Ephesians chapter 2. I want to begin reading. We dealt
with this verse in our last study of this book. But I want to begin
reading in verse 18 and read the remainder of that chapter.
For through Him, our Lord Jesus Christ, we both, Jew and Gentile,
have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now, therefore, You
are no more strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with
the saints and of the household of God, and are built upon the
foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself
being the chief cornerstone, in whom all the building fitly
framed together groweth unto the holy temple in the Lord,
in whom ye also are built together for an inhabitation of God through
the Spirit. Our text this morning is in verse
19. Now, therefore, ye are no more
strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints
and of the household of God. And there's one thing I think
I want to remind us of this morning. I think we should always be mindful,
especially in the study of this book, as well as in the study
of all the Scripture. And that's what Paul prayed in
chapter 1, in verse 17 through 19. I cannot stress enough. I stressed it when we were there
in these verses, and I want to stress it again this morning.
I cannot stress it enough. The importance of what Paul prayed
for in this prayer. Remember the prayer? Look at
it again. Let me just remind you again.
This is so important. He prayed in chapter 1 and verse
17, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,
may give unto you, may give unto us, every believer, the spirit
of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. That's so important. I know Him. Yes, but we need
to know Him better. We want to know Him better. No
man can say that Jesus Christ is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. Brother Glenn read to us this
morning in John chapter 16. When He's come, when He's come,
He'll take the things that are mine and He'll show them unto
you. I want to know Him better. You
want to know Him better. And for that, we need the Spirit
of God to teach us of Him. And secondly, the Apostle Paul
mentions these three things in verses 18 and verses 19. He says, first, the eyes of your
understanding being enlightened for this reason. He wants us
to have light. He says, pray that the Lord may
give you light. in your understanding. We know
what it means to be in the dark, don't we? We know what it means
to turn the light switch on. We can see. Well, he says it's
the same way in the spiritual realm. I pray for you, pray for
yourself, that God would enlighten the eyes of your understanding.
First of all, to see this. What is the hope of His calling? The hope of His calling. When the Lord calls us, He calls
us effectually. He calls us irresistibly. He
calls us in such a manner that we come to Christ. We come to
God by Him. And when He calls us, He calls
us with a purpose. And what is that purpose? It's
to give us a hope. It's to give us a good hope.
God doesn't call us to flounder around in sadness. and in discouragement,
to wallow in self-pity. He calls us that we may live
with this expectation of what we have now and what we'll have
in the future. We live by hope. We're saved
by hope. Paul said, I pray for you that
you'd understand that God has called you to live a life. Expect Him. Expect Him. You've got a good future ahead
of you. The child of God has a wonderful future ahead of you. Glory awaits you. And then he
goes on and prays this in the last part of verse 18. Not only know that He's called
you to hope, what is the riches of the glory of His inheritance
in the saints? The riches of that glory of this
inheritance that awaits you. What you have now in Christ and
that glory that's going to be revealed in time that is to come. Look over here to your right.
Just hold that and look to your right in 1 Thessalonians chapter
2. Look here with me in verse 12. We're talking about His call
and what we hope for. Did I say something or do something? Look in 1 Thessalonians chapter
2 and look in verse 12. We're talking about the riches
of His inheritance, what He called us to. And look what He says,
that you would walk worthy of God who hath called you unto
His kingdom and His glory. Mine wasn't an inheritance. He's
called you to His kingdom now and His glory hereafter. That's what we hope for. That's the riches of His inheritance. How can a person explain that?
How can you explain the glory that God has laid up for the
believer? Peter said, I'm a partaker of that glory that shall be revealed.
Paul said, the suffering that the saints go through now is
not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed
in him. But Paul said, if you're going
to understand this, you've got to have your understanding enlightened. You can't live on your feelings.
You can't live on your feelings. You're going to have to see what
it is in the book, the Word of God. Somebody said this, somebody
said the worst life or the best life an unbeliever is going to
know, the best life that an unbeliever is going to know is this life.
