okay well turn with me back to
Ephesians chapter one Ephesians chapter one Ephesians chapter
one is truly what we would call superlative language what do
I mean by superlative language uh... well I can't as a cricket
fan I can't help but use the opportunity to say that uh...
There has been superlative language about the England performance
this week in beating Australia so comprehensively. And if you
read the newspaper reports, superlative language. You know, it doesn't
happen very often. The way they've done it has been
overwhelming. It's superlative language. Well,
that's a little illustration, but Ephesians 1 is truly superlative
language, superlative. As 1 Corinthians 2, 9 says, but
as it is written, I hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have
entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared
for them that love him. It's inexpressible. We can't
fathom it, it's too, it's beyond us. But Ephesians 1 has a jolly
good try with its superlative language. The theme is Christ
and his church. glorious thing, Christ and his
church, as we were just singing in that hymn of Gadsby, about
the relationship between Christ and his church. But you say,
look at the church, how insignificant it is now, how it just seems
so pathetic. Look in this little town, village
of Nebworth, how few want to gather to hear the word of God,
to worship the God of salvation. How few actually want to gather
around that which is the truth of the gospel of his grace. It
seems so insignificant, but hold on. With God, that which seems
so insignificant, he uses in his sovereign purposes. You remember
the statue in Nebuchadnezzar's dream? That mighty, terrifying
statue, symbolizing the kingdoms of this world, the head of gold,
the shoulders and the chest and the stomach of differing shades
of metal down to the feet of clay, and the little stone, the
little stone. cut out without hands. That little
stone, speaking of the kingdom of God, of the Christ of the
kingdom of God, comes and grinds all worldly political power to
nothing. Consumes everything, fills the
whole universe, and so it will be. This is what God has said.
His purposes are fulfilled in Christ and his church. How insignificant
we look now. How often, and I speak of myself
too, you know, when the flesh loses sight of the things of
the spirit, as we do, how tempted we are to give, oh, is it worth
it? Look how few come, how little interest there is. But do you
know this? It doesn't look very grand, does
it, this room? There's all sorts of things that would put the
visitor off. There's things that we perhaps could do something
to make a little bit neater. But, but, do you know this? Because we're gathered around
the Gospel of His Grace, and the truth of the Gospel of His
Grace, you and I, this morning, are in the courts of the King
of Kings. That's something to think about, isn't it? We're
in the courts of the King, oh we don't have great stained glass
windows and this glorious atmosphere of choral singing and all of
that sort of thing. But if we have the gospel and
the truth of the gospel and the Christ of the gospel and the
Holy Spirit to take of the things of Christ and reveal them to
us we're in the courts of the King of Kings. So before we move
on from Ephesians 1 into Ephesians chapter 2 I couldn't do. The more I thought about those
last few verses of chapter one, I thought we can't move on yet.
We have to do what Moses said to the children of Israel as
they fled out of Egypt and they were terrified that they were
going to be destroyed. That the Egyptians were coming
after them. And what did Moses say? Oh, get ready for a big
fight. Get ready for a big... What did
he say? Margaret said, stand still. Stand still. Stand still
and see the salvation of the Lord. This is it set before us
in this book. His spirit will open it to us.
Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. I want to remind
us before we move on of God's purposes. I want to show us again
that those are fulfilled in the person of his son who is this
glorious son of God and then thirdly the relationship between
the son and his church these things before we move on into
chapter two next time God willing God's purposes if you look in
chapter two and verse four having said we're not moving into chapter
two I'll just refer you there now but God who is rich in mercy
for his great love wherewith he has loved us This is right
at the foundation of everything. The great love of God, wherewith
he loved us. The great love of God. He's loved
us. And remember last time, we looked
at who were the us? Or was it the time before last?
Who were the us? The people of God. The saints and the faithful.
These people are the us that He is speaking of, the great
love wherewith He hath loved us, wherewith He hath loved those
whom He chose in Christ before the foundation of the world.
