Would you turn back to Ephesians
chapter 2? I've entitled the message for
tonight, People of Privilege. And to be honest with you, on
some levels, I've struggled with that title because people of
privilege can be a bad thing. There are certain privileges
you may have because of the color of your skin that people who
don't have that color, privileges they don't have. There are all
kinds of different privileges that we would feel wrong, particularly
if we're on the wrong end of them. And so I certainly want
to be careful in getting this message, this title, but this
is something recognized in the scripture. Would you turn with
me to Matthew chapter 18 or 17 for a moment. And when verse 24, and when they
were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came
to Peter and said, does not your master pay tribute? He saith,
yes, and when he was coming to the house, Jesus prevented him,
saying, what thinkest thou, Simon, of whom do the kings of the earth
take customs or tribute, of their own children or of strangers?
Now, it was a very common practice. Whoever had the most power would
put taxes on the surrounding countries, and they would come
and attack them and sack them if they didn't pay these taxes. And that was just the common
practice at that time. And he said, who has to pay taxes? Other countries or the children
of that country? Peter said strangers. The children
of the country get privileges that the strangers do not get. That's just a fact of life. It
happens. And I think when we think of
privilege, quite often we think life's not fair. Some people
are born in a situation that makes it easier for them than
somebody else. Some people are born in homes where they have
the advantages of good parenting. The people that don't give their
children that parenting, they don't have that advantage. Some
people are born with wealth and all the advantages that can bring. Some people have an education
that other people don't have and that brings them advantage. They have privileges because
of that. Some people will never have. Some people are born beautiful. And because of that, they're
going to have privileges that other people don't have just
because of their looks. And we can look at this thing
of privilege, and we can think, well, it doesn't seem to be fair.
And people on the other end are particularly the people that
would feel that way. And I understand that. Now, the
word privilege means a special right or advantage or immunity,
granted or available only to a particular person or group
of people. If you have privilege, you have
immunity. You have advantages over other
people because of the privileges you have, something that can
be regarded as an opportunity and something that brings pleasure
that other people don't experience. Now, all that being said, what people of privilege are
the children of God? And you want to talk about privilege.
what privilege there is to the people who are the children of
God. And let me also say this. There's
no unfairness about this because the people that do not have this
privilege don't want it. They don't want to be saved by
grace. They don't want Christ to be
all. As a matter of fact, they've
rejected him as all. They don't want all the glory
to go to Christ or all the glory to go to God. So you can't look
upon this as unfair. Well, how could it be fair for
these people to not get what they don't want anyway? It's
not that way at all. Now, let's look at this passage
of scripture that I read in Ephesians chapter two. And remember this.
The privilege we're thinking of now is an infinite privilege. Much, all the privileges of the
world, it's all going to burn. It's all going to vanish. It's
not going to last. It's just temporary. But what infinite
privilege, what infinite blessing there is to be a saint, to be
a member of the household of God, to be in his family. And look in verse 19, Paul says
to these Ephesian believers who were Gentiles, he says, now,
therefore, you are no more strangers and foreigners. You were, you
were a stranger and you were a foreigner. A stranger is one
who has no knowledge of or share in something. An unbeliever has
no knowledge of, they have no share in Christ. Don't want one. They're happy that way. They're
strangers to grace. I turned the TV on this morning
to listen to the TV message. There was a fellow I talked to
last night and he said he's going to watch it. And I thought, well,
I want to see what it is he's hearing. And I was listening to it and
I thought, It'll be a strange language to him unless God is
pleased to make himself known. It'll just be a strange language.
It'll be a foreign language. He won't understand. Now, God
can make him understand, but when the unbeliever hears the
gospel, it's a strange language. He doesn't understand it. He
doesn't believe it. He doesn't rejoice in it. He
said, but you're no longer strangers. You're no longer foreigners.
A foreigner is one who does not have the rights of citizenship.
Now there are people living in this country right now that don't
have certain rights that people who are citizens have. Now he
says, you're no longer that way. You're no longer a stranger and
a foreigner. Look in verse 13 of chapter two. I'm sorry, verse 11. Wherefore
remember, that you being in time past Gentiles in the flesh who
were called uncircumcision by that which is called circumcision
in the flesh made by hands, that at that time you were without
Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers
from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God
in the world. Now that is the description of
the experience of the unbeliever. No hope without God in the world. And back to our text in verse
19. Now, therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners. It's not that way anymore. You're
fellow citizens with the saints and you are of the household
of God. You are a part of God's family. You have God as your father.
