Ephesians 2:1-22

Let's read together Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2. And you happy quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. Wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. Above whom also we all had our conversation in time past, in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind.

And were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy for his great love for us, even when we were dead in sin, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace we are saved.

And hath raised us up together and made us together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding richness of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are we saved through faith.

And that God unto ourselves is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Wherefore remember that we, being in time past Gentiles, in the flesh, who are called unto circumcision by that which is called the circumcision of the flesh made by hands, that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the province of Prophecy.

No hope then without God in the world. But now, in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace.

Who hath made those one and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us, having avowed Jesus Christ the entity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of twenty one new man, so that in peace. And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enemy thereby, and came and preached peace to you which were far off, and to them that were nigh. For through him we both have access by one 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 building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye also are builted together for inhabitation of God through the Spirit. I trust that I will bless this word and the comments that we make about it, together with what you've already been listening to. I have made an outline for this reading, this is just by the way, particularly for young believers who are here.

I have not in this outline tried to tell you everything I know about it, although that's ahead of the game we've got, but I have just tried to create a simple takeaway for you, so that you have something to write on, and record some of the truths that are going to be explained, but it also creates something that you can go back to when you get old, and you come to Ephesians 2 in your regular Bible reading. One of the things that I have kept over the years is a big heavy series of binders filled with notes from Bible readings, and they have been of inestimable value to me, and so I just offer this to you as just a simple reminder of where we're going to go in the Bible reading today. Let me say one other thing before I start, and that is this.

There are a lot of parts of the Scripture that we can discuss somewhat dispassionately, but I cannot do that with Ephesians chapter 2, because 45 years ago, I came to know the Lord Jesus through this chapter, and while we might discuss repentance and all sorts of things, this is my salvation, and it means everything to me, and so I would like to plead with everyone, in our efforts to clearly explain this, let us keep a pure devotional tone, and understand that what is being described here is the very pinnacle of our blessing, that God, by the mighty power that raised up Christ from the dead, has reached down into a valley of tribones, and it isn't just like you and me, that is the wonder of God's grace, and if we ever lose sight of that, we're sorry, and so I hope the Lord will help us to be warmly devotional, in light of all that He has done for us. Now, we have a massive task, and I'm going to try to be polite, but I'm going to be assertive as well, because we have 22 verses, and we have just about an hour, so let me do this, let me tell you that the chapter divides itself into two great parts, in the first half of this chapter, verses 1 through 10, there are dead people that are regenerated, and in the second half of the chapter, there are distanced people that are brought near, that's wonderful, the first half of the chapter is moral, it is about the forgiveness of my sins through the Lord Jesus, the second half of the chapter is dispensation, it is an explanation of what God is doing in Christ, in His age, in uniting Jew and Gentile, and so I think we're going to just plunge right into the chapter, long introductions are not to be appreciated by me or by anybody else, and so I just want to show you that chapter 1, even though the subject shifts from the glory of Christ and the immensity of His wisdom and power, certainly chapter 2, beginning with this little word, and, finds itself in a wonderful continuity, let me just try to tell you how I think the opening lines of chapter 2 are linked with what has gone before, when Mr. McCullough was reading in verse 18, for example, about this great list of truths, the hope of His calling, verse 18, and the riches of His inheritance, and the power of His resurrection, now I think that the Holy Spirit is not done speaking about His power, because we've talked about the resurrection of Christ, that is His power, we have talked about the enrollment of the dominion of Christ, that is an exhibition of His power, we have talked about His headship, and the place that He has taken, I think that is a great display of divine power, but now we're going to see something different, we are actually going to see the power of Him that raised up Jesus, our Lord from the dead, we are going to see that mighty power, displayed in His image, I cannot imagine a darker scene, than the lines that open Ephesians chapter 2, someone has written that we begin as spiritual corpses, is that not, that's pretty colorful, and I like colorful descriptions, I think that's a good one, but I like what William McDonald wrote a number of years ago, he said, no sinner ever advanced from such ranks to such riches, and I think that's just a really sweet little thing to remember about Ephesians chapter 2, and God's delightful and powerful purposes begin with very dreadful materials, and we are going to see the depths of our innate natural depravity, inflamed by the world in which we live, and driven by the prince of the power of the end, we are going to see that God who is rich in mercy, has stepped in and rescued those like you and me, so let's just begin with this, on our outline, I have written about these four things that we have in this first half, and we'll spend the first half more on this, the darkness of sin, and then that's verses 1 through 3, then the design of love, how could we miss this, the rich mercy, and the great love that we've just been singing about in our hymn, and then the dawn of salvation and life, and here we're going to be paused to worship, because this is all of God, I'll tell you these boys that want to add works to faith, I'll tell you they ought to just get a good reading of Ephesians chapter 2, I want to tell you something, God saved me when I was dead and dark and helpless, and he reached in and rescued me and saved me, and I'm happy about it today, I hope that shows, what a wonderful thing, and then in verse 10 we're going to talk about the duty of new life in Christ, because God has elected us, God has chosen us, God has saved us with a purpose, God has not saved you to lean back and hear a spiritual change loud, and ride off into the sunset of glory, God has saved you to serve him, and we're going to talk a little at the end of the first half hour, about the great dignity of living for the Lord Jesus, and fulfilling his purpose in our lives, so let's just begin with that, we're going to start with verse 1, and you were dead in trespasses and sins. In fact the word that he uses here is the word for corpse, it indicates an estrangement that is complete, a sensitivity to God and to his Lord, and you know for those of us who were raised in Christian homes, we sometimes fancy ourselves to be very acquainted with the gospel life, this verse gives us really God's insight as it were.

But someone is dead in burial, but we were dead in God's messes. There's a great contrast, some of my brother has said, this is what shows me that all these beautiful truths have been considered enough, but constructed into this building, what kind of material did he use? Dead, devoid of any living principle of God's will at all. So this is what we were by nature, not merely what we had done, trespasses and sins, but it switches down to what we were, or being, being dead.

