I'd like to draw your attention
to the passage that we read together in Ephesians chapter 2 and our
text verse 19 Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 19 Now therefore
ye are no more strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens
with the saints and of the household of God. Now therefore ye are
no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the
saints and of the household of God. and the verse as we have
it would seem to be governed in many ways by the opening words
of verse 11 where the apostle exhorts us wherefore remember and that exhortation comes to
us, doesn't it, frequently in the scriptures the apostle is
clearly aware of the peril of forgetfulness and though we think
from time to time of the way in which we might forget in life
and in material things, temporal things how much more urgent, how much
more needful is it for us to have these injunctions, these
exhortations to remember especially these things that the Apostle
has brought before us, the knowledge of God, the knowledge of that
salvation that he has wrought for us in the Gospel through
the Lord Jesus Christ. to remember what we once were
and what now we have been made through faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. As the words of our text are
brought to us, now, therefore, ye are no more strangers and
foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household
of God, strangers and foreigners. It would seem to speak to us
of those that don't belong to a particular people, those that
are of a different standing and relation and are outside a community
of people in this instance of course the church and the people
of God being strangers and foreigners it's brought out in another verse
here in our passage of course in verse 12 where the apostle again reminds
us of what we are before being saved, before being brought into
that community, that church, that knowledge of God and his
people. At that time he says, you were
without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel.
and strangers from the covenants of promise. It speaks of being
not part, it speaks of being estranged from those people and
from God and it speaks of being without the comfort, strangers from the covenants
of promise, without the comfort of the promises of the gospel
and the scriptures and the covenants, the promises that God had made
to his people down through the years of the patriarchs and the
prophets, And going back to our text in verse 19, we might see
here the reference to strangers and foreigners as being those
that are only residents in a country we know
what it's like for people to be in a foreign country they
may live amongst a nation and a people but they don't have
the same relationships they don't have that same connection that
same sense of belonging to those people to that country and It ties in really, doesn't it? Then with that thought that the
Apostle brings to us that now we are fellow citizens. Once
we were strangers, we had no belonging to the people of God,
but now we are fellow citizens with the saints. And foreigners,
we may see how these words get different
meaning over the years, but foreigners may be seen in this context as
referring to those who live in a house, who live in a home,
part of a household, but they're guests. they don't belong to
the family they're there simply as guests and as temporary residents
and that seems to be something of the meaning of the apostle
here and again of course that ties in with the end of the verse
where he speaks of us now as the Lord's people as being of
the household of God. Once we were not part of that
household, part of that family, part of that kingdom, but now
we are brought in, we are members, we are brought to be of the household
of God. And so we we're brought to see
something really first of all then of what it means to belong to the
people of God and something of the nature or that
work of grace which has been done
in our hearts to bring us from one state, from one condition
to this new state, this new condition as the people of God and we might think when we Look at those words, strangers
and foreigners. How that it speaks to us, doesn't
it, of not only that we're not part, that we don't belong to
a certain group of people, but that we are different from
them. We're unlike those people. We're of a different nature.
