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. Welcome 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 go back to Ephesians chapter two. Today, I'm going to begin with verse 15 and try to cover to the end of the chapter, maybe a little bit beyond, depending upon what time allows. The title of the message is Fellow Citizens with the Saints. Fellow Citizens with the Saints.

And I got that from verse 19. of Ephesians chapter two that says, now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners. And what he's talking about there is Gentiles who have been brought to faith in Christ. You're no longer strangers and foreigners, but your fellow citizens with the saints, equal. Equal citizenship with the saints. And who are the saints? They are the sanctified ones. They're sinners saved by grace. justified by God's grace, washed in the blood of Christ from all their sins, and declared righteous in God's sight. Based on Christ, righteousness imputed. So you're fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God. So not only are you citizens of an eternal heavenly country, you're children of God in his household, equal. What a great privilege. So let's go back up to verse 15.

The apostle Paul had been talking about how the division that existed between Jew and Gentile under, for example, the old covenant, which was indicated by physical circumcision of the Jews. and the uncircumcision of the Gentiles. They even identified themselves that way. We're the circumcision and we worship God, they would say. We're not an uncircumcised heathen, Gentile.

He says that division has been totally abolished by the coming of Christ to accomplish salvation for all of God's chosen people, both Jew and Gentile. And in Christ, the believing Jew, the sinner saved by grace among the Jews, is no better, has no more higher station, is no more of a saint than the born-again believing Gentile. They are all equal citizens in the kingdom of God and equal children, sons and daughters in the household of God.

And it was all made so by one person and by his obedience unto death. That's the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that's what grace is all about. And so he says here that Christ, in his obedience unto death to save his people, Jew and Gentile, through all eternity, all history, has broken down the middle wall of partition between us, that division, and it was symbolized by that third temple wall that separated the Gentiles who were on the outside and the Jews who were on the inside. As if the Jews were better, more qualified, more blessed citizens, no, not so. And we read in Galatians chapter three last week, how the Bible tells us that in Christ Jesus, there is no Jew nor Greek or Gentile, no male nor female, no bond nor Scythian. It's all one in Christ. And let me, I always use this example. And I'll tell you what, it offends some people, but I'm sorry. This is what true grace is all about. I preached on that last week. True grace. the true reality of grace.

The thief on the cross who was saved at the end of his life as a thief hanging on a cross is no less blessed of God in the elements and blessings of God's grace than the Apostle Paul, who spent probably around 30 to 40 years serving the Lord, suffering for the gospel.

And the reason is, is because salvation is not conditioned on us. It is not based upon what we earn or what we deserve. It is not based upon our works and our efforts. It's based upon Christ, his works, his efforts, his obedience unto death, his blood, his suffering unto death, his righteousness alone.

So that thief was just as much a fellow citizen with the saints and of the household of God as any champion of the gospel who served the Lord for years. And that's what we have to accept, understanding what grace really is. So look at verse 15 of Ephesians 2. Paul writes, having abolished in his flesh, that's Christ in his humanity, his sinless humanity, having our sins, the sins of his people, imputed, charged to him, laid upon him, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, the hatred, the division, even the law of commandments, even the old covenant contained in ordinances for to make in himself." Now understand that what was Christ doing? He was making in himself of twain of two one new man.

So making peace. In other words, Christ died for all of God's elect, Jew and Gentile, male, female, black, white, doesn't matter who you are, where you come from, your ethnic background. Christ died for his elect. He died for his church. That's the called out ones. He redeemed his church with his own blood. Those who are called out of the world into the fold. He died for his sheep. One sheep fold. Not denominations. Not all denominations who call themselves Christian are Christian. Because not all denominations preach the true gospel of salvation.

Conditioned on Christ. The God-man. who fulfilled those conditions as the surety, the substitute, and the redeemer and preserver of his people, and engaged with his righteousness, his blood and his righteousness, to secure their salvation under glory.

And that tells you several things. It tells you those who preach that those for whom Christ died could perish, they don't know Christ. That's a false Christ. But He brought one new man. That's what the church is. His bride, one bride, collectively, made up of individual believers, but it's just one new man. And that's His church.

And they shall all be saved. They were all chosen before the foundation of the world. Their names were written in the Lamb's Book of Life. They were justified in Christ, declared forgiven by His blood, and righteous in His righteousness imputed. They were redeemed by His blood on the cross, and they all will be called by the Spirit in the new birth, through the preaching of the true gospel, not a false one, but the true one.