And the evidence of our nature was in our acts, and so trespasses, we definitely violated what we knew to be short of the door of God, and then of course sins, I take it as a more general term, it could even be sins of ignorance, it could be a falling short in any possible way, but certainly the nature always acts, and God sees not only the root, but He sees the fruit, and we were dead. Thank you brother Robert, there's actually a close connection I think, in these verses with Genesis chapter 1, because Genesis 1 begins with darkness, and yet there is a display of divine power, and light is imparted, and then order is seen, and that clearly is the theme of these first ten verses, so I do think it's a very intimate connection. Five little statements in my Bible, let me read them, I don't think I'm listening to my mind, it's just fading, God is, verse 1, we're dead spiritually, verse 2, we're dominated physically, especially the verses, and verse 3, verse 3 also, we're disillusioned morally, verse 3, we're selfish mentally, to the desires of the mind, and verse 3, again, we're condemned physically, so we're not God.

So there are five points, that I think are very simple, when you read them, it includes the Assyrian, the Assyrian novel, we're talking about the Jew and the Gentile, all of the same ground, the same moral, but they're all different dispensational, but they're the very same moral, and I wonder, maybe this is not, isn't right, but yeah, there are transplants and sins, and I thought maybe Gentiles were the Jews of transplants, but it's true of them all, no matter how you look at it. Yeah, and I think Romans 3 would be the exact counterpart to that story, where Paul surveys humanity under different circumstances, and under different relationships, but it includes Paul, you know, that being, I think, as you've assumed me, in verses further down, it would be good to remind our hearts, that this is the place, that the Lord Jesus took for us in substitution, under the judicial justice of God. I was thinking, further down, that in the early verses, he's reviewing the facts, he's reminding them of what they were, then he comes, in verses 4 and 6, regarding the present, what they've been brought into, as you've said, because of the work of Christ, and then he reveals the future, in verse 7, he takes them on, to that glorious day, when God pours his riches to us.

I think the Bible is very clear, that while there is a holy trinity, and it's the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, there is an unholy trinity as well. We are by nature, dead, wicked, depraved, deluded sinners. But there is a world and a devil, that are conspiring together, to keep us in that condition, and so verse 2, there is the course of the age.

And I want to just touch on this for a minute, there is a spirit to this age, and I'm preaching the gospel now, I'm talking to believers. There is a world view, there is a way of looking at things, through a particular lens. And you have the choice in your life, of seeing life and reality, and spiritual things, through the lens of God's word.

Or you can look at it, through the course of this world, or the spirit of this world. That is often contained, in a diagonal flat screen, sometimes four to seven inches wide. And I will tell you, that the world view is promoted, in the media, and in the entertainment, and even the spiritual things, of this world.

And what this chapter sees, is that there is a spiritual conspiracy, and there is a spirit to this age. If you think this world around you, is harmless, you're wrong. All right, let's take it back.

The question about death, and trespasses, and sins. We've been reminded in Genesis 1, that spiritual death, does not invade the whole human family. But I wouldn't have added, if that was the question, I wouldn't have added, in or through, trespasses and sins.

What significance do you see, for that added expression? In fact, maybe the manuscript did it, in your perspective. I had just thought, that he was personalizing, a generic experience. What did you have to say? No, it seems to me, to be going maybe beyond, this is a native condition.

It's true for all of us. That all of us, have participated in this willingly. So that not only are we, the result of what Adam did, but we have made the very same, the very same choice, I think, involved in this.

So yes, we are naturally dead, but we have participated, in making that difference, to our sins. Yeah, I mean, the sense of accountability, of personal guilt. I think it was, around the time of World War II, or just before, someone wrote it in the newspaper, back in Great Britain.

What is wrong with the world? And G.K. Chesterton, wrote a very short, and tart answer, and said, the answer, sirs, is me. And I think we need to understand, from Ephesians chapter 2, that it's not merely, that we're passing the buck, to the spirit of the angel, or to the spirit of the works, but it's me. No, and it's going to prove that, in the next version, whether the chief Gentiles, or we Jews, it's going to show, that it's according to the law, or the manner of life.

So it's very obvious, that the boys, And that's all, I'm speaking about. So we're going to be careful, in our gospel teaching, that we make sure, that we define, and are very clear, on our terminology, so it's a world order here, yes it is, yes. Now, it's what characterizes the thinking of the world.

according to the course of his world. And then the master of the world is very clearly seen in the latter part of the verse. And there's two things that's very important.

The spirit that now is at work. This means that Satan is not sleeping. Satan is personally, officially active in this world.

And we, in our sins, willingly submit it to his authority. In fact, we were, I know that King James says we're the shulker of disobedience. I think we're the sons of disobedience.

We actually take personal accountability for our obedience to this diabolical leader. There is just a point to go backwards a bit in light of what you said about the spirit now working. In chapter 1 you have who workers, not who will work or did work.

There is a God who is working all things after the council of his own will now. Which brings us to the and in this chapter. And he's working.

And he's bringing sinners by might and power. But then there's another power that's at work here as well. We have to go to verse 3. We had our life in time past and he is reflecting on the fact, as Brother Bill had said, that both Jews and Gentiles look back to a certain past.

And he sees that we, there's no racial distinction in our sinfulness. And they're linked with the previous chapter. It may not be really obvious, but we have a head.

We ended up with one whose head over all things. Before God saved us, we see from this verse that we had a head and his will. So it's, you know, a prince, what was he called? A prince on a throne.

A prince on a throne, yeah. This person is not working. He's a son of disobedience.

And Paul links himself with that, doesn't he? He's not saying we're new. He says, I was involved in so much as we were. We all were.

And so he sees the roots within us, the desires of our time. There were outward fulfillments of those desires, bodily and physically. But these were also sins of the mind.

I read something one time that I really was impressed with. The elder son was equally guilty with the father. And even though his rebellion had never reached an outward expression, yet his relationship with the father needed to be repaired just like that of the father.

And so, really, we are seen to be, by nature, this description, maybe our brother can come in on this, the children of wrath, even as others. That's our inheritance. The character is in the sons of disobedience.

Our inheritance is wrath. That's part of it, right? Nobody said, brother, that verse 1, in one sense, speaks the position that we are today. Verses 2 and 3 are the expression of that position.

If we express that, we've participated in it, we've continued in it, we're the sons, actually, of the disobedient. I think that traces back to Adam's disobedience from the beginning. Could you hear me just say a couple of words? So that it's expressed in our bodies, lives, and suffering.

The greatness, the greatness of the Deity of Man amplifies the greatness of the riches of the Nectar of Heaven. And as Paul chose the Deity of Man, a much-needed product, he would not blame everything on the devil. He talks here about the desires of the flesh and the mind.

The mind is what the enemy works on. I read a couple of years ago, by my friend, Hal Lindsey, called Saviour's Alive and Well on Planet Earth Today. It's worth reading, but don't read it going today.

