Why was the wall between Jew and Gentile broken?

Hello, and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick, an Oklahoma rancher and farmer. Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for over 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say, time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, good to have everybody back in here again, and program number three, I guess, on the board. And we'll go right back. We left off in Ephesians chapter two, and again, we always like to remind our television audience that we're an informal Bible study. We like the informality of the whole group, as well as myself. There again, I get letter after letter, don't ever put on a suit and tie. I just tell people, don't you worry. In fact, Warren here, I got to tell him some of this, Warren sent me a Christmas present after, you remember our one newsletter had Iris and I on the front of the newsletter, where I had a suit and tie on, and got a Christmas present from Warren shortly after that, and it was a little pen knife, you know, and little note with it. And he said, I was going to send you a tie, but I noticed you had one. So, Iris and I got a good laugh out of that one. But anyway, we're just informal, and we'd like to have people just get into the Word, and study it on your own, and compare Scripture with Scripture. And when you become skilled with it, begin to tell others, because that's the name of the game. You know, I constantly feel, and I've expressed it more than once, that the local church is not so much for evangelism, I don't think, as it is for teaching the believer. And if the believer can be well taught, he's going to go out and become a soul winner, and then bring them into the church for fellowship, and that's what I feel the church is for. But whatever, as we teach, and as we study, we trust that our folk will become skilled in the use of the Word of God. All the past programs, of course, as I've said so many times before, are available on tapes, audio tapes, the videotapes, as well as the printed page. And if you're interested in any of that, you give us a call, or write to us, and we'll get the information out to you. Okay, now this is, as I've said so often, a Bible study. We want to buy up the time, so let's come right back, at least for a kick-off, to Ephesians chapter 2, again verse 13. But now, remember we looked at verse 12 quite in depth, that the lot of the Gentiles before the Age of Grace was, they were without God in this world, they were not members of the nation of Israel, they could not be partakers of the covenant promises. But now it's a whole new ball game, is the way I like to put it. Now it's not just Israel. God has now fulfilled the last part of that Abrahamic covenant, through Abraham, through the nation of Israel, through the Messiah, through the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, by now the letters of Paul in particular. The Gospel has gone out to the whole world, free for nothing, everything that needs to be done is already done. And so that's what the next verse talks about then, verse 13. Yes, we were without God in this world, but now we are nigh by the blood of Christ. Now in our closing remarks in our last half hour program, remember I took you back to the night of the Passover, where they were instructed to apply the blood of the Passover lamb on the two side posts and the linen of the door. You all know the account, and I think my last statement as the program closed was, that as those Jews stood in their little huts around that kitchen table, much like mine I think, and as they stood around that kitchen table, did they shake in their boots with fear? No, because they knew they were safe with the blood on the door. But what was the heart attitude of the Jews behind the door with the blood applied, that God based His saving them? Their what? Faith! See it's always been by faith. When you get into the book of Hebrews chapter 11, beginning with Abel, by faith Abel offered a better sacrifice than Cain. By faith this, by faith that one, and all the way up through history, it's always been by faith. But you can't just say, oh well I have faith, that doesn't amount to anything. Where is your faith placed? Alright, now come back with me again to Romans, this time back to chapter 3, and remembering what he said here, that we've been made nigh by the blood of Christ. Now if you remember in our last program, I used one of the absolutes in Hebrews, and what was it? Without the shedding of blood there is no remission, none! And they can throw the blood out of their doctrine, and they've got nothing. They can take the blood out of their hymn book, and they've got nothing to sing about, because it is still an absolute that without the shed blood of Christ there is no remission. Alright, Romans chapter 3, we almost have to start at verse 23. For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. Everybody, Jew and Gentile, black and white, oriental or western, makes no difference. The whole human race has fallen short of the glory of God. But then verse 24, being justified freely, without