What is your foundation built on? Is your foundation solid? And we're going to be in Ephesians 2. I'm going to take us right to verse 17. Wayne, is that message showing up, sir? So we're gonna read the passage and then hopefully we can get to some pictures I wanted to show you which will really set the tone. But if not, I'll do the best I can describing them. So the book of Ephesians, we've been in the book of Ephesians. It is one of the four prison epistles. Prison epistle meaning that the apostle Paul was writing this while he was in prison. And that makes these things so much more powerful as we look at them. The first three chapters of who he's explained in the past are doctrinal. The last three chapters are very practical. So based on the doctrine, if you will, that we're going to be looking at. We'll look at the practical application somewhat this morning, but we'll get much more practical after we get into chapter four. Well, this morning, what we're going to be looking at briefly is the firm foundation that we have in Christ. The question I ask you right now is what is your foundation built upon? And now I'll ask you this question. How many of you have watched what has taken place maybe in North Carolina, maybe through the fires, and specifically when you look at a flood taking place, what happens when massive floodwaters come through? What do they do to buildings? They'll knock them down. Water is strong, it causes serious erosion, it can break up foundations, and if your foundation isn't strong, if it isn't sure, if it isn't built properly, that building is going to be destroyed. It's going to fall down. So what we're looking at this morning is what is your foundation built upon as a Christian? What have you built your foundation upon? In Ephesians 2, verse 17, we start this understanding. Again, Ephesians 2, 17, and he, speaking of Christ, came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through him, through Jesus, we both have access by one spirit to the Father. Now I'm gonna park here for just a moment. Look at verse 18. If there's any doubt, and some people say, well, is there a Trinity? Well, the Trinity is spelled out right here. All three members of the Trinity are spoken about. For through him, we're talking about Christ. We have access by one spirit. Well, what spirit are we talking about? the Holy Spirit, or if you have the King James Version, Holy Ghost. So we have Jesus Christ, we have the Holy Spirit, and then what else do we have? The last word. a father. Who's the father? God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. So it spells out that we're talking about the Trinity here. So those of you that are like, well, it's the Trinity in the Bible, we just read it. The word Trinity is not used, but certainly the doctrine exists, and there's many passages, by the way, that bring this out. Verse 19, now therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building being fitted together Now, to catch the words that are used, he's talking about a holy building, and now he's going to use another word to describe this holy building being fitted together, grows into a holy what? Holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. Now, if you were here the last few weeks, we were talking about, go back up to verse 13. The whole context here that the Apostle Paul is addressing is bringing the Jews and the Gentiles together. Ah, you found it. You made my day, Carl. So we're looking at what brings, thank you, sir. What brings the Jew and the Gentile together? Again, go back up to verse 11. Therefore, remember that you once Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcised by what is called the circumcision made in the flesh by hands, that at times, speaking of the Gentiles, You were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now, Gentiles, but now, in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off, have been brought near by the blood of Christ. All right, so let me, we've got a little bit of a picture to help you get this. What is your foundation built upon? When you look at a building and where you see the red box, you can see it's a lot of water there. The foundation is starting to erode. Well, what happens when your foundation isn't sure, when it's not strong, when it's not firm? All of a sudden what happens, the building, begins to fall down. Why? Because there's nothing to hold it firm. It's like individuals that say, I've gone to church all my life, but I don't know Jesus Christ as my Savior. It's like trying to do things without having a firm foundation. And what the Bible is going to say for Jew and Gentile alike, if you don't have a firm foundation, it's not going to work. It's not going to last. That's why every single Sunday, like we did during communion, we talk about the gospel. Folks, if you don't have a firm foundation, if you don't have the gospel as your base, you're going to fall down. You're not going to make it. You're not going to get to heaven. You're not going to be able to live with God for eternity if you don't have the foundation, which is Jesus Christ. It's also why I constantly am pushing for God's people After you put your faith in Christ, you need to have biblical literacy. If you don't know what's inside that book, you'll still go to heaven if you put your faith in Christ, but you've got a sloppy foundation. And trying to build a good, strong Christian life without a firm foundation is problematic. So if you've got buildings around you that are built