Tear Down This Wall! – Part 1

Hey, podcast listeners! Thanks for streaming today's podcast, From Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory is a nonprofit ministry featuring the Bible teaching of Dr. Robert Jeffress. Our mission is to pierce the darkness with the light of God's word through the most effective media available, like this podcast. To support Pathway to Victory, go to ptv.org slash donate or follow the link in our show notes. Now, here's today's podcast, From Pathway to Victory. God's Word with you every day on this Bible teaching program. On today's edition of Pathway to Victory. Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress. You know, throughout most of human history, a wall has existed between man and God.

The only way for man to approach God was through a complicated system of priests and sacrifices. But today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress explains that when Jesus Christ came to earth, died, and rose again, everything changed. Now, here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message.

Dr. Jeffress. Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. Did you realize that Pathway to Victory publishes a bi-monthly magazine? We haven't said a lot about this exclusive periodical, but today I'm eager to send you a complimentary subscription of Pathway Magazine. This popular resource from Pathway to Victory contains encouraging devotional readings that I've written for you and a variety of practical articles about how to become a man or woman of God. But you cannot find this publication anywhere other than right here. So, to get started with the first three issues, just go to ptv.org and click on the tab that says Pathway Magazine. These first three issues are my gift to you simply for getting in touch with us today. It's not uncommon for Christians to feel overwhelmed by their daily struggles.

Sometimes it's because the barriers that stand in our way appear too massive to overcome. Well, in our current teaching series and in my companion book, we're looking at Paul's counsel to the Ephesians. My brand new book is called Holy Living in an Unholy World, and a copy is yours today when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. Do you remember when a massive wall divided Germany into two populations, East and West? Some thought that wall would never come down. Well, today we're going to look at an even greater barrier between man and God that has been removed forever.

I titled today's message, Tear Down This Wall. Peace in our time. Peace with honor.

Those were the words of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain on September the 30th, 1938. The occasion for that proclamation was the signing he had just completed of a peace covenant with German Chancellor Adolf Hitler, in which they promised neither country would invade the other. Within one year, that peace treaty was broken, and the British Empire was fighting for her survival. Somebody did a study one time of all of the peace agreements between the years 1500 B.C.

and 850 A.D. In those 2,400 years, there were more than 7,500 peace agreements, and not one of them lasted more than two years. We see the futility of peace agreements even with what's happening in the Middle East. Think of all of the peace attempts to bring together Jews and Muslims between Israel and the Palestinians. Think of how many there have been in just the last few decades.

I jotted some of them down. You had the Madrid Conference of 1991, the Oslo Accords of 1993, the Hebron Agreement in 1997, the Camp David Summit in 2000, the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002, the Roadmap for Peace in 2003, and on and on and on it goes. And yet on October 7th, Israel was invaded by Hamas. Why is it that there's that continuing tension in the Middle East? We've talked in the past about the descendants of Abraham through Ishmael and Isaac, but there's even a deeper reason for the disagreement, the hatred between Jews and Muslims.

It's the same reason for the cause for conflict between Caucasians and African Americans in our culture, the tension between men and women, between husbands and wives, between mothers and their teenage daughters. There's a reason for the tension between Christians in a local church. Our alienation from one another at the basis of it is our alienation from God himself. And the only way we'll ever be reconciled with other people is being reconciled to God through Christ Jesus. Now that is the theme of Paul's message we're going to look at today in Ephesians chapter 2. Return to Ephesians chapter 2 beginning with verse 11.

Harry Ironside was the long-time pastor of the Moody Church in Chicago. One day he was traveling on train to speaking engagement and a gypsy-looking woman, I don't know if you can say that and be politically correct, but she was looked like a gypsy approached the pastor and said, sir, for a quarter I can tell you your past, your present, and your future. He said to her instantly, well, I'm Scotch and I don't part with quarters very easily. And after all, I really don't need your prediction because I already have a little book that tells me about my past, my present, and my future. She said, you do, and he pulled out his New Testament. He said, let me tell you about my past, and he turned to Ephesians chapter 2 verse 1. You were dead in your trespasses and sin in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air.

That was my past. She said, I don't need anymore. He said, oh, yes you do, let me tell you about my present. He said, but you, though you were dead in trespasses and sin, he has made you alive together in Christ Jesus, for by grace you have been saved. She said, that's plenty.