You'll get nightmares. But it's very true. He's still alive.

He is in control of this world of ours, this world of culture, the world of music, the world of any area of our world. Satan is in control. We don't realize that.

Actually, the Princess of Power of the Air takes us back, again, to the one for whom rights were handed over by a man who himself had the rights of rule. So the head problem is, at this obedience, he gave over to the Power of the Air, and the Princess of Power of the Air, and he is active and working. This matter of being dead is a matter of total loss of communication, total loss of capacity to enjoy, total loss of response to God.

And that's seen with him through the whole time. So I need to do this. We must move forward here.

And I like what Fr David said in a previous comment. By nature, the children are brand new adults. We've been talking about the greatness of the inheritance of the saints in life.

But, I'll tell you, if you're never late for Jesus Christ, then the inheritance will never be yours. This is the inheritance of those who were dead and remain that way in their sins. But first, the Jew thought he was better.

And that's what it's bringing in. And the tempest thing that he spoke of, Luke 15, because it's one of the truths, dead and alive. Lost and found, maybe he's no longer living, but that's the truth here, that we're both dead.

But the Jews, they thought they had a great privilege for his showing, now that they're all in the same awful condition. Verse 4, but God. And as some have said, this might be the most amazing transition in all of written literature.

Because we are turning from a situation that you and I could not, by human strength or intellect or human religion, ever remedy. And so, we are shut up hopelessly, and dead men to God. But God, who is rich in mercy, he is abounding with the wealth of his compassion, with his great love, and it is not merely love that is possessed, but it is love that is poured out.

We're with him, as most us. In chapter 1, we have the richness of his grace. There is a difference here now.

The richness of his grace tells us what we have committed to. But this is what God has taken from us. The richness of his grace and mercy is taken from what deserves only gratitude.

And he has lifted us to the height of what is granted every blessing of God. The Jew thought he had some merit. But God said, no, you need mercy.

If mercy takes in the congo condition, how could God be merciful? Because he loves his people. Would you, would you, and this I think has been a theme, think of that. Would you see the Jews still referring to Gentiles as a weak bringing, in this case Jews and Gentiles? Is that where you were going, Bill? Well, that was in the previous verse.

And is that where you're coming from? Yeah, it's perfect. In the beginning verses, yeah, you, you do. Pointing to the depravity of the Gentile world, but then that the Jewish world shares in that so that all are together.

That's what he's leading up to. Yes. Let me go to verse five.

Even when we were dead in sins, by putting us together with Christ, by raising our faith. Let me suggest that just as in Romans chapter six, the word Jesus is not here seen as our substitute, he is seen as our representative. So that just as I died as he died, so in this sense I am raised as he was raised.

And if I haven't said that as clearly as I ought, the other brethren will help me with this, but I think that I am seen in the resurrection of Christ. Now, you will notice that there are three things that happen. We are, we are quenched, we are raised, and they can sit together.

If you go back to chapter one, you will discover that Christ was raised and, and thrown. But it's not said of him to be taken. We needed to be taken.

We were dead. He was not, he was dead physically, he died. But we were dead spiritually, and the necessity of our quickening is seen here so that we might, in Christ, be raised and seen.

Is this quickening a process, or is it happening at a moment? Well, brother, how can it happen to you? September, October, 1973, five after nine in the evening. January the 6th, 1963. But the word seems to indicate that there was initial work, and what kept alive was work, which was sustained by the same problem.

So it is initial aspect, but it is also contiguous in design. I can't help but think, while we were going down this passage, there was a man who saw himself as dead. A dead dog.

And from his distance, a man showed the kindness and the grace of God. And so, there's an Old Testament illustration of what is here. What happened with that man who viewed himself as dead and down the place of no passion and all the rest? Oh, he sat at the king's table.

And to him, that was a sign that he could go in that realm. That was a sign that he was sitting together with God. And what does Paul speak about himself the first thing that he gets from that? As a last reaper, a jury is a persecutor, but I have paid mercy to God.

Do you agree with that? Yeah. How do you define mercy to God? Well, I think our brethren have already talked about it. Mercy, and this is a simple phenomenon, I don't know if you know what that word is.

Mercy tends to look at the misery of the sin of perjury. And that's a very basic fact. It sees the injury of sin.

Whereas, grace seems to be the glory that it introduces us into. And I know that those kind of definitions are always inadequate, but I think that mercy often looks at the hurtfulness of sin. Can we say that mercy is God withholding what we do deserve? I'm not so happy with that one, but if that helps you out, I don't know.

It really sets me on the leash. And that's helpful. Yeah.

Grace is God giving what we don't deserve. And mercy is just withholding what we do deserve. Mercy is feeding the needy.

Yes. God sees it in the people. That they will be bent up for Him.

He's merciful. Right. So, verse number six then, not only has God saved us, I think this verse is a wonderful antidote to the sort of preaching that suggests that God's salvation is really a higher state for men.

But what we've been saying already, over and over again, is that God, in the purposes of His grace, has a bright future for those whom He saves. And so, verse six, He has raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come, He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. Now, if Brennan will comment on those two verses together, I'll give you a minute, and then we'll go on to conversation.

Yeah, I just want to go back to, sorry, I'm not helping at all in this time, in this speed, putting together, raised together, seated together, you've used the word representative, it is the idea that we have been united with Christ, which is basically what is involved in this petition. So, in one sense, Adam was a representative, Christ is a representative, a federal head, but what we're looking at here goes maybe even beyond that. Unique to our age is this togetherness, this union with Christ.

Yes, and don't think that we can anticipate what comes later in the chapter. This is not Jew and Gentile. Right.

This is us together with Christ. Is that fair? Right. So, the moment we're good at that, the moment we relate by faith to Christ.

It's organizational faith. Absolutely. Happened at that moment.

All three of them. Yes. Now, if you meant that all three were simultaneously, that's what you're saying, we're united with Christ.

The moment we were united with Christ, by personal faith, the good of all of that was given to us at the point of position. Just very quickly, what are the ages to come? Is this just some point in which we will be displayed in glory, or will we always be part of the glory? It's not just the age to come, and not just the age, and the next age. Whatever else God has done, I don't really think we have any disclosure of what goes beyond the day of God.

I think He doesn't. But, whatever it is, it will always be a central showcase of God's grace. His glory is by right.

