I'm sure you noticed in the reading
that Paul makes mention of some now things, things that God's
people have now. For everyone who now believes
on the Son of God, Paul says in verse 19, now, right now. Therefore, you're no more strangers. We once were, but not now. or foreigners, but now we're
fellow citizens with the saints and the household of God. Now,
though you may be, as Peter wrote, in heaviness, troubled, bowed
down, heavy hearted, in heaviness through manifold temptations,
still now you're a child of the King. Nothing, nothing that ever
takes place in your life, good or bad. Nothing can alter or
change that. That once we're His, we're His
forever. Nothing. Is that not what our
Lord taught? None can pluck them out of my
hand. Oh, child of God. He said, they're
in my Father's hand. And no man can pluck them out.
If that weren't enough, he said, then they're in my hand. Double
security, we might say. Who shall pluck us out of his
hand? Now. Though life, the hymn writer
said, when life becomes a burden, Christ yet says, now I'm with
you always. I'll never leave you nor forsake
you. Last month. When I was at the
reunion with my family in West Virginia, my brothers and sisters,
I stayed with my mother several nights. The whole time I was
there, as a matter of fact. And one evening, we sat on the
front porch. And she said, you know, Larry,
I think, Mom, I can remember when they moved into that house.
It was like 1971 or 2, I think. But she said, you know, Larry,
Everybody that once lived on this street, and there were houses
up and down the street both sides, she said, they're all gone. She said, they're all gone. She
said, you know, from the time I moved here, I'm the only one
still living on this street. My father died in 93. My mother has lived in that house
alone ever since. But I reminded her, mom, You're
not alone. You're not alone. David said,
when father and mother forsake me, yet the Lord shall lift me
up. I once was young, now I'm old,
he said, and I've never seen the righteous forsaken. Oh, may God in his grace enable
us to be reminded in those times when we do feel alone, to have
our faithful shepherd lift us up as only he can in his loving,
omnipotent, caring arms and whisper, speak, as you taught this morning,
John, as never a man yet spake, words like this, I'll never leave
you. I'll never forsake you. Now,
therefore, therefore, verse 19, What's it there for? Well, it
takes us back to verse 18. Why are we now no more strangers
or foreigners? Why are we now built upon the
foundation of the apostles and prophets? Verse 18 gives us the
answer. For through him, for through
him, that is Christ, we both have access by one spirit unto
the Father. It's because of him. By me, he
said. By me. In John 10, he was speaking
to those religious leaders that encircled him after he found
the man, the former blind man that he had healed of his blindness,
and they had excommunicated and the Lord found him and saved
him. Saved him. And the Pharisees,
the religious leaders, gathered around and he said, You claim
to be the door. You profess to be the door. But
he said, I am the door. I am the door. By me. By me. Not by priest. Not by preacher. But by me, if any man enter in. By me, he shall be saved. Through him, we're told in verse
18, he said that night before he went to the garden where he
was betrayed, no man comes to the Father. No man comes to God. No man can know God except through
me. By me, he said. Therefore, the
apostle said, that being the case, seeing we have such a high
priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God,
seeing we have one who can be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities, who doesn't set aloof, far off, who doesn't identify
with his people, who doesn't know what they're passing through,
the writer says, that's not the case. He's touched. He knows. He feels. He sympathizes. What use should we make of that
then? What should we do then? Well,
only this. Let us therefore come boldly
to the throne of grace. Behold Him, our great God and
Savior, setting upon the throne of grace, ever flowing, reigning,
abounding grace even over all our sin. Let us come therefore
boldly to the throne of grace that we may find grace and help
in time of need. Through him, look at verse 14,
we have peace with God. For he is our peace, who had
made both one and had broken down the middle wall of partition
between us. And Paul says in verse 13, now, Now, in Christ Jesus, ye who
sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. Right now. Right now. Spoke of
my mother a minute ago. I can remember at home, I always
would rather my mom dish out my punishment than my father.