But you know, we should go right ahead to say the worst life,
the worst time that a believer is going to know is this life.
Everything that awaits Him is glory. And Paul said, I pray
that your understanding would be enlightened, that you may
see that. And lastly, he prays this in verse 19 in chapter 1.
And I'm just saying, I hope we keep this in mind. I hope we
keep this in mind. It's so important as we study
the second chapter of the book of Ephesians, especially as we're
getting into these verses 19. Look here what he prays for,
and that you may know. that you may perceive, be able
to grasp in your understanding, the exceeding greatness of God's
power to us-ward who believe." Paul was the wisest apostle,
probably the wisest man of his day. He spoke more languages
than anybody that we know of, but he could not find languages
He could not find enough adjectives to describe the greatness of
what He was trying to tell us. It's not enough for Him to say
that, I pray that you might know His power to us. No, He has to
say, I pray that you might know the greatness of His power. No,
that's not enough for Him either. He said, I pray that you might
know the exceeding greatness of His power. He just can't explain
it to us. He said you'll have to understand
it in your own soul. It's amazing, it's marvelous.
Look what he says over in the third chapter. He does this in
the third chapter. Look what he says here in chapter
3 and look in verse 20. Now to him that is able to do
exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or even think. according to the power that worketh
in us." And look what he said up in verse 16. He prays for
them again. That God would grant you according
to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with might by
His Spirit in the inner man. The power of God working in us
and working on our behalf. And he sums this up in the sixth
chapter when he's talking about our warfare with principalities
and powers. He said, Be strong in the Lord.
Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Do you
realize, brothers and sisters, the power that's working in you
today? We get so down and we think we're
going to be overcome. We face temptations. We face
the struggles with the underworld, as we call it. The weakness of
the flesh, and we think we're going to get down. We forget. We don't realize the power that's
working in us. The power of God. The exceeding
greatness of His power. Greater is He that's in you.
The mighty God is in us, and He's working there. I can do
all things through Christ who strengtheneth me. You say, Bruce,
I just don't understand much of that. Well, that's what Paul
is saying. That's what Paul is saying. We need our understanding
enlightened, that we may grasp this, that we may know this. And this power that works in
us now, it's vitally linked to this hope. He's called us to
hope. Listen to this verse. God hath both raised up the Lord
Jesus and will also raise us up. That's our hope, isn't it?
We have a hope of a resurrection. How is He going to do that? By
His power. By His power. One of the reasons, brothers and
sisters, and I'm convinced of this, that you and I don't live
a more joyful Christian life is because we have failed, and
we are failing, to lay hold upon these things, to grasp these
things, to have the eyes of our understanding enlightened to
know these things. Now why do I say, and why did
I begin today by saying that Paul's prayer is so important?
Well, we come here to chapter 2. And Paul goes ahead and tells
these believers, and tells us by them, that there's been a
tremendous change in our lives. A vital change, a drastic change. And if you and I are going to
realize, if we're going to begin to fuller realize the extent
of this change, then we're going to have to have the eyes of our
understanding enlightened. Because this change that you
and I have undergone has been a drastic change. In verses 1-2, my goodness, remember
that change? You were dead in trespasses and
sins, but now you're alive. He's quickened you. What a change
is that? From death into life. What a
change. He tells us there in verse 11
and 12 what we were in time past. You were Gentiles. You were uncircumcised. You were without Christ. You
were aliens. You were foreigners. You were
strangers. But now, in Christ Jesus, you
are made not. And now He comes down here to
verse 19 and He says the same thing. Now, therefore, you are
no more strangers. You are no more foreigners. But
now you're fellow citizens with the saints and of the household
of God. See what a change. See what a
change that is. And that brings me now to my
first point here in verse 19. Look at it. This is my first
point. Here's how Paul puts it. Now, therefore, ye are no more. You are no more. That's the first
point that He's going to make to us. You are no more. You are
no more what you used to be. You are no more in the position
that you used to be in. You are no more in the condition
that you used to be in. You are no more in spite of what
we still are. And God help us, we know it,
don't we? We know what we still are. O wretched man that I am,
who shall deliver me? When I would do good, evil is
present with me. But in spite of what we still
are, we know there has been a drastic change. We struggle with sin,
yes we do, but we are not dead in sin. We fight against these
principalities, these powers of darkness, as he calls them,
in chapter 6. The God of this world. We wrestle
with Him, but thank God we're not in His kingdom anymore. Things
have changed. It's changed. In 1 Corinthians
chapter 6 and verse 9, he says this, Know you not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived." And
he mentions all of these things that they were. Fornicators,
idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, those who abuse themselves with
mankind and so on. And he says, such were some of
you. You were. See that? That's what I'm emphasizing.
