Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. I'd like to welcome you to our
program today. I'm glad you could join us. If you'd like to follow
along in your Bibles, I'm going to return to a passage that I've
been preaching on the last few weeks in Ephesians, the book
of Ephesians in the New Testament, Chapter 2. And this is concerning
the subject of reconciliation. Now, I began this last week.
Last week was Reconciliation Part 1. And then today is reconciliation
part two, which I'll conclude this chapter of Ephesians chapter
two. And what the apostle Paul was
talking about is basically that every true believer, those to
whom God has been reconciled and are reconciled to one another,
there's peace. That word reconciliation means
peace made on a common ground. Peace between God and sinners.
I mentioned this last week how there's peace vertically. That
means God and sinners, peace made between God and sinners,
and then peace horizontally, the fellowship of faith, peace
among brethren. And all upon a common ground. And what is that common ground?
Well, the common ground is the merits of the obedience unto
death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And basically, what the Bible
teaches us is that the merits of Christ, His blood, His death
on the cross, all that He accomplished in His obedience unto death as
God manifest in the flesh, as the surety of His people, He's
the surety of His people. That means their sins were imputed,
charged, accounted to Him. As the substitute of His people,
He took my place. He took our place on the cross.
His people now, believers. Not talking about everybody without
exception. He took our place on the cross
and died the death that we earned and deserved and satisfied the
justice of God. He paid the debt. He's the redeemer
of His people. And that whole transaction that
he accomplished, the merit of it, the value of it, the worth
of it, is called the righteousness of God. That's what's preached
in the gospel, Romans 1, 16 and 17, where Paul says, I'm not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto
salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first, the Greek also.
And he said, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed
from faith to faith, as it is written, the justified shall
live by faith, live by looking to Christ and resting in him.
And that righteousness of God is the ground of reconciliation. It's the work of Christ. the merits of Christ. See, God
does not accept me or save me or bless me based upon any merit
of my own. Salvation is by grace. It's totally
undeserved, totally unearned. Now that applies to both Jew
and Gentile. God's chosen people, spiritual
Israel among the Jews and among the Gentiles. And he's brought
them together. in Christ to the point that in
Christ, as far as salvation is concerned, as far as justification,
righteousness is concerned, as far as having a right relationship
with God is concerned, being a Jew or a Gentile, being circumcised
or uncircumcised has absolutely nothing to do with it. It is
totally a matter of God's grace and mercy, unconditional love
to his people in Christ. And so it says in verse 18, now
this is Ephesians 2 and verse 18. It says, for through him,
through Christ, we both, both Jew and Gentile, have access
by one spirit, the Holy Spirit, unto the Father. Now how do we
have access unto the Father by the Holy Spirit? Because the
Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, showing us our unworthiness. showing us the fact that we cannot
do anything to earn or deserve God's grace or God's blessings. And he drives us to Christ as
the one mediator between God and men, Jew and Gentile, the
man Christ Jesus. That's who Jesus Christ is. He's the God-man. who died for
the sins of his people, both Jew and Gentile. And that's what
the word world means when it talks about that God has reconciled
the world unto himself. We dealt with that last week.
It's not talking about everybody without exception. It's talking
about all who are eventually, by God's grace and power, brought
to faith in Christ. Do you believe in Christ as he's
identified and distinguished in the word of God? Do you rest
on his finished work? Or are you looking to a Christ
who tried to save everybody but can't unless they let him? That's
a false Christ. So look at verse 19 of Ephesians
2. Now they've all been reconciled
to God on one ground, the blood of Christ. Now therefore you
are no more strangers and foreigners. Now he's talking to the Gentile
believers here. At one point in time under the
old covenant, for 1,500 years, generally speaking, the Gentiles
were strangers and foreigners. They were outside the covenant. But now, because of what Christ
did, because of the accomplished work of Christ, therefore, you
are no more strangers and foreigners, but, now listen to this, fellow
citizens with the saints, That means you're just as much a saint
as any saved Gentile. A Gentile saved by grace is just
as much a saint as any saved Jew. What is a saint? A sinner saved by grace. Now
understand that. People have the idea that a saint
is some special Christian. who's done some special things
or done some miracles and he's got to be canonized by the church.
