Welcome to the Sunday evening service at Bible Baptist Church in Hampton, Georgia, where Pastor Lauren Regeer opens God's Word each week to provide us with biblically based teaching that helps you meet life head on. Thank you for joining us and may your hearts be blessed as God's Word is taught. And now here is Pastor Lauren Regeer. The Lord says of us that we are his masterpiece. The Greek is poema. It is poem. The word we get the word, of course, the Greek word from which we get the American or English word poem. Let's read a few verses to set the context. It is a wonderful passage to consider before we partake in the elements of communion together, for we are his workmanship. We'll look at that word a little bit more. Created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them. King David, we found this morning, had forgotten his prior ordination. He set it aside for a year and he walked in his own lusts and his own way. And that was a tragic waste of time for him and it created all kinds of problems. Therefore, or wherefore, verse 11, remember, He's speaking primarily to a group of Gentiles in the city of Ephesus. There are a few Jews in that city, but mainly this is a Gentile, first-generation Christian church. These are folks that had just heard the gospel and had come to faith in Christ. being in the past Gentiles in the flesh who were called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands." The Jews often would remind the Gentiles that they were dogs, outsiders, uncircumcised, strangers and heathens really, not welcome except unless they would proselytize and conform to all the Mosaic code. that at that time you were without Christ. You were alien, strangers from the commonwealth or the citizenship of Israel, and strangers from the covenants or the promise made to Abraham, chapter 12 and 15 of Genesis. Having no hope, he's describing the condition of the Gentiles in Ephesus, and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who are sometimes far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ. He is our peace. who hath made both one, Jew and Gentile, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us. What wonderful news this is to the ear of these heathen folks, Gentiles, outsiders. Having abolished in his flesh, that is Christ on the cross, the enmity, the angst, the wall a partition, even the law of commandments contained in the ordinances, all the dietary restrictions, all the codes that were committed to the Jews. For to make in himself of Twain one new man," speaking, of course, of the church, so making peace, that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached unto us 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, you're no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints. You are grafted in, you're brought into the family of God and the household of God, and you're 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." This new mystery and the message of the gospel was permeating and penetrating the dark regions of the Roman Empire, came to the town of Ephesus, and the news was indeed good. whom we are builded together for inhabitation of God through the Spirit. Back to verse 10, the Bible reminds us that we are His workmanship, ordained to walk in good works. The Spirit would remind us through this inspired word that there is a new move afoot, the new body of Christ has been introduced in the mystery that had been hid and now fully revealed by the Apostles and the missionaries coming out of the city of Jerusalem, penetrating by the Apostles' feet and by the Apostles' life and, of course, by others who are coming to faith in Christ. that the gospel was now penetrating beyond the borders of Israel. What a blessing it is to know that. The word workmanship. We're reminded that we are God's masterpiece. Poem, literally, it's the idea is that you are his product of manufacture. He designed you for himself for a purpose. As every factory has a product, we are the product and purposed purposed, manufactured goods of God, so to speak. We are perfected. God sees us this way in verse 6 before we get to this passage in verse 10. He sees us as almost a perfected done deal. He sees us as a finished product, complete in Him, perfected in glory, praising Him for all of eternity. God sees us in in prospect as completed, finished, the work was done at Calvary. And of course, he knows the number who will come to know him as his Lord and Savior. And in his mind, according to Romans 8, we are already secured in him and raised to sit in the heavenlies, verse 6, with him. God sees us as the finished A masterpiece, although in this moment of time He is sanctifying us, progressive sanctification. God is working on you. God is completing the work that He began in you. One day you will be glorified, fully perfected. Will we recognize ourselves in heaven completely finished? I'm sure we will, but God is working on us and he is calling us his poem, his masterpiece. What is the poem of your life? I remember when I was dating Robin, of course I tried my hand at poetry, but she would tell me when it got a little more serious and I decided to come visit her father, her stepfather in Indiana, that I would have to be careful that when I came that I was not to drive any foreign vehicle. He was a 25, 30 year man with GM. He spent his life. And she told me, I thought it was rather bold of her, but she said, if you drive onto the farm with anything that's a foreign car, he will run you off. So if you want to marry me, you better find you an American car. And so I did, I drove my Ford Pinto. It rattled onto the property, but at least