That's what Paul is emphasizing. You are no more. There has been
this drastic change. You were this, but now you're
washed. Now you're justified. Now you're
sanctified by the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the
Spirit of our God. I've heard lost people say, if
I ever become a Christian, I want it to be real. Have you ever
heard of lost people say that? I don't want to be a hypocrite.
I've seen too many of them. I want to really serve the Lord. I want to be honest. I want to
follow Him. I want there to be a change.
Well, that's good, because that's the way it is when the Lord saves
you. There is definitely a change. You are no more what you used
to be. Do we realize that? Do we realize
that? See what Paul is saying here?
There's no middle ground. You are no more. You are that
no more. And I say this, and the reason
I stress this this morning is this, because I've told you this
so many times. People want there to be a middle
ground. Everybody likes the middle of the road, don't they? It's
a dangerous place, really, to be in the middle of the road,
but everybody likes the middle of the road. They don't like
things white or they don't like them black. They want a gray. But you know, brothers and sisters,
in this business of being saved, in this business of being in
Christ, in this business of being a new creature, you either are
or you're not. I remember the Master. You remember
that great sermon on the map, the way He closed that sermon
when He was talking about those two gates? He says there's a
straight gate and there's a broad gate. And they're distinct gates. He told us about a false prophet
and a good prophet. And they're distinct. They're
nothing alike. He told us about the tree that
brought forth good fruit and the tree that brought forth evil
fruit. They're nothing alike. They're
distinct. The house that was built on the foundation of a
stone? The man dug deep and built his
house on a rock? Or the man that built his house
upon the sand? That's what Paul's telling us.
Between a believer and an unbeliever, there is no middle ground. A
man either believes and he's in Christ, or he does not believe. People have often said, often
thought, and I've said this too, that they wish that there was
a place between heaven and hell. They know they're not, or they
think they're not bad enough to go to hell, but they know
they're not good enough to go to heaven. So they live in the
hope that there's some middle ground there. But there's not. There's not. And let me be as
plain as I can. There's the glories of heaven,
or there's the torments of hell. There's the rest of heaven, or
there's the disturbance of hell. And there's no middle ground.
There's nobody hanging out here in the middle, floating around.
A man will either hear, Come ye blessed of my Father, or depart
from me ye cursed. So the question we start with
this morning is this. Are you a believer in the Lord
Jesus Christ? Are you in Christ this morning? You say, Bruce, I'd like to think
I'm almost there. Well, dear child, I wouldn't
offend you for the world. But if you're almost there, you're
altogether lost. To be almost saved is to be altogether
lost. Do not rest. until you find yourself
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Because outside of Him is nothing
but the wrath of God and eternal damnation. Do not rest until
you can say this with the Apostle Paul. Now, therefore, you are
no more. I used to be an unbeliever. I'm
not a believer no more. I used to be dead in sin. I'm
not dead in sins anymore. I used to be without Christ,
but I'm not without Christ anymore." See what he's saying? He does
what the Scripture does throughout. He makes the distinction. He
makes the distinction. This world today is one in unity. It wants us all to get together.
