Well, it's hard to believe that we're wrapping up the year and it's the last Sunday in 2023. It's the last Sunday in this sermon series that we started a few weeks ago called God With Us. We're going to wrap that up today as well. We're going to do that in the letter of Ephesians. So I invite you to turn there with me if you have your own copy of God's word. We've been looking at this promise of Emmanuel, of God with us during this Advent series, and all that that means, and all that that brings along with it, and how it is such good news that God became flesh. And we looked at the entire history very broadly through scripture, the redemptive history, how God has saved his people. How he promised that all the way in the book of Genesis right after the fall. God promised he's gonna save this people that have been plunged into sin and he's gonna redeem this world that has been plunged into brokenness because of that. We saw how all of this was prefigured, was promised in the types and shadows of the old covenant and now in Christ it's fulfilled. Christ is the fulfillment of all of these things. He is the promised offspring. He is the one who saves his people. And now, as we wrap up this morning, we're going to be in the present, but also be looking ahead to the future. And that's why we have the title of this sermon, God With Us Forever. God with us is here now in Christ. His work is finished on the cross. And now we can live our lives, we can go through this life now in full confidence and assurance that yes, even though we still go through this valley of tears, this life is still mixed with so much sorrow, but there is a great hope ahead of us that God is with us now and he will always be with us. And that's all we have to look forward to. So we're gonna see all this and we're gonna start, shouldn't get too far ahead of myself here, we should read scripture and let's look there now, please look with me to Ephesians chapter two. Our text this morning is verses 18 through 22. So let me read this for us here. For through him we both have access in one spirit to the Father. So then, you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him, you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. Pray, dear Father in heaven, out of your great love, you sent your son to us that he might die for sins that he did not commit so that we might be righteous in your sight with a righteousness that we did not deserve. And you've sent your spirit that dwells in us and testifies to our spirits of your love and assures us of our salvation. So we give you praise, first of all, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for who you are. And we thank you for the salvation that you have given to us. We pray now that you will work in our hearts to hear your word and to receive it with joy for your glory and for our good. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Like I said, we're finishing up our sermon series, God With Us. And I love this passage because verse 18 actually is the summary of the entire series so far. Can you believe it? Everything we've preached the past four Sundays can just be summarized in that one verse. Verse 18. It says, through him, through Christ, we both have access in one spirit to the Father. All three persons of the Trinity at work here, through Christ, by the Spirit, we have access to the Father. Access to the Father is just another way of saying God with us. What do we really need? What we need is to be with God, to be with our Creator. We lost that access. We were banished out of the garden. There's that dividing line. that wall of hostility, that separation of the righteous, holy God from a sinful, broken people. But it was God who sought after that lost and broken people, and He destroyed that barrier. The veil is torn in two. Our access now is restored to God our Father. That's exactly what we've been talking about. This is God with us, fulfilled in Christ. And now, now that access is restored, this is what we have in the present and all that we have to look forward to in the future. And all of this is done through Christ. So Paul, he's going to talk about what this looks like, to have God with us. He's going to use a lot of imagery and typology that we've seen throughout the series. And he's going to describe God with us in three different ways, three different images, three different types of structures, different ways to describe this. And that's what we want to look at today. And notice, though, He says, for through him we both have access in one spirit to the Father. Who's the both here? Well, he's referring to Jew and Gentile. He's talking about both of these people groups, which is to say all nations. Jew or Gentile, everyone now has access to the Father. They've all been made into one people. And he goes on to describe this one people in these three different ways. We have been made members of one household of God. We're built upon the foundation into a holy temple for the Lord. And also we're being built together into a dwelling place for God. So we have these three terms, these three ways of describing it that show up in this passage. This is what it means, this is what it looks like for us to be reconciled, for us to be brought back into relationship with God once we are separated, once we were without a home, once we were strangers and aliens. But now we've been reconciled, we've been brought in, we are now members, we are now citizens. of God. That is our status now, and that is our status forever. That's our new status, our new status, God with us. So I wanna look at these three things that are all describing the same reality, that we're made members of the household of God, that we're being built together, joined together, rather, into the holy temple, built together into the dwelling place of God. Those three things, each describing the same reality of God with us forever. So let's look at those three things. And first, Paul says that we are no longer strangers and aliens. We're citizens, we're members of the household of God. That's the first way he describes it. I don't know about you. I'm a huge homebody. I love being home. That's my favorite place to be. I don't care for traveling. I don't care for being outdoors all that much. I certainly don't care for camping. That's not my thing. I don't know how people do