OK. Thank you, Sherry. for your tireless and faithful
work at that piano. We appreciate it. I was reminded
this week by the Greg Elmquist, they do not have a piano player
in seven years. And we're blessed with two of
them, at least. So I'm thankful for you. Go back
to Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2, if this
goes well, we might just go on through the rest of this book. Ephesians 2, look at verse 19.
This is the verse that caught my attention and made me want
to deal with this chapter. Ephesians 2, 19 says, Now therefore,
ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens. with the saints and of the household
of God. No more strangers, foreigners,
but fellow citizens, household of God. Now, it's a marvelous
and wonderful thing to be a part of God's family. Is it not wonderful? Christ's Church and this little
assembly here, and I say this without prejudice because it's
the same opinion as held by many, not of this number, that this
little assembly is one of the finest on the face of the earth.
I mean that. My father himself We were talking
about you, bragging on you, and he said, I know of no other like
it anywhere. The people are just, well... Hebrews 12. Go over to Hebrews
chapter 12. And we've got people here that
have been here for years. Old and faithful members. Right
here sits two of them in front of me. And right there, right
behind them, two more. On and on I could go around the
room. There's still some old and faithful members, long time,
young in heart that much, and faithful members still here,
still right here, hearing this gospel after, well, over 20 years
or more, 25. We've got new and faithful members
here in our midst that are a vital part. I can't imagine doing it
without Brother Henry and Brother John and their wives and Nancy
and others have been here for years. Ross is too many to name,
but I can't imagine doing without any of them if I want to. But
we've got new people here that have been here a short time who
have already endeared themselves to you, feel like you've known
them all their lives, vital members of this church, and I can't imagine
doing without the youngest, newest member. Can you imagine? The Lord apparently has revealed
himself to another family member, Amanda Taylor. is going to be
baptized Sunday morning. We rejoice with her. You think
about all that the Lord has added to this church just in the last
five years, the people. Blessed, blessed fellowship that
we have here. Hebrews 12 says this, and I heartily
concur. Verse 22, you come unto Mount
Zion, the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem, to an
innumerable company of angels. We're in a company of angels,
are we not? Some on earth, and many have gone on to be with
the Lord. Once strangers, back in our text,
says once strangers and foreigners, but now no more. No more strangers.
Well, this chapter, tells us how we got here, how we came
to be fellow citizens. This chapter, as well as chapter
one, I know that the assistant pastor probably dealt with that
pretty well. He's got little experience at
it. I know he dealt with it well, and if you paid close attention,
if the Lord blessed you, you saw that the whole chapter is
nothing but what God has done for us in Christ. That's the
whole chapter. Chapter 1, chapter 2 doesn't
ask anybody anything. It strikes no bargains, no deals,
no conditions, no nothing. It just tells us what all God
has done for us. You notice how many times he
said, by grace, grace, grace, grace. That's the theme of this
chapter 2. He has to get all the way over
to chapter 4 before he says, now I beseech you. Since God's
done all this in Christ, I beseech you. Walk worthy of that. But
this is a reminder of what we were and how we got here. Every
one of us. Every one of us. Once strangers.
Once aliens. Now no more. But fellow citizens. Household of God. Chapter 2,
verse 1. It begins this way. And you.
Who? Well, you. And you. Now, you and you, me and you,
whoever it is that believes this gospel that needs cry, and you,
hath he quickened. The word quickened means made
alive. That's what it means. You hath
he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sin, dead meaning
No eyes to see, no ears to hear, no heart to feel the need of
Christ. No interest, dead, dead to the
gospel, dead to the truth. In trespasses and sin, wherein,
in time past, that is, In sin you walked according to the course
of this world, that is, the direction that the world is headed, just
like them, thinking like them, following them. According to
the prince of the power of the air, that is, he's the God of
this world, he's the one that manipulates it, he's the one
that holds it captive, Scripture says, and you were his captive. Read on. The spirit that now
worketh in the children of disobedience, men and women think they are
free, like to think that, but Scripture plainly says they are
captive. Verse 3, among whom also we all had our conversation
in time past, our lives, our lifestyle in time past. What
was it all about? What did we live for? Well, to
fulfill the lust of our flesh, the desires of the flesh and
of the mind, giving no thought to spiritual things, but living
for the flesh, and whereby nature, the children of wrath, even as
others, anger at God, anger at one another, but God. It says, and you. That's the way you were. That's
where you were when the Lord found you and you, but God. That's salvation in those two
words. Now, this was this is condemnation and you. Your salvation,
but God. But God, who is rich. in mercy. That means he has a lot of it.
