No More Strangers and Sojourners

Introduction: Paul's Method and the Sermon's Scope

0:03 The prophet Isaiah speaking in the name of God says to this man will I look even to him who is a poor and contrite spirit and who trembles and who trembles at my word. May God give us that measure of holy reverence due to the creature in the presence of the word of his creator. As I read that word as found in Ephesians chapter 2 Ephesians chapter 2 and I shall read verses 19 through 22. So then ye are no more strangers and sojourners but ye are fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Christ Jesus himself.

1:05 Being the chief cornerstone in whom each several building or every part of the building or all that is building fitly framed together groweth into a holy temple in the Lord in whom ye also are builded together for a habitation of God in the spirit. Someone is supposed to have asked a humble country preacher. What was the secret of his great. Usefulness as a teacher and a preacher of his very humble country flock and the preacher is supposed to have said well the secret of my success from the human standpoint is that I first of all tell my people what I plan to tell them then I tell them what I said I was going to tell them and finally I tell them what I did tell them or I tell them what I told them.

2:07 In other words he marked out the course that he planned to traverse with them in the scriptures then he stuck to his road map and when he came to his destination he looked back to review where they had come from and where they presently were. May I suggest that Paul does that very thing in the paragraph that we have been studying now for a number of weeks Ephesians 2 verse 11 through verse 22. His great concern in this paragraph is to set forth the amazing grace of God. In bringing salvation to the Gentiles a salvation which is now incorporated the Gentiles into the visible family of God. Having described the grace of God as operative in the salvation of individuals Jews and Gentiles in verses 1 through 10. In.

3:09 This next and only other paragraph in the second chapter he is concerned to extol the grace of God not so much in individual salvation but in what that salvation is done in bringing Gentiles into the visible community of God's people and the manner in which he does does this is after describing the native condition of the Gentiles in verses 11 and 12. He tells them. What he plans to tell them in verses 13 and 14 a he says now my great theme is the work of God in Christ Jesus taking those that are a far off and making them nigh through his own blood on the basis of who Christ is and what he has done he says now that's where I'm going to take you then in verses 14 through 18 that's precisely what he does. He tells.

4:09 Them by what means those who were a far off had been made nigh he tells them by what process they have been incorporated into the one family of God having then told them what he planned to tell them having actually told them in verses 14 through 18 he now in verses 19 through 22 tells them the implications of what he's already told them that's what he's going to tell them. By the statement begins so then it's what is called in our English language a logical particle the word that he uses here so then means in consequence of in the light of all that I have told you this is the grand conclusion if you haven't gotten the message as I've told you what Christ has done in becoming our peace. This then is the summons.

5:09 Substance of all that I have previously set before you and so versus 19 through 22 are in reality the grand conclusion of everything that is gone before he is giving us the consequences of the truth already expounded and in these verses then he gives us this tremendous statement concerning the status of all believers by the grace of God. But in particular the status of the Gentiles now precisely how does he do this well the first thing he does is to tell them he are no more strangers in sojourners and so the former status has been negated he are no more then he goes on to describe and expound their present status but he are and he has three points to his exposition.

6:09 He says you are first of all full citizens of the city of God fellow citizens with the saints secondly you are equal members of the family of God and of the household of God and thirdly he says you are living stones in the temple or dwelling place of God and so the paragraph concludes with this tremendous statement in which the former status. Is negated he are no longer the present status is expounded but he are members of the city of God members of the family of God integral parts of the temple of God then having mentioned that third great privilege temple of God Paul then takes off on one of those sanctified not diversions but opening up of this great theme.

7:09 The nature of this temple how we come to be parts of it what is that temple like and that will take a second exposition my concern this morning is simply to expound what the apostle tells us concerning the negation of the former status and then the main aspects of the present status which is the privilege of God's people now having told you then where I hope to go. Now begin to go in that direction first of all then the former status negated so then you are no longer strangers and sojourners now to whom is he speaking when he says you. Well it's obvious that he has in mind primarily the Gentile segment of the church at Ephesus. Because previously these Gentiles were described in verses 11.

The Former Status Negated: No More Strangers and Sojourners

8:11 In this way remember that once he the Gentiles in the flesh were at that time separate from Christ alienated from the commonwealth of Israel strangers from the covenants of the promise in the previous thought patterns he described the Gentiles as aliens and strangers. Now he says. That former status is negated so then you Gentiles are no longer strangers and sojourners in your former status you were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and it's the same root word in the original when he speaks of them now being constituted fellow citizens. They were strangers from the covenants of the promise.

9:11 Without hope and without God but now the very people whom he has previously described as having access to the one God as father in the spirit and through Christ he says that condition of being strangers and sojourners is negated. Now let's spend a moment on those two words that form the essence of the former status which is now negated. He says to these people you are no longer strangers. Now what does the word stranger mean?

