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Ephesians 2.
Verse 14.
For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us.
Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances.
Or to make in himself of Twain. 1 Newman, so making peace.
And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body, by the cross having slain the enmity thereby.
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 1 Spirit unto the Father.
Now, therefore, ye 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 buildings fitly framed together.
Groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord.
In whom ye also are builded together for inhabitation of God through the Spirit.
Well, in these verses we have the overcoming of the problem of dissension among those who would be saved by the grace of God, the Jew and the Gentile.
In the latter part of the chapter you have two figures that are brought before us in describing this.
New thing that God has formed for himself. The church and the figures are the body and the house, and these are two figures that are used.
Predominantly in the New Testament to describe certain aspects of the position that we've been brought into and the blessing that we've been brought into, and they're brought out here. I would just mention though, that the the figure of the body is only used in four epistles.
It would be Romans, Corinthians.
Ephesians and Colossians, whereas the house is in a number of epistles and not exclusively Paul's writings, but the body is exclusively Paul's writings. And having said that, it does say down in Hebrews 13 that we should remember those who are in bonds because we're in the same body or because we were in the body. That's not talking about the body of Christ there, it's talking about the fact that we have a connection with the groaning creation because we are in.
Our physical bodies which give us to sense and feel the things that others are going through and they're suffering.
So that verse in Hebrews 13 probably about first, well, about 3, but I think it is.
Although it does mention the word body, it's not the body of Christ.
We did mention a few things about verse 14, but a question now about verse 15. When it says that he abolished it could be translated an old in his flesh, the enmity, the law of the commandments, what exactly does that mean?
In what way did he? I'll know the enmity.
To me the thought is that.
Was a law that God had given to Israel in the Old Testament, and it was a requirement that God put on man. But what does Peter have to say about it when he's rehearsing the matter in Acts 15? He says it was a yoke that neither we nor our fathers were able to bear.
But the Jew gloried in that law and looked down on the Gentile because.
They didn't have it and because supposedly they were at at enmity with God because they didn't have it. And up to a point, yes, Israel was given those wonderful blessings, but ultimately, what does God have to say? As we mentioned earlier, when he takes matters up in the book of Romans, he takes the Gentile to court. He takes the Jew to court and you're both guilty. The Jew is guilty.
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Under the law, the Gentile was guilty without law. So what does the Lord do?
He deals with man on an entirely new principle by annoying that law, not by doing anything in that sense to the law itself, because the law was good, but we've died to it. And so I have died to the law. And if a Jew comes along and accepts Christ as Savior, he is dead to the law. That's one of the problems. And we don't want to get into a big discussion about it with trying to have that expression Messianic Jews because.
There you have those that are recognizing Christ as the true Messiah and claiming they're saved only through his work, and yet feeling that these ordinances somehow still have a place and a meaning for them. Can't do it, can we? And I suggest that what we have here is the annulling of that enmity by putting the Jew and the Gentile on an entirely new footing outside of the law, and in that sense that you can't boast that he has the law and the Gentile doesn't because.
There are no Jews or Gentiles, but they're all one in the Church of God. Is that the thought? Bruce? That's very good.
That's the same thought as Colossians 3 or Colossians 2.
14.
Colossians 214 blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to the cross.
Here, doesn't it? Because it says in Romans seven, I think that we're dead to the law by the body of Christ is the blood of Christ puts my sins away, but it's through his going into death that I am dead to sin and ultimately dead to the law too. And so it brings before us the cross here, I believe, to show us how it happened, but also to make us realize that there was a cost involved.
I can well remember back home, and this is quite a few years ago now, there were a couple of families within the sphere of my acquaintance then that had been at odds. They were members of the same family, but a couple of families within an extended family that were at odds with one another and had all kinds of trouble and difficulty and in some cases weren't on speaking terms. But then the Lord allowed a very tragic thing to come in where a young girl belonging to one of those families was.
Rather suddenly killed in a serious car accident. What happened? Those families came together at the funeral. And what was it that united them? The fact that one of their loved ones lay there in death. Well, if you and I realize the cost that God has given in Christ to bring us into blessing and to bring us into this position, it's going to take away any pride that I may have either as a Jew or a Gentile, to try and raise that enmity again.
Rather I say, look, we're all responsible for this. We're all guilty, and that's what those families said. They said the Lord is speaking to all of us and we're not here to put the portion of the blame, but God is really speaking to us and we need to patch this quarrel up and not do this anymore.
In the.
13th chapter of Proverbs. We have something that I think deals with that very thing Brother Belichere Speaking of.
Leave his 13th chapter.
And the tenth verse, and I'd like to couple that with another verse. Here we read only by pride.
Cometh contention or I believe the new translation says by pride cometh only contention but with the well advised is wisdom but over in First Corinthians chapter one.
I was struck with this and to see something of the effect of that treacherous thing that we all deal with.
