Aliens Brought Near to God

Well, I enjoyed that worship. Whether it's a newer song or one of those old ones that we know, it's always a blessing. I appreciate those who lead us in song like that. Well, let's take our Bible. I want us to turn back to Ephesians chapter 2. I did say earlier in our scripture reading that we'll be in verses 11 to 13. Now I will mention a few other verses, and some of these verses are key passages. Now I always encourage you to take notes. I think it's a good habit to do that as you're sitting in church and under the teaching of God's word.

And I would encourage you to jot these verses down and go study them because they all come together to form what the Lord is giving us. Now I have already said that we are starting a new section here in chapter 2. Scholars and commentators tell us that chapter 2 can be divided. It could be divided with verses 1 to 10 being the first section, verses 11 to 12 being the second section. And I think that when we wade through these verses and understand them, I think you'll see the division is pretty easy for us to see.

Now even though Paul is making a shift in his teaching, he is still revealing and explaining God's master plan for the salvation of man. How many times have I said that throughout chapter 1 and chapter 2? That a bit. And it is important for us to see that he has been doing this all along. This is all about God explaining through Paul his master plan for the salvation of man. Now we should remember then explaining and unfolding God's master plan. Paul started with what God did in eternity past. That would be what God did before time in human history as we know it. He then moved to what happens in time in human history.

This would be the things that we can identify with. These are the things that we can experience. And Paul also speaks of things that God has done and will do in eternity future. Well here in the rest of chapter 2, Paul begins to speak to the inclusivity of God's master plan for the salvation of man. Paul speaks to the fact that God's plan for the salvation of man involves both Jew and Gentile. So keep that in your mind. Keep that in your mind that we are still dealing with God's master plan for the salvation of man and that Paul is explaining the inclusivity of God's master plan and the salvation of man.

Now right away in the verses I want us to see that Paul is calling certain people in the Ephesian church to remember. But he's calling them to remember their past life. He does this in verse 11 and if we'll look at verse 11 we will see it. He says therefore remember that at one time. That would be the English standard version. The new American basically says the same thing. Therefore remember that formally you. Now if you have a good memory you will see that this is the second time that Paul has called these Ephesians to remember their past. Chapter 2 verse 1 Paul called them to remember who they were before they were converted to Christ.

But here Paul is calling them to remember something else. He does this starting in verse 11. Now notice the difference. I'm going to go back and grab a hold of all of the verses that we've studied. Verses 1 to 10 Paul reminded them of their moral condition before they came to Christ. Get that. Paul reminded them of their moral condition before they came to Christ. He reminded them and taught them that before they came to Christ they were dead in their trespasses and sin. And this was their spiritual, their moral condition before Christ. Well here starting in verse 11 Paul reminded them of their religious condition before they came to Christ.

Their religious condition before they came to Christ. He reminded them and taught them that before they came to Christ there was a big difference between the Jew and the Gentile. There was a big religious difference and even differences beyond their religion. Well this leads us to and points us to something that we can struggle to understand about their world. And that is the fact that there was a big division between Jew and Gentile in their time and in their culture.

It is no overstatement to say that the Jew Gentile division was one of if not the most bitter divisions in their day and that was an issue in the church and the churches in their time. Basically this is what you had. The Jewish people were extremely proud of their position as the chosen people of the one true God. They were extremely proud of their status as the one nation in the world that had a covenant relationship with God. But because of their pride and their failure to embrace God's purpose for them as the chosen people of God they treated all other peoples and nations with great disdain, with great contempt, and even hatred.

I have shared this with you before. Many of you will remember this in Paul's day and before a good orthodox Jewish man would wake up in the morning and he would literally pray thanking God that he wasn't a woman and he wasn't a Gentile. Well what happens in this kind of situation? Naturally the one or the ones that are hated do the same thing in return because the Jews disdain and hated all non-Jews. Well all non-Jews disdain and hated the Jews in return. Doesn't that sound like our day? Different races, different groups, different nationalities. They hate each other and what happens the others turn around and hate in return.

It's the same old cycle of sin folks, there's nothing new under the sun. And look, not only were there tremendous divisions between Jews and Gentiles, Jews and non-Jews, their world was divided in so many other ways as well. There was a great racial pride and hatred that also came from the Greeks. The Greeks were very, very proud of their culture and their race and they saw themselves as superior to all other races just like the Jews. The Greeks saw all non-Greeks as barbarians. We can see Paul talks about this Greek and barbarian issue. He does it in the book of Romans chapter 1 and Colossians chapter 3.

