Ephesians 2. And I want to bring
the message basically from verse 19 and verse 20. Ephesians 2. Now therefore you are no more
strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints
and of the household of God and are built upon the foundation. Now there's just one foundation.
There's just one way of salvation. Build upon the foundation of
the apostles and the prophets. And that one foundation is that
foundation that God has laid. He said the other foundation
can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Christ the
Lord. Jesus Christ Himself. You see that statement? Jesus
Christ Himself. being the cornerstone, the chief
shepherd, the good shepherd, the great shepherd. He is the
chief Lord, God, our Savior, the chief cornerstone, Jesus
Christ Himself. I want you to think about those
three words. The Lord Jesus, He's our Savior. He's the Christ
of God. That means He's the anointed
Messiah, Son of God. And with Himself, by Himself,
He accomplished all of our salvation. Himself. Himself. Because of
the glorious priestly work of the Lord Jesus Christ, His perfect
righteousness and obedient life. He became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. And because of His perfect righteous
sacrifice unto God, whereby He put away our sin, believers are
reconciled unto God, in one glorious body, having free access, free
admission unto the Father with liberty and boldness because
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Remember He said, I am the way,
the truth, the life. No man come to the Father but
by and through Me. He says in verse 16, He reconciled
us unto God in one body by the cross. He says over here in verse
13, but now in Christ Jesus, you who sometimes were far off
or made nigh by the blood of Christ, for He is our peace. He made peace with God for us
with His own blood because of everything He had done for us.
It says in verse 18, for through him we both have access by one
Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore, you see verse
19, now therefore you are no more strangers, foreigners, fellow
citizens, but fellow citizens with the saints in the household
of God. You remember what he described us as before? Look
back at verse 11. Ephesians 2 verse 11, Wherefore
remember that you being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who
are called the uncircumcision, that is the ungodly, the unrighteous,
the unworthy, the uncrowned, by that which is in the flesh
you are called uncircumcision, by that which is called the circumcision
in the flesh made by hands, that at that time you were without
Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers
from the covenants of promise, having no hope without God in
this world. Born into this world, strangers,
aliens. Without God, without hope, and
without Christ. Now therefore, verse 19, now
therefore you're no more strangers. No more strangers based upon
what? Based upon His atoning work. His redeeming blood. His justifying grace. Now therefore
you're no more strangers. foreigners, but fellow citizens. Now, what good news? The holy
law of God being honored in precept and penalty, believers are no
more the aliens, the strangers, without Christ, without hope,
without God, but are made nigh unto the Father by the blood
atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. He redeemed us from the curse
of the law being made a curse for us. No longer are we alienated. He says there we are Fellow citizens. Fellow citizens with the saints.
He's made us fellow heirs. Do you remember Ephesians 3,
verse 6? That the Gentiles should be fellow
heirs of the same body, the same promise, the same gospel, the
same hope. And partakers. We are partakers
of His promise in Christ by the gospel. Fellowship of the saints
with the saints. Fellowship, notice, fellow citizens
with the saints and of the household of God. Having this blessed fellowship
around the gospel of God's glorious grace to good news of forgiveness
and pardon we have in Christ, we are now in him new creatures. He's made us by his grace saints
of God. Every believer is a saint, no
more a stranger, but a saint of God. A saint of God, made
so by His grace, set apart by divine election, set apart by
divine election and by divine calling. He called us out of
darkness into His marvelous light. No longer are we strangers and
foreigners, but we're saints and were fellow citizens in this
kingdom of God." What good news! What good news! And then he says,
we're of the household. We're of the household of God.
Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that
we should be called sons of God. By His glorious adoption of love,
In His grace, He adopted us into the family. By regenerating grace
and glorious new birth, we've been born into this family of
God. Not by the will of flesh, not
by the will of man, but we've been born of God into this family. Of His own will, beget He us
with the Word of truth. Believers in this household of
God share in the fullness of His grace. They are richly clothed
and eternally blessed. In Him dwells all the fullness
of a Godhead bodily, and in Christ we stand complete. Believers
in this household, they're all sons of God, equally loved, equally
blessed in Christ Jesus. They're one with Him. They have
plenteous provisions of mercy. He supplies all our need according
to His riches in glory. We've been made heirs of a never-fading,
inheritant, incorruptible, undefiled, that fades not away, that's reserved
for you in heaven. We've been made heirs of God
and joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. Think of it. Look what He's done for us. No
more strangers. No more foreigners. but fellow
citizens with the saints and the household of God." Look at
verse 20. "...and were built upon the foundation."