As to self our pride, but in this chapter we read in verse 11 of first Corinthians chapter one. And it has been declared unto me of you, my brethren by them which are of the House of Foy, that there are contentions among you. Now this I say that everyone of you says I'm Paul, I'm Ophelis, I'm of Cephas, I'm of Christ. And then notice that 13th verse is Christ divided.
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Where did the divisions? Where do these sorrows come from? That wretched thing called pride?
What is it that will enjoy remarkable your brother used to make familiar to many of us?
And they've been repeated many times, but maybe not enough. I need it.
Be occupied with Christ. It'll make you humble because you're so little like Him, but it'll make you happy because He loves you so much.
Good words for us to remember.
That word enmity in French has a sense of the opposite of friendship and.
Not sure of the route in English, but is the thought there an enmity of making us enemies?
Rather than being friends.
On the practical side, Brother Michelle, isn't it true that that enmity still comes in today if we bring legality into Christianity? Responsibility, yes. Care in our walk, yes. But if there's ever the thought of bringing in the principle of legality, inevitably it's going to bring enmity in. Because if I think I'm walking at a higher standard than you are, then I'm going to look down my nose at you. And if I think that somehow I can gain God's favor by living a stricter life than you do.
Then I will tend to have that attitude which brings in enmity. And so I believe we need to remember that. I know that, shall we say an application of this verse? It's not primarily what it's there for, but it's something that that bears repeating. Because the Lord saw fit to take away that enmity. Why? Because there could not be any good in man on the basis of what he could do for the Lord. It had to all be on the ground of grace, didn't it? And so God wants us to recognize that.
And then there is the desire, thank God to live for His glory, but not on the graces of thou shalt, thou shalt not, but on the basis of the heart being drawn out after Christ, and wanting to do His will.
Best of the Law proved that man in the flesh was totally incapable. They that are in the flesh cannot please God. So we have one nature that cannot please God. We have another nature that cannot sin. What use is the law?
It is only to condemn. That's all it comes in for, and Christ is the end of the law.
For righteousness sake says in Romans that.
I think it is important what I think you've mentioned, Bill, that the law is not dead. The law is alive, it's good, but it's we that have changed our position completely. Sometimes I say, here's a man lying dead on the on the floor, try giving him the law.
Is the law not applicable? Not for a dead man, for if he was alive he'd be applicable. But that's our position in Christ. We have changed positions. The law is still valid in its sphere, but we have changed positions completely and brought into a new place in Christ.
Well, it seems to me that the law proved man to be proud, and anytime a person kept better than someone else the law, he tended to look down on his neighbor. And this is what produces the enmity. And This is why the Jews despise the Gentiles. They have the ordinances and they they in the measure that they kept them, that they thought the Gentiles didn't, they despise the Gentiles.
Looked down on them when really it should have proved them humble to see how little they kept it. But it didn't do that.
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Chapter one, that the law came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. And so there's the higher principle now that he brings out that it's the the law was good, but the highest principle that God could act upon was the principle of grace and the finished work of the cross of Calvary. And So what he brings out here, I believe and we can enjoy in our own souls is that it's the principle of unselfishness that brings blessing to man, and it's God's unselfishness as it were.
Man in when he had the law, the Israel, they were characterized by selfishness and wanting the blessing for themselves and not allowing the branch to flow forth over the wall, as it were Joseph's branch. And and so they continued in selfishness. But here we have the unselfishness of Christ and going to the cross, and then he takes both the selfish Gentile and the selfish Jew, and he puts them both together.
And one Newman absolutely disconnected to anything that was created.
Anything that was testimony for God before, it's an entirely new testimony and it's to be characterized by love and affection and unselfishness. And so that's why in the 4th chapter he begins the way he does, and he beseeches that they might walk worthy of the location wherewith ye are called. And then in chapter 5, verse one, be therefore followers of God as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given himself an offering in a sacrifice to God.
For a sweet smelling savor. And so the whole thrust of the direction that He brings at the end of this chapter is the unselfishness of that principle of grace and that lovely that we have an unselfish Savior. He spared absolutely nothing to bring you and I in the blessing, and it ought to characterize your life and mine unselfishness.
We know the lack of understanding of this caused some dissension in the early church.
Because we find in the 15th chapter of Acts, they had to take up a difficulty that had come in. And we very quickly see the error there because the Jews felt that they had to, that the Gentiles who had been saved needed to be circumcised. And when Peter makes declaration there, he speaks of a yoke which neither we nor our fathers were able to keep. And he says, why are we going to press that on them? And if that error had been allowed to fester and propagate in the early church?
There would have been great enmity and probably a division because of it, but thank God, God raised up men with discernment and it was very quickly taken care of. I would just like to say this too. We talked about the Jew being under the law and so on and how he utterly failed. But what we need to realize is that the Jew was a sample of humanity placed in the best of circumstances to show what was in the heart of man, generally speaking.