If you're rich in something, that means you have much of that. God is rich in mercy. He's shown
great mercy to a multitude of sinners from the beginning of
time, and there's still more mercy to show. And we're sinners
every morning. We wake up sinners. And that's
why his mercies are new every morning. And we'll be sinners
till the day we die. And that's why His mercy endureth
forever. He's rich in it. He has much of it. God who is
rich in mercy for His great love wherewith He loved us. Oh, listen to this. Isaiah 38. Listen as I read to you. Verse
17. He said, For peace I had great,
great bitterness, but thou hast in love to my soul delivered
it from the pit of corruption, and thou hast cast all my sins
behind your back." So God, who is rich in mercy, had great mercy
upon us, the chief of sinners, and for his great love, he did
this out of love to us, that love which was given us in Christ
before the foundation of the world, that love that was set upon us
sovereignly by him. That great love, I wish I could
preach it like it ought to be preached. Great love. Verse 5
says, even when we were dead in sin. Maybe I can illustrate it then.
You remember the story of that old prodigal son? He was a worthless
son, wasn't he? An ungrateful, unprofitable,
worthless son, was he not? He told his father, give me what's
coming to me. He didn't have anything coming
to him. He didn't do anything to earn what the Father gave
him. He did it. Give me what's mine. Nothing
was rightfully his. Everything he had was a gift.
He didn't earn it, but the Father gave it to him anyway. And he
went out without regard to his Father, giving no thought to
his Father, and wasted all of that, his substance. Nearly killed
himself with riotous living upon this world. In the meantime,
All that time, the father who was looking for his return, who
it sounded like he knew he was coming back because he was fattening
a calf, having the best robe made, saving a ring for his finger,
and all of that. And that worthless, no good son
just came to himself. Had to do that. He just, the
Scripture says, came to himself and realized, I'm in the hog
pen. And he said, with servants at
my father's house eating better than I am, and I'm supposed to
be a son. He said, here's what I'll do. I'll go back home and
I'll confess that I've sinned against heaven. He knew it was
God against him and him only he'd sinned. I've sinned against
heaven. And he said, I'm not worthy to
be called a son. That's what I'll do. repentant. And lo and behold, when he was
headed back, that worthless, no good son. When he was headed
back, it says the father saw him afar off, spotted him afar
off, long before the son spotted the father. The father laid eyes
on the son. And the father went running to
the son. Not the son. He's embarrassed to come back.
But he's needed. And the father went running and
fell on the son's neck, kissing him. Welcome home, son. Gave the command, bring the best
robe. Bring that robe I was having
made for him. He's in rags right now. Bring
out that robe. Put it on him. That's imputed
righteousness. Bring a ring. Put it on the symbol
of my love and betrothal. Bring a ring. Put it on his finger.
That fatted calf? kill it. We're going to have
a feast. My son who was dead is alive again. That's the picture that our Lord
gave of the Father's love for his people, even when we were
dead in sin. He hath quickened us, verse 5,
he hath quickened us together with Christ. By whose grace you're saved,
it should read, by Christ's grace You say, quickened, made alive.
