized in water. I think you've got to go down into the river. I think you need to be baptized. Why? Because our Lord said, In all things, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe all the things I've commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world. But I also know that I am not saved by the bathtub. No, no, no. I'm not saved by the bathtub. I'm not saved by water. Water can't save me, but water can absolutely signify what the Lord of Glory has done in my heart by the Spirit and by His grace through the blood of Jesus Christ. He has washed me clean. How has He washed me clean? Does water wash me clean? No. The blood washes me clean. What does the pool signify? The pool signifies that old grave and coming out of the grave, being raised to life anew. And I gladly follow Christ into the waters of baptism. But I don't trust in my baptism for my soul. I trust in the work, the mighty, the miracle-working power of God and Jesus Christ in converting me by causing me to believe this gospel. I trust in Him alone. I don't even trust in faith because it's not about faith. It's about the object of your faith. Look, you can believe a bridge is going to hold your weight as you go over it all day long. But the correct object of your faith better be the architect who built the bridge. Oh, you can believe it. That's just mystical, wishful thinking. But you better have firm faith in the architects and the engineers and the workers who put that thing together. Now you've got reason to believe. We don't just wish and hope that God's going to save us and hope for the best. That's not faith. Faith is a steadfast reply to the work of God through the preaching of the gospel. We believe. He causes us to believe. He makes us willing. We trust in Christ alone. And then what do we do? We do the things God will call us to do. However feebly, however meagerly. We join up with a local Bible-believing church if we have one handy. If we have one close. Some people don't, but we do, thank God. We go into the waters of baptism. You join the church by being baptized. You know, a lot of people think you join the church by signing up and being baptized. And this isn't something that you should take six or seven months down the road to do when you believe the gospel. You should be baptized. I often wonder about that. People put the baptism off for weeks and months and years and I'm thinking to myself, get in the water! Testify to what Christ has done. Let it be a public profession of faith. There's no altar rails or prayer rails in this church for a good reason. You know why? They're not in the Bible. You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why? You know why?