And so he made peace. And look at verse 16, it says, and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body, how? Look at it, by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby, or in himself. He slew that hatred and that enmity and that division by bringing them together through His one sacrifice for sins, His one offering of His body for their sins.

Collectively, as their sins were imputed, charged, accounted to Him. and He reconciled them both, Jew and Gentile, God's elect, not all without exception now. Those who live and die in unbelief are not included in this number. They're the non-elect, they're the reprobate. But those who are brought to be reconciled to God, God was always reconciled to them by the body of Christ, through the blood of Christ.

The ground of reconciliation, peace between God and sinners, is the Lord Jesus Christ and the glory of His person as God-man, the Lamb of God, and His finished work, His shed blood, to put away their sins, to purge their sins, to pay their sin debt. and redeemed them by His blood, which equals His righteousness, the righteousness of God revealed in the gospel.

So He slew it. And look at verse 17. And came and preached peace to you which were afar off and to them that were nigh. Christ came and preached peace. He's the Prince of Peace. He sends his preachers out, his prophets, to preach the gospel of peace to those who are far off, referring mainly to the Gentiles here and those who are near the Jews, because they have the law, even though they perverted it. And most of them died in unbelief and condemnation because they didn't receive its message, which was the sinfulness of man to show our need of God's grace in Christ. So come and preached peace. That's why the gospel is the gospel of peace.

That's why it's called the Word of Reconciliation, because it teaches that sinners by nature, are dead and enemies of God and deserve nothing but death and hell and condemnation. And the only way that God is reconciled to them at peace with them, and the only way that they can be reconciled to God at peace with him is through the blood of Jesus Christ. That's what grace is all about. That's why grace reigns in righteousness through Jesus Christ.

It brings peace. So he says in verse 18 of Ephesians 2, for through him, through Christ, we both have access by one Spirit, the Holy Spirit, unto the Father. Now there you see the blessed Trinity. One God in three persons. And here's what he says, that the Holy Spirit brings us unto the Father by virtue of the merits and our union with Jesus Christ, the Son. Do you see that?

You know, people talk about God being our Father. Well, God, now God is the Father of all people by creation, but not by redemption. Those who live and die in unbelief, they're of their father, the devil. They follow their father. But those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ are the adopted children of God, adopted by the father before the foundation of the world and brought into the reality and knowledge and spirit of that adoption by the spirit as he brings them under the gospel and shows them Christ. and all that he accomplished in his person and work. They're adopted. Adopted children.

So the Father, here he's speaking of, is the Father of the faithful. All whom he redeemed by the blood of Christ and all whom he gave the gift of faith to believe in Christ. And the Spirit brings them to the Father through the Son. in the preaching of the word. So they're brought to the Father by the Spirit. They have access. See, without Christ, you don't have access to the Father.

We're accepted in the beloved. And so it says in verse 19, now, therefore, you are no more strangers and foreigners, but your fellow citizens with the saints. and of the household of God. Isn't that a blessing? My friend, if we truly know Christ and believe his gospel, the true gospel, not a false gospel, not a counterfeit Christ, but the true Christ, we're not strangers in the kingdom of God. We're not foreigners. We are fellow citizens. equal in every way to every saint of God as to our standing in Christ.

Now, here on earth, as we're on this earth, all of God's people are not equal in every way, There are some, male, some female, there are some who have gifts that others don't have, gifts of ministry, some who are able to preach, some who have the gift of knowledge.

Not that those who don't have the gift of knowledge don't know the truth, but I'm talking about the deep knowledge of the scriptures. and interpretation in preaching and all of that communication. Some have other gifts, the gift of giving, the gift of speaking a word in season. Paul speaks of those gifts in the book of first Corinthians because the Corinthians were becoming puffed up and proud over their gifts and that is so wrong. Whatever gift I have, it ought to humble me and I ought to use it for the glory of God and the good of his people. But when it comes to our standing before God in Christ, we are all totally equal. Equally saved, equally redeemed, equally justified and sanctified, equally righteous, equally sure for heaven's glory. And our reward in glory is not what we earn, not what you earn over me or I earn over you, but what Christ has earned for us and gives to us equally.

As Ephesians 1.3 says, we are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Romans 8 says, he who spared not his own son, how shall he not with him freely, unconditionally give us all things, all things that are required and necessary. So we are fellow citizens with the saints.

And what is a saint? I say this all the time on this program. People are so ignorant when it comes to sainthood. A saint, very simply put, is a sinner saved by grace. If you're saved, you're saved by grace. And if you're saved by grace, you're a saint.

