Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2. The name
of the message tonight is One in Christ. One in Christ. Ephesians chapter 2. I'd like
us to consider verses 11 to 22. Ephesians chapter 2, and yesterday
Brother Matt and I looked at this portion of scripture in
our study together. We've been going through the
book of Ephesians, and I was blessed by looking at this scripture
here before us tonight, and it was on my heart to prepare a
message from this portion of scripture. I woke up thinking
about it, and so let us consider it tonight, and let's pray that
God the Holy Spirit will illuminate the scriptures and build up we
who believe in Christ Jesus our Lord. So let's first of all read
the portion of scripture. We'll read verses 11 to 22. Wherefore remember that ye being
in times past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision
by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands, 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 now, in Christ
Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the
blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath
made both one and hath broken down the middle wall of partition
between us, 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. And 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 far off, and to them that were nigh. For through him
we both have access by one spirit unto the Father. Now therefore
ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens
with the saints and of the household of God, and are built upon the
foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself
being the chief cornerstone, in whom all the building fitly
framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord, in
whom ye also are builted together for an habitation of God through
the Spirit. Now in verses 1 to 10, the Apostle
Paul of this chapter, the Apostle Paul had brought forth before
the Ephesians their natural state before salvation, and we see
that in verses 1 to 3. They're dead in trespasses and
sins. They're dead in trespasses and sins, and they walked according
to the flesh. according to the flesh, and again,
they're dead. Dead in trespasses and sins.
Dead spiritually. Alive physically, but dead spiritually. And this is the natural state
of all mankind. This is our state when we come
into the world. And it's very clearly presented. Very clearly
presented. And you, Athe Quicken, who were
dead in trespasses and sins, where in times past you walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversations
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. You couldn't tell one of God's
lost sheep from a goat. You couldn't tell in their natural
state, in their natural state, dead in trespasses and sins.
And this, this is the state, and the Apostle Paul is bringing
this forth before the Ephesians. But look at the mountaintop scripture
of verse four. Two words, two extremely important
words, but God. But God. These are two important words
for every believer in Christ because there was a time when
God intervened in our lives. There was a time when but God
occurred. I remember Rupert Reibenbach
preaching a whole sermon on those two words, but God, those two
words. And he said that, that every
single believer has a time in their lives when there was a
but God. When he intervened in our lives
and we're born again by the Holy Spirit of God, we're granted
faith and repentance to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And
we see that through verses five to nine. Verse 10 brings forth
a very important A point that we are His workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus. We're His workmanship, beloved.
Salvations of the Lord. Salvations of the Lord. All of
grace, all of the mercy of God, and all in Christ Jesus our Lord. Have you ever pondered where
you would have been or what you would have been today if the
Lord had not saved you? Have you ever pondered that? Have you ever pondered that you
would have continued, and I would have continued, oblivious to
the things of God in our natural state if the Lord hadn't intervened
in our life? Have you ever thought about that?
That we would have still been in our natural state if God hadn't
have intervened in our lives. Just ponder that, though. Ponder
that. Have you ever considered what
your thoughts about God and about life and about death was before
the Lord saved you? See, we should ponder these things
because we can look and see the great change that the Lord has
brought in our lives. He's done a work, and we're His
workmanship, as verse 10 says. Created in Christ Jesus, in Christ,
we're new creatures now in Christ. And have you ever considered
and really stopped and considered what your natural state was before
God saved you by His grace? Now Paul's writing, to the Saints
in Ephesus. Ephesus was an ancient Greek
city on the coast of Ionia. And it was built in the 10th
century BC on the site of a former Eretz Ion's capital by Ionoan
Greek colonists. They came and colonized this
area. And during the classical Greek era, it was one of the
12 cities of Ionoan League. And the city flourished. It flourished
after it came under the control of a Roman Republican in 129
BC. And it was famous for a nearby
temple of Artemis, which was completed around 550 BC. And that's one of the supposed
seven wonders of the ancient world. And other monumental buildings
are the Library of Celes and a theater, an ancient theater
capable of holding 25,000 spectators. In Ephesus was also one of the
seven churches of Asia that are cited in the book of Revelation
by John. And the city was destroyed by
the Goss in 263, then rebuilt. But by then, the city's importance
as a commercial center had declined. The harbor was slowly silted
up by a nearby river, and the city was partially destroyed
by an earthquake in 614 AD. Now in verses 11 and 12, we see
Paul very clearly bringing forth before
the church at Ephesus. And we have to remember that
this church was mostly comprised of Gentile believers. Mostly
comprised of Gentile believers. And their natural state, before
they were converted, in the eyes of the Jews, were they were Gentile
dogs. They were Gentile dogs. And we
can see ourselves here because we're Gentiles. or Gentiles. And here Paul brings forth that
we are to remember our former state. Remember our former state
of life. And in doing so, in remembering
what we came out of, right? In remembering that, we will
be reminded of the great deliverance which the Lord wrought in our
lives. And we will be reminded that
it was all by the mercy of God. and all by the grace of God,
and all in and through Christ and Christ alone. He delivered
us from our former state. And this will be a source of
great joy for the believer. Look at verses 11 and 12. Very
clearly, here is our state. Wherefore remember that ye being
in times past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcised,
by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hand. So
the Jews who are the circumcision in the flesh made by hands called
the Gentiles the uncircumcision. And that would be any nation
outside of Israel. Look at this, 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. That was our state, beloved.
