In Jason Dohm's sermon titled 'Those Who Were Far Off Brought Near,' he discusses Ephesians 2:11-22, focusing on the transformation of Gentiles through Christ. Initially alienated from the promises of Israel and without hope, Gentiles are brought near by the blood of Christ, breaking down the division between Jews and Gentiles. The sermon emphasizes the importance of remembering the past condition of Gentiles to appreciate the present grace. It explores the historical and religious significance of circumcision as a covenant sign and its connection to the heart's circumcision—a theme prevalent in the Old Testament. Dohm highlights that salvation is by grace through faith, and scripture is essential in understanding this. The sermon concludes by affirming that being in Christ is the foundation of all saving grace, bringing both Jews and Gentiles into a unified body under God.

I'll be reading Ephesians 2 verses 11 through 22. Therefore, remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh, who were 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 once 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 He 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. Amen. You can be seated. Title of the sermon today is, Those Who Were Far Off Brought Near.

Words taken directly from verse 13 in our text, and glorious words for anybody who wasn't born Jewish to think about the goodness of God in broadening out the scope of the saving of sinners, and just extending it to every tribe and tongue and nation. So we're in a very glorious section here, in a glorious chapter, in a glorious book. That's all I can tell you. Okay, so where are we in the chapter? The text today begins with the word therefore.

So it's pointing us at what has gone before, and I think it's pointing us really to the context of the whole chapter so far. So let's review quickly where we are in verses 1-3, the Apostle Paul puts before us the desperate condition of mankind. By nature, objects of the wrath of God. You don't even have to Consider what you've done. You can just start with who you are.

The things you like and the things that you don't like. Even before you start doing things, God ought to be angry with you because of what you're like. You're dead in trespasses and sins. But then in verses 4-7 we come to these two glorious words, but God. God wasn't content to leave us like that, but He is rich in mercy and He's great in love, and he made these Ephesians alive.

Verses 8 and 9, Paul talks about this salvation of sinners and makes it so clear coming at it from different angles that it's grace alone. It is undeserved favor alone. Not any part of it is the doing of works on our part, so that all boasting, all pride is stripped out of it, and God alone gets the glory for saving sinners. And then in verse 10, what we looked at last week, Paul goes on to give the place of works. It's not that works don't have any place in the theology and the lives of Christians, but it has to have the right place.

It comes after salvation as we live to His honor, not before salvation, working, working, working, trying to get the favor of God. So we put the cart behind the horse. Grace is the horse. And it pulls the cart. Works come afterwards, and they're done to His honor.

It's such a pleasure and a privilege to live to his honor after knowing what we were. He's reached into all that and saved us. So, all of that, verses 1-10, every bit of that can be said of any believer of any classification. But Now Paul addresses the Jew-Gentile distinction. It is a distinction actually created by God, So we shouldn't ignore it or minimize it.

Though 1-10 can be said of every sinner saved by grace, whether Jew or Gentile, there is this distinction that Paul now addresses between the Lord's people under the old covenant and these Gentiles. It's actually something that will continue through the end of chapter 2. So we'll have this week and then the next two weeks will really continue as Paul in this week's text just sets before us the chasm between Jew and Gentile and then he embarks on talking about how Jesus reconciles all of that. So this is really part one of a three-week mini-series to close out chapter 2. So as we come to the text Let's ask the Lord for help.

God what is left but to give you thanks that you have determined to save sinners out of save sinners out of every nation of the earth to pour out your grace on people who don't deserve it from every tribe and tongue and nation. I thank you that you did show your faithfulness to the people of Israel in the Old Testament. But I thank you that in the fullness of time you brought the Redeemer to redeem not just Jews, but also to open that up to everyone. Praise you for your grace, Lord. I pray that Jesus Christ and his saving work would be so exalted today from considering this text in Jesus name.

Amen. Well we have three verses in the scope of our text today verse 11 verse 12 and verse 13. So let's begin by rereading together Ephesians 2 verse 11 and then we'll just go verse by verse. Follow along as I reread verse 11. 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's an awkward place to stop and not grammatically good, but we'll stop there to just consider it.