on a firm foundation, and you have one other building, and it's not built on a firm foundation, Buildings that are firm will stand. Now obviously God's using an illustration here. If you're built on Christ, if you're built on His Word, if you're biblically literate, if you will, for the Christian, you are going to stand firm. But anyone who is trying to build their life, if you will, upon a false gospel, and by the way, a false gospel is any gospel that doesn't teach that we're saved by grace through faith in Christ. Period. Period. And that's it, there is no other. This is what happens to that big giant building if you build on the wrong foundation. All right, verse 17. And he, Jesus, came and preached peace to you who were afar off and those who were near. We're going to go to the book of Isaiah in just a moment where this verse is taken from. What God is now saying in 90% if not 100% in this room today, unless you were born an ethnic Jew, every single one of us, and we did this by hands last week. Not one person was here that's a full-blown ethnic Jew, which means we're all Gentiles. In other words, by heritage. And God's, Jesus is basically saying through the Apostle Paul here, that before Christ came, before his death, burial, and resurrection, before you put your faith in Christ, everything up until Jesus came was built around the Jewish people. And he's saying, but now, what happened? Jesus came and preached peace to you who were what? Far off. In other words, we weren't tied in, if you will, to the chosen people. Deuteronomy 7, verse 6 tells us the Jews were his chosen people. Everything from Genesis 12 through the end of Malachi and into the first part of the Gospels is centering around the Jewish people group. Gentiles came in as, let's see if we remember the word, how did a Gentile come to God? As a what? as a proselyte, all right? That's all changed now, and that's what the Apostle Paul is making crystal clear. Jew and Gentile are the one new man, the one new person in Christ, the body of Christ. Here's where that was taken from, Isaiah chapter 57. And of course, Isaiah is preaching to the Jewish people here, but he's talking about, and he uses the exact same verbiage that the Apostle Paul uses in Ephesians 2.17. And he says, for the iniquity of his covenants, I was angry and struck him. I hid and was angry. Now he's talking about the disobedience of Israel, specifically the Northern 10 tribes, as well as the two Southern tribes of Judah. And he went on backsliding in the way of his heart. I have seen his ways and will heal him. Whoa, wait a minute. He's talking about they messed up, they were sinful, they had done wrong, but now he's giving a prophecy about the Israeli people or the Jewish people, if you will, coming back to God. And he went on backsliding, in other words, turning away from God in the way of his heart. Verse 18, I have seen his ways and will heal him. I will heal him. I will also lead him and restore. They gave him up. They walked away from God. And God said, listen, I'm going to restore the Jewish people back to me. Now catch verse 19, because it has past, present, and prophetic implications. I create the fruit of the lips. Peace, peace to him who is far off and to him who is near, says the Lord. Now Isaiah, we're looking back about 700-800 years before Christ, and he's speaking specifically to the Jewish people at that time who had fallen away from God, they were not serving God, there was going to be severe judgment, In 722 BC, the Northern Kingdom was taken captive to Assyria. The Southern Kingdom in 605 BC, 597 BC, and 586 BC, all of the Jews were taken captive to Babylon. And God is talking specifically in this context to the Jewish people, but it has messianic overtones. You say, what does that mean? In other words, Jesus hadn't come yet. He was hundreds of years away from yet coming here. And now the apostle Paul, of course, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, uses the exact same verbiage that was used way back some 700 plus years ago. And he's now talking to Jews and Gentiles and saying, listen, and this is present. So we looked at the past where God's talking specifically to the Jew and about the rebellious versus those who are trying to walk with God. Now he brings it into the current context of Jews and Gentiles that can both be right with God from a messianic standpoint, then if you take Isaiah to his fullest extent it's looking forward to the future where God will bring all people who are against him to himself that of course will trust in him. So what is it? It's a massive past, present, and prophetic look at at how God is looking at those who are once afar off that have been brought near through the gospel. My dear friends, before you came to Christ, you were afar off. And Jesus had to reach out, and the Holy Spirit reached out, as we talked about this morning, to draw you in. The same thing he will do with the Jewish people. It talked in that passage we looked at in Isaiah. What's he going to do? He's going to restore them. Are the Jewish people right with God today? No, they're not. They're in a horrible situation. They've rejected Christ for the most part. Now some Jews have come to Christ, they've gotten saved, and that's wonderful. But the majority have not. God will restore the Jewish people. That's one of his promises. We talk about The future of Israel, and again we're short on time, I can't go into replacements of theology and supersessionist theology. Those are groups that