Because whether it was the Jew or the Gentile, all are declared to be, to have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The whole world in the end stands guilty before God. The Jew, as I say, was simply a sample of humanity to show what was in the heart of man, generally speaking. And so we can't shake our heads as Gentiles at the Jews and say, well, they utterly failed. If I can put it this way, and I want to be very careful, if the law had been given to the Gentiles, they would have failed just as utterly. They would have been a reflection of what was in the heart of Gentiles and Jews as well.
And so the whole thing concluded that they couldn't, nobody could keep the law and the whole thing at the cross. He condemned sin in the flesh, and it was the end of the law for righteousness sake has been said. But we see how this very quickly rose in the early church. And the enemy tried to bring in that dissension that could have festered, but it was very quickly taken care of, thank God.
What would you say rather in connection with the?
In our King James Version, we read sin is the transgression of the law. But now I'm thinking of both Jews and Gentiles. Their sin is lawlessness or the well of man at work applies to both, doesn't it?
Well, in independence of God.
The cross of the Lord Jesus put an end to the law for the justification of man.
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And can we say too, it put an end to me and put an end to you? So if we keep acting in the flesh, that's what we're going to use. We're going to use legal principles to get personal justification. But as has been mentioned, and it's the end of the law for justification to all them that believe and to them that believe, the cross is the end of them. When Christ died, I died with him. Now God has given me a new life. And in the power of that new life and fellowship with him, and powered by the Spirit of God, I can do things that please the Lord.
That go beyond the law and the fulfillment of the righteousness of the law is accomplished in them who walk by the Spirit and not by the flesh. Romans chapter 8 So there's a power for us. It's in the Lord Jesus and you and I who know the Lord Jesus our Savior.
Kyle was on the outside, but now, through the work of Christ, he's removed that wall and there's unity.
It's not really the failure of the Jew, it's God raised that wall.
Gave the ordinance.
I'm just asking.
Band on that a bit, brother. Vern, I'm not sure I follow your thought. Big. Get up to a mic if you would.
But what I'm saying is that it wasn't the failure of the Jew.
He gave the ordinances. They were to keep them. The Gentiles couldn't. There was a barrier there in the death of Christ. He took down that barrier and now there's unity.
Whether they didn't, is that true?
That's true, but the fact is that they couldn't keep it and neither came the Gentiles. So now.
When the Lord Jesus came.
He according to Romans 8 and verse.
I think it's verse three. It says what the law could not do and that it was weak through the flesh. God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. And so now the whole principle of blessing to man on the grounds of law.
Is done away with and necessarily if that's the case, there can be no longer a wall of partition. I think that's true that you say is that God raised that wall of partition, the Jews from the Gentiles, but now it's gone because of the failure of the Jews. Yes, but it's the failure of mankind in general. Like Jim was saying, we would have done just as bad.
If we were put to the test, but God sent his Son, if there was something in man that was good, it certainly would have been shown in the life of the Lord Jesus. And what do they do with him? They took him and they nailed him to the cross, gave him the worst death possible. God says the tests over, I'm done with man in the flesh, it's over.
Now there's a completely new ground of blessing, and that's what we have this chapter. But it's beautiful, brethren, to see the unity that's the result. Verse 14 He has made both 1 broken down the middle wall of partition between us, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinance to make of himself of twain, Jew and Gentile, one new man.
So making peace and that he might reconcile both.
Jew and Gentile into unto God in one body.
By the cross having slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to you.
Which were afar off the Gentiles and to them.
That were nigh the Jews, for through him we both Jews and Gentiles have access by 1 spirit and to the unto the Father beautiful, the uniting that has taken place. And we enjoy it brother. And when we get together lots of variation of social status. Maybe not so much here in the United States, but when you go into other countries you notice it.
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The poor and the rich.
The different races of men and brethren, I must say when I travel, when you're you have your bags and you're traveling, you got to be careful you don't lose stuff. But as soon as you get with the brethren, you can dump your bags in a room with them and you feel a oneness that is of God.
It is beautiful experience and something those of us who have traveled enjoy, but it's something we can enjoy amongst ourselves. None of us have the same background even, but these are realities, brethren. The one nest in the body of Christ is a present reality.
And it's not on the grounds of any compromise. These verses that you just read to us show us that God hasn't compromised His Holiness.
Or his position in any way to accomplish this. So often in the world today, two factions or two nations sit down at a table. the United States may bring 2 factions or two nations to Camp David and sit them down and they may sign an accord, but it really doesn't solve the problem. And it's often on the grounds of finding the lowest common denominator. They are there's, there's arbitration, there's, there's compromise takes place.