In this verse, Paul tells us that the Ephesian believers were past tense Gentiles in the flesh. So if you're taking notes by filling in blanks on the handout, flesh fills in the blank. The Ephesian believers were Gentiles in the flesh. Paul calls the Ephesians to remember what they were in the flesh. So again, I'll say it again.

Remember the structure of Ephesians. 1-3 theology to make you happy about Jesus and what He's done in the life of believers. And then in chapters 4-6, He starts to talk about the implications of that for the Christian life. He wants you to be happy in Jesus before we get there. This is all part of making us happy in Jesus.

And part of that is just a reflection on what we were. So Paul wants the Gentile believers to think back before they trusted in Christ and understand where they fit into this world to make them happy in Jesus. Verse 13, when we get to verse 13, he is going to say, but now. So remember what you were, but now God has reached into that and done something with you to his praise. So what were they in the flesh?

Paul says two things about them in the flesh. They were Gentiles and they were uncircumcised. What does it mean to be a Gentile in the flesh? I take that to mean born Gentile. If you go to the Greek lexicon, I think there are several definitions for this Greek word, but the one that fits in this context is of foreign nations not worshipping the true God.

Of foreign nations, not our nation, foreign nations, and not worshipping the true God. Obviously that's from a Jewish perspective. What do you mean by a foreign nation? Not American? No, not Jewish.

And so it is a national and a religious designation because in the instance of the nation of Israel they have a God that is their God nationally. So it is a national designation but wrapped up in that is a religious designation as well. Of foreign nations not worshipping the one true God, Gentiles. The Jews formed a nation. This is an ethnic group.

They are the nation of Israel. The nation was from a family. Father Abraham had many sons, and many sons had father Abraham. They could trace their family genealogically back up the tree or down the tree into the roots and Abraham was at the fountainhead of that family. The nation had a God who had claimed them.

Yahweh in the Old Testament had claimed them. He is the God that brought the whole nation, this whole family, out of Egypt. He laid claim to them and rescued them from slavery and brought them into a land flowing with milk and honey. He spoke to them. He made promises to them.

All of these things go together. The family, the nation, The claiming them, the freeing them from slavery, the speaking to them and making promises to them are all bound up in what it means to be a Jew as opposed to what it means to be a Gentile. The Gentiles were outside of all of that. They didn't belong to the family. None of Abraham's blood was coursing through their veins and they hadn't been rescued out of Egypt.

They weren't brought out of slavery by God. God hadn't spoken to them, made promises to them, hadn't made them a nation and given them a land together. These Ephesians that Paul was writing to, They were born Gentile. They were born in this condition. This distinction is Jews and not a Jew.

You are one or the other. If you were born in Ephesus, you were not a Jew. You were a Gentile. Now what does it mean to be circumcised? This was a very important part of being Jewish.

The right of circumcision was a right that had been given to Father Abraham, right at the fountainhead of the Israelite family and nation in Genesis 17. So I think it's worth looking at that. Turn to Genesis 17 and we'll see the first occurrence of circumcision, first mention of circumcision in the Bible in Genesis 17. I'll be reading Genesis 17 verses 8-14. Before I start reading, the beginning of chapter 17, God appears to Abraham and makes him promises about how he's going to work in him and through him to make him a mighty nation, to make him a father of nations.

And then in verse 8, Genesis 17 beginning in verse 8 we read this, this is God, also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger all the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession and I will be their God so so far I'll give you this land and I will be the God of you and your descendants." And God said to Abraham, As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you, throughout their generations. This is my covenant which you shall keep between me and you and your descendants after you. Every male child among you shall be circumcised, and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations. He who was born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant.

He who was born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant. He who was born in your house and he who was bought with your money must be circumcised, and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. And the uncircumcised male child who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant." So to be male and to be an Israelite and to remain an Israelite is to be circumcised. If you're not circumcised and won't submit to this sign in your flesh, then you're actually to be put out from the people.