9:50 Well basically the word stranger was the word used to describe one who was visiting from another country.

9:59 When it was my privilege to go to Pakistan last spring I came to that country as a stranger. I was tolerated for a time given some protection while there. But I had no roots in the country I had no intimacy with its culture with its way of life I was conscious that I was a stranger I heard this strange language continually long to hear a sentence or two in English sometimes for hours on end hearing nothing but Urdu I was very very conscious that I was a stranger. Others were conscious I was a stranger I felt that stare continuously.

10:41 Continually during the entire stay during the past week Mr. Spence was a stranger in Paris Mr. Emmerich who's visiting with us today from out in Phoenix he was a stranger in England. We have among us today some strangers people who are passing through from another country have no residence here they are simply here for a brief stay.

11:04 The non-resident alien would be the most accurate way to describe it in contemporary jargon. Now Paul says. You are no longer such strangers who could only as it were have passing contact with the visible people of God you remember the queen of Sheba she heard this tremendous story these tremendous stories of what God had done for the nation of Israel the might and the glory of the kingdom under Solomon and she came as a stranger to observe it but she was not welcome to stay to make that her home she went back. To her heathen kingdom Paul says you know are you are no longer in the posture and position of strangers and furthermore he says you are no more sojourners now the sojourner had more advantages than the stranger the word literally means such as live beside others this describes the licensed sojourner whose protection and status were secured by the payment of a small tax.

12:12 You go back to Pakistan all the while I was there I was with my friend Hugh Gordon now he's not a stranger in Pakistan he has spent the majority of his days there for the past 10 years he is a resident alien not a stranger but a sojourner in the sense of the meaning of this word in the original it is his home it is the place of his dwelling it is the place where he carries on most of his activity but. He does not have the peculiar acceptance and privileges afforded only to the citizens of that country if there were to be a war between Canada and Pakistan immediately he would be evicted from the country as the bearer of a Canadian passport we have among us such resident aliens you've chosen for one reason or another to make America the place where you live where you conduct your business.

13:12 But you hold a passport or a visa or some entrance permit from another country you are a resident alien now Paul by this beautiful combination of words says here is the status that has utterly been negated through union with Jesus Christ you Gentiles are no more strangers those who can only as it were passed by the borders of the city of God and the nation of God. To observe what God has done furthermore you are more than just sojourners who as proselytes have some rights to enter certain precincts of the visible temple of God but you must not go beyond the court of the Gentiles he says this former status has been utterly completely and finally negated. You are no longer. And from henceforth shall. Never again be.

14:15 Strangers. And sojourners. Now isn't it interesting when Paul would expound something of the glory of the present privilege of Gentiles with reference to the visible people of God he starts with the negative. For the simple reason that grace always comes with its negations as well as its impartations if any man be in Christ.

14:42 He is a new creation. The old has passed. Negation. The new has come.

14:52 Impartation. And the work of God's grace always involves negation and impartation. Involves what God does away with and that which God graciously imparts. And even when the apostle is in areas that seem far removed from the subjected.

15:12 And the internal experience of the people of God he can never lose this perspective because he's constantly amazed at what the grace of God does for sinners both individually and collectively. And so speaking to the Gentiles as an ethnic entity for every single Gentile who now has access to the one God as father in the Holy Spirit and through Christ he says you are no longer strangers. You are no longer sojourners but and then we move to the present status expounded but ye are. He is concerned that they understand what has been negated but he is more concerned that they understand what has been imparted. And there are those who are always quick to say yes a Christian is no longer this this and that. And in the light of that he ought no longer. To do this this and that but we must never stop with the negative we must not seek to be so positive that we fail to appreciate the negations of grace.

The Present Status Expounded: An Abiding Reality

16:24 But we must not linger too long on the negations of grace for the amazing thing of the grace of God is not so much its negations but its impartations. And so the apostle very quickly saying ye are no longer strangers. In sojourners now turns our eyes upon the new status but ye are and he uses a form of the verb to indicate this is your abiding status there can never be any return to the other it is done it is passed it is behind you. What then is the substance of this present status. Why is he. Concerned to open it up in such profound concepts in such mixed metaphors this has been one of the most difficult sections in chapter two to sort out enough to preach on it because Paul jumps from the concept of the city or the commonwealth to the family to a temple and a temple that's growing and living and expanding and tremendous concepts all as it were thrown together you send something of the frustration I think of his own heart.

17:42 As he tries to lay out the glory and the wonder of the new status of the people of God but he does it nonetheless and why does he do it and before we look at the individual aspects of it I want you to grasp or make up a strong effort to grasp this principle and it is this true sanctification consists in the intelligent believing contemplation of what we are. And in the. Obedient orientation of the life. To those realities.

