Tear Down This Wall! – Part 2

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On today's edition of Pathway to Victory. You know, God's act of reconciling us was dramatically illustrated on that Good Friday when Jesus died, 3 p.m. that afternoon. Remember what happened in the temple?

And Matthew 27 51 says, The moment Christ died, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress. In the summer of 1987, President Ronald Reagan stood in front of the Berlin Wall and uttered these powerful words.

Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall. Well, today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress turns to an even greater barrier between man and God that has been removed forever. Now, here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message.

Dr. Jeffress. Thanks, David. And welcome again to Pathway to Victory. In the heat of the September sun, who wouldn't want to escape to ocean breezes on a 12-day cruise vacation?

Doesn't that sound refreshing? Well, I'm pleased to invite you on the Pathway to Victory journeys of Paul Mediterranean cruise. This is a once in a lifetime vacation with like-minded Christians. The dates are May 5th through 16th, 2025. During our 12-day adventure, we're going to visit the biblical city that inspired Paul's letter to the Ephesians. Plus, we'll guide our cruise ship into world-famous ports like Santorini, Greece, Mykonos, and Naples, Italy. Please check out the musical artists that are coming along with us as well.

You can reserve your spot today by going to ptv.org. Have you found yourself shaking your head at the condition of our culture today? Imagine gender confusion, defiance against God, a country polarized, giving these shocking realities. How do we cultivate a healthy relationship with God?

How do we respond in these chaotic times? I've written a brand new book that answers these relevant questions and more. My new book is titled Holy Living in an Unholy World, and I don't know of any subject more pressing right now than this one.

I'd like to send you a copy to your home today. It's yours when you give a generous gift to support the growing ministry of Pathway to Victory. Well, for 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 established by God himself. But when Jesus Christ came to earth, died and rose again, everything changed.

I titled today's message Tear Down This Wall. Turn to Ephesians chapter two, beginning with verse 11. 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.

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. Secondly, we 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.

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. And most of all, they were in a worse position than we are because they had no God. Paul says you were without God in this world.

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 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. 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. Remember what Paul said to the Romans? While we were yet what sinners, Christ died for us. 1 John 4, 10, here in his love, not that we loved God, but that God loved us and gave himself as a propitiation for our sins. God took the first move in reconciling us to himself, and only when we understand that can we be reconciled to others.

You know, God's act of reconciling us was dramatically illustrated on that Good Friday when Jesus died, 3 p.m. that afternoon. Remember what happened in the temple? The biggest division in the temple was the division from all of the temple from the Holy of Holies where God dwelt. There was a huge curtain, a huge veil. And Matthew 27, 51 says, the moment Christ died, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, not from the bottom up.

It started from top to bottom, and the earth shook and the rocks were split. It's substantial that it tore from top to bottom because that meant God is the one who tore the veil in two. I often wondered what those Jewish priests who were there to offer their sacrifices must have thought when they saw that temple curtain torn in two. I'm sure the first thing they thought of is, I don't have a job any longer.

I'm unemployed. No longer will people have to depend upon me to go behind the veil or the high priest. Everyone is welcome to come to God through our priest, the Lord Jesus Christ.

That's what happened. Look at verse 17. And he, talking about Jesus, came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. Who were those who were far away? It's the Gentiles, stuck out there in the court of the Gentiles, a long way separated from God.

But guess what? The Jews were near, but they weren't in the Holy of Holies. They were separated from God as well. And Jesus came and offered grace to both groups. Verse 18. For through him, that is Jesus, we both have our access in one spirit to the Father. That word access is an interesting word. It's only used three times in the Greek New Testament.

And every time it refers to somebody who introduces another person to the king, who provides access. A number of years ago, when President Bush, George W. Bush, was president of our country, I remember talking to a friend one day, and I was pontificating about the strengths and the weaknesses of President Bush. And after all, I was an expert on the topic because I had read an article in Newsweek. And so I thought I was certainly qualified to speak to the president's strengths and weaknesses. So I was giving my little speech, and when I finished, my friend said, well, you know, Robert, yesterday when I was talking to President Bush, I thought, what? What? He said, yeah, I was in Washington, and a friend of mine works on his staff, and he arranged for me to go into the Oval Office and spend about five minutes talking to the president.

Believe me, I had nothing else to say. Now, how is it my friend got into the Oval Office? Was it because he was wealthy?

Well, a lot of wealthy people never make it in there. Was it because he was a leader in his industry? He was a titan of the industry he was involved in, but that wasn't the reason. He got in there because he knew somebody. He knew somebody who was close to the president, and that person provided access.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, I've got great news for you. You, if you're a Christian, have access to the most powerful leader in the universe, God himself. And you can go into his presence any time you want to, even without an appointment. And what's the basis for going into the presence of God Almighty?