Trust me, that's plenty. He said, I couldn't tell you about my past and present without telling you my future. Why did he do this? So that in the ages to come, God might show the surpassing riches of his grace and kindness for those in Christ Jesus. And with that, the gypsy walked off muttering to herself, I chose the wrong man.

I chose the wrong man. Now that's a good summary, Ephesians 2, 1 to 7, our past, our present, and our future. And why did God do all of this? Why did he make those of us who were spiritually dead, spiritually alive, one reason, one word, grace? For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Remember what grace is?

It's that undeserved burst of generosity on the part of God. But now, beginning in verse 11, Paul is going to zero in on and double down on the difference, the contrast between our spiritual condition before we came to Christ and what has happened since we've come to Christ. First of all, he talks about our alienation, our alienation from people. First of all, from the Jews.

We were alienated. We were hostile toward the Jewish people. Look at verse 11. Therefore, remember that formerly you, the Gentiles, in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by the so-called circumcision, which is performed in the flesh by human hands.

Remember, Paul was writing to Ephesians. They were Gentile Christians. And he said, remember what the Jews used to call you? They used to call you the uncircumcision. By the way, that wasn't a term of endearment.

It was like a racial slur today. The uncircumcised. Now, you understand and remember what circumcision is. It was a medical procedure. It was the removal of the foreskin of a male.

God commanded it, not just for health reasons, but for people to identify as Jews, as descendants of Abraham. It was an outward sign that pointed to a future inward truth. And that is, it was a picture of what God would one day do through Christ, who has performed not a circumcision of the flesh, but of our hearts. He's removed the hardness of our hearts, the hardness of our sin in our new relationship with God. But like so many Christians today in regards to baptism, the Jews made a mistake about circumcision.

They focused only on the external act rather than the inward truth it was supposed to portray. And so they prided themselves, we are the circumcision, and you filthy Gentiles are of the uncircumcision. He reminded these Gentiles of how they used to be thought of. Now, it's understandable why Israel was proud God had chosen Israel out of all the nations of the earth for a special purpose. When I had the privilege five years ago of leading the opening prayer for the embassy dedication in Jerusalem, I reminded the Jewish leaders assembled there along with the global audience about why we are indebted to Israel. It is through Israel that we received the knowledge of the one true God, Yahweh. We didn't know about Yahweh apart from the Jews.

We received the knowledge of God. It's through Israel that we received the prophets who came to communicate God's message. It was through Israel that for the most part we received all of our scriptures. And it is through Israel that the Messiah of the world, Jesus Christ, came.

We are indebted to Israel, but God chose Israel not because of Israel's superiority. He chose them out of grace. And they made the same mistake many Christians make today. Instead of using their position to try to convert unbelievers, Gentiles, they used their position to condemn the Gentiles. Instead of being a lie to the Gentiles, they were a stumbling block to the Gentiles.

Now, the fact is, even though God chose the Jews, there was a separation between the Jews and the Jews and Gentiles. And that was certainly seen in the design of the temple. Remember how the tabernacle later in the temple was designed? There was only one spot where God dwelt in the Holy of Holies. That was his dwelling place, and nobody, Jew nor Gentile, could enter into the Holy of Holies. The only person who could come in was the priest, the high priest, and that was once a year to make atonement for sin.

Other than that, nobody came into the presence of God. Outside of the Holy of Holies was the holy place. Outside the holy place was the court of the priest, where only male members of the tribe of Levi could come, the priestly tribe. Outside of the court of the priest was the court of Israel. That was only for Jewish men, and outside of the court of Israel was the court of women.

They were on the outside. They could only stay in that area of the court of women, but the farthest distance in the temple was not between the Jews. It was between that outer ring, the court of the women, and the court of the Gentiles. To travel to the court of the Gentiles, you had to leave the court of women, descend five steps, walk 14 more steps, go outside a five-foot barricade that had written on it words to this effect, Trespassers will be executed.

No Gentile would ever breach that wall, that barricade that had been set up. By the way, remember, the whole reason Paul was in Rome awaiting trial was because of what had happened to him when he was in Jerusalem, when he was accused of taking a Gentile into the place in the temple reserved for Jews only. There was a division between Jews and Gentiles, and you see that in the layout of the temple.

