From the MLJ Archive

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: The words to which I should like to call your attention this morning are to be found in Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians, the second chapter and the 11th verse. The 11th verse in the second chapter of Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians.

Wherefore remember that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who were called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands. Now, clearly that's not the end of a statement. It goes on in the 12th verse, that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But I want to call attention this morning to the 11th verse.

Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands. Now, here we come to a new section in the statement which the Apostle is making in this second chapter.

Those who attend here regularly will recall that we are working our way slowly through this great and mighty Epistle to the Ephesians. And thus we come to a new section. For some peculiar reason, many of the Bibles which we have do not indicate a new paragraph here, they should, because it is a break. He takes up here a new idea and a new thought. Therefore, it's very important that we should be perfectly clear in our minds as to what his argument is, and as to what he really is setting out to do.

The great object of this Epistle to the Ephesians is to explain and to expound God's great purpose during this present day. It's put in summary form in the 10th verse of the first chapter. This, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, He, God, might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him. That is God's great purpose during this present dispensation.

That is God's great purpose in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Christ came into the world finally in order to reunite, to head up again in himself all things, both in heaven and in earth. And the Apostle is concerned to expound that and to explain that to the members of the church at Ephesus and the other churches to which this circular letter had been sent.

Now, we have seen also that the Apostle goes on at once to say this. He says, this great ultimate purpose of God is already being put into operation. He says the church is herself an illustration of this. And it's a very wonderful thing. He goes on to say, you remember there in that first chapter that the Ephesians, the Gentiles also, have been brought into the church, so that there you see the church consisting of Jews and Gentiles. And it's the first illustration in the realm and the field of history of this grand and ultimate purpose of God in Christ to reunite everything again in himself.

And then you remember that having said that, the Apostle went on to say this. He says to these Ephesians, "The most important thing for you is to have the eyes of your understanding enlightened." Your greatest need, he says, is knowledge and understanding. Here they were, not many in number and surrounded by a pagan atmosphere, suffering persecution. What do they need above everything? Well, what they need, he says, is to realize this great thing, and to realize therefore the exceeding greatness of God's power to all who believe.

And then you see he works it out like this. He says, "You yourselves and the whole Christian church are an illustration of this mighty and tremendous power." He states that, you recall in the 19th verse of the first chapter. He says, he wants them to know three things, what is the hope of his calling, what is the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints? And thirdly, "What is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, et cetera, et cetera." Very well. That's the thing he wants them to know. The exceeding greatness of God's power towards them. So that in the second chapter, he now proceeds to expound to them that great power. He illustrates the great power to them. And you remember he does it like this.

It is an amazing and an astonishing thing that these Ephesians, these Gentiles, should be members of the Christian church, side by side with Jews. And there's only one thing that's made it possible, and that is this exceeding greatness of God's power. It's the same power that God manifested in raising the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. Well, how is it shown? Well, like this.

There were two main obstacles standing between these Ephesians and coming to God and being Christians. What were they? Well, the first was their state and condition in sin. And the Apostle deals with that in the first 11 verses, first 10 verses of this second chapter. We've already been dealing with that. But there it is, let's not forget it.

You were dead in trespasses and sins, walking according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, living according to the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling the desire of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature, the children of wrath even as others. That's what they were. And now they're Christians. What's changed them? What's brought them from that to this? There's only one answer, it's God's power, nothing less. There was that awful obstacle and it's still true. It's the great obstacle that stands between all and God and Christ this morning. Their death in sin. And nothing but the power of God could have raised them up out of that. Very well, he's dealt with it.

But there was a second obstacle. There was another thing standing between these Gentile Ephesians and membership of the church of Christ and knowledge of God. What was that? Well, it's this. It was their position or their status if you like, in the economy of God and especially in terms of their relationship to the law of God. That's the second obstacle. And that is the subject which the Apostle takes up here in this 11th verse and which he continues to deal with until you come to the 12th verse in the third chapter, the point at which we finished our reading just now.

Now, here is obviously again another vitally important matter. As that first obstacle still operates, so this second obstacle still operates. So that we are not engaged in some academic, purely objective study of something that was true 2,000 years ago. It's as true today as it was then. Scripture is always relevant and contemporary. It speaks about us and about others. So that it is of vital interest to us to understand exactly what the Apostle is teaching at this point.