And oh, what all is involved in that. You have Christ as your
savior. You have all the privileges of
citizenship, fellow citizens with the saints. Now this is
true of every believer. You're a saint. You know what
that means? That means you're holy. That's all the word means. God looks at you. You see yourself
as sinful, I realize that, but when God looks at you, you know
who he sees and how he sees is how it really is. This is not
pretend. This is how it really is. When
he sees every believer, he sees a saint, a holy one, justified,
standing before the holy law of God without guilt, having
never sinned, redeemed, all your sins are paid for and gone. You've been given a new nature,
a holy nature. That's why you see your sin the
way you do. You've been given a new nature. You're preserved
by God. The reason you don't fall away
is because he preserves you. You're gonna be in heaven eternally,
perfectly conformed to the image of Christ. You're a fellow citizen
with the saints. That's every believer. That's
not a particular group or a special group. This is the least of God's
people. They're all the same, aren't
they? You know, you see one believer who seems more consistent in
his life than another believer, and we want to be that way. But
how come? It's grace that's made the difference,
isn't it? Oh, to grace, how great a debtor daily I'm constrained
to be. Fellow citizens, you're not a
stranger anymore. You're not a foreigner anymore.
There's nothing holding you off. You have all the privileges of
sonship, of the household of God, a saint of God. Verse 20. Here's what it says
next. And are built not upon your building. The word is actually in the passive
voice. You're passive in this. Well,
who does the building? Well, what'd the Lord say to
Peter? I say unto you, thou art Peter
and upon this rock will I build my church. Christ is the builder
of the church. And if you're built, It's because
He built you. I love what He said, if you think
about it. I say to you, thou art Peter,
and upon this rock will I build my church. Now what is the rock?
Peter's confession of Christ. You remember in Matthew 16, whom
say men that I the Son of Man am? And they put him in some
pretty high cotton. Well, some say Jeremiah, some
say Elijah, some say one of the prophets. But you know what everybody,
a natural man does? They always make out Christ to
be less than he is, every time. They put you in some high cotton
and some people may consider this a compliment, but it's degrading
to the person of the glorious Christ. And the natural man always
brings him down to a level he can understand. But then the
Lord said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, whom say ye
that I am? Peter said, thou art that Christ,
the son of the living God. Blessed are you, Simon Barth,
gentlemen. You know what that means to you?
Privileged are you. Privileged are you. Oh, what
privilege. If you really believe that Jesus
is the Christ, the Son of the living God, how blessed you are. Blessing blood didn't reveal
that to you, but my Father, which is in heaven. And notice what
he says in verse 20, you are built upon the foundation of
the apostles, New Testament and prophets, Old Testament, same
foundation, Jesus Christ himself. This is the foundation of Peter
and Paul and John. and Abel and Abraham, Jacob,
Isaac, Moses, Samuel, David, any saint of the Old Testament,
any saint of the New Testament, same foundation, Jesus Christ
himself. I love that. Jesus Christ himself. Other foundation can no man lay
than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now what's the most important
part of a house? Everybody in here knows the answer
to that question, or we ought to know, the foundation. The
foundation. That's by far the most important
aspect of a house. The superstructure goes up on
the foundation. And you know the parable that
the Lord gave of the two foundations. Kids sing about it. The wise
man built his house upon the rock. The foolish man built his
house upon the sand. But you think what the Lord said?