18:19 And some big words in there and it's a long sentence but hang in there I think you'll be able to sort it out. True sanctification. True Christian growth consists in what. It consists in the intelligent.

18:36 Starting with the mind. Believing. That is faith is involved. The intelligent believing contemplation.

18:46 Of what we are. By grace. And in the obedient orientation of life. To those realities.

18:57 After the apostle is opened up these glorious concepts in the first three chapters he says I beseech you therefore. To walk worthily of the calling wherewith ye have been called. I have been setting before you he says. That which ought to be the object.

19:17 Of intelligent believing contemplation. I've shown you that you were chosen in Christ. You have been redeemed in Christ. You've been sealed by the spirit through the virtue of the work of Christ.

19:33 You who were dead have been quickened through union with Christ. You've been incorporated into the one body of Christ. And having opened up these tremendous concepts. For what purpose?

19:45 For their intelligence. For the purpose of believing contemplation. He then begins to exhort them. To a lifestyle that will be an obedient orientation of all of life.

20:00 In the light of their privileges in grace. That's why he prays in chapter one. That God would give them the spirit of wisdom and revelation. To know what?

20:10 Not to know new mysteries. But to understand what is inherent in their having been called. What is inherent in their having been called. What is inherent in the inheritance that is already theirs.

20:23 When he's dealing with practical problems. How does he do it? What? Know ye not?

20:28 And then he goes on to expound what they've been constituted by grace. And having expounded it, he then says, now in the light of it, orient all of your life to those realities. If then you've been raised with Christ. That's the reality.

20:43 Shake the things that are above. Put to death therefore. You see? That's the scope of the whole New Testament doctrine of sanctification.

20:53 It is in the intelligent believing contemplation of what we are by grace that sanctification begins. But the fruit then of that contemplation must be the obedient orientation of all of life to those realities. So that's why the apostle goes to such pains. To describe for these gentile believers.

21:18 What they are now by the grace of God. He says, think upon this. You are no longer strangers, sojourners, but ye are. All right?

First Aspect: Fellow Citizens with the Saints

21:30 What are they? Well, first of all, he says, they are full citizens of the city or nation of God. And we'll look at these three things, seriatim. That is one by one in order.

21:42 In a business meeting, someone presents an agenda and someone says, well, we'll deal with them seriatim. One by one in the prescribed order. All right? What is the first then aspect of this present status?

21:56 He says, you are fellow citizens with the saints. Paul says, you are full citizens of the city or the nation of God. The word here is the same used in verse 12 where it's translated commonwealth. The word can mean citizenship or the same.

22:16 The word here is the same used in verse 12 where it's translated commonwealth. The word can mean citizenship or the citizenry. It can speak of the privilege of citizenship or that which the citizens constitute, being together in one city or nation, the commonwealth. And here it has just a little prefix, which means altogether.

22:34 So he's saying their present status is that of being together citizens, fellow citizens. He's reminding them that since the calling of God, they are full of the saints. They are full of the saints. It's like they're all together.

22:47 calling of Abraham and the formal organization of the nation of Israel under Moses, the covenant people of God have been a peculiar nation of God's possession. In Exodus 19, 5 and 6, God himself announces his intention to constitute Israel a nation, his nation the nation in whose presence he would dwell. Now within that nation, there was the true people of God. Not all Israel are of Israel, but it was proper in biblical language to speak of Israel as the nation of God, to speak of Zion, as we did in the psalm this morning, as the city of God. But you see, if you were to be considered a citizen of Zion, a citizen of that nation, there was only one way. You had to be a citizen of God. You had to be a citizen of God. You had to be a citizen of God. You had to be a citizen of God.

23:43 to become a Jew in every sense of the word that was humanly possible. Now, you could not go back and reconstruct your gene pool and have Abraham for your blood father. But if you were to become a full proselyte, you had to renounce everything that was peculiar to your Gentileness and adopt everything that was distinctive to Jewishness. But now the word of God tells us, the nation of God is not found bounded by those who are the earthly seed of Abraham, who belong to that earthly nation incorporated into nationhood under Moses.

24:25 But Peter says in 1 Peter 2.9, this tremendous statement defining what constitutes the true city of God and the true nation of God, ye are an elect race. A royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession. And to whom is he speaking?

24:48 He's speaking to all described in the first two verses. All of the sojourners of the dispersion who are elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, sanctified by the Spirit, brought unto sprinkling of the blood of Christ and into the orbit of gospel obedience. And so he calls it fellow citizens or describes them fellow citizens with the saints. And therefore the peculiar identifying title is no longer earthly seed of Abraham, but the saints.