How is that? How were we quickened? How did
the Father bring us to ourselves? That's what that means. When
the Son was brought to Himself, it is to realize where He was,
to realize what He'd done, give repentance, and to see His need
of the Father and to go back home. That's what this quickening
is that the Father wrought upon us. Go with me to Hebrews chapter
4. How did God do this to us? Well,
it wasn't a vision, a sign, a miracle experience, but He does
it one way. Hebrews 4, look at it, verse
12, says, The Word of God is quick. That is, it's the life. It's the Word of life. This is
how He brings dead sinners to life. The Word of God. It's quick,
it's powerful. Quick and powerful. 1 Peter,
go over there. 1 Peter. And you know, it was
the Word that you heard. Everybody in here heard the Word.
I would venture to say nearly everyone in here heard it from
a preacher, because that's what God was pleased to choose, by
the foolishness of preaching, to save them that believe. 1
Peter 1, verse 23, says we're born again. This quickening is
a new birth, a regeneration. Born again from the dead, from
death unto life, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by
the word of God which liveth. and abided forever. Verse 25,
and this word is the gospel that's preached unto you. So that's
what quickened us. That's what opened our eyes to
see what we are and our eyes to see God's glory and holiness
and our ears to hear the word and our heart, a new
heart to receive it. So this is the quickening power
of God. Go back to the text. So he's
quickened us together with Christ. Quickened with Christ. And I'll
just read from Romans chapter 6 for you. You don't have to
turn. It says we're quickened with
Christ. And it says in Romans 6, verse
4, that we're buried with him by baptism into death, that like
as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the
Father, even so we should walk in newness of life. The same
way in which Christ was killed, crucified, buried out of sight. raised, risen from the grave
and seated in the heavenlies now. The same thing happened
to us through the preaching of the gospel. Same thing. The Word
came and just killed us, slew us. This old sinner convicted
us and killed us. as a convicted criminal. And
then we're crucified with Christ. We see our sins paid for in Him
and risen to walk anew in His life. Someday to be seated with
Him. Alright, and so he says here in Arctic, by grace you're
saved. This is all by grace. All a gift. All according to
the working of His mighty power. Verse 6, I like this. I love
this verse. He's raised us up together. and
made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Now, not only believers, is he
talking about believers together here, but principally he's talking
about Christ. That we're together, we're his bride. Christ is our
husband and we're his bride and wherever he is, we are too. If
we're not actually physically with him, we are in spirit. Isn't
that right, husbands? Why? If you're truly united in
love, holy matrimony or unity, no matter if the other one's
away from you, still on your mind and your heart. So it is
with Christ. We're quickened together with
him, raised us up together, made us sit together in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus. In other words, where Christ
sits right now, that's where I am. He's my representative. He said, you believe in God?
Believe also in me. He said, in my Father's house
are many reservations, many dwelling places. And if it weren't so,
I would have told you. And I'm going to prepare a place
for you. And where I am there, you may be also. And if I go,
I'll come again and receive you unto myself, that you may be
with me. Where Christ is right now, we're with Him. We're seated with Him. Seated
with Him. A reservation with Him. Scripture
says this, and 1 Peter says, we have a place reserved in Heaven.
We have an inheritance that fadeth not away, reserved in Heaven
for you, but who are kept by the power of God through faith,
ready to be revealed through the last time. We have a reservation. My wife and I bought season tickets
to them, to the high school football games this year, last year, and
this year again. And we went to the last game,
and somebody was in our seat, weren't they? That was my seat. It was her
seat, right? They didn't belong there. Seemed
like nice people. They had to go. There was no other empty seat. I'm sorry, but you've got to
go. Find your own seat. In other
words, if you don't have a reservation, you can't be seated. No one else
allowed. Christ is there now. Christ is
there now. made the reservation for you
to elect. He's seated there, and he's going to ensure that
we sit with him. He's going to ensure it. Verse
7 in our text says that in the ages to come, he might show the
exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness. That is, what
all he has done for us. Exceeding riches of His grace. It's all by grace. This whole
life, from start to finish, everything we have, everything we are, everything
we know, from the way we look, whatever it is, is all by the
grace of God. What do we have that we have
not received? Everything. By His grace. And the least of
his favor is more than we deserve. But yet he's been abundantly
gracious, rich in grace. And he's going to show us in
the ages to come the exceeding riches of his grace. We're going
to see and we're going to know just how gracious he's been to
us. And his kindness toward us is
through Christ Jesus. It's all through him. It's for
Jonathan's sake. Those of you who know that story,
David showing kindness to Jonathan, or to Mephibosheth, remember? And had him sit with him like
one of the king's sons. That was for Jonathan's sake,
Mephibosheth's father, whom David made a covenant with. You know
that story? And all of this is for Christ's
sake. Through Christ Jesus. Verse 8, for by grace are you
saved. Here's your verse, Henry Sword.