The glory which He, I haven't been before in my whole life, but our glory is going to be a pure, rich, rich. Kenneth always puts it this way, that in the ages that will pile themselves one upon another in continuous succession, He might exhibit the surpassing wealth of His riches, and the riches of His grace. Isn't it interesting that the word displayed, actually, is too vast, but it's so important that it's in the middle of all this, so that it indicates that He is the one who is doing it for Himself, for His own glory, and so on.

So, I'm ending this way of that which adds even more glory to Him, as He displays the riches of His grace. It's interesting, isn't it, that you and I are forbidden to seek glory for ourselves, but that is not a boundary for God. God, in His godness, is able to seek glory for Himself, and it's absolutely right that He does.

And you and I are going to get further. We are going to be a spot to glorify Him. Let's move to verse number 8. I was, again, I was telling you I was saved through these verses.

I heard a little boy repeat them at a Sunday school retreat, and I learned them as a whole lot. I'd never heard them before, and I'd read them a few weeks later in my salvation. So, if you're not saved here, I know I'm going to preach the gospel later, but I'm going to get a lick in right now.

These are great gospel verses for buying grace, buying God's amazing undeserved favor. Are we saved? We are rescued and delivered from what we have read earlier through faith. And that, out of itself, it is the gift of God.

Now then, what is the gift of God? Is it faith, or is it grace, or is it salvation? Well, Brother Eric knows quite well that this is a hard question, and he also knows that I don't want to answer hard questions. So, I'm going to argue today, and I have some help here, and the help that better show up, that I believe, you and I would know this by yourself. Okay, okay, here we go.

I believe that faith actually is easy, and I believe that there are other verses in the Bible that point that out. Let me just instruct in your mind a very simple matrix that might help you with this. There is the issue of what God prompts, and what He provides.

So, we could argue that God, that actually, I have prompted myself to trust Christ, and in the end, I've actually done it anyway, and we would naturally reject that. The second position would be that God prompts me to trust Christ, but then leaves me to figure out how to get that job done. And, if you were saved the way I was, that's unacceptable.

Because I was lost, and helpless, I was at the end of my rope. I didn't have any faith, I didn't have anything. I depended completely on God.

And so, at least, if not theologically, from my personal experience, God not only prompted me to seek Christ, but He gave me the grace to receive Him. And so, I personally take this, and we're not going to have an argument today, if you feel differently, you can stay in your position, I will not argue with you, but I personally feel that God, of course, the salvation is a gift, nobody's going to argue that. I also feel that God, in my moment of helplessness, gave me, actually, the faith to receive Him.

I personally think that in the context here, salvation gave us life in the next life. I'll tell you what, let's just leave it at that. Let's leave it at that.

I used to think that. I've come to think now, I've changed my mind before, and I'm changing again, that the whole concept of salvation by grace, through grace, is a different concept. The whole concept.

It doesn't say you have to be quick and do it, almost dead. I think I've changed my mind, and it's imperfect to do it again. You're not a dead man to do anything, you know.

We don't want to go as far as Martin Luther, et cetera, and say that a man does not have a will, then, because he's dead. We do have a will, and that has to be involved, and that's what we're talking about here. And let me just say this.

All the physicians, of all the brethren here, I think likely all of us have changed a little bit at some point in our life, and they are all honorable physicians. We all ascribe our full salvation to Christ alone, and there's no one here going to argue with me on that one. If you have problems with that, you might need to come to the hospital tonight.

So, we're just going to leave it at that, and let's go to verse 10. We are His workmanship, the hand of Christ Jesus, unto good works, my work should, because 1st John says that salvation is not a work such as man can boast. It's entirely a grace.

You and I can boast of nothing because we've been worthy of nothing. But now, we have been created unto good works, which God hath before our name, as we should talk about. This is a rich person, I hope brethren will join in to this.

I have been saved for a purpose. Thanks be to God. I'm sorry, I'm going to do this to you again, just to get one word in.

At the very least, and I think this is a part of this whole matter of what happened with me in salvation, rather than my action, it was my submission. Repentance is submission to God, of the will, vowing to God. And I think, at the very minimum, we will all agree that none of us would have been saved apart from a submission to God.

I think so, and I think that reports with what you were saying earlier, we lifted our hand into a failure next time. And there is, in the words of Sir Robert Anderson, there is the laying down of the arms of rebellion. I agree with that, I like what you said.

So, I mean, I'm just opening the door, whether it's a gift given to you, I think one good thing is one, that it is given to us to believe our faith. So, I have no problem there, but what happened with submission is also a choice. It's not of the will of man, it's not of the will of the flesh, but of the golden will that God gave us.

And all we can do is believe God. So, verse 10, verses 9 and 10, show us that works are not a way of salvation, but they are an evidence of it. And you and I, you know, I heard somebody say to me recently, I loved it, he said, nowadays, people think that the most important verse in the Bible is judge not what's to be judged.

At least not what I hear on the radio or what some people talk. I think that's really what they believe. We are to be discriminated by the commandments to judge.

And works are an evidence of God's work, of grace within our souls. And so, I love the little play on words here. We are His fabrication, fabricated in Christ Jesus unto these good works.

What are these good works? Well, he's been talking about earlier in the chapter, the walk. According to the Torah, we walk according to the Torah. Now, it's changed.

It's a big alteration taken place. Well, I think it stands in contrast, especially in the Jewish line, perhaps, to the keeping of the walk. This stands so far above the walk.

This is, I'm sure you don't know what is good, but it's very important to always give a guess. This was all made in the Torah. The works themselves, not just that we should walk in the Torah, but the works, what God calls good works, are good works.

Does this mean that God has created a specific blueprint for my life? And I know that's a tough question, but let's talk about that for a minute. I didn't think that was here. I think that what's here could be defined as God's blueprint being Christ.

And that's what God before me good works. I don't think we're going to leave this with John 15, but the proof, the proof more, the proof very, very important. So, may I say something practical, especially to my young friends here, because if you were like me, you reached this point in the chapter where we all ought to be actually on our knees in abject worship of the one who have done this for us.

And the question that I'll naturally spring to my mind is this. How can I then, in response to this race, do these good works for them? I would just say that there are some very simple things, and I think David has said it. I mean, we might talk about contention of sin, and we might talk about knowledge of the scriptures, and we might talk about a lot of other things.

But I think it's primarily fixing our eyes on Christ and being conformed to him. You know, there's a lot of time I'm wasting in my life. And I'm going to tell you what it's all about.