To bring people to an agreement. And there are many accords today in the world that have been signed, but they're just on the surface. They really haven't solved anything underneath. And there's hatreds and enmities underneath a brethren. I don't want to bring politics into this meeting, but I was struck by the last time I was in Egypt. The brethren told me that one of the things that keeps Israel and Egypt living parallel is that under the Clinton administration, he sought both parties down and made them sign a trade agreement.
With each other in the United States. And that trade agreement says that if any, any goods coming into the United States that have both an Israeli and an Egyptian stamp on them are duty free. So if it says grown in Egypt and sown in in Israel, it's duty free. If it just says one or the other, there are the appropriate tariffs. Well, that keeps the Egyptians and the Israelis living somewhat at outward peace and parallel. But that hasn't changed their heart, as we said this morning.
You're not over there very long till you realize there's very real enmity, nationally and racially speaking, between those two countries, those two races of people. But brethren, isn't it wonderful that this isn't just a superficial thing? This is something that gets right to the heart of the matter. It's not on the grounds of compromise. So it's not on the grounds of any compromise on God's part. And it's not just a superficial thing on our part. The heart of the matter, the root of the matter, has been taken care of. We sit down with brothers and sisters, Jews and Gentiles, different national and racial backgrounds.
There's some of us here in this room that have been brought up with different racial backgrounds from different countries and so on. Is there enmity? Not in Christ, Not in Christ. He's made of himself, of Twain. 1 Newman, Jew and Gentile have been brought into this wonderful place. And I say again, it's not a superficial thing like this world does when it reconciles, but it's a very real thing.
It's nice to connect that 61St that you just quoted again, brother, and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross and then go to verse 18 for through him. That's the Lord Jesus we both that's Jew and Gentile.
Have access by 1 Spirit, the Spirit of God under the Father. We have the Trinity there, don't we all in that 118th verse.
All part of that. And it's something new. As we said this morning too, it's one Newman.
I just want to say this in connection with a comment that was made earlier that wasn't developed, I think in the last reading. And that is that in the book of the Acts where you have the formation of the church on the day of Pentecost, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, you do later on have in the 8th chapter the Samaritans brought in and in the 10th chapter the Gentiles brought in. But if I can put it this way, and I want to word this carefully, the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Was something that took place once on the day of Pentecost, if I can put it this way. There was a little addendum to it in the 8th chapter when the Samaritans are brought in and in the 10th chapter where you have the Gentiles. But not really a repeat of it. Because I believe the Spirit of God is very careful to guard in the scriptures lest we ever think that there was more than one church formed. Not only was it something new.
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But it's summed up at the end of the second chapter of Acts. The Lord added to the church that which was formed by the baptism of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. He added to the church daily, such as should be saved, and that's been going on ever since. So the Spirit of God is careful to guard lest we ever think there was a Jewish church, a Samaritan church, and a Gentile church, or even with A-A Jewish Gentile church or a Jewish Samaritan church. No, what took place, what was formed on the day of Pentecost, that entity, that new entity.
The Church of God, the body of Christ, referred to in different ways. That was something that was formed once.
And that which has taken place since in the 8th, 10th of Acts and then right down to this day is an adding to that new unit, that new entity that was formed, that covered.
Where it says here 1 Newman, it indicates the regeneration process, being born again, that it's only when we're born again that we are part of this new one new man, whether we're Jew or Gentile or whatever nationality. So it's we, we have to remember this applies only to born again Christians. If you're not a born again Christian, that is you have the Spirit of God dwelling in you. You not are not a part of this one. Newman.
And if you try to make relationship with your brethren on natural terms, you're outside still, you're not in, you're not a part of the new man.
A new birth is not enough to make us part of the one new man. We need the seal of the Spirit of God. That's what brings us into the this new entity, As Bill, as Jim has mentioned, the one Newman is a mystical man, is it not? Of the members of the body on earth in union with Christ, the head in heaven?
And the only way we get into that is not through new birth. We must have that, of course, but more than that, the seal of the Spirit of God, whereby we are linked with every other member to Christ the Head.
It's good.
Bruce, can you explain?
Well, it's just the same as quickening. It's the communication of a divine life to a soul. When it's spoken of as new birth, it's more dealing with the corruption of the fallen nature in man and how he needs a new nature and a new life that is clean every whip before God. But when it's quickening, it's more the fact that there's no faculties working in the individual toward God and thereby needs life. But both are referring to the communication of a divine life to soul.
But.
As we see here in this chapter that that's just the beginning of God's work in a soul.
The completing of that work is when the person comes to understand the finished work of Christ and rests in that in faith and he sealed with the Spirit of God and the Spirit of God comes in and indwells that individual at that moment. He's linked with every other member of the body of Christ in that one new man.
Connect Ephesians one and 13 with that. Is that because in Ephesians one and 13.
We have the description there of the specificity, if I might say so, of the gospel. Now, when the disciples were with the Lord Jesus, they didn't understand the gospel as we understand it now because the Lord hadn't died or rose again. But in Ephesians one and 13 it says.
