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0:38How many have heard of that? Sorry, okay, a number of you. It's the story of Don and Carol Richardson. They were missionaries to some jungle tribes in New Guinea in 1962. And it was the Saoei tribes. And some of them, of these tribes, were some of the most treacherous tribes in the jungle. These tribes honored deceit and betrayal as something to be sought after, something that was virtuous. In fact, the first time that they shared the story of Jesus and how Jesus was betrayed by Judas, they actually exalted Judas as the hero of the story because betrayal was such a way of life for them.

1:27These tribes would regularly Befriend another tribe for the sole purpose of becoming their friends and then betraying them and kill them. This was something they did on a regular basis. And you can imagine the hostility that existed between the tribes, betraying one another, killing their warriors and whatnot. And so they were enemies. And the Richardsons lived among these tribes, trying to minister to them. And there were two tribes in particular, two neighboring villages, the Hainan and the Khmer tribes. And they were always warring against each other.

2:12And after several months of living there, the fighting just would not stop. And so the Richardsons announced, hey, we're leaving. We're going to leave this village. We're going to go minister somewhere else because y'all can't be at peace. You keep fighting with each other and the violence is too much, and so we're leaving. And the two tribes, they, of course, loved having the Westerners there, the missionaries there, because they brought tools and things that helped them. And so they really did not want them to leave. And so they suddenly declared, we're going to be at peace. We're going to make peace. You stay. We're going to be at peace. And in the morning after they made this announcement, the tribes stayed. This elaborate ceremony, which they called the ceremony of the peace child. And essentially, the entire village gathered together, and the two chiefs of each tribe took one of their own children, one of their own babies, and they gave them to their enemy. And it was explained that the baby was to live with their enemy, be renamed, and reared as one of their own.

3:32And this exchange was to serve as a mutual agreement of peace, a mutual agreement that as long as the peace child lived, there was to be peace. There was to be no war between the two tribes. And such was the ceremony that took place. And the Richardsons said, Well, why is all of this necessary? Why are y'all doing this? And he said, Well, they told him, You've been urging us to be at peace, and don't you know it is impossible to have peace without the peace child? That was their understanding. Now, that's not a perfect analogy, but the Richardsons used that as an opportunity to relate the gospel message to them, and eventually went on to lead many of these in these tribes to faith in Christ because of the peace child. And I tell you that. Story this morning because in our passage in Ephesians 2, it's all about peace. And it's all about the one who establishes peace, true peace, among very hostile enemies. Let me read these verses to you. We're going to begin in verse 14. If you were here the last time that we were in this passage together, there's actually one long sentence in the Greek, verses 11 through 22. So we're kind of picking up in the middle of it, but I'll do my best to bring you up to speed. But let me read, beginning in verse 14. It says, For He Himself, that's Jesus, is our peace, who made both groups into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall by abolishing in his flesh the enmity, 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, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. And he came and preached peace to you who are far away, and peace to those who are near, for through him we both have our access in one spirit to the Father.

5:50By way of review, I want to remind you of the summary statement that he gives in verse 14 because it ties these verses together. It says that he himself Is our peace. That is, Jesus is our peace. And that sets the flow of these verses. You may have noticed that the word peace is used four times in this passage, verse 14, 15, twice in verse 17. You'll also notice that there are several occurrences where concepts related to peace are mentioned. You got verse 16, the word reconciliation. That's a related word. Also, making the two one, one man, one body, one spirit. All related concepts to peace. Also have some mentions of things that are opposite of peace.

6:40You may see them there. In verse 15, Paul mentions abolishing the enmity or the hostility that existed between Jew and Gentile. Again, in verse 16, Christ put to death the enmity or the hostility that exists between you and God. And so that's the theme running throughout these verses. It's peace. Jesus Christ is our peace. And we looked last time that peace is not just the absence of war, like in the story I told you where the tribes kind of had a ceasefire as long as the peace child was living. It's not just the absence of war, but peace, true peace, is when enemies become friends.