Now, I want to deal with it only in general this morning. In other words, I want to give a kind of general introduction to the whole section which we have read together just now.

Now, the Apostle, I say, is anxious that these Ephesians should truly grasp and apprehend what a tremendous thing it was that they should ever have become Christians and that they were members of the Christian Church. And his secondary method of getting them to see that is this. Remember, he says, remember that in time past, what you were.

There it is, that's how he introduces it. It's only as they remember that, and only as they realize what the truth was, that they can really begin to understand the greatness of God's power. You'll never realize the greatness of God's power until you realize the greatness of the obstacles which that power has overcome.

There are many people today who see nothing in the Christian salvation. They're not amazed at it. They they think that Paul was probably psychopathic, that he goes off into his ecstasies and rapturizes as he does, as he contemplates the thing. They see nothing at all in it. There's nothing in Christianity to them, nothing astounding. Why? Well, they've never realized the problem. They're ignorant of sin. They know nothing about the wrath of God as yet. They don't realize these obstacles, these problems. The Apostle did. He wants the Ephesians to. And therefore he says, I'm going to remind you of what you were.

I'm going to get you to see how God has overcome this second obstacle, which in a sense is as marvelous and as wonderful as the first. Well, what is it? Well, let me put it like this.

The world in those ancient times, you remember, was divided into two main groups, the Jews, the Gentiles. And the division seemed absolute. And any talk about reconciliation seemed quite monstrous and ridiculous. Jew and Gentile. Jews, dogs. But on the other hand, the Gentiles had their classification, and particularly the Greeks, the whole world was divided up into Greeks, barbarians. The knowledgeable people, the philosophers, the Greeks. The ignoramuses, the illiterate. Now, that was the position.

And as you looked at that ancient world, it seemed, I say, utterly and completely impossible that these two sections, these warring sections who despised each other so heartily, could ever be brought together and reconciled. Still less that they should ever be found on bended knee together, worshipping and adoring the same God and the same Lord. But it's happened, says Paul. The astounding thing is that it's true. You Ephesians have been brought in. You are likewise in the membership. This is the astounding thing that nothing less than the exceeding greatness of God's power could ever have brought to pass. Now, that's his message.

Now, the way in which the Apostle puts it is extremely interesting. Take this 11th verse that we are looking at this morning. Here he introduces the subject. And it is the way in which he introduces it that's going to detain us this morning.

Now, have you noticed the way he puts it? People often find this an extremely difficult verse, and it really is until you see exactly what it means, then it becomes quite simple. But at first reading, it seems impossible. Let me read it again to you. Wherefore remember, that ye, you Ephesians, being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, then this long statement, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands.

Now, what's it all mean? Well, it means this. Paul starts out by reminding them that they actually were Gentiles in the flesh. What does he mean? Well, he means this. It was just a fact of history, a literal, solid fact, that as Gentiles, they had not been circumcised. So they were Gentiles in the flesh. You see, "in the flesh" isn't their a contrast within the spirit. Because if that were so, you would the Apostle would be saying, "It's true that you were Gentiles in the flesh, but of course, in the spirit, you were all right." That isn't what he means at all. What he means is this. It is a hard fact that you were Gentiles in the flesh. You hadn't the mark, the sign, the symbol of being Jews, you had not been circumcised.

But he doesn't leave it at that, you see. He might have, but he goes off into a little digression, and then he ends it at the end of the verse and comes back to the original point at the beginning of verse 12. But it's the digression that's interesting. Wherefore remember that ye being in times past Gentiles in the flesh, then, who are called uncircumcision by the self-styled or self-called circumcision, which is in the flesh made by hands.

Now, what's he mean? Well, he means this. The trouble was that the Jews had taken hold of this, which really was a fact. And they had turned that fact into a problem. And it had happened in this way. The Jews, through misunderstanding the teaching of their own scriptures, had come to think that the only thing that really mattered was the sign in the flesh. They were regarding it in a material manner, in a fleshly manner. And to them nothing mattered but circumcision, qua circumcision.