But remember this, the Jews didn't design the temple, God designed it, and the division that the temple portrays is a very real division that existed that time. There was a barrier between Jews and Gentiles, and in fact, the Gentiles were in worse shape spiritually than the Jews were. The Jews were near God, although they weren't allowed into the presence of God, but the Gentiles were far away from God. And in verse 12, Paul illustrates five ways that the Gentiles were more alienated from God than even the Jews were. Look at verse 12, remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

Write these down, the five ways people like us, Gentiles, were in worse shape than the Jews. First of all, we had no savior. Now at least in Judaism, there was a savior, a messiah that would come. Now the Jews missed him, they didn't realize it was Jesus Christ, but at least they had a provision for somebody to take away their sins.

The Gentiles had no such person. Religions today don't have any savior. There's no savior in Islam. There's no savior in Hinduism.

Only Christianity offers a savior, Jesus Christ. Secondly, they had no nation. There was no nation like the Jews had. The Jews had a nation, Israel, that would be an object lesson of God's favor and judgment.

The Gentiles had no such nation. And by the way, ladies and gentlemen, the United States of America is not the new Israel. No nation has the promise of endurance that God gave to Israel.

The United States, I hate to tell some of you because you're going to be shocked, is not going to exist forever. Only Israel has the promise of endurance. Gentiles have no nation. We have no promises. You were excluded from the covenants of God. Israel, only Israel had the promise of protection, blessing, guidance, and prosperity. Fourthly, Gentiles have no hope.

No hope. You know, somebody once said, Man can go 40 days without food, three days without water, but only a few moments without hope. We all need hope, and there was no hope for Gentiles. In fact, the stoic philosophers of Paul's day believed all of human history was done in 3,000-year cycles.

The universe would exist for 3,000 years, then it would be burned up and would start over again for another 3,000 years and another 3,000 years. History was circular. It wasn't going anyplace. That leaves people with despair. That was the Gentiles.

No hope. And most of all, they were in a worse position than we are because they had no God. There was no God. Paul says you were without God in this world. That phrase, without God, is the Greek word a theos.

A means no, without. Theos means God. That's what an atheist is, somebody who is without God. Now, the fact is, the Gentiles had hundreds of gods, thousands of gods.

In fact, it was said that in the city of Athens, it was easier to find a God than a man. But they were all gods who were the product of our imagination, not the true God of Israel. William Barkley sums up the desperate condition of the Gentiles when he writes, The Jews had an immense contempt for the Gentiles. They said that the Gentiles were created by God to be fuel for the fires of hell, and that God loved only Israel and all the nations that he made. That's the desperate condition we were in, and that leads to, though, our reconciliation. Notice in verse 13, our reconciliation with others. Even though we had no God, we had no hope, we had no promises, notice here that phrase, but now.

It reminds us of that phrase, but God. God intervened in our situation, and you who were formerly far off from God, that's Gentiles, have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Verse 14, for he himself, Jesus, is our peace, who made both groups into one, and broke down the barrier, the dividing wall, between Jews and Gentiles. Who is our peace? It's not a president, it's not a congressperson, it's not a judge, it's not a negotiator. What's the answer to the enmity, the strife between Jews and Gentiles?

It's not some two-state solution, that will never do it. The answer is a one-king solution, Jesus Christ. He is the one who has broken down the barrier, and it's only in Christ that that barrier will be broken forever. He is our peace.

And what did he do? Look at verse 15. By abolishing in his flesh the enmity, the hatred, which is the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in himself he might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace. What does he mean, getting rid of the commandments? He's talking about the Old Testament law, not the moral law, but the ritual law, the ceremonial law, that said that Jews and Gentiles couldn't eat together, they couldn't marry one another.

All of that was done away with. We are all one in Christ Jesus. He has established peace. You know, as I prepared the sermon this week, almost every commentator I read used the same illustration, the same story. It's one I used in my book and series, Not All Roads Lead to Heaven, a few years ago. It was a story about the GIs during World War II who had a fellow soldier who was killed in battle, and they were desperate to find a place to bury him. And so late one night they knocked on the door of the little church next to the village cemetery, and the priest answered the door, and they explained their friend had died and wondered if they could bury him in the little cemetery. And the priest said, is he Catholic?