He said there was a man that put up his house upon the sand,
not on a foundation. On Christ the solid rock I stand,
all other ground is sinking sand. And perhaps that edifice looked
great. Maybe he had more money to invest into it because he
didn't invest any money in the foundation of that building.
and the superstructure was up, and then the rains come down,
the floods come up, the winds blow, and great was the collapse
of that house. All the trials that God sends,
the floods that come up, the winds blowing, it collapses,
it doesn't last. Why? It's not on the foundation. That's why. And then the wise
man, built his house upon the rock. He dug deep to make sure
it was upon a rock, upon the foundation. And what happened
to the wise man? The same rains that came down,
the same floods that came up, the same wind that blew, didn't
knock down his house. It didn't collapse. Why? Because
it was on the foundation. Now every believer, they're not
part on the foundation and part off, the weight of their soul
is wholly upon the Lord Jesus Christ. He is my foundation. The only reason I won't be swept
away and collapse is because He is my foundation. Now let's
look at some scriptures about this. Turn to Isaiah chapter
8. Isaiah chapter eight, verse 14. And he, the Lord Jesus Christ
shall be for a sanctuary, a holy place. He shall be for a sanctuary. He shall be for holiness, but for a stone of stumbling
and for a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel for
a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Now
here we have this one, this rock who is a holy place, a sanctuary. The only place I want to be found.
Sanctuary is a safe place, a holy place, and the only holy place
is in the Lord Jesus Christ. But you know what? Others are
going to find Him to be a stone of stumbling. They're going to
trip over Him. He's your holiness? What about
what you do? Why, you're saying that your
actions and your conduct are of no consequence. Why, this
is going to lead people to sin to think this one is your holiness. Your only place of holiness is
in him. That's going to lead people to
sin. The only reason you feel that
way is because he's not your sanctuary. If He's your sanctuary, oh, which
is He to you? A sanctuary or a stone of stumbling,
a scandal, a rock of offense? Look in Isaiah chapter 28, verse
16. Therefore, thus saith the Lord
God, behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation. And this is God's
work. Aren't you glad he's the one
who lays the foundation? Well, I laid my foundation. Well,
if I laid the foundation, I'm in trouble. I didn't do a good
job at it. Something's going to go wrong.
But he says, I lay this foundation. This is his work. Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation,
a stone, a tried stone. This is tested. This works. 100% success rate. This works.
A precious. I love this word precious. A
precious cornerstone. He's precious to God. He's precious
to the believer. A precious cornerstone. Now,
what's a cornerstone then? A cornerstone joins two walls
together. That's what its purpose is. It's
to bring two walls together. And you could say that Christ
is the cornerstone that brought Jew and Gentile together, but
I don't think that's the real meaning. He's brought man and
God together. He's brought men into union with
God in its person. Somebody says, explain that to
me. Can't do it. don't feel the need to. It's just too glorious
to explain. Just believe. Just believe. He
is that tried precious cornerstone that brings men to God. A sure foundation. A sure foundation. And he that
believeth shall not make haste. Turn to Matthew Chapter 21. This is after the Lord had given
them the parable of the workers in the vineyard who sought to
destroy the owner of the vineyard. And here is how they respond
when the, verse 40, when the Lord, therefore, of the vineyard
cometh, what will he do unto those husbands? They say unto
him, he will miserably destroy those wicked men and will let
out his vineyard unto other husbands, men which render him their fruits
and their seasons. Jesus saith unto them, and we
saw this this morning, this is the Lord's slam on them. Did
you never read in the scriptures? I love it when the Lord says
that. Of course they've read every word in the Bible. But
he said, evidently you missed this one. Huh, did you never
read in the scriptures? The stone which the builders
rejected. The same has become the head
of the corner. This is the Lord's doing, and
it's marvelous in our eyes. Now, don't miss this. This is the stone which the builders
rejected. You know, when we think of privilege, we think, well,
how could it be fair? for God to reveal this stone to some
and not to others. Now, wait a minute. The builders
rejected this stone willfully. They saw exactly who he is, and
they said, we want no part of it. We don't want this Messiah.
We don't want this Christ. We don't want this king. We don't
want this Lord. We don't want this salvation.