In whom also he trusted that Christ.
After ye heard the word of truth, there have been other words of truth communicated to man in other economies. And so with the Lord Jesus, when he was here, everything he said was absolutely true. It was the word of God, the word of truth, and then it says the gospel of your salvation. Now the word of truth specifically speaks about salvation, the message of salvation, but here it doesn't say the gospel of salvation.
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It's the gospel of your salvation, so you hear about it, but you have to believe it for yourself. It's when you receive the Lord Jesus your Savior, and you're lost in His precious blood that the Spirit of God can come and dwell in you. He's been working in you before that because you're attentive to the Word of God and you're attentive to the seed of God.
And he's pointing me to Christ all the time, and I'm interested, but there's a point in my life where I see in the sacrifice of Christ and his shed blood, the answer to my salvation. And when the blood has been applied to my soul, God sees me so clean, so perfect. Because of the blood of Christ, He can come and dwell in me by his Spirit. Would that be correct? Amen.
This peace that has been made between Jew and Gentile is very beautifully distributed.
Illustrated Illustrated in the very fact.
That here was one the apostle Paul, who, as Saul of Tarsus, had been brought up a devout Jew.
And in Philippians chapter 3 and so on, we find those things that he once counted as credibility before God and his standing and so on. And so here was one that was saved of the nation of Israel, the Jewish nation, writing to Gentile believers. And so beautiful to see at the beginning of Paul's epistles, when he writes to Gentile believers, he says grace and peace. That's very remarkable because.
In those days, grace was the Gentile greeting, peace was the OR Shalom was the Jewish greeting. And so the two things are brought together, just as we have in the beginning of this epistle. So it's a wonderful demonstration of what Paul is writing here. And so we see it exhibited very practically. And who had more love for his brethren than concern, and laid down his life more for his brethren? Paul, who again was raised a devout Jew.
Saved and brought in as a member of the body of Christ, and his care for the whole church is beautiful.
And when it speaks in verse 17 of how he came and preached peace unto you.
Which were far off into them, which were nigh. That's a present work. Now that the.
The members of the body carry out on behalf of Christ because we are looked at as one.
And so God is Christ that one Newman is preaching today, but it's through the members, and we're preaching the gospel to the Jew 1St and to the Greek also.
You've turned back to Acts chapter 10 when the Lord Jesus came into this world. It's first coming. It says that he preached peace.
But let me just read that Acts 10 and verse.
36 and 37, The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ, He is Lord of all. That word, I say, you know, was published throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism of John was preached. And how God anointed Jesus and Nazareth of the Holy Ghost.
And with power and so on he went about doing good. So in his life he preached peace. But now we find that this new man, and which we are part of the one body, we find that the preaching of peace continues. But it's because of what Christ has finished on the cross and has brought into being now. And it's all by grace alone.
When it says in Second Corinthians chapter 5 that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, it takes in both Jew and Gentile, doesn't it?
Well that verse is referring to Christ life in his ministry in life, is it not? That's second Corinthians 519 to what God was in Christ, that is when he was here on this earth reconciling the world to himself and not imputing their trespasses unto them and but now he's committed unto us the word of reconciliation. We carry out that same ministry as.
Representatives and ambassadors for Him. And so even though Christ was cut off in death, that ministry of reconciliation continues on today through the members of the body.
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It's wonderful to see too, isn't it? Just a small point to be noticed here, but it's very precious that it wasn't merely bringing us back to God, but bringing us into relationship as God. We needed to be reconciled to him, if we could say it reverently. God needed to be propitiated. Man needed to be reconciled. And so we get in this 16th verse that.
Christ might reconcile both, that is Jew and Gentile unto God.
In one body by the cross.
But God had far more than that for us, didn't He? He brings both Jew and Gentile into a relationship that none had ever known before, and that is the relationship He fathered. And so now both can approach God, not merely in freedom and liberty, because all the claims of God's holy nature have been met, but because He has brought us by 1 Spirit to be able to approach Him as Father. Well, as has often been mentioned before, that's peculiar to this dispensation, isn't it?
Man had not known God as Father prior to this, and even in the Millennium, in that wonderful day of blessing, he won't be known to the earthly peoples and nations as fathered. But you and I are brought into that position of nearness, so that when the Lord Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene, he could say, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God.
And so he brings us into that same relationship with the Father as he enjoyed, and it's not merely a matter of being reconciled, but a matter of God wanting to have us in the warmth and love of that relationship.
There was number reconciliation to God possible was there without the cross of Christ?
Because we were at enmity with God, we were dead in trespasses and sins, and none of man, God, God's creature, ever could be reconciled to Him without their sins being taken away. So we have in Second Corinthians chapter 5, we just alluded to that verse there, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. He can only do that, couldn't he? By the fact that the Lord Jesus would go on the cross and take away that which was the.