I mean, Bob was easy to Just get her to take it easy on you.
I remember her saying to me sometimes, son, I mean for you to do this
right now. Right this very minute was her
expression. And we're told here, at this
very minute, we have peace with God. Right now, for everyone
who believes on the Son of God, we've been brought near. You
know the hymn, puts it this way. Near, so very near to God. Nearer I cannot be, for in the
person of God's own Son, I am as near as He. Joe Terrell wrote this. He said, do not let the light
of earthly joys distract you from the glory that what lies
ahead, nor let the darkness of the present hour blind you to
the light of the glory that shall be revealed in us. And we have the foretaste now.
Paul said the earnest of the spirit, God's down payment, if
you will, his guarantee that to whom he's given grace. He'll
give glory. Now that brings us to our text,
verse 20. And this is also a present blessing
now. We're built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the
chief cornerstone. Jesus Christ himself being. Always so. Always so. Jesus Christ. Always the same. Change and decay all around I
see. I saw it when I looked in the
mirror this morning, Lester. More gray hair. Change and decay
all around I see. Oh, but thou, oh thou, my hope,
my foundation, my peace with God, O thou who changes not,
abide with me, Jesus Christ the same, ever the same, ever faithful,
ever loving, ever powerful, Jesus Christ full of grace and truth
always, yesterday the same, today and forever. Mr. Spurgeon said,
a changeable God. I mean, I've heard people talk
about a God who loves today and hates tomorrow. A God who loves
enough to send his son to die for sinners at one time and yet
cast those same sinners into hell. Oh no, that's a changeable
God. Mr. Spurgeon said, a changeable
God would be a terror to the righteous. They would have no
shore anchorage, and amid a changing world, they would be driven to
and fro in perpetual fear of shipwreck. Indeed, we would,
if God could change. Our heart leaps for joy as we
bow before one who has never broken his word or changed his
Purpose I am the Lord I change not and that's the reason That's
the reason you sons of Jacob are not consumed The one foundation
is Bobby saying a moment ago Upon which the Apostles and prophets
are built Jesus Christ himself himself none other That's the
title of my message. Jesus Christ himself. He's the one foundation. Christ
is that trite and precious cornerstone that God laid, Isaiah 28. Behold, God says, I lay in Zion. Ali and Zion, a chief cornerstone,
elect, tried, precious. And he that believes on him shall
not make haste. No need to be in a hurry. No
need to fret. All is safe and secure for everyone
that's built upon this foundation, whether for the prophets of the
Old Testament, or apostles of the new, or believers since that
time. Jesus Christ himself is the one
and only foundation for the church. Do you remember years ago, there
was a popular song sung in religious circles? And one verse of it
said, suppose God searched over heaven. and couldn't find somebody
willing to be. The supreme sacrifice that was
needed. Well, that's utter nonsense.
That supposes that there was someone other than Jesus Christ
himself that was worthy enough had enough value, enough merit,
enough worth to satisfy the Lord God. Oh, no. God's eye has never
rested upon anyone but His Son. God spoke on more than one occasion
and said, this is my Son. This is my Son. Look to Him. Focus on Him. Believe on Him. In Him I am well pleased. He is the Lamb of God slain from
the foundation of the world. Himself. Oh my! The most glorious wonder about
Christianity is Jesus Christ Himself. The most marvelous miracle
about our faith is the glorious object of our faith, Jesus Christ
himself. Roll back the curtain of memory
now and then, Lord. Remind me where you brought me
from. Enable me to remember. Remember? Do you remember that
hour, that day, that time? Oh, not so much as pertains to
the clock, but when God came to where you were. Remember,
at that time you were without God and without Christ, having
no hope, no hope. And God Almighty, God Almighty
reached down and removed the scales from your eyes. And lo
and behold, You could sing with old Newton. Oh, I once was blind,
but now I see. And you beheld the Lamb of God. Life or a look at the crucified
one, Jesus Christ himself. J.C. Rowell. I ran across this
the other day. I thought it would go good here.
