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Reasons for the Incarnation — Reconciliation
Text: Ephesians 2:11-22
Date: 12/11/14 File name: Incarnation3.wpd
ID Number: 95
Theme: Sin created a ‘Wall of Hostility’ between men and God.
God came in the flesh to destroy that wall of hostility.
Reconciliation with God frees us to be reconciled with each other breaking down rigid national, psychological, social, racial and religious barriers.
Some of you have seen it ... the December 19th cover of TIME Magazine.
It surprised no one that the editors chose Donald J. Trump as their “Person of the Year” — the single qualification being the individual chosen was the biggest influence upon the news over the last year.
The subtitle on the cover is what was most interesting.
It dubbed President-elect Trump as “President of the Divided States of America.”
The issue of course being is the title descriptive of where the nation is, or prescriptive of where the editors believe a Trump administration will take the nation.
I’ll leave that debate to the pundits.
That TIME Magazine would describe America as a nation divided is also not surprising.
That seems to be the common sentiment among most of our fellow citizens.
In July, The Washington Post ran a front page story titled, “America Really Is More Divided than Ever” and reported on a Washington Post-ABC News poll finding that 55 percent of Americans believe President Obama had done more to divide the country than bring it together.
A Gallup Poll conducted just two weeks ago (Nov.
21, 2016) reported that a record-high 77% of Americans perceive the nation as divided, and less than half believe President-elect Trump’s future actions will help unite the country.
At a time such as this, the Church needs to step into the breech with a message of what can reconcile us ... His name is Jesus, the Anointed One of God who can reconcile men to God, and men to men.
Men have always been good at erecting walls that separate themselves from others.
The ancient world of Paul's day was full of divisions.
The highly civilized Greeks considered every other race inferior and referred to them as Barbarians.
The Romans thought themselves superior to other cultures and ethnic groups and looked upon others a Pagans.
Masters looked upon slaves as property.
Even the Jews perceived all others — the Gentiles — as "unclean" and people best to be avoid.
But the greatest division that existed in the ancient world is the same great division that exists today.
Sin creates a wall of hostility that divides men from God, and men from men.
Into this world of division God came in the flesh.
No other world religion makes such an audacious claim.
He came minister the five Incarnational-R’s — Redemption ... Revelation ... Reconciliation ... Righteousness ... Resurrection.
• He came to reveal God’s character and person to men.
To know God the Son is to know God the Father.
• He came to redeem us from sin and death.
He was the spotless Lamb of God who died for our sins.
• And, as we will discover this morning, He came to reconcile us with God and make it possible for us to be reconciled with each other.
I. WITHOUT CHRIST ALL MEN ARE SEPARATED FROM GOD
“Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; That at that time ye 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:” (Ephesians 2:11–12, KJV)
1. that is the stark spiritual epitaph of the lost man
A. MEN ARE SPIRITUALLY LOST AND WITHOUT HOPE
1. because of sin men are estranged from God
a. when Paul reminded the Gentile converts of their former state of life without Christ,
he used language that his readers clearly understood
2. in verses 11-12 Paul lists five characteristics of their lost, unregenerate nature
a. 1st, We Were Without Christ
1) their spiritual life was like a large, empty expanse a wasteland
a) if you are not united with Christ, then you are separated from Christ
b) there is no middle ground of almost being a Christian
2) men who are separated from Christ have nothing about their character or
conduct that commends them to God
“For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”
(Isaiah 64:6, NASB95)
b. 2nd, We Were Aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel
1) the word commonwealth recalls the concept of ancient Greek city-states,
whereby a city or country provided numerous valuable advantages, benefits, and privileges for its citizens, but withheld them from foreigners
2. in other words, the Gentiles had no rights to the spiritual blessings of God that
He had so abundantly bestowed upon Israel
c. 3rd, We Were Strangers from the Covenants of the Promise
1) out of His sovereign grace God elected Israel to be His chosen people
a) that choice began with the calling of Abram and was re-emphasized again and
again through God's covenant promises to Israel
2) under the Old Testament covenant, the Gentile nations had been excluded from
that covenant relationship
a) they were spiritual strangers and alienated from the love and grace of God
b) they were like aliens in a foreign land who have no legal or social standing
d. 4th, We Were Without Hope
ILLUS.
In John Bunyan’s allegory, “Pilgrim’s Progress” there is a scene where
Christian, the story’s central character, has entered the House of the Interpreter.
The house is a place of respite, built for the relief of pilgrims who are on the road to the Celestial Kingdom.
It’s a place to find rest, but also a necessary stop where pilgrims learn about the “deeper things” of the Christian faith.
There are many rooms in the Interpreter’s House, and Christian learns many valuable spiritual lessons while he is there.
There is, however, in the house, a room — a sad room — where Christian sees a man locked in the Iron Cage.
The man in the cage appears sad with downcast eyes and folded hands.
He sighs as if his heart is breaking.
The Interpreter does not openly explain the meaning of the man in the cage to Christian, but encourages him to speak with the him.
We learn that the Iron Cage represents the despair of one who has sinned to the point of losing hope of God's forgiveness and salvation.
The cage is made of iron to show how strong the bonds of hopelessness can be upon the soul.
Bunyan describes the room containing the cage as very dark.
This ominous darkness suggests a lack of illumination and spiritual understanding that has caused this man's drift into hopelessness.
1) there are hundreds of people in our own community who are like the man in the
iron cage
2) without Christ, they are without hope —living in spiritual darkness
e. 5th, We Were Without God in the World
1) the phrase without God is one word in the original language of the New
Testament , and is the word from which we get our word atheist
2) they were not atheists in the modern sense, for the gentiles of that day believed
in many gods
3) they were atheists in the sense that they did not believe in the true and living
God who has revealed himself in Christ Jesus our Lord
3. Sin Separates Us from God and Creates a Wall of Hostility Between Us and the Lord
II.
THROUGH JESUS MEN ARE RECONCILED TO GOD
“ ... God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.”
(2 Corinthians 5:19, NASB95)
1. five-hundred years before the Messiah was born, the prophet Isaiah had prophesied
that a time would come when peace would be proclaimed “to those who were far off”
“ ... Peace, peace, to those far and near,” says the LORD.
“And I will heal them.”
(Isaiah 57:19, NIV84)
a. this was a reference to the Gentiles and predicted that one day, they too, would be
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