In this sermon, Jason Dohm expounds on Ephesians 2:11-22, emphasizing that Jesus Christ is our peace. The sermon discusses the former separation between Jews and Gentiles due to the law of commandments in ordinances and how Christ's sacrifice has abolished this enmity. Through His death on the cross, Jesus has brought both groups together into one body, breaking down the 'middle wall of separation' and reconciling them to God. The sermon highlights that all believers, regardless of their background, have access to the Father through one Spirit. This unity in Christ erases previous distinctions of ethnicity and cultural divisions, uniting all believers as fellow citizens in the household of God. The sermon asserts that true reconciliation among people is only possible through reconciliation with God, emphasizing the gospel's power to bring peace and unity.

Our sermon text today will be picking up from where we left off with our memory text in Ephesians chapter 2 starting in verse 11. Please follow along. Paul writes, therefore, remember that you, once gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision made in the flesh by hands, that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that he might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.

And he came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near, for through him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. Let's pray. Oh Lord, what precious text, what precious words of reconciliation laterally because of your reconciliation vertically. We count our salvation as a precious commodity bought with blood and righteous in your sight.

Oh Father, we pray that you will speak to open and willing hearts through your servant Jason that there may be great impact and great effect from your word that it might not return void. We commit this time to you in the name of Jesus who is Christ. Amen. Please be seated. The title of the sermon this morning is Jesus is our Peace.

It comes directly from the first words of the text, for He Himself is our peace. Jesus Christ Himself is our peace. I said this last week that In our chapter, the chapter that we're studying, Ephesians chapter 2, verses 1-10 can be said of every unbeliever and every believer. These first verses that describe the universal condition of the unbeliever. It doesn't matter whether you're a Gentile or a Jew.

All of that describes you. And then the but God who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us. If you've been brought into that state as an object of His grace through faith, whether you're a believing Jew or a believing Gentile, all that describes you. So in verses 1-10 in our chapter have been absolutely universal. Every unbeliever fits that description.

Every believer fits that description. But then in verses 11 through 13, last week's text, Paul begins to outline the distinction between the Jews and the Gentiles. I use the illustration of being two mountain ranges away from where you must go. Your life depends on going there. In terms of the distinction that Paul is making between Jews and Gentiles, the Jews were born only one mountain range away.

The Gentiles were born two mountain ranges away. So that We're all dead in trespasses and sins. We all have to cross that mountain range from death to life. We have to be the objects of God's mercy and of God's grace. But the Gentiles didn't even have the word of God, didn't even have the the promises of God made to them.

And so what that does for you, even if you're dead in your sins and transgressions, if you were born in a house with the Bible, At least you have a book that tells you exactly what the problem is and exactly what the solution is. The Gentiles were an additional mountain range away. They didn't have revelation from God that would tell them exactly what's wrong with them and exactly what will make it right. Then Paul concluded what we were in last week in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 13, which is a precious verse to everybody who was born outside the Jewish faith or inside really, but now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. You were far off, you were two mountain ranges away.

You weren't just dead in your trespasses and sins. God hadn't even spoken to you and made promises to you. But now you were far off, two mountain ranges away, but now you've been brought near because Jesus shed his blood. That brings us to our text four, because of that Jesus is our peace. Because the blood of Christ has been shed to bring you near, you Gentiles near, Jesus is our peace.

So let's go to this week's text asking God to help us. God, every believer in the room thanks you that the war is over. That we who were at odds with you and at odds with each other, that peace has been found in the person of your Son Jesus Christ. He Himself is our peace. The war is over.

We are reconciled with you and with each other. Thank you God for it. I pray that this truth would loom glorious before our eyes today as we study your word in Jesus name. Amen. Well let's begin by looking at verses 14 and 15.

So hopefully you still have a finger in Ephesians chapter 2, follow along as I re-read 14 and 15. Paul writes, for he himself is our peace, who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in his flesh the enmity that is the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in himself one new man from the two, thus making peace." I would hate to be put in charge of diagramming that sentence. Do you remember diagramming sentences? I don't know. I'm pretty confident I could not diagram that sentence.