It's there in verses 3 and 4. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according You know,
how great are these blessings? Well, think of it this way. According,
in proportion, as he has chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy, that we should be made
holy and without blame before him in love. And then all of
those blessings that flow from it. He's blessed us and chosen
his people. because of his great love. This
is the purpose of God, to save a people for his own glory. We
are bound to give thanks to God always for you. Brethren, beloved
of the Lord, for God has from the beginning, this is Paul to
the Thessalonians, God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation. Chosen with a purpose, to save
you. Chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
spirit and belief of the truth. It's a choice unto salvation. Salvation from what? You get
saved from something. Salvation is not a thing in isolation. Salvation is something that you
get saved from. It's salvation from sin, from
the consequences of sin, from the condemnation that sin justly
deserves. If we understand anything, and
we understand so little of the true nature of God, and the true
being of God, and the true holiness of God, and the justice and the
immutability of God, and how God is not like a man. You know,
as one of the reformers said, your thoughts of God are altogether
too human. I can't remember who it was.
Something to do with Erasmus, I seem to remember. Your thoughts
of God are all... You think that he changes his
mind like we do. You think that he's warm towards
you one day and cold towards you another. He's constant. Absolutely. This is the nature of God. Holy. Just. Absolutely. The soul that
sins, it must die. It shall die. Because God is
just. He cannot have it any other way.
He would cease to be God if not. But... chosen to salvation from
sin and condemnation and alienation from God. How? Through the covenant
of grace. Not through the covenant of works.
Not through the covenant that the God of the universe made
with man, that if you do this you shall live, but if you don't
do this you shall die. For it was weak through the flesh.
For man couldn't do it. I couldn't do it. You can't do
it. None of us can do it. When in the Council of Jerusalem
in Acts 15, when they're reporting the things that have happened
with the Gentiles, and talking about the burdens of the law.
And Peter says, come on, we can't put upon these Gentiles a burden
that, if you're honest, we know ourselves that we couldn't keep.
They knew they couldn't keep it. We can't keep the covenant
of works, but the covenant of grace. is immutable. It cannot
fail. It must fail. It's between the
persons of the Godhead that the Father chose, that the Son covenanted
to come and stand surety, that the Holy Spirit covenanted to
come and make alive and quicken those who were chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world, all through the covenant
of grace. And in the covenant of grace,
the love of God, which is his great purpose towards a people,
to love them with an everlasting love, and the justice of God
which says the soul that sins it must die they meet and they're
reconciled one of the hymns says they kiss the justice and the
love of God kiss in the cross of God's son because there God
poured out his wrath and justice on his son who at that time was
made sin for his people that they might be made the righteousness
of God in him and at the same time as that At the same time
that the wrath of God was poured out on sin in justice, the love
of God was poured out on a people as Christ gave himself for us. Behold the great love that he
has for us, that he gave his son for us. He's promised this. These are the purposes of God.
There was a lamb slain before the foundation of the world in
the purposes of God. This is not an afterthought.
He didn't say, oh, what a mess it's got into, I better send
my son. No, before the foundation of the world, before time began,
in eternity, the Lamb of God was slain before the foundation
of the world. Redemption was promised right
there at the start, at the fall, in the Garden of Eden, redemption
was promised. When they sinned, Genesis 3.15,
God pronounced to the woman and to the serpent that their seeds
would be at enmity, and the seed of the woman was to be the son
of God. God become man to stand in the
place of his people. And that the serpent would bruise
his heel, but he would have his head crushed. He would have his
head crushed by the heel of the seed of the woman. It was shown
there. And in that time, God, right
at the very start, just after the fall, God took animals, and
killed them, and their blood was shed, symbolical of that
of Christ, and they were clothed with the skins of the animals.
And it's pictured in Abel and Cain, because Abel's worship
was accepted, because Abel brought that which spoke of the covenant
of grace. whereas Cain brought that which spoke of the covenant
of works he brought the works of his hands and God said I cannot
accept it because it's never good enough but in the covenant
of grace was pictured the death of his son which would satisfy
justice and would make righteous those who were the objects of
his love and then we move on and we see his grace shown to
Noah because in the midst of worldwide sin that if we think
we're in a minority now how much of a minority must Noah have
felt himself to be There was just Noah and seven others around
him, eight in all, who went into the ark. And for 120 years he
preached utterly fruitlessly. There were just eight that went
into the ark. If you ever feel despair, think
of Noah. Think of him. Think of that situation. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Noah found grace. It's for the
grace of God that we believe this gospel of his grace. It's
because of the grace of God that we are what we are and where
we are. And then he calls Abram out of Ur of the Chaldees. And
you know what they were? They were pretty good religious
folks, weren't they? No, they were ritualists. They were idolaters.