25:30 This precious little word used some 60 times in the New Testament. A few times it refers to angels. But the over, underwhelming usage is that in which it is describing the people of God as the haggios, the ones who are separated unto God. The ones who are marked off from the world and now constitute that walled city of spiritual Zion.

25:58 For remember, this was the peculiarity, one of the peculiarities of cities in those days. They were identifiable entities. They had walls around them. And if you were a, a part of that city, you were within the walls and had rights and privileges to everything within the walls.

26:14 Those who were not part of that commonwealth were outside the walls. Listen to what the apostle says. You Gentiles, who were walled out for centuries, walled out of the orbit of God's primary dealings, shut up in the terrible darkness of heathendom. You who are walled out from the special, special places of access in the visible dwelling place of God, the temple of God.

26:44 You who had no access to the tabernacle and to the temple. You who were regarded as utter aliens, who could only have the privilege of the passing stranger or perchance even the resident alien, but who could never, never be a full-fledged citizen. Oh, you Gentiles, listen to what grace has done. You are fellow citizens with the Savior, with the holy ones.

27:11 And who are they? Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and all the lesser known true Israel of God in the Old Testament. All of the redeemed through the new and all those that shall yet be gathered unto the Savior. You remember this imagery is set forth very vividly in Hebrews chapter 12.

27:34 Speaking of the privileges of the things to which we come, in the way of gospel faith, the writer to the Hebrews says in Hebrews chapter 12, first of all, the negation, ye are not come, and then the positive, but ye are come, verse 22 of Hebrews 12, ye are come unto Mount Zion, unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable host of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, who are enrolled in heaven. Coming to Christ, we come to the city of God, and coming to that city, there's a sense in which we give up our passports, and we are declared full citizens of the city of God, full-fledged citizens of that holy nation.

28:36 Every other distinction is now swept away. Outside the gate, outside the gates of Zion, the city of God, there are Gentile sinners, there are Jewish sinners, there are cultured sinners, there are educated sinners, there are uneducated sinners, uncultured sinners, there are white sinners, there are black sinners, there are pagan sinners, there is every distinction imaginable. And outside the walls of Zion, those distinctions become the very basis of the divine, the deepest forms of human animosity and bitterness and suspicion and rancor, and every form of ungodliness. The Jew in his pride despising the Gentile dog, the Gentile dog despising the Jew in his pride, the educated looking down his nose at the uneducated, the uneducated despising the haughtiness and the lofty eyes of his educated friend, and every single thing that marks people off as distinct and definite entities becomes the occasion of a barrier to anything that even borders on unanimity and oneness and harmony. But now Paul says this is all done away with. You are no more strangers and sojourners, but fellow citizens with the saints.

30:06 And whatever things distinguish the full-fledged citizens within a country or a city, and there are many different degrees of intelligence and wealth and everything else, but that which is common to them all is most significant. Fellow citizens, everyone under the protectorate of the governor, everyone within the orbit of the privileges of the citizens within the walls, and the apostle is concerned to sweep away from the minds of these Gentiles all the thoughts, all the thoughts that had accrued because of their status in the past when the Gentile was the dog outside the walls of Zion. Now the walls have been thrown open. King Jesus stands and everyone who comes in the posture of a humble suppliant pleading nothing but for his righteousness and his blood is issued full status upon entering the city of God. That's the first dimension of their new status, they are fellow citizens of the saints. And there's a sense in which according to Psalm 87, there's no way to have that citizenship but by birth.

31:25 This one and that one shall say he was born in her. And there is but one way to be found within the protection of Zion, city of God, and that's to be born in her, born not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of God, but of man, but of God. Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones in his commentary and sermons on this particular chapter called God's Way of Reconciliation has three chapters, chapters 26 through 28, simply dealing with the privileges of being a citizen.

Second Aspect: Equal Members of the Household of God

32:04 Well, it's not my purpose, you see, to draw this out into legitimate areas of expansion and application, but simply to point in the direction and trust that you will, by loving contemplation, think of your privileges as a citizen of the city of God. Secondly, he describes their present status as being one of equal members of the household of God. No more strangers and sojourners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and a literal translation would be household-members of God. Now, do you see the advancement in the Apostles' thought? As wonderful as are the privileges of citizenship, there's many a city where people wander about utterly lonely, with no sense of belonging. They cannot walk by one structure and say, that is my home. There is not one table to which they can come knowing that they are welcome in the bonds of familial love and intimacy.