7:25Yes, war ceases. Yes, the hostility is removed, and then the relationship. Is restored. They become friends. And folks, that's what Jesus Christ does for us. He Himself is our peace. And again, that's the main thought I want to unpack for us this morning. I want you to understand how Jesus is our peace, how He can be your peace, so that you will experience the peace that He offers. So, in what ways is Jesus Christ our peace? Well, I think there are two primary ways you can see in our text this morning. The last time we looked at the first one, Jesus is our peace because He unites us to each other, He unites us to each other. That's verses 14 and 15. And we saw that Jesus Christ broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, the very thing that divided Jew and Gentile in this context. He tore it down. And He abolished the hostility or the enmity that existed between them so that He might make the two into one new man, that He might place them and unite them together in a new entity that is the church. And we looked at that last time. And when Jesus Christ united people together and united them to Christ, He established peace among God's people. So that's the first way that Jesus is our peace. And again, we looked at that last time.

9:00But there's a second way that Jesus demonstrates that, and it is that he unites us to God. He unites us to God. That is how he demonstrates that he is our peace. And that's where I want to spend our time this morning picking up in verse 16. And it says, so that he might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. Now, there are a lot of phrases here, but I want you to underline one word, and that is the word reconcile. If you mark in your Bibles, you can underline the word reconcile. That is the emphasis of these few verses in verses 16 through 18. Reconciliation.

9:49Now, that's a big word. It's a biblical word. And it's a word that we must understand because it's fundamental to our relationship to God. And it's fundamental to our relationship with other believers. Now, the first thing I want you to see from our text this morning is that reconciliation was accomplished through the cross of Christ. Reconciliation was accomplished through the cross of Christ. That's verse 16. Now, the word reconcile, the word translated reconcile, is a Greek word, of course, and it has an underlying meaning of a change or an exchange of something.

10:30And the way Paul uses it here in this passage, his emphasis is on completeness, a complete change. It's not a partial change, but a complete change. That's the idea, complete reconciliation. And it was a term that was often used in secular Greek for changing of money. Now, our pastor is traveling overseas right now. Perhaps some of you have traveled internationally. What's one of the first things that you need to do when you travel overseas, when you get there? If you want to do business in a foreign country, what's one of the first things that you have to do?

11:09Exchange money. Thank you. Yes, change money. And what happens when you do that? Well, you have to find a place that will facilitate that exchange. You take your U.S. dollars and you've got to find a place that will change those for the foreign currency. And typically, that's a bank. The bank would serve as that mediator, the middleman between you and the foreign country, and it would facilitate this exchange of currency on your behalf. That's what happens. So you take your money, and the exchange rate is set, and in exchange for your dollars, they give you the foreign currency, or supposedly an equal amount. And that's how this word was used, right? It was used in the exchanging of money. Now, in our context this morning, in the passage here in Ephesians, Paul was of course not exchanging money. He was not talking about that. He was talking about something far more important. Paul wrote about a different kind of exchange, one that brings about a full and complete change in our relationship to God. That's what Paul is talking about this morning. Notice also who Jesus came to reconcile. Who did he come to change?

12:31Well, it says he came to reconcile them both. To reconcile them both. Who is that? Well, it's referring to the groups that were previously mentioned in the verses before, specifically the Jews and the Gentiles. You remember he calls these two groups out. And you may recall that before Genesis 12, everybody was a Gentile. I don't know if you realize that. Everybody was a part of the nations. That's literally what the word Gentile means. It's ethnos. Ethnic groups is where we get that word from. And so everybody was part of the ethnos. And in Genesis 12, God did what? He called Abraham out of the nations. And he promised to make a new nation out of Abraham, the nation of Israel, to be his special people. And so from that point on, really, and throughout history, we've had two groups. Of people. We've had the Jews, God's people that were identified as God's people, and everyone else, or the Gentiles, the nations.