And to them that was everything and that was all important, and nothing else mattered. So, you see, they had misunderstood the entire purport even of circumcision itself. And thereby they had created this great barrier and this great obstacle in the ancient world. Now, the Apostle, I say, puts it in these words, "You were Gentiles in the flesh." Yes. And by these people who talk of themselves as the circumcision, or the concision, you were dubbed and described as the uncircumcision.

You know, these people who think only in terms of the flesh and that which is done by men's hands. Thinking only along that level, they hold themselves apart, as if, "We are the circumcision. There is the uncircumcision." Now, you find that this is a very important point as you read the New Testament epistles. Take, for instance, in the very next epistle in this in the New Testament, which Paul writes to the Philippians, in the third verse of the third chapter, he says this, "For we are the circumcision. We Christians who worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." It's exactly the same point. In other words, to have a true understanding of these Pauline epistles, we must understand the point that he's making in this verse.

Not only was it a fact and a truth that these Ephesians were Gentiles and had not been circumcised. Unfortunately, the Jews had exaggerated all that and had made it the great point of division, which seemed to be quite irreconcilable.

Now, that bit of exposition is very vital to an understanding of everything that we have to say. Because, you see, there were two obstacles in one which God had to overcome before the Ephesians could ever become Christians. First of all, there was the Jew's attitude towards the Gentiles. And then secondly, there was God's attitude towards them. God's attitude does come in because after all, they had not been circumcised, they were not of the seed of Abraham. Yes, but before you come to that, there was this Jewish attitude.

This concision and uncircumcision, this division. There is, I believe, an element almost of sarcasm in the way the Apostle puts it at this point. You see, he puts it like this, which are called the uncircumcision by that which is called, which means the self-called, the self-styled circumcision in the flesh made by hands. You notice his emphasis. Very well. His great point is that God has overcome this dual obstacle. Both these difficulties have been overcome by Christ and by what He has done.

The attitude of the Jew to the Gentile has been put right if the Jew has become a Christian. God's attitude towards them has become right. So the whole question of the law has been solved by our Lord and Savior. Now, that's the actual argument of the Apostle. But come, let me show you the relevance of all that today. Because it's still true.

We are living in an age and at a time when there is a great deal of thought and of concentration upon this self-same problem. The world is full of divisions and full of strife. We are all aware of it. We see it as between nations. There's tension at the moment. The Arab states and Israel, East and West, and all the various other subdivisions and ramifications. Divisions, iron curtain, bamboo curtain, and so on. But not only is this true in the realm of nations and international relationships.

It is equally true within the nations. Classes, groups, and various other divisions. The world in a sense is full of this very thing. As the ancient world was divided in the way that we've seen, so the modern world is divided up in these various ways. And unless the same thing is true of the Christian church. Sects, denominations, groups, and divisions and barriers. And as I say, all this is occupying a great deal of thought and attention at the present time.

There is endless talk about this. There's endless writing about this. Everybody's concerned about producing understanding, obtaining unity and of dealing with all this in these various realms, which I've indicated. And yet doesn't it seem to be the case that so much of the talk and the writing and the busying is utterly vain and absolutely futile? It doesn't seem to lead to anything. And the question is why? And the answer is what the Apostle teaches here. Because his claim at this point is, as it is in the whole of this Epistle, that unity worth talking about is only possible on certain conditions.

Now, this early church, consisting of Jew and Gentile, was the demonstration of true unity. They had been brought together. They went by one spirit to the same Father. They were in the same church. They were fellow citizens. But that's the only way. And every other way that may be attempted will lead to nothing. To me, this is one of the major tragedies of the hour, and especially in the realm of the church, that most of the time seems to be taken up in the church in preaching about unity, instead of preaching the gospel that alone can produce unity.

The time is spent in talking about conferences, endlessly, conferences in which they explore their difficulties. And you'll never get unity in that way. It is the gospel alone that will produce unity. And while there is disagreement about unity, it's a waste of breath and of energy to be talking about any other possible unities. Now, that's the whole message of this section as I see it. And what happens not only to the church is equally true also of the world that is outside. Very well, what is the teaching? Let me try and summarize it like this.

The Apostle would have us see that there are two main matters that must be considered before there is any real hope of unity and the resolving of the problems and the difficulties. What are they? Well, the first is this. We must realize the cause of the trouble.