33:20 And so the Apostle says now, Gentiles, do you think your status as full citizens is glorious? Let me tell you, not only are you no longer strangers and sojourners, but citizens, but you are equal members of the household of God. And how do we know this is true? Well, he said in verse 18, through him we both, Jew and Gentile, have our access in one spirit unto the Father, not the Father of Gentile Christians and the Father of Jewish Christians, but one Father.

34:00 And is it not that which constitutes a household a household, sharing a common parentage? Those who gather at my table gather because they share a common parentage. The woman who is my wife is the mother of the three children, and I am the father of the three children who sit at the table as full-fledged members of the Martin household. And so because there is but one Father, to whom both Jew and Gentile have access in the one spirit through the one mediator, this is evidence that God has constituted them one family.

34:41 And this word household is used in Galatians 6.10, the household of the faith. 1 Timothy 5.8, If any man provide not for his own, especially those of his own household.

34:54 You see, it speaks of family members. Now granted, within the family there is great diversity of abilities, appearances, temperament, growth, maturation, tremendous diversity. Some of us look at our children and wonder how in the world the same parents could have produced such diversity. Individuals.

35:15 There are times we scratch our heads and say, where in the world did that kid come from? We wonder. I have no particular member of my household in mind when I say that. I am simply speaking for the sake of illustration.

35:27 But I have said it, concerning more than one member of my household. Where did they come from? Tremendous diversity. Temperament and all the rest.

35:35 Because they are one household does not mean there are not relative responsibilities. Wives are to be lovingly submissive to husbands. Husbands are to lovingly rule. Children are lovingly to honor and obey.

35:47 Granted, all those distinctions are present, but again, as with the citizenship, it is the things that are in common that predominate and constitute the glory of our position. If they are a household, then they are all equally, equally under the canopy of the love of the head of the house, the protection, the provision, the government of the house, and the ministry of the house. But the most important thing of all is that they do not live with a family. They should live in a home where they will be successful and be successful in their lives. That is the most important thing. But what if we live with together the knowledge of God in a common around a common family circle of devotions and sharing. We laugh together. That's

36:52 my house. And the kid here who doesn't walk by the place where the family shows its constitution that doesn't say, that's my house. You may only be renting it. It's still his house.

37:03 Why? Because he's conscious that he shares in common with every member of the household all the privileges. Oh, do you catch something of the glory of this? Paul says, you are no longer strangers and sojourners who pay for a few nights stay in a motel. You ever anybody go by a motel and say, that's my house? Some of us who have to stay in motels don't find them very attractive.

37:27 Distant. No laughter of children. No smile of wife. No familiar odors of your own home. And in a stranger every home has its own odors even. You don't talk about that, but it's true. Someone could take you blindfolded into ten different homes of people in this church and you'd know you were in your own just by the smell of your own home. That's right.

37:47 Look what Paul says.

37:50 You are now household members of God. Speak the language of your own home. You're familiar with the smell of your own home. You sense when you're with the family of God.

38:06 You love the language. You love the government of that home. You love the house rules. You are members of the household of faith.

Third Aspect: Living Stones in God's Temple

38:17 And then thirdly, he advanced is now and mixes up his figures and changes them, but he didn't do so irrationally or illogically. He says in the third place, your new status is not only citizens of God's city, members of his family, but living stones in his temple or his sanctuary. Verse 20. Being built. The very ones who are citizens and household members. He now says are being built. And what are they being built upon and into? Two parallel phrases. Verse 21.

38:57 In whom each several building fitly framed groweth into a holy temple in the Lord in whom ye are built together for an habitation of God in the Spirit. The third aspect of their present status is bound up in these two parallel phrases he speaks of the temple holy in the Lord which is a better translation and an habitation of God in the Spirit. Now how in the world does he ever introduce this imagery from citizen and family member to living stones in a temple? Well apparently in the mentality and language in which Paul wrote and thought you had something very parallel to our own experience in English. For instance you pick up a paper and particularly on a Friday where they have a lot of real estate ads and there will be an ad saying beautiful homes on well wooded lots and there's some pictures of some physical structures and the term homes is used. We say that's a $50,000 home and while we're looking at that we may enter into conversation with someone who will say well you know I'm so grateful to God I came from a happy home. Now does he

40:24 mean that he lived in a dwelling that had a big smile button on the front door I came from a happy home or that had the shingles arranged in the form of a smile button on the roof? No, no we understand what he means. When we read and it says $50,000 homes on well wooded lots that's the home as structure when we say I came from a happy home that's the home in terms of what is within it. Now look at what Paul did. Notice having said that we are citizens within the walls of the city but more than that we are members of the home he moved then from the concept of the family to that which they are as dwelling from the household to the house itself and when he would contemplate the house of God he does so in mentality that is steeped in Old Testament imagery and I am convinced with some of the able commentators as well that he has the concept that was very real to those who had no Old Testament background but who were steeped in the pagan religion

