Let us turn to Ephesians chapter
2. Ephesians chapter 2 and verse
17. And came and preached peace to
you which were afar off and to them that were nigh. For through
him we both have access by one spirit unto the Father. Now,
therefore, you are no more strangers and foreigners, but 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 an holy temple in the Lord, in
whom you also are builted together for inhabitation of God through
the Spirit. This second chapter of Ephesians
is such a beautiful passage of scripture. It begins where we
all begin when we come into this world, spiritually dead in trespasses
and sins. And as the Apostle Paul Writing
to Titus said this about our condition, we were hateful and
hating one another. Then by God's rich mercy, his
amazing grace, and his great love, we are showered with so
many great blessings. Now think about what the psalmist
wrote in one of the Psalms. He said, I called upon the Lord
in distress. The Lord answered me and set
me in a large place. He set me in a large place. And another one of the Psalms,
which reads almost the same with this exception, he set me in
a wealthy place. That's where all believers, all
who know the Lord Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior." That's
where we are set tonight, in a large place, a large and a
wealthy place with benefits abounding. Now, the apostle, as I've pointed
out, is writing this letter of the Ephesians, mainly to Gentile
believers who he addressed as being far off, that is, being
aliens from the commonwealth, the nation of Israel, and strangers
from the covenants of promise. When we think of the various
covenants that are revealed in the Old Testament, the covenant
with Noah, They knew nothing about this covenant, the covenant
with Abraham. They knew nothing about that
covenant, the covenant that God made with the nation of Israel
at Sinai, the covenant that God made with David concerning his
son who would reign upon his throne forever and ever. These
Gentiles living in this world Without the word of God, not
being a part of the nation of Israel, they were strangers to
all of these covenants, covenants of promise. And because of that,
they were in this world having no hope, no hope whatsoever. And we saw last time that to
be without Christ is to be without God. And to be without Christ
is to be without hope. The Lord Jesus Christ alone has
changed all of this. Now we are set in this large,
wealthy place, those of us who know Christ tonight, those of
us here, and those who join with us by means of the streaming.
Have you ever thought about that, that the Lord has set us in a
large, wealthy place? It has to be a large place because
there's so many blessings. So many benefits that He showers
upon His people. Now we're going to look at these
verses that I've just read, verses 17 through 22, and we see many
of these blessings mentioned here. First, peace, in verse
17. And came and preached peace to
you, which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. Now I ended the message last
time with this verse, but I wanted to mention it again. The subject
of the verse is the Lord Jesus Christ, but you've got to go
back. You've got to go back to verse
16 to find it. And that he, that is Christ,
might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross. having slain the enmity thereby,
and he came, he is understood, he is a subject, came and preached
peace to you which were afar off. I want you to look back with
me to a verse in Isaiah 57. Isaiah 57 and verse 19. Isaiah 57 and verse 19, we read,
I create the fruit of the lips, peace, peace to him that is far
off and to him that is near, saith the Lord, and I will heal
him. So we say that this was prophesied,
the calling of the Gentiles. their calling had been prophesied
of old. Those who were near refers to
the nation of Israel, those who were far off to Gentile nations. Now in this passage in Ephesians,
the apostle has spoken of the Israelites as those near and
the Gentiles as those being far off. The Lord Jesus Christ alone
gives us peace or reconciles us to God. He brings peace, we
saw this last time, but let me remind us, he is the one who
creates peace between Jews and Gentiles. They were at odds with
each other, the Jews and all the Gentile nations. And we saw
what it was that caused that division, that wall of division
was the law that God had given to Israel at Mount Sinai that
kept them separate from the other nations. And that enmity that
produced, that enmity between these two nations, or actually
one nation and all the other nations, was produced and that
enmity It was produced by the law which separated the nation
of Israel, and that enmity, we are told, was slain by the Lord
Jesus Christ. In other words, by His sacrifice
upon the cross, He took those laws of commandments, which were
written and were against us, and He blotted them out with
His blood, nailing them to His cross. in the temple there in
Jerusalem. At the time when our Lord was
here, there was a place, there was a wall. Actually, I believe
there was three places in the temple, but there was a wall.
Now, Gentile proselytes could come into the temple, but only
so far. They could only come so far.