We're told that elsewhere in the scripture, that Abraham's
family was a family of idolaters, as is Everybody, by nature. Idolaters, religious idolaters.
And he called him out of that. Get you out of this land, and
go to a place that I'll show you, and I'll make you a father
of many nations, and I will bless you, and so on. The blessings
of God on Abraham. And then Abraham had a son, and
though he tried to go about this in a way according to human wisdom,
God says, no, in Isaac shall your seed, the seed which is
Christ, be called. In Isaac, not in Ishmael, in
Isaac shall the seed be called. And Isaac, which means laughter,
goes on and he has two sons, Jacob and Esau. And we read in
the Scriptures that which people reading this book, this King
James Version in these days of anniversary of it, they get to
words like this and they say, oh, what terrible language, it
must just have been a trick of the translators in the day because
it says this, Jacob have I loved. And Esau have I hated. And what
it means is Esau have I left to himself. Esau have I left
to his own devices. But Jacob have I loved everlastingly
with an everlasting love. And Jacob who is the twister
and the sinner by nature, I've turned into Israel who is a prince
with God. I've made him a prince with God
who wasn't a prince with God. And I've left Esau to himself.
And why did I choose you, Israel? He says in Deuteronomy 7 and
verse 7. Why did I choose you? Because
you were the best and the strongest? No, no, no, no. You were the
most insignificant. To use modern language, you were
a pathetic excuse for a nation. But I chose you. And the reason?
Because I loved you. Because I loved you. Why are
you there? If you're an object of His grace
and you know it by belief and faith and trust in the Lord Jesus
Christ, Why? Because he loved you. That's
it. That's what he says. Because I loved you. That's why
you're my people. Not because you're strong, or
better, or wiser, or cleverer, or richer, or any other thing,
but because I loved you. And in Jeremiah, he says this,
Jeremiah 31, 33, they shall be my people and I will be their
God. And that's repeated by Paul.
Second Corinthians chapter six and verse 16 in a passage where
he's rebuking that church for forgetting who they are. He says,
you're the temple of the living God. And he says, don't you know
this, that you shall be the people of God and he will be your God.
So how can you live like you are doing? This is a people who
have God, the God, the true God, the God of the universe as their
God. And this is the purpose of God,
that Christ, who is God's son, should have, look what it says
in verse 18 of Ephesians chapter 1, that the eyes of your understanding
being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of his
calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance
in the saints. the riches of his glory, the
riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. Now last week
we looked at this from the aspect of our blessings as the people
of God, that one of those things is that we've got a hope of glory.
And that hope of glory has such a powerful effect in terms of
witness. But here's the other side of
it. Here's the other side of the same coin. The inheritance
is Christ's inheritance. This is the purpose of God. That
Christ, who is God's son, should have his inheritance in the saints. The saints are the inheritance
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. In Isaiah chapter
8 and verse 18 we read this, it's clearly Christ speaking
through the prophet, Behold I and the children whom the Lord has
given me. This is almost like, you know,
We always have our annual Christmas New Year photo when all the family
come together. And it's nice to stick it on
the wall and say, look at this, here's the family. Well, using
that as an illustration, it's almost like that, that there's
Christ saying, behold, I and the children whom the Lord has
given me. And that's quoted in Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 13,
where it talks about bringing many sons to glory. Behold, I
and the children God has given me. Turn back with me to the
psalm that we read earlier, Psalm 24. I just want to look at this
with you for a few moments. Psalm 24. On the theme of Christ and his
inheritance in the saints. His inheritance in the saints.