To be male and Jewish is to be circumcised. It's a physical sign. It's a removal of the male's foreskin. It's a removal of a certain part of flesh that will leave that mark forever. Once you're circumcised, you have that physical mark forever.

And so it's a physical sign of God's covenant. I'm in this covenant. This covenant pertains to me. This family is my family. This nation is my nation.

These laws are my laws. This God is my God. This land is my land. All that is part of circumcision. And so it's for Abraham and his descendants and the members of their households.

If you keep reading in Genesis chapter 17 you find that that day Abraham circumcised all the males in his household. Many of them, probably most of them had no familial relationship to him. They weren't relatives of his. But they were entering into this covenant with God and so they too were circumcised. In Exodus chapter 4 God has already spoken to Moses from the burning bush in Exodus 3 and in Exodus chapter 4 Moses is traveling from the desert to Egypt to be God's instrument saving them out of slavery and God meets them on the way seeking to kill Moses.

Why? Because he didn't circumcise his son. Do you remember that? I think about Moses a lot and don't think about this account of Moses being on the way to be God's great instrument for the salvation of his people. And God almost met him on the way with the intent to kill him because he hadn't circumcised his son.

Moses' wife, Sapporah, circumcises him and throws the foreskin at his feet and says, You're a husband of blood to me. It's a very dramatic scene. The point is that circumcision is God's idea and he's not kidding about it. He is deadly serious that the relationship that he has established with these people is to be accompanied by a physical sign and circumcision is that sign. Once you are marked with that sign, you will forever have that mark.

There is no way to undo that mark. So for 1800 years, this has been the physical sign. This is my God, these are my laws, this is our land, this is my family. And All these things have been bound together and the sign of it is circumcision. 1800 years, 1800 centuries, 1800 year blocks.

This has been the sign that We are God's people. He claimed us, He rescued us, He saved us. His laws are my laws. This is my God. Now, looking back at Ephesians 2 verse 11, just let me reread it again to orient us back to where we are in our text.

Therefore remember that you once Gentiles in the flesh, you Ephesians were Gentiles in the flesh, who were called uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision made in the flesh by hands. Jews knew that all this was wrapped up in the sign of being in covenant with God in circumcision, so that if you were outside of that, it was an insult to be outside of relationship with God, to not have had Him spoken to you, to have Him not have made promises to you, to have him not have claimed you and set you free. And so the Jews viewed it that way. Gentiles were dogs. The uncircumcision, people who didn't bear the mark of being God's possession, were dogs.

And you can see that that bleeds through here. But On the other hand, it was God's idea. Circumcision was a distinction made by God, not just made by the Jews as their own invention. It was a God instituted man-made physical sign. In other words, Jewish boys weren't born this way.

They were surgically made that way by the removal of skin. God instituted man-made physical sign of being in covenant with God. Now the final thing that I'll say about circumcision here, and it's vitally important, comes from Leviticus 26. You can turn there if you'd like or you can just listen. Leviticus 26 is an interesting chapter.

It's God saying beforehand what He's going to do if the people fall away from Him. If the Israelites fall away from Him and rebel against Him, He says, I'm going to discipline you, and if you don't repent, I'm going to punish you seven times over. And if that doesn't get your attention, and you don't repent, I'm going to punish you seven times over. And he lists punishments that will bring on the people. It's actually a terrifying chapter of God's escalating discipline on his named people, people who bear the name of God, who will not repent when he disciplines them.

Then he brings more severe discipline. Then in Leviticus 26 verses 40-42, we read this. Leviticus 26 verses 40-42. But if they confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to me and that they also have walked contrary to me and that I also have walked contrary to them and have brought them into the land of their enemies. If their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they accept their guilt, then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and my covenant with Isaac, and my covenant with Abraham.