deny the future of Israel. Israel is never going to go away. The Jewish people will never go away. God did four unconditional covenants with the Jewish people. referring to the Davidic Covenant, the New Covenant, the Land Covenant, and the Abrahamic Covenant. All those covenants are for the Jewish people. They will last through eternity. They are forever covenants. Well, let's move on. The message. We looked at the messenger, who is Christ, bringing in the Gospel. For through Him, Jesus, we have access by one Spirit to the Father. Now folks, one thing that, if we want to be biblically literate, I'm going to start putting in some of the more heavier doctrine, if you will. There are 12 major doctrines in Scripture. One of those doctrines being pneumatology. You're like, well, what kind of doctor diagnosis is that? It's not a doctor diagnosis. Pneuma means spirit, and ology means the study of. So when we're looking at the Holy Spirit, we're looking at pneumatology, the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. And he's saying, through him, Jesus, we have access by the one Spirit, speaking of the Holy Spirit, to the Father. In other words, when you put your faith and trust in Christ, who came to dwell within you? Well, let's see. I only had three people answer. Let's see if we can get a few hundred to answer. 1 Corinthians 12 gives us the answer. For as the body, speaking of the body of Christ, is one and has many members, now we're not talking about a local New Testament membership like we did this morning, we're talking about becoming a member of the body of Christ by putting your faith in Christ and become an automatic quote unquote member of his body. For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body being many, one body so also is Christ." Well how do you become part of that one body? He says, well I'm glad you asked. Here's the answer, verse 13, for by one spirit, the Holy Spirit, we were all baptized in the one body. You say, oh so that's why you push baptism at Universal Baptist Church, because we have to be baptized by water into the body. No, no, no, no, no. You see that's unfortunately the unscholarly community, those who don't study the scriptures and understand that a word can have multiple applications. The word baptized here, even though most people refer to water baptism, has nothing to do with water baptism. And that's why I'm going to prove that to you as we go through the verse. This is spirit baptism. You say, well, what's spirit baptism? The moment you placed your faith in Jesus, you were immersed. You were placed into the body of Christ through what? One spirit. For by one spirit, the Holy Spirit, we were all. And I don't even like using that word because it's so misconstrued. What is the word Greek? Baptizo simply means to completely place into, to immerse into one body. What does it? It didn't say jump into a tank of water, jump into the ocean and be baptized. No, it's saying by the Holy Spirit who places you, immerses you into the body of Christ. Whether Jews or Greeks, remember the context here. Ephesians, we're talking about what did the Gentiles, you, have in common with the Jews. Well God says, I made you all one. You're all one big body of Christ. Whether Jews or Gentiles, again the word Greeks is there, meaning Gentiles, whether slaves or free, and have all been made to drink into one spirit. Folks, we are bound together by the Holy Spirit. When you put your faith in Christ, and I trust you've done that, immediately the Holy Spirit placed you into the body of Christ. The Holy Spirit lives within That's why when you do something wrong, and all of a sudden your conscience starts to bother you, and all of a sudden your heart's door begins to get a little pounding, and it's like you feel bad, and it's like, I don't want to feel bad about it. I want to continue in my sin. And the Holy Spirit says, nope, no can do, because I'm dwelling in you. Now folks, it's like when you were a child, and mommy and daddy caught you doing something wrong. And mom or dad or whoever, your teacher, come up and say, listen, you better knock it off. I don't wanna knock it off. Well, fine, go to detention and sit with the principal for a while. And you come back out of the principal's office and like, nah, nah, nah, nah, I'm gonna still do it. And you get caught again and the principal comes and finds you and says, listen, I won't expel you from school unless you get right. I'm gonna have some punishment for you. For whom the Lord loves, he chastens, even as a father or son in whom he delights. And God said, I won't keep spanking you until you get right. And some of you, boy, you'll fight God hard. I don't know, I never liked spankings, I never liked getting whooped when I was a kid. Of course, that doesn't happen anymore in today's generation, but I still got the scars to prove it. No, not really. But God says, listen, I love you and I'm gonna push you to do right. And he says, you've been placed into one body and the Holy Spirit's inside of you. Well, let's move on now there for Gentiles. And again, anybody here that's a full-blooded Jewish person? Nobody was here last week. Okay, we've got a couple that have some Jewish blood in them, but nobody, so we're talking, this is straight to you folks. This is your message. Now therefore, y'all Gentiles, that's for the Southern folk. Now therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners. It's not like you're coming in from the outside. It's not like you're from a