it. I don't know how people travel so much either for work or for leisure. That doesn't make much sense to me. Why would you ever travel for fun? That doesn't sound fun. Even traveling over the holidays, maybe you did some of that, I'm sure. We did some of that, and it's wonderful. It's a wonderful time. It's a great time, but I can still remember just getting back home, and it's just so nice. It's like, oh, it's relaxing. It's comfortable. It feels good to be back home. That feeling of returning home, even from a happy holiday travel, It still just pales in comparison to what Paul is talking about here. Because the difference here is not between going on a trip to visit family or going somewhere that you're looking forward to and then returning home. That's not what he's talking about, but it's the difference between being without a home. It's the difference between being a stranger, being a sojourner, being in a far-off desolate place and then being brought in to the king's mansion. That's the difference here. This is a spiritually lost and destitute people now being given the glories of the king. And this is what Paul tells us in the first place, that we are the household of God. We have been made and brought into the household of God. So we can dissect this even more. A household, of course, a household includes a house, it includes a home. And this isn't just any old home, this isn't just any old house, but this is the mansion of the king, like we said. This is a glorious mansion, a glorious kingdom, with all its benefits, with all its amenities. This is paradise. This is what was lost, and now is finally made available to us again through Christ. It's a safe place, it's a sacred place because of the king and who the king is. And it belongs to us. We are members and citizens. That word shows up there. If you were here for the Philippian series, that word citizen, that's huge. Our citizenship is in heaven, Paul says. We're to live our lives in a manner that's worthy of that citizenship, he says. Worthy of the gospel citizenship we've been given. We belong to this kingdom. So we see that it's a household. It's our permanent home. A household also includes others. So it's a wonderful place to be, and it's a wonderful place to be all together. It's not a lonely place. But we are made partakers of God's grace together. In God's house there are many rooms, and it's full of God's people. And not just any old household with many people, but it's the household of God. It's the household of God. This is God with us. It's the household of God because it belongs to God, it's God's house. It's the household of God in the sense that God is the creator and the sustainer of this household. He's the one who watches over it. And it's the household of God in that it's full of God, like a glass of water is full of water, overflowing with water. God's household, the household of God is full of God's presence. overflowing with God's goodness and His grace. And once we were strangers, we were aliens, separated from God, now we've been brought in, made a citizen, made a member of this household. So if you're still outside, even if you are inside in the sense that you're a believer, you're a Christian, but you still are putting yourself outside, the offer for you is to come in. This was one of the most beneficial things in my adult faith, in the growth of my faith, where I was intentionally, out of just personal doubt, out of just believing the lies of the world or of the devil or whatever, putting myself outside. making myself out to be like the younger brother, like the prodigal son. Well, the father, he doesn't really want me back. Maybe I could be a servant in his household, but I don't have any right to membership with him anymore. This was a difficult thing for me to wrap my head around. I figured, yes, God saved me, I understand that, but he would just as much prefer I stay out in the cold Because that's where I belong. But thankfully, over the course of many months and years, and it's still a struggle, and we all can wrestle with this, maybe some more so than others, but the Spirit's working in my heart to show me the tender love of the Father toward me. That He is the Father of the prodigal son, whose arms are wide open, who rushes out to welcome his lost son back. That this house belongs to you. Your name is written on the deed. You have a key. So come in. That's the promise of God with us. He is with you and He wants to be with you. He's not a begrudging God. He's not a neglectful father. Christ did not twist the Father's arm and now somehow you snuck into heaven or that you'll get in by the skin of your teeth. Don't ever say, well, I think I'm gonna get to heaven, I know, but by the skin of my teeth. No, that's not true. But God from all eternity has prepared a place for you in heaven. So there is no barely getting in because Christ is your righteousness. He has saved you. He has prepared a place for you. Your place is with God, the Father in heaven, for all eternity. This is the household of God. So we're called, first of all, to come off the street and go into the house. We belong there. God is with us there. That's not all. So that's the first thing. It's a household of God. That's Paul's first description of God with us here in this passage. This status that will last forever. He also goes on to describe God's people as the holy temple of the Lord. It's the second description. If you were to go out into the foyer here after the service and go through the double doors that would be on your right hand side, you can't do that because they're blocked off. But if you were to do that, And you would look immediately to the left. You'd see the cornerstone of this building. It says 1924 on it. So this building will be 100 years old tomorrow. Can you believe it? How could this amazing building be 100 years old already, right? And it has a lot of its 100-year-old quirks. But that's the cornerstone of the building. And it's mostly obviously ceremonial. But the cornerstone, it serves its function as the first. It serves its function as being that stone against which all the other stones are placed in reference to it. That's the image that Paul gives us here. That Christ Jesus is the cornerstone, the household of God, the temple of God is built upon that foundation. Christ, the cornerstone, the apostles and prophets, the foundation. So how is this foundation laid? We understand that Christ is the cornerstone. How's the foundation laid? The foundation is laid through God's messengers, through the prophets and the apostles. These were God's chosen instruments to make himself known to his people, to reveal himself and his word and his will to God's people. And we have now the foundation of their writings here in our scripture. That's the foundation. What's the foundation of God's people? The foundation is God's holy word given through his prophets and his apostles. It was constructed, as it were, by being written down by these very same people. Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, his very own spirit inspiring these men to write these words. So the very word of God himself incarnate and God's revealed word through his apostles, this is the foundation. Every bit of scripture, all of it's inspired, all of it is God breathed, it's the foundation for God's people. It's the foundation upon which God is building and joining together his people into this holy temple. This is a side point, but it's very true and it's important for us to understand that you only lay the foundation once. You only pour the concrete foundation once. You don't lay the foundation, then build a level of the house, and then pour concrete on top of that. Maybe you could, I'm not a builder, but I don't think that's the way you would do it. And in the same way, this foundation has been laid. God is not continuing to lay foundation anymore. There are no longer, prophets or apostles. No modern day apostles speak for God or reveal God's will or any new revelation from God because the foundation has been set. We have everything that we need to know about God revealed to us in His Holy Word. And that's why it can be a foundation for us and a sturdy and a stable foundation because we know it's sufficient for us. And we know that everything God wants us to know, everything we need for our faith in Him, to rest in Him, everything we need to have in order to live a life holy and pleasing to Him is found right here in His Word. And that's why it can be our foundation. I love this old hymn, how firm a foundation, how firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in his excellent word. It goes on to say, and it summarizes the scripture message, the Bible message, but what more can be said than to you he has said already? There is nothing more, it's a rhetorical question. There's nothing more that can be said. He's given us everything that we need. It's found right here in the scriptures. All right, side point over. So on this foundation then, this foundation that God has laid, what is the structure that He's building on top of it? The whole structure, Paul says, verse 21, The whole structure, it's being joined together, and it's growing into a holy temple in the Lord. A few things there we see. The structures, it's being joined together. That word comes from the word for joints, for ligaments. Paul used it later in chapter four of Ephesians to talk about the body of Christ as a physical body full of bones and joints and ligaments and tendons and all these things. They're joined together. so that the body can move, so that the people of God function as one person, one body. And in the same way, in this section he's talking about it, but he's talking about it in terms of the stones that are being joined together to be built up the body of Christ into the holy temple of the Lord. So this is what the body of Christ is. It's you and me, we're being joined together. We're being joined together. The analogy here then is of this master craftsman who's taking all these stones and blocks and he's forming them together. He's fashioning them together. This is what God is doing with each and every one of us. Peter, he uses the same analogy in his first letter. And he says in chapter two, as you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, that's Christ the cornerstone. Peter says you yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house. So we're like living stones that God is joining together. He's laying us upon the foundation of Christ and his apostles. Christ himself, the cornerstone. This is exactly what Paul is saying as well. This fits exactly what he's saying. We're being joined together, and then Paul continues and says, joined together and growing up. So we see this organic nature of it. Buildings don't typically grow, but this building is unique. This structure is unique. This institution, the Christian church, Christ's body, is a living, organic being. It's living stones of human beings, Christ himself, God in the flesh, God as a human, Himself being the cornerstone. So it's a growing structure that's helpful for us in a lot of ways. It's a growing structure which means and shows us that it's not finished. But we know that God is at work and he's going to bring that work to completion. So the church is not finished. The mission of the church is not complete yet. It won't be complete until Christ returns. It also means the fact that it's growing, is that us individually, we're not complete yet either. And God is still at work in our lives as well. He's actively working by His Spirit. He's shaping us into the exact stone that God needs to fit into place. He's shaping us, He's at work in our lives. This is the Christian life. This gives us comfort, even in the midst of pain, knowing that God is at work, He's using those pains, He's using those trials to be shaping us, to be refining us, to be testing our faith, to be growing us in our faith. Because He's using us to build something that's greater than anything in the world. It's a holy temple in the Lord. And so notice then, this is God's plan for his redemption. This is God's plan. God didn't have plan A and then have that fail and then go to plan B. That's not how God, that was not how he did this. His plan was always to be building this temple with his chosen people. So there is no future physical constructed temple in Israel. There's none of that. Because we are the temple. So CTK, you are part of the temple that God is building. And that was always God's plan. The physical temple built in Jerusalem was always to point us forward to the greater, more glorious, more mysterious reality of the temple that's