Well, on what grounds? The only way we can get together
is throughout the truth. Throw out these dogmas. Throw
out the white and throw out the black. And find this middle area,
this gray area. Brothers and sisters, there is
no such a place. To be in a gray area is to be
in the black. It's white or it's black. See
what I'm saying? You are no more. What a change. What a change. You're not what
you used to be. You're not in the condition you
used to be in. You're not in the position that
you used to be in. It's changed. It's changed. You've
changed. The second thing here in verse
19, it says this, You are no more strangers and foreigners. Now, these words are a little
bit different, and I struggled with these for three or four
weeks. trying to find out what the distinction was between these
two words. And they overlap. They overlap. But I think I've got a little
bit of light on it. I hope this helps you because
Paul makes a distinction between these two words, the meaning
of them. So let's look at them like this. First of all, stranger. It means those who find themselves
among the people. That's not their own people.
They're among a people that's not their people. And foreigners
is an alien resident. Sometimes in the Bible they translate
this word foreigner as sojourner. He's a sojourner. It means a
person who lives in a country or in a community, but he does
not belong to it. He has no rights there. He has
no privileges there. Abraham went down to sojourn
in Egypt. Remember Lot? He went down to
sojourn in Sodom. He was a foreigner to that place.
He just went there to stay for a while. But he wasn't a member
of that community. He wasn't a citizen of that community.
There's the slight distinction. First of all, strangers deals
with blood relatives. Strangers deals with a family. The family unit. He's a stranger. He's outside the family. The Gentiles were outside the
twelve tribes of Israel. There was twelve tribes. Jacob
had twelve sons, you remember. And though there were twelve
tribes, they were one family. That's why in the New Testament
they were still saying, we have Abraham to our father. The Jews
were one family. And the Gentiles were outside
that family. They had no Jewish blood in them.
They were Gentile blood. They were strangers to the family
of the Jew. The word foreigner, it has to
do with citizenship. See the difference? Stranger
has to do with blood and relatives. Family, the family union. But
foreigners has to do with citizenship. A sojourner, one of another nation. He doesn't have permanent residence.
If we were talking about this today, we would probably say,
somebody's here on a visa. They're here on a work visa or
an educational visa. They have to carry a passport
with them because they're not citizens of our country. And what is Paul saying here
now? Paul says, You're not what you used to be. You used to be
strangers, but now what are you? You're of the household of God.
You used to be foreigners, but now, he said, you are fellow
citizens with the saints. If you're a citizen, what does
that mean? That means you belong to a community. You belong to
a state. You belong to a nation. You belong
to a country. You're a citizen of that country. Now you remember when this first
started. We first found the concept of what it was going to be to
be a citizen. If you go back and read Genesis
chapter 12, you remember when Abraham was called out of the
area of the Chaldees. Remember what the Lord told him?
I'm going to make of you a great nation. I'm going to make of
you a great nation. There's where we see that God
was going to have a community. God was going to have a country.
He was going to have a state. In 1 Peter 2, verse 9, listen
to this. Ye are a chosen generation, a
royal priesthood, and a holy nation. That's what He says about
the believers. You're of a holy nation. You were not a people, but now
you're the people of God. The Lord Jesus said this to the
Jews, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to
a nation, bringing forth the fruit thereof. When you and I
are born again, as He tells us here in chapter 2, verse 5 and
verse 8 and verse 10, created in you in Christ Jesus, we're
put into this nation. We become citizens of a heavenly
kingdom. This nation that God said to
Abraham, I'm going to make you a great nation. Peter said it's
one nation, a holy nation. And when we're born again, we
are put into that kingdom and we become citizens of that kingdom,
of that nation. Paul tells us this, our citizenship
is in heaven. We're citizens of a heavenly
kingdom. You and I are Americans, aren't
we? And we're proud of that, aren't
we? And that's all right. It's all right to be proud of
being an American. I'm proud. That old song says, I'm proud
to be an American where at least I know I'm free. We sort of rejoice
in that. And in a sense, we are the envy
of the world, aren't we? People envy us. Our liberties
we have. The greatness of this nation
that we're in. Britain used to boast of their
empire being so great that the sun never set on it. We love
to talk about our fruited plains and our grander mountains and
all of this. What a strong nation we are.