Psalm 24 says, The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof,
the world and they that dwell therein. For He has founded it
upon the seas and established it upon the floods. All of God's
creation is His. It's His by creation. It's His
by sustaining power. All of this all around us is
His. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. But,
there's almost an implied but between verses 2 and 3. But,
but, this world is here, but, Who shall ascend into the hill
of the Lord? Who's going to go there? You
see, we're in this creation, but who shall ascend into the
hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in His holy
place? Not, you know, it's clear who's
standing in this world of sin, but who shall stand in His holy
place? He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart. Was that you or me? As Stephen
mentioned in his prayer, I don't think it is. I don't think that's
me qualified there as I am in my flesh. I don't have clean
hands and a pure heart. There is not a minute that there
isn't sin with me. who hath not lifted up his soul
unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully, he shall receive the blessing
from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy
face, O Jacob." This is Christ. He is the one. who shall ascend. He is the one with clean hands,
for he did no sin. He is the one with a pure heart.
He is the one who didn't lift up his soul unto vanity. He is
the one who shall receive the blessing from the Lord. He is
the one whom the Lord shall raise from the dead, and the righteousness
from the God of his salvation. In that sense, God raised him
from the dead, and so God is the God of his salvation. And
it's saying this in verse six, Jacob is that generation of those
loved of God. Jacob is that generation because
they are in Christ. And everything that he is, they
are in him. And everything that he has done
in the judgment of God, they have done in him. In Christ,
his people have clean hands and a pure heart. In Christ, his
people have not lifted up their soul to vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. In Christ, they will receive
the blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of
salvation. That's what it is to be Jacob, that generation
of those who are loved of God, and its fulfillment, its culmination,
look at verses 7 to 10. Lift up your heads, O ye gates,
and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory
shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and
mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle. This is Christ, the King of glory. He is the King of Glory. He is
the King of Glory. The Lord. The Lord Jehovah. Jehovah
Jesus is the King of Glory. Jehovah Jesus is the one strong
and mighty because He's coming in having defeated Satan at the
cross. having made a show of him openly,
as Colossians 2.15 or thereabouts says, like the Roman emperors
would parade the defeated through the streets in a show of conquering
over them, that they're there in shame. That that was the ruler
and causing them such aggravation is dragged through the streets
in shame and in chains. And it's like that. He is the
King of Glory. He's defeated Satan at the cross. And then,
secondly, verse 9, lift up your heads, because it's twofold.
First time, in victory, having defeated Satan at the cross.
Then secondly, lift up your heads, O ye gates. Even lift them up,
ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in.
Who is the King of Glory? The Lord of Hosts. Jehovah Jesus,
the Lord of Hosts. He is the King of Glory. This
is a picture of Him taking His inheritance to be with Him in
glory forever, for eternity. The King of Glory. The Lord of
Hosts. He is the King of Glory. How
does it become fulfilled? We read in Revelation. read right
back there at the end of Revelation. You see, Christ's will, as we
sung in one of those hymns, was that his people would be with
him. John 17, 24, this is my will, he says in his prayer to
his father, that my people shall be with me where I am, that they
may behold my glory. And then in Revelation 19 and
verse 1, the very first verse of it, John saw heaven, and behold,
much people. Much people. This is the inheritance
in the saints. This is Christ's inheritance
in the saints. Much people in heaven. A people
there who as a bride, in verse 8 of Revelation 19, as a bride,
it was given to her that she should be adorned in fine linen
and white. And that fine linen is the righteousness
of the saints. And where do they get that righteousness
from? not from themselves, but from Him who earned that righteousness
for them. And then in verse 2 of chapter
21, I think it is, we see New Jerusalem, which is His people,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband, coming down out
of heaven to the marriage supper of the Lamb. This is God's purpose,
that He should have a people with Him, a multitude that no
man can number, from every tribe and kindred and language in all
ages, God so loved the world, a world full of sinners, not
everybody in the world but a world full of sinners that he gave
his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish
but have, partake of that everlasting life. Secondly, This is the inheritance
of his son in the saints. But what about the person? Just
think for a moment. We're standing still to see the
salvation of God. The person of God's son. Who
is this one who we read so much about in this first chapter of
Ephesians? Who is this glorious person who
humbled himself as a man for a little while? It's God manifest. God made known. God, the invisible,
the unknowable God, displayed. 1 Timothy 3.16, great is the
mystery of godliness. Oh, I can't understand it, says
Paul. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in
the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto
the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. God manifest in the flesh. Philippians 2, in the form of
God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but humbled
himself and became obedient, became a man, came in the likeness
of sinful flesh, became obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross. That's why he was humbled for
a season for death. He became a man. He needed, says
Hebrews 2, to be made flesh for the suffering of death, that
he might redeem his children, that he might redeem these who
are his inheritance in the saints. He is the one who is God manifest. Hebrews 1 verse 2 says this,
that in times past God spoke to the fathers by the prophets.
