Now let's look at Ephesians chapter
2. The title of the message this
morning is taken from verse 15. It is one new man in Jesus Christ. One new man in Jesus Christ. We've been talking about in several
messages about the new creation. Remember back in 2 Corinthians
chapter 5 and verse 17, if any man be in Christ, he is a new
creature or creation. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things have become new. What are those old things that
are passed away? That's what I'm really going
through different scriptures seeking out to help myself and
to help you. What are those old things that
are passed away? What are the things that have
become new? That's what we're dealing with. The last few messages,
I've talked about the new covenant. The Bible speaks of the new covenant,
the new testament in Jesus Christ. Remember, the new covenant is
the establishment in time of a covenant that was made before
the foundation of the world, the everlasting covenant of grace.
before time and the New Covenant the New Testament and you say
well why is that so important well we're a New Testament Church
we're a New Covenant Church we need to understand that what
it means Paul in 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 identified the ministers
of the gospel as as ministers of the New Testament ministers
of the New Covenant And so this new covenant, what's new about
it? Well, it's new because it was
established in time. God has a purpose. God is eternal. God's not subject to time, but
God created time. He uses time. He works in time. He intervenes in time. We're
creatures of time. You have a birthday, and someday
you'll have a death day, the scripture teaches. It's appointed
unto men once to die. And after that, the judgment.
These are all things of time. The Bible talks about the coming
of Christ and that. Do you remember Christ when,
well, speaks of his coming into the world as the fullness of
the time. That's the time that God appointed.
And then throughout his earthly ministry, he told his disciples
many, many times, he said, my time has not yet come, the time
of his death, his burial, his resurrection. There's an appointed
time for that. That all was ordained of God.
God is the master of time. And it's hard for us to really
grasp in our finite, limited minds this subject of eternity
and how it relates to time. But all I can tell you is what
the scripture says. And it says this. It says that
what God purposed in eternity has its fulfillment in time.
And so we deal with time. And that includes the new covenant
that we're talking about. It was established in time. What
time was it established? At the death of Christ, at the
cross, when Christ said it's finished. That's one of the things
that was finished. Yes, sin was finished at the cross. Righteousness
was finished. It was established at the cross.
The old covenant, that's the Sinai covenant, the law of Moses,
that was finished at the cross. And the new covenant was established
in time. It stands in relation to the
old covenant God made with the nation Israel at Sinai. Our text
here in Ephesians 2 deals a little bit with that. And we who believe
the gospel today, we who are brought to faith in Christ and
true repentance today, we who are the church, the New Testament
church, the New Covenant church, we're not under the Old Covenant
now. We are not under the Old Covenant. It's gone. It's abolished.
There was no salvation under the terms of the Old Covenant.
Salvation has always been by the grace of God in Christ Jesus. That's why that Old Covenant
is said to be a schoolmaster. It was a schoolmaster to lead
them to Christ. To show them the utter impossibility.
Somebody said, well, what does that Old Covenant teach? Well,
number one, it teaches the utter impossibility of any sinner being
saved based on their works. Which my covenant they break,
Jeremiah 31, Hebrews 8. They broke it. We would have
too. And so no sinner is going to be justified by works of the
law. No sinner can be forgiven based on their works. No sinner
can be righteous based on their works. That old covenant was
a 1,500 year testimony to that fact. Israel failed. But don't be self-righteous about
it. Don't be proud. We would have failed too. And
I've often told you, you know, you go through the Old Testament
and read the Old Testament, if most people were honest today
concerning what the Bible teaches throughout the Old Testament
as a brighter hope for the future, and it does, they would have
to say that the brighter hope for the future is not by the
grace of God in Christ, it is, but they would have to say that
if they were honest. They'd have to say it's because God's going
to raise up a better class of people in the future. Because that's how they feel.
Salvation's by my will, by my way, by my works. That's a better
class of people, but that's not what the Bible teaches. We're
no better than they are. They were. Secondly, That old
covenant, the lesson was this, that there's no hope of salvation
but by God's grace in the promised Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord Jesus Christ was preached in that covenant. He said it
in John chapter 5. He told the Pharisees, you're
trusting in Moses, your works of the law. But he said, had
you believed Moses, you would have believed me. Moses wrote
of me, he said. So in that old covenant that
Christ was preached, We've read it how many times? I mean, it's
all through the Old Testament. The Old Testament's about Christ.