In Romans chapter 1 verse 14 Paul said that he was obligated to minister to both Greeks and barbarians. There were other things that caused division in their day and in their world. Besides religious, racial and cultural division, there were great economic divisions. No doubt the greatest division along the lines of economics was the division that was caused from slavery. Slavery actually caused division along economic lines, cultural lines, religious lines and even racial lines. And there were the divisions caused by gender in their day and in their culture.

Surprisingly the division from gender and gender rules and customs was almost as great as the division caused from slavery. Look at what was happening here. All these divisions, all these differences came into the church when these people walked in the door of the church. When men like Paul evangelized these types of people, these divisions and barriers didn't not simply disappear. When they were converted to Christ, these divisions and hatreds, they did not simply go away. These problems lingered in their lives, in the lives of God's people and these problems lingered into the churches in their day.

Paul was aiming at this kind of problem in Colossians 3, 3 verse 11. Paul not only condemned the divisions here in Colossians 3, 11, but he highlights the different types of divisions that they faced. Paul says, and I'm quoting the verse, "Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, scintian, slave, free, but Christ is all and in all." Let me read that verse again. I want you to see the divisions he points out. "Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, scintian, slave, or free, but Christ is all and in all." And notice what Paul was doing right there.

He is addressing the fact that old divisions, old barriers, and even hatreds can't be among God's people. He addressed the proud Greeks in Colossians 3, 11. He addressed the proud Jews. He addressed the barbarians, those non-Greeks that the Greeks hated so much. He spoke of the scintian. Now the scintians were a nomadic, brutal, warlike people who had invaded centuries earlier. They were the most hated and feared within the barbarian peoples. Paul also addressed the slave and the free. In this day, slavery was very, very common. You actually had those who were owned as living property.

Yes, living property, and those who owned that living property, and they were all coming into the church. Paul was addressing those barriers. These were centuries old divisions and deep-seated fears and hates and pride. Paul was saying that in Christ, all those divisions, all those barriers, all those hates should be done away with. They should be gone. He said Christ is all in in all. He is all in in all. And in Galatians 3, 28, he says that they are all one in Christ. Imagine telling that group they're one in Christ. But it is safe to say that no division eclipsed the division and the differences between Jew and Gentile.

It is safe to say that there was no barrier bigger than the wall between the Jew and the Gentile. That is what Paul is speaking to here starting in verse 11. He was calling these Ephesians to remember the great differences in the divisions that they once knew and they could creep into their lives and into the church. And these things were creeping into the church. More specifically, Paul was calling the Gentiles in this church to remember who and what they were before. Before they had been converted to Christ. Paul's number one goal here, his number one goal here is that these people in this church would be one. That they would be unified.

Paul's biggest desire is that they would live out this oneness, that they would live out this unity that comes from Christ. Now Paul is doing several things here, but basically he was reminding them of two things that I want us to look at this morning. Two things they were really easy for you to see out of the verses. He was reminding them that they were alienated from God. That's in verses 11 to 12, and he was reminding them that they were brought near to God. That's easy for you to see. That's easy for you to remember and easy for you to write down so that we can learn what the Lord wants to give us right here. So let's start off.

I want us to see that he was reminding them, number one, that they were alienated from God. I want to go back and read the verses. Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands. Remember that you were at one time, you were separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. So we see at one time they were alienated. They were separated from God. But we have to ask the question, who? Who does this pertain to?

Well we know that the letter was received by all of those that were in the Ephesian church and we know that this went to other churches as well. But within the Ephesian church there were both Jew and Gentile. But here Paul was specifically addressing the Gentiles. Now we can know this for two reasons. First by the use of the pronoun "you." We see that in verse 11, verse 12 and verse 13. And then if you look ahead you will see that Paul changes his pronoun in verse 14. But then second and the more obvious by the language of verse 11.

Look at verse 11 and notice this term, "the uncircumcised." Now most likely your translation will even have the uncircumcised in quotations. Now we need to ask what this means and what is happening here and even why the English translations use quotations. Basically this is what was going on. The Gentiles did not practice circumcision which was a physical symbol of being set apart unto God. And because the Gentiles did not practice circumcision, the Jews looked at them as outcasts. They looked at them as inferior people, as rejects. They did not have circumcision nor the spiritual and religious things that God had given the Jews.