There's a lot of words and phrases there, but we'll do our best to pull out the truth from it. In these two verses, Paul says that Jesus broke down the separating wall. So if you're taking notes on the handout by filling in blanks, separating fills in the blank. Jesus broke down the separating wall. The main point is that there has been something separating Jew from Gentile, which has been an ongoing source of enmity, or another way to say that is an ongoing source of hostility, or Another way to say that is an ongoing source of hatred.

Inmity, hostility, hatred are the same thing. And that Jesus has come and broken down that separating wall and ended the enmity or hostility or hatred for all who trust in him. That's a key qualifier. You can go to the Middle East and see that Jews and Gentiles are still having troubles. They're not at peace really, literally or figuratively.

So this is the, this is the, this piece is the possession of those who are in Christ who trust in in Christ there is peace between them Now what is that middle wall of separation? Paul has already given us at least an example as he started this section in verse 11. Look back in verse 11. Therefore remember that you want Gentiles in the flesh. So he's pointing out there's actually a difference in the flesh between a male Gentile and a male Jew.

There's a physical marking. Who are called uncircumcision by what is called circumcision made in the flesh by hands. Circumcision, as we talked about last week, was simply a physical sign that Jews were inside the covenant. And then, so to be uncircumcised was a physical sign that you were outside the covenant and being in the covenant was simply being in relationship with God based on his terms. That's the whole value of the covenant, is that you can be in relationship with God based on his terms.

It's his terms because he's God. He made you. The terms have to be his terms because he is the maker of heaven and earth. He's given you every breath that you ever breathe. So the value of the covenant is it gives you terms by which you can be in relationship with God because He's holy and you are unholy.

Defilement touches you in every part. Remember the first whole part of the chapter that described our condition before we were joined to Christ and His work. So to be in covenant is to be in relationship with God based on His terms and that's the only way to be in relationship with God. You cannot be in relationship with this holy God on your own terms. That doesn't work.

It's essentially God saying, you may approach me in this way. My Bible reading plan has me now in Leviticus. Actually now in Numbers, I'm past Leviticus and about midway through Numbers. So we're just re-reading Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. What you get over and over and over and over again is the distinction between holy and common.

The things that God has set apart to Himself and the things that are common or the clean and the unclean. If something clean touches something that is unclean, there has to be a washing of it and a time passing before it is acceptable to come into the worship that God has prescribed. That was the Jew-Gentile distinction. The distinction between holy and common was the distinction between Jew and Gentile, the distinction between clean and unclean. Not because one was righteous and one was simple, sinful, but because God claimed the Jews for his own and he made promises to them for their cleansing.

Don't think that the Jews were clean because they didn't have sins, and the Gentiles were unclean because they did have sins. No, Jew and Gentile all had sin, But God claimed the Jews and he made to them promises by which they could be cleansed and made right and Approach him this the sacrificial system in inherits Temple So when we read about Jesus going to the temple, it was the temple that Herod the Great restored and made greater, built out. So in that temple there was a literal five and a half foot wall, four and a half foot high wall separating the court of the Gentiles, the outermost court from the temple courts proper. When I say temple courts proper, I mean the things that you're thinking about. Where the altar is, where the incense and the showbread and where the veil would be that separates you from the Holy of Holies.

Gentiles can't get to any of what you're thinking of as the temple courts proper. They are in the court of the Gentiles, the outermost court, and there is actually a physical four and a half foot wall with signs on it saying if you're a Gentile and you come past this point, you are subject to the death penalty. So it's marked that way in Herod's temple. Ironically, Herod would not be able to go past that point. Herod was born an Arab, Arabic descent and was a practicing Jew, so he could not go in to where the sacrifices were being offered.

He had to stay in the court of the Gentiles even though the temple really bears his name. It's known as Herod's temple. If that is what Paul is talking about here, it's very subtle. In other words, in our text we see the middle wall of separation. My guess is he probably had that in his mind, but he's writing to Ephesians and he doesn't explain it in the text.