And they have found, they've excavated plaques that were there
at that time evidently which warned Gentiles upon the punishment
of death if they passed over that line. You remember in the
book of Acts when Paul, they accused him of bringing a Gentile
into the temple. And that's what started him on
his journey towards Rome when he was saved by that Roman centurion
because they drugged him out of the temple and were going
to kill him. And that Roman centurion came
in with his army and saved Paul and Paul eventually appealed
to Caesar. And so he was on his way to Rome.
But it was all because they said, He's defiled our temple because
He's brought a Gentile. Can you imagine that? That He
would bring a Gentile into our temple, defiling our temple. Oh, that enmity was slain by
the blood of the cross. Peace, what I'm speaking of here,
He came and preached peace to them that were far off and to
them that were not, to the Gentiles and to the Jews. And he brings
peace between these that were at enmity, because the enmity
was slain in his body. But more importantly than that,
and that's very important, isn't it, that there be peace among
the nations. But more importantly than that
is that there be peace between God and us. And He also slew
that enmity, making peace by the blood of His cross. But this
verse tells us, and also pointed out, that He makes us peaceable. Those whom He saves, we become
peaceable. A man may be as rough as he can
be, until the Lord Jesus Christ saves him, and then immediately
by the fruit of the Spirit coming into his life, he begins to produce
the fruit of the Spirit, which is peace in that person. That
doesn't mean he's perfectly peaceful, but that's the bent of the man's
life, a saved man, is to live peaceably with everyone that
we possibly can, as much as is within us. We don't want to be
at enmity with any person. Now you say, but if the subject
of this verse is, in verse 17, is the Lord Jesus Christ, how
did he preach to those who were far off? Remember in Romans,
the Apostle Paul tells us that he was a minister to the circumcision. And he himself told that Syrophoenician
woman, I'm not sent, but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And he commanded his disciples
when he sent them out first, not to go into the way of the
Gentiles, but to keep themselves among the Jews. Well, then how did he preach
peace to those who were far off? He did so through his apostles,
who immediately after his resurrection, he commanded them to wait in
Jerusalem until they received power, God the Holy Spirit being
poured out upon believers, upon the church, and then they were
dispersed and to go into all the world, preaching the gospel
to all creatures, both Jew and Gentiles. And He said this to His disciples,
He that heareth you, heareth Me. And he that despiseth you,
despiseth Me. And he that despiseth Me, despiseth
him that sent Me. So the Lord Jesus Christ, He
continues even to today preaching through the man that he calls
and sets apart to the ministry of preaching the gospel. And
if we're going to hear him, we're going to hear him through a man. How shall they hear without a
preacher? That's what the Apostle asks
in Romans chapter 10, isn't it? How shall they believe in him
of whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a
preacher? How beautiful are the feet? Thank God for preachers,
for men that God calls and gives a message and commands them to
proclaim peace, to publish peace among all men who will lay down
their arms, quit fighting against God, and surrender to his claims. So that's the first thing we
see here. This large place where He sets us is the place where
we enjoy peace. Peace with God, peace with other
nations, and peace in our own hearts. All right, notice the
second thing. We have access unto the Father,
in verse 18. For through Him, that is through
Christ, we both, both Jew and Gentile, we both have access
by one Spirit unto the Father. We have this access through the
Lord Jesus. He has satisfied God's law and
justice for us, and He has removed our sins, taking them away. He has brought in an everlasting
righteousness, and He has removed everything, everything that would
hinder us in coming to the Father. When He died upon the cross and
He cried, It is finished, that veil in the temple there was
rent in twain, showing that the way into the most holy place,
into the presence of God Almighty, the Father, we have access. This verse here speaks of the
Trinity, doesn't it? It tells us that we have access
through Him, that is, through the eternal Son made flesh, the
Lord Jesus Christ, by the Spirit. And we have access to the Father.
So we see each person in the Godhead in this verse of Scripture. We have this access. Now notice,
access to the Father through the Son. There's one mediator
between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. There's no going
to the Father by way, a round way. No, there's one way, and
that is through His Son, whom He has sent into this world. But it's by the Holy Spirit. We have this access by one Spirit,
that is the Holy Spirit. He's the Spirit of adoption.
We cry, Abba, Father. Why? Because the Holy Spirit
lives in our heart. He has come to live in our hearts,
and we cry Abba, Father. We have that privilege. That
word Abba is the word for father, the Arabic, I believe, Arabic
word for father. But the important thing is, it
was only used by one of the children. A man might have a large household,
he might have servants and others that was in his household, but
they would call him father, but they wouldn't call him Abba.