being made without human hands, but that's being made with human beings like you and me. So we see that the old has served its purpose. The new covenant is here in Christ. Christ is the chief cornerstone. Christ is God with us. He's building us and he's growing us into this holy temple of his dwelling. We are members of his household. We are the holy temple. And we will always have God with us. And this leads us to the last thing we see. All these things are relating to each other. But finally, Paul tells us that this structure that's being built, this household of God, this temple, this holy temple, he also says that it is the dwelling place for God. It's a household, it's a temple, and it's a dwelling place. God will always dwell in this temple. But what was hidden in types and shadows in the old covenant is now revealed to us in the majesty. The temple of the living God is his redeemed humanity. The temple of God's dwelling place is with his creation, with his creatures who are dead in their sins brought back to life in him. So what was lost in paradise is now available again through Christ Jesus. It's God with us. We have God with us now, we will have God with us forever. And that is the work of the church. This is the work of our lives. It is to be built, it's to be shaped, it's to be formed by Christ working in us to become the dwelling place for God, where he will dwell forever. This is true for us personally, individually. It's true for God's people collectively as the church. And it's true that God is presently, currently dwelling with us. Do you know that your body is a temple of the Lord? Maybe you've only heard that because your mom gave that as a reason why you can never get a tattoo or you can't have a piercing. Don't you know your body is a temple of the Lord? Well, it's very true your body is a temple of the Lord, but we need to understand exactly what that means. It means exactly what it says. And we need to meditate upon that, to really think about all that that means, all that's included in that. It should make our jaws drop, that the God of all creation, that the all-powerful God, the God who is so perfect and so radiant in His glory that even Moses was not able to see His face. The God of all power, the God of glory, which the angels themselves in heaven, they cover their eyes because they can't behold His glory. That God is the one who lives in you, who dwells in you through His Spirit. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6, do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit? You are not your own. That's the conclusion. That's the only conclusion you can get from that. God dwells in you. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, you are not your own because you were bought with a price. So glorify God with your body. That's what Paul says. And that's what we need to do. We are not our own. We were bought with a price. Paul, he's making this point in chapter 6 right after he talks about sexual immorality and all kinds of issues with sexuality and with the body because that's so important. Our world in a lot of ways is not new at all. This was always the struggle for God's people living in a broken world to honor and glorify God with our bodies because God lives in us. And so that's our motivation. That's the motivation we have to flee from sin and temptation. God lives in you. And it's also our strength to be able to flee and to resist temptation because God lives in you. His spirit is in you. You're a temple of the living God. And you're being joined together with others to be the temple and to be God's dwelling place forever. This is our great hope. This is our great hope. This is what we'll end with today as well, is looking ahead. This is our present reality, but it's our future reality as well. And this hope is summed up the best, obviously, at the end of our Bibles at Revelation chapter 21. It's not summed up anywhere better than right here. Revelation 21, I want to read these couple of verses to us. But be listening for that word dwelling. Be listening for that word. John is writing and he says that, Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. and I heard a loud voice from the throne. That's what the voice said. Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will be with them as their God. That's our future. That's our great hope. That's the promise of God with us. And this is what will happen on that day. 21 verse 4. So we have God with us now. We have God with us forever. But we're not there yet. He's dwelling with us now, but we have not yet arrived at the end. We live in this already but not yet time. We are as of yet presently, we're continuing to be built up into this dwelling place, growing into the perfect permanent dwelling place of God. God is shaping us, He's shaping us through our trials, through our tears, into the living stones that will make up His temple. But He promises us that once that work is finished, once He returns, once He comes again, He's going to wipe away all those tears. He's going to make all things new. So in a way, this is a perfect kind of sermon to preach on New Year's Eve as we look ahead into a new year. What does this year have in store for us? We have no idea. Only God knows the future, but God gives us the present. He gives us life here and now, and He promises that He is with us, He dwells with us now, and He will always dwell with us. He will always be with us. That is our great comfort. That is our great hope. So let's be steadfast, whatever the new year brings, whatever the next week or month has in store for us, knowing that Christ, He is coming again. Our King is coming. Let's not grow weary, let's not grow faint. Let's rest in the hope that God is with us, even now and forever. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, you are Emmanuel, you are God with us, God in the flesh, fully God, fully man. You took on our flesh and you bore our sorrows and our grief, and you did so to prepare for us a glory that we can never hope of or dream of. So help us that we would not grow anxious. Help us to not worry about anything that might come tomorrow or next week or next year. May we give all of that up to you and help us to be faithful in the present where you've placed us. Help us even now as we pray in your holy name, in the name of Jesus, amen.