We belong to a different country, a different race, as though we
come from a different country. We're of a different people,
we're of a different standing, a different relation. And it's,
it's quite, it's quite striking really. When you think of that, meaning that we've given to these
words strangers and foreigners people that may live amongst
a people but don't belong people that may live in a house as residents
and guests but they don't really belong to that family and to
that household how true it is, isn't it? that even we ourselves
can in some ways be caught up we can be bound up and found
amongst the people of God we can even be in a place of worship,
can't we? and we have to acknowledge we
have to confess that fact, don't we? that we can be we can be
in and amongst the people of God. Many in Ephesus no doubt lived amongst
the Jews, those people who had knowledge of the of the covenants
of promise and who sought to follow those laws and commandments, but they knew nothing of the
comfort of them. They knew nothing of the truth
of them. And as we have read in verse 12, They're aliens from them, they're
strangers from those things, they are without Christ. They did not have a knowledge
of the coming Christ, they had no expectation of a coming Christ. They had no hope of all that
Christ would come to achieve and accomplish and bring about
for his people, that forgiveness, that pardon, that state. of rightness
with God and we see that even we can be in that state,
can't we? Many of us can testify to that
fact, can't we? Maybe we were brought up in church
circles maybe we were brought up in a Christian home and maybe
we were brought even from an early age to know something of
the scriptures and we knew some of the truths and the doctrines
of salvation, the doctrines of grace and yet they didn't have
any relation to ourselves, there was no fruits, there was no real
true understanding, we didn't really hold them, receive them,
believe them, know them in their power, their reality until, isn't
it, until that work is done in our hearts and to bring us to
that knowledge, to bring us to that understanding of who and
what we are in and of ourselves and we see then something of
that of that wondrous work that God has done for us. That way that means that he has
opened up for us whereby we might be brought to a knowledge of
himself. Remember in our passage how the
apostle reminds us of the love and the mercy of God in verses
four and five. Do you remember how he says,
but God, who is rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith
he loved us even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened
us together with Christ. By grace ye are saved." There
is the love of God, isn't it? That even when we were in this
state as strangers, foreigners, and unlike in our nature, in
our being from the people of God yet even then he didn't wait
until we reformed ourselves we would never have done it, would
we? We would never have been brought
to that place where we could have reformed our natures and
our state, our condition, as sinners before a holy and a righteous
God, but even when we were dead in sins, God here is spoken of
for his great love wherewith he loved us, sending us the Lord
Jesus Christ, bringing us through him, quickening us through him
into a knowledge of himself and of salvation through faith in
Christ. And we see then that, you know,
it is of grace, isn't it? it's our own fault isn't it? When we think of our state and
nature and condition as strangers and foreigners and being dead in sins as we've
read here in this verse that we are to blame. It's not that
which has come upon us because of something outside. Yes, we know that Adam in the
garden in the beginning was tempted by the devil and by the serpent. But it was Adam's own heart,
wasn't it? It's our own heart that gave
in to that temptation, that gave way to that temptation, that
sought to follow that way of sin, that way of darkness and
rebellion. And it's that, isn't it? It's
that in ourselves that makes us to be guilty before God and
that brings the judgment of God upon us, that death which the
apostle speaks of here, being dead in trespasses and since
that is the just judgment of God upon us for our sins and
it is why at the end of verse 3 you see the Apostle speaks
of us as being children of wrath even as others because there
is a condemnation isn't there? There is that condemnation upon
us because of sin and because of our own rebellion, that guilt,
that shame that lies upon us for our turning away from Him
even though we may see, we may know, we may be told, we may
hear of the the precepts of the gospel. We
may hear of the Word of God and the things that he calls us and
those things that he expects of us. We call them the commandments,
don't we? But we may know of them. You know, naturally, in our natural
state and condition, we rebel against them, don't we? We despise
them, we disdain them, we turn from them. In our hearts, we
don't naturally have any inclination to follow, to obey. Do we? Those commandments and The fault
lies with us, it must, mustn't it? The fault must lie with us. And it's when, really isn't it,
it's when we come to see, when we are brought to acknowledge
that sense of fault, that sense of sin, that it is we who have
fallen. into this state, into this condition
as strangers and foreigners, aliens from the Kingdom of God,
the people of God that we are so unlike all that
the Lord has demanded of us, expected of us. Yes, we may have
outwardly many things that seem to be similar to the lives of
the Lord's people and to those that live a life of godliness
and those lives that are held out before us in the Scriptures. Outwardly, outwardly we may have
a sense of likeness to the people of God but inwardly by nature
in our hearts, you see, it's our hearts, isn't it? That shows
us how different, really, how different we are in our thoughts
of God and our thoughts of our desires and affections. So we easily set upon the world
and upon ourselves and not upon the Lord and upon His Word, as
the Apostle tells to us in verse 3, among whom also we all had