What a good nation we are. Well, whether all that's true
or not, we like to brag about it, don't we? We love to be a
citizen in this great country. What kind of citizen? Are we? If we're here this morning and
we're in Christ. What kind of a nation do you
belong to? What kind of a kingdom are you really a citizen of? Well, I want you to just look
for just a minute. Take your Bibles and turn over
to Daniel. Turn over to Daniel chapter 2 if you would, and look
at this. This is why Paul prays for us.
that our understanding may be enlightened, that we may see
that we're not foreigners anymore. We're not here on a visa in the
kingdom of God. We're permanent residents in
this kingdom. We're citizens of it. What kind
of a kingdom is it? What kind of a nation is it?
Well, look over in Daniel chapter 2. King Nebuchadnezzar, this
mighty king, He saw this vision. And this is what Daniel is going
to tell us here in Daniel chapter 2 and verse 31. He saw this vision
and here's what he saw. In verse 31 of Daniel chapter
2. Daniel was speaking to King Nebuchadnezzar. And he said,
Thou, O King, saweth, and you beheld a great image. This great
image, whose brightness was exceeding, was excellent, stood before thee,
and the form thereof was terrible. This image head was of fine gold,
and his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs
were of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron, and part
of clay." Well, that was a picture of some kind of a looking man,
but he was a terrible looking fellow, you know, with that appearance. And thou sawest, you looked,
till a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image
upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and broke them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay,
the brass, the silver, the gold broken to pieces together, and
became like the chaff of the summer threshing floor. And the
wind carried them away, that no place was found for them,
and the stone that smoked the image became a great mountain
and filled the whole earth." Now that's the vision he saw.
What in the world could be the meaning of that? He saw this
terrible image and his head was shining like gold. And his chest
was like iron and belly and feet and legs was like brass. Terrible
looking. And then here this little stone
was cut out without hand. And it came rolling towards this
terrible image. And when it was finished rolling
over that image, nothing was left of the image but dust. And
this little stone became a great mountain and filled the earth.
Now what in the world could that mean? Daniel is going to tell
him the interpretation of this dream. Verse 36, this is the
dream. And I will tell the interpretation,
therefore before the king. And then he begins in verse 37,
down through verse 43, and you can read it for yourself. But
he tells the king, you're that mighty king that God set up.
Your heads lack gold. And you rule over the nations
of the world. You just set up people and you
pull down people. You pretty much do what you want to do.
Because God gives you that power. And there's going to be some
more kingdoms coming after you that's made out of this brass,
and made out of this iron, and their feet of clay. Going to
be this mighty kingdom. But he said, there's coming a
day. There's coming a day. When God, the living God, is
going to set up a kingdom. Now look what he says in verse
44. And in the days of these kings, these mighty, terrible
kings, Verse 44, "...shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom
which shall never be destroyed. And the kingdom shall not be
left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume
all of these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever." What is
that kingdom? What is called the everlasting
kingdom? of the Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. And listen to what's said concerning Him. The angel
came to Mary and said, You shall conceive in your womb and bring
forth a son, and they'll call his name Jesus. He shall be great. He shall be called the Son of
the Highest, and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne
of His father David, and He shall reign over the house of Jacob,
and of His kingdom there shall be no end." This is the kingdom
that Daniel is speaking about. It shall stand forever and consume
and finally destroy all the other kingdoms of this world. Jesus
Christ is the head over that kingdom. He is reigning now and
will continue to reign until He has put all enemies under
His feet. And the last kingdom that will
be standing is His glorious kingdom, His heavenly kingdom. David speaks
about it in Psalm 145. This is what he says about it.