So the Jews developed this contemptuous type of a nickname for the Gentiles. They called them those people, the uncircumcised. That is what the quotations are communicating because the English translators understand this. The Jews called all Gentiles the uncircumcised, meaning they were an inferior pagan people rejected by God and they rejected them. Oh and they called themselves the circumcised, meaning they were better because they were chosen by God. At least that is what they thought. But it was all out of pride. This was all out of pride, out of arrogance and a total misunderstanding of circumcision and more.

Circumcision never represented a true personal relationship to God. Paul makes that very clear, very clear in Romans 6, or excuse me Romans 2, verses 28 and 29, also in Galatians 5, 6 and Galatians 6, 15. And the distinction made by circumcision between the Jew and the non-Jews was simply a physical distinction, nothing more. And so this pointed to two problems here. First the Gentiles were alienated and they were alienated socially. They were the uncircumcised, remember? And that happened because the Jews were spiritually wrong. That was the second problem.

The Jews boasted in circumcision when all along the external man-made mark held no spiritual significance. It was an external mark made by the hands of man. Paul even says that. What mattered was a circumcision of the heart according to Galatians 5, 6, not a circumcision that was made by human hands. So basically Paul was reminding these Gentiles, he was reminding these Gentiles in the church of their former life before they came to Christ, he was calling them to remember that they were alienated from God. They were separated from God and their alienation. This separation was on several levels. Actually it was on three levels, two we've seen.

First their alienation was racial. We've seen this. Their alienation, their separation was around race. The Jews were a chosen nation, a chosen people, a chosen race. And all the other Gentiles, all of the other non-Jews were not. So the Gentiles were alienated in that they were not a part of God's chosen race. Second, their alienation was social. We've seen this. The Jews were separated from the Gentiles in every part of life although in many ways they live side by side. So the Gentiles were alienated from the Jews socially. But third, their alienation was spiritual. The Jews were near to God spiritually in many ways but not the Gentiles.

So the Gentiles were alienated spiritually and religiously and that is what Paul is explaining and unfolding here. And there were four ways they were alienated spiritually. This comes out of verse 12. Let's read the verse again. He says, "Remember," again, go back to verse 11, "Therefore remember," and then verse 12, "Remember," and now he begins to explain this spiritual alienation. "Remember that you were at one time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world." So we see first that they were separated from Christ.

Isn't that what we see in the verse? This meant that they had no knowledge of or a hope in God's promised Messiah. Whereas the Jews had the promises and the prophecies about the Messiah in the Old Testament Scriptures, the Gentiles had none of these things. Faithful Jews lived longing for the promised Messiah whereas the Gentiles didn't even know that a Messiah was coming. One writer said it like this, "They, the Gentiles, had no expectation of a Messiah to light up their darkness." You see that? They had no expectation of a Messiah to light up their darkness. They didn't even know they were living in darkness.

And then second, they were alienated from Israel. The New American says, "Excluded from." That's right there in verse 12, the second part of the verse. You see God had made His people, the Jews, into a nation. He gave His chosen nation His unique blessing and protection. He gave them His word, His covenants, and His purposes on earth. But not to the Gentiles. They were alienated. They were excluded from the community, the citizenship, and the privileges of God's nation, Israel. And as one writer said it, "An alien is one who does not belong." Let me say that again. An alien is one who does not belong. And I'm continuing with a quote.

He is a stranger and a foreigner without the rights and privileges of citizenship. Well, that's what they were. Then third, Paul says, "They were strangers to the covenants." Again, that's right there in the verse. They were strangers to the covenants. You see, Israel was a covenant nation. In the Jews, a covenant people, God had made the covenants with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. He had made covenants with David and Solomon and even Moses and others. And with all of the covenants, starting with a covenant God made with Abraham, God gave promises to bless, promises to protect, promises to prosper, promises to keep who? The nation of Israel.