Oh, how endlessly must this be stated at the present time. I do not hesitate to assert that all the vain talking and writing today about unity and understanding is entirely due to one thing, and that is they've never faced the cause of the trouble. You must have diagnosis before treatment. A man who rushes to treatment before he is certain of the diagnosis simply doesn't know his work, and he's a positive danger. To medicate symptoms at the expense of the disease, the root cause, is sheer lunacy.

And I say it is because people simply will not face the cause as it is here taught, that all their attempts at unity lead to nothing but futility. Well, here the Apostle tells us what it was. Look at this case of the Jews, as he puts it in this 11th verse. What has happened? Well, we can put it like this as a principle. The division in the ancient world was due to one thing, and that was that differences had been turned into barriers.

I've already been explaining to you, differences have become middle walls of partition. Now, the principle is this, you see, that there are differences, and it's folly to minimize differences. Differences are facts. And even when you've had true unity, differences will remain. Yes, but the tragedy is that men exaggerate differences and turn them into barriers, into obstacles, into curtains, middle walls of partition. That's the very thing that these Jews had been doing.

It was God's ordinance that there should be Jews and Gentiles. It was God who had made the nation of the Jews. There was a difference. The Jews were circumcised, the others were not. Yes, but that's that's not to be a barrier. God didn't create the nation of the Jews in order to have nothing to do with the others. He created the nation of the Jews in order that through them he might speak to the whole world. But the Jew had misunderstood that. He turned this difference into a barrier, and he held himself aloof and despised all others.

The circumcision, the uncircumcision. The circumcision in the flesh made by hands, that's the trouble. Missing the spirit, missing the principle, missing the true purpose. They take a difference, they exaggerate it into a barrier. Well, now, how does this work out? Well, according to the Apostle, it seems to work out like this.

First of all, it leads to pride, and it's due to pride. It is due to pride, it is due to self. That is ultimately the cause of every division and every barrier and every obstacle. That's the cause of every middle wall of partition. It's the cause of everything that divides people ultimately. It always comes in. Pride and self.

Because pride is blinding. Pride is a powerful spirit that controls us and dragoons us and dominates us. And under the influence of pride, a man can't think straightly, becomes prejudiced. And he cannot see anything truly as it is. Prejudiced is the greatest curse in life, and it generally is grounded and rooted in pride. And it is an absolutely blinding force. How does it work? Well, it works out like this.

It first of all prevents our seeing that there are two sides to the question. To the man who's governed by prejudice, there isn't a second side, there's only one. There it is. There isn't another. He's absolutely blinded. He doesn't see, I say, that there are two sides, that there may be something on the other side. No, that was the whole attitude of the Jew. The circumcision, the uncircumcision. He wouldn't recognize them. Turns his back upon them. Isn't that of the very essence of all disputes?

Then in another way in which it works is this. It always leads us to take a false view of ourselves. This prejudice, you see, this pride that leads to prejudice. It not only prevents a man seeing that there is another side, he puts he puts him absolutely wrong about himself in this way. It always exaggerates what is true of him. Now, you see, it was God's ordinance that the Jew should be circumcised. Yes, but the Jew had exaggerated that into saying that there was only one person on earth, and that is the Jew. The others are dogs. He exaggerates himself. He thought that merely because he was a Jew, he was of necessity right with God and that he need not worry about anything else. That was why they crucified the Son of God. Because he made them see that that wasn't true. It exaggerates the truth about us.

And another thing it does is this, it makes us take an entirely false view of the others. As it makes us exaggerate what we've got, it makes us detract from what they've got. You all accept the analysis, don't you? You know it working in your own life, don't you? How we put on this side, take off that side. We won't recognize goodness when it's there. We don't want to. And because we don't want to, we won't. And we subtract, we take it away until there's nothing left.

You see, there was nothing of value in the Gentile. They didn't seem even to be human beings. They were dogs to the Jews. In exactly the same way, the Greek with his learning regarded them as barbarians, illiterate. Yes, it not only detracts from and subtracts from what is true of others, but it then proceeds to despise them. Kipling's lesser breeds without the law. Non-British. Not belonging to the Herrenvolk. The chosen race. The British, the lesser breeds without the law. That's where your disputes and problems come from. It's because of that mentality last century that the world is confronting so many problems today, and this country confronting so many problems. That attitude.