That was our state. So Paul brings forth before the
Ephesian believers, Gentiles, their miserable state before
they were saved. miserable state before they're
born again. They were Gentiles in the flesh.
They were called the uncircumcision by the Jews. And when the Jews
called them that, they called them despising them. There was
no friendly term. They despised the Gentiles. They
despised them. And let us remember that most
of the people who Paul was writing to were Gentiles. And again,
the Jews despised them. And they They called anyone who
was not a Jew a Gentile, the uncircumcision. And they thought
of the Gentiles as dogs. Dogs. As people who were not
the people of God. Because they didn't have the
sign of the people of God, which was circumcision. Which was circumcision. And note the Jews were called
the circumcision, note though it says, in the flesh made by
hands. God's people, though, spiritual
Israel, we have our hearts circumcised by God. And we are the people
of God. We are born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. We've been circumcised with the
circumcision made without hands by the Holy Spirit of God in
putting off the body of sins of the flesh by the circumcision
of Christ. Now Paul also brings forth in
verse 12, again our miserable state before regeneration, that
at that time, ye were without Christ. You were without Christ, being
aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from
the covenant of promise, having no hope, and without God in the
world. Note here in our text, we were
without Christ. Now the Jews looked for the Messiah,
and they had a hope that the Messiah would come. But the Gentiles
had no care for these things. And that's why the text says
they had no hope. No hope. They were lost in the
darkness of either their idol worship or just the darkness
of their sins. And they had no care for the
one true God. They had no care for his Messiah.
They had no hope in our blessed Redeemer. And they looked to
the gods of their imagination, which had been cooked up by the
artifactory which our natural heart is. Can you not see ourselves
there? I can see myself. This was my
estate before God saved me. And the believer in Christ knows
that this was our state before conversion. We had no hope. We weren't hoping in the Messiah,
were we? We were hoping that our good would outweigh our bad,
but then when God revealed himself to us, we found out we're in
a heap of trouble. Because there's none righteous, no, not one.
There's none that seek after God. So we, before our conversion,
we had no hope. We were without Christ. We were
strangers from the commonwealth of Israel. I ask you, did you
ever think of Christ or cry out to Him in your natural state
other than when we were in trouble? We didn't, did we? And even at the time when we
did cry out to Him when we were in trouble, we didn't know Him.
We didn't know Him. We didn't care for Him. And as
soon as that trouble passed, what happened? We forgot all
about even crying out to Him, didn't we? We had no care. That was me. That was me, beloved. And note here, it says, the commonwealth
of Israel. Beloved Paul here writes about
a people who have had Christ revealed to them. This speaks
of the true Israel of God, the elect of God, spiritual Israel.
His chosen, blood-bought people who are born again by the Holy
Spirit of God, and they've cast the care of their eternal souls
upon Christ. And notice it says, aliens from
the Commonwealth of Israel. There was so great an alienation
and distance between the Jew and Gentile at the time of the
writing here, that the Gentiles could not dwell among the Jews.