any demands, without any strings, freely by His grace through the redemption, or the process of buying us back, that is in Christ Jesus. Now verse 25, Who hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood. Now of course His blood couldn't be shed until He died. His shed blood and His death are synonymous, they mean the same thing. So we have to place our faith in the fact that the blood of Christ literally became our Passover. We are now free from the fear of death and eternal doom, because we are under the blood. But it isn't just the blood by itself, it's coupled with our faith in it. And that's where we have to know what the Bible says in order to have faith. What has God said? God has said in so many words, when I see the blood I'll Passover, and death can't touch us. And it hasn't changed. This whole Old Testament format just comes marching along, and comes to fruition when we get to Paul's Gospel based on his death, burial and resurrection. So through faith in His blood, and thereby declaring His righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. And all the way up through the New Testament Scriptures we have that constant reference to the blood. Now I'm going to take you all the way over even to Peter's little epistle. We looked at this verse not too awfully long ago, little epistle of 1 Peter, way there at the back. 1 Peter chapter 1, and let us drop all the way down to verse 18 and 19. 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 18 and 19. It looks like you've all got it? Alright, for as much as you know that you are not redeemed, or bought back with corruptible things as silver and gold, or from your vain conversation received by tradition. My, how many people are soaked with tradition today, and it's going to fail them. I'll guarantee it, it's going to fail them. And so Peter says the same thing, a vain manner of living received by tradition from your fathers. And then verse 19, but what were we redeemed with? The precious blood of Christ, and again the analogy is as of a lamb without blemish, and without spot. Now those of you who know your Old Testament, what was the whole process leading up to the killing of the Passover lamb? Well they had to go and take it out of the flock, and bring it up, isolate it for how long? Three days. And in that three day period, what were they to look for? Any kind of a flaw, or a blemish. And if it weren't perfect, they couldn't use it. Well the analogy again is, how long was Christ on public view? Three years. And there was no sin found in Him, so what could He fulfill? The Passover lamb. And as His blood was shed, and applied to the door of our heart, instead of the door in Egypt, now then the death angel passes over us. We don't have to shake in our boots when death faces us. We don't have to wonder, am I going to make it? My goodness, I hear some of the most horrible stories. One gentleman told me his father-in-law had been an evangelist for a particular group for 25 years, and yet as he faced his own death, he paced the floor worrying out loud, am I going to go to heaven when I die? Now isn't that sad? Then I always have to think, well what about the people that he preached to? They must have been left with that same dilemma. But oh listen, that isn't what the Scripture teaches, it says that we know. John writes in his little epistle, we know we have passed from death unto life, when we love the brethren. There's that change in attitude. Now then let's come back to Ephesians. The blood of Christ makes all the difference in the world, and it's our faith in that shed blood, as well of course as we saw in our last program, the power of His resurrection, new life, and from that new life God is looking for fruit. Now let's move on down to Ephesians chapter 2. So we've been made nigh by the blood of Christ, for He, Christ, is our what? Peace. Oh you see the world is so hungry for peace tonight, personally as well as between nations. That's the whole scope of all the politicians in the United Nations and the efforts in the world, until the Prince of Peace Himself returns. But to bring it down to the individual's quest for peace, the same thing. There can be no peace until we have peace with God, because after all that is where the controversy lies. Man has been alienated by his sin, and this whole book has been written to bring us back into favor with God, to be reconciled to God. And so now again we have to go back to Romans. You know Romans is the foundation of our Christian doctrine, really. And so again you come back to Romans, and now chapter 5. That's why I'm sure the Holy Spirit laid the book of Romans exactly where it's at, because it's so foundational. And I guess I should have mentioned it before this afternoon, but as we came into these prison epistles, if you remember when we first started the book of Ephesians, I said, it's just like taking a jump up to a different level. And once you get into these prison epistles, not another single quote from the Old Testament, not another direct reference to the nation of Israel or the Jew. All that is now behind, and we are in a whole