They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom and talk of thy
power. Why will they do that? To make
known unto the sons of men thy mighty acts and the glorious
majesty of thy kingdom." And then the next verse, he tells
us what his kingdom is like. Thy kingdom is an everlasting
kingdom, and thy dominion is from sea to sea. There's the
kingdom. And Paul said, you're citizens
in that kingdom. That's the kingdom that you're
citizen in. You belong to it. You're no longer
in the kingdom of the devil, the kingdom of Satan. But you're
a fellow citizen in this kingdom. Isaiah said, the increase of
his government and his peace, there shall be no end. He'll
sit upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom to order
it and establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth
even forever because the zeal of the Lord will provide a kingdom. Now brothers and sisters, let
me ask you this question this morning. Are you beginning to
grasp that you are a citizen of such a kingdom? That you belong
to such a holy nation, such a high nation, who has such a king? that is ruling and will continue
to rule until all rivals are destroyed and you can blow them
away like powder? We're getting a little bit more
involved in politics today, and that's alright. We love our country,
we love our Constitution. We don't want to see our country
fall, but this country is going to fall. With every other country. With every other nation it's
going to fall. And they're finally going to
be put under the feet of the Son of God. And the only kingdom
that will be left is His kingdom. And that's the kingdom, dear
child of God, that you're in. That you're a citizen of this
morning. And Paul says here this most
wonderful thing in the second chapter. That you're a citizen
of this kingdom. simply by virtue of being in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Ain't that amazing? You're not
in this kingdom on a visa. You don't have to carry a passport
with you. You don't have to be afraid you're going to be stopped
and sent back to your own country. Back to the kingdom of darkness.
You have a just and legal citizenship You're in the Lord Jesus Christ. You're a permanent resident here.
You have a constitution and everything. Here it is. You have a king. I had a neighbor when I lived in
Muncie, Joe and I did. Harry. Remember Harry lived on
the corner right in front of us? And he looked just like I
looked. He lived there on the corner,
as long as we were in Muncie. He lived there, he looked just
like us. He had a little bit of accent because he was from
Canada. He was a Canadian citizen. And
he worked, went to work, got up in the morning, went to work
just like I did. But here was the difference between
me and him. Just every once in a while, he had to go back to
Canada and live for a while. Then he could come back. And
even though he was so much like me, looked like me, talked like
me, worked like me, traveled the country like I did, here
was the difference between me and him. He was a foreigner living
in a strange land and I was a citizen. He carried a passport and sometimes
lived, no doubt, in anxiety that any time he's going to be sent
out of the country, I had no such fear. I'm a citizen. See what I'm saying, brothers
and sisters? Here's the question. A man may be moral. A man may
have a good character about him. A man may learn to speak a lot
of the language of this heavenly kingdom. But here's the question. Are
you a citizen? Or are you just here on a visa? If you're here on a visa, you're
not a citizen. But if you have a citizenship,
you belong here. And the way you know it is this,
you are in the Lord Jesus Christ. You've been reconciled to God by the blood of the cross. And notice again how Paul says
this. Not only are we citizens, but I love this. I love the way
he writes. He says we are fellow citizens
with the saints. Fellow citizens. There's a bunch
of them. There's a bunch of citizens.
You know, because we live in this country, we love to talk
about some great men of this country. There's a reason why
we talk about George Washington. He's the father of our country.
We talk about Thomas Jefferson. He's a genius. He was called
a genius. If you read much of him, you'll
see why they call him that. He was a political genius. We
even talk about our theologians. Jonathan Edwards. You know the
reason that we love Jonathan Edwards? He wasn't from Europe. We love those theologians over
there, but we love to talk about Jonathan Edwards, even if we
can't understand half of what he said. And you know why we
love Jonathan Edwards? He was a U.S. citizen. That's
why we like him. We like our great generals and
war heroes. I live not far from Alvin C.