Just like the New Testament. It's about Christ who is to come.
It's about a righteousness that will be established by Him. The
New Testament is about Christ who's already come. But it's
all about Christ. One old writer said, that's the
scarlet thread that runs through Genesis to Revelation. So it's
the absolute certainty of salvation conditioned on the promised Messiah. He was preached, he was typified,
foreshadowed, pictured, all of that in the Old Testament. And
then the third lesson of the Old Covenant is that God requires
obedience from the heart. He even said it back then. This
outward show of ceremony and religion, God hates it. Religion
without truth, religion without grace, religion without heart,
religion without Christ. It's an abomination to God. God
requires obedience. It's not an option. But he never
required obedience in order to attain or maintain salvation.
It was always out of love and grace and gratitude, even in
the Old Testament. So we're a new covenant church.
We're not under the old covenant. That old covenant was a national
covenant. It was made with one nation,
Israel. The new covenant is made with
a spiritual nation. God's people out of every tribe,
kindred, tongue and nation chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world. They are called the elect. They are called the
church. The church redeemed by the blood
of Christ. A spiritual nation circumcised
in heart and ears. That's what the scripture teaches.
That old covenant was temporary. This new covenant is everlasting. Remember, it's the fulfillment
in time of the everlasting covenant of grace made before time. Its
promises, its blessings are all eternal. Spiritual blessings,
all eternal. Not physical now. God may bless
us with physical blessings. But that's not the new covenant.
That's just God's prerogative. He's sovereign. The old covenant, its roots were
in a promise made to Abraham, but it was conditioned towards
Israel. It was always, God will do this
if you will do that. People quote 2 Corinthians 7.14.
and apply it to America. It doesn't apply to America.
If my people who are called by my name shall humble themselves,
now look. Spiritually speaking, that applies to the church. But
that's where God brings us by his power and grace. But you
see, they failed. And so would we. In fact, it's
a testimony that any salvation that's conditioned on man will
fail. So that old covenant was conditioned
on Israel. The new covenant, it's based
on a promise made to the Lord Jesus Christ before the foundation
of the world. It's unconditional towards us.
It's all conditioned on Christ. Every bit of it. That's why it's
by grace. In Christ, by the grace of God,
we see the power of the new covenant in two ways. Number one, the
power of Christ to put away sin. and establish righteousness for
God's elect. That's reconciliation. Christ
did that. The blood of bulls and goats
couldn't do that. The earthly priesthood couldn't
do that. Couldn't bring perfection, Hebrews chapter nine says. The
completion, the finishing, the fullness. Couldn't do it. But Christ did. He's our great
high priest. So the power of Christ to put
away sin and establish righteousness for God's people. Secondly, the
power of Christ to give life, spiritual life to the dead, a
new heart, a new mind, a new spirit. That's regeneration.
Jeremiah prophesied of it in Jeremiah 33. It was fulfilled
by Christ as per Hebrews chapter 8. He said, I'll write my law
in their heart. I'll give them a new heart. So old things are passed away,
all things are made new. The old covenant's gone, the
new covenant is here. We can talk about it in several
ways. Legally, spiritually. Let's look
at it here. Let me just, let me give you
something to understand. You know this, in verse 15 of
Ephesians 2, it talks about one new man. Now you know in the
scriptures, often you'll see in passages, you'll see the term
the old man. and the term the new man. What
is that all about? Well, it means different things
in different contexts. That's what it means. And you
have to understand the context of what's being talked about.
Now, the one new man here in Ephesians 2, let me tell you
exactly what it is. It's the church, the church of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, how do you get to that?
How do you see that, all right? Let's look at it. This is new
now. See, old things passed away. All things are made new. Well,
one new man in Jesus Christ. Go back to verse one of Ephesians
chapter two. The first three verses, the first
three verses speak of our fall in Adam. What's it talking about? Ruined by the fall. Whereas by
one man sin entered into the world and death by sin, all sin. And that's what it's talking
about. And if you look at this, look at verse one, it says, and
you, now notice the hath he quickened is in italics. Now, if you were
reading this in the original language, that those three words,
hath he quickened would not be in that first verse. The translators
put it there because they want to emphasize this point and it's
actually found over in verse five. Look at verse five. Even
when we were dead in sins hath quickened us together. Now this
passage speaks of a quickening. It does. Speaks of it in two
ways actually. But here's how it would read.
