Greg Laurie — Tear Down This Wall!

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There is no question that we are living in a chaotic world. At times when you just turn on the news it can overwhelm you can't it? You look at the continued threat of these terrorist groups like ISIS and others that mean us harm. You look at a nation like Iran developing a nuclear weapon that they threaten to use against Israel and even us. You look at the Mayhem and the problems we are having in our own country. The great divides that we are facing in America. You look at the breakdown of the family. You look at the redefinition of the family. All of these things happening simultaneously. It can almost make you feel as though there is no hope.

It has been said, "Men can live 40 days without food, three days without water, and eight minutes without air but not one second without hope". What are you going to put your hope in? Politicians? Oh man I hope not. I mean both parties by the way. No politician is going to fix this. Technology? What about our personal possessions? No. None of these things are going to help us in our hour of need. There is only one we can legitimately put our hope in and that is God himself. That is summed up perfectly in the verses before us by the apostle Paul when he spoke of us before we knew Christ. He says in verse 12. "You lived in this world without God and without hope".

That is your story. That is my story. There was a time in our lives when we were without God and because of that we were without hope. When there is no God there is no hope. But when you know God K-N-O-W you will have great hope. This has come about because of what Jesus did on the cross. We are going to explore that now in our message. Ephesians 2. I am going to read verses 11 a few verses forward down to verse 16. I am reading from the new living translation. "Don't forget that you gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called 'uncircumcised heathens' by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. But now you have been united with Christ. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ".

You might want to underline that phrase. We are going to come back to it again. "You have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ". Verse 14. "For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He unified Jews and gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. He did this by ending the system of the law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death". We will stop there.

One of the most significant events of the 20th century was the fall of the Berlin wall. After World War II after we defeated the Nazis the city of Berlin, Germany was divided. It was West and East Germany. A wall was erected to keep the people in and to keep other influences out. In America we put up walls to keep people out. In communist countries they put up walls to keep people in. Many people tried to get over that wall through the years escaping the horrible communist system they lived under. Eighty people died trying get over that wall. Only a handful succeeded. President Reagan went to that wall and at a public gathering openly addressed the leader of Russia at that time Mikhail Gorbachev and gave his famous words, "Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall". Gorbachev never did tear down that wall. But the people of East Germany finally did. In 1989 world history was made as the wall was destroyed and freedom was restored.

Listen. There is a wall far more formidable than the Berlin wall that has been torn down. This is a wall that kept us all from God. It is called the wall of sin. Two thousand years ago Jesus tore that wall down and thus has given us free open and constant access into his presence. This was done because his blood was shed for us. Look at verse 14. "Christ himself has bought peace to us. He united Jews and gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us". Now I want you to listen very carefully to what I am going to tell you. What I am about to say the devil does not want you to know. Ok. Do you want to know what the devil doesn't want you to know? Ok. Pay attention. This could affect your Christian life. The devil would like us to think that the way to approach God is almost as though we are living under the law still.

You see the old covenant before Christ came if you were a Jew you would come and approach God through the high priest who would symbolically place your sins on the animal that would be slain for you and through your works and your efforts you would hope that you could have this relationship with God. Sometimes we can still think that way as Christians. We will sort of reason like this. "This has been a really good week. I read the Bible every morning. I even read an extra chapter on Wednesday. I even shared the Gospel with a couple of people. I remembered to pray. I went to a midweek Bible study even. So I feel like my life is so right with God that I can approach God now". Then the next week didn't go as well. You slept in four out of five days. You didn't tell anyone about Jesus. In fact you yelled at a couple of people on the freeway. You didn't go to a midweek study. Now you think, "I cannot approach God".

If you are thinking that way you are into a works righteousness relationship with God. We need to understand our access to God is always there no matter what we have done. It is not based on what we do. It is based on what he has done. God's love for you is not dependent on your progress but on his perfection. Let me repeat that again. God's love for you is not dependent on your progress but on his perfection. The law of God demands that you do it all. God's grace reminds us that he paid it all. The law demands everything and gives nothing. Grace gives everything and demands nothing. The devil doesn't want you to know that. He wants you to think that you can't approach God when you have sinned. But listen. That is the time to approach God. You come to him through the blood of Jesus Christ.