How many years have you been hearing it? Tired of it? This
is your song, isn't it? By grace, do you say? Yes, you
are. By grace. Through faith. Yeah,
man, a woman must believe, a young person must believe. He that
believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Whosoever believeth
shall not be condemned. But that faith is not of your
sin, is it? It's not of yourself, it's the
gift of God. Faith is by His grace. He gives the gift of faith. It's not of works. We're saved
not by our own works. So quit trying. Quit trying. If anybody's still trying, if
anybody's laboring and heavy laden with trying to atone for
the past or appease God, whatever, quit trying. Just rest. Look
to Christ. Just look to Christ. Everybody
in here who knows him has done just that. It's not of works. No it isn't. It's by grace. Totaling.
One hundred percent. Lest any man should boast. Nobody's
going to boast. God's going to get all the glory.
For we are His workmanship. Verse 10. We are His workmanship. It's God that worketh in us.
Both the will and the do of His good pleasure. He that hath begun
a work in us will perform it. We are His workmanship. Created
in Christ Jesus. And I know the pastor dealt with
that. That's what this whole thing
is about, isn't it? Being in Him. My thanks. Created in Christ
Jesus. Now, it's not that works are
not important. It's not that works have no place. Works are proof. Good works are
proof that God has done a good work. Works are proof that God
has saved us by His grace. It's not by works, our works.
It's by His work. And yet He did it that we might
walk in good works. a holy people, separate people
for his glory. Verse 11, now remember, wherefore,
in light of all that, and all what God's done for us, remember
that ye in time past were Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision
by the circumcision. In other words, these Ephesians
knew what that meant, that the Jews called Gentiles dogs. If you were a non-Jew, you were
a dog. That's what the Jews called them. And so these Ephesians, and they
knew from the beginning, people all the way back When God chose
the Jews, people all over the world knew that God chose the
Jews, or at least they heard the story. Some of them, Brother
Greg preached that from Joshua, remember, that there were some
who realized that Jews are God's chosen people. And they came,
remember, saying, we don't deserve to be here, but if you'd have
mercy on us, we'd like to be one of you. Okay, come on in. Joshua let them in. But we were
at one time, Gentile dogma. It says, at that time, verse
12, we were without Christ. Look at all this. Look at this
sad shape that we were in. Without Christ. As far as we
knew, that is, we didn't have a mediator. We didn't have a
substitute. Had no sin offering. No atonement. No nothing. Without
Christ. That's a bad thing to be without.
Anybody that misses Christ, Being aliens, it says aliens
from the commonwealth of Israel, aliens, alienated, kept on the
outside, not wanted. Aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel, not allowed on the inside, kept outside the gate,
not allowed on the inside for worship. Strangers, read on,
strangers from the covenants of promise, strangers having
no hope and without God in this world, in modern language. We
were without Christ and didn't even know we needed Christ and
weren't even interested. We were aliens. We were on the
outside and didn't even care to look in. Just not interested.
Strangers. This gospel meant nothing to
us. Nobody could convince us otherwise. No matter. No hope. Didn't know we needed
a hope. Without God to end the world.