13:39And so these are the two groups that Paul is talking about here. And of course, the Ephesians were of Gentiles. They were Gentile believers. And so he refers to these two groups, and he tells them that Jesus came to reconcile them both. That is, he came to reconcile people from both groups regardless of their ethnic backgrounds, both Jews and Gentiles. And he says that he came to reconcile them in one body. You see that phrase there? In one body to God. Now, I found this interesting because we often view our reconciliation to God in a very individualistic sense, don't we? I mean, we view it on a purely vertical level between us and God. God reconciles us personally.

14:28And while that is true, we all must be individually reconciled to God. Paul adds a horizontal dimension as well. He combines them. He says that both are being reconciled to God, but they're being reconciled together in one unified body. Therefore, our reconciliation to God and our reconciliation to each other are. Connected. In fact, they are inseparable. As both are being reconciled to God, they are also at the same time being reconciled to brothers and sisters in Christ, in the church.

15:15Let that sink in for a moment, because again, I don't think we're prone to thinking of it this way. They're connected. Let me phrase it another way. You cannot be reconciled to God without also being reconciled to your brother and sister in Christ. You cannot have one without the other. Paul connects them here. Now, this doesn't mean that we don't ever have disagreements with people in the church. That certainly happens. But what it does mean is that those who have been reconciled to God will continually be pursuing reconciliation with their brother and sister in Christ.

15:59If we do not, if we refuse to be reconciled with a brother and sister in Christ, it is a direct reflection of our reconciliation with God. That is how connected they are, and that's how Paul presents it here. So, who are the participants of reconciliation in our text? It's all people, regardless of their ethnic background, who have been reconciled to each other in the body of Christ. And they are also being reconciled together as a united group to God. That is who Jesus comes to reconcile.

16:41And Paul is making that an emphatic point. Jesus Christ is our peace because He completely changes our relationship to God and our relationship to each other. He is the mediator that facilitates an exchange on our behalf, and He is the one that reconciles us in one body to God. Now, if Jesus came that He might reconcile them both to God, this implies that there is a need for reconciliation, does it not? It implies that we need to be reconciled. And so I asked you this morning: do you need to be reconciled to God?

17:29Do you need to be reconciled to God? You may say, well, I think God and I are pretty good. You know, I have a pretty good relationship with God. I think I'm fine. That's how I think most of the world thinks. They think that they're fine in their relationship with God. Perhaps that's you this morning. And so let me ask you this: do you have sins? Do you have sins? Big sins, small sins, secret sins, habitual sins. Any kind of sins? Do you have them? In other words, do you still live in those sins?

18:08Does it characterize the way that you live? Are you holding on to them? Do you protect them? Do you cherish them? Do you refuse to let them go? If that describes you, then the scriptures tell us that your sins have separated you from God. You are not good with God, if that describes you, if you are still in your sins. You have been severed. Your relationship with God has been severed because of your sins, and you are spiritually dead.

18:41You have been cut off from the eternal life that God gives through a right relationship with Him, if you still are holding on to your sins. That's how God describes your relationship. And not only are you separated from God, and not only are you cut off from the life that He gives, but your relationship with God is defined by hostility. Listen to James chapter 4, verse 4. He writes, Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility towards God? Do you not know this? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God? Listen, if you continue living on in your sins and you will not give them up, it is as if you are declaring war against God.

19:31You are hostile towards him. You have made God your enemy. Now, you may not like to think of it that way, but that is how God describes it. That's how God views your relationship with him if you are clinging on to your sins. And, folks, all of us, every single person in this room, has been in that camp at some point in our lives. And there are likely some of you still sitting here where that is still true. You are at war with God. You are living your life in hostility towards God. And if that is you this morning, I must tell you that such hostility can only be met with the eternal wrath of God.