Different prophets came and God spoke by them. But in these last
days God has spoken to us by his son. His son is the ultimate
expression of God. He's God's speech. You know you
say well Is he a separate person? No. Is my speech, not me? You
know, if you hear me speaking through one of these broadcasts,
you're not thinking, oh, that's Alan's speech, that's nothing
to do with Alan. You associate the two, absolutely. Everything
I say is my responsibility. You know, if I go and in speech or in writing down,
libel or slander somebody, I'm responsible for it. It's me,
it's not, I can't say, oh it was my speech that did it, not
me. Well in the same way Christ is the speech of God. He is to
God the Father as the thoughts in the mind are to the words
that proceed from the mouth. He's the word of God. He's God's
speech. It says in verse 3 of Hebrews
1, he's God's instrument in creation. He's the one by whom he made
the worlds. He is the one. He's God's perfect
representation, it says. He's the image of his father. That's not like saying, oh, a
son is the image of his father. No, he's the absolute expression,
the outshining of the glory of the Godhead. To the extent that
Jesus was able to say to Philip, when Philip asked that he might
see the Father, he that has seen me has seen the Father. What
more do you need? You've seen the Father. You've
seen everything that there is for flesh to see of the Father
if you've seen Christ. Look at Colossians, which is
very parallel to the epistle to the Ephesians, but look at
Colossians 1 and a few verses there. Verse 14, speaking of
Christ, Verse 14, in whom we have redemption through his blood,
even the forgiveness of sins. Who is he? Who is he? Verse 15,
who is the image of the invisible God? The firstborn of every creature,
by which it means the creating power of every creature. For
by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are
in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers, all things were created by him
and for him. Stop there a moment. Think. All
things were created by Christ and for him. This is the purpose
of God. That his son would be glorified
in the salvation of his people. And this whole creation is for
the purpose of fulfilling God's purposes in his son. He is before
all things. And by Him all things consist,
says in Hebrews 1 verse 3, He upholds all things by the word
of His power. It's the word of Christ that
upholds all things. He speaks the laws of nature,
and things hold together, and stars form, and galaxies form,
and everything that we see around us. By Him all things consist. And He, let's bring it right
down back where we are. And he is the head of the body,
the church, which is God's ultimate purpose, who is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have
the preeminence. Is he not God? that in all things
he might have the preeminence for it pleased the father and
the fathers in italics here that in him christ should all the
fullness dwell and having made peace through the blood of his
cross by him reconcile all things unto himself the purposes of
god in the salvation of the people for the glory of his son the
son is the outshining of the person of the Godhead. In him
dwells all the fullness of God bodily. All of God's purposes
from eternity through time to eternity are fulfilled completely
in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Look back at verse 10 of Ephesians
1, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might
gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in
heaven and which are on earth, even in him. Where is he now? He's seated. Verse 20. He's seated. Set him down at his own right
hand in the heavenly places, seated on the right hand of God.
You say, ah, does that mean he's not God? Because he's only sat
on the right hand of God? What that's speaking of is this.
It shows how honored is the human nature of Christ when he returned
to glory. That a man is there on the throne
of the universe. A man, the second Adam. The first
Adam is earthy. He fell. He sinned and all sinned
in him. All that came from him sinned
in him. But he, here, is the second Adam. A man sitting on the throne of
God in glory. Behold your God. This is what
John the Baptist said as he saw a man walking, behold your God. This is what Isaiah said speaking
of that one who would come, the Lamb of God, behold your God. Look at him, here he is, bow
before him. Thomas saw it, finally, after
some doubting, Thomas saw it and fell before him, my Lord
and my God. Bow before him and worship him.