Didn't need a God. Didn't need God. But now. Like,
but God. But now. Verse 13. In Christ
Jesus, ye who sometime were far off are made nigh, are brought
near by the blood of Christ. But now, you who were far off
are made nigh. Like that prodigal. Brought nigh.
How? What was it that really brought
us nigh? The blood of Christ. For He's
our peace, it said. He's our peace. The blood of
Christ. He is our peace. God wouldn't
allow us in if it wasn't for the blood of Christ. He's our
peace. The chastisement of our peace
was laid on Him. And He is our peace. He who hath
broken down the middle wall of partition between us. and has
abolished in his flesh the enmity even the law of commandment contained
in ordinances." Let me see if I can make good what this means.
In Christ Jesus, now, by the blood of Christ, it says this
wall of partition has been brought down. My own case. when I was a young
rebel, not interested in God, in Christ, in the gospel, not
interested at all. There were some people that were.
God's true people. But there was a barrier there
between us. Something that separated us.
My sins separated me from my God. But also God's people. There's a barrier there. And
when God brought me to Christ by His grace, that barrier is
broken down completely. That barrier of sin, Christ did
away with that. The veil in the temple, access
to God, that's brought down, torn in two. The prejudice, the
hate that I felt toward the people of God, The enmity, verse 15,
says, even the law of commandments. The law worketh sin, Scripture
says. The strength of sin is the law. When you're told to do something,
your flesh doesn't want to do it. Well, God broke that down,
too. That enmity, the law of commandments
containing ordinances. He took those ordinances that
were against us and nailed them to His cross, blotting out the
handwriting of ordinances. And he made in himself, in Christ,
it says, two, one new man. And so make him two. Now I am one with all of those
who I was a stranger to, a stranger to me. Those who were separated,
we were separated, now we're one. One new man in Christ. In
other words, Henry may have known the Lord before I did, He wouldn't
have had anything to do with me if he'd have known me back
then, nor I him. But now, we're brethren, totally,
completely. All barriers have been brought
down in Christ. That is through Christ, the gospel
of Christ. We've both been brought the same
way. Verse 16, and that he might reconcile both of us unto God. Both of us unto God reconciled. All of God's people have to be
reconciled because it says enemies in our mind. You read that, John,
in Colossians 1. Enemies in your mind by your
own wicked work. Enemies of God. Having slain the enmity thereby,
that's what killed us all and brought us down, the pride, and
brought us together. It's Christ crucified. That's
the one thing that slew us all. Slays the malice and the hatred
and the pride and the envy and the prejudice and the, I'm thinking
you're better than somebody else. It slays all that. Slays the
self-righteousness. It slays the religious as well
as the irreligious. That's the only one thing that
will do it. Christ crucified. Slays them all. In verse 17 it
says, Christ, he slew the enmity thereby and came and preached
peace to you which were afar off and to them that were not. Who came and preached peace?
Christ did. He's the one that all of his
sheep hear from. That's what he said. My sheep
hear my voice. Though it's a man you hear it from, yet Christ
said they're my spokesman. And he's the one that comes and
actually speaks to his people, speaks peace. He's the only one
that can. In verse 18, for through him, through Christ, we both
have access, Jew and Gentile, religious or irreligious, by
one spirit, by one work of the Holy Spirit. We have access unto
the Father. And now, here's our text. That was the introduction. Now,
therefore. See, you remember the pastor
saying, wherever you see a therefore, see what it's there for. Now,
therefore. Now, after all this, where you
were, what you were, Now, therefore, and what you were without, now,
therefore, you are no more strangers and foreigners." No more strangers and foreigners. Have you ever been a stranger
somewhere? Have you ever been somewhere and you've been a total
stranger, didn't know anybody? Nobody knew you. It's an awful
feeling, isn't it? Huh? What about a foreigner? You ever been in a foreign country?