20:21Romans 1:18 says, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. The wrath of God, John 3:36, he who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the Son will not see life. And the wrath of God abides on him, presently abides on him. And so the sinner is hostile towards God, and God is hostile towards the sinner. And unless something changes, that is how the relationship will remain. Forever.

21:02Eternal hostility will be met with eternal wrath from God upon the sinner. You must know that. The world must hear that. But imagine if there was a way for all of that to completely change. What if there was a way that the sinner could be fully and completely reconciled to God? What if there was a way? Paul says there is a way, and it is through the cross of Christ. Look back at verse 16 of our text. It says, so that he might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross. Reconciliation is accomplished through the cross of Christ. This is where it takes place. This is where the greatest exchange in all of the history of the world has been made. It's at the cross. You see, the cross is the place where sinners, regardless of their background, regardless of their ethnicity, can bring all of their sins, every single one of them, all of the hostility that they've ever expressed towards God, all of it, and they can exchange it. Not for the eternal wrath that They deserve, not the wrath that you and I deserve, but for God's eternal love and blessing and favor that He has lavished on His one and only Son. That's what you get at the cross. It is through the cross where the sinner's relationship with God can be completely and totally changed, restored, reconciled.

22:56Friends, you can come to the cross of Christ as an enemy of God, and you can be changed into a beloved child of God. What an exchange. You can be reconciled to God. Now, you may be sitting there thinking that is an incredible exchange, but who in the world would make that deal? How in the world is that possible? Well, I'm here to tell you, God made that deal, and it is possible because through the cross, Jesus Christ put to death the enmity. He put to death the hostility. Look back at the last phrase in verse 16. It says, He put to death the enmity, the enmity, or the hostility that existed between you and I and God, the sinner and God, it was put to death. Literally, he killed it with his death. He slayed it, he destroyed it, he abolished it. He put it to death so that it would never live again.

24:05That's what it means when he put it to death. The hostility was removed forever for those who come to the cross. See, when Jesus died on the cross, he took upon himself all the sins of every person who would ever come to him. And he bore them in his body. And he bore the eternal wrath of God that we deserved. He absorbed every ounce of it. None of it is left. And it was because Jesus was a perfect and righteous sacrifice that his death satisfied the demands of the law, the demands for justice. And it pleased the Father.

24:55Therefore, with sin removed, with hostility removed, and God's wrath completely satisfied, Jesus Christ was then enabled to become our mediator and mediate an exchange of our sins, in exchange for his righteousness and his love and his blessing. That's why Paul opens the letter to the Ephesians like this. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because he's blessed. us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. That is where the blessing of God is found. That's where the favor of God is found. That is how reconciliation was accomplished. It was through the cross of Christ.

25:48What a tragedy it would be if Christ went to the cross, he went through all of this, he accomplished everything that was needed. He put to death the hostility, and then he kept it a secret. That would be a tragedy, wouldn't it? To have this great exchange available and accessible, and yet no one knows about it. It would be a tragedy. Fortunately, for our sakes, he did not keep it a secret. And that's what I want you to see next in our text in verse 17. I want you to see that reconciliation was announced through the preaching of Christ.

26:28Verse 17, and he came, that is Jesus, he came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. He preached. How did the message of reconciliation come to us? How did we hear about this? How did we find out about this great exchange? It came through the preaching of Christ. And Paul says he preached it to you who were far away. That is the Gentiles. That's who he's referring to. And he preached peace to those who were near.

27:00Again, referring to the Jews. Again, Paul is emphasizing that reconciliation is for anyone and everyone, regardless of their ethnic background, Jew or Gentile. Now, the word used here for preached is a word that we get evangelism from. Evangelism, it means to announce the good news. To announce the good news. Now, as the announcement guy, I get up and do announcements every morning, and I have new people. You're the announcement guy. That's my official title. I love this verse because it gives me job security.