But it's true of the individual. It's true of all who are governed by pride and by self. This is how it works out. Exaggeration of us, detraction from others, and despising of others. That which is called the uncircumcision by the self-styled, self-called circumcision in the flesh made by hands. I'm not surprised that Paul was a bit sarcastic. He wants to ridicule the thing. He just paints it like this in order that all may see what a horrible, foul thing it is. These are the causes then of of trouble and of separation. But come, there's a second great cause. The second great cause is this.

A wrong sense of values. Or if you prefer it, a wrong understanding. I've already referred to this in principle, so let me give you the details. The whole tragedy of the Jew at that time was that he had missed the real point. He had missed the real sense of values. He thought that it was circumcision in the flesh that mattered. What Paul and others had to teach him was that it was circumcision in the spirit that really matters. That you can be circumcised in the flesh and damned and lost at the same time. But that the man who's right with God is a man who's been circumcised in his spirit. And that is as possible to the Gentile as to the Jew. But the the Jew had stopped at the flesh. His sense of values was wrong. He'd misinterpreted circumcision. It's merely an external sign of a spiritual inward state. That's what it's meant to be. He'd missed it.

Isn't that still the trouble? You notice the two things he emphasizes, "in the flesh" and "made by hands." Circumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands. Let me show you what he means. What does he mean by the flesh here? Oh, well, he means an emphasis upon externals, and upon that which is purely physical. Nationality.

That's purely of the flesh. It's a complete accident that a man should be born into one nation rather than another. It's a fact, of course, there are different nations and nationalities. It's a fact. Yes, but what people do is to do exactly the same thing as the Jews did. They turn these things into barriers. Because I happen to be born of a certain nation, that is the nation. And the other man says exactly the same thing. You see, he's taking something that is true in the flesh, but exaggerating it. It becomes a tremendous thing. Nationalities. People will fight for it. They'll give up their lives for it. They'll kill others because of it. Nationality.

Birth, family, blood. How it's exaggerated. How it's inflated. How others are despised. How it creates barriers. People attach more significance to it to the mere pedigree of men rather than to their spirits, to their souls, to their characters, to their understanding. These are are literal barriers in life. People are ostracized for these reasons. The color of one's skin, purely a matter of the flesh. But dear me, it's the kind of thing that leads to that horrible phrase about lesser breeds without the law. The soul isn't considered, the mind, the spirit, the ability, none of these things. Something purely in the flesh. There are the causes of warfare and bloodshed and separation. And things like ability, money, school and training, position in life, so on and so forth. Horrible things, nothing worthy of mention. But these are the things which are causing division and dispute and misery and wretchedness in the world today. It all belongs to the flesh.

And when you come to the realm of religion, you'll find the same thing. Nothing causes so much division as concentration upon the mere externals of religion. The people who persecuted our Lord most of all, and who finally were responsible for his death, were the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Why? Well, because they were only interested in the externals. The forms, the ceremonies, and the rituals and missed the spirit completely. And it's still the same. Concentration on forms, beautiful services, liturgies, ceremonial, dress and things of these kind in connection with the worship of God in a spiritual matter. They are dividing people. It's simply the old practice of the Jews repeated in modern form, that which is in the flesh taken hold of, and exaggerated until it becomes a barrier. But let me say a word about the other. Not only the flesh, but made with hands, says the Apostle. It's purely human. What are the things that are causing division in the church today? Why will not all meet together at the same communion table? Ah, says one, you shan't come to the table and take of the bread and the wine unless you've been confirmed, unless certain hands have been put upon your head.

Made by hands, you see. Doesn't matter that a person has been born again and has got the spirit of God in him, and that he's living the Christian life as a saint. He shan't come and partake. He hasn't been confirmed. What's the value of talking about unity and reunion? What's the point of having your great conferences and giving them such publicity if the very leaders in such conferences still act in terms of such barriers? It's unreal. I would almost say it's dishonest.

But to others, you shan't come to the table unless you've been baptized in a particular mode. It's the way in which you've been baptized that matters. And you're excluded from the table of the Lord simply because of the amount of water with which you've been baptized. Made by hands. And there are other circles which will not admit you to partake of the bread and the wine because of such details and minutiae. It's a repetition of the Pharisees and scribes, the Sadducees and the doctors of the law. These things, I say, which belong to the very periphery, and we are prepared to grant that there are differences of opinion, but my friends, they should never come to the center. They should never become barriers. They should never be middle walls of partition. You shouldn't refuse to take communion with a man for any one of those reasons.