Neither is there salvation in any other. No other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. "...built upon
the foundation." The foundation of the apostles. What did they
preach? The apostles, Peter, John, James, all of them. They preach what? Jesus Christ
is everything. Christ is all and in all. And
the prophets to Him give all the prophets witness. They all
speak of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ Himself, He is the
only foundation. Remember Isaiah said, it's recorded
in Isaiah 28, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone,
a tribestone, A precious cornerstone. He that believeth on that foundation
will never be forced out, never be confounded, never be ashamed.
Jesus Christ Himself. He's everything in salvation.
He is the Savior. He is our salvation. Now, I want to take that statement
there, those three words, Jesus Christ Himself, and point out
to you in the Scripture five things concerning Jesus Christ
Himself. First point is this. Jesus Christ
Himself is the theme of all the Scriptures. Jesus Christ Himself
is the theme of all the Scriptures. Now, I would encourage you to
turn with me, and I'll try to give you time. Luke 24. The risen Lord was approached
two men one day, and Luke 24, verse 25, He said unto them,
O fool, slow of heart, Luke 24, 25, to believe all that the prophets
have spoken, ought not Christ to have suffered these things
and to enter into His glory and beginning of Moses, Where is
that? Genesis. And all the prophets,
He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the thing concerning,
what? Himself. This whole book is about
the Lord Jesus Christ. And again, over in Luke 24, verse
44, He said, this is the risen Lord, giving His departing words
before He ascended to glory. These are the words which I spake
with you while I was yet with you, that all things must be
fulfilled, which are written in the Law of Moses and in the
Prophets and in the Psalms concerning what? Concerning Christ. It's
all about the Lord Jesus Christ. Then He opened their understanding
that they might understand the Scriptures. Because the Lord
Jesus Christ is the theme of this book, He must be the subject
of all our preaching. Paul said, we don't preach to
ourselves, we preach to the Lord Jesus Christ. One preacher of
the past said this, a sermon without Christ is a mistake in
the conception and a crime in being preached. It is of no eternal
value. So we preach not ourselves, but
we preach Him. I'm determined not to know anything
among you as far as pardon and justification, but Jesus Christ
and Him crucified as all our hope. A sermon without the Lord
Jesus Christ is a well without water, a stove with no fire,
a cupboard with no bread, and a house with no roof. It won't
do you any good. It won't help you. I must preach
the Word. That's what we're commanded to
preach. Preach the Word. Preach Christ. So, Jesus Christ
Himself is the theme of all Scripture. Number two is this. Jesus Christ
Himself is all our redemption. Now, if you turn just a couple
pages back to Galatians, to the book of Galatians we studied
this morning, Galatians chapter 2, Luke verse 20, Jesus Christ
Himself is all our redemption. All of it. He's not part of it.
He didn't pay part of the price. God said, I found a ransom. And
when he found that ransom, he set us free. Notice, if you will,
Galatians 2, verse 20. He said, I'm crucified with Christ,
nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And
the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith
of the Son of God, who loved me and gave, what did he give? What did he give? He gave himself. for me. Therefore, he said, I
do not frustrate the grace of God. For if righteousness comes
by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. If you look at Ephesians,
back to Ephesians and find chapter 5, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself
is all of our redemption. He's all of our deliverance.
Remember Ephesians 1, let me read this to you, in whom we
have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sin, according
to the riches of His grace. Now, I told you to turn to Ephesians
chapter 5, didn't I? Okay, look at verse 25. Husbands, love your wives even
as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself. What did He
give? Now, He could have given a lot.
He didn't bring the sacrifice like the Old Testament priests
of sheep or goats. He brought His own blood. Husband,
love your wives even as Christ loved the church and gave Himself
for it. He obtained for us eternal redemption
with His own blood that He might sanctify and cleanse it with
the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself."
A glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing,
but that it should be holy and without blemish. The Lord Jesus
Christ by Himself, with Himself, we read in Ephesians, or rather,
Hebrews chapter 1, remember, "...who being the brightness
of His glory, the expressed image of His person, upholding all
things by the word of His power, when He by Himself purged our
sin, He sat down on the right hand of God." Hebrews 9.26 says,
"...He appeared once in the end of the age to put away sin by
the sacrifice of Himself." Jesus Christ Himself is all of
our redemption. We are redeemed, not with corruptible
things, Peter said, but with the precious blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And John says the same thing.
Peter, James, and John, and Paul, they all had the same message.
The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all our
sins. How is sin put away? Pretty difficult
to put away. The blood that flowed on Jewish
altar for all those thousands of years those animals sacrificed
it, never put away one sin. It pictured a way of substitution.
The Lord Jesus Christ took our sin, the sin of God's people,
laid upon Him. God made Him to be sin for us
who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. That's my third point. Jesus
Christ Himself is all our righteousness before men and before God. Jesus Christ Himself. Now let
me remind you of my favorite scripture found in the book of
Philippians. Turn over there to chapter 3.
We are no longer going about to establish a righteousness
of our own, are we? We're not ignorant of God's righteousness
that He's provided in the Gospel. Therefore, we're no longer going
about to establish a righteousness by what we do. Some people say,
well, I don't go here. I don't do this. I don't do that.
And somehow, they've got conjured up in their mind that their morality
is their righteousness before God. Now, I'm all in on morality,
but your morality is not righteousness. Not before God. Now look over
here in Philippians 3. The Apostle Paul talks about
his experience, how God taught him that self-righteousness is
nothing but filthy rag. Verse 7, But what things were
gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ? 8 Doubtless
I count all things but lost for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all
things. 9 And who count them but dumb, that I may win Christ,
and be found in him. not having my own righteousness
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." So believers
need a perfect justifying righteousness. No doubt about that. How righteous
must I be to stand before God justified? As righteous as God. How can that be? Let me show
you. You want to know how? This is good. I love this. Turn to Romans chapter 4. Believers are no longer going
about to establish their righteousness about their own doing, but rather,
resting in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our righteousness. Romans chapter 4. For what saith the Scripture, verse
3, Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is a
reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that
worketh not," now get a hold of this, "...him that worketh
not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith
is counted for righteousness. Even as David also described
the blessedness of the man to whom God imputeth righteousness
without works." How does a believer become righteous? God reckons
to us. That word imputed means reckoned
and counted. God counts us righteous in Christ. He's called in Scripture in Jeremiah
23 verse 5 or verse 6, He's called the Lord our righteousness. The
Lord our righteousness. And then later on over in Jeremiah
33, I believe it is, the Lord Jesus Christ, the church of the
Lord Jesus Christ is called the Lord our righteousness. That's our name. We're married
to Him. He's our husband because we are righteous, but He is righteous,
and we're in Him What are we in Christ? Accepted in the Beloved. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself
is all of our redemption. We're redeemed with His precious
blood. He is all of our righteousness before God Almighty. Now, if you have Him, you have
everything. Of His fullness, In Him, all
the fullness of grace and truth, and of His fullness, have we
all received grace upon grace. Here's the fourth thing. Jesus
Christ Himself is the only object of saving faith. Now, saving
faith, we say it this way. Saving faith is not subjective.
Now, saving faith doesn't look in here. Saving faith doesn't
look to feelings or emotions. Saving faith is objective. looking
and coming to the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn with me to Hebrews
chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. So we say,
our Lord says this in Isaiah 45. You know what He says? He
says, I'm the only just God and Savior. Isaiah 45, remember?