So thirdly, what's the relationship between the Son and the Church?
Now, 22 and 23, He has put all things under his feet, under
Christ's feet, and given him to be head over all things to
the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth
all in all. He's put all things under his
feet. Everything is in his control.
This is how Paul can say in Romans 8, 28, That he causes all things
to work together for good to those that love God who are called
according to his purpose. How? Because he's put all things
under the feet of Christ. Everything is in his control.
He's head over all things. All things to the church. And
what is the church? It is his body. The fullness
of him that filleth all in all. Now let's think for a moment
about this. The church being his body. the fullness of him
that filleth all in all. It's as if the church is the
final glorification of our Lord Jesus Christ. I'm trying to be
careful what I say, because I don't want to go any way beyond what
scripture says, but I do want to be faithful to what scripture
says. It says that the church is the fullness of our Lord Jesus
Christ. It says in Colossians chapter
1, again if you turn over there, down towards the end of it, in
verse 24 he's talking about rejoicing, Paul is rejoicing in his sufferings
for you and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions
of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake which is the church
in a sense the sufferings of the church and the people of
God is like a continuation of the sufferings of Christ it's
a fulfillment and a completion of it And we're into territory
that is difficult to understand, but it's clear that there is
such a union between Christ and his church, such a union that
they're inseparable. They're absolutely, legally,
actually inseparable. He is head over all things to
the church, which is his fullness. And though he is supremely, preeminent,
and self-sufficient, yet scripture tells us that he is fulfilled
in his church now. Now how is this? How is this?
Here's four things. The bridegroom and the bride.
The unity. There's a picture between Christ
and his church. We get it in chapter 5 of Ephesians. And then in Revelation, talking
about the marriage supper of the Lamb and parables in the
Gospels. The bridegroom and his bride. It's pictured in the Song
of Solomon with the Shulamite and the beloved. This unity of
flesh that is pictured in marriage, because when Paul gets to Ephesians
5, and he's clearly talking about the marriage of a man and a woman,
he says at the end of it, but I'm not talking about that, I'm
really talking about Christ and his church. That's what he was
really talking about, that union of Christ and his church, that
absolute union which is merely pictured in the marriage of a
man and a woman. You see, all that he did the
bride did in him. All that the bride did, as sinners,
he paid for. He paid the debt thereof. And
it's pictured, as I said, in Song of Solomon and in the marriage
supper and in all of those things. The legal unity and responsibility
between a man and his wife. The laws of this land have changed,
but it definitely used to be the case, definitely used to
be the case, that in various cultures that the man was responsible,
legally responsible for the debts, the actions, everything of his
wife. Some of you might say, well that
would be a good idea now, wouldn't it, if we could reinstitute that.
Some others would be totally aginit. But nevertheless, that
was the case. And so it is, the union between
Christ and his bride, he's taken complete legal responsibility
for his bride. And then here's another illustration.
The vine and the branches. Jesus said this, I am the vine,
you are the branches. This is in John 15, 1 to 8. Just as the vine branches can
bear no fruit at all without living union with the rootstock,
they must, you know, you see it yourself, it's the easiest
thing to demonstrate. Come the summer, you've got something
that's flourishing, and you cut it off, and then you just watch,
a day later, and it's just all withered and dead. It's gone.
It's finished. the vine and the branches. The
branches can bear no fruit without living union with the rootstock
but in the same way the rootstock finds its ultimate fulfillment
in the flourishing branches. That's where it bears fruit in
the flourishing branches. the shepherd and the sheep. The
shepherd is only a shepherd when he has his sheep, when he has
his sheep there to shepherd, the flock there to supervise,
to care for. The sheep are lost prey when
they're not under the shepherd's care and his protection. And
then there's this fourth illustration, which is here, of the head and
the body. The body is the body of Christ.
The church is the body of Christ. And he is the head of the body.