In Ephesians 2:12 we were without Christ. In Ephesians 2:13 we are in Christ. In Ephesians 2:12 we were strangers. In Ephesians 2:19 we are no more strangers. In Ephesians 2:12 we had no hope. In Ephesians 4:4 we are called in one hope. In Ephesians 2:12 we were without God. But Ephesians 1:3 says, "The God and father or our Lord Jesus Christ". Everything has changed because of the blood of Jesus. "We who were afar off have been brought near by the blood of Christ". This is not about what I do. Again as I said, this is about what he has done. Sometimes we feel like we can draw near to God because we feel really good about it. Other times we might feel like we cannot draw near to God because we don't feel really good about it. Listen. Our emotions can mislead us. They can get the best of us.

Sometimes someone will say, "I just listen to my heart". Be careful. Your heart can mislead you. Your heart can condemn you. In fact in 1 John 3:20 it says, "If your heart "Condemns you, God is greater than your heart who knows all things". Whatever you have done you can approach him because this blood was shed. Hebrews 10:19 says, "We have boldness to enter the holy of holies by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way which he opened to us through the veil, that is his flesh, and because we have this high priest in the house of God let's draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith having our evil conscience and bodies washed with pure water".

In the book of revelation we read about how satan is cast down. It says, "He is cast down who accuses the brethren the believers before God day and night". Then it says, "And they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony and they loved not their lives until the death". Do you want to overcome satan? You need to start working out how the blood of the lamb operates in your life. This means it is not merely a historical event but it is something that is active and real for you right now. You say, "I don't understand what you are saying". What it means is you have got to understand that you can approach God because Jesus opened the way for you and you can ask for his forgiveness. Satan doesn't want you to know that. He would like you to think that you can only approach God if you are worthy.

We need to draw a distinction between satan's accusations and the spirit's conviction. See when the Holy Spirit of God convicts you, he uses the word of God in love to bring you back into fellowship with the father. But in contrast when satan accuses you, he will use your own sins in a hateful way to destroy you. He wants you to feel helpless and hopeless. You wonder, "Who is working on me right now? The devil or the spirit"? I will tell you how to know. If you mess up and you sin? How many of you have sinned? Raise your hand. Good. Listen. I had my hand up too. When you sin, when we sin here is what we need to know. I can approach God. But the devil is saying, "No you can't approach God". No I can. The devil will say, "Don't pray. Don't read your Bible. Don't go to church". That is satan. Don't listen to him. The Holy Spirit will convict you not to condemn you but to bring to the solution you need. The Holy Spirit will show you your sin not to drive you away in despair but to bring you to Jesus who can forgive you and restore you to fellowship with himself.

Judas listened to the devil. He went out and hung himself after his betrayal of Christ. You know Jesus would have forgave Judas if he had repented. Remember when Judas was in the garden leading the temple guard to arrest Jesus and he tells them, "The guy I kiss. That is Jesus". Which just shows you Jesus wasn't as he is often portrayed in movies. He didn't glow in the dark. He wasn't ten feet tall. He would have been easy to identify at night. The glowing guy. That is him. Get him. No. Judas had to identify him with a kiss. The one I kiss. That is him. He goes up to Jesus. What does Jesus do? If it were me, I would have smacked him to the ground. No. Not Jesus. Jesus says, "Friend why have you come"? Maybe Jesus didn't know what Judas was doing? Oh he knew. In fact he already identified him in the upper room and said, "Whatever you are going to do, do it quickly".

In that moment Jesus was offering to Judas one last chance to repent. But Judas didn't listen to Jesus. He listened to satan and he hung himself. But then Simon Peter betrayed the Lord. He denied the Lord. Openly three times said he never knew Jesus. He went out and wept bitterly. But he returned to Christ because he listened to the Holy Spirit. Let me sum it up this way. Satan will always drive you from the cross. The Holy Spirit will always bring you to the cross. Satan doesn't want you to know that. He wants you to think that it is all based on your worthiness or your works or other things that you do. Yes you can approach God whenever you want because of the open access that Jesus himself provides.