York's birthplace. And if I'm around anybody and
they start talking about heroes and soldiers, I just might make
mention. Yeah, my grandpa was a friend
of Alvin C. York. I have a picture of Alvin
C. York made with a friend of mine.
He was an old friend then now, but he was a young man then.
So I brag about that because he was a U.S. citizen. Paul said, we're fellow citizens.
We're the same. And you know something, brothers
and sisters, we have some men and women in this nation, in
this kingdom, that were men and women of renown. We love to talk
about them, don't we? Because we're fellow citizens
with them. You know we're fellow citizens with Abraham. Ain't
that amazing? That's amazing. The father of
our country. The father of the faithful. Sarah. Dear Sarah. Samuel. Holy Samuel. And Daniel. And
kings. Oh, we've got kings. We're fellow
citizens with kings. The greatest king. King David,
the sweet psalmist of Israel. Solomon, the wisest king. Don't
we love to brag about our fellow citizens? We're fellow citizens,
we're the same. Can you imagine being fellow
citizens with the Apostle Paul? He's of the same country. Yeah. Yeah, I'm in Paul. Yeah. We're citizens. Yeah. We're the
same nation. This holy nation. That's something
to brag about, isn't it? Fellow citizens. And if we have
somebody that's less than desirable, we'll never mention them. It
would be better to export those guys. But oh, some fellow citizens
that we know. Men and women of renown. It's
said of this. It's said in Psalms chapter 87. And of Zion it shall be said,
this and that man was born in her. Why does he say that? Some
great man. Remember this man? Remember Samuel?
He was born in Zion. Remember the great apostle Paul?
He was born in sin. We use that for a bragging right,
don't we? Fellow citizens were the saints. And one of the amazing
things concerning the citizens of this kingdom, they all speak
the very same language. No matter where you find them.
When they begin to talk, you can understand what they're saying.
You know there's a law, as far as I know there's still a law,
used to be a law, that if you were a citizen of this country,
you had to speak this language. And before you could become a
citizen, you had to speak it well enough to take the test.
Now you say that's right or wrong, and I'm not debating the politics
of it, but that was the law. That was the law. Citizens must
speak the native language. It's that way in this heavenly
country. It's that way if you're a citizen of this heavenly kingdom,
you speak the language. I don't care where you're at
in this world, if you're a member, if you're a citizen of this holy
nation, you speak the language. And here's the way you talk.
Not unto us, O Lord. Not unto us. but through Thy
Name give glory and strength." Your speech gives you away. And
it isn't much gibberish. I saw a show, it wasn't a show,
it was a documentary, and they were teaching these Chinese people
to speak American. And they couldn't get them to
say it right. They were trying to get them
to say McDonald's. Now when I say that, you know
what I'm saying. But they said, McDonnell, McDonnell, McDonnell. You cannot understand what they
were saying. It ain't so much that somebody's just teaching
you how to speak, and you're memorizing this. This is the
language of your heart. And it comes to you by the Spirit
from this Word, such a language as Christ is all. Oh, that I might be found in
Him, not having my own righteousness, but the righteousness of God,
which is by faith in Christ." Wherever you meet these heavenly
citizens, that's what they're saying. Christ alone. Faith alone. Grace alone. Scriptures alone. That's His heavenly land. And
we can't speak another language. We just can't speak another language.
I don't know another language. Does anybody here speak Spanish? Does anybody here speak Russian? How many of you speak English?
Come on, show me your speaking. Look at you. Look at you. If
you're in this heavenly kingdom, you speak the language of that
King. And it's not what you are, it's not what you've done, it's
who He is and what He's done. And there's a reason now, brothers
and sisters, when people come around and they say, I just can't
understand what you're saying. You're talking about justification.