27:41Pastor Tom can never take away my job of giving announcements because right here it says Jesus gave announcements. He announced the good news. He announced the good news. And I can't think of a greater announcement to give to the world than this. Sinners can be reconciled to God. That's the announcement that Jesus makes. Sinners can be reconciled to God. You can be at peace with God. That's the good news of the gospel. Your sins can be forgiven. The relationship can be restored. And this is the message that Christ preached. He announced the good news of peace. Now, how did Christ come and preach peace? How did he come and preach peace? I want to take you to several passages of Scripture. You don't necessarily need to turn there and write them down. I'm going to try and move through them rather quickly for the sake of time. But how did he come and announce peace? Well, for starters, his peace was announced before he even came to earth. Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6, probably a familiar passage, especially around Christmas time. Maybe even have it memorized. For a child will be born to us, and a son will be given to us, and the government will rest on his shoulders. And his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father. Finish it. Prince of peace. Prince of peace. Yeah, Isaiah prophesied about the Messiah that was to come, and that his name would be Prince of Peace. His life, his ministry, his work, it would all be characterized by peace. Flip over to the New Testament, Luke chapter 2. Again, another familiar passage around Christmas time.

29:36Luke chapter 2 talks about the shepherds that were staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock at night. And he reminds us that the angel of the Lord suddenly appeared, and the glory of the Lord shone around them. In verse 10, the angel said to them, to the shepherds, Don't be afraid. Why? Because I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for you. For all the people. For today, in the city of David, there has been a Savior born to you, who is Christ the Lord.

30:09And then it goes on to say that the heavenly host began praising God, saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace among men. Peace among men. The Messiah that Isaiah prophesied, the Prince of peace, has been born today among you as the Prince of peace, as the Savior. And he is dwelling among men. And so Jesus, through his birth, announced peace coming to earth, announced peace among men, because he's the prince of peace. How else did he announce peace? Well, as you read through the Gospels, we recognize that much of his early ministry, much of his earthly ministry, was characterized by preaching. He went around and he preached, and specifically to the house of Israel, to the Jews in particular. And he came to the Jews announcing the good news of peace.

31:09A couple chapters later in Luke 4, you remember Jesus came to his hometown to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and as was his custom, in verse 16 of Luke 4, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and he stood up to read. You remember this. He reads from the book of the prophet Isaiah. Which was handed to him, and he opened the book, and he found the place where it was written. Listen to this: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, and he has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, and to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. And it says he closed the book and he gave it back, and all the eyes were looking on him. And what did he say? Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. I am him. I am the prince of peace, he says. I am the one who has been anointed to preach the gospel. Now, of course, they did not care for his gospel of peace, and they eventually crucified him for it. But he announced it to them. He announced peace to them, to the Jews specifically. He also announced peace to his disciples. You remember in the upper room, some of the final words that Jesus gives the night he was betrayed? John chapter 14, verse 27: Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Jesus is one who gives peace, he tells them, chapter 16, verse 33 of John, These things I have spoken to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage, I have overcome the The world. See, Jesus announced peace. He announced it to the Jews. He announced it to his disciples. And he also commissioned his disciples to announce peace on his behalf. That's what he commissioned them to do. Acts 1:8 says that he ordered them to preach the gospel not only to Jews in Jerusalem, but to Judea and Samaria and to the remotest parts of the earth. That is, the Gentiles. And this, of course, becomes the ministry of the apostles. They were to announce peace on behalf of Christ, both to Jews and to the Gentiles, those who were far off and those who were near, as Paul says in Ephesians 2. Let me take you to one other passage real quick, and you can turn there. We read it this morning for our scripture reading, 2 Corinthians 5:17. 2 Corinthians 5, 17. I think this gives us the emphasis of what Paul is touching on here: on how Christ announced peace to the Gentiles in particular.