And you who were dead in trespasses and sins. That's our fallen Adam.
That's what he's talking about. Dead. Born spiritually dead.
We are physically alive. Spiritually dead. That means
we have no ability nor desire to do the things that honor God. We have no ability by nature
as we are born. You who were dead. Who is that
talking about? Is that talking about somebody
else? Is that talking about the dregs of... No! It's talking
about all of God's people collectively. Every one of us born of Adam.
God's elect. This describes us how we fell
in Adam and how we're born into this world. You, who were dead
in trespasses and sins. Dead in trespasses. Spiritually
dead. That's what it's talking about. No eyes to see, no ears
to hear. No heart or mind to know and
love and believe the things of God. And it says in verse 2,
where in time past you walked according to the course of this
world. That's the world in opposition to Christ, in opposition to the
truth. Now that walk according to the
course of the world can take many forms, many facets. It can look in different ways.
For some it could be abject rebellion. It could be immorality. That's
walking according to the course of this world. We see that today.
don't we? We see that today in our society
with the debauchery, the sexual immorality, the drugs, all of
that. But don't ever stop there when
you think about the world. Because it can also include the
most moral, religious, sincere, dedicated people who are seeking
or who have found salvation in any way but the grace of God
in Christ. Saul of Tarsus is a prime example
of it. Saul wasn't out trying to get
drunk or trying to commit whoredom. Saul was trying to establish
a righteousness of his own. And he was walking according
to the course of this world. the world's religion, false religion,
works religion, legalism, idolatry, all of that. So understand that
now. Don't set yourself apart from
what's being described here because this is us by nature. And he'll
tell you that in just a moment. He says, according to the prince
of the power of the air, that's the devil, that's Lucifer, that's
Satan, who has a usurped authority allowed of him by God. to be the prince of this world. Christ told the Pharisees, again,
the most moral men of their day, who indeed appeared righteous
unto men, according to his words, he said, you're of your father,
the devil, John 8, 44. And then he said, the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience. Now, children
of disobedience, you know what that means? That means children
of unbelief, unbelievers. Now, do you know any unbelievers
who are moral, dedicated, kind, charitable? I do. I know all
kinds of them. But they're still children of
disobedience. They don't know Christ. You see,
if you don't know Christ, this describes you. If I don't know
Christ, it describes me. Verse 3, among whom also we all,
not just a few of us now, we all had our conversation, conversation
there means our walk, our course of life, in times past in the
lust of our flesh. Now, lust is an unlawful desire.
Cain, when he came to God desiring to be saved based upon the works
of his hands, he was displaying lust, an unlawful desire, because
that's unlawful for any sinner to come before God seeking salvation
based on his works. You know why it's unlawful? Number
one, because God commanded us not to do that. Number two, because
it dishonors the law. Why? Because we'll always fall
short. The law requires perfection. There's only one place you're
going to find perfection, friend, and that's in Jesus Christ and
his blood. That's why Abel brought the blood.
Fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. That's
the carnal mind that Romans describes in Romans 8. It's enmity against
God. Might be a religious mind, but
it's still carnal mind. And then look at this last line.
And were by nature. Now what does it mean by nature?
That's how we're born. That's our natural bent. Our natural
makeup. That's fallen human nature. Sinful
human nature. We were by nature the children
of wrath even as others. Now what does he say? Who are
the children of wrath? Well, that's the non-elect. That's
the reprobate. What is he saying there? We were
never that. If we're in Christ, we were in Christ before the
foundation of the world. He was our surety from the foundation.
He's saying this. He's saying that by nature, we
were no different than everybody else. Sinners, depraved, no matter
what view that took, whether it was a religious way or an
immoral way. That's what we are by nature. That's our fault. And this is
stated so that we may know that our salvation had nothing to
do with our works, our goodness, or even our cooperation. That's
right. Totally totally by grace through
the Lord Jesus Christ totally by his blood alone his righteousness
alone We have nothing to brag about or boast in I can't stand
I listen most people use what they call their free will as
a Pedestal to stand upon and crow about what they did for
the Lord. We can't do that Because that describes us All right,
here's the second thing from verses 4 to 10 now He describes
our salvation by God's grace in Christ. As the first three
verses might be ruined by the fall, this next section is redemption
by the blood. Redeemed by the blood. Our salvation
by God's grace in Christ. Redemption by the blood. And
he starts off, look at verse four. But God. There's those
two words that we love so much. But God. Don't you love it? Now
it doesn't say but you, does it? But you. Did this, did that. Received this, accepted that.