They wouldn't address him as Abba, because that was a term
of love and closeness. And we have that liberty, don't
we? By the spirit of God, when we pray, when we call upon the
name of the Lord, we may say Abba, father. Our Father. And He is the Spirit of liberty. Not only is He the Spirit, the
Holy Spirit is the Spirit of adoption. We're made sons of
God, but He gives us liberty. He's the Spirit of liberty and
prayer. We have liberty to make our requests
known unto God. And we have liberty to worship
God in spirit and in truth by God the Holy Spirit. So that's
a blessing there. We have access unto the Father. When we come here, gather here
tonight, we come with his promise that where two or three are gathered
together in his name, we come and we have liberty here to worship
God. And we need to always keep that
in our minds. We are here to worship God and
we have this liberty, this freedom. This blessed privilege of worshiping
him in spirit and in truth. Now notice the third thing is
citizenship. And the first part of verse 19.
Now, therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners, but
fellow citizens with the saints. Now being a citizen is to be
part of a particular entity. We use that term mainly with
the country. We are citizens of this country. But in history, we know that
many times to be a citizen was of a city even. I think of the
reformers like Calvin and Zwingli and those in Switzerland and
France, they were in particular cities. And people were citizens
of those cities. Well, we have this citizenship.
The Gentile believers that Paul wrote this letter to at first,
and that would include all of us, wouldn't it? Gentiles. We
had been strangers. Have you ever been a stranger
in a foreign country? I know some of you have. I have. And there's just something about
being a citizen of a country. You know you have a right to
be here. Even though you have visas and those papers granted
to you, but you're still a stranger. There are certain rights that
are granted only to those who are citizens. I've heard Brother
Groover, Walter Groover, tell how long, how many years it took
him to get a particular immigration form that he has now. and he's
happy to have it. But still, he's not a citizen. And there are things that are
reserved for citizens of that country that he cannot participate
in. And if you live in a foreign
country, you recognize those things maybe more than if you
don't. But here are these people, they've
been strangers. They've been strangers, they've
been aliens. That's what the word says. But now that's no
longer true. That's no longer true. Now they
are fellow citizens. They along with the saved of
those who are national Israel make up one nation. And that
is the Israel of God, the spiritual Israel of God. We may understand that this citizenship
refers to the truth that believers are members of the church, of
the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, the church like us here
tonight who are in this world, as well as the church who have
already been promoted to heaven. But we are members of, we're
citizens, members of this, of the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's referred to as a city in
several places. I want you to look with me to
Hebrews chapter 12. This is what the apostle who
wrote this letter is speaking of in Hebrews chapter 12. In
verse 22, But you, you believers, you who
trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are come unto Mount Zion,
and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,
and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly
and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven,
and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men
made perfect. and to Jesus, the mediator of
the new covenant. We've come to Mount Zion. We
are citizens of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in
Philippians chapter three and verse 20, I'll read it to
you, for our conversation and everyone that I've read after
over all these many years tell us that that word conversation
there could maybe better be translated citizenship. For our citizenship
is in heaven from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ. So he set us in a large place,
a wealthy place. We have peace with God. We have
access to the Father. We're not strangers. We're citizens
of this city of God. The fourth thing, the family
of God, the household of God. Look at the last part of verse
19. And of the household of God. Now some people would say, but
we're all part of the family of God. Well, yes, some people
would say that, but the Lord Jesus Christ didn't. He didn't
say that. Look with me in John chapter
8. You know, some people say a lot of
things. It doesn't make it so. Some people say, well, we're
all children of God. We're all part of the family
of God. The Lord Jesus Christ said this to some in his day,
in John chapter eight, in verse 42. He said, Jesus said unto
them, if God were your father, really? The household of God?