foreign country. It's not like, and please excuse us because I'm not trying to be political, but when you look at what's taking place in our country right now and you have quote-unquote foreigners or aliens or illegal people that have entered into our country, the current administration says, you came in illegally, we got a problem. Well, God is saying, listen, before you came to Christ, you were basically in a country, you were in, if you will, was controlled by a people's relationship, if you will, with God through the Jewish people. But he says, it's not like that anymore. You all came to the border properly. And how do you come to the border properly to enter the body of Christ? It's through putting your faith and trust in Jesus. And God says, come on in. You passed, if you will. You got the right papers. You got the right citizenship. You're not like a stranger. You're not like a foreigner. You're just like my Jewish people. Deuteronomy 7, 6. Well, the consistency, what does he say? Now, therefore, you're not a stranger, you're not a foreigner, but what are you, Christian? What are you, Gentiles? You are fellow citizens with the saints. Well, who's he talking about here? Contextually, if you read the whole chapter, what are we talking about? Jews and Gentiles. It's one of the first Greek words, for whatever reason, we learned back in 100 years ago when I was in Bible school. Haggaios, talking about the saints. This is a huge word in our culture because especially in denominational churches, saints are people, according to them, falsely, that basically go through a canonization process and they go through this and that and they get voted in to be saints and all this. No, that's not the Greek word here. Saints is any single person, Jew or Gentile, who put their faith in Christ. And we are what? Listen, Christian, you ought to say, in my wallet, No, I'm not giving out money. But anyway, in my wallet, I have various cards of organizations that I belong to. I just got one from the Independent Fundamental Churches of America and put my little membership card in here. I have one with the FBI National Academy. That's in here. And I got a ton of other ones. So we keep those little cards. Why? Because I'm a member of those. I like being a member of those things. And God says, listen, you all got a membership card. Did you get it in the mail? No. You got it when you put your faith and trust in Christ and you became members of the household of God. You have the same privilege, if you will, Jew or Gentile, during this dispensation. 1 Corinthians 12.27 says, Now, Christian, you are the body of Christ and members individually. Ephesians 4 talks about the body of Christ and what does God have for you that we Christians, Gentiles, and Jews, those who put our faith in Christ, we should no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine. In other words, what should you have? Biblical, what's the word? Literacy. Shouldn't be. Like a little kid that's just going into kindergarten and can't figure out how to count one, two, three yet, or can't read a book yet, or can't say the alphabet yet. He's like, listen, Christian, how well do you know that book that you're holding your hands today? Are you literate? Tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine. Folks, do you know if our churches and our pastors and our teachers in our Christian churches would preach the whole counsel of God and study to show ourselves approved unto God, 2 Timothy 2.15? Study. The Bible says, "...to show yourself approved unto God, workmen, workwomen, that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." Folks, if we do not know the manual, if we do not know this book, we will not be on a firm foundation. Verse 15, here's our favorite verse, "...speaking the truth in..." what? Love. "...may grow up in all things, and to him who is the head..." Who's the head of the church, folks? Christ. It's not a pastor, it's not a priest, it's not a person, it's Christ and Christ alone, from whom the whole body joined and knit together by every joint supplies according to the effective working by which, all right, I'm gonna stop with this next line in the red. Every part does its share. You say, what does that mean? Because we've talked so many times, every single one of you has a spiritual gift that God has given to you. And God wants you to exercise that gift. If you're a teacher, you should be teaching. If you have the gift of administration, you should be administrating. I look over at Zach and Trevor and a few others that help with that, and they do such a good job. And others that have the gift of administration, Justin and others in the deacon board and they use their talents of administration to make sure that this church is run decently in order Those you that have the wonderful gift of helps and service Those of you that have the gift of mercy showing and you help others and you take them through the difficult times There's folks that need the mercy showers. By the way, we pointed three of them out this morning. I Folks, we need each other. We can't exist without each other. Some of you have the gift of evangelism where you can tell folks the Gospel. I could tell somebody 52 or 53 times, and they say, yeah, OK, whatever. And you walk up and say, well, the Bible says, and you say the exact same thing I do, but somehow they come to Christ when you say it, and they don't come when I say it. And it can be vice versa. And he said, listen, every one of us needs to do a