No, but God. There's your key. Salvations
of the Lord. God who is rich in mercy. That means we don't
deserve it, cannot earn it. For his great love wherewith
he loved us. His great love. His great love
is covenant love. His great love is unconditional
love. His great love is in Christ.
It's saving love. blessed with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That's the love that provided
in Christ what His holy law and justice demanded of us. That's
the love that secures and ensures the salvation of His people through
Christ. There is no love from God for
a sinner outside of Christ. And then look, he says, even
when we were dead in sins. In other words, it had nothing
to do now. This took place. What he's talking about is in
light of our deadness of sin. It has nothing to do with our
goodness, our righteousness, or even our response. Because
dead's dead, isn't it? Dead man can't respond spiritually
now. I often tell you, I always understand
that dead men can respond, but they can't respond positively,
submissively, humbly, believingly. The folks that picked up the
stones and killed Stephen, they responded, didn't they? But how
did they respond? Like spiritually dead people,
like we would if God had left us to ourselves. And so he says,
quicken. He says, even when we were dead
in sins, so it's by grace, and what did he do? He hath quickened
us together with Christ. By grace are you saved. Now again,
that takes in mind our deadness spiritually. Now let me tell
you, this word together is a key word to understanding this passage. Together. Together with who? Together with Christ. Now that
means all at the same time with Christ. That's what that means.
He's not talking about our regeneration here, our new birth. Because
that didn't happen together. You see, you weren't regenerated,
you weren't born again the same time I was. I wasn't born again
the same time you were. Saul of Tarsus was born again
on the Damascus road 2,000 years ago. I wasn't even around. So
whatever he's talking about in this quickening, you know what
quickening means? It means to give life. It happened to all of us,
all of God's elect, all of Christ's sheep, together with Christ. What does that mean? Well, he's
speaking of Christ, our representative. Christ, our representative. He's
speaking of Christ, our surety. He's speaking of Christ our substitute
and Christ who did something for his people totally outside
of themselves. We had no part in this except
as we were found in Christ. He did all the work. Whatever
he's talking about, he did all the work. And look what he puts
in parenthesis here to make you understand what he's talking
about. For by grace you're saved. Listen, whatever he's talking
about, it's something that none of us contributed to. It's something
that none of us can add to or take away from. It's something
that is totally done by one person for all whom he represented.
And who is that one person? The Lord Jesus Christ. And when
he did it, he did it not for himself, but for his people. together with Him. Look at verse
6. He raised us up together. Now
that's talking about the resurrection of Christ. He's talking about
our oneness, our unity with Christ that when He died, what happened? We died. When He was buried,
what happened? We were buried. When He arose,
what happened? We arose. How can that be? He did it as my representative.
He did it as my surety. He paid my debt to God's law
and justice. He was made sin. Now whose sins
was He made sin for? Our sins. They were charged,
accounted, imputed to Him. He was made a curse. He was made
guilty and went under the justice of the law to suffer and bleed
and die by Himself but for us. By Himself for us. Let me ask you a question. Is
that a legal fiction? No. I know people who call it
that. Is that God pretending? No. Listen. Think about the Savior
himself. The man of sorrows. Acquainted
with grief. By his stripes. You think he
felt those stripes? He sure did. You think he felt
the nails going into the palms of his hands and his feet? Yes,
he did. Suffering. My God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? I'll tell you why he did it.
He did it for his people. You say, well, I can't explain all
the ins and outs. I can't either. That's not what
I'm talking about. But I'm saying that he did it by himself. For
by one offering, Hebrews 10 verse 14, he hath perfected forever
them, plural, that are sanctified. One offering, not 50,000 offerings,
not 50 million, one offering. Now how did he, he's our substitute.
That's real substitution. That's absolute substitution. And how do you know that? Well,
he quickened us together. What's that quickening? That's
his resurrection. Why was he resurrected? He finished the
work. He established all righteousness that God requires. Listen, here's
the thing. Everything that God requires
of me for salvation finds its full completion and finishing
and fulfillment in Jesus Christ. That's right. How do you know
that? He quickened us together with Christ for by grace you're
saved. Verse 6, He's raised us up together, made us sit together
in heavenly places. Now you're not in heaven yet,
but you're there in Christ. Now is God pretending about that?