I was okay by him. He was at that time in history, a little bit unsure of any product, any automobile product made outside the borders. It wasn't too long though, that after we dated that already into his plant there in Kokomo, Indiana, they introduced parts and pieces from all over the world. And it wasn't long before I was driving a Geo Metro, which was really, I found out, he told me, a Mitsubishi. That's what it is. It's just got GM label on it. Made, of course, parts all over the world, but assembled here. And so he has softened on that. I'm glad about that because I've got a couple Toyota engines out there. The message isn't about that, but we are called as God's manufactured product. He is the one that is overseeing the process. And he will introduce into our lives elements by which we will be perfected, grown up into reflections of his glorious plan. And so he will introduce into your life just enough suffering. And he will put you in the presence of just enough prickly people. And he will, by prayer and meditation, the word of the council of pastors and teachers and coaches, people around you, advisors that will help you round off the edges as you are becoming this beautiful reflection of His glory and grace. So tonight, I've got to tell you, God calls you His his manufactured work, his workmanship. You are on the easel, so to speak, of God. You are really on his factory line. You are being conformed in the tumbler of grace. You are in his workshop, the cutting board, the pruning shears are applied to your life and he is preparing you every day for that moment that you will stand complete in Him. I want to ask you, are you fighting the hand of God or are you submitting to it? After all, we're all a work in progress, are we not? Who is God bringing into your life that is really, perhaps, God sent to help you grow? What mysteries, what things patiently are you waiting for? What expectations do you have? What difficulties are you finding yourself in? Understand something. These are not random acts of chance. God has planned your life and every color, every nuance and shade on the masterpiece that he's painting of your life is so very important. The dark background. My son told me about a lady, a young lady that he knows at college that's having her senior presentation or show. She's an art major and their senior year they set up all the pieces that they'd worked on throughout college. And it's amazing, we saw a little bit of the video of some of the celebration as folks came in and just looked around at all these beautiful pieces of art. There's a progress there. You could tell the freshman pieces from the senior pieces. But people look at the art and they then went to her and praised the artist. Now, this is a work in, you're a work in progress, but it's not gonna be about look at me when we get to heaven. It's not even about look at me now. It's about look at God, the artist. Isn't he great? God has put into my life lately some colors that I would not have chosen, right? God has worked me over. And one day we will look at that finished, completed work and we'll say, Lord, how masterful of you. to put me in that place with that person, that boss, that difficulty at that time in my life. I see now how all is coming together to express the wondrous, marvelous, amazing story of your glory. And can you imagine, I've often seen these and wondered at them. I think it's a great idea as God places the picture of you. In the hallway, I've seen this. Some churches will do this where they'll take pictures of their membership and put them all together in a mosaic. And you will kind of step back a little bit and then you can see each face has a place in the church. And the painting or the picture that is displayed there is amazing. God's doing that. And one day the church will be complete and all these works of Christ will surround him in glory. Remember, verse 11, as you participate in this finished work, it's amazing. Remember in the time past that you were Gentiles. And we want to back up just a minute to verses 8, 9, and 10. There's a great contrast between the work of saving grace and the fact that we are ordained for good works. Look at verses 8 and 9, you've memorized those. Are you saved by works? Absolutely not. For by grace are you saved, not of works, not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. Then verse 10, when God has really shaken us loose of any handhold, any human cooperation in the work of saving faith, Just God kind of slaps our hands, and rightly so. There's nothing about saving faith that involves you at all. It's all a work of God. Salvation is of the Lord. Then he reminds us in verse 10, for we are His workmanship, created in Christ unto good works. You see, you're not saved by works, but you're saved for. Good works. Imagine you drowning in the sea and the lifeguard spots you out there floundering away and he races out to get you and he somehow reaches as you're sinking below the waves and he pulls you up as a good lifeguard would and swims and struggles along with you, you who are nearly unconscious, and he brings you to the shore and he begins his life-saving, what is it, CPR or whatever, and brings you back. And you sputter back to life. You look at him and imagine if you would say this, hey, buddy, that was great. You and I were a great team out there. No, you would say, thank you. You saved my life. What can I do for you? I want to live a life of gratitude for this great work of salvation in my life. You saved me in a sense. And we are told that we can't do anything to participate in our own salvation, but once we are saved, God's