When you all go to Mexico, just hope that the groovers don't
ever leave you. You'll know what it feels like
to be a foreigner. Don't know the language, can't
communicate, nobody's interested in you, you're different, you're
strange, And I remember when I first came, started coming
back, when the prodigal first started coming back to hear the
gospel, I remember feeling like a stranger. I remember feeling
I don't belong here. I remember feeling a little bit
alienated, that is in my own mind. People were tickled to
death I was there. I didn't know that, but I thought
I didn't belong there. I feel like a foreigner. Didn't
speak the same language as a former enemy. Former enemy. Not anymore. Not anymore. Not anymore. But now it says,
verse 19, fellow citizens, some of you all, I remember when you
first walked in here and the look on your face. Well, like
I have. But now, you're fellow citizens
with the same. What does it mean to be fellow
citizens? Well, if you're fellow citizens, if you're citizens
of a country, you live under the same government. Right? Fellow citizens. And you're under
the same rule and government. Well, we're under the rule and
the reign of our God, our sovereign God. We're under the reign and
the rule of our King, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And how long is this going to
last? The Scripture says, of his reign
there will be no end. There will be forever. It's not
a democracy, thank God. There's a general election coming
up. And Mindy and I are trying to
decide who to vote for. We don't really even know what
a delegate does. Do you, Brother Henry, would
you please stand up here and explain all of this? You've lived
a long time. I'm sure you know by now what
a delegate does. No? We don't either. We've got to vote on somebody.
It's really not going to make much difference. What's that
other office? Sheriff, we need to know what
he does, I think. On and on it goes, right? This is not a democracy. The
spiritual citizenship of the country, heavenly Jerusalem,
is not a democracy, it's a monarchy. It's a monarchy. I would have
loved to have lived under Solomon's reign and rule. It says, every
man dwelt under his own vine and fig tree. And there was peace. Solomon was the wisest man ever
to live. You could go to him with Any
problem, any need, I guarantee you there was not one needy person
anywhere. Guarantee you. He was too kind,
too good, too wise, too rich. I bet you, well, I bet you if
you went to Solomon, he'd just sit you right at the table. The
king! Yep. I bet he wouldn't turn no one
away. There's a greater than Solomon. It's the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is our king. King of kings.
We're under his government. One Lord. One Lord. And we live in the same city.
It's called Mount Zion. That's what we read there in
Hebrews 12, wasn't it? You're not coming to Mount Sinai. You're not coming to Mount Sinai,
it says. It burned with fire and smoke and the people said,
don't let God speak to us. Oh no, you've come to Mount Zion.
The church of the living God. A numerable company of angels.
A heavenly city. Mount Zion, heavenly Jerusalem. The gates are wide open. Come
and go. Come in, go out. One city. Have an audience with the King.
One country. Israel. Israel. Hebrews 11. Go over there quickly.
I want to hurry. Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11. You know, I was offered the opportunity
to go back to Ashlam. I was offered an opportunity
to go there. I was asked if I would want to go back there. And I
respectfully declined, because this is my home. This is my family. This is my country. I'm a Franklin
County. I've burned all my bridges. This
is my family. That's the family up there at
13th Street, but I'm vitally joined to this family. This is
where I belong. I had opportunity, but no, this is where I desire
to be. And it says that in Hebrews 11
here. If they would have been mindful of where they came from,
where they came out, They might have had opportunity. They might
have wanted to return, but they weren't mindful of it. They weren't
thinking about it. They burnt their bridges. They were looking
somewhere else, better. They desire a better country,
it said. That is a heavenly. So God's not ashamed. He called
their God. He prepared for them a city.
And we're burning our bridges here. We're looking for a heavenly
city. And it says back in the text,
it says, we're fellow citizens with the saints. There's a bunch
of our friends and loved ones and people are there right now.
They're actually in that city right now. Yes, sir. They're seated with Christ. I
mean, literally. We're seated there figuratively.