And as a part of those covenants, God promised to bless his people with a particular land and make them a kingdom, even give them kings, but not to the Gentiles. They were strangers to God's covenants with Israel. God never once made a covenant with any Gentile nation or any Gentile people. And then fourth, they were without God in the world. That's at the end of verse 12. The Gentiles, they were without God in the world. Simply they were without hope and without God. Now, listen, folks, lots of people say they have no hope, but the truest definition of hopelessness is one without God. Well, that's what they were.

As one writer pointed out, this does not mean that they were atheists. Think about that. They had their own pagan gods and their own pagan manmade religions that they worship. Galatians 4h says that they were ignorant of God, therefore they were slaves to their manmade gods. So we see that Paul was calling these Gentile believers in the church there at Ephesus to remember two times. He says, remember, and Paul was calling them to remember a lot. This is loaded. He wanted them to remember that before they came to Christ, they were aliens in many ways and on many levels. They were separated from God in every way.

They were alienated from the people of God, the nation of God, the Messiah of God, and the covenants of God. They were separated from God in every way and without hope. They didn't even have a knowledge of the light that was to come that could light up their darkness. They didn't even know they were living in darkness. And look, they needed this reminder. Two times Paul says, remember, no doubt many of those Gentiles, believers there in the church were forgetting where they had come from. And no doubt there were these second generation Gentile believers that really didn't know where their parents had come from.

And look, they needed this reminder. They needed this reminder to humble them and to keep them humble. And as we will see, one of the keys to unity in the church is humility. Knowing and remembering where you came from by God's grace. Humility, you should write that word down. Humility is one of the keys to unity and oneness within the church. Now question an application for us today. Were you alienated from God before you came to Christ? Was there a time in your life when you were alienated from God, you were separated from God with no hope in the world? Now answer that carefully.

Because if you say no, if you say no, that means that you are like the Jew who had no need for Christ. Were holding on to possibly your religion, holding on to possibly your religious heritage or even your religious works or even your human goodness. Because you got to remember now, not only did the Gentiles need to be made right with God, the Jews needed to as well. But look folks, if you answer yes, it could be that you see a fresh and a new how alienated you were. It could be that you are being reminded that you were a Gentile, a stranger to God and the things of God.

It could be that you are remembering the hopelessness that dominated your life and dominated your world. And it could be that you are remembering who you once were. Therefore God is humbling you. He's reminding you and humbling you. And it should humble you and it should continue to humble you. We all need a little dose of humble pie. So right there they were alienated from God. But let's continue. Number two, he is reminding them that they were brought near to God. We see this in verse 13. Paul was reminding them that they were brought near to God. Let's look at verse 13.

But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Simply those who were alienated or separated from God were brought near to God by God. Now just in one verse, Paul makes this abrupt shift. He shifts from the negative to the positive. Don't you see that? He moves from describing their alienation from God in verses 11 to 12 to their reconciliation by God in Christ in verse 13. You see that? He goes from alienation to reconciliation. Oh, that's so good. From alienation to reconciliation. Now this is extremely important for us to see. Paul is showing us how these aliens were brought near to God.

And I want us to see this. I want us to take a look at what took place. First the verse says they were far off. Look at your copy of verse 13. They were far off. Now this term far off was a common Jewish term that described the Gentiles as being far away from God. We see this term in other places in scripture. We see this term used in the Old Testament in Isaiah 5719. And also in the New Testament as well. In Acts chapter 2, this could surprise some of you. When Peter was preaching on the day of Pentecost, he said that the promise of the Holy Spirit in salvation was for the Jews and for those who were far off.

Peter was speaking of the Gentiles, those who would come to Christ. So Paul is referencing the position of these Ephesian Gentiles before Christ. They were far off. And then second, they were brought near. We see that in verse 13. They were brought near. This term brought near is another common Jewish term. But this term was used to describe the Jews as those being near to God. And this was because of their relationship to God as His chosen people, His covenant people. This was because they possessed the knowledge and the worship of the one true God. But notice what Paul is saying here. Notice what he is alluding to.

Those who were far off from God were brought near to God. Although those Gentile believers may not have gotten or understood the significance of the terms here, Paul and the Jews certainly did. You get that? Paul used the term reserved for the Jews for the Gentiles. The Gentiles who were once far off, but then they enjoyed a new position that was reserved for the Jews. They had been brought near to God. And the use of this language certainly speaks to what? The inclusivity of God's plan for the salvation of man. The use of this language certainly speaks to the great unity and the oneness of both the Jew and the Gentile in the church.