They couldn't eat or converse with them or marry them. They
could not eat the Passover or join with them in worship. Think
of us, beloved. We couldn't join with the people
of God before we were saved. We couldn't eat with them of
the Lord's table. We couldn't speak to them even
because we didn't understand what they were saying to us,
did we? We didn't understand the things of God. We heard the
words, but they just fell on deaf ears. Until God revealed
Himself in Christ to us. No, we were strangers to the
covenants, the promise in our natural state, to the covenant
given to Abraham and to the covenant at Sinai, and we were strangers
to the covenant of grace. We had no hope of a Messiah,
no hope of salvation by Him, no faith in Christ. And we were, as the text proclaims,
in that state without God in the world. That was our state. We were, I ask you, Did you know
anything about God before He revealed Himself to you? Is now the Bible a whole different
book when you hear it proclaimed after you're born again? It's wonderful. We were without
any knowledge of God. We were without any prescribed
worship of God too. We didn't even worship God. Now
we desire to come to the house of the Lord and worship our great
King. We desire to come and hear Christ preached and proclaimed.
It warms our hearts, beloved. But there was a time when we
didn't desire that at all. And we were without hope. And
without God in the world. This was our natural state. We had no hope in God. And we
were without a knowledge of who God was. and Paul's just bringing
that forth here before us. Now note in verse 4 the words
but God and in our next verse we see after Paul had proclaimed our
natural state and in the misery of it he proclaimed this wondrous
truth before us in verse 13 look at this but now But now, what,
in Christ Jesus, ye who were sometimes far off are made nigh
by the blood of Christ. Oh, what a wonderful verse. And remember I mentioned that
the Jews and Gentiles did not mix, and the Jews despised the
Gentiles. and the Gentiles despised the
Jews. But look here at verse 13, we
see a mighty work of God and how both believe in Jews and
believe in Gentiles are one in Christ. And we'll get into that
more as we go through the rest of this chapter. They're one
in Christ. We who were sometimes far off,
we were far off from his law, we were far off from the Messiah.
We had no idea who God was. We were far off from His people.
In our natural state, we were aliens and strangers to the things
of God. We were without any knowledge
of God. We didn't know how merciful He was. Did you know how merciful
God was before the Lord saved Him? I had no clue. We didn't know about His great
kindness. Worship God. We didn't know about
his absolute sovereignty. We were dead in trespasses and
sins. Without hope and without any
knowledge of God. And in our natural state, we
didn't care about God. But we who are born again, beloved,
we who are the blood-washed saints of God are bought nigh by the
blood of Christ. But near, but near, Paul brings
forth before the Ephesians believers that they were at one time cut
off by their sin and by their natural birth from God and the
people of God. What a state. This is the state
of all Adam's prosperity. The state of all who were in
Adam. And the only one to make us to
differ is God. The only one who made us to differ
is God. And it's no longer the state
of the believer, because by the blood atonement of Christ, made
to God for his people, the Lord Jesus Christ has bought we who
are far off, his elect, nigh to God. And we are the sons of
God now, and we have boldness to enter into the holiest of
holies by the blood of Christ. by the blood of Christ. Look
at verse 14. For He is our peace, who hath
made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition
between us. And notice, Christ Jesus is our
peace. And if you don't have Christ,
you have no peace. You have no peace with God, and
I guarantee you won't have peace within. But if you have Christ,
we have peace with God and we have peace within. Outside of Christ, there is no
peace. Peace with God is only found
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the author of our peace
with God. And He is the giver of our peace
to our hearts. And He alone is the maker of
peace between Jew and Gentile also. Think of the context that's
written here. He's the maker of peace between Jew and Gentile
because the born again believe in Jew and the born again believe
in Gentile are one in Christ, are one in Him. He's made peace
amongst the two, amongst the two. Here's a good story on peace
with God. When a poor bricklayer had fallen
from a great height, he was lying fatally injured, and he was visited
by a minister in the neighborhood. And on entering the cottage,
on entering his home, the minister said, my dear man, I'm afraid
you are dying. I exhort you to make your peace
with God. And the bricklayer said, make
my peace with God, sir. Why, that was made 1,800 years
ago. When my great and glorious Lord
paid all my debt upon the cruel tree, Christ is my peace, and
I am saved. My, what a testimony. He gave
all the glory to the Lord. Christ is our peace. How many times have we heard
people say, make your peace with God? Christ is my peace. He's
my peace. I can't make peace with God outside
of Christ, can I? No, no. He is my peace, and He
is my Savior, and He is my Redeemer. And know that it is Christ who
hath made Jew and Gentile one. We are His body. We are His body,
and He is the head, and we are one. The true Israel of God is
one in Christ. Jew and Gentile, the true believing
church, is one in Christ. And note in our text, speaking
of Christ, it says, that Christ hath made both one and hath broken
down the middle wall or partition between us. Now Paul is here
bringing a picture before us of the temple, which had a wall
which blocked the Gentiles, there was a court of the Gentiles,
and it blocked them from entering into the place where the Israelites
worship. They couldn't go past that part.