So I'm not convinced that he meant for them to think of this four and a half foot wall in Herod's temple that kept the Gentiles out from participating in the sacrifices and the things that were happening in the inner courts. But whatever the case, it is a great and very literal example of what the ceremonial law was calling for. It kept the Gentiles on the outside looking in by definition. So at this point, let's go to an Old Testament and two New Testament texts to help us just understand and unpack what Paul is saying here. The first, the Old Testament text is Isaiah 56.

So please turn to Isaiah 56. While you're turning there, the backdrop for Isaiah 56 is Deuteronomy 23. Deuteronomy 23 outlines the people who cannot participate in temple worship and here's just part of that one example of that is Deuteronomy 23 verse 3 listen to this and Ammonite or Moabite Shall not enter the assembly of the Lord Even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the Lord forever." If you keep reading on Edomites and Egyptians, if they were to convert to Judaism and submit themselves to circumcision, they could actually come into the temple for temple worship in the third generation, not the tenth generation. So there's sort of these different nationalities, but the point is excluded for generations, excluded from temple worship for generations. So that's the backdrop for Isaiah 56.

That's what the law of Moses called for was physical foreigners excluded from approaching God by the way that God prescribed. Now Isaiah 56 verse 1. Thus says the Lord keep justice and do righteousness for my salvation is about to come and my righteousness to be revealed. So this is a promise that the salvation of God is about to come and His righteousness is about to be revealed. This should make us think of what Paul says in Romans 1.17 where he says that in the gospel of Christ the righteousness of God is revealed.

There's a hyperlink from Romans 1-17 back to here in Isaiah 56 verse 1. In the gospel of Christ the righteousness of God is revealed. Isaiah 56 verse 1 is saying my righteousness is about to be revealed. My salvation is about to come. So think about where this is nestled into the book of Isaiah.

You get this stretch which is highly messianic beginning in Isaiah say 52 and Then Isaiah 53 is about the suffering servant who would bear the sins of his people. The sins of his people would be imparted and he would bear their sins and take away their sins. Now we're just a couple of chapters later in Isaiah 56. So it would be profitable to read more, but I'd be biting off more than I could chew. So I'm gonna content us today with verses 6 through 8.

Isaiah 56 verses 6 through 8. Also the sons of the foreigner. Now think about Deuteronomy 23 and what I just read. Moadabites and Ammonites don't come in in ten generations. If you convert, you don't come in for ten generations.

Edomites and Egyptians can come in after three generations. So just think about that as the backdrop. Also, the sons of the foreigner who join themselves to the Lord to serve him and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants. Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath and holds fast my covenant, even them I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar, for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.

The Lord God who gathers the outcasts of Israel says, yet I will gather to him others besides those who are gathered to him. Do you understand that in Isaiah 56, God is calling for what would be a breaking of the law of Moses, a breaking of the covenant with Moses that would keep the Ammonites and the Moabites, the Edomites and the Egyptians, that would keep the foreigners out of the offering of sacrifices on the altar and out of the house of prayer. He's saying that don't let the sons of the foreigner who join themselves to serve the Lord. Don't let them say, I'm estranged from God, but God is bringing them in. He is accepting their sacrifices.

He is bringing them into his house. In the time of the Messiah, these distinctions from the law of Moses are erased. In the time of the Messiah, there is a new covenant, new terms for approaching God. So that when this happens, it won't be a breaking of the covenant made through the law of Moses because there will be a new covenant in force and they'll be welcome to come alongside Jews. Our second text is John chapter 4.

John chapter 4. John chapter 4 is Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well. In some ways, Samaritans were worse in the eyes of Jews even than Gentiles because they were part Jew mixed with Gentile. They were Jews mixed with Gentiles. It came from when the Northern Kingdom was taken captive by the Assyrians.

The Assyrians then brought in their captives from other nations to repopulate the land. And the remaining Jews married with these people who had been brought in to repopulate. And then their religion was like their genealogy. It was a mixture. Their genealogy was a mixture, part Jew, part other nations, and their religion became exactly like that.

They just added the God of Israel to the other gods that they worshiped. So that's the backdrop for John chapter 4. Let me read John chapter 4 verses 19 through 26. The woman said to him, to Jesus, Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, And you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.

Jesus said to her, woman believe me the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father. You worship what you do not know. We know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming and now is when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship him. God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.