It's time that was spent not focused on him. And so maybe David has done already that, to make Christ's blueprint for these good works. That's what I like about it.

I think we're going to think of Paul as on the flip side. But in the after hand, Dr. Richter was after handed by Christ, and he said, Paul's desire is to believe in Christ. And he wants to know that.

And he gives exhortations about walking in love with Jesus. Christ has loved us. We walk in the land.

Peter, be as holy as I am holy. John 15, again, as I have loved you, so have you for loving another. And you'll find right throughout your Bible the exhortations to be as Christ.

And he is very clearly the blueprint for Orion. And good works is what he did. He went about continually doing good.

That was the life of the Lord Jesus, was looking up to the needs of others. But you have to believe Christ first. And then these things will come down to it.

We, can I just ask for a pause for the interception here? We need to shift gears into the second half of the chapter. Is there anybody that has a question or a comment before we move on? We have your room to do it. Well, then, maybe following that, yes, David.

I'm wondering, can I just add a note on his work with Sheffield? Homer and his Iliad? I don't know what you would say is Shakespeare's greatest, or I don't know what you'd say was Michelangelo's sustained chaplaincy. But it was the greatest of each of those many. God has an epic poem.

And his epic poem, God's epic poem, God's epic work, God's greatest work. It's nice to meet you. It is Dan Sheffield.

Hey, Dan. Someday, you're gonna see that in a way you cannot see now. I thought I'd just stop making it up, but that's what the name said.

The word that's used in Romans 1 is funny in relation to the things that are made. So the God's masterpiece was seen in creation. But it fell and was sick.

Now his masterpiece is seen in taking those who are under sin. I'll bring you to the rest of the presentation before I go on to the next one. So now we come to the second half of the chapter, and there is a shift in gears here if I may use that expression.

Because in the first half, the dirty have been cleansed, the dead have been raised to life. But thematically now, we're gonna talk about the fact that the distant have been brought near. And we're going to begin with the racial issue of what it is to be a Gentile.

And in a sense, I know, I think, all of you here, I don't think there are any Jews here present, anybody of Jewish attraction. This is talking about us. And it's talking about not only our spiritual distance, but our national, racial, ethnic separation from being the people of God.

And so we're gonna look at the fact that here in verse 11, actually I think who are called uncircumcision, I think that was almost an ethnic slur on the part of the Jews. But interestingly, when he talks about the circumcision, it is in the flesh, and by him, he's making it clear that even the Jews who had a sort of nearness also were going to need to be made nearer, because theirs was an external conformity. And they were going to need a reconciling work with Christ as well.

Well, I think that you must begin with Christ, and an appreciation of him before you can ever really understand the mechanics of how the gospel works. And that's why even, rather, in the preaching of the gospel, let's not make the Lord Jesus Christ the last three minutes of the gospel message. Let's do it the right way.

Let's put him in the center, and that's what God does. We must begin with his purposes of grace before we can ever understand the individual operation of it. He's letting us know, actually, verse 10, for example, is really a recall of chapter one.

So what he's saying is, this is where God designed to take us, this is where he started, and he brought us there. And now, he brings those that were far off that had no enfranchisement, in my opinion, and he brings them into the ultimate, and he's gonna bring them back at the end of the chapter to the building that he's been talking about in chapter one. So, we're returning to chapter one, he's gonna ask, the Lord when he gives teaching, he uses building blocks.

And for those who seek to teach the people of God, you should remember that. Don't use ambiguity. And it's good always to go back to foundation.

Start again when you're teaching something to the emphasis. It's gonna show up on the web, but for the use of it, it's gonna bring us in, it's gonna get to one building. It's gonna come on to the one building.

And it's a building block. So, if the Lord spoke of two gathers in it, 500 fence and a 50 fence, he wants us to show what great gathers we were, so we appreciate what he has done. At this time, it was difficult for a Jewish believer to understand that the Gentiles were brought into the same realm of blessing that they were.

They looked down on these dogs. Yeah, and verse 12 really highlights how far away they were. The fact that they were not physically cut off, to make a play on interpretation, certainly does not imply that they were not spiritually cut off from God.

They were. They had no Messiah. They had no rights of citizenship.

They had no covenant promises from God. They were without hope, without God in the world. What does this mean, without hope? I like that question, but I think that's a different thing.

I would say that there's no hope of a covenant sign. I agree 100%. I think that's what it is.

Messianic promise of blessing from God. No claim on the God of Israel. I have a fear that the Lord is trying to make us do a relationship that requires being taken to a dark place.

Yes. The Lord Jesus Christ, like Saint Joseph Everly, was a humble man. He submitted himself to the will of God and that's exactly what they did.

Through humility, we have to do the same to accomplish the promise. Yes. So, if in the first part of the chapter, we think about the depth that sin took us, now we're gonna understand the distance that we've experienced.

And what we're gonna learn in a few minutes is that the Jews, and this is what Brother Eric was saying, the Jews had deluded themselves into thinking that they had a relationship with God. Well, they did at one level. We're going to see that the distance needs to be made near, but the near needs to be made nearer.

So, verse 13 is just a splendid verse. Let's take some time now to work on this. But now, in Christ Jesus, these who sometimes were far off are made near by the blood of Christ.

Can I just say again a thing? In the Hebrew, it says they were priceless. And then, they were homeless aliens. And they were strangers, friends.

And they had no hope, they were hopeless. So, they had absolutely nothing until the voice of God reached them. I understand that the expression far off was used by the rabbis to describe the Gentiles.

So, while that was once their case, yet now they enjoy spiritual union and live with the same Christ. As we were the flame, we were the dogs. We had no place in the house.

This would be kicked out of the house. That would be very racially charged and very self-righteous, very xenophobic, to use a big word, but very much this distinction. And yet, it didn't show that we both needed the same.

You know, we remarked that the Orthodox in Jerusalem, they transpired on the other side. It wouldn't look that good in the eyes of them. So, you find that in the Gentile life as well.

There's a lot of criticism about the far off. And Peter, that's in the Pentecost. He said the promise is to you and to your children and to them that are far off.

So, Peter is anticipating there, this is going to go, at least from the spirit, this is going to go to the Jews. So, you're looking at, you need to watch the pronoun. I think it's important.

Pointing this out, we, he, he, our, we. Okay, we're talking about Gentiles now being brought in, United with the Jews. I'd like to say that the focus on the blood here is very important because it shows us that the root of our distance and estrangement was sanity.