They could not go past that part. And this wall in the temple divided
the court of Israel from the court of the Gentiles and kept
them at a distance in worship. Kept them at a distance in worship.
Also the ceremonial law of circumcision types and sacrifices, they've
all been broken down as well as that wall. They've all been
broken down, beloved, in Christ. Because Christ is the fulfillment
of all those types and sacrifices for his people. And he's broken
down that middle wall, the partition that was between us. He's broken
it down, beloved. And notice that peace is again
mentioned in verses 15 and 16. And when one is reconciled to
God, they have peace. They have peace with him. When
two parties are at enmity with each other, Or one party is being
offended and the other party needs to make reconciliation
with that party. In order for them to have peace,
in order for them to have peace, while God has been offended,
his justice must be satisfied. It's him. It's it's God who we've
sinned against. and his justice and law must
be satisfied. So Christ, the great mediator,
the great substitute, dies for his people, and he has made peace.
He has reconciled us to God. It's him who did all this. Look
at verses 15 to 17. 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. He
made peace with God for us. The sinless sacrifice died for
sinners. The just one died for the unjust. And so he made peace. He made
peace with God for us. For us. He's perfect, he's sinless,
he's spotless. And that he might reconcile both
unto God. And again, he's speaking of Jew
and Gentile, saved Jew and saved Gentile. That he might reconcile
both unto God in one body, that's his body, by the cross, having
slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to you
which were far off, and to them that were nigh, and to them that
were nigh. Now in the law, there were certain
things that Jews could eat and they couldn't eat. And they had
certain things which they could not do or they were declared
unclean. They were declared unclean. One
of them was when you touched a dead body, you were declared
ceremonially unclean, unclean. And certain animals were declared
unclean and others, they were allowed to eat. And if a man
or a woman was declared unclean, they had to go through a purifying
process before they could even join back in the society. And
there were also certain feasts and sacrifices and processions
that had to be observed. It was the ceremonial law which
caused the hostility between the Jews and the Gentiles. Because
the Jews said, you're all a bunch of unclean folks. You see? And because of it, the Jews considered,
again, the Gentiles to be unclean, Gentile dogs. And the Gentiles,
because of that, considered the Jews to be self-righteous. They
thought, well, you're better than us. You think you're all
a bunch of people better than us. And they thought the Jews
to be arrogant and proud and someone who looked down on others.
And note in verse 15, Christ in his flesh has abolished all
the differences between Jew and Gentile. and he's made one new man. Who's
that? That's his body, beloved. And
who's his body? His elect, his people, his bride,
the bride of Christ. We know he's the head and we're
the body. And he is the tabernacle where God meets men and men meet
God. He alone is the one great high
priest who intercedes on behalf of all His blood-bought people.
All His blood-bought people. He's our Passover Lamb. He's
the Lamb of God. And the atonement for His people,
those who are the one new man spoken of here, comprised of
believing Jews and believing Gentiles. And it is He who hath
made peace with God for us. And He's done it all by His substitutionary
death on Calvary's cross. Beloved, circumcision is of the
heart, not in the flesh. And the circumcision of the heart
results in a broken heart towards sin. And a broken heart toward
the fact that we've sinned against God. And in Christ, all believers
are one. Because it's Christ who's reconciled
us to God. It's Christ and Him alone. We
see that in verse 16, look at that, and that he might reconcile
both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity
thereby. And note in verse 16, by one
body, that's the Lord Jesus Christ who obeyed the law in our place
and suffered for our sins, the sin, the sacrifice, the Lord
Jesus Christ, dying on Calvary's cross, satisfying God's law and
justice in our place. And it's he who arose for our
justification. It's He who arose for our justification,
and it's He who is right now, in glory, interceding for us. Interceding for us, for His people,
for all those He reconciled to God. All those who form one mystical
body, the church of which He is the head. He is the head. He reconciled us, His people,
by His death on the cross. having slain the enmity of the
law, both moral and ceremonial. That was against us. That was
against us. And now, we have peace with God. We have peace with God. So let
us consider that He is our peace. He is our peace. And that He
makes peace between God and man. His people, heaven reconciled
both believe in Jew and believe in Gentile unto God by the cross,
and heaven slain the enmity thereby. And note in verse 17, He gives
peace. And this is peace that, the peace
that He gives is promoted, and He came and preached peace to
you, which were far off, and to them
that were nigh. He's our peace. He gives us peace. Turn, if you would, to John 14,