The woman said to him, I know that Messiah is coming who is called Christ. When he comes he will tell us all things. Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am he. I'm telling you all things. I'm telling you.

I'm announcing to you what is happening. First Jesus affirms that salvation is of the Jews in verse 22. But then Jesus declares that these distinctions are erased in the Messiah. They have been meaningful distinctions. It was right for the Jews to worship in Jerusalem, but the Messiah has come and His coming is erasing those distinctions.

He is breaking down the middle wall of separation between Jew and Gentile. These terms of how you approach God that was given to the Jews. So that it's not going to matter whether you go to the temple or don't go to the temple. That's going to be irrelevant. What will be relevant is worshipping in spirit and in truth, regardless of the location, regardless of what nation you were born in, regardless of what your family line was.

What will matter is worshiping Him in spirit and in truth. Finally, Galatians chapter 2. Galatians chapter 2. Paul's confrontation with Peter. Be reading Galatians chapter 2 verses 11-16.

Galatians 2, 11-16. Verses 11 through 16. Relations to 11 through 16. Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed. For before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles.

But when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him so that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews. We who are Jews by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, Even we have believed in Christ Jesus that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law. For by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified." So everything is fine.

Peter is in Antioch, Paul is in Antioch, they are with these Gentile believers. They are all feeling free to fellowship together in every way, to share meals together. Then some come from Jerusalem and Peter withdraws himself and will no longer eat with the Gentile believers because of the presence of those who are of the circumcision, Judaizers, people who were teaching that you must be circumcised in order to be saved. They were believing that you shouldn't eat with Gentiles who hadn't been circumcised because of who they were and probably because of what they were eating. But Peter didn't believe that anymore.

We know that from the book of Acts and Cornelius' household and the sheep being let down from heaven that really let him know that the food laws of the Old Testament were no longer in force. What God has cleansed, don't call unclean. You remember that. Paul did this. Paul confronted Peter because Peter was acting as if the middle wall of separation was still in place.

But it's not in place. Paul says there's no separation here, there's no hostility remaining here. You should eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner with these people. You should eat what they eat. Now, back to our text.

Back to our text. Let's read again these two verses. Ephesians 2, 14 and 15. For he himself is our peace, Jesus is our peace, who has made both one, who has made Jew and Gentile one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in his flesh the enmity or the hostility or the hatred that is the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in himself one new man from the two, thus making peace." Jesus came in the flesh, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us to fulfill all those things that the law of Moses gave as the terms to be in relationship to God. So that the two Jews and Gentiles who trust in Jesus become one new man.

Paul has already introduced this in chapter 1. Look back at chapter 1, verses 22 and 23. Chapter 1, verses 22 and 23. And He put all things under His feet, under Christ's feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all." So now there is Christ as the head and the church as His body. Not a Gentile body and a Jewish body but one body of Christ with the middle wall of separation having been swept away.

One new man. Now That's peace. That goes way better than we're no longer at war. The peace being described here is the polar opposite of war, which goes beyond just the neutral point where we stop fighting and embraces friendship. The peace being talked here is unity and friendship.

It's so much more than we stop fighting. We are one in Christ. We are His body. We are joined and together. We are part of one another.

Verse 16, Chapter 2, Verse 16. Paul continues. And that he might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And that he, Jesus, might reconcile them both, Jews and Gentiles, to God in one body, Jews and Gentiles together in one body, through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity or hostility or hatred." In this verse, Paul says that Jesus reconciled both Jew and Gentile to God through the cross. If you're filling in blanks, cross fills in the blank.

Paul identifies the peacemaking work. It is Christ crucified. It is Jesus going to the cross and shedding His blood. That is the peacemaking work. We have peace because of the cross.

Paul says it wasn't just Jesus that died on the cross. Jesus put to death the enmity, the hostility, the hatred on the cross too. That hostility died on the cross too. First Timothy 2 verse 5. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

1 Timothy 2.5 is wonderful. There is one mediator, not a mediator for Jews and a mediator for Gentiles, there is one mediator between God and men, all men, the man Christ Jesus. All of those other things in the law of Moses which mediated the relationship between God and man, the temple and all the sacrifices and the priests and the Levites, all of those things which separated Jew and Gentile have been erased. It's probably better and more accurate to say they've been fulfilled. They've been fulfilled.