That's a lie. I've heard people say, well,
I'm a Christian, but I'm no saint. Well, if you're a Christian,
you are a saint. The word saint means sanctified one. And sanctified means set apart. And the Bible says that God has
sanctified his people in Christ. They're set apart. They were
set apart by God Himself before the foundation of the world when
God chose them and gave them to Christ. God justified them. That's what He did. They were
set apart by Christ on the cross when He died for them. He died
for His sheep. Not all without exception, His
sheep. They were set apart redemptively. He redeemed them. and they're
set apart by the Holy Spirit, sanctification by the Spirit,
when they are born again and called out of the world and into
the fold, the sheepfold, the church, by the preaching of the
gospel, where God gives them the gift of faith and repentance
and keeps them in His family. That's what a saint is. It's
not some special super-Christian. Let me put it to you this way,
put it in perspective. The thief on the cross who was
converted by God in the last hours of his life was just as
much equally a saint as the Apostle Paul, who God used several years
of his life to establish churches and preach the gospel and write
probably half or more of the New Testament. So understand
that sainthood is not something you earn or deserve or something
that you've done special. Sainthood is salvation of sinners
by the grace of God. And being fellow citizens with
the saints and of the household of God means you're a full-fledged
member of God's family. You're a citizen just as much
a citizen with all the rights and privileges of a citizen of
the kingdom of God. You've been brought into the
kingdom. You've been saved by His grace. You've been justified
by His righteousness imputed. You've been born again by the
Spirit. You look to Christ. You rest in Christ. You have
a struggle now with the flesh and the Spirit. I know that.
But you're still a full-fledged, equal member of the household
and family of God, a child of God. If you're a Jew who believes,
that's great. If you're a Gentile who believes,
that's great too. But the Jew who believes is no
more qualified and no more privileged than the Gentile. We're all one
in Christ Jesus. We're all spiritual Jews, the
scripture tells us, fellow citizens. Look at Romans chapter two. And look at verse 28. Paul writes
here in Romans 2 and 28, For he is not a Jew, which is one
outwardly, neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh. Verse 29, But he is a Jew, which
is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the
spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but
of God. You see, men look at these distinctions
of Jew and Gentile and they praise it, but God doesn't. And this
circumcision of the heart is the new birth. It's the cutting
away the filth of the flesh, the thoughts and the ideas of
salvation because I'm somebody or I'm descended from Abraham
or I've been circumcised or I keep the, no, that's repented of.
That's cut away, that's the filth of the flesh. Any idea that I'm
saved or kept saved or glorified based upon who I am or what I've
done. No, the circumcised heart is
the faithful heart, is the repentant heart. And so that's who a Jew
is. I'm a spiritual Jew. Physically
speaking, I'm not a Jew, I'm a Gentile. But spiritually speaking,
I'm a Jew because my heart's been circumcised. I've been born
again by the Spirit. How do I know? I look to and
rest in Christ, His blood and righteousness for my whole salvation.
And then look over at Romans chapter nine in verse six. Now what Paul's doing here, he's
answering the question of the problem that the Lord back in
the Old Testament through the prophets said that Israel shall
be saved. All Israel, Paul said in Romans
11, but the majority of the physical nation of Israel, the Jews, died
in unbelief, and only a remnant was saved. So how do you answer
that, Paul? Was God's promise not of effect? Did God not keep His promise?
In verse six, he says in Romans 9, not as though the word of
God had taken none effect, It's not as though God went back on
His word or couldn't complete what He promised. For here's
your answer. For they are not all Israel,
which are of Israel. The name Israel means those who
prevailed with God. Who prevails with God? Only those
who come to Him in Christ. And he says in verse seven, neither
because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children.