If he was your father, really? The first thing, he said, you
would love me. In John chapter 14, he said,
he that loveth me is he that hath my commandments and keepeth
them. If you were my, if God was your
father, you would love me. If you don't love Christ, you
don't love the father. Look, read on. You would love
me for I proceeded forth and came from God, neither came I
of myself, but he sent me. Why do you not understand my
speech? Here's the reason, because you
cannot hear my word. Their ears were shut. They could
not hear. They could hear physically. They
were not all hearing impaired. No, they could hear the words,
the sounds, but they couldn't hear. That's the way all lost
men are. Can't hear and cannot see. Dead in trespasses and sin. You, now notice, people say,
well, we're all part of the family of God. You are of your father, the devil. Does that sound like they're
part of the family of God? Not to me. No, no. No. Back in our text, we are part
of the household of God, the family of God by faith in Christ. Look over in Ephesians 3, chapter
3, verses 14 and 15. Here's the beginning of a prayer,
a second prayer in this letter. Paul says, For this cause I bow
my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the
whole family in heaven and earth is named. Oh, isn't it wonderful
to be a member of the family of God, a household of faith? have God as our Father. All right,
let's go back. There's one more thing, the fifth
thing here in this passage. And that is in this large place,
this wealthy place, we are living stones in a living building. Verses 20 through 22. 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 an holy temple in
the Lord, in whom you also are builted together for an habitation
of God through the Spirit. Consider these few things about
this living building, this spiritual temple, the church, of the Lord
Jesus Christ. First, Jesus Christ is the foundation
stone of this spiritual temple because we are told here we're
built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Who
is the foundation of the apostles and prophets? Christ. Those Old
Testament prophets, they prophesied of him. The apostles, they preached
to them. We're built upon the Lord Jesus
Christ, who is that foundation stone that God laid. Read about that in Isaiah chapter
28. Paul was able to tell the church at Corinth that he said,
other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which
is Jesus Christ. The foundation of the whole church. that we are members of, part
of, the foundation is Jesus Christ. We're built upon Him. And secondly,
Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone of this spiritual temple. Verse
20. He's the foundation stone. Think
of it like this. He's the foundation stone, and
He supports all the weight. The weight of the salvation of
all of the people who are part of this building were all founded
upon Christ. And yes, he's strong to bear
us up, to hold us up, to save us. But he's not only the foundation
stone upon which the whole building rests, but he's also the cornerstone. Now the cornerstone brings the
two sides together. The two sides are brought together,
and the Lord Jesus Christ is the one who brought the Jews
and the Gentiles together, the saints in heaven, the saints
upon earth. He's the one. The Old Testament
saints and New Testament saints, he's the cornerstone that brings
us all together. We're all united in him, in Christ. And third, Jesus Christ himself
is the builder of this spiritual temple. He said, upon this rock,
I will build my church. He's the one who builds the church. And fourth, Jesus Christ adds
living stones to this spiritual temple. We read that in 1 Peter
2 and verse 5. He is a stone who has life in himself, and
when a person is brought into union by faith with him, then
he becomes our life, and we become living stones. We're living stones
of this spiritual temple. And this spiritual temple, we're
told in verse 21, growing together. There's two ways this temple
grows. Every time God saves another one, it grows numerically. It
grows in number as the gospel is preached and God calls out
his elect. But also, those of us who are
members, those of us who are living stones in this spiritual
temple, we grow. We grow in grace and knowledge
of the Lord himself. And the sixth thing, this spiritual
temple is the dwelling place of God. God dwells in every believer. In 1 Corinthians 6 and verse
19, Paul tells us that our bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost. We're all individually temples
of the Holy Spirit. And a local church is a spiritual
temple of the local church. You see that in these two places. If you want to turn back to 1
Corinthians quickly. In 1 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 19, speaking to individuals
first. What? Know you not that your
body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you. That's
every believer. All right. Turn back to chapter
three of first Corinthians when he's addressing the church. The church as a whole, first
Corinthians three and verse 16, no, you not that you are the
temple of God and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you. God dwells
in every local church that is established upon Christ the solid
rock. And the last thing, the spiritual
temple will one day be completed. And we read in Zechariah that
when that last stone is added, it's going to be added with shouts
of, you know what it's going to be? Grace, grace. From the first stone, Whether
it was Abel, Adam, Eve, I don't know. But the first stone that
was added, it was by grace. And all along these millenniums,
as God has been building this temple, until the last one is
added, it's always by grace. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourself, it is the gift of God. Not of
works. lest any man should boast, for
we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. May the Lord bless this word
to all of us here tonight, and help us to grow, both numerically,
may the Lord add unto his church, and may the Lord help us to grow
individually in grace and knowledge of him. Let us sing a verse or
two of the closing hymn. We'll be dismissed with the singing
of the hymn.