Through Him. They're actually there. I mean,
like Mephibosheth and who can name one? Solomon, Abraham. There's
Ellen Thaler. Sitting right there. Yes, she
is. Linda Stonick, sitting right
there, actually sitting there, in that city, that glorious heavenly
city, with Christ himself, gazing on the King of Kings himself,
where we long to be. They're actually there. They have no remembrance of this
place. If given an opportunity, why
would they want to come to this place? They are there now, and
we will be, by God's grace, with the saints someday. We are already
saints, but that is our coronation up there. Verse 19, and of the
household of God, a household of God, a household, that is
a family, God's family. I remember distinctly the very
first message I preached here as a pastor. was God's family
from Ephesians 3.15. It says of them, the whole family
in heaven and earth is named. That was the very first message
I preached here. And the family of God has one
father. One father. All taught of Him. Loved by Him. Protected by Him. Provided for by Him. One father. Household. One family. Bunch of brothers and sisters.
God has a big family. He has lots of children. You
know, lots of children is fun, isn't it, Gabe? Four is a big
family these days. I talked to a little lady the
other day who raised ten children, a little black lady, ten children.
That would be fun, for everybody but her. For the family it would
be. A big family is fun, isn't it? A diversity of personalities
is what makes it interesting. I'm glad everybody in here is
not like me. I wouldn't have anything to do with you. But
I'm glad we're so different. It makes it interesting. While our personalities may differ,
our loves, our desires, our purpose, our aim, our everything is the
same. It's the same. One Lord, one
faith, one hope of your calling, one baptism, one family. One
big happy family. Yes, happy family. One language. We speak the same language. When
I was in Albany, Georgia, There's a man down there named David
Adkins who takes care of the tapes for Bill Parker. David,
you know Bill, David, you two. David's from Eastern Kentucky.
And somebody, after I spoke to him, they said, you sound just
like David Adkins. I said, well, you can take the
boy out of Eastern Kentucky, but you can't take Eastern Kentucky
out of the boy, you know. God's people everywhere have
the same language. No matter where you go, you go
where believers are, they're speaking the same language. What
is it? Sovereign grace. Sovereign mercy. Christ is about every third word. Right? It's a language of fear
and respect for God and reverence and love. Love for His people. They'll backbite and pick and
so forth at one another, but they're all the chief of sinners
and they esteem one another highly. The same language. Same language. And they have the same inheritance.
We're all looking forward to the same inheritance. We all
get the same thing, John. We're all joint heirs. What do we get? What don't we get? Well, I can't
even, I don't know. My eye hasn't seen, ear hasn't
heard. But it's a lot. One in likes,
dislikes, purpose, one in dislikes too. We dislike all those that
defame our Father. We really dislike those who don't
worship our elder brother, who bring him down, defame his name. Household of God, read on, I
quit. And we're built upon the foundation
of the apostles and the prophets. It's Jesus Christ Himself, the
chief cornerstone. Everything built on and around
Him. And He'll not be moved, nor will
we. "...in whom all the building
is fitly framed together." Fitly framed, joined together. "...and
groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord." Holy temple, yeah,
because in Christ you're building together. We're going to be a
habitation. of God through the Holy Spirit. And I'll end this
message like I began it, by saying, isn't it a marvelous and wonderful
thing to be a part of God's family and Christ's Church? It's an
innumerable company of angels, both here and there. All right,
stand with me. Our Father, thank You so much
for including us in that number. We ask that You would make Yourself
known to more, bring Your sheep in, reveal Yourself to and in
Your people, Your elect, and give them that peace which passeth
understanding, Shed abroad your love in their hearts for you
and the gospel and your people. Unite them by faith to thee. Make them who are perhaps felt
to be strangers and foreigners, but make them fellow citizens
with the saints in the household of God. We will rejoice to receive
them. Thank you for all you have brought to yourself and to us. Thank you for each one of them
and ask your blessings on them all. Especially pray for Amanda. And forgive us of our sins in
Christ's name. Amen. Thank you.