And you may deal with the bigger, the other issues of race and government and all of that, but blood is required for sanity. So, sin is seen to be at the root of the problem of Christ's death. Isn't there a sense in which the idea of midnight indicates we are brought nearer to the end of our lives? Oh, how would we know that? I think we have a close, we have a close relationship and we do have access.

Yes. And we're able to do all of it. Yes, very much.

And that's coming up now in the past, and I think we need to find that right here. The blood, the blood, man, we know it. It's not just simply guilt, you know? And it's not looking so much at our appreciation of that, it's looking at God's requirements to satisfy God's heart.

So, the blood was placed before and upon the mercy seat, and that's where grace has brought us, and that's where he's gone. It's true also, I don't know if perhaps it's not primarily the context, but there was a method of going from the far off also. Yes.

And it was bought by the blood. It was restored to its place. That's it.

And we were respected, so far as blood was concerned, so far as it was concerned, that the blood of Christ was promised to me. So, he's saying it's a crossroad, isn't it? The shedding of the blood of Christ by the cross. He destroyed distance.

We were made man. He destroyed dissension. We are peace.

He destroyed disunion. We were made one. He destroyed division.

He abolished the little wall of division that was broken down. And he destroyed distinction. We were made one new man.

There was no longer that division. The little wall that he'd broken down. No longer here at Gentile, but at the cross.

So, verse 14 then. He, the Lord Jesus, is our peace. A wonderful statement about him.

We are made both one and broken down in the little wall of partition between us. I think I made the point earlier that we had been talking about the word together and we had been thinking about our being united with Christ, but we have another issue that needs to be addressed. And that is the longstanding hostility and distance between Jew and Gentile.

And there was a very physical reminder. Some of you who have read a little bit about the Temple will know that there was a court of the Gentiles where Gentiles could come, but there was a wall beyond which they could not come. In fact, I think archeologists have found signs that say, you know, if you're a Gentile, don't go any further or we're going to kill you.

But now, that wall of separation in Christ has been broken down. And these statements about Christ as our peace. He is our peace at God's right hand.

This is verse 14. Then, verse 15, he makes peace on the cross. Verse 17, he preaches peace in the gospel.

And we're brought again to this beautiful word that we began almost our reading with for the David back in chapter one and verse two. And he is our peace. And now it's not me or you.

It's our, that's what it is. And peace again, in the Old Testament, peace is pictured by men enjoying what God enjoys. Brought into the fellowship of God's enjoyment.

That is the extent to which we, this peace has been brought. It's developed in terms of animosity in the human level. I think the first thing it said is we have been brought into a united relationship of fellowship with God, peace.

Now, can I just restate that again so that everybody can make sure we get this? In human terms, peace is just the cessation of hostilities. Somebody with a very ragged front said that peace is the 10 minutes when people stop and reload their guns. And if you follow human history, there's more truth in that than you'd like to admit.

But God's peace is not merely the laying down of hostilities. What David is saying is, it's actually the positive side. He has introduced us into the whole of this organic relationship that is established in Christ.

Isn't it ironic that in the death of Christ, you and Gentile were both brought together in condemning one another. Very good, nice. And then in his resurrection, he brought the Pope together before he was sentenced to death.

Is there a sense, brother, can you agree there's a hope that the law, there's the thought that the law, rather than separation, was based upon an embodying the principle of law and order. In other words, he said that empathy that existed at that point of division was all based on that law that was given to both of them. And it was carried out in the physical aspect of that law that was erected in the temple.

So it was only symbolized by the fact that they were living in a body and were considered separate people. Perhaps in the initial sense it was for their protection, but ultimately it was for their division. So now in Christ, there are no racial divisions.

And let's just extend that to the fullest possible extent. In the body of Christ, racial divisions are not allowed. And even the, while I know that the text has to do with the division between Jews and Gentiles, let's make sure that we understand that there are no racial divisions allowed.

Period. I love Irish. You have a vertical relationship that has been made right now by blood, but not in peace.

You have a horizontal relationship that has now been made right by his flesh. One satisfies the requirements of God, the other now brings us into a blessing that we appreciate. So you have a distinction being that the enmity due to the commandments and so on, that is removed in terms of the suffering of Christ.

All the Jewish and all the Gentile traits are gone. And God has brought in something new. It's not that he made something, but something that never was before.

Yeah, and so he brings it together in one body, in verse 16, we might reconcile both of the gods in one body, and again, by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. So he unites us into one spiritual entity, and he brings that spiritual entity close to God. He does not reconcile us individually.

He reconciles us corporately, in a sense. But why does he say the cross? What do you think? Well, I would think it's because that's where we were. We ended at the cross.

God couldn't end me, so he ended me. And so now that I can't meet these traits, it doesn't exist, but it does. This term, the one new man, he belonged to another, a number of their seven titles of the church, manifestations are taken.

The one new man is one of the titles of the Jews, as far as the body, how to preach, and so on. The one new man is a creation, something that hasn't existed before. And something totally different in its character.

And Joel, does not this help us, with what I think Brother David touched on, or someone touched on, the problem with covenant theology? Israel, in this sense, is empty. Now, we do have a picture, as a people, nationally, on the earth, but spiritually, there's a new thing here. And I think that any conflating of these truths, any mixture of these truths, will lead you far astray as you run through the rest of the country.

I think that's it. And the cross, again, is something both despised by Jew and Gentile. If it's a tree, that would be the curse of the law.

But here, it is something that the Jews and the Gentiles are united in becoming. It's worthless, and shameful, and death. Through this, that is disregarded by both God and God.

And for our young friends who are here, there's a tiny point that I do not want to lose. Verse 16. We have been reconciled to God.

That is the biblical language. It's not that God needs to be reconciled to me. The hostility was not on his part.

He did not create this guilty business. I created it. The hostility and the empathy was mine.

And so, the language of Holy Scripture is very precise. He's reconciled us to God. So the empathy in verse 15 is of all commands.

In verse 16, he explained the empathy. That indicates to me that the law has no abiding power in terms of the principle upon which we stand. So we continue to think about keeping the law and trying to be clear with God about whether the promise is true or not.

In Colossians chapter two, we read that it is made of those ordinances of the promise. So then, if they've gone, if they've just dropped down there at the door, I think it was just swept onto, but the difference between the cross and the tree, I think it's important to make a notice of it. But wouldn't you have thought, rather, that the person is everyone that hangeth on a tree.