It wasn't that they were bad, it's that they became unnecessary. Those things were pictures of a future reality. The temple was a picture of a future reality. The sacrifices were a picture of a future reality. The priests were a picture of a future reality.

In Jesus, the future became the present. All that pointing forward came to an end because Jesus was the reality of those things that all those things had pictured and pointed forward to. So that the pictures became worse than unnecessary. Now think about that for a minute. You need to test that.

Have a hard time finding a Bible verse that says that exactly. So you should think that one through and decide whether you're coming with me on this one. In a sense, the pictures become worse than unnecessary. Maintaining all the things that pointed forward to Jesus Become not only unnecessary because Jesus that's here, but in a sense worse than unnecessary because with Jesus you have all of the clarity and precision of having the reality. So I'm okay loving our Old Testaments and seeing the value of the pictures as long as we look at the pictures through the reality and not the other way around.

You see what I'm saying? We're not going to let the pictures define Jesus. The reality, we're going to let Jesus reflect back on the pictures and our understanding of the pictures. You can get in a lot of trouble and change things about your view of Jesus in ways that are not helpful by starting with the pictures. Will we look back at those things through Jesus?

You've probably heard the expression, the ground is level at the foot of the cross. Flat ground at the foot of the cross. Flat ground at the foot of the cross. What does that mean? It means that no one who ever lived needs more or less than the cross.

No one who's ever lived has needed more than the cross. I'm so sinful. My past is so defiled that the cross won't save me. No. No one who ever lived needed more than the cross.

I don't need anyone to die in my place. I'm not that bad. No, you are that bad. You're worse than you can imagine. If you could only see through God's holy eyes, you would know that nothing less than the cross would bring you into a relationship of peace with God.

No one ever born has ever needed more or less than the cross. No matter your ethnicity, no matter your religious background, no matter your personal background, you need what I need period. That's what Jesus did on the cross. That's to have a perfectly undefiled, blameless substitute offer himself in your place. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ." Galatians 3, 27 and 28.

It sweeps away these old distinctions. The ground is perfectly level. There's no one who needs to cross more than someone else or less than someone else. Level ground. Jew or Greek?

Not here. Slaver free? Not here. Male or female? Here.

Male or female? Not here. You are all one in Christ Jesus. Oh don't give that up. Peace is there.

This means that our horizontal reconciliation, reconciliation among us, meaning people of earth, must be preceded by our vertical reconciliation. Gary's already introduced that language. I'm glad you did. You were priming the pump. Our horizontal reconciliation, not just in this building, or in this county, or in this country, or on this continent, our worldwide reconciliation, Any hope for real, deep reconciliation must be preceded by our vertical reconciliation.

Being reconciled to God. Because sin is the problem, and if you don't solve that problem, what happens in our relationships here only lasts for a few days, and then what? Any other kind of reconciliation on the horizontal plane with other people of planet Earth is just a pact to reduce friction until death. Now, if you've been on the wrong side of the friction you might want that. I get that.

But then what? Which means that the current efforts at so-called racial reconciliation are almost completely barking up the wrong tree. They're barking up the wrong tree. They're not even building on the right foundation. Good luck with the fifth floor.

It's so-called racial reconciliation because there is only one race. And they are divided into two. And it's the damned and the saved. That's the division. Until you get that solved, everything else is just making a pact to reduce friction before judgment.

When I embrace what scripture says about me, so just think about chapter 2, the beginning verses of chapter 2, That's what the Bible says about me. When I embrace that, that I'm dead in trespasses and sin, that I am by nature a child of wrath, and my humbled self, that's humiliating. It's humiliating truth about me that the Bible has to offer me. My humbled self runs to Jesus for refuge, and I receive peace with God through Jesus' work on the cross. In that condition, I'm ready for peace with you.