He's pointing to that folks. I love how the Bible commentator William McDonald describes what's happening here. I will reference William McDonald every now and then. He produced a fine one volume commentary on the Bible. It might be one that you need to pick up for your own personal study. But I love what William McDonald says here. And I'm quoting. He says Jesus not only brought them near. He also created a new society in which the ancient enmity between Jew and Gentile was forever abolished. And he continues. Up to New Testament times, all of the world was divided into two classes, Jew and Gentile.

But our savior has introduced a third class, the church. That's good in it folks. So first they were far off and second they were brought near. And third, notice how this happened. Now a couple of probing questions here. Did this happen from spiritual education? Did this happen from social reform? There's a lot of social problems here. A lot of ethnic problems, racial problems, centuries of division and hatred. Did this happen from racial reconciliation or some type of a civil rights program? So you can continue with all of those questions. And the answer to all of them is no. This happened in Christ Jesus and by the blood of Christ Jesus.

Look at verse 13. But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. And we're going to see real quickly that this is Jew and Gentile, Gentile and Jew. Here Paul is referring to the perfect atonement that was provided by the Lord Jesus. And in speaking of Christ's blood, Paul was speaking directly of this perfect atonement. Jesus actually spilled his life's blood, making a perfect, complete and sufficient atonement for the sin of men. And this blood atonement provided a way for these Gentiles who were far off to be made near to God. Romans 3.25 says that God put forward Jesus.

God put forward Jesus as a propitiation. That would be an atoning sacrifice by his blood to be received by faith. And this is just what those Gentiles did, folks. Those Gentiles here, they had received Christ and the sacrifice of his blood for the atonement of their sin. Now a question I really want us to think over. I want you to sit up straight, physically, spiritually, emotionally. I need you to follow me here. And the question I want you to ponder is this. What is very important for us to see here? God, verse 13, what must we see? Some of you are pretty quick on your feet and you're already thinking about things.

Some of you might need to ponder over it a little and that's okay. God made us all different. But we need to ask ourselves what is very important for us to see out of this verse. To me, there are three things that we must see. First the obvious. First the obvious. The fact that those who were far off were brought near to God. They were redeemed. They were converted to Christ. Don't we see that in verse 13? Basically this is the good news of the situation. Whereas before they were alienated from God, they have been brought near to God. So the fact that the Gentiles were brought near to God is important to see.

It's right there, easy for you to see, very important. But the second thing, not so obvious. The fact that both Gentiles and Jews were brought near. I've already alluded to it. Although the Jews had the religion that was supposed to bring them near to God, they still needed Christ like the Gentiles. So we are starting to see Paul deal with unity and oneness of the fact that they were all both Jew and Gentile, one in Christ. Look at verse 14. Notice what he says, "For he, Jesus, himself is our peace, our Jew and Gentile." Paul's putting himself in there now. See the personal pronouns changed.

So the fact that Paul is getting to the oneness and the unity he wanted them to have in the church. Listen, this is very important and we might not see it. The fact that both Jews and Gentiles were brought near. But then third, this might be hard for us to see. The fact that Paul shows us how differences, divisions, fights, hatreds, and all conflicts and bitterness can be alleviated. The fact that Paul shows us how divisions and disunity can be done away with. Simply these things are sin. These things are sin. And the only hope for the removal of sin is what? The blood of Christ. It is just that simple.

All sins, including division and hatred and bitterness and fighting and even more can all be forgiven and done away with only by the blood of Christ. And that is what is so vitally important for us to see here. It was in Munich, Germany in 1947, just after World War II, that Corey Timboon had gone into defeated and destroyed Germany with a message. It was the message that God loves and God forgives. Many of you know your history. They were a bombed out country filled with bitter and bombed out people. And this was the message that they needed to hear. God loves and God forgives. It was in a church in Munich where she saw a particular man.

He was balding and rather heavy set according to her testimony. And he came in with a gray overcoat on holding a brown hat in his hands. The people were all leaving the basement of the church where she had been telling her testimony and speaking about God's love and forgiveness. And as the people were walking out in stark silence, he moved forward towards Corey. As he got close to her, he took off his overcoat and then she saw his blue Nazi uniform and she noticed his visored cap. And on his cap, she could see the skull and the crossbones.