ordained us to good works. I have a sheet in my office, sheets of them, papers that we asked a few weeks ago, how would you like to cooperate in the work of the ministry? I'm glad for those of you that said, yes, count on me. You signed up. Oh, listen, don't wait for an official call. Come see me if you're curious about how you could be a greater used in the ministry, but all my, if you're not committed right now to a ministry of some kind, understand that God's created you for that great purpose in life. You are saved entirely of grace by faith, but once we are saved, we must get in gear and work. We're born again. And not of good works, but created unto good works. And so it is that we are reminded again, verse 11, remember, and this is where we want to kind of just work into the thinking that goes along with our communion service. God is using various tools to create in you Gentiles this beautiful picture of the church And it's going to be a glorious thing when we see people from all tongues and tribes and nations surrounding the throne and singing, worthy is the Lamb. And we're going to appreciate that. We are to be fruitful in every good work, Colossians 1.10. You who are Awana workers know 2 Timothy 3.17. Furnished, a workman thoroughly furnished unto every good work. We're commanded, of course, to work, to exercise ourselves on the godliness. But then we see this great, really the theme of our singing tonight. I appreciate Pastor Starr reminding us in music, by songs and hymns, that we were far from God and have been brought near by His amazing sacrifice for us, that in time past, verse 11, you were Gentiles, still are, Gentiles in the flesh, called uncircumcision. You were once far off. If you were to write the poem of my life, it would simply be this, once I was far from God and now He has drawn me close. At a time past you were without Christ, verse 12, you were aliens from the commonwealth. What's the loneliest you've ever been? Farthest away you've ever been from good help. Have you ever been addicted or rejected or imprisoned or exiled or abused, looked over, abandoned or lost without recourse? Remember that feeling of helplessness. I want you to think about the Gentiles who are just receiving the word that they were, by the grace of God, now welcome, not only to be part of God's new mystery church, but they're welcome to the family of God. Paul is speaking to Gentiles who, for the first time in history, are hearing about hope in Christ. So many missionaries come back and say it's such a marvelous thing to witness to someone who's never heard about God saving grace. That God died for them, for their sin, in their place. And if they receive Him by faith, they can have eternal life. And they say, many of them say this, I have never heard that story. This is the case in the city of Ephesus. And Gentiles, you are outsiders, enemies of the commonwealth, of the citizenship, of the favored nation, Israel, who were chosen by God, covenanted with God. Strangers, verse 12 says, from the covenants, promise having no hope. And it didn't start that way for us who are Gentiles. Remember back in Genesis 1 through 11? It started out with God meeting us in the garden, so to speak. It started out with this God who was the real God, who made a beautiful place for us to worship Him. It didn't start with polytheism, many gods. No, as Gentiles, we rejected the one true God. We ran from Him. We hid. So God, of course, brought the flood to bear. And then when he started over with Noah, again, that family with eight, there was that true God perspective. They came off the ark and it was not the worship of many gods. There was only one family and one God. But again, there was this straying away. There was the Tower of Babel. There was this dispersion of languages. And there was this choice to reject the one God in favor of something else or someone else. And so as Gentiles, we bobbled, right? We fumbled the truth. And so God started over in Genesis 12 with one family. And he said, I'm going to just choose one nation, one family, through whom I'm going to display and disperse the true news about the true God. And I'm going to set up a form of worship of the one true God in a place where all nations can come and see the glory of God, Jerusalem, Zion. He made special covenants to that family. And as Gentiles, from that point on, we were somewhat outsiders. Well, we could come and proselytize, become a part of that family. But there was a wall, a partition in the temple courtyard that said, Gentiles, you can come no farther. The court of the Gentiles. And so we were really dismissed from heart-to-heart worship unless we came and proselytized and became by that ordinance really of baptism into the Jewish family. We were outsiders and that God is saying you're not entitled like the Jew. When the church age began, of course, he set aside some of these dietary laws and some of these Mosaic codes. The great veil that was four inches thick in the temple the moment Jesus died was torn asunder from the top to the bottom. And there was this great sigh of relief across the world spiritually as God is saying it's done. All the types and signs and customs of the Old Testament are fulfilled in the finished work of Jesus Christ. And I'm now opening this wonderful message to the world. Now God still has a plan for the Jew and he will resume that. It's suspended for now. He will give them all the promises he made to David and the covenants with Abraham and Moses. They will possess the land and God will reign as their king in the literal location of Jerusalem. God will set up his kingdom one