No, that's real. I'll tell you what, if He's there
and you're in Him, you're sure and certain to be there because
He's there in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Together, together,
together. What's he talking about? He's
talking about our reconciliation to God. He's talking about our
justification before God. New creation in Jesus Christ.
Look at verse 7. That in the ages to come he might
show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward
us through Christ Jesus. Amazing grace. That's what this
is. This is amazing grace. How sweet
to say. That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now I'm found. was blind, but now I see. And
it's all through Jesus Christ. It's all toward Jesus Christ.
It's all to the praise of the glory of His grace, verse 8,
for by grace are you saved through faith. That not of yourselves,
even that faith is not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. Now let me say this. Everything that is said here
of the church collectively can be said of an individual believer. But what he's talking about here
is the church together and what Christ accomplished on Calvary
as the ground of our salvation, complete. And look at verse 10,
he says, for we are his workmanship. We're his workmanship. He did
it all. The church, the salvation of
every individual believer, elect of God that makes up the church,
were his workmanship. We're not our own work. We're
not self-made people. It's not by our works. It's not
by our wills. Not of him that runneth, nor
of him that willeth, but of God that showeth mercy. And it says,
created in Christ Jesus. There's the new creation. Created.
You see, a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is a creation. The
church is a creation. Who created it? Jesus Christ
did. You know, in 2 Corinthians 5.21,
look over here just for a second. Verse 21. A lot of confusion,
argument, division over this. It shouldn't be. In verse 21, he says, And this is
what Paul's talking about here in 2 Corinthians 5. He's talking
about reconciliation. But he says, for he, the he there
is God the Father. For he, 2 Corinthians 5.21, he,
God the Father, hath made him, God the Son incarnate. That's
Jesus Christ. Now the word made there, a lot
of times in the New Testament is translated do, just simply
do. It's a work done. We get our
English word poem, poetry from this word because it's an act,
it's a creative act. That's what he's saying. And
what he's simply saying here is that whatever he's talking
about, God did it. That's the simplicity of it.
God did it. You didn't do it. I didn't do
it. God did it. This wasn't an act of man or
an act even of the church. This was God, the Father, doing
this. He made his son to be sin. Now,
how did he do that? Well, I believe the context begs
for it. He did it by imputing, charging,
accounting sin to him. Made him a curse, made him guilty. The debt was laid upon him. The
debt of our sins, the debt of all of our sins was made to meet
upon him. And he says he did it for us,
made him to be sin for us. The who knew no sin, the Greek
word order would tell you there that it's referring to Christ,
not to us. We know sin. Listen, we know sin well. But he knew no sin. He had no
personal inward experience with sin within himself. But look
at the next, that we might be made, or some translations say
become. The word made, there's a different
word. It's the word for generation. It's the word that refers to
His offspring, His seed. That we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. You see that? Now, go back to
Ephesians 2. That's the new creation, right
there. Our sins were imputed to Him, His righteousness is
imputed to us. Charged to us. And that's the
ground of our salvation. So he says in verse 10, For we
are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, unto, not because
of, but unto good works, which God hath before ordained that
we should walk in them. So there he is, our fallen Adam,
our salvation by God's grace in Christ, ruined by the fall,
redeemed by the blood. All right, here's the third thing.
Look at verse 11. From verse 11 to verse 16, we
see our unity in Christ created by the cross. One new man, one
body. And listen to what he's gonna
do here. He's gonna show you how that old covenant was. Here's
how the old covenant was, but now here's how the new covenant
is. And listen to what he says, verse 11. He says, Wherefore
remember that you being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, that's
what you were, that's how you were born, that was your race,
you were a Gentile, non-Jew, who are called uncircumcision.
That was the way the Jews referred to the Gentiles, the uncircumcised,
the uncircumcision. By that which is called the circumcision,
that was the Jews. And he said, in the flesh made
by hands. Now, so it's clear here he's not talking about circumcision
of the heart. He's talking about in the flesh
made by hands. All right? Verse 12. That at that time, now what time? The time of the old covenant.