He wrote, the grandest buildings which men have reared for religious
uses are often no better than whited sepulchre. destitute of
any influence because they are given up to superstitious ceremonies
and filled to no purpose with crowds of former worshippers
who come unfilling and go unfilling. No worship is of any use to their
souls at which Christ is not present. Incense, banners, pictures,
flowers, crucifixes, and long processions of richly dressed
ecclesiastics are a poor substitute for the great high priest himself. I need him. I need Christ. If I miss Christ, I miss salvation
altogether. If I miss Christ, I miss grace. If I miss Christ, I miss God's
mercy. If I miss Christ, I miss everything. I miss heaven if I miss him. Ra went on to write, the poorest
room where a few believers assemble in the name of Jesus is a consecrated
and most holy place in the sight of God, those who worship God
in spirit and truth, never draw near to him in vain. Often they
go home. And I trust you can bear witness
to this. I can. Often they go home from
such meetings warmed and cheered, established, strengthened, comforted,
and refreshed. And what is the secret of those
feelings? They have had with them the great master of assemblies,
Jesus Christ himself. There is no danger of overdoing
my subject this morning. There is no danger of making
too much of Jesus Christ himself. Oh, no, no, no, no. The very
opposite will be true. I won't exalt him enough. I won't
lift him up enough. I won't set him forth enough.
All those blessed truths of the glorious gospel of the blessed
God, find their beauty, find their beauty in Jesus Christ
himself. I'm sure the Apostle Paul, when
he wrote these words of our text in verse 20 of Ephesians 2, had
in mind Psalm 118. Let me read it to you. You're
familiar with it. And I know this refers to David,
but it refers to a greater than David. David's son and David's
God. The stone which the builders
refused. And our Lord spoke this very
verse to the religious leaders of His day. He said, have you
never read in Scripture these words? And He spoke to them and
of them. The stone which the builders
refused. We'll not have this man rule
over us. Why are you listening to him?
He's a madman. He's beside himself. Son of God,
are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? This is the
stone, rather, which the builders refused, the religious leaders. Henry Mahan said, if there's
one place today where you dare not preach the gospel of God's
free and sovereign grace in Christ, it's in the average church. And
that's so. The builders refused. The builders,
the leaders. The stone which the builders
refused has become the headstone of the corner. all their work and labor to the
contrary, God Almighty highly exalted His Son and gave Him
a name despite all their efforts to the contrary, gave Him a name
above every other, that at the name of Jesus. King Jesus, the
Lord Jesus Christ himself, every knee shall bow. This is the Lord's
doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. When King Solomon commanded
for the temple to be built, we read in 1 Kings 17, or rather
verse 17, I'm sorry, chapter 5, verse 17, and the king, that
is Solomon, commanded and they brought great stones and costly
stones and new stones to lay the foundation of the house. Oh, what a marvelous structure
it became. But how does that compare to
this? To whom coming as unto a living
stone disallowed indeed of men but chosen of God and precious. Someone asked a young girl one
time how would she describe the preciousness of Jesus Christ.