I have no idea what you're saying. You're talking about redemption.
You're talking about sanctification. You're talking about everlasting
salvation. What does that mean? You know what the problem is?
You're not a citizen of this country. They're taught the language. Right quickly, this, and I'll
close. Now, he says, you're no more strangers. You're no more
citizens. You're no more foreigners, but you're fellow citizens. Now,
he says, you're no more strangers. You're no more outside the family. You're of the household of God. And he says this again. Look
in chapter 3. Here's how he says it over in chapter 3, and I like
this. In verse 14, "...For this cause I bow my knees
unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family
in heaven and in earth is named." You're in the family. That's
what that word household means. It just means the family. You're
in the family. You're no more a stranger, Glenn.
You're in the family. Now there's a vast difference,
ain't there? You know, you can be a friend
of the family in a sense. I went into homes and I felt
so welcome. Sitting there talking with the
family. But then another member of the family come in and you
know something's wrong. Something's up. You can tell
the way they're looking at each other. And the way they whisper
to each other. They like you. And they don't
mean for you to feel bad. But you're not a member of the
family. There's a family secret and you can tell it. But only
the family knows it. And you sit there and you feel
bad. Because I have no idea what's going on. No idea. It's the family secret, you see.
Are you in the family? Are you in the family? You're
a stranger outside the family? How do you feel when you come
here? How do you feel when you were God's little children? I tell you, they say blood is
thicker than water. If you're in this kingdom, if you're in
this heavenly family, God's family, you're closer to your spiritual
family than you are to your natural family. I have brothers and sisters
in my flesh, and you do too, that we love them to death. Love
to be with them. But I'd much rather be with you.
You're my family. The Lord Jesus was preaching
one day and they came to Him and said, Your mom's outside.
And your brother, they want to see. And He said, Who is my mother? Who really is my brother? And
He looked out over that crowd. Those men and women who were
listening to Him preach. And He said, Those who do the
will of my Father. That's my mother. That's my brother. That's my sister. He looked down
there and Mary Magdalene sat down there. He said, there's
my sister. He looked over here at that old Gadarene maniac.
He said, there's my brother. This is my family. One of the
greatest statements our Master made one day when He told His
disciples. He said, I'm going back to heaven.
And I'll send to my Father and your Father. We have the same
Father. And he said, if they call me
the master of the house, Beelzebub, how much more would they call
you of my household? You're of my household. We're
brethren. I'd never call him my brother
if he didn't call himself my brother. That's an awesome thing
to think about, that Jesus Christ is a man's brother. For as much
as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he himself
likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy
him who had the power of death, that is, the devil. And he comes
to us, and here's what he says to us, both he that sanctified and they
who are sanctified are all of one. For which cause he is not
ashamed to call them Brother. You're my brother. We're in a
household. We're not here just visiting. You're my brother. You're my
sister in Christ. One big family. One big family. And everybody that loves God
loves those that are His children. Ain't that wonderful? See why
the Apostle Paul prays for us and wants us to pray for ourselves?
We can't get a hold of these things if you don't enlighten our understanding.
To read the Scriptures concerning these things and see what privileges
we have. The next time you get down, so
down and so discouraged about what's happening to our country,
pray for it, we should. Be concerned, we should. But
we're in a kingdom. We're in a kingdom. You'll never
have to be discouraged about this kingdom. This kingdom is
being filled and upheld and prospered and established by the King of
Kings, not by some weak president. And next time when your family
is all out of order and so dysfunctional, and that's got your heart burned
and grieved, And it's not with them like you would like for
it to be. Think of this. You have a family that things
are well with. And they love each other. And
will never stop loving one another. And they'll never be sold asunder.
There's coming a day when they'll rejoice together for all eternity. And they'll never say goodbye
again. A heavenly family. God bless His Word. Let's pray.