41:36 of Diana or Artemis God of the Ephesians. Now what was the most significant thing in the temple in the Old Testament for Paul does not use the word here on the normal word for temple but he uses naos the word for the sanctuary well you see the most significant thing about the tabernacle in the wilderness and the temple built under Solomon was not the external architect it was not the outer court it was not the place where the labor was found in the showbread the most significant thing was the holy of holies where God himself visibly dwelt with his people until God came into the holy of holies in the tabernacle and in the temple it was just another structure for religious worship but you remember both after the construction of the tabernacle and the construction of the temple it is said that the glory of God came down and filled the place and that became the central significance of the whole religious structure God dwelt alone with the nation of Israel and his dwelling was symbolized and actualized in a peculiar way in the naos in the sanctuary not the temple in general with its outer court and inner court but in the sanctuary

43:04 what was true of the temple was also true of places of heathen worship the most significant thing was that section in the heathen temple where the deity was placed the object of worship that had been carved or had been brought into being through the arts and through the temple the skills of the metal workers it was the place where the deity was housed not primarily a place where people would simply gather for worship as though the people were the significant thing the significant thing was the deity was there now can you begin to see what Paul is saying we Jews and Gentiles and particularly Gentiles who for centuries and millennia could never say God has made us his dwelling place there's only one nation that could say that that was Israel only one place where the Shekinah glory was seen above the tabernacle in the wilderness the nation of Israel now catch the glory of what Paul is saying he's saying you who were once strangers and sojourners who could as it were look from afar to see the place of God's dwelling to see the place of God's dwelling and you Jews who could never go in and look upon it with naked eyes

44:32 only the high priest you remember could go into that sacred place and that but once a year and never without the blood of sacrifice he says now God has done a new thing and he's taken you Jews and Gentiles but particularly you Gentiles and he's constituted you not only citizens in his city fellow members of his household but he's taken you Jews and Gentiles and he's made you in the language of Peter living stones and he's built you together to be constituted a holy sanctuary which has as its purpose what? verse 22 to be a habitation of God the most significant thing about the church is right in that little phrase habitation of God dwelling in his people the figure of God is God's people the figure of God is God's people the figure of God is God's people the figure is that of a temple but my friends the figure conveys the reality God dwelling in his people this is what constitutes it a sanctuary holy in union with the Lord Jesus how could we become stones in a sanctuary to house God

45:59 we know what our native condition is it's described in Ephesians 2 1-2 3 individually we were dead bound by sin and lust in the world under a canopy of wrath how can God ever quarry anything out of that to constitute his dwelling place we were according to verses 11 and 12 we the uncircumcision separate from Christ alienated from the commonwealth of Israel without hope, without God strangers from the covenants of the promise what has happened? the grace of God has come and taken the likes of us and constituted us no matter what our path has been if through the one mediator and in the energizing power of the one spirit we have access to the one God we are to regard ourselves not only as full citizens in Zion city of God full members of the household and family of God but wonder of wonders living stones who are an integral part of the one place where God dwells in peculiar glory in the earth now this church if the Holy Ghost will pull the veil back from our dullness

47:29 and help us to catch sight of that for but a moment it will be a revolutionizing and blessed inward experience in the spirit my friends these people he says are an habitation of the living God himself now all I can do this morning is point to that reality God willing next week I hope to expound what Paul then begins to tell us about this third aspect of our present status he tells us concerning this sanctuary who the raw materials are how it is put together the fact that it's a growing living temple what its foundation is who its cornerstone is and all the rest and I'm not going to go into that this morning I just want to focus upon that one little phrase parallel to fellow citizens household members habitation of God now coming back to where we started if true sanctification consists in the believing intelligent and pure comprehension of what the grace of God has made us and in an obedient orientation of all of life to that reality

Implications for Sanctification and Church Life

48:55 can you begin to see the implications of a believing contemplation of this truth remember Paul dealt with the most mundane issues on this basis some people at Corinth think their bodies are a playground to be used any way they want to for sensual delight how does he deal with it? he says what? that your bodies are temples of God the spirit of God dwells in you he said if you are intelligently believingly laying hold of that truth and obediently orientating your life to it how can you take the members of Christ and join them to a harlot?