And she thought a minute and she said, well, I think like
my father spoke concerning my mother. He said she was precious
because we just couldn't do without her. That's a pretty good definition
of Christ. He's precious, Mike. We can't
do without him. We can't do without him. Where
would we be without him? Chosen of God and precious, he
also as lively stones are built up, just as Paul said. A spiritual
house, a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable
to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore, also it is contained
in the scripture, behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone,
this is God speaking, elect precious, and he that believeth on him
shall not be confounded. Unto you, therefore, which believe,
he is precious, Jesus Christ himself. Would there even be any of those
blessed truths those glorious doctrines of the gospel without
him, you take him out and you take away that which gives those
truths their substance, their reality, even their very existence. They wouldn't be without him
and we'll mention those in just a moment, a few of them. Jesus
Christ himself, in Brother Henry's commentary on John, gives this poem. I suppose Henry
wrote it. Just a portion of it said, and
the title of it is himself. Once it was the blessing, now
it is the Lord. Once it was the filling, now
it is his word. Once his gifts I wanted, now
the giver own. Once I sought for healing, now
himself alone. Once the power I wanted, now
the mighty one. Once for self I labored, now
for him alone. Once for death I waited, now
his coming hell, and my hopes are anchored safe within the
veil. Jesus Christ himself. For example, I said a moment
ago that it is Christ that gives those glorious truths that we
believe, their substance, their value, their beauty, even their
very existence. For example, election. There
would not, there could not be an election of grace without
Jesus Christ himself. Are you still in Ephesians? Look
at chapter 1. Look here in chapter 1. Verse 3. Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us, blessed us
with all spiritual blessings. How? In heavenly places, in Christ. He that has Christ has everything
that God can give, has the very best that God can give. According
as He has chosen us in Him, that is, God has chosen us in Christ
before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy
and without blame before Him in love. Chosen, yes. Thank God, but chosen in Him. One hymn writer, I think, expressed
it very well. God speaking and said, thou art
my first elect, God said, speaking to his son. And then chose us
in Christ our head. Without Christ the head, no body. Without the great shepherd, no
sheep. Without the bridegroom, no bride. One time, The Pharisees sent
people to John the Baptist to ask him, are you the Christ? Are you the Messiah? Are you
the one that we've looked for, that the Old Testament has spoken
of, that should come? Are you he? And John says, no,
I'm not him. I'm not him. And one of the identifying
marks that John gave of the Christ was this. He said, he that has
the bride is the bridegroom. And that wasn't John. Just as
God created Eve out of Adam and brought her to the man, as we
just read, so we were in Christ before the foundation of the
world. As though God said in that everlasting covenant of
grace, When He chose us in Christ and put us into Christ's hands,
and Christ then became surety for us, meaning that He became
responsible for us, God says, will you have this bride? Will you take these? And Christ said, I think I hear the sweet chime
of wedding bells here. Because our glorious bridegroom
said to his father, yes, I will. Yes, I will. I'll take them,
Father. I'll become like my brethren,
flesh and bone. And when it's your will, Father,
when the fullness of the time is come, and you send me forth,
I'll go. I'll come and do thy will, O
God. I'll do everything required. Whatever's necessary to bring
them back to glory, I'll do. Oh, yes, I will. The first Adam failed and failed. Oh, but the last Adam, The Lord
Jesus Christ himself, he shall not fail. Let me read to you
from Isaiah chapter 42. God again speaking, and he says,
Behold. Behold. Oh, discouraged believer,
behold. My servant whom I uphold, mine
elect in whom my soul delights, I have put my spirit upon him.
He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not
cry nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he
not quince. He shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall
not fail, nor be discouraged. Call his name Jesus, Joseph.
He shall save his people from their sins, and he shall not
fail. Mary, call His name Jesus. He shall be great of His kingdom. There shall never be an end,
and He shall not fail. He shall enter in once into the
holy place, and He shall not fail, because He shall obtain
eternal redemption for us. He shall bring in an everlasting
righteousness, and He shall not fail. Oh, our great God and Savior
shall not fail. Father, I will. John wrote in
Revelations 5, when he saw that there was no one worthy to take
the book, the scroll of God's eternal decrees, and to bring
them to fulfillment, he said, I wept much. But the elder said,
John, don't cry anymore, for behold, behold, oh behold, see
him, John, there comes forth one who is worthy. One who has
enough value, one who is glorious enough, holy enough, righteous
enough, mighty enough, a kinsman-redeemer who is willing enough and able
enough. Behold, John, the Lion of the
tribe of Judah. He has prevailed. He shall not fail. And they all
cried, worthy is the Lamb, Jesus Christ Himself. Isn't that good
news, Mike? Jesus Christ shall not fail. He is that one in whom God chose
the people to salvation. If there is no Him, there's no
us. There'd be no us. Aren't you
glad He was there? Aren't you glad that the Lord
Jesus Christ stood as God's elect before the foundation of the
world and chose us, God did, in Him? and committed all of
our safekeeping into His hands. He shall not fail. I find that
very comforting. That God Almighty looks for satisfaction,
not to me, but to His Son, and He's well pleased. Redemption. Oh, that's another glorious truth
we love, we love. Special, effectual redemption. It is exactly this. What is redemption? Christ loved the church. This
is what the scriptures teach. Christ loved the church and gave
himself for it. Again, we read concerning Adam
that when he took the forbidden fruit, he wasn't deceived. He wasn't deceived. That's what
Paul plainly says. The man was not deceived. Eve
was deceived. Adam was not deceived. There
was a time, I don't know how long it was, But there was an
interval there where Eve was fallen and Adam had yet remained
unfallen. He hadn't taken the fruit. He
wasn't deceived into doing it. He wasn't tricked by the devil.