But you get it in matters of church government also. You know there are people who are much more loyal to the tradition of their particular denomination than they are to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's generally an accident that they belong to the denomination. It was simply that their parents did, that they were brought up in it. But they'll fight for it. They'll quarrel about it. This is the important thing. And Christ and his truth are somehow forgotten entirely and are not mentioned. Made with hands, human traditions, loyalty to forms, traditionalism. These are the things, I say, that lead to these separations and disunities. Very well, there's the cause, what of the cure? Well, the Apostle puts it quite plainly here, doesn't he? Christ alone can cure.

Nothing else at all. Why? Well, for this reason, that if that is the cause, obviously what is needed is a change of heart. It isn't enough just to appeal for goodwill and for kindness and friendliness and brotherliness. It simply does not work, and it will not work. It isn't working. It never has worked. Neither is it good enough merely to appeal in general to the to men and women to apply the teaching of Christ. That's the popular one today. Come, they say, let's take the teaching of Christ, let's apply it. And some believe that if you did that, if this country did it, that somehow war would be banished. There'd never be any more any trouble. The answer to which is that it again isn't true simply in fact.

It's been tried, hasn't it? It's been tried in our schools today where we no longer believe in discipline. It's being tried in the prisons where we no longer believe in discipline. And you see the results. You see the increasing lawlessness and godlessness, but more important than that, it's unscriptural. It's not biblical. It's not God's teaching, which is this. That until a man comes under grace, you must keep him under law. Because it's man's nature that is wrong, and it will express itself. You've got to curb it. You've got to control it. While there are wild beasts about, you must be ready for them. And the idea that if you merely go and talk sweetly to people of the Hitler mentality, that they'll listen to you, and that they'll cease to be aggressive, is really almost too pathetic and fatuous even for consideration.

No, no, my friends, there's only one way. It is Christ's way. What is that? It's this. He tells us the truth about ourselves. He makes us face ourselves. Face to face with him, I see my utter worthlessness, my wretchedness, my woe. When I look into the face of Christ, I have nothing to boast about. I forget all that I've exaggerated, all the things on which I've trusted. Here I'm nothing, I'm a pauper. He makes me see the truth about myself. And you'll never get unity amongst men until they see the truth about themselves.

He also makes me see that the same thing is true of everybody else. That is true of the other men whom I've disliked or the other nation. That we are all the same, that we are one in sin and one in failure, that we are together under the wrath of God. That the things we've exaggerated are trivialities. There is none righteous, no, not one. We are all condemned felons before a holy God. He brings us down together to the dust. He's demolished most of the differences already. And then he shows us that we all need the same grace, the same mercy, the same love. And then he gives it to us, so that we all share in it together, and worship the same person, and rejoice in the same salvation.

And having realized all this, my loyalty henceforth is not to myself, but to him. And the other man's is not to himself, but to him. So we've forgotten one another. And we are no longer jealous and envious and quarreling. We go together to him and join in singing his praise together. That's his way of doing it. It isn't the application of the spirit of Christ by men. It is the putting of the spirit of Christ into men. Unregenerate men cannot apply the principle and the spirit of Christ. He doesn't want to. He may persuade himself for a while that he wants to, others won't. And there'll be divisions and distinctions and wars. There is only one hope. That men and women be born again, that they be reconciled by the blood of Christ. That God should forgive them, that God should give them a new nature, and a new heart, and implant a new spirit within them. And all sharing this spirit together will worship him and praise him and boast in him and not in themselves, or in their nations, or in anything, save in the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ has been crucified for them. And that by him they have been crucified unto the world, and the world has been crucified unto them. Beloved people, that is the only basis of unity. Not organization, not anything else. But the humility of the new man in Christ. A Christ-dominated, a Christ-centered life. Oh, may God open all our eyes to this in our personal relationships. May he open the eyes of the church to it. May the world see that there is only one hope of true peace. And that is to come and lie at the feet of the Prince of Peace, the King of righteousness. Amen.