Until I'm humbled and only trusting in Jesus for the solution to the problems that are now clear to me, until I'm in that condition, I'm in no condition for peace with you. That is what ends the enmity, the hostility, the hatred. It's a fellow former debtors reunion. Fellow former debtors reunion. I used to own a debt I could never have paid in a hundred lifetimes, but Jesus wiped the slate clean.

And Gary says, me too. And Jamie says, me too. And Nisha says, me too. And Taylor says, me too. And Jesus is the master of ceremonies and the guest of honor at the fellow former debtors reunion.

Why do you think people were crying during Is He Worthy? Because it's a sad song? It's not a sad song! It's because the truth of these things is so beautiful that it affects you emotionally. To be part of the fellow former debtors reunion, where Jesus is the master of ceremonies and the guest of honor.

Makes you want to cry about it, it's so good. It's not that it's so sad, it's so good. Verses 17 and 18. Verses 17 and 18. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and to those who were near for through him we both have access by one spirit to the Father.

These verses Jesus announces peace and provides access to the Father to both Jew and Gentile. If you're filling in blanks, peace and access, fill in the blanks. Jesus announces peace and provides access to the Father to both Jew and Gentile. Here Paul says two things. Number one, Jesus announced and is announcing the good news of peace to Jews and Gentiles alike.

The word rendered preached here literally means to bring good news to announce glad tidings. So this is gospel preaching. Gospel means good news. It is the announcing of glad tidings. It's the announcing of peace with God.

Look back at verse 13, same chapter, Ephesians 2 verse 13, but now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. So Paul has already introduced this far off and near terminology. Here in our verse he's meaning those of you who were far off, you Gentiles, and to those who were near, Jesus has announced peace with God. They both needed the announcement. Jews needed it, Gentiles needed it, all got it.

So yes, Jesus himself was a gospel preacher. He was the original announcer of the glad tidings. So he is our peace and he is the one announcing the peace. But until he returns he sends representatives to declare the terms of peace. Listen to 2 Corinthians 5 verse 20.

Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf be reconciled to God. So you can truthfully stand before an unbeliever and say, on Christ's behalf, I offer you terms of peace with God. It's as if God were pleading through me. I've been authorized to give you terms of peace by God.

This is exactly what happened to the Ephesians. This is not complicated in the context that we have. Paul is talking to people who he did this very thing to. Christ announced peace to these Ephesians through Paul. He introduces the letter this way, I, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus.

Apostle means sent one, one who was sent on a mission. Paul, one who Jesus Christ sent on a mission by the will of God to you in Ephesus. So Paul has already said this. He is repeating it now. So that is number one.

Jesus announced and is announcing the good news of peace to Jews and Gentiles alike. Number two. Through the person and work of Jesus, all believers have access to the Father by the Holy Spirit. Access. Free access to come with boldness to this holy God.

Welcome again to the doctrine of the Trinity. We're here again in chapter one. You remember there was this sequential Trinitarian section where Paul talks about what the Father has done in the salvation of sinners, what the Son has done in the salvation of sinners, what the Spirit has done in the salvation of sinners. Now he returns to a contemplation of the Trinity saying that the Son makes peace through the cross so that through him we have access by one Spirit to the Father who receives us. Here's what the Expositors Bible commentary says.

And it's quoting chapter 1 verse 13. So before I read the quote from the commentary, let me read chapter 1 verse 13. In Him, in Christ, you also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. So you believed and you were sealed. You were marked as gods by the Holy Spirit of promise.

So here's what the Expositors Bible commentary says. Since all believers have been sealed by the one Spirit, they all possess the means to approach the one Father on the basis of what Christ accomplished. Because you have that seal, you are welcome now in the presence of the Father. Here's what Paul says in Romans 8, part of verse 15, you receive the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father. Christians have this internal impulse, it's the indwelling spirit that says that God is our Father.

That even beyond things have been made right, we are at peace with Him, that He is our Father. There is an impulse of the Spirit of God within us doing that. And then further in Romans 8, Romans 8 verse 26, likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses for we do not know what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. We're even helped in our approaching of God. We have this inner impulse that says that He's our Father, and then He helps us when we go in our approach to God.

Applications, I'll give you three. Number one, behold the promise fulfilled. Isaiah 9 verse 6, For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulder, and His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father.