34:142 Corinthians 5:17 says, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature, a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, the new things have come. Verse 18, now. All these things are from God. What things? The new things, the new things that come about from being made a new creature. These have come from God. Who did what? Who reconciled us to himself through Christ. And he gave us the ministry of reconciliation. There is the ministry, right? It's a ministry of reconciliation. That's how Paul describes it. Namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against him. That's the message. That's the message of reconciliation. Your sins don't have to be counted against you because of Christ. And it says that he committed to us the word of reconciliation. That's the word of reconciliation that was committed, that you can be at peace with God. And verse 20 says, Therefore, we are ambassadors of Christ. We are Christ's representatives. As though God were making an appeal through us. That is, as if Christ were standing here in our place and he is speaking to us.

35:44We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. Because he made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God. Be reconciled to God. Those are the words of Christ through the apostles. It is how he announced peace to them. And it is how he announces peace to us. It's how we are announcing peace to you this morning through the words of Christ, through the words of the apostles. Be reconciled to God.

36:24That's the good news. That's the good news of the gospel. Your sins can be forgiven. You can come to the cross and exchange it for the righteousness of God. And you must come. You must be reconciled to God. It is the only response to the words of Christ, to the announcement, to the preaching of Christ. Be reconciled to God. Well, we've seen that reconciliation was accomplished through the cross of Christ. It was announced through the preaching of Christ. And lastly, I want you to see that reconciliation was made accessible through the Spirit of Christ. Look at the last verse in verse 18. It says, For through him we both have our access in one spirit to the Father. Now, again, the emphasis you can see again on reconciliation is a collective reconciliation. You see the pronouns we both have our access in one spirit to the Father. We. Both, our, in one spirit. You see the emphasis. We're all reconciled the same way through the same message, and we all have the same access to the Father.

37:42Notice also the key word in verse 18. It's the word access. See that there? The word access means a right to enter or the right to approach. It was a word that was often connected to the temple and specifically to the right to approach God in the temple. In the Old Testament, when someone was seeking to draw near to God and to his presence, what were they required to bring? Sacrifices. Yes, sacrifices. When you come into the temple, you could not come into God's presence without the appropriate sacrifices and the offerings that was required by the law. This was a requirement. It was the only way to approach. But even then, even with the appropriate sacrifices, the access to God's presence was greatly and significantly limited. You may recall that as a person in the Old Testament, they couldn't just enter the temple and go wherever they wanted. There were all these divisions and restrictions. You had the court of the Gentiles and the court of the women, and then there was a court for the men, and then there was a court for the priests, and then, of course, there was the holy place. And within the Lord, Holy place, there was an inner room, the Holy of Holies. Remember? And this was God's special dwelling place. It was the place where God's present was said to reside.

39:12And we saw this as the Israelites wandered through the wilderness. His presence was represented by a cloud of fire and moved around with the people, and it represented God's presence in the Holy of Holies. And you may remember that the Holy of Holies was a perfect cube. Its length, width, height is all the same, 15 feet. And there was a thick curtain or veil that separated the Holy of Holies from the holy place. And this veil was made in fine linens of purple and blue and scarlet. It had beautiful cherubim embroidered on it. Cherubim were, of course, angels, servants of God that guarded the throne of God. They existed in the presence of God, and they were beautifully displayed on this veil.

40:06And this hung and separated the Holy of Holies from the holy place. Now, why the veil? Why was there this big curtain? Well, it essentially shielded a holy God from sinful humanity. It restricted access to the presence of God so that anyone, except for the high priest who entered the Holy of Holocaust, Holies, what would happen to them? They would die immediately. They would die. If they came into the presence of God and they were not supposed to be there, and no one was supposed to be there except the high priest with the appropriate sacrifices, they would immediately die. In fact, even the high priest, if he didn't follow the meticulous preparations that were laid out, he would die.