That is the curse of disobedience to the law. And of course, Christ also made a curse for us as a person that hungeth on a tree. So the tree has a particular relevance to the curse of God, and that's related particularly to the Jewish law.

Whereas the cross is the work of Christ as the one who spies and the preaching of the cross to them that perish foolishness. So the cross has to do with what he conspired upon them and that's the mighty work of God upon these children. That's been a vision that I've heard.

He bearer of sins in his own body on the tree. We can never remember us to bear the tree. It's associated with atonement.

It's associated with the end of the law. But the cross is of the cross, the other end of the cross. But the reports of the cross.

So that's it. We come in association with Christ. The tree stands separate.

And I know some of you are telling me, this is semantic, but it's not. It's a kind of a holy spirit approach. These differences are important.

Verse 16 is the death of the cross, but now verse 17 is the preaching of the cross. I love this particular expression, this is to preach peace, because it's actually the word for evangelize. Peace has been evangelized because of the cross.

That was the resurrection message that was preached at the end of the Gospels. You'll remember that when Peter preached to Cornelius, it was preaching peace by Jesus Christ. He is worth all.

And so this is the message that is proclaimed universally. I don't need to parse my audience to decide whether they're Jews or Greeks. I just preach peace by Jesus Christ.

That's all. What does he mean when he speaks about preaching to you and then peace to them that were not? Yeah, I think this is just underlined by a point that the Gentiles were far off. Nobody's gonna argue that.

The issue is, are the Jews, by covenant relationship with God, near enough to get in? The answer is an unequivocal no. The distant need to be brought near. The near need to be brought nearer.

And the ground of that is the cross and the preaching. I appreciate that you've got it all figured out. We actually have about five extra minutes, and Brother Rich has been very gracious.

So we'll go to five fast, but let me start with 50. 50. 50? This is pure grace.

I've taken out of it to make it brief. What I just want to say is, obviously, as a Trinity here, through him, Christ, we both, you and Gentile, have access by one spirit unto the Father. So full access, then, is proof of this peace.

What is this access? Let's just put it like that. I hear these words like you do, and I struggle with them. What is this access? Is this access in prayer? Is this in communion? Is this to the heavenlies? Is it to heaven itself? What level do we understand this at? Whatever level you want.

Yes. I like that. Although I have wanted to distinguish it from Hebrew, where we have access within the veil in terms of priesthood.

I don't think this is priesthood. Okay, explain that, because that's a very devastating point you made. Oh, really? Yes.

It's crippling. Okay, the Hebrew stupid is that we have been brought into the immediate presence of God as sanctuary individuals, as priests, because of the forewarning that our great high priesthood is in the presence of God. That access is wonderful, but I don't think that priesthood is what is in this chapter.

We're looking at those that were far off and those that were further off. Okay? And now we have full access to fellowship with God. If peace is this enjoyment of God and his presence, then I think the access is full access to the intimacy of God's presence.

Well, the word to me is the idea of someone meeting a dignitary. You would need an appointment to meet some dignitary, a foreign dignitary, and then you would be formally introduced to him. So that's what's happened to us.

We've been introduced to the Father, and not simply as a distant introduction that President Bush never remembered that he met me, but rather this is full access into the intimacy of the Godhead. And fatherhood, now we've touched on this before, but I take the position that Jews did not particularly understand God as their father. He was quite individual.

And so, actually, what was interesting to say is we have this relationship where we say ahola, and so Jew and Gentile now have this appreciation of family nearness? Is that what it is? That's exactly what's involved. That's the whole flow of this epistle. We have a wonderful relationship with our Father, who is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And what do you say? It says spirit, but what does that have to do with our spirit? It has to do with spirit. It has to do with devotion to his nearness, and access to God, and sacrifices, and so on. But now, it's the Father.

I think every word of this is commonly referred to as introduction. It's both of the same place of nearness to the Father. I think the Old Testament believers even appreciated that they were a holy nation.

I particularly appreciated that in our dispensation, we're a holy, what do you say? A holy family. And there's a line of thought that follows family as opposed to nation, and Father, I suppose, is just nearness to God. You get that right here.

He talks about them as a city. Their fellow citizens were the same. And then there's the family, the household of God.

And then there's the building, the building on the foundation, the apostles and prophets. I don't think that the New Testament apostles and prophets might be such. What I mean is that it's access into every person.

Into the closest of all the nations of God. So this verse teaches us that the basis of our access is the love of Christ. But the work of the Spirit is what makes it real.

It's in the spiritual realm, by the power of the Spirit, that we enjoy it. Yeah, there is certainly something that has been accomplished. That's an absolute fact.

But my apprehension of that, I just restated it, but my apprehension of that is that really it's run by the Spirit. I agree with that. My position is that in Christ, there's an opportunity to be with Him.

And so verse 19, this is lovely. Now, therefore, we are no more strangers and foreigners. The old name tags have been ripped off.

But fellow citizens of the saints, in the body of Christ, there are no second-class citizens. And by the way, there's a practical note. When you talk about other Christians, make sure that you reflect the truth of this chapter.

I know there are believers that are not taking living up to everything that's revealed in the New Testament. I know there are fellow believers that are not in the lawful assembly, which we wish they might be. But there are no second-class citizens of the family of God.

And I hope that if you would learn to have the dignity and reflect the greatness of what Christ has done by speaking the dignity of our fellow believers, wherever they might be. We know that the local assembly is not directly in view of the Ephesian Epistle, but it's interesting that the words that are used in this passage regarding what we have been brought into as believers, the household of God, the foundation, the holy temple of habitation, are also used for local assembly. I think it's important for us to appreciate the fact that while this is probably true, that every believer in the New Testament period was also a local assembly fellow.

So the practical enjoyment of what it is talking about here was realized in the experience of the believers in the local assembly. And Brother Joel, I know you were just thinking about this, but I appreciate the fact that what is true in the Bible ought to have implications for what is seen in the local church. And that's very important.

And I too would assert that the Ephesian letter is about the body of Christ. We make a clear distinction, but certainly there is a believer order in the church period. I think that's very important to look at.

Well, 1 Corinthians 12 indicates that what is true in the body is to be seen. It's not something we're on solid New Testament ground that we're talking about. But what citizenship do they have here? Their fellow citizens, it's you Gentiles, their fellow citizens who are saying, so I think that you Gentiles are suddenly now due end in fellow citizens.