They rejected it. They looked him over, and they
rejected him. So don't anybody say, well, poor,
they're not getting the privilege the other people have. No, the
Lord's not giving them what they don't want anyway. So don't look
at it that way. The stone which the builders
rejected, the same has become the head
of the corner. And I love, this is a quotation
from Psalm 118, this is the Lord's doing. And it is marvelous in our eyes. And when you say this stone and
you understand he's the one men have rejected, And really, if
you have a stone that the natural man doesn't reject, you got the
wrong stone. This is the stone that the natural man has rejected,
but the Lord has made him the head of the corner. This is the
Lord's doing. And it's marvelous in our eyes. Turn with me for a moment to
first Peter chapter two. You see, this is a big theme
in the scripture. Well, it's the thing. I shouldn't say it's
a big thing. It's the only message. Christ
Jesus has the only foundation. First Peter chapter two, verse
four, to whom coming as unto a living
stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious. Now, this could very well be
the best description of what a believer is and what a believer
does. Right here. To whom coming. Now, when you commenced your
spiritual life, you know what you did? By the grace of God,
you came to Christ. and you came to Christ for all. You knew as best as you could
that your only hope of salvation is that He is all in salvation
and that all God requires of you, He looks to Christ for. And you know how you've kept
going spiritually in your life? Same way. To whom coming? You come to Him for all. And your last breath is where
you're going to be. Christ is all in my salvation. Christ is all, all to the father,
all to me. Now that's the way to whom coming
as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, rejected by men. You see such glory in him and
no natural man sees any beauty in him. Or they might feel comfortable
with the Christ they've invented, the Jesus of their own making. But I'm talking about the Lord
of the Scripture, the Lord of the Bible. Men have rejected
Him. They don't like what they hear. I repeat once again, don't get
into this thing of how could it be fair for God to save one
and pass by the other. You ought to know how it'd be
fair for him to pass by you. And isn't it glorious that he
has made himself known to you? What privilege, what blessing. Now this Christ is disallowed
indeed of men, but he's chosen of God. Like I said this morning,
if you want to understand election, begin here. He's God's choice. And the reason you're chosen
is you're in Him. It's not some arbitrary choice.
It's not some choice, well, He foresaw I'd believe, or He foresaw
I'd repent, or I'd be a preacher, or I'd quit this and do that
and give this. No! Christ be my first elect,
He said. Then chose us in Him, our living
head. There's no understanding of election
if we don't always begin right here. Christ is the elect of
God. He is the chosen of God. And precious, precious to God. You, precious to the believer. You also as living stones, this
is talking about every believer, are built up a spiritual house. That's what the church is. And
holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God
by Jesus Christ. The only reason they're acceptable
to God is by Jesus Christ. I'm so thankful for those three
words in there. You offer spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God, but what if it didn't say by Jesus Christ?
You'd start thinking about what all you need to do, but the only
reason they're acceptable is by Jesus Christ. Verse six, wherefore
also it's contained in the scripture, and we've already quoted this
from Isaiah, Behold, I lay in Zion, a chief cornerstone, elect,
precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Shall not be put to shame is
what the word means. If I had to stand before God in any way, other than his life. I'd be so ashamed. I'd be so ashamed. But that one
who believes on Christ will have nothing to be ashamed about.
A perfect life, perfect righteousness, justification. Verse 7. you therefore which believe, he is precious. Amen. And to you that believe, he is
precious, precious in his life, precious in his death, precious
in his resurrection, precious in his Ascension back to the
Father, precious in his intercession, representing every believer,
all to you that believe. Here's one thing all believers
have in common. He is precious. But unto them which be disobedient,
they don't believe the gospel. The stone which the builders
rejected and disallowed That same one is made the head of
the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, scandal,
even to them which stumble at the word being disobedient, whereunto,
don't miss this, whereunto also they were appointed. Now somebody says, What's that
mean? How many different ways are there
to take it? It means exactly what it says. Are you saying God is the author
of their destruction? No, they rejected the stone. They hated the stone. But this
passage of scripture says the same thing that the Lord said
to Pharaoh. Even for this same purpose have
I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, that my
name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath
he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will, he hardens. Now, these men who reject the
gospel, you know what? I'll be honest with you. I wouldn't want it to be any
other way. God really is God. Whatever he does is right. Whatever
he does is just. Whatever he does is holy. Whatever
he does is true. And I'm not going to apologize
for what the Lord says. I'm not going to try to explain
it away. Whereunto also they were also appointed. But you are a chosen generation. Now let's go back to Ephesians
chapter 2. Verse 21, In whom, in the Lord Jesus Christ,
all the building fitly framed, together groweth unto a holy
temple in the Lord. Now in Christ, all the building
is fitly framed. perfectly joined together in
the place where the Lord has placed them. You're in the place,
fitly framed in the building. I'm in the place, fitly framed
in the building where the Lord has placed me. I don't want to
be anywhere else. Do you? You know, people, I hear
preachers talk about the failure of the church. The church is
failing and the church has got too much worldliness in it. Not
this church. Not this church. Now every one
of us will say there's too much worldliness in me and there's
too much sin in me. I realize that. We're hypocrites if we
don't say something like that. There's too much unbelief in
me. I could just go a litany of lists
of things that I could say. But with regard to God's church,
perfect, holy, sanctified, cleansed, no spot or wrinkle or any such
thing. So when I hear preachers talk
about the failures of the church, not the church I'm in, perfect. It's a church that never shrinks. It's a church that never grows
in the sense of numerically, but it does grow up in the Lord. It's a spiritual growth and it's
the perfect church. You know, When people say, well,
I need to leave that church, there's just too much sin and
disobedience going on in that church, you are a hypocrite for saying
anything like that. That's all that can be said.