Just because they're physical descendants of Abraham doesn't
mean that they're all children of God. But in Isaac shall thy
seed be called. That's a direct reference to
Christ. And he says in verse eight, that is they which are
the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God,
but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. What
does he mean by that? He means those who are in Christ. are the seed. That's spiritual
Israel. Let me show you one more verse
in that vein. Galatians chapter 6 and verse
14. Paul writes here, but God forbid
that I should glory, save or accept in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto
the world. In other words, because I'm glory
and boast in the cross, in the glorious person, in the finished
work of Christ, that separates me from the world, the unbelieving
world. In verse 15, he says, for in
Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision,
but a new creature, a new creation. Whether you're physically circumcised
or not, that has nothing to do with whether you're a Jew or
a Gentile, but are you a new creature? Have you been born
again by the Spirit? Are you in a state of grace by
the blood of Christ? God reconciled to you and you
reconciled to God based upon His righteousness alone imputed
to you and received by faith. In verse 16, and as many as walk
according to this rule, this teaching, this doctrine, what
rule? God forbid that I should glory,
boast, save in the cross of Christ. Peace be on them. God's been
reconciled to them and they've been reconciled to God. And mercy,
God has been merciful to them and upon the Israel of God. That's not talking about national
Israel. That's talking about those who
walk by that rule, which is the gospel. God forbid. that I should glory, that I should
boast, that I should have confidence or assurance, except in one thing,
the glorious person and the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ,
His righteousness alone. Now go back to our text. That's
what reconciliation is. Who is my brother? Who is my
sister? Those who've been reconciled
to God, based upon the blood of Christ, his righteousness
imputed. And being in that family, we
are made one new man, as Paul said back in Ephesians 2.15. Jew or Gentile has nothing to
do with it, we're no more strangers and foreigners, but he says we're
fellow citizens, verse 19 of Ephesians 2, with the saints. It means I'm a saint too, and
of the household of God, the family of God. That's sinners
saved by grace. And look at verse 20. He says,
and built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets,
Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. Now, what
is the foundation of the apostles and prophets? Well, he's not
saying that the apostles are mediators to whom we pray, or
the prophets. We don't pray through Paul, or
James, or John, or Isaiah, or Jeremiah. There's one God and
one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. There's
no other mediators. Mary is not a mediator. You know,
the Catholics, they prayed to Mary. That's idolatry. Mary was
a special woman, but she was still a sinner saved by grace. And that's what the Lord meant,
you know, when Mary, his earthly mother, came with his half-brothers
to seek him out, and he was preaching, and they sent somebody, they
sent someone in to him to say, now, your mother and your brothers
are out here, and he made this statement. He said, who is my
mother, who is my brother? He says, them that do the will
of my Father, which is in heaven. In other words, he's showing
my spiritual family is not an earthly family, it's a spiritual
family, a heavenly family. And Paul's describing it right
here, the household of God. Fellow citizens with the saints,
made so by Christ. So when he says we're built,
this church, this one new man is built upon the foundation
of the apostles and the prophets, what is he talking about? He's
talking about the word of God in the gospel. What the apostles
preached. what the prophets preached. And
what did they preach? They preached salvation by God
for sinners, Jew and Gentile, by God's grace, by God's mercy. That's what they preached. Paul
made the statement back in Galatians chapter one. He said, if they
come preaching any other gospel than that which we have preached,
Let them be anathema. You see, if you preach another
gospel, which means literally another of a different kind,
which is no gospel at all, Paul said, different from what Paul
preached, from what John preached, from what James and Andrew and
Peter, what they preached, you're not building, whatever you're
building is not the household and family of God, and it's not
based upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets.
All the prophets pointed Israel to the future concerning Christ,
the coming of the Messiah, to establish the one and only righteousness
upon which God would save and justify and forgive sinners.
Jeremiah called Him the Lord our righteousness. Isaiah spoke
of him as the suffering substitute, the servant in Isaiah 53. And
he spoke of him as the righteousness that God brings near. All the
Psalms, the whole Old Testament from Genesis to Malachi is all
about Christ. It's all the testimony to the
sinnerhood of man, our sin and depravity, and the impossibility
of salvation. by our works. And it's a testimony
that the only way of salvation is of the Lord, by His power
and His grace, based upon the glorious person and the finished
work of Christ. So when he says, you're built,
verse 19, verse 20, this church, this new man, The Jew and Gentile is built
upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. He's talking about
the gospel. He's talking about the word of
reconciliation that we read about last time in 2 Corinthians 5.