Difficulty between God and man taking you in our sins. The second transition 5 and verse.
21 For he made him as Christ to be sin for us who knew no sin.
That we might be made the righteousness of God in him. So we beseech God beseeched by us. We pray in Christ stead, be ye reconciled to God. There's reconciliation. That's our responsibility now. Ambassadors for Christ, be ye reconciled to God. The reconciliation work is done now. Now we can be brought back to God. And the sin question dealt forever. And first Peter chapter 3, we have three things brought together.
That's very nice. First Peter chapter 3 and verse 10 of 18, it says for Christ also hath suffered for sin. There you have propitiation, the just for the unjust. There you have substitution that he might bring us to God. There you have reconciliation, which we're now speaking. And when we speak of reconciliation, there are two sides to it. There's God's side and there's our side.
In Colossians, one you see reconciliation is from God's side.
And that says bringing back the creature into a place where he can take pleasure in him, and it's for God's pleasure.
That he has affected this work of reconciling both Jew and Gentile, that's Colossians side. But in Romans it takes up reconciliation from our side and that is that he would make us at peace and comfortable in his presence so that we joy in God. So Romans 5, it talks about reconciliation there from what the believer gets from it, and that is that he's at ease and comfortable in God's presence and because the enmity is gone, he delights to be in God's presence.
And so much so that he joys in God, he exalts in the relationship that he's been brought back into.
So it's very beautiful to see that each pistol taking it up from a different standpoint for God's side and also for the blessing of this creatures by faith.
But the church is seen in three ways, three primary ways in the New Testament, isn't it? Of course, that's the only place we find the church, so I guess that's redundant. But these three ways we have in the book of Ephesians, we've had the one body. Now in these last verses, verses 19 through the end, we have the House of God, don't we? And then in the 5th chapter, we have the 3rd, and that's just the pride of Christ. And I know there's variations, no doubt, the end and Candlestick and many things, but they're really variations of one of those 3.
00:45:22
And so we have the House of God here in in verse, in verse 21 particularly, and it's brought out in two aspects, isn't it? It's that which God builds and then that which is man's responsibility in verse 22. So first that which God builds in verse 21 and then in verse 22, that which is built on the foundation, but then it's left a man's responsibility.
Like to hear some more about that in the last 20 minutes or so we have.
Well, when it says that we're built on the foundation, the foundation being the apostles and prophets, that is the New Testament writers were those that lay down the foundation truth concerning the church. Now it's true that the meat of this truth was given to the apostle Paul to develop that which he received much of it perhaps no doubt, when he was caught up to the 3rd heaven, not even in this earth. Because again, this truth disconnects us, as we've been saying, from this world in every way. And so the apostle Paul speaks of himself in Corinthians as a wise master builder, and it was given to him to lay the foundation.
But it is true that all the epistle writers, New Testament writers, bring in the church in some way, and you need to go to these, the different epistles, different writers, to get different variations or aspects of the church which Brother Eric has alluded to. John brings out the church in connection with his future day of glory is the bride of Christ and the Lamb's wife and the city and so on. But it is Paul who was given the meat of this truth. But I think it's important to realize, brethren, that the foundation has been laid and there's nothing more to be added. In fact, the apostle Paul who was given this truth, said that it was given to him in the book of Colossians, given to him to fulfill or to fill up or complete really is the thought.
The Word of God, Now I used to struggle with that because John wrote later than the apostle Paul, but I believe the thought is that there's no, nothing given beyond what Paul was given. There's no truth concerning the church and its heavenly calling beyond what the apostle Paul was given. He filled it up. And so as to the Church of God and its calling and so on, its position and so on, that truth was given to Paul and there's no further revelation.
And so, brethren, to look for some fresh revelation today, and we can always have a fresh enjoyment of Scripture, but to look for some fresh or new revelation today, I believe is wrong and it's dangerous and it's unscriptural. The foundation has been laid, and on that foundation the Church of God is being built.
Living stones as we get in the book of Peter. But I say again, nothing touches the foundation of God stands sure.
And nothing touches that. You know, if we give up the truth, brethren, if we don't walk in it, that doesn't change the truth of God. The foundation is sure, and it can't be shaken. I may give it up, I may misapply it, I may look for something new, but that doesn't change what was established at the beginning.
In First Corinthians 3 it says that other foundation can no man lay. Then that is laid which is Jesus Christ.
So here's the.
Rock upon which the church is built. Isn't he here? It's called and it's interesting. It's called the foundation of the apostles and prophets because it is in New Testament doctrine that we have the person and the work of Christ, which are foundational in the church. And so it's the apostles and New Testament prophets. Luke, I don't believe is called an apostle.
