From the MLJ Archive

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: I should like to call your attention this morning to the words which are to be found in Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians, the second chapter and the 19th verse. The 19th verse in the second chapter of Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians. Now therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God. And indeed we must go on, 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 into an holy temple in the Lord. In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

Here in this paragraph, in this portion, the apostle, as I was indicating last Sunday morning, sums up the argument that he has been developing in this section beginning at verse 11. He's showing how these Ephesians have become one with Christian Jews and are thus made one body and are together as members of the Christian Church. Now last Sunday morning we were working out together something concerning the nature of this unity that obtains amongst Christian people. We were showing how inevitably it is.

Because there's a common sinfulness, a common experience of failure, desperation, terrible need, the same savior, the same life received, born of the same Spirit, partakers of the same nature, worshipping the same Father, having the same problems and difficulties, facing the same glorious hope.

Now, those were points which came out of necessity as we were working our way through the various details of the Apostle's argument. Now in doing all that, the apostle has been emphasizing two things. The first is, of course, the greatness of the change that must of necessity take place in us before we can become Christian at all. There's no question about that. There is no greater change known to men in any realm or department than the change that we all undergo when we become Christians. It's a new creation, nothing less. It's a profound change. Now all that was evident as we were working through those details. The second thing that obviously comes out is this.

The privilege of our position as Christians and as members of the Christian Church, or as members of the body of Christ. Now the two things are there, you notice right away through. The Ephesians were that, they've become this, well there's your change. Now this is what they are. They're there with these Jews who've become Christians also, and together they're one body, the Church, and are worshipping the one Father. Now, the privilege of that position. Now that is the thing that the apostle takes up in this 19th verse. It's the thing that he works out in the remainder of this chapter.

Now here he has ceased to think in terms of Jews and Gentiles or any differences. He's now describing to us the privilege of anybody who's a Christian. Whether he was a Jew or a Gentile before, it doesn't matter at all. All that's finished with one new men. And here now he is looking at these new men, this new humanity, this new thing that's coming into being, the Christian Church. And his concern now is to show us what a wonderful thing it is. And he does so by implying three pictures.

The first picture that he implies is the picture of a state. Christians are fellow citizens in a great kingdom, a great state. The second thing is they're members together of a family, of the household of God. And thirdly, he thinks of Christians and of the Christian Church as a temple in which God Himself dwells. Now, that's the thing he's concerned to do and it's very important that we should keep that in our minds that that is the big thing, the privilege of being a Christian. He wants these Ephesians to know it. We go back again you see to the 19th verse and its context in the first chapter. The apostle tells these people that he's praying for them and he prays that the eyes of their understanding may be enlightened, that they may know what is the hope of his calling, what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward that believe. Now that's the thing that he's wanting them to see, if only they saw the privilege of being a Christian.

And that is the thing that you and I need to take hold of, obviously more than anything else. Now all the exhortations in this epistle, and in every other epistle, addressed to Christian people, all the exhortations rarely come out of this doctrine. You don't start with exhortation. Because if we only realized exactly what we are and who we are as Christians, most of the problems in our daily life and living would automatically be solved. It's because we fail to realize this, we don't realize the privilege of our position. If we did, we'd never want, we'd never envy people who are not Christians, we'd never try to live as near to them as we can, and sometimes almost feel sorry that we were not in that position. Now that's just due to a failure to realize what we are. So the apostle puts it in this wonderful manner.

But you notice before he comes to his three positive pictures. He starts with the negative. Now, I'm not doing this, it's the Apostle Paul. And I'm simply here to expound what he says. You don't like negatives. People don't like negatives today. Well, I'm very sorry, but the Apostle Paul does. Now therefore, he's going to say something positive? No, he's going to say something negative. Now therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners. But then he comes to his positive.

Now, he feels obviously constrained again to bring in the negative. He goes back in other words to the 12th verse, where he started, where the 11th and 12th verses where it said, wherefore remember that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, you are all called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands, that at that time ye 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. He just glances back at it once more. And therefore he starts with this negative, now therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners. Now, why do you think he does this? Well it seems to me to be obvious that his reason for doing so must be this.

It's no use our going on to consider the privileges of our position unless we are perfectly certain that we are in the position. Surely that's a waste of time. It's no use being told exactly what applies to the position you occupy if you are not in that position. So therefore, it's essential that we should make absolutely plain and clear to ourselves and to one another that all this really does apply to us. Before I begin to look at my citizenship, or my membership of that family, or myself as a stone in that building, that temple. Well, am I there? Is this all applicable to me? Well, now, I feel that in the negative the apostle is raising that whole question. Now, he puts it like this.

In the case of these Ephesians, there was no doubt at all, there was no question whatsoever. The apostle says, now therefore, you are no more that, but you are this. It was clear, it was obvious, patent to everybody. Because these people having been pagans had lived a certain type of life. The Jews on the other hand were living a different type of life and went to their temple and had their ceremonial. Well, a man couldn't go from paganism to Christianity and to be in the Christian faith with Jews, well, without having to undergo a very great change. He had to leave certain practices and customs, he had to renounce certain gods who he may have worshipped before, and say that there were no gods and so on. It was an obvious change and Paul said, you are no longer, you are.