And just as the body is diverse parts, all mutually dependent
and fulfilled in one another, they're all subservient to the
head. They all come under the head. And so it is, this relationship
between Christ and his church, between the Son of God and his
church. He is head over all things. to
the church which is his body the fullness of him that filleth
all in all. I'm reminded of Galatians 2 verse
20 that verse where Paul reflects this on himself as an individual
believer he says I am crucified with Christ. Oh you weren't there
at Calvary were you Paul being nailed to his cross? As far as
the reckoning of God was concerned. If I'm part of the bride of Christ,
I was there. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless,
I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God." Note that
King James Version. Note it well. You look at other
versions and they say, I live by faith in the Son of God. That's
your faith. The faith I live by is the faith
of the Son of God, the faithfulness of the Son of God. I live by
what He faithfully did, that He faithfully came, obedient
to His Father, to represent His people. and then went to the
cross of Calvary bearing the sin debt of his people to pay
it. The faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself
for me. Think of these things. You know
I said earlier on, stand still and see the salvation of the
Lord. I could almost have said equally, take your shoes off.
I'm not talking about literally now. Don't do that. But you know,
take your shoes off. because where you're standing
when you're thinking of these things is holy ground this is
holy ground, this gospel of his grace this gospel that is fulfilled
in Christ and his church this is holy ground metaphorically
take your shoes off bow in reverence and love for Christ if he's yours
because of who he is and what he's done if you're in him if
you're one of those who is one of his bride, then you're as
secure as he is. Where is he now? He's in glory.
Is anybody ever going to pull him down from glory? No. You're
there in him. We're seated in heavenly places,
we read, in Christ. How does this make you feel?
How does it make you feel? We're going to be partaking of
the bread and wine shortly, remembering what it took to put us where
we are. How does it make you feel? Does
it make you feel full of praise and thanks? Thanks to him. Thankful. You know, this is one
of the indictments. They were not thankful. Romans
1, they were not thankful. Full of praise to him. Praise
is not a chore and a burden. When you're here, when you're
seeing these things and meditate, praise is what naturally, praise
his name. You know there are people who
glibly use praise the Lord for everything, everything's praise
the Lord, praise the Lord, praise... No, that's just empty, that's
shallow, that's just external ritualism, don't do that. But
praise the Lord in your heart when you see who he is and what
he's done and where you stand as a member of his body in him.
Does it not make you want to know him more? How do you know
him more? Are you going to know more of
this glorious being? This glorious God, this glorious
King. Longing to know more of him.
Where do you find him? The Shulamite, when she lost
her beloved, she said, where is he? Oh, he's feeding down
amongst the beds of lilies. Go down there. What's that speaking
of? It's picture language. Speaking of his word. and of
prayer, and of fellowship with his people. Go down there, go
amongst the beds of lilies, and go and feed. You'll find him
there. Read his word. I've been so impressed reading
the biography of William Huntingdon again. I don't think I ever read
it properly the first time round, but reading it again. And the
thing that's impressed me so much with that man, although
he was a humble coal heaver, he had no education, but he read
the Bible over and over and over again and he was so familiar
with it he was a walking encyclopedia not just of head knowledge but
of heart knowledge but if you want to have some heart knowledge
you need some head knowledge first so come and spend time
there in prayer and fellowship with his people. And you would
want to be with his people because they're your brethren, aren't
they? For his name's sake. Doesn't my left hand want to
be with my right hand? Yes, of course it does. We're
brethren in the Lord Jesus. We have all sorts of differences,
all sorts of personal quirks and characteristics. There may
be things I do that rub you up the wrong way, but I'm your brother
in Christ. So think on me that way. and
wanting to flee from sin and all that defiles. Don't you? The things that once tickled
your interest and captivated your eyes and took you away from
the things of Christ, I want to flee from that. It's like
having been that prodigal son and saved from the pigsty and
the filth and everything that went with it and wanting to flee
from it and have nothing more to do with it. And being that
people that Paul writes to Titus, zealous for good works, zealous
to do that which is to the praise of the glory of his grace. If
you don't feel like that, Well, remember the message we heard
earlier from Isaiah 29. Seek the Lord while he may be
found. Call upon him while he is near. Enter that ark, for
today is the day of salvation. Amen. Well, we'll sing our next hymn
before we have the bread and wine.