49:43 they have some church problems at Corinth some people begin to attach themselves to personalities and begin piously to justify divisions how does Paul deal with it? he says he says he says he says he says he says he says he says he says he says he says don't you know that you are a naos of God you are a temple of God whoever destroys that temple God will destroy him what would happen if some man dared to come in with praise and affrontery into the tabernacle with an axe in hand to destroy that visible dwelling place of God God strike him dead Paul says don't you know you're a temple of God the church you're God's temple God dwells in you oh what tremendous tremendous influence that truth will have if it is grasped if it is kept before us child of God may the Lord help you this day to meditate upon what you are no longer and what you now are and as you and I begin to suck some of the sweetness from these thoughts that are here in this passage a sense of indebtedness ought to swallow us up

51:08 so that when we read chapter 4 verse 1 walk worthily of the calling wherewith your call there'll be a reflexive response in our hearts oh God help me to conduct myself worthily of a citizen of Zion help me Lord to bear the family likeness to be an honor to my father and oh Lord help me to grasp what it means that not only individually for here the emphasis is upon the corporate but also the family and the family and the family and the family and the family and the family and the family and the family and the family but Lord in relationship to your people I'm part of your sanctuary it has nothing to do with the walls of the gymnasium of the Jefferson Elementary School in Caldwell, New Jersey nothing to do with the walls of the old Elks Club on Runnymede Road it has to do with the people of God we are his not us his sanctuary his dwelling I tell you what a difference it makes in our whole concept of what the church is all about my friends can anyone have any present thought of this and turn the church into an entertainment society with human personalities front and center the great longing of any who have anything to do with the public structured worship is oh God may the glory of your own person

52:36 fill our gathering today the thing that our brother prayed is his concluding petition may the glory of God be felt and seen and known in the midst of his people my friends that's what the church is for to be an habitation of God and where God dwells he dwells that he may be revealed and known and that he himself may be the center of attraction the moment any priest began to think that the whole structure of the priesthood existed for him to have a chance to show his pretty garments he had prostituted the whole end of the priesthood you see the application do you not the whole end of every gift and ministry given to the visible church is that God who's made the church his habitation might be glorious you see why we never talk about the preliminaries in a service what a cursed concept when we sing psalms and hymns and we give of our substance and we're led in prayer what are we doing we're acknowledging that we're a temple of God God is in our midst to be loved to be honored to be praised to be worshipped by all of us by all of us

Encouragement to Embrace Full Privilege

54:04 Peter even goes beyond Paul and mixes the imagery further he says we're living stones built up a spiritual house to be a spiritual priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God acceptable to God he says we're not only the naos the sanctuary we're the priesthood what a beautiful imagery mixed metaphors but wonderful realities conveyed by means of the mixed metaphors children of God may we be found meditating often upon it and we're living in the midst of it and I speak a word of encouragement to some of you again new in the faith you look at your brothers and sisters who are so far beyond you in knowledge experience grace advances in holiness and you somehow feel well I I just cannot be in the same category of privileges they look up oh my friend listen listen some of you have a tremendous age span between your children how would you feel if one of the three year olds in your house refused to be a priest if one of the three year olds refused to be a priest refused to be a priest refused to be a priest used to come to the table believing that whatever was spread there was just as much for him as for the teenage son or daughter because he was so painfully conscious of his immaturity that he began to ask that you just put his food in a bowl down in the corner of the cellar.

55:24 How would you feel as a parent? Hmm? How would you feel as a parent? May I say it reverently? The father's grieved when you shrivel in the corner like a dog hoping you'll only have a bowl with a few scraps when he has set a place at the table. Get that Romanism out! You've got to earn God's favor. You insult him. Has he brought you to the end of yourself to see your sin? Has he? Has he brought you to see that Christ is your only hope? Do you have access to the Father in the one spirit through the one mediator?

56:12 Then you're a fellow member of the household and all the privileges of the household are yours!

56:20 Don't shrivel outside the city wall hoping once in a while someone will throw a crumb to you. Flash your citizenship papers and walk right through the front gates. Fellow fellow member! And what shall I say? Living stones in his temple. You say, but I'm such a wretch. God knew all about that. It doesn't say you built yourself. Look what it says.

56:47 Being built. Being built. It's a passive verb. Being built.

56:54 Verse 21. In whom each several building fitly framed. Doesn't frame itself.

57:01 Another passive verb. Verse 22. Build it together. It was God's idea to make you part of his temple.

57:08 He knew all about the mess your life was in. He knows all about the problems and all the rest. Don't dishonor him with that false humility.

57:18 It is nothing but cursed unbelief under the guise of humility.

57:28 Paul says of every believer in Ephesus. The young, the old, the strong, the weak, the new, the advanced in grace. Ye are no longer but ye are. He doesn't put any parenthesis saying but I only mean this for and then start qualifying. Ye are no longer but ye are. That's the wonderful status into which the grace of God has brought us. But not all of you enjoy that status. This is not written indiscriminately to men as creatures.

Gospel Invitation: The Gates Are Still Open

58:05 This is the conclusion of a whole development of thought. He's writing only to those. Those who have found Christ as their one means of access to the Father. Who have been quickened by the Spirit from a state of spiritual death and alienation.