Right then with a great rust of emotions, she had all of the memories they flooded back from being a prisoner in Ravensbruck, a Nazi concentration camp, one of the worst. She knew the man well. He had been one of the guards there at Ravensbruck, one of the worst guards. She had seen countless women die there under the ruthless torture of men like him. She had seen her own sister die there, Betsy, in Ravensbruck. Many of her own family died under the cruelty of men just like him. She had suffered much during her time there. She even endured the shame of having to walk out naked right in front of that man when he was a guard.

And at that moment, he stuck out his hand and he said how good it is to know that all of your sins are forgiven. It was at that moment that Corey had to live out the message of God's love and forgiveness that she had just spoken of. It was the first time that she had seen one of her captors face to face since her release, but she froze. She was unable to stick out her hand. She just stared at the man. At that time, he said to Corey, you mentioned Ravensbruck, I was a guard there and I had become a Christian. I know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things I did there, but I would like to hear it from your own lips as well.

And again, he stuck out his hand. Again Corey froze. She was unable to stick out her hand. She just stared. Corey wrote and said many times, and I'm quoting her, I stood there with a cold coldness clutching my heart. But forgiveness is not an emotion. Forgiveness is an act of the will and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart. So she prayed, Jesus help me. I can lift my hand. You supply the feelings. So mechanically she said she thrust her hand into the hand reaching out to her. And as she did, she said that a healing warmth seemed to flood over her entire being, even bringing her to tears.

She then cried out, I forgive you brother with all my heart. I forgive you. And for a long moment they stood there and grasped one another, the former guard and the former prisoner. And you can read of this event that took place in Corey Timboon's life in a little book titled The Hiding Place. Now what's the point of the story? Differences, divisions and conflicts, even bitterness, even hatred, even grievous unspeakable things committed in times of war can truly be forgiven and done away with by the blood of Christ. Anything else is temporary at best and fake at worst. And for us in our day, we must apply this in two ways.

Yes in two ways, in culture and in the church. First I'll speak to culture. You see true forgiveness and unity and a level of justice can only be attained by the blood of Christ. Anything else is fake. Anything else is temporary. Anything else is a smokescreen and a pipe dream. Do you want to bring forgiveness? Do you want to bring unity? Even some level of justice into the world? Well what do you do? Preach Christ. Preach the gospel. You must share the gospel and bring people to Christ because that is the only thing that will bring forgiveness and unity among men and also in the church.

Remember this folks, divisions and fights and disunity and unforgiveness are always sin. Hatred and bitterness and unforgiveness and fights and divisions. It's always sin. No matter the reasons that others may give. Look, I have known men who went to the same church for years and they wouldn't even speak to each other for years. One sat on one side of the sanctuary and the other sat on the other side of the sanctuary and it was all over a disagreement over a hunting lease. And that's sin. But I know Christians are people who profess to be Christians who cause problems, disagreements in division in churches.

They do it in the name of their spiritual convictions and their theological positions and simply their opinions about how one should live out the Christian life. And listen, that is sin as well. No matter how spiritual you are are the reasons, divisions and disagreements and fights and conflicts within the life of the church, that is sin. Now listen to your pastor here, divisions in church, it's always sin. Any division, in any divisions they are always sin but they must come, Paul tells us. And the cure for that division in church is repentance and forgiveness. Repentance and forgiveness.

The problem is many won't repent and many won't forgive. The cure for divisions in the church is forgiveness from the blood of Christ and that brings humility and that brings what? Unity and oneness. So what do we see? These Gentiles in the church, in the Ephesian church but not just the Gentiles, the Jews. What does the text say? They were brought near to God. Now what's the title of the message? To me this comes right out of the heart of the verses. To me it's all about aliens who are brought near to God. Not illegal aliens. No, you get it now. Aliens who were brought near to God. Let me read the verses again.

Paul transitions with the therefore. "Therefore, remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh you were called the uncircumcision." By what is called the circumcision. Which is made in the flesh by hands. "Remember that you were at one time, at that time, separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world, but now." Oh, that's almost like "but God" that we studied earlier.

"But now in Christ Jesus you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ." So let's pray and let's ask God to help us to remember where we have come from. Let's ask God to humble us and to keep us humble. Let's ask, let's pray and ask God to enable us to live and to speak of and even preach the one message that will unify people. The blood of Christ.