You know somebody, Jesus Christ, his Son. It is through him that we have access in one spirit to the Father. And what does that mean for us? What does that reconciliation mean to us? Notice we've talked about our alienation from God, our reconciliation with God. Now, notice our unification.

First of all, with God, verse 19. So then, you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and are of God's households. That word, strangers, xenos, it's a word that would correspond to illegal immigrant today, somebody who is trying to enter a country illegally or is there illegally, xenos. Aliens is another word, paroikos. It's a reference to somebody who is in the land, he's in the country, but he doesn't have the rights of citizenship. He's without the rights of citizenships.

Now, this is what Paul is saying. Even though some of you were strangers, that's the Gentiles. You're illegal immigrants, if it were, trying to burst into a country you have no part in.

Some of you were strangers, others of you were aliens. He's talking about the Jewish people. Yeah, you were in the country, in the promised land, but you weren't children of God.

You're not citizens of the kingdom yet. But now, through Christ, you are fellow citizens and are of God's household. We have been unified with God.

And what does that mean? Verse 20, look at this. Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord. Now, when he wrote the word temple, everybody knew what he was talking about. For the Ephesian Gentiles who were reading this letter, when they thought of the temple, they thought of the big temple of Diana right there in their city of Ephesus, one of the great wonders of the world.

When the Jews read the word temple, they didn't think of the temple of Diana, they thought about Herod's temple in Jerusalem. But God is saying, I'm no longer building physical temples. I'm building a new kind of worship. I'm building a spiritual temple, not with stones and bricks, but with the lives of those who are coming to Christ. That's what God's temple is that he's building right now.

And he says, in whom you also being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit. God has built a new temple. It's a holy temple. It's a spiritual temple of believers. And every believer is a part of that temple. Paul uses also the image of a body. 1 Corinthians 12, 27, you are Christ's body and you are individually members of it.

And guess what? All the stones in the temple are equal. They're all fitted together to be a part of that temple.

All the members of the body, though not the same, are equal. They're all vitally necessary for the proper working of the body of Christ. Now this is Paul's point. Because we have been unified with God, we are fellow heirs of his promises. We are all part of this new spiritual temple called the church that God is building. If we are in that church, in that temple, we should not be erecting false barriers, artificial barriers that separate us. No, we're all one. This isn't like the temple that there are separations.

We are all one in Christ. And yet, even though that's true, did you know, people, it's just instinctive? We want to build up these artificial barriers. We have it in our nature to want to separate from other people so we feel better about ourselves. And that's something we've got to fight every opportunity we have, developing artificial barriers in the church of the living God. Some people raise up artificial theological barriers. I'm not talking about essential doctrines.

I'm talking about secondary tertiary issues. They want to divide over. We're Calvinists. We're Arminianists. We believe that faith precedes regeneration, or we believe that regeneration precedes faith. That's how we believe. We separate along the lines of the end times theology. I'm premillennialist.

I'm amillennialist. Let me say something to you. It doesn't matter what you believe about the order of events and salvation. We're not going to set that up as an artificial barrier. Some churches set up artificial barriers over race. There are people who even want to erect artificial barriers over gender.

That's true. God created us male and female. He's the one who determines gender. There are different roles for gender that are spelled out in the Bible.

But don't think difference in roles means superiority and inferiority. In Christ, there is no male nor female. We are all one in Jesus Christ. May I even say that sometimes we build up artificial walls when it comes to our relationship to unbelievers. And you see this in so many churches, an us versus them mentality. We're inside the kingdom. They're outside the kingdom. We condemn them rather than try to convert them.

Think about this. Why was there a court of Gentiles outside the temple? Was it just to make the Gentiles feel bad?

No. The whole purpose of the court of Gentiles was so that they could watch and hear what was happening in the temple area and hopefully be proselytized to become a part of the faith of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Even in that layout of the temple, there was a heart toward unbelievers. We, of course, believe that only through faith in Christ you can come into the kingdom of God.

But we ought to have a kind of church that is welcoming to unbelievers to come and hear the gospel and to be saved. Tony Campolo is a Christian sociologist and a part-time pastor. He's wrong about so many things. Last few years, he's been attacking me, among other things. He's wrong about many things, but just because you're wrong about many things doesn't mean you're wrong about everything.

One thing he certainly has gotten right through the years is the fact that the church ought to have a heart for unbelievers. In one of his books, he tells a story about a trip he took to Hawaii to teach at a conference. When he landed in Honolulu, his internal clock was all messed up, so he couldn't go to sleep. He decided to go to a diner that was next to his hotel.