I will remember. I will remember the land." so it's actually a promise of mercy if the people will really repent their rebellion against God after he's brought them into discipline and maybe even brought them into captivity and into the land of their enemies. He says, if their uncircumcised hearts are humbled, So we're brought face to face with this parallel concept. There's physical circumcision, a physical sign that God is my God, I belong to him, his laws are my laws. But parallel to that, it is what the sign is supposed to mean, that my heart is his.

Circumcision of the heart. It is possible to have the sign without the substance. To have the physical mark that can never be erased, never be changed. There's no such thing as becoming uncircumcised. You might be born uncircumcised, but once you have been circumcised, there is no going back.

You can have the surgery with your heart not belonging to God. The mark is meant to represent the substance which is, We are a people who belong to God. And this is all over. The circumcision of the heart is a concept that is not just in Leviticus 26. It's all over the Old Testament.

The prophets are always talking about circumcise your hearts. Circumcise your hearts. Have what the outward physical mark says be true in your hearts. In summary, in verse 11, the nation of Israel was in covenant. Not you Gentiles!

Jews, yes, Gentiles, no! He asked Gentiles, no. It was a permanent physical sign that was given for that. Essentially, Paul is saying, all of this had nothing to do with you on your day of birth. You were born in Ephesus to Gentile parents, who were born to Gentile parents, who were born to Gentile parents.

And all of this, belonging to God, being set free from slavery by God, being spoken to by God, receiving promises from God, had nothing to do with you on the day of your birth. You were Gentiles in the flesh. Verse 12. We're back in Ephesians 2, verse 12. Follow along.

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. No wonder he is telling them to remember this. What a state! What a state!

If you were in that state and you had been rescued out of that state, because God is rich in mercy and great in love. You ought to remember that. It would make all your sorrows so much diminished. It would make all your joys so much enhanced to remember that if God had rescued you from that condition. In verse 12, Paul gives us the implications of being uncircumcised, the implications of being a Gentile.

And they're devastating implications. What does it mean? So there is a Jew and not a Jew. So you are not a Jew. What does that mean in a practical sense?

Paul lays it out here. Paul makes a list, but he could have just stopped at the first entry. WITHOUT CHRIST! Not without Jesus, Jesus by name. To be without Christ is to be without Jesus, it is Jesus Christ, but without the promised Savior by title, without all that it means that Jesus was the Christ.

The anointed one of God, that's what Christ means, or that's what Messiah and Christ are the same word. It can be used interchangeably. It just means the anointed, the one who had God's hand placed upon him to put him into service to accomplish a certain purpose. What was the purpose? The saving of sinners.

He was anointed by God, set apart by God to save sinners. To be without Christ is to be without God's promised Savior. And there is no other way to be saved. When Paul says this in 2 Corinthians 1.20, For all the promises of God in Him are yes and in Him, Amen." Paul is essentially saying that all of the promises of God are ultimately rooted and fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. All the promises of God in Him are yes, and in Him, amen.

There are books. You can go to the Christian bookstore and buy books about all the Bible promises. I don't know how many they list, but it's page after page after page after page of the promises of God. And they are rich and they are wonderful. And they are all ultimately rooted and fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

All of them are null and void unless God sends His promised Savior to deal with our sins. Listen to what Matthew Poole says. I don't quote Matthew Poole very much, but I read him every week. He says profitable things on every text. He's not as quotable as Matthew Henry.

I often put the things that I read and learn in Matthew Poole in my own words. Let me quote him directly here. He says, Without Christ, This is the foundation of all other miseries, as Christ is the foundation of all saving good. And therefore the apostle begins with this. Let me read this again.

Without Christ, this is the foundation of all other miseries. If you have miseries that are in any way eternal, they have their roots in being without Christ. Because Christ is the foundation of all saving good. There is no saving good apart from Christ. And why were the Ephesians without Christ?

Well here's a thought experiment. We get in a time machine, we go back. So we can ask these Ephesians before their conversion a question. Why are you without Christ? What's the answer likely to be?