40:55He was only allowed in there on one day of a year, the day of atonement, and he would have to wash himself according to the law. He would have to put on special clothes. He would have to burn incense so that the smoke would fill and block his view of the presence of God. And he'd have to bring in blood to make atonement for the sins. And it was only once a year. So you see, the access to God's presence was severely limited. And this was the case throughout all of Israel's history. The veil represented that limited access to the presence of God. Now, something incredible happened when Jesus died on the cross. Let me read to you Matthew's gospel account of the crucifixion, chapter 27, verse 45. You can turn there if you'd like.

41:49It says, Now from the sixth hour, darkness fell upon the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, Lamasakbatani, that is, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Some of those who were standing there, when they heard it, began saying, This man is calling for Elijah. And immediately one ran to them, or one of them ran, and taking a sponge, he filled it with sour wine, and he put it on a reed, and he gave him a drink. But the rest of them said, No, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him. In verse 50, Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and he yielded up his spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The veil was torn in two.

42:46The very thing that had restricted the access to the presence of God had been ripped apart from top to bottom. The holy of holies, the place of God's presence, or that represented God's presence, was now open. What a dramatic display of what God had done on the cross. And the implication ought to be obvious. Jesus Christ is our only point of access into the presence of God. It's the only way we can come to the Father. He's the only one. In fact, these were Jesus' words. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. You must come to Christ. In order to go to the Father, to be in God's presence, to have a relationship with God, you must come to Christ. Because it was His perfect sacrifice on the cross that made our reconciliation to God accessible.

43:47It's because of Him that we have access. Lastly, notice how we are to access God's presence. It is through the Spirit of Christ. Notice the last phrase, or one of the last phrases, in one Spirit. In one Spirit. Listen, when you come to the cross and are reconciled to God, He gives you the Spirit of Christ. That's what Paul says in Galatians 4. It says, Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

44:28Abba, Father. If you have been reconciled to God, He has placed the Spirit of Christ within you. That's what it means when we become a new creature, a new creation in Christ. The old has passed away, and He's given you a new Spirit, the Spirit of Christ. And it is through that Spirit that we can now have access to the very presence of God and be fully and totally and completely reconciled to Him. We have access to a fully restored. Relationship with God the Father. And it's the same relationship that the Father shares with the Son.

45:10It's amazing. It's an amazing access to that kind of relation. Who would have thought that you and I, as sinners, former enemies of God, could be treated as his own son, loved as his own son? But it's true. It was accomplished through the cross of Christ. It was announced through the preaching of Christ, and it is fully accessible through the Spirit of Christ. Therefore, as Hebrew 4 says, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. And it says, Let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace in our time of need. That is to be our response. Draw near with confidence through the Spirit of Christ.

46:13Well, in conclusion, what are we to do with all of this? What is our response to be to the message of reconciliation? Well, as I've said a few times, the only right response is to be reconciled to God. And if you sit here this morning and have not been reconciled to God, you have not come to the cross, the invitation is for you to come. And I beg you, on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

46:45If you're sitting here this morning and you have come to the cross, you have been reconciled to God, but there is someone in the body of Christ that you are at odds with, go be at peace with them, pursue peace with your brother and sister in Christ. Be reconciled to each other because that reflects our reconciliation with God. And lastly, be announcers of peace. Christ has announced peace. The apostles announced peace. And we are to announce peace in our own homes, to our family, to our coworkers and our colleagues, and to the ends of the earth. We are to take the gospel message of peace. It's the only message we have to declare. It's the only message that we have to tell people. And it is the good news. So proclaim it.

47:46Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we express our gratitude this morning for the gospel of peace, for the gospel that you announced to us. And we're grateful that. That it is not a secret, but that we have it recorded through the pages of Scripture, and that you have accomplished it once and for all. You died the sin that we, for the sin that we could not die for, and you died the death that we couldn't. And for that, we are grateful and we gladly accept the exchange that you give of your righteousness and your favor that God has given.

48:32We exalt you, Lord Jesus. In Jesus' name, amen.