But he was certainly a prophet because what he gives as to the church in the book of the Acts is extremely helpful for our understanding what the church is. And I think it's really important, especially for young people to get established in New Testament doctrine. Not that we discount the Old Testament. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and his profitable.
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But it is the New Testament doctrine where we stand rather than where we are grounded, where we rest. And it's so important to understand the New Testament doctrine. We get pictures in the Old Testament that are helpful, but we're not based on Old Testament pictures. We are based on New Testament doctrine. And I found in my own soul that.
When brethren give an outline of New Testament doctrine, it really has been something that has been a blessing to my soul. I remember 1 Conference back in Toronto when Gordon Hayhoe gave in one address an outline of the book of First Timothy. It was a real blessing to my soul. I found there's a place.
That I am built. We are built upon this foundation and that verse you quoted in.
Two Timothy 2.
Jim is written when the outward testimony as to the churches in ruins. In fact, it's not even called the House of God there. It's a great house, but it says and that's been a tremendous consolation to my soul. The foundation of God stands sure you cannot change it in the Old Testament when the temple.
Was destroyed. Even the foundation was broken up. And when they came back, they had to relay the foundation. But in the New Testament, there's been ruin in the outward testimony, but the foundation has never been destroyed. It's there, it stands. Sure, sometimes I feel that in my own mind I've had to dig down through the rubble of my own thinking.
And men's thoughts.
That you'll find that the foundation is there.
And it stands, sure. Thank God for that.
So it's important to realize, just so we are clear, that these last two verses have different meanings, don't they? That is, there is the church that is built through the power of the Spirit of God.
Through the new birth, bringing souls into relationship with Christ, and they're built into that house. Peter brings that before us as lively or living stones are built up, a spiritual house. When God builds, all is reality. Thank God for that. That building will not be complete until the last one is saved. But thank God there will come a time when that will be true.
But then, as we've been mentioning, there is responsibility committed unto man, isn't there? And man has been given the privilege of building. And Paul speaks of himself in First Corinthians 3 as a wise master builder. Why? Because he especially, but others too, had been used of God to lay a foundation, as Bob has been saying. But then Paul says, let every man take heed how he buildeth thereon. Why?
Because man, sad to see, has brought much bad material in and built, if we could say it, not according to the blueprint He's built much that is not according to the mind of God. God is sovereign. He works through it. We're thankful for everything that is done for Christ to the extent that it is done for Christ. But sad to say, there is much perhaps in my life too, that will have to be burned up as wood, hay and stubble, because it hasn't been done for the Lord, hasn't been done according to His Word.
And So what we see perhaps going on in Christendom today of which we are a part, let's not forget that may not all be according to the mind of God, and in fact much of it isn't. Does God still own it as his house? Yes. Does the Spirit still dwell there? Yes. Our men responsible in that sense, if they name the name of Christ. Yes. Let everyone that nameth the name of the Lord. It says in Timothy 2 Timothy 2, depart from iniquity.
And so the Spirit of God dwells in the house, and believers are responsible to recognize His presence. But everything that is going on in the house in respect to man's responsibility isn't necessarily according to the mind of God, is it?
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Through expressions in connection with the building. And here it's built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophet Jesus Christ. And similarly in First Corinthians chapter 3, how they were going to build upon that foundation, they were to take heed. But then it goes, and it says, in whom not on whom? In whom all the buildings fitly frank together grow it unto an holy temple in the Lord, in whom he also are built it together for an habitation of God.
Through the Spirit, so not only is the Lord Jesus Christ the foundation, He is the one through whom.
All this building can be done now and the increase can be given in working in fellowship with him. He works it through the members of the body. We have that in the 4th chapter and he says there.
16 That's referring to the body there rather than the house. But from whom? The whole body. That's him, the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint suppliant, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, make it increase of the body onto the edifying of itself in love. So we might not get too much into the 3rd, 4th chapter there, but it does say there according to the effectual working in the measure.
Of every parts, every part of the body of Christ, every part of your body has to work in a measure. It's contributing to the whole. And everyone of us who are part of the Lord's body are contributing. If we're in fellowship with Him and doing what we're supposed to do in functioning as we should be, we're participating that edifying of the Lord of his body and love.
Just to summarize now a little bit.
God has formed this vessel of testimony in view of the display of his Son in a, in a coming day, which we call the world to come, that millennial scene. But in the meantime, we see that God is using that very thing as a, a testimony here on the earth, as a public witness. And so the figure of the house is used here in the last three verses. And as we've mentioned already, the verses 20 and 21 gives US1 aspect of the house.
Verse 22 gives us another aspect. There are two aspects of the house before us in verses 20 and 21. It's really the thought of the house being under construction, and each person that is saved is formed or constructed or built into that house, and it's really looked at as from Pentecost to the Rapture. So the last stones have not yet been put in.
But then when you come to verse 22, it's looked at it as a completed thing and God is inhabiting it there by the Spirit. But this is it takes in man's working as Bill has mentioned and profession in this second aspect.