our conversation in times past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
the children of wrath, even as others. So what a wonderful grace
has been made known to us in the Gospel wherefore remember
isn't that what the Apostle is seeking to bring to our minds
to remember that dreadful state in which we were by nature and
that wonderful grace, that wonderful work which he has wrought for
us to bring us to Himself, that love that He had before us, even
before we ever knew Him. He sent His Son to die that death
upon the cross, to quicken us together with Him. And if you
notice that little word in verse 17, the apostles speak to being
reconciled, by Christ, that he might reconcile both unto God
in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby, and
came and preached peace to you, which were afar off, and to them
that were nigh." Speaking really in this context, isn't it, of
the Gentiles and the Jews, those that were The Gentiles and the
Jews, those that were near in terms of their commandments and
ordinances, the dispensation of the Old Testament sacrifice
and rituals, as we know, the ceremonies, in that sense they
were nigh. But it speaks of Christ. who
came and preached peace to you that were afar off, to them that
were nigh. Did we not each one of us know
of a time when Christ was brought to our minds and to our When
the knowledge of the Gospel came to us, perhaps for the very first
time, we were awakened to our state, we were awakened to a
knowledge of Christ and His glory and His grace and all that He
accomplished for us. And something of that peace was
made known to us. something of the peace that only
comes through that which Christ has accomplished on the cross,
bearing our sins, taking our punishment upon himself in our
place, that wrath of God, thereby we might be delivered from it,
saved from it, and brought to a knowledge of peace with God,
it's that state where everything is made to be without wrath, without anger,
a place where all is at rest, where man and God, the sinner
and the saviour are made one through faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. So we thought, we thought firstly
then of that wonderful work of grace which has been done, of
which our text speaks here. And we think for a few moments
just about the, of that wonderful work then that our Saviour accomplished
on the cross of which really the Apostle is so concerned to make clear
to us in the passage that we have read and he speaks on several
occasions doesn't he as we go through these verses of making
one as we have read in verse 16,
that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross,
having slain the enmity thereby. And in verse 14, he says, for he that is the Lord
Jesus Christ, he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath
broken down the middle wall of partition between us. And verse
15, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments
contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain one
new man, so making peace. What really is the apostle bringing
before us here in this sense of making one? And primarily, primarily it's
that making of one between man and God, between the sinner and
God whom they have offended, whom they have grieved, whose
laws they have transgressed, he has made them one in Christ
and brought peace, made peace between them, peace with God
and peace between them both. But there is a teaching, there is
a school really of doctrine today that would almost seek to teach
or give the impression at least that in some way it seems Christ
has wrought a salvation, he has wrought a way of making peace,
he has wrought a way of being reconciled to God that is different
from that which came before in the Old Testament they speak
of being so free from the Law of Commandments so free from
the demands of the Law that a new way is made whereby the law is
almost overlooked and as if it's abolished, as if it's put out
of the way, it's put aside and that you and I no longer need
to keep the law, no longer need now to follow those Ten Commandments
but that a new way has been opened up, a way of grace as though
there's an easier way to be saved through faith in Christ but that
surely is not what the Apostle here is saying the law in that
sense I know we cannot be saved by our own keeping of the law but the law is not abrogated,
is not laid aside. This peace is wrought for us
because Christ himself has fulfilled that law. It is because Christ
himself has wrought a righteousness through that law in his sinless
life that he lived for us on our behalf and is able is able
then to give that righteousness to us and peace in that sense
you see is surely always spoken of isn't it in the scriptures
as being that place where righteousness dwells it comes out doesn't it
in the prophecy of Isaiah isn't it that verse in Isaiah 32 And verse 17, and he says, and
the work of righteousness shall be peace. And the effect of righteousness,
quietness and assurance forever in my people shall dwell in a
peaceable habitation in insured dwellings and in quiet resting
places. But it's as a result of that
work of righteousness that not setting aside the law and the
need for righteousness and for those commandments to be fulfilled
and obeyed but you see they have been fulfilled in Christ and
it's faith in Him that brings about that peace as we receive
from Him that forgiveness and pardon And that righteousness
which is imputed, that lovely doctrine and teaching, isn't
it? That Christ imputes, He bestows, He clothes us in His own righteousness. That's the wonderful work that
Christ has wrought, isn't it? For us there upon the cross,
that making of one, bringing into that sense of peace with
God and the sinner, we, who have sinned against Him. But it's also that thought that
He's made us one forever. You pick up something of that
thought as we read here, of the way that Christ has, verse 14
speaks of breaking down that middle wall of partition between
us. You think of the ceremonies,
you think of that temple, you think of the sacrifices, the