Then why did he do it? Why did he do it? I think out
of his love for Eve. She could not come to him. She's
fallen. So he takes the fruit. Disobedience,
yes, but out of love for her, he takes the fruit and becomes
as she was. But our great God and Savior,
our glorious Redeemer, the last Adam, in obedience to his Father,
he comes. And he has made sin for us that
we might be made the very righteousness of God in him. It was not a doctrine
that was made sin for us, but Jesus Christ himself. He said,
I've tried the winepress alone. You weren't with me. There was
none to help. There was none to uphold. I looked
and there was none. I looked for help and there was
none. Therefore, my own arm reached out and brought salvation unto
me. Oh, yes, I've trod the winepress
alone by himself. Oh, to God be the glory. By himself,
he purged our sins. By his own blood, Jesus Christ
himself obtained. Louis, he didn't make a stab
at it. He didn't try to do it. He didn't
offer up some kind of pig in the poke to throw out and if
somebody wills, pick it up and make it effectual. Oh no, he
then and there When He raised His head on that cross, and as
the mighty victor that He was, after accomplishing everything
He came to do, He said, it is finished. Worthy is the Lamb. Worthy is the Lamb. Yes, Christ
loved His bride and gave Himself for her. You remember what our
Lord told Hosea? By the way, Hosea, the very word
means Savior. He said, Go yet, love a woman,
Gomer. Her name means consumed like
we were, consumed by sin. Then said the Lord unto me, Go
yet, go yet. Why that? Why emphasis there?
Because Gomer had already taken her. Already taken her. He went and took a wife of whoredoms
from a land of adulterers. And she was unfaithful to him.
She left him to chase after her lovers. And God says to Hosea,
go yet, go yet. You're not going to divorce her.
You're not going to cast her off. You're not going to disown
her. Go yet, love a woman. yet an adulteress, but according
to the love of the Lord toward the children of Israel who took
to other gods, and Gomer did exactly what God told him to
do. So I bought her back to me." That's what Jesus Christ did.
He bought this adulterer. He loved me with an everlasting
love. John, you may mention that this
morning, with bands of love. He drew me. He fetched me to
himself. So I bought her, Gomer says,
or rather Hosea said of Gomer, I bought her to me for 15 pieces
of silver and for a homer of barley and a half homer of barley.
And I said unto her, thou shall abide for me many days. Many days. That's what our great
bride groomed in. You're not your own, you're bought
with a price. It is Jesus Christ himself that
says, come unto me all ye that labor. Don't come to the church,
Baptist church or Catholic church. Don't come to the priest. Don't
come to the preacher. Don't come to the waters of baptism.