And so both are seen as you follow it out in the various epistles, these two aspects of the House of God.
And we don't want to confuse the two because what you have in the first aspect, verses 20 and 21, is every person is real and part of that house. They're real believers. Whereas in the 22nd verse in the house, which we might say includes profession, it has those who are real, but also those who may not be and only making a profession.
So the verse 20 and 21 you could say as well, it's something that is in view, it's growing to what is going to be completed in that final day, right? And verse 22 is what it is presently today too. It is the habitation of God in the Spirit so that the the Spirit of God dwells in the house.
Like you say, it may include profession too, but he dwells in the house and that's why we have meetings like this, brethren.
Who's in charge of this meeting? Who's directing here?
Brethren, we believe that the Lord Jesus is present, and we recognize the Spirit of God as the one who directs. We all make mistakes, Brethren, there's carnality in us all, and I think it's important to recognize that. But in the measure that we can, brethren, we ought to give place to the Spirit of God, to use whom?
01:00:03
He will, and I think this is a very important thing for us to recognize.
When we come together in what we call assembly meetings.
It's where we give the Lord Jesus through the Holy Spirit.
Liberty to use whom he will. And as we were speaking the other day about the prayer meeting or when we come together in the breaking of bread, it's not a question of gift in those meetings. It's a question of priesthood. And if you sit there and say I'm not taking part, you are hindering the Spirit of God in the meeting. Don't do that. You that are sitting back there in the back row, are you exercised?
To take part, just like anybody else, sitting up closer to the front, you ought to be. That's what we're talking about here. The Spirit of God dwells in the house, and He should have liberty. Sometimes we have the idea when we speak of the liberty of the Spirit that anybody that has a nice thought can say it.
That's not what we're talking about, really not talking about everybody has liberty. There's one that we should give liberty to the Spirit of God. And if he speaks to you, brother, in a prayer meeting to get up and pray, I hope you'll be willing to be an instrument to express a need to God through that spirit. It's it's really important. It's something I have found amongst our Latin believers.
They're very strong on that point in giving liberty.
To the Spirit of God in our public meetings, they make mistakes down there too, brethren. But I what I've noticed is when they make mistakes, they don't get all discouraged like we do. Sometimes we have what we call an open meeting and we get discouraged because somebody took too much time. OK, we make mistakes. Maybe there should be somebody that would go in a nice way and say brother.
Give place to your other brethren too. But don't get discouraged, brethren. Let's judge ourselves and let's go on seeking to give the Spirit of God liberty in our midst. He dwells in the house. There were three outstanding things that took place in connection with the descent of the Spirit of God on the day of Pentecost. One is that the Spirit of God came to indwell each individual believer.
And so the 6th chapter of First Corinthians tells us our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost. But we find too that as you say, the Spirit of God came to dwell collectively in this new entity that was formed, the Church of God. And in First Corinthians 3, where we've already read, if we were to go down, we'd find that collectively where the temple of God.
So our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost. Collectively, we are the temple of the whole of the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit.
The other thing was that the Spirit of God then became the link between the members of the body here on earth with their glorified head, the Lord Jesus at the right hand of God. And so as a result, now we can have worship in the Spirit, we can have ministry in the Spirit, We can have prayer in the Spirit. We can carry out assembly, administration and discipline in the Spirit. And it's interesting because in the first chapter of Acts, where there was a matter that needed to be taken care of, Judas needed to be replaced.
They cast lots, you say, why did they cast lots? The Spirit of God hadn't been given yet in the way that we've been Speaking of. But it's significant to notice that once the Spirit of God was given in the second chapter, they never cast lots to make a decision or come to a conclusion in the church again. They always look to their head, the Lord Jesus, and so often you read the Spirit said.
And they act in the Spirit. No doubt the Spirit used a human instrument, a brother, and so on. But the direction then came from the Spirit of God. Because I say the Spirit of God came to indwell us individually in the church and to become that link between the members of the body and the head in heaven. And the Spirit of God won't leave till we leave the Spirit and the Bride say, come as long as we're here as members of the body of Christ.
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As long as the church is being built, the Spirit of God is here.
Were builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit, and that work isn't done yet. When it's done, then the Spirit and the Church will be raptured out of this world.
And that ought to encourage us. Brethren, we're going to go back to some very weak situations. You say we've got situations facing us in our home assembly. We're weak when it comes to the Reading meeting. There's lots of silences on Lords Day, morning and so on. Well, that might be true, but be encouraged, brethren. We're building together for a habitation of God through the Spirit. The Spirit of God is here. And when you go back to your home assembly, remember the Word of God hasn't changed.
The Lord hasn't changed and the Spirit of God is still here so that we can act under the direction of our head in the power of the Spirit of God collectively.
We sing 210.
200.