new territory of basic doctrine concerning God and salvation and so forth. And it's not just Israel, it's not just Gentiles, it's the whole human race. And as we then as believers are united in Christ, and become members of the Body of Christ, as a result then of that finished work of the cross. But all right, now Romans chapter 5 verse 1. And again he uses the therefore, because of what he had written in the previous chapters, being justified by faith. That's all Paul knows, faith plus nothing. So justified by faith. He doesn't go on to say, and this, and that, and something else. We're justified by faith. And as soon as we're justified by faith, what do we have? Peace with God. That's what the world is looking for, peace with God. And when you've got peace with God, you've got peace with everyone else. And so we have by faith, peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And again I've got to take verse 2. Romans 5 verse 2. "...by whom also by the Lord Jesus, and His finished work, which of course is the backdrop for everything that the Apostle Paul teaches, by whom also we have access by faith, taking God at His Word, into this grace, or this condition of unmerited favor, wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." That's our future. All right, now come back to Ephesians once again. We're making a little headway this afternoon. Ephesians 2, verse 2. "...for He is our peace by faith, having entered into that relationship of being redeemed, and justified, and declared righteous, and all those things that accompanied our faith. For He is our peace, who hath made both one." Now who in the world are the both? Jew and Gentile. They've lost their separateness. They have lost their individual identities as Jew or as Gentile. Paul never again refers to that. But here they have come together, and Jew and Gentile are now one. In fact, come back with me to I Corinthians again. I Corinthians chapter 12 says almost the same thing, only in a little more basic language. And that's why, again, all these early letters were ahead of Ephesians, because Ephesians is just simply building on these original foundations of Romans, and Corinthians, and Galatians. But now in I Corinthians chapter 12, starting at verse 12, and then verse 13. "...for as the body, the human body, is one, and has many members, and all the members of that one body, this physical human body, even though the members are many, they're still one body, so also is Christ, or the body of Christ." Now verse 13, and I always make the emphasis here, this is the only Holy Spirit baptism that we as believers enjoy today. This is the only one, and here it is. "...for by one Spirit..." What Spirit? The Holy Spirit. "...for by one Spirit are we..." What's the next word? "...all..." Not just some of the elite, not some of the most spiritual, but every believer has been baptized by the Holy Spirit into the Body of Christ. "...whether we be..." Now here's why, Paul says in Ephesians, "...there is no longer that wall of petition. We have both been made into one body..." And here it is. "...for by one Spirit are we all baptized into the one body, whether we be Jew or Gentile." See that? "...whether we be bond or free." We have been all, every believer, no matter whether he's at the bottom of the social totem pole, or if he's at the top, it makes no difference. We've all been placed into the Body of Christ, in a unique position that God reserved for us from eternity past. Knowing that we'd be saved, He had this place ready for us, and that's why when we get a little further in Ephesians, we're going to see that we are a building that has been fitted and fitly put together. All right, now then come back to Ephesians. "...so he hath made both one..." Verse 14 again. "...he hath broken down that middle wall of partition between..." Who? Jews and Gentiles. Now we know that in the temple there in Jerusalem before it was destroyed, there was a dividing wall that would keep the Gentile proselytes from worshiping in the same area as the Jew. They did have an area for the Gentiles if they had proselyte. Now I always say a proselyte is best described in the words of the Lord Jesus Himself when He told the Jews, you know, you go from one end of the empire to the other to proselytize one person, and He says, "...you make them more the child of hell than you are yourselves." But nevertheless they embraced the religion of Judaism, but they were separated from having any contact with the Jew by that dividing wall. Now look what Paul says happened to it. That dividing wall has been totally dismantled, it's destroyed, and it is broken down because, now verse 15, and we've got a few seconds left, "...and having abolished in His flesh the enmity..." Now we know Romans 8 speaks of enmity with God, but I don't think that's what he's talking about here. He's talking about the enmity between who? Jew and Gentile. Now I think it was two programs ago, wasn't it Jerry, when I brought it to the end, and I don't suppose everybody caught it, but Paul was rehearsing how the Lord has spoken to him, and that He had told him that he