chair. Folks, Sunday morning is just not church. That's part of church. This is the coach room. This is when Vince Lombardi, back in the day, got up and said, okay, Packers. And he picked up a football and he said, hey guys, this is a football. Are you ready to get in the game today? And all the guys were like, yeah, let's do it, let's do it. And he'd pump them up and they'd go out and play the game. And they'd usually win because they had a good coach. Well, folks, we got the best coach of all. And I'm simply here saying, listen, the coach, the lead, if you will, the shepherd, the good shepherd says, listen, we need to be out there. We need to be helping folks. We need to be discipling people. We need to be using our gifts at Union Grove Baptist Church. We need to be going outside the four corners of this wall and sharing the gospel and bringing more folks in. And folks, you've been doing a great job, but we got to keep going. He said, listen, things have been going great. Every part needs to do its share. What will happen when we all do our share? It causes what? Growth of the body. Not just spiritually, not just numerically, but in every aspect of our life. Folks, and I'll close with this, and I promise, finish the rest later. I talked about some very dear people this morning, and some of you know some very dear people that just passed on. And I think about, and I'm sorry, Lynn, but I gotta talk about John for a minute. And I think about dear John, and he would sit right next to Lynn back there, body falling apart, ravaged with cancer. The pain was so unbelievable at times, most of us couldn't even imagine it. But he'd show up at church, and he'd be here because he loved the Lord, and he wanted to be with God's people just to have the fellowship. That's not all that John did. You say, poor guy, he couldn't do anything. His body was ravaged with pain. How could he serve God? Because he'd text me, probably text others in this room, and he'd say, Rich, I'm praying. Well, he wouldn't call me Rich. He'd say, Pastor. He'd say, Pastor, I'm praying for you today. And I listened to the message, and I picked up there was a little bit of a challenge that you were going through, and I'm praying for you. Now, folks, Every single day of my life, and Lynn, I mean this, every single day of my life, for the last multiple years, I would think about John Evans. You say, why? Because he was an example of what someone who quite frankly could do very, very little, did an awful, awful lot through encouraging others, through loving others, through sending those text messages, through being an encouragement. Folks, do you understand that every single one of us likes to get good news once in a while? Every one of us likes to get encouraged once in a while. Folks that are going through, and there's so many more besides these three families. You've lost loved ones, and the pain is there, and the sorrow is there. And all of a sudden, one of God's mercy showers comes up and puts their arms around you or sends you a text or a letter. Some of you can do that, by the way. You say, I can't do much. I'm getting old. Well, you can be a John Evans. You can send some texts and some cards. What are you doing for Christ? Father, we could go on and on, but our time is gone. We've given the Gospel. We've given folks a chance to come to Christ. We try to encourage folks to realize who they are in Christ and having a firm foundation as a believer in Jesus, centered on Christ, centered on the Word of God, centered on our relationship with you. Father, we need a revival right now. Lord, You know we've been praying for revival ever since I've been here. Five years and we're not going to stop. And we've seen glimpses of revival here and there. But Father, we need an old-fashioned storm where the Holy Spirit just moves in our midst in a mighty, mighty way to draw us to You. Father, I pray for every single person here right now that knows Jesus as their Savior. As a young teen shared with me a few weeks ago, are we really serious about our relationship with Christ? A little teenager who made that statement when every single one of us should be saying it to ourselves and to others. Are we really serious about our relationship with Christ? Father, would you break our hearts right now? I want us to walk out rejoicing and happy, but Father, It's so easy to get caught up in the world's ways. It's so easy to forget who we are in Christ. It's so easy to forget that all the things that you once just gave, if you will, to the Jewish people, every single one of us, this room now can relish in the fact that we're part of the body of Christ. Right there where we are. What are you doing for Jesus this week? You say, well, I went to church. Folks, you made it to the locker room, that's it. The real work is outside. of the locker room. It's outside where the coach is talking. Father, would you help each of us? Would you help me? Would you help these dear folks, Lord? Would you help us to invest in reaching others for Christ, encouraging others for Christ, and as you've asked us to, to do the work of the ministry? Father, we commit this time to you. I pray that you'd listen to your people, which I know you will, and help us to walk out of here in just a moment saying, I'm going to serve the Lord this week. I'm going to do right. I'm going to forsake the things that have been binding me up with sin, and I'm going to serve my God, my Savior, the Lord Jesus, this week. Father, seal decisions in Jesus' name. Amen.