Somebody that makes that kind of statement, you're being a
hypocrite, nothing more. The church that the Lord loves
and gave himself for is perfect. Perfect, fitly framed. You know
who did the framing? The Lord. He's the one who builds
the church. And it's perfect. Now what a
privilege it is to be a part of this church in whom all the
building, and it's also called the body of Christ in Ephesians
chapter four, verse 16, for whom the whole body fitly joined together. Not only is the building, it's
the body of Christ, the mystical body of Christ. in whom all the
building fitly framed groweth up, groweth unto an holy temple
in the Lord. The church is the temple of God.
You know, when I hear preachers talking about they're gonna rebuild
a temple when the Lord returns, I think, why would you even think
something like that? The temple's not a physical temple.
The temple is the church, the people of God. And look what
he says in verse 22, even more amazing. In whom you also, every
single believer without exception, in whom you also are builded
together for what? What? A habitation, a dwelling
place of God through the Spirit. Christ in you, by His Spirit,
the hope of glory. Every believer is a dwelling
place of God. That is by virtue of their union
with Christ. Ephesians chapter 5, verse 31,
when he's talking about marriage and the two becoming one flesh,
he says, I speak a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ
and the church. The church is one with the Lord
Jesus Christ. God dwells in Christ. The church
dwells in Christ. The habitation of God through
the Spirit. Now, there's two things I'd like
to say about that. First, and I say this fearfully,
and I say this asking the Lord for mercy, but you being a habitation
of God through the Spirit, me being a habitation of God through
the Spirit, how evil sin is in me. How evil sin is in you. The dwelling place of God Oh,
how I long for that day when, as we're just saying, sin and
sense will molest no more. How evil sin is in a believer. I know there are those who say
when they hear the message of grace that, well, that makes
sin okay. No, it makes it worse. It makes it worse. Here's the second thing I'd like
to say, talking about privilege. Fellow citizens with the saints, members of the household of God,
being in the family of God, built upon the foundation, Jesus Christ
himself. And he's the one who did the
building. having all of your weight pressing upon this glorious
foundation, and you really believe that Christ is all in your salvation,
you rest wholly on Him, you don't stick a finger outside of the
foundation. Just like if you were in a house with the blood
over the door when the Lord was coming through to smite the land,
would you stuck a finger out the window? No, you just simply
want to be in the house, laying on the foundation. being fitly
framed, growing up to a holy temple of the Lord. Talking about
privilege. A habitation of God through the
Spirit. Talking about privilege. My only response, why me? Why me? Even so, Father, For
so it seemed good in thy sight. Let's pray. Lord, how we fearfully praise thee and thank
thee for giving us such privilege. Lord, we ask for forgiveness of sinning in light of such privilege. And we ask for grace to live
as people of such privilege. Lord, thank you that we're no
longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the
saints of thy household. being built upon Jesus Christ.
Lord, we confess He is all in our salvation. We confess, Lord,
He is precious. We know He's precious to you,
and He's precious to us. And we give thanks for your gospel.
Lord, bless us for the Lord's sake. In His name we pray. Amen. Dwight, what do you got
for Clifton here? Good. 186. Stand and sit.