27. John 14, 27. Oh, He's our peace, beloved.
He gives us peace. And outside of Christ, we have
no peace. None at all. But oh, we have
what's called the peace that passes all understanding in Christ
Jesus, our Lord, that keeps our hearts and minds in Him and on
Him. We look to Christ and Christ
alone. Look at John 14, 27. Peace I leave with you. My peace
I give unto you. Not as the world giveth. And
the world gives a peace that's fickle. That's why they're always
trying to make peace agreements. Because men are sinners, aren't
they? And that's why they all fall apart. But when Christ makes
peace, beloved, it's permanent. He's reconciled his people. through
the shedding of His own precious blood. Peace I leave you, my
peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto
you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Oh
my. And let's go back to Ephesians
2. Beloved of God, truly He has come and preached peace to you
who were far off, if you've been reconciled to God. Oh, He's preached
peace to you who were far off. And note also that He is our
peace, in that He promotes peace. Who hath made both Jew and Gentile
one, verse 14. And this is ever the practical
outcome of the rule of He who is called the Prince of Peace.
He's called the Prince of Peace. And the fact that He promotes
peace with God in the preaching of the Gospel, and it only comes
in and through He who is called the Prince of Peace. The Prince
of Peace. And note how we only have access
in and through the Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord, by the Holy
Spirit of God into the Father's presence. We see this in verse
18. For through Him, we both have
access by one Spirit unto the Father. Only through Christ. All other religions are false
religions. All other religions lead to the
broad road which leads to destruction. And people on those roads, it'll
lead to the destruction of their souls. Oh, they'll spend eternity in
hell. My, for through Him, We both
have access by one Spirit unto the Father. What a great high
priest we have. Jesus Christ our Lord, our Savior,
our Redeemer, and both believing Jew and Gentile have access to
the Father only through Christ. Only through Christ. And think
upon this, beloved of God, that neither the law of God nor the
justice of God stand in the way of a believing sinner approaching
God if he comes through Christ Jesus alone. Because the Lord
Jesus Christ has fulfilled the law for his people and satisfied
the justice of God in the place of his people. And therefore,
we have access to God by one spirit in and through Christ
Jesus alone. Only through Him, truly, truly
He is the great substitute. Truly, He is the great redeemer
of our souls. And truly, we only have peace
in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. And we are only reconciled
to God by Him, by Him. Now let's look at the last four
verses which speak, speaks of us being built up into a holy
temple. and how we who are God's blood-bought,
born-again people are no more strangers and foreigners, but
now we're fellow citizens with the saints and of the household
of God, all in Christ, in Christ alone. And remember, we're stones
being made ready, aren't we? Remember that sermon a few months
back, stones being made? We're quarried out of the same
quarry of humanity as every other rock, right? And we were a dead,
lifeless rock. But now we're made living stones.
And we're being built up in the Holy Temple. So remember that
when we look at this here in Ephesians 2, verses 19 to 22.
Now therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but
fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God,
and are built upon the foundation, there's only one foundation,
beloved, there's only one foundation, and that's Christ, of the apostles
and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone.
That's why we must preach Christ. That's why we must preach Christ
and Christ alone. Because he is the only foundation
He's the chief cornerstone. And salvation is in no other
but Him. No other but Him. In whom all the building, that's
the believers, fitly framed together, groweth unto an holy temple of
the Lord. In whom ye also are built together
for inhabitation of God through the Spirit. Through the Spirit. Christ is the foundation on which
the church is built. And He alone is the chief cornerstone. It is He who knits. It is He
who knits all of us together. Brother Henry used to say, His
blood is the cement that keeps the stones together. And it's
true. It's all Him. It's all Him, beloved. He knits all believers together. Jew and Gentile, believing Jews
and believing Gentiles are knit together in one temple. Remember, there's no more petition.
We're one in Christ. We're one in Christ, beloved.