For He, that is the Father, made Him, that is God the Son incarnate
Christ, to be sin for us, sin imputed to Him. The sins of His
sheep, the sins of His church, the sins of God's elect were
charged to Him. Christ who knew no sin, He was
not a sinner, not made a sinner, not corrupted by our sins, but
He had sin legally imputed to Him. that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him. Have his righteousness imputed
to us. And so, verse 20 of Ephesians,
built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus
Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. Christ is the foundation
of the church. He told Peter and the apostles,
he said, upon this rock, I will build my church. He wasn't talking
about Peter. He's talking about himself and
the work that he would do. That's the foundation. He's the
foundation of the church. He's the rock, Christ Jesus.
On Christ, the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.
And he's the chief cornerstone. of the church. Which means this,
everyone is to be measured and fit into the building according
to Him, who He is. You see, that's why we talk about
Christ is the Lord our righteousness. I cannot measure up. to the perfection
of righteousness of the law, because that can only be found
in Christ, and I'm made righteous in Him. His righteousness imputed
to me. I have no righteousness of my
own. I'm in the family of God. I'm fitly framed in this house
that Christ has built by His righteousness. The bricks of
it held together, somebody said, by His blood. That's the mortar. And it's all by Christ. And see,
I measure up not by my works, not by my faith. I measure up
by Him having His righteousness imputed to me. And that's the
standard of judgment. When God says that He's going
to judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained
and that He hath given assurance unto all men and that He hath
raised Him from the dead, Acts 17 31. So it's all in Christ, the chief
cornerstone, verse 21, in whom all the building fitly framed
together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord. That's the
church. Christ is calling his people and he's setting them
in this holy temple, which is where God resides in spirit and
in his word, in whom the building fitly framed. It's fitly framed,
everybody's right in the place where God puts them. And there's
always trouble when somebody says, well, I don't like my place,
I wanna be over here. Well, verse 22 says, in whom
you also are builded together. for inhabitation of God through
the Spirit. You see, this is reconciliation.
This is peace vertically between God and His people made by the
blood of Christ, His righteousness, and this is peace horizontally
within the household, the family of God, the city of God, again,
made so by the blood of Christ. And so that's what he's talking
about here. This is the church. It's the church of the living
God. It's made up of all kinds of people. We say all races of people. You
know the Bible only recognizes one race, the human race. There
are different skin pigmentation, but that doesn't mean anything. Even the separation between man
and woman. Now listen, we're always to recognize
that a man is a man and a woman is a woman. I know they're trying
to do away with that, but God doesn't. But what he says is
when it comes to salvation and being a fellow citizen in the
kingdom of God with the saints, being a saint in the household
of God, those distinctions mean nothing. Those distinctions have
no bearing upon a right relationship with God, upon righteousness,
whether or not I'm a righteous person or not. Now, God does
recognize those distinctions, especially between man and woman.
He's given certain offices in the church to men and certain
to women, and man's to have the authority over the woman, all
of that. We're not to do away with those things because God
hasn't done away with them. But when it comes to salvation,
when it comes to being justified, my sins forgiven, being righteous
in God's sight, when it comes to being a saint, when it comes
to having all the rights and privileges of a true child of
God, the blessings of salvation, none of those distinctions have
any bearing. where we are all one in Christ
Jesus. And so understand that, having
been built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets,
the word of God. That's the whole issue of our
oneness. Looking to Christ, resting in
Christ, having our confidence in Christ, following Christ in
his word, together as fellow citizens, saints in the household
and family of God. built upon that foundation, the
Word of God in Christ, the glorious person and the finished work
of Christ. That's our reconciliation to
God and that's our reconciliation to one another. Hope you'll join
us next week for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1-1-0-2-3. Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia
31707. Contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
or email us through our website at www.theletterofgrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.