58:25 My friend, if that's not your condition, using the imagery of this passage, and this is the glory of preaching the gospel. Those of us who are within the city walls are warranted to stand by the gates and say come and enter.

58:41 That's the free offer of the gospel. The citizens of Zion standing at the gates saying ho everyone that thirsteth come.

58:55 We point you at the gate not to ourselves not to our particular expression of the visible church. But we point you to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant. And we say cast yourself upon the Son of God. Plead for mercy from the Son of God.

59:11 Cry to Him that He would grant you a new heart that would make you at home in Zion. She's got some strange rules according to all those on the outside. They're a funny bunch. In their desires, their appetites, their interests. But wonder of wonders the God who bids you through His servants at the gate will do something on the inside of you that will make you perfectly happy with the house rules. Yes. Yes. With the laws of that city.

59:37 With the government of that city. He'll cause you to find its rivers are sweet. All of its delights are indeed what the citizens say they are. Preaching the gospel to you is saying while sitting at the table all things are ready and yet there is room.

59:57 Oh dear people all things are ready this morning.

60:01 And there are some of you who know nothing absolutely nothing of the family delights of the people of God.

60:12 All things are ready. All things are ready. The blood of the everlasting covenant has been shed. The mediator has risen from the dead. He's seated at the right hand of the Father. And He bids us that in His name we call you to come.

60:30 Notice this passage says the temple is a growing temple. And it's going to continue to grow in quality and quantity until the Lord comes. You can't produce a verse of scripture that says you cannot be included in that growing temple.

60:50 To you men preparing for the work of the ministry you need never have any reservations preaching unfettered free gospel. That's the basis of the proclamation. The free offers of the gospel. Those within the gates calling to those without. The gates are still open. It's only when the good men of the house comes that the gates shall be shut. They're yet open. My friend there's an hour coming when they shall be shut. When the head man of the feast will say they were bidden. They would not come.

Warning Against Single-Analogy Heresy

61:25 Destruction will be your lot. And then my final word of application and I didn't know where to put it in tidily so it has to be stuck on at the end awkwardly. But it's needed.

61:43 It's a practical pastoral word of exhortation. Listen. Listen carefully. Don't ever be fascinated with any views of the Christian life that sees on one aspect of Christian privilege and builds its whole structure on that one.

62:05 Right here in a short paragraph Paul says you are what? Citizens, family members, living stones. Each one expressing a different and distinct dimension of gospel privilege. Whole books are written trying to squeeze a whole philosophy of the Christian life into the branch vine analogy of John 15 and it ends up being heresy. Whole books are being written in our day on the church as the body of Christ and a whole philosophy of congregational life is based upon the imagery of the church being body. Some grave errors were made in the reformation with the church being considered the commonwealth of God. It formed the basis of this mixture of church and state under some of the great reformers. You see they built their whole doctrine of the church on one image. You got me?

62:58 Don't do it. Don't do it. The thing is too big to be compressed into one analogy. And right here in one verse you've got city, household and temple.

63:10 And that's only one little aspect of the whole New Testament teaching on what we've been constituted by the grace of God. So when someone comes along and says if you only understand Roman 6, you'll enter into victory. No, no. The whole Bible is given for my sanctification, not just Roman 6. Someone comes along, oh if you just get Acts 2, get the baptism. Someone else comes, just here's the key. I told someone recently, don't come to me with a key. I said I got a whole ring of them.

63:42 And it's all bound up. Between the covers of this book, that's the key ring. Don't tell me you've got the key or six keys to successful Christian living. The keys are manifold.

Prayer for Comprehension and Obedience

63:57 They say that's an awkward application but it needed to be made. I've made it. Now I'm done. Let us pray. Oh God, our Heavenly Father, we confess that we cannot, we cannot take hold of such amazing and astounding concepts. We confess that we feel as though our fingers are coated with grease as we try to grab hold of these things. The fingers of our minds seem to have no hooks in them, no talons, no ability. Oh God, help us.

64:41 Help us, we pray, that we may be strong to apprehend with all the saints the glory of our present status by your grace. Father, be merciful to those who are outside the city walls, who have no place at the family table, who are not living stones in the temple. Oh God, make the proclamation of the offers of mercy effectual to their incorporation even this day into the city of God, the family of God and the temple of God. Lord, help us who have been incorporated.

65:22 Oh, may there be believing, intelligent, contemplation of what we are and then the obedient orientation of all of life to that which you've said we are. Hear our prayer and may the benediction of your presence rest upon us and abide with us. We thank you for your presence. Oh God, we thank you for your presence.

65:47 Receive our praises through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.