And the men said, well, no. And he said, well, this is a Catholic cemetery, and he can't be buried here. And so disheartened, they took their friend's body, and they found a little plot outside the fence of the cemetery, and they buried him. The next morning they came to pay respects to their friend, but they couldn't find the grave anywhere. So they knocked on the door with hesitation, and the priest answered, and they said, we can't find our friend anywhere.

Do you know where his body is? The priest said, I stayed up all night last night. The first half of the night I spent regretting what I had said to you.

I spent the second half of the night moving the fence. And you know, I've heard that story over and over again, and just about everybody makes the wrong application to that story. They say, we need to be more inclusive.

We need to move the fence. And so you have the pope a few years ago deciding to move the fence of who could be in heaven, and he said, there's a place for atheists in heaven. What a stupid thing to say. He has no authority to say that.

He just made that up. There's a place for atheists in heaven. We don't get to decide who comes into heaven. Other people say, there's a place for Muslims in heaven. There's a place for Hindus.

There's a place for Jews who don't trust in Christ. We want to move the fence to be inclusive. Ladies and gentlemen, only God can move the fence.

He's the one who has established the fence. And he says, who is inside and outside the kingdom of God. And those who are inside the kingdom of God, the only ones are those who have come to God through faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No man comes to the Father except through me. God is the one who establishes the boundaries. But once he's established those boundaries, we have no right to keep people out of the kingdom of God, whom God says are a part of the kingdom of God. And anyone who comes to faith in Christ is a part of the kingdom of God. He talks about our reconciliation with others is based on our reconciliation with God.

Look at verse 16. That he might reconcile them both, whom? Jews and Gentiles in one body to God through the cross by having put to death the enmity. Well, you notice the only people who can be reconciled to one another are those who have been reconciled to God. What does that mean, reconciled? That word reconcile is a picture of two people in a relationship.

One person moves away from that relationship. But the other person, the aggrieved party, makes the first step to bridge that separation. Isaiah 53 says, all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone unto our own way. But even though we're the ones who made the initial move away from God, God took the first step in reconciling with us.

God took the first step. There's much more I need to share with you about how we can be reconciled to God. So please be sure to join me again next time when I continue this message titled, Tear Down This Wall.

Even though we need to pause right here, your learning doesn't need to pause here. Pathway to Victory has prepared a variety of companion resources for this teaching series. Every message in its entirety is available on both audio CD and video DVD. David will explain how to request the collection of messages in just a moment.

Plus, I've written a book for this series. It's called, Holy Living in an Unholy World. In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul shows us that living a holy life begins with understanding our rich spiritual heritage. So how do we access those blessings?

Well, it's simply tapping into the riches that God has already given His children. If you're ready to reignite your passion for God, then this new book will get the fire started. A copy is yours when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. Again, my book is titled, Holy Living in an Unholy World. In the time remaining today, I want to share how grateful I am for our Pathway partners and everyone who supports this ministry. Because of committed friends like you, Pathway to Victory stands as a beacon of light in this dark world. You are helping reach listeners and viewers across the country and around the world with the truth of God's Word. Thank you so much for your dedicated prayers and support.

David. Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. Today, when you contact Pathway to Victory and give a generous gift, we'll send you Holy Living in an Unholy World. That's the brand new book by Dr. Robert Jeffress based on our study from Ephesians. Call us toll free at 866-999-2965 or give online at ptv.org. Now, when your gift is $75 or more, you'll also receive the Holy Living in an Unholy World teaching series on DVD video and MP3 format audio discs.

Plus, we'll send along a companion study guide to aid in personal or group study. Again, call 866-999-2965 or go to ptv.org. If you'd prefer to write, here's that mailing address, P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas, 75222.

That's P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. I'm David J. Mullins inviting you back next time for part two of the message, Tear Down This Wall. That's coming up Friday here on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. Embark on the spiritual journey of a lifetime on the Pathway to Victory Journeys of Paul Mediterranean Cruise. May 5 through 16, 2025. Enjoy 11 days of fellowship, relaxation, and spiritual refreshment while sailing aboard a luxury cruise ship.

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