Don't come to the doctrine. Come to me. Come to me. Why do you spend money for that
which will not satisfy? Come to me and I will give you
rest. Nobody else can. If any man thirsts,
let him come unto me. All the sweet, sweet rest. I love it. I love it. I've told you before, there is
not a day in my life, I don't mean before God saved me, but
since He saved me. There's not a day in my life,
there's not an hour of those days. that when the day is over
and I lie down at night, I don't look back over the day and see
that I've sinned in word, I've sinned in deed, I've sinned in
thought, and I cry, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
me? Jesus Christ, my faithful bridegroom,
says, there'll be no divorce. You're mine. I've bought you. And all the sweet joy rests to
that soul that comes to the fountain of living waters and drinks. Drinks of Jesus Christ himself. Oh, how sweet to trust in Jesus. How blessed to know Christ himself. He said, this is life eternal
that they might know me. Man, so many folks can tell you
about the things they know, the scriptures they've memorized,
the doctrine they claim to understand, the deep things of God. Oh, but
Christ said, that's not life eternal. It's to know me, the
Lord Jesus Christ himself. He's the foundation of the church.
The reason there's a church at all is because I live, he said,
ye shall live also. He's the one hope for the believer.
For the prophets of the old, our text says, and for the apostles
of the new, and everyone since that time, Jesus Christ has made
unto them everything that God Almighty requires. Everything. We're complete in our glorious
Redeemer. Oh, I like that place, don't
you? I like this foundation on which the Lord Jesus Christ has
built his church. And Mikey says, the gates of
hell cannot prevail against it. The gates of hell shall never
sweep away. One sinner that falls down upon
this foundation, it'll never ever happen. He said, to those
who hear and believe, do believe on the Son of God, they're like
those who built their house upon a rock. And when the floods came
and the wind blew, it pounded upon that house, but it fell
not. Why? Because it's pounded upon a rock. On Christ the solid rock I stand. Oh, I stand upon him. And last
of all, it's not Jesus Christ himself, the very heaven of heaven. Will not Christ himself be heaven's
chief delight? Oh, that will be heaven for me. To see Christ himself. To see
Christ himself. I hear people talk about degrees
of rewards. Degrees of rewards. Tell me. Tell me, what would that be?
What would that possibly be? I mean, for a redeemed sinner
to enter into glory itself, and thereupon doing so, to behold
the captain of his salvation, to behold that one. Job said,
I'm going to see him as he is. With my own eyes, I know that
my Redeemer liveth, and one day, even after I'm dead, one day,
I'm going to see Him face to face with Christ my Savior. My,
so what more reward could a sinner ask for than that? What more
reward could there be than this? Father, I will that they also
whom Thou hast given me be with me where I am. that they may
behold my glory. Oh, that will be glory for me. A young girl, a believer, lay
in the hospital dying, and the doctor came to her bedside and
said, I'm sorry to tell you this, but you cannot live for more
than another hour. And 45 minutes went by, Mike,
and she said, oh, 15 minutes more. 15 minutes more, and I'm and she couldn't finish it. Words
failed her, Louie. Words failed her. Words fail me right now. What
will it be to be with our Redeemer? Thomas Brooks said, death will
blow the bud of grace into the flower of glory. I remember when
I was a kid and I've seen my grandchildren do it. Is it the
dandelion? But before there's the flower,
either after, it has those fuzzy little things. You know, you
would pick them up and blow them. Just blow them. Oh, death will
blow away. Death will blow the bud of grace
into the flower of glory. And Jesus Christ himself is all
the glory of Emmanuel's land, the bride eyes not her garment,
I'll be glad." John said, Behold what manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called,
we, me especially of all people, should be called a son of God. And it doth not yet appear what
I shall be, but I know when he shall appear I'm going to be
like him. There won't be this divided heart
anymore. There won't be this wondering
anymore. I'm going to be like him. No
more sin. I won't be looking through a
glass darkly anymore, John. Face to face, face to face. The
bride eyes not her garment, but her dear bridegroom's face. I
will not gaze at glory, but on my King of grace. Not at the
crown he giveth, but on his pierced hand. The Lamb is all the glory
of Emmanuel's land. God bless you. Thank you for
your attention.