What's a Christ? What's a Christ? Where do I get a Christ? They don't even know when you ask the question that it's a person and not a thing. It is only those who were within the commonwealth of Israel who had been given the covenants of promise, who even knew to look for a Christ.

It's not a what, it's a he. And the he is a fulfillment of the promises that God has made to sin, someone to save people from their sins. The Jews might have missed Jesus, but at least they were looking for an anointed one to come and save them. They knew that God had made them those promises. Let's consider a couple of places where Paul explains Paul here.

Turn to Romans 2. We're going to start at the end of Romans 2 and then we'll extend into Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 2, I'm going to begin reading in verse 25. Romans 2 beginning in 25 and I'll end up reading through chapter 3 verse 3. And I'm going to stop and make some comments before the chapter break.

Romans chapter 2 beginning in 25 For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law. But if you are breakers of the law your circumcision has become uncircumcision. Therefore if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you, even with your written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law? A Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh.

But he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not from men, but from God." Here at the end of Romans chapter 2, Paul takes up the topic of circumcision. He says if you have the physical sign without the inner reality, it would be better if you had the inward reality and not the sign. And that a person who has the inward reality without the physical sign will actually stand in judgment of someone who is the opposite. Who is really a hypocrite. Who has the physical marking as if they belong to the Lord, but in their heart they don't belong to the Lord.

All these things working its way out in obedience. In verses 28 and 29, He actually draws a conclusion that wasn't drawn in Leviticus chapter 26. We went there and looked at circumcision of the heart. It was true then, but Paul actually takes the argument further. To say that someone who is uncircumcised but has a changed heart, has a heart that actually belongs to the Lord, is more Jewish than the Jew.

Amazing. Then in the beginning of chapter 3, he asks the obvious question, what advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision if them if the physical marks just a physical mark and it might not even match your heart in fact it you'd be better off to have the heart without the physical mark then who cares What could possibly be the advantage of being inside these people if it doesn't matter at that level? Then he answers his own question in verse 2. Much in every way, there is much advantage in every way. Chiefly, because to them were committed the oracles of God.

For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? He's saying that the fact that there are unbelieving Jews, that there are people who have the physical mark but their hearts aren't changed, doesn't mean that there's not advantages to being a part of that family and having God made promises to you, and spoken to you, and given you His laws. There are many advantages to that. Listen to what Paul writes to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3.15.

Paul writes this to Timothy. 2 Timothy 3.15. From childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Read that again. From childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures.

We know that Timothy had a faithful mother and grandmother, and now he is telling us they taught him the Holy Scriptures from his childhood. The Holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Does that mean that everyone who studies the scripture is saved? Of course not. But the things that you need to be saved are there.

In the scriptures you have special access to the things that you need to know in order to place your trust in God's promised Savior, God's anointed one, God's Messiah, God's Christ. Combine this with what we've been studying in Ephesians chapter 2. Salvation is by grace alone, undeserved, unearned, through faith alone. There's a channel through which we lay hold of the work of Jesus Christ And it's faith, it's trusting Him. And we get that by Scripture.

This takes it one link in the chain further. By grace alone, through faith alone. Faith in what? Scripture answers that question. Scripture answers that question.

If you go to Psalm 19, you find a very distinct structure. The first half of Psalm 19 is general revelation. The heavens declare the glories of God. Any Gentile who has never had access to the scripture can go outside on a beautiful clear night and say, some majestic something made this. That's different than knowing that Jesus Christ has been sent to make my sins right.

That's the second half of Psalm 19. The law of the Lord is perfect, saving the soul. It is able to make you wise to salvation. Those are saying the same things. To be one who answers, why are you without Christ, with the answer, what's a Christ, is to be without hope and without God in the world.

To not have a clear definition in black and white about your state before God and just be left to having your heart and all its self-deception to sort that out on its own. And not know that God has made a provision through the shedding of the blood of Jesus Christ is to be without hope and without God in the world. Because you must have a Christ to be anything other than the target of the anger of God against what you're like.