And then He says, look. Look unto Me. Don't look at your
mom or your dad, your brother or sister. Don't look at your
preacher. I can't help you. Look to Him. He said, look unto
Me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. I am God and there
is no other. Now, Hebrews chapter 12. Verse
1, Wherefore, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of
witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth
so easily beset us. What is the sin that doth so
easily beset us? Unbelief. Let us run with race,
let us run with patience, the race that is set before us. Look
at verse 2. Looking. Looking. Looking where? Looking to whom? Remember what
Paul said, I know whom I have believed? Looking unto Jesus,
who is the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy
that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame,
and is set down on the right hand of the throne of God. We
look to the exalted, victorious, successful Lord Jesus Christ. In Him we have the victory. over
sin, death, and hell and the grave. Saving faith, the faith
of God's elect, is always looking to, believing, and coming to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn to one other scripture on
that. Find 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter 2. Look at verse 2. 1 Peter 2. As newborn babe, desire the sincere
milk of the word that you might grow thereby. If so, you have
tasted that the Lord is gracious. To whom? Coming." Do you see
that? It's looking, it's coming, it's
believing, it's repenting. To whom? Coming, as into a living
stone. That's that foundation, it's
a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and
precious. You also, as living stones, are
built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore, also
it's contained in the Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion, a cheap
cornerstone, elect, precious, he that believeth on him, shall
not be confounded. Unto you, therefore, which believe,
He is precious." So what is the object of saving faith? The Lord
Jesus Christ. The exalted, victorious Lord
Jesus Christ. Not the defeated, frustrated
Reformer, but the exalted, glorified, enthroned, sovereign Lord Jesus
Christ who accomplished all salvation for us. Saving faith looks to
Him. Him alone, to whom coming. Now, here's the last thing. Jesus
Christ Himself is the only source of true joy, true comfort, hope,
and peace. Peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ. We have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. He came and preached peace to
you. For He is our peace. He made
peace for us with His own blood. Now, here's the Scripture I want
you to turn to. 2 Thessalonians 2 The Lord Jesus
Christ Himself. He is our peace. He is our comfort. Being justified by faith, we
have peace with God. He is our peace. He is our comfort. He is our hope. He is all of
our salvation. Look at verse 16. Well, let's go back to verse 13. 2
Thessalonians 2, verse 13. But we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
the Lord hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through
sanctification of the Spirit. That's the work of regeneration
and belief of the truth. The work of conviction leads
to faith in Christ, belief of the truth. Where unto he called
you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ, therefore, brethren, stand fast. Hold to the truth. That word, tradition, is truth,
which you've been taught, whether by word or by epistle. Now, our
Lord Jesus Christ himself. There's the word. Jesus Christ
himself and God, even our Father, who had loved us, He loved us. How long has He loved us? He's
loved us with an everlasting love. Brethren, beloved of the
Lord, God hath from the beginning chosen you unto God who hath
loved us. We read in Revelation 1, He loved
us and washed us from our sin in His own blood, Jesus Christ
Himself. gave Himself for our sin, He
loved us, here in His love, not that we loved Him, but that He
loved us, and He gave Himself a sacrifice for our sin, and
has given us everlasting consolation and a good hope. You see that? A good hope through, through
what? Grace. It all gets back to grace. I love what Paul, in prison,
when he writes to young Timothy, Paul sitting on death row, waiting
to be executed for the gospel, and he writes to Timothy, he
said, don't be ashamed of the gospel. It's the power of God
and the salvation. Don't be ashamed of the gospel.
It's God who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace given
us in Christ before the foundation of the world. So we have a good
hope. Our hope is a person. Our hope
is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He is our hope. The Lord Jesus
Christ, He is our hope. Can I show you that? Look right
across the page in 1 Timothy 1, verse 1. Right across the
page. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
by the commandment of God our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ,
our hope. See that? He's our hope. It's
not a hope and a hope and a hope. Faith is not in faith. Hope is
not in a hope. Hope and faith are in Christ,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that good news? Jesus Christ
Himself is all our salvation. Look back to the text now. Being
the chief cornerstone, in whom all the building fitly framed
together groweth." We grow in grace and in the knowledge of
Christ unto a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are
built together. We're band together, built together
in one body, by one spirit, by one Lord for habitation of God. God dwells in His people. He dwells in the hearts of His
people. Upon this rock I'll build my
church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
Jesus Christ Himself. What do you think? What do you
know? Can you say, He's all my salvation? Jesus Christ Himself. Now, Himself
alone, faith alone, grace alone, Christ alone. That's all our
hope.