It was three o'clock in the morning, and the only people in there were a group of prostitutes. So he listened to them, and he happened to hear one of them named Agnes say that tomorrow was her birthday, and she had never had a birthday party before. After the prostitutes left, Tony approached the guy behind the counter named Harry and said, Would it be okay if I came back tomorrow night and threw a birthday party? We had a big birthday party for Agnes. Harry said, Sure.

And Tony picks up the story. At 2.30 the next morning, I was back at the diner. I'd picked up some crepe paper decorations at the store and had made a big sign that said Happy Birthday Agnes. The women who did the cooking must have gotten the word out on the street because by 3.15, every prostitute in Honolulu was in the place. It was wall-to-wall prostitutes and me. At 3.30, the door of the diner swung open, and in came Agnes with her friend. I had everybody ready, and when they came in, we all screamed Happy Birthday.

Never have I seen a person so flabbergasted. Her mouth fell open, and her legs buckled. When we finished singing, her eyes moistened. When the cake was carried out, she started to cry. Harry gruffly said, Blow out the candles, Agnes. If you don't, I'll blow them out.

And so they were blown out. The cutting of the cake took even longer. Cut the cake, Agnes. We all want some cake, Harry said. Look, Harry, if it's okay with you, I'd like to keep the cake a little while.

Is it okay if we don't eat it right away? Sure, if you want to keep it, that's yours. You can take it home if you want to. Looking at me, she said, Can I? Can I take it home? I just lived down the street. I want to take the cake home.

I'll be right back. And so she carried the cake out the door like it was the Holy Grail. We stood there motionless, a stunned silence in the place. Not knowing what else to do, I broke the silence by saying, What do you say we pray together? Looking back on it now, it seems more than strange that a sociologist would be leading a prayer meeting with a bunch of prostitutes in a diner in Honolulu at 3.30 in the morning.

But at that time, it just seemed the right thing to do. And so I prayed for Agnes. I prayed for her salvation, that her life would be changed.

I prayed that God would be good to her. When I finished, Harry leaned over the counter and said with a kind of irritation, Hey, you never told me you were a preacher. What kind of church do you belong to? In one of those moments when just the right words came, I answered, I belong to a church that throws birthday parties for prostitutes at 3.30 in the morning.

Harry waited a moment and almost sneered as he answered, No, you don't. There is no such church like that. If there were, I'd join it.

Wouldn't we all? Wouldn't we all love to join a church that throws birthday parties for prostitutes at 3.30 in the morning? That's the kind of church Jesus came to create. Friends, God does not hate unbelievers. God loves unbelievers.

In fact, God loves unbelievers so much, he sent his son Jesus to make the ultimate sacrifice to die on the cross for our sins. And that's the truth we uncover in this passage from Paul's letter to the Ephesians. It's also the very reason Pathway to Victory exists. It's our mission to bring God's light and life to a dark world. Gratefully, we have a growing family of supporters who make this ministry possible, and I hope you're among them. If so, please be encouraged, because Pathway to Victory is gaining ground.

Let me give you an example of that. Mona wrote to me recently saying, Pastor, I've been struggling with a bad decision that has held me back for so many years. But when I heard you say there is hope and that God is always giving us a second chance, it was just what I needed. Please never quit sharing God's love for all of us. Well, Mona, I promise to keep sharing the truth about God's love and mercy. And it's our generous listening and viewing families who allow me to do so without restraint. Today, when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory, I'll be pleased to send you my brand new book, Holy Living in an Unholy World. It's the one I wrote while preparing our current teaching series. My book describes how Christians are to live in these dark days in light of the great wealth that has been deposited in our spiritual bank account because of our personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

I look forward to hearing from you today. And thanks to all of you who partner with us to pierce the darkness with the light of God's word. David. Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. When you support the ministry of Pathway to Victory by giving a generous gift, you're invited to request Holy Living in an Unholy World. That's the brand new book by Dr. Robert Jeffress. To request your copy, call 866-999-2965 or go to ptv.org. Now, when your gift is $75 or more, we'll also send you the complete collection of DVD video and MP3 format audio discs for this series, Holy Living in an Unholy World.

The set also comes with a companion study guide, perfect for at-home use or small group Bible study. One more time, call 866-999-2965 or visit ptv.org. You could send your donation by mail. Here's the address, P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas, 75222.

Again, that's P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. I'm David J. Mullins. Wishing you a great weekend? Then join us again Monday when our series called Holy Living in an Unholy World continues. Right here on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. You made it to the end of today's podcast from Pathway to Victory, and we're so glad you're here. Pathway to Victory relies on the generosity of loyal listeners like you to make this podcast possible. One of the most impactful ways you can give is by becoming a Pathway partner. Your monthly gift will empower Pathway to Victory to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and help others become rooted more firmly in His Word. To become a Pathway partner, go to ptv.org slash donate or follow the link in our show notes. We hope you've been blessed by today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.