Here is how it works in our lives. We need to take the blood of Jesus and we need to apply it. You say, "Well I don't know what you are talking about. Are you talking about literal blood"? Well no. Of course not. Let's understand. Remember in the Old Testament when God was meting out his judgments on the Pharaoh and Egypt. That is a whole other movie we could talk about. Look. I like batman. I like Christian bale. But really? They took so many liberties with that film. Making the plagues look like they happened naturally. These giant alligator like creatures eating everything. One thing leads to another. The Red Sea wasn't parted by God. It was just at low tide. I mean what is with these people in Hollywood? Follow the biblical script.

It is way better than anything you could ever dream up. But anyway in the real Bible story a series of plagues come upon the Pharaoh. Finally the worst plague of all is about to come. God is going to kill the firstborn. The angel of the Lord is going to destroy the firstborn. The firstborn animal, firstborn child, firstborn everything. God goes to his people the Jews and says, "Ok. Listen now. You take a lamb". "You shed the blood. You put the blood above your doorpost. Above the frame of your door. You put it on the top". "You put it on the left and you put it on the right. When my judgment comes, when I see the blood I will pass over". And that is what they did. By the way, if you look at that blood on the top and the blood on the right and the blood on the left, it looks just like a cross. They put the blood there. As the judgment of God came he passed over every home that had the blood. You could have been a Jew and heard that and not applied the blood and your home would have faced that judgment. But of course they did not do that.

That is the same in our lives as well. You see we apply the blood in our lives. So we are in a situation and we have sinned. We feel like we can't approach God. Our emotions are telling us that we can never pray again. We just say, "I can approach God right now because of the blood of Jesus Christ". Because Ephesians 2:13 says, "You who were afar off have been made near by the blood of Jesus". I am going to go right up to God right now. I am going to ask for his forgiveness. Listen to this. 1 John tells us, "If we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin". Know this. If you have unconfessed sin in your life it is going to bring your prayer life effectively to a halt.

The Psalmist said that the Lord did not hear his prayer because he hung on to iniquity in his heart. God says in Isaiah, "It is not that my arm is short that it can't reach you. It is not that my ear is heavy that it can't hear you. It is that your sins have separated you from me". I have to come and I have admit my sin and turn from that sin and then apply the blood in my life, the blood of Jesus shed for me and know regardless of how I feel afterwards that I am restored to God. After you pray you might say, "I still don't feel it". Don't worry about what you feel. This is based on the fact of what God has done for you. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh righteous is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. That song has it right. Don't let the devil ever rob you of that truth.

So how do I draw near to God? Just by reading the teachings of scripture and the teachings of Christ in particular? No. You can read these things and never draw near to God. If you read them carefully you will see that Jesus said that we need to be perfect as his Father in Heaven is perfect and our righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and pharisees. So it is not enough to just to read about Jesus or to admire Jesus or think good thoughts about Jesus. Can I draw near to God if I try to follow his example? No. Because you can try all you want to follow his example but you are always going to come up short.

Here is how you come to God. You come through the blood. You say, "Lord I am a sinner. I know it. I know your blood was shed for me. I believe it. I am sorry for my sin. I turn from it now. I choose to follow you". Then you have relationship. It is the relationship. Not because I earned it. I wasn't one of the chosen people of God. I was a gentile. I was a pagan. I was a sinner just like you. But God took me who was afar off and brought me near by the blood of Jesus. That is so amazing. You know what? You never get past this. This is not the abc's of the Gospel. This is the a to z of the Gospel. You start with the Gospel and you end with the Gospel.

I think sometimes we think we prayed a little prayer and we move on. No. You never move on from this because you still sin and you need to come back to God again and again and again because of his shed blood you can come to him. Maybe as we close now there might be some of you that would say, "Man I have wanted to get right with God but I have always felt like I am not worthy". Let me just tell you, you aren't. So let's move beyond that. "I am not worthy". No you are not. You never will be. No one else will be either. It is not based on worthiness. "I feel if I was a better person". No. You would never be a good enough person to earn God's forgiveness. You are a bad enough person to receive his forgiveness if you will just say, "Lord I am sorry" and turn from it.

Maybe you have never asked Jesus Christ to forgive you. You don't have this relationship with God. He seems so far away. Yet he can become so close. You find yourself hopeless when in reality you can be hopeful with Christ living in you. Jesus who died on the cross and shed his blood and rose again from the dead stands now at the door of your life and he knocks. He says if you will hear his voice and open the door he will come in. I am going to give you a chance to ask Christ to come into your life.