Old and New Testament saints, saints on earth and saints above,
in all ages and places, we are one in Christ Jesus, our Lord. He's the head, and we're the
body. We're the body. For I say, through
the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to
think of himself more highly, then he ought to think, but to
think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure
of faith. For as we have many members in
one body, and all members have the same office, so we, being
many, are one body in Christ, and every one member's one of
another." Romans 12, verses 3 to 5. Beloved God, we are no longer
what we used to be. We are no longer what we used
to be. And we know that this is only because God made us to
differ. And only because of what Christ
has done for us. We were once strangers in our
natural state to the things of God. We didn't know who He was. We didn't even know what Christ
had done for us. Did we? Until He revealed Himself
to us. I had no idea. that Christ died
for me 2,000 years ago in my natural state. I had absolutely
no clue. Did you? We had no idea, didn't
we? Oh, but it fills our heart with
great joy to know that he did that for us, doesn't it? But
in our natural state, we had no idea. We did not know that
God has loved us from eternity with an everlasting love, that
the God, the sovereign God of the universe has loved us with
an everlasting love. And it fills our minds with awe
for who he is and for what he's done. And we rejoice in the great deliverance,
right? The great deliverance from the
state we were in that we looked at earlier. Don't we rejoice?
Don't we rejoice in the great deliverance? that we who were
dead in trespasses and sins are now made alive in Christ and
have the forgiveness of all our sins, justified before our holy
and righteous God in Christ? cleansed by the precious blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Botanai, we were far off, we're
botanai by the blood of Christ. It's wonderful, beloved. It's
absolutely wonderful. Translated from the kingdom of
darkness into the kingdom of his dear son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And now, now we're being built
up into a spiritual temple in Christ, in Christ alone. Turn,
if you would, to 1 Peter, chapter 2, and we're closed with this.
It ties right in with this last portion of Scripture. Right in,
remember it said, and are being built upon the foundation of
the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief
cornerstone, Ephesians 2.20, and then 21, in whom all the
building fitly framed together groweth into a holy temple in
the Lord, in whom ye also are built together for inhabitation
of God through the Spirit. That's Ephesians 2.20-22, and
then look at this over in 1 Peter 2, and we'll close with this.
1 Peter 2, verses 4-10. To whom
coming is unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of man, but
chosen of God and precious, this is speaking of Christ, ye also
as lively stones. Remember, we were dead stones,
weren't we? In the quarry of humanity where God found us,
we were dead stones, beloved. We had no life. We were dead
in trespasses and sins, but now we're living stones. We're born
again. built up a spiritual house and
holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God,
how? By Jesus Christ. God's only satisfied
with Christ. Our worship is only acceptable
to God in Christ. Our praise is only acceptable
to God in Christ. What we do is only acceptable
to God in Christ. Only through Him. We must remember
that. We must remember that. Wherefore,
also it's contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay, God lays in Zion
a chief cornerstone. This is God's work, beloved.
Salvations of the Lord. It's His work. It's His work.
Elect precious, and he that believeth on Him, that being Christ, shall
not be confounded. Unto you, therefore, which believe.
Ah, He's precious, isn't He? Is He precious to you? Oh, He's
so precious. He's so precious. Unto you which
believe he is precious, but unto them which be disobedient, the
stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of
the corner, and the stone of stumbling, and the rock of a
fence, even to them which stumble at the word being disobedient,
whereunto also they were appointed. But ye are a chosen generation. Remember we looked at that? You're
chosen out of your generation. God did this. a royal priesthood
and holy nation, a peculiar people. That she should show forth the
praises of him who had called you out of darkness, remember
Ephesians 2, 11 and 12. Remember our state? Oh, we were in a state of darkness,
beloved, and we had no way to get out of it. about God, who
is rich in mercy. That ye should show forth the
praises of Him, being Christ, who hath called you, this is
God's work, remember He seeks out the lost sheep, He calls
us with an effectual call, through the preaching of the gospel,
called you out of darkness, into His marvelous light, into the
light of the sun, Christ who is the light, the only salvation
of sinners. which in times past were not
a people. We looked at that, didn't we? We're not a people,
but are now the people of God in and through Christ and Christ
alone, which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained
mercy. Praise His mighty name. Heavenly
Father, we thank Thee. for this wondrous salvation.
As we looked at tonight, oh Lord, we were far off in our natural
state. We had no hope, no hope of a
Messiah, no hope of a Savior. But Lord Jesus, you have bought,
we your blood bought, born again, people, you bought us. Nye, oh
Lord. Nye, you've broken down the middle wall of partition
that was between us. And you've made of one, believe
in Jew and believe in Gentile, one in you, Lord Jesus. Oh, may
we leave here marveling at this wondrous salvation which is only
in Thee, in Jesus' name. Amen.