From Sinai to the cross. That covers a period of about
1,500 years. From Sinai to the cross. You
were without Christ. Now he's talking about the Gentiles
generally as a race. He's not saying that there were
absolutely no Gentiles saved during the time of the Old Covenant
because we know there were from Scripture. We can name some of them who
were children of God spiritually because they were saved by the
grace of God. And you remember I think I made
this statement in one of the messages that that the new covenant
is new because it's in time at the cross, but new covenant blessings
were applied even before then. And you know why? Because it
was sure and certain that Christ would come and do his work. Abel,
for example, he was a partaker of new covenant blessings. Now
he wasn't under the new covenant, that hadn't been established,
but he was a partaker of its blessings. Moses was a partaker
of New Covenant, but he wasn't under the New Covenant now, but
he was a partaker of its blessings. Didn't Christ say that? Had you
believed Moses, you'd believe me. Moses wrote of me. We could
go on and on. But in general, as a race, the
Gentiles were not part of that covenant which proclaimed Christ
in his person and work, and therefore they were without Christ. They
had no knowledge of Christ. He said, being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel, you weren't members of that covenant, that
nation. Strangers, that means foreigners from the covenants
of promise, that's the covenant made with Abraham, the covenant
made with David. Having no hope, there's no hope
without Christ for any sinner, Jew or Gentile, and without God
in the world. What a sad state to be in. But
look at verse 13 now. But now, that's like that but
God, isn't it? But now, now it's different. Now in Christ Jesus, you who
were sometime far off are made nigh. Now how are you made nigh? What does it say there? By your
decision? By your baptism? By your works,
your will? No, by the blood of Jesus. That's
how. The blood of Christ. That's his
death on the cross to establish the only righteousness that enables
God to be just and justifier. And he says in verse 14, for
he is our peace. Christ is our peace. That's reconciliation. God was in Christ, reconciling
the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. Who
hath made both one? Now who's the both there? That's
Jew and Gentile. Circumcised and uncircumcised.
One. He's brought them together. They're
one. In the old covenant they were
two. Now they're one. They're united.
Now he's not talking about every Jew without exception or every
Gentile without exception. He's talking about any person,
Jew or Gentile, for whom Christ is their peace. And he says,
and hath broken down the middle wall partition between us. That's
a reference to the temple that existed in Jerusalem at that
time that had a wall that separated the outer court for the Gentiles. There were Gentiles who converted
to Judaism and they would come in to worship and they can only
go so far. And there was a wall there and
the Gentile could not go past that wall. And then there was
an inner court for the Jews. So in other words, they had perverted
that old covenant as if to say, well, you Gentiles, you can be
OK, you can be saved, but you're still not as holy and righteous
and as close to God as we Jews are. You see? It's kind of like religion today,
isn't it? But that's gone, he said. There
is no middle wall partition. Verse 15, having abolished in
his flesh, that's his death on the cross. the enmity, the hatred,
even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, even
what God ordained in the old covenant, for to make in himself,
to make in Christ of twain, of two, one new man. There it is. So make in peace. There is no
division now. It's all one. Look over at Galatians
3. Verse 26, for you are all the children
of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3, 26. Verse 27, for
as many of you as have been baptized, that literally means placed into,
united with Christ, it's not talking about water baptism,
have put on Christ, you believe in Christ. There is neither Jew
nor Greek, bond nor free. There is neither male nor female,
for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you be Christ,
if you belong to Christ, then are you Abraham's seed and heirs
according to the promise. You see, one new man in Christ. Old things are passed away. All
things made new. Look back over at Ephesians 2
and I'll close. He says, and that he might reconcile
both unto God in one body, That's the church. Christ the head,
we're the body. By the cross, having slain the
enmity thereby, and then he comes to our regeneration by the Spirit. Ruined by the fall, redeemed
by the blood, regenerated by the Spirit. Look at verse 17.
He says, And came and preached peace to you which were far off,
and to them that were nigh, Jew and Gentile, preached the same
gospel of grace. For through him we both have
access by one Spirit unto the Father. How does the Spirit give
us access unto the Father? By leading us to Christ. By bringing
us to faith in Christ. Now therefore you are no more
strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens. Equal citizenship. with the saints, those who are
sanctified, sinners saved by grace, and of the household of
God. You're a full-fledged member of the family of God and are
built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus
Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. He said, upon this
rock I'll build my church. The gates of hell will not prevail
against it. In whom all the building, what's the building there? That's
the church. Fitly framed together. That means it can't be separated.
unto an holy temple in the Lord, separated under God, in whom
you also are builded together for inhabitation of God through
the Spirit." One new man in Jesus Christ. All right.