rituals that The Jews were brought to practice over those many,
many years before the coming of Christ. And we're brought,
aren't we, before the thought that only the circumcised Jews
were able to go beyond this middle wall. Only a certain number And
of course even beyond that you had the veil to the most holy
place and only the high priest could go beyond the veil and
that only once a year. Now it spoke of Christ didn't
it? All these things. were those
things that spoke of the work that Christ himself would accomplish. But those rituals, those ceremonies
weren't perfect, they had to be repeated day by day, year
by year, because in themselves they were imperfect, they couldn't
bring a true sense of peace and a true sense of pardon sins forgiven
conscience is cleansed from a knowledge that guilt of sin but you see
Christ fulfilled all these rituals and ceremonies and so it says
here that that he is abolished verse 15 he's abolished in his
flesh that enmity It is the enmity of sin which all of us need to be cleansed
from but there's also that thought of the enmity and the law of
commandments here contained in ordinances which is those rituals,
those ceremonies, those sacrifices that separated the Jews from
the Gentiles and that spoke of how the Gentiles were to be excluded from all the privileges, from
all the rights, from all the blessings that the Jewish people
were to know in themselves through those ceremonies and what they
spoke of. But the wonderful thought, isn't
it, is that Christ has wrought that everlasting righteousness. He's wrought a peace which lasts
forever. It is a righteousness. It is
a work. that was done once and for all and forever, never to
be repeated. And in that sense, that middle
wall of partition is now broken down. That middle wall is now
no longer a wall that divides men and women from God through
faith. in Christ, you see, each one
of us is able to enter into that most holy place, enter into that
state of relation with God, enter into that place of communion,
fellowship with Him, that knowledge of Him, that High Priest knew only once
a year there was a sacrifice and Christ is our sacrifice. There was a priest who went with
the coals from that fire of the altar of sacrifice with the prayers,
the intercession, the incense into the holy place. Christ is
our great high priest who has gone into that heavenly place
for us and there was blood that was spilt and sprinkled upon
the mercy seat, the altar and all that was there in the temple. Everything had to be sprinkled
with blood to sanctify it, to make it holy. Christ shed his
blood there at Kauri that is our peace that brings about that
state of peace between his people and a righteous and offended
God because of sin so it is a perfect and an eternal work that Christ
has wrought and so of course therefore it's that work that
he has accomplished for all for all who believe and of course
there is that distinction here in our passage isn't there between
the Jew and the Gentile that Christ has wrought that peace
both for Gentile and for Jew, that now there is no distinction,
that now there is no need for either the Jew or the Gentile
to perform the same sort of rituals, the same sort of ceremonies,
to keep the same sort of temple sacrifice. that they knew in
the times before Christ had come. Now there is no need, no requirement
for a Gentile to take circumcision upon him. There is no need for
us, for you and for I, to follow these laws of commandments contained
in ordinances for us to obtain, to be brought to a knowledge
and a place of salvation. Now you see it's in Christ alone. Christ has fulfilled it all.
Isn't that the wonder of His work? There upon the cross that
we might see the way that that access has been opened up not
through these vain, these empty rituals and
ceremonies but simply through faith in what Christ has done
in laying down his life for us upon the cross. Now therefore because of all
that Christ has done and faith in him now therefore ye are no
more strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the
saints and of the household of God." I just love that lovely
thought really in the next verse which is speaking of the building
of really of the temple, it goes
on to speak of, verse 21, doesn't it, this holy temple in the Lord,
but it speaks of Christ being the chief cornerstone to this
new building. Think of a new temple and this
new building that Christ, by his work, has sustained and has
laid down that foundation as the chief cornerstone. And that, glorious temple in Jerusalem
when we read about it in the Old Testament how glorious that
temple was what a large structure and what so many
delightful elements consisted in that temple but Christ you see has sustained and borne upon his
own shoulders that new temple is built upon Christ as the chief
cornerstone that he bears upon himself this whole new temple
that really you can see it in terms of the people of God, the
church of the Lord Jesus Christ that now has gone out to the
whole world, that Christ in his own body has borne all the people
of God throughout every nation, throughout every country and
people, throughout the world who are brought to trust, believe
and find in him their Saviour and their Lord. All, even from the very beginning
of the Old Testament throughout the whole of the history of the
Lord's people, Christ upholds them all. He is the chief cornerstone
to this huge building that he himself has founded upon that
work, upon the cross. It's a wonderful thought really,
isn't it? the nature of Christ and the
person, the power, the wonderful accomplishment that He made for
us as His people. So lastly, we just close with
some thoughts as to, well, that is the work of grace is done
in our hearts. That's the work of Christ that
He's accomplished for us on the cross. Well, what is life? What is the nature of our life
in Christ as the people of God then? Now therefore you're no
more strangers and foreigners but he says here we are fellow
citizens with the saints and of the household of God. Do you know something in your
own heart as being a member, isn't that what it speaks of?