Now, what does that mean? That word saint comes from the term sanctity, sanctify, and it means to be set apart, set apart by God. And the Bible teaches several ways of being set apart, sanctified. Eternally in the mind and purpose of God, when He chose His people, before the foundation of the world and set them apart, gave them to Christ, put all of the responsibility of their salvation and eternal well-being in the hands of Christ, put it on his shoulders. You see, the government shall be on his shoulder, Isaiah chapter nine, and that means the government of grace. They were set apart then. set apart in justification, forgiven of all their sins by the blood of Christ, declared righteous by His righteousness imputed, set apart redemptively when He obeyed unto death, died for our sins, and put them away, paid the debt in full. And then they're set apart in new birth when the Spirit brings them out of the world and under the gospel and gives them life from the dead, a new heart, new mind, gives them the desire, having convicted them of their sins and their depravity and giving them the desire to beg for the mercy of God, which he says anyone who wants it will have it, wants it his way.

They're set apart. They're saints. And that's what that means, sanctified ones, sanctified by the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. And then it says there, fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God. What is the household of God? That's the kingdom of God. That's the spiritual family of God, indicated by their rest and trust in Jesus Christ. Look at verse 20. It goes on. It says, they're built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. Now, what is the foundation of the apostles and prophets?

This is the doctrine of Christ. I preached several weeks ago at our church on 2 John 9, which says this, He that transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. But he that abideth in the doctrine of Christ hath both the Father and the Son. Well, what is that doctrine of Christ?

Well, it's the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. It's the doctrine of the prophets and the apostles. You see, this shows us how important this foundation is. The truth, God's church, God's family, God's citizenship, are all founded upon truth. And we can look at truth in several ways. First of all, Jesus Christ himself is the truth. That's what he said in John 14 and verse six, I believe. He said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh to the father, but by me. He said in John eight, he said, the truth will set you free. The church is the church of light through the spirit of truth. So when you're looking for a local church body, what should you be looking for? Truth, as it is in the Bible. And those who preach things other than the truth stay away from.

This household, This citizenship is built upon the foundation of what Paul and James and John and Peter and others, the prophets, what they preached of salvation by God's grace conditioned on Christ, the God-man who fulfilled those conditions by his obedience unto death as our surety, substitute, redeemer and preserver. and secured the salvation of all of his sheep by what he accomplished in establishing righteousness, in paying the debt of their sins, so that their sins cannot be charged to them. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who can condemn us?

It's Christ that died. Yea, rather is risen again. And they're set apart by the spirit when he brings them under the gospel and enters in and gives them life and a new heart and abides within them as the earnest of their hope, their expectation, which is final glory.

And Jesus Christ himself is the chief cornerstone. You know what that means? It means two things. Christ is the foundation stone. and He's the chief cornerstone, and it's by Him that all things are held together, and by Him that all things are measured. How do I stand with Christ? Do I have His righteousness imputed, charged, accounted to me? That's what I need.

And his people are the bricks of that building, and he's the stone that holds it all together. So it says in verse 21, in whom all the building fitly framed together, fitly framed, everything in its right place, because God put it there, groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord. Every brick in that building. knows and believes this truth, is a sinner saved by grace. And it says in verse 22, in whom you also are built together for inhabitation of God through the Spirit. This is the dwelling place of God. Now you can't contain God in a building.

God is omnipresent. He's everywhere. But He resides within His church, His people. collectively and individually, by the Spirit and by the Word in a special way that cannot be surpassed. And it's through Jesus Christ, the chief cornerstone, the measuring stone, the foundation stone, that it all, it all is assured. of final glory. And that's where our fellow citizenship is, our membership in the family of God is. It's all in and by the Lord Jesus Christ.

It's by His power. It's by His goodness. It's by His blood. It's by His righteousness. It's all by the grace and mercy and love and power and goodness of God. And none of it can be owing to us. I can't say that one part of it is something I built. Now, I know the Bible speaks of us growing gardens and all of that, but what we're doing is what God has ordained before the foundation of the world that we do with His power and His goodness and all that He gives to His people by His grace. So fellow citizens in the family of God, in the kingdom of God, all of that equal in Christ Jesus and by His blood that has washed away our sins and His righteousness that has justified us unto glory and from which we have spiritual life from the dead.

I 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 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia 3-1-7-0-7. Contact us by phone at 229-432-6969 or email us through our website at www.TheLetterRofGrace.com. Thank you again for listening today and may the Lord be with you.