But fellow citizens of what? Well, I could be the fellow citizen of heaven, and I thought on this, because I didn't think that was a dense question. No, I think that's exactly it, which neither had been before. No, no, no.

And so it's something altogether new. It is a relationship with another country altogether. So it helps hold us up.

And again, we're working on this. But let's just grasp that this is fellow citizenship sharing a totally new and sublime citizenship. Before I was saved, I was a citizen of the United States of America.

If I weren't here, if I weren't significant, I would be a citizen with all its rights and responsibilities. But I have full citizenship now. I'm still a citizen of the United States, but I'm a citizen of heaven.

And that has its rights and responsibilities as well. And we're going to be, as we go through the epistle, we're going to see that, and as we've seen in verse number 10, citizenship has privilege. Privilege is what's seen here.

And certainly at the end of the epistle, we're going to see what that responsibility is. I'm looking forward to that. Sorry.

I'm looking forward to it. Good job. Well, what about this household of God? What's involved in that? Go ahead.

Go ahead. It's a family. We're a family.

So it's a family relationship. The point is we share. There's one father, and we share together.

Is this the same as in which every family on earth is named? Well, the citizenship also involves the idea of a kingdom. And the household and relationship of family. Well, that's a classic classic.

If we translate it, that's right, into the kingdom of the Son of God. Never forget, brother, the kingdom is not a spiritual kingdom. In Christ's kingdom, we are subjects of his kingdom.

And we're fellow citizens. We talk about the kingdom. And that's the mind's responsibility of it.

But you're saying that Pauline teaching in this chapter about the church goes over into Peter's teaching about the kingdom and John's teaching about the family. That's it. This is the kingdom of Jesus as well.

I think so. Let's look at verse number 20. Because, literally, with 15 minutes of grace, it runs out quickly.

And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. We're talking about this household of God and the family of God. Jesus Christ himself, being the chief cornerstone.

Now, there's two things in here that we need to basically deal with. Are the apostles and prophets the foundation? And I'm going to say, or I'm going to put it that the answer to that is no. This is the foundation that has been laid by the apostles and the prophets.

And I take what Brother Eric has said very seriously. This is not going back into Old Testament prophets. This is the work of early evangelists and teachers who preached Christ.

And other foundation can no matter. It's Christ is the foundation. And it's upon this foundation that the building rises.

Any doubt or debate with that? I hope not. You're anticipating more. Now revealed to the holy prophet.

Holy prophet. The holy apostles and prophets. It's interesting in the literature that they're in the foundation.

They're teaching the doctrine. It's not that they would be seen. It's not that they put themselves to the fore.

But it's so that the Lord Jesus would have that place of preeminence and adornment in this building. It's a false hypothesis. They are really the foundation.

I'm not that familiar with the foundation. But he's not the foundation. It's a speech.

It's received from the Lord. Had it come to the church, the Bible, the Lord Jesus said that on this rock I will build my church. The bedrock of the foundation of the revelation of the first one.

And in relation to it that he is himself. I like that. The chief cornerstone.

Now, look, we're not going to have this slide of what the cornerstone is here. Some have seen it as the apex of a triangle. Others have seen it as the capstone of an arch.

I personally am just going to go out on a limb and hang all the saws. But what is the topic of this action? It is that two have been joined together in Christ. And the cornerstones that I'm familiar with are the intersection of two walls at the point at which they meet and upon which they rest.

So Christ is the foundation. But Christ is the intersection. He's the voice of humanity.

We don't meet together in one body because we have ecumenical counsel and iron down our differences. He's met through Christ. By the virtue of his blood he protects us humanely.

And more than that, the cornerstone holds those two walls in place. He establishes a plumb line for all of us to follow. What is it that comes to stop that? Yes.

That's what it's all based upon. No longer are there 600-odd statutes and laws that reduce labour prices. No longer are there idolatry that jankos labour at the price.

That is a standard. It never changes. There's a ridiculous chapter also of the tabernacle that goes up to the end of the Bible and says God and the boards of the tabernacle have been brought from a corrupt environment not shaped and hewn and they fit for a beautiful dwelling.

But the corners were held together. Yes. They had to be held together in order to be able to stand firmly.

Yeah. So there's a bit of that anyway I think in this passage. It's not the cornerstone that was set as a corner ring or whatever it was that held the corners together.

There is a sentence too in which the cornerstone is the chief beauty of the building as well as the United Vatican. Now let's come to these last two verses and I have a question that I brought because I'm not open. I do not have the answer to it.

From all the buildings that were framed together and I'll highlight the words I'm thinking about. I'm thinking unto a holy covenant of the Lord in whom we also are built together as an advocation of God in the spirit. I've heard your friend who argues strenuously with me that this building is not at all complete.

Now, I was raised with the idea that on the day of Pentecost God saw the church as complete and yet when I come to Ephesians 2 I see it at least in my simple reading as being something that's not going to be seen as completed something that's growing and being built and that it really won't have its full function as the holy place of God until the millennium. So, all you wise brethren here, help me wind my way through those two elements of the word it's a building and it's not all a building it's several buildings you Ephesians 2 says in other words every several buildings just as you Ephesians are being built and they were a building and it's a being built and being brought to completion to the future day of manifestation of who God is and dwelling as well. So, in other words, there is an organic fullness that was created at Pentecost.

So, I'm not growing a third arm, but the two arms that I have aren't growing into their full function anymore. Is that what you have in mind? That's helpful. That's helpful.

And it's a building that is not here. It is there's a distinction between the Church of God which we have used as a seminar today And this body of Christ is building what he's about to unbuild. Because Mr. Miller would leave all those here segments.

They don't gather with us. They leave them out in the cold. I don't know what they do.

That's the conclusion they draw, the body of Christ in the Church on Earth. And that's far from obedient. Absolutely.

I'm just saying, if you look at the illustrations, like the lines, and all these things, like segments, all broken, that's nonsense. Wasn't nobody on the discipline? That he's not in the body anymore? So on. We have brethren.

Good brethren of other places. They're not going to leave him out. And so, God, wonderfully, I'm going to bring this to a close.

In doing, he also really suggests for a dwelling place of God. Jesus, sir. I thank you all for your help and contributions.

I brought a verse from him. I love to end my readings on a good note. And this is what God has taught me.

Grace is the sweetest sign. It never reached our ears when conscience charged an injustice crime. It was grace that moved our ears.

May God help us today to appreciate the grace of God. Amen.