day, but right now he's sharing the gospel through the church. And he's telling the Jews or the Gentiles this for the first time. You are invited. You can come. You who are outsiders, not entitled. And the list is long of how we were shunned in the past, right? Verse 12, we're aliens from the commonwealth, uninvited to the temple. In fact, there's a sign at that time that was On the wall there, no foreigner may enter within this barrier which surrounds the temple sanctuary enclosure. Anyone who is caught doing so will have himself to blame for his ensuing death." We're without Christ. Gentiles at Ephesus, they worshiped who? Whom? Diana! Diana of the Ephesians. Until Paul came with the gospel, they had no real savior at all. They're without covenants, I mentioned that, strangers from the covenants that God made to Abraham, Isaac, David, Moses, and others. And all the nations, certainly through Abraham, would be blessed and prospect, but it was a difficult road to find out the true truth if you lived in Ephesus. Without hope, Gentiles were saturated with gods. all over the place. Philosophers everywhere in the Greek-Roman culture. But there was, historians tell us, a veil of hopelessness over that culture. Without God, someone said it was easier in Athens to find a God than to find a man. There were so many temples and shrines to this God and that God. But the true God had not penetrated their hearts until the gospel came without hope, without God. And here we see the Jews had the scriptures. At least they had the scriptures, the prophets, the law. They had the witness and the sacrifices. They were the privileged nation. They were so proud. Instead of using what they knew to invite other nations to come, here's what they did. They said, don't hang around us, don't touch us, you're Gentiles, you're dogs, you're outsiders. They became proud of their religion, proud of the fact that Moses and Abraham and David and all the patriarchs were part of their line and that God had worked specifically with them, that God had set up His presence in their place. And although most of them were devoid of any true relationship with God, most of them were so proud that they didn't even care to reach. Remember the story of Jonah? Jonah, I don't want to go to Syria. I don't want to go to Nineveh. God had to push him, didn't he, and turn his heart and mind back to that. I am told that we have this great transition that comes, almost like chapter 2 in verse 4, but God who is rich in mercy, we see it again in verse 13, but now in Christ Jesus, ye who were sometimes far off. You who were once far away are made nigh by the blood of Christ. draws us near. There is a wonderful truth here, and we could just read these verses as we prepare our hearts, because this has been the transition that makes all the difference. Peace has been brought to us by the sacrifice of God. Do you have, tonight, peace in your heart? Do you? Is there peace with God? Is there the peace of God that comes by being in a right relationship with Him? We're told that between the years before Christ came, all the way through many years after, there was just…in fact, the statistics say from the year 1500 B.C. to A.D. The world nations tried to find peace somehow, some way. There were 7,500 peace agreements, but none lasted more than two years. Some historians tell us there's been an abject failure to find peace in this world. But there can be peace in your heart, my friend. There can be. Now in Christ Jesus, you who are far off are brought near, drawn nigh by the blood of Christ. How can a sacrifice of someone draw us near? It was God in Christ who came and loved us. God so loved the world. Seeing our helpless and hopeless condition, being aliens and strangers, being outside of hope without God in this world, Christ came and made a difference. Aren't you glad he did? He came and he lived the life we could not live because he was God, all God and all man. He was allowed himself to be sacrificed on a cruel cross when his blood, sinless, spotless blood was shed for us. It satisfied all the handwriting that was against us. All of our sins were covered by that payment. And as we stand here, Gentiles, yes, most of us are, and outsiders of the covenant. We stand here invited. This chapter ends, and let's just read it as we join our hearts together. Again, I think it's important to remember these words. He is our peace. It's not a peace contract. He is our peace who has made both one. He broke down that middle wall of partition between us. He abolished in His flesh the enmity, the anger that was against us, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in Himself, He is our peace. He joined us together, the church, that He might reconcile. These are wonderful theological terms, that He might reconcile, create a new relationship to God in one body by the cross. And when he died, we died with him as believers. He took our punishment. He satisfied the righteous requirement. The penalty was paid. Then he came and he preached peace to you who were so far off. I want you to maybe come off your high horse a little bit tonight if you're on one as a Christian American. You're not any better than the Ephesians, really. We're as godless in this country as they were and are. We were far off. Do you remember when someone came and proclaimed the gospel to you? Do you remember that? where you were. I was hungry in my little heart for peace. For through him, we have access by one spirit to the Father. And as I approach that glorious throne of God, it is through the wounds of my Savior that I have access and he draws us near, he invites us to come. Now therefore, you are no more strangers and foreigners, fellow citizens with the saints and family with God, and you're built upon the foundation, the preaching of the apostles and prophets. Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone upon which this is all built, in whom the church, the building fitly the body of Christ, framed together, groweth into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you are built together for inhabitation of God through the Spirit. How thankful I am for the Father's love that drew us near, though we are not worthy at all. I'm thankful for the One who's invited us to love Him and come close to Him." Let me read as we invite the deacons to come on forward. A song you're familiar with, it's not in your hymn book, I Don't Believe, how deep the Father's love for us. We'll sing the first stanza and then we'll thank the Lord for His great work for us. It says this, I want you to sing it with me in just a moment, how deep the Father's love for us, how vast beyond all measure that He should give His only Son to make A wretch, his masterpiece. What a work God is doing with such poor material, right? Clay, sinners, enemies, haters of God. He should give his only son to make a wretch his treasure. How great the pain of searing loss. The Father turns his face away as wounds which mar the chosen one bring many sons to glory. How high, how wide, how pure, how strong, how deep the Father's love for us. Would you just for a moment stand with me? I know some of these words are not familiar to you, but if you know them, sing one stanza with me and then we'll partake together. How deep the Father's love for us! How deep beyond all measure That He should give His only Son To make a wretch His treasure! How great the pain of searing loss! The Father turns His face away as wounds which mar the chosen one, bring many sons to glory. How high, how wide, how pure, how strong, how deep a Father's love for us. You may be seated. It is a wonderful thing for us as a church to be enjoined by the Lord to celebrate communion. This is a time of reflection. We are first of all called to be careful that we are those who examine ourselves first. We talked this morning a little bit about the mercy of God. David's life. Isn't it great that David fell where he fell, but yet came back to love the Lord, was forgiven, created me a clean heart. Oh God, that should be a prayer as we approach this time. It's a time of reflection. It's a time of review, too, about where we've been and how we've been walking with the Lord. It's certainly a time to remember. what God has done for us. We are those that were strangers, far away, and yet God drew us in by invitation. If you're here and you're a believer tonight, this table is for you. It's not Bible Baptist's table, it's the Lord's table. And we invite you, if you've been saved and baptized and you've been obedient, at least in the first step of obedience as a Christian, we encourage you to Enjoy these elements with us if you're walking with the Lord. If you're not, we're going to take a moment right now, some reflection, as we think about our own heart and lives. It's been a day of conviction, I think, as we think about pure living. We want to present our lives as instruments and vessels that He can use. God certainly can use simple vessels, but He can't use dirty vessels. So let's bow our hearts together as a church. examine ourselves and then we'll thank the Lord for this great gift of His. Father, as we come into your presence corporately as the body of Christ. How thankful I am that the Bible paints a balanced picture of who God is. Certainly, He is our judge. We know that. But when you died in our place, you took away from us the condemnation. As believers, we step into a privileged position as sons and It's not that you're chasing us around with a big club. You love us and you want us to serve and worship you with all of our hearts. Lord, I ask you to forgive us as a people for not being what we ought to be in terms of servants and good stewards. Lord, some of us perhaps have been lazy about telling others the good news, that though they're strangers, They can come to faith in Christ. What a wonderful blessing it is to share that. Help us to be those that do that faithfully. And then, Lord, if we are harboring known sin, In our hearts, Lord, I pray as a church that we'd come to a place of revival and repentance. And Lord, I pray that from the preacher all the way to the last few here today, from the deacons, everyone who leads to those that serve in areas that we might consider out of the limelight, Lord, I pray that the whole church, every part of this local body would have hearts that are open and transparent and honest and humble and clean and pure. It is a blessing to understand the high cost that was paid for our reconciliation. I want to thank you, Lord, that you decided to come to this old earth and you prepared your body. You lived in a human body. And Lord, you lived a life without sin. And Lord, because of that, you were qualified in every way as God and man to die on the cross in our place as sinners. And Lord, I thank you that the sinless one took our penalty and paid it in full. And Lord, I thank you for the body that was broken for us. We appreciate so much that great gift from heaven tonight. We want to say thank you in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you for joining us today. Please tune in each week for new messages from Pastor Lauren Regeer at Bible Baptist Church in Hampton, Georgia. Until next time, may the Lord bless you and keep you and make his face shine upon you.