was to be sent far hence to the Gentiles. And what did the next verse say? "...and at that word they erupted and said, Away with him, he's not fit to live." What was the word? Gentile. I mean they wouldn't even say it. Now all of a sudden that's gone. When a Jew becomes a believer, he is just as much in fellowship with a Gentile, as a Gentile with a Gentile, or a Jew with a Jew. That's all broken down because of the work of the cross. So verse 15 again, "...and having abolished in His flesh the death of the cross, the enmity that was between Jew and Gentile, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that God could make in Himself, in Christ, of the two, one new man." Now you know Paul speaks of the new man so often as a believer. We are no longer the old Adam. We are a new person in Christ, but that's not what he's talking about here. He's not talking about the new man of the individual in salvation. He's talking about the new person, the body of Christ, a whole new concept made up of Jews and Gentiles, so that He could make by virtue of His work of the cross, twain, one new man, and consequently making peace. Turn ahead a few pages to another verse that I've used before, and I'll probably use it again because I love it. I love the way it's put. Colossians chapter 2, dropping down to verse 14. Colossians 2, verse 14, and remember the Colossians were what kind of people? Gentile. And so the language is the same again as it was the Ephesians. As he writes to these Gentiles, he says in verse 14 now, chapter 2, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, and contrary to us. And what did he do with it? Nailed it to his cross. Now the casual reader will miss this again. Can you imagine what it would be like for a Gentile to live under the rules and regulations of Judaism? Oh there were no way they could cope with that. Because you see a Gentile was, and that's of course the problem that Paul had with his new believers, they were used to the immoral activity of the pagan idolatrous community. They had no compunction about the dietary laws of Israel and so forth. And so for a Gentile to come under that, man that was something they couldn't even think about. And so what does Paul say? All of that was nailed to his cross. And like I said in the last half hour, what did the cross do? It killed. And so his cross killed all of these demands of the law. It was put to death. It was ended there. Now we always have to be careful. Come back with me to Romans 13. I think it is. We have to be careful, and you've heard me say it over and over, grace is not license. Just because we step into the grace of God, does not mean that now I'm free to do as I please. That after all God's winking at it, and after all I'm under the blood, and I'm forgiven. No, no. No, no. That goes contrary to the Word. But in Romans 13 verse 8, and if I understand the Greek here, it doesn't mean that you can't borrow money to buy a home or a car. It really is better translated, defraud no one. Don't take advantage of someone and cheat him. So defraud no one, but to love one another, for he who loveth another hath fulfilled the law. That is the Ten Commandments. And now he lists them, for this, since love is now the key, for this thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet, and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Who in the world can do that but a believer? The unsaved world can't. Oh they can try, but they're going to fall flat on their face before too long. But the believer is empowered to do that. We are empowered to love our neighbor. Now of course we've got to kick it in gear ourselves, but nevertheless we have that, to love the neighbor. Why? Because that is the fulfillment of the Ten Commandments. Now always remember that the Law, as Israel practiced it, was under the constant threat of terrific punishment. You all know that. In other words, if they picked up sticks on the Sabbath what was the punishment? Death. Well we're not under anything like that, but does that mean that since I don't have to worry about getting put to death if I steal something, that I can go ahead and steal? No, no way. And that's what I mean that grace is not licensed. We are still under these moral laws that the Holy Spirit now empowers us to keep, but the basis for it is love. Because after all what put Christ on the cross? Love. He loved the human race so much that He died for them. And that love is supposed to be promulgated through you and I as believers in the everyday world. So always remember that as we enter into this complete freedom of grace, we're not under Law. That doesn't mean that we can now be lawless, but it's just that the commandments are not over us like a noose or like a yoke, which the Scripture says was too heavy to bear. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kenta, Oklahoma. 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kenta, Oklahoma. 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer supported and your gift is appreciated. Thank you and be sure to tune in next time for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.