Being a member of the people of God? Being a member of his
household, of his family? Do you see in your own heart
the way that the Lord has brought you to be numbered amongst his
people, that you have a place in his heart? place in his purpose,
a place in his love and in his kindness that you are enrolled,
you are gathered, being called unto himself and with his people
and that we belong to that people, we belong even to all the saints
of old Think of the patriarchs and the prophets and the kings
who were all, as believers, part of that same family, that same
kingdom, and we, you and I, being fellow citizens, even with the
saints, with those people of old, that we should, in Christ,
be numbered amongst that people and that in Christ we should
be given that new nature to be seen, to be made like unto the
saints, the true people of God and the Apostle speaks of that,
doesn't he? In Colossians 3, do you remember
how the Apostle there speaks of Verse 10, Lie not one to another,
seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds, and have
put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the
image of him that created him. There's something what it means,
doesn't it, to be a saint, to be of the people of God, that
A new nature has been wrought within us, that wonderful work
of the Holy Spirit in regeneration and renewing of our hearts and
minds so that we are renewed in knowledge after the image
of Him that created Him, that image of God that was given to
us and given to Adam at the beginning before the fall, that image which
was so marred by sin in us now restored the image of God being
brought back upon us being given to us after that work of grace
being renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created
him we are fellow citizens we have a place in the kingdom of
God and in the household of God. And you know that there is a
very real sense in which the apostle here is speaking of the
fact that there's now no distinction between Jew and Gentile. There's
no distinction between one Christian and another. We are all fellow
citizens and there is but one standing there is but one relation. We are all of us fellow citizens
together as the people of God and of the household of God. Isn't that a wonderful thought?
However we might think of ourselves, each one of us truly as the Lord's
people are as much in the love and in the grace and in the purposes
of God as the strongest of Christians, as those
that we might consider to be the most learned, to be the most furthest on in their walk
with the Lord, that we might see all of us as one in Christ
Jesus. And we each have the same access
to God and to the throne of grace. Each of us have the same rights
and privileges to that grace, to knowing the kindness of God
upon us, that he will provide for each of our needs. He will
hear the cries of the weakest, of the faintest of his people. and he doesn't have that sense
of respect of persons that we so often have, don't we, with
reputation and standing and status but with God you see we are all
his people, the lambs as much as the sheep and he loves each
with that same love even as that which He loved, His own Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. We are fellow citizens with the
saints and of the household of God. And I leave you with the
thought, really, being part of that family, the household of
God, It's spoken of in different places of the scripture, isn't
it? Of being the children of God, then we are made to be sons
and daughters of the living God. And as his sons and as his daughters,
you see, we are made to be heirs of that household, of that family
and of that kingdom. that we are given the inheritance
God has so brought us to a knowledge of himself so enrolled us and
so given us that status, that place in Christ that we share,
we inherit, we are brought to all that Christ has wrought for
us He is the heir but all his people are said to
be joint heirs with Him in all His glory and all His grace. Everything that the Kingdom has
and stands for. It did not the prophet say as
much, didn't he? In Romans 8 and verse 32, you
remember, He that spared not his own son but delivered Him
up for us all how shall He not with Him also freely give us
all things? Do you know something of that
love and provision? Do you know something of that
intimacy of care of the Saviour and of the Lord that He is One
who will provide and will sustain and will uphold you in all things
willing, able to give to you and to me everything not only
that we need but everything that He is pleased to make known to
us the truths, the promises the blessings, the favours that He
has ever given to His people and it says freely freely to
give us all these things, may we be able to know something
of that love and the grace of God, that work that is wrought
in us through Christ but in Christ, by faith, trusting in Him, knowing
Him as our Saviour. May we ever also, as we sought
at the beginning, to have these things in remembrance. Remember
them. These are the things that really
are our life, concerning eternal life, concerning that relationship
with God that lasts forever, that peace that Christ has wrought
for us and into our hearts through the gospel that he preached. May the Lord bless his word to
our hearts and help us to know in reality and in truth these
things. in our own experience. Now therefore,
we are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens
with the saints and of the household of God. May the Lord bless His
Word. Amen.