And this of course is something which is always true in what one may call first generation Christians. It was very true in the case of the early church as I say. It is still very true in connection with the foreign mission work. Foreign missionaries go to various places where the gospel has never been heard before. People were in paganism and in darkness. The gospel is preached, it's heard for the first time and people believe it. Well, the change is so obvious. First generation Christians.

But you know, it's not quite so simple when you come to the second generation Christians. And still more difficult when you come to the third, fourth, fifth, 10th, 20th generation. So that whereas the thing was perfectly plain in the case of these Ephesians. It isn't always quite as plain. It's never as easy and as simple obviously in a country which calls itself a Christian country. And where it is tacitly assumed by so many that everybody born in such a country must be a Christian. It's not so easy when people have been brought up in churches and in a Christian atmosphere, and have always gone to praise worship and Sunday school and things of that type.

So that it's very important that we should interpret this not only in the setting in which it was originally written, but also in our own particular setting. Because, as I want to try to show you, the principle is exactly the same always. It's the application that differs. And the apostle here was primarily concerned about the principle. Now the apostle was not just simply rejoicing here in the fact that these Ephesians were members of a church. And such that they had their names on a roll, if you like, that isn't what he's talking about. What he's talking about is the principle of life. He's been doing it all along. It's a Holy spiritual paragraph. So that it comes to us, I say, in that particular form.

It was obvious that these people had been that, they are now Christian. And the question I say for us is, is this as definite and as clear and as unmistakable in us as it was in the Ephesians? Well, now the two words that are used by the apostle will help us to face this all important subject. The first word he uses, you notice, is the word stranger. Now therefore you are no more strangers. What's a stranger? Well, strangers are those who find themselves among a people not their own. When you're a stranger, you're amongst people who are not your own people. They all belong to one another, but you are a stranger, you don't belong to them, they're not your people. Stranger. Then the second word is the word translated here in this authorized version, foreigners.

Sometimes you will find it translated sojourners. And the two terms are very good. What does this word mean? Well, originally this word meant this. It was a description of someone who dwelt near a community but not in it. If, if you like, it's a man who lives just outside the city wall. He's near the city, but he's not in it. He don't belong to the city, living nearby, but not in. That was the original meaning, but now it comes to mean this, doesn't it? Those who find themselves in a place which is not their own country. You see, the first term stranger conjures up more the idea of the family unit, of a kind of blood relationship. Whereas this other word foreigner or stranger, inevitably compels us to think more in terms of a polity, a state, an economy, if you like, a country or a kingdom. And the foreigner is a man who finds himself in a place which is not his own country.

And we're all perfectly familiar with what is suggested by this idea. It means that though this man is living in the country, he hasn't a citizenship of that country. He is not naturalized, if you like. He hasn't the right of permanent residence in that country. Or to put it still more simply, he's a man who's living on a passport. Now, these are the two words that the apostle uses, strangers and foreigners, sojourners. People living there for a while, it may be a long time, but still, they're always sojourners, they're still foreigners, the other place is their home, they're living here on the passport, and they have to renew it and so on. Now that's the picture that the apostle puts to our minds. And you notice that when he comes to his positive, he just reverses these, he starts with the citizenship and then goes on to the family relationship. But we are still concerned this morning primarily with the negative.

And you notice what a subtle matter this is. You've often seen this in practice, we've all seen it. There may be someone living in the family, someone who has lived in the family for years. And is almost one of the family, and yet isn't one of the family. Though this person may be sharing in the life of the family in almost every conceivable manner, still this person actually does not belong to the family. And that is where the difficulty comes in. Custom and usage and habit would make a stranger think, visitor, well, this person is obviously one of the family. And yet having known them for a while, begins to discover that actually this person was not a member of the family. Or it's exactly the same with the country, isn't it? There may be many people living in a country, they may have been there for many years. And somebody coming on a visit to the country, looking at them, would take it for granted that this person is just one of that country, just a typical citizen of the country, doing the same sort of thing, going to business in the morning, going back at night on the same train. Everything seems exactly the same, and yet actually that person doesn't belong to that country, is not a citizen, just as I say, living on a passport.

Well, now, there, I think we see something of this picture that we've got to get hold of in our minds, that sort of thing obtains in the Church of God. This very position of living with the family, but not belonging to it, being in the country and yet not being a citizen. It is possible to be in a company and yet not of the company. You will remember that when the children of Israel went up from Egypt to Canaan, we are told in a most extraordinary phrase that a mixed multitude went up with them. They went with them, they shared the same hazards, the same problems and difficulties, as the children of Israel, but they didn't belong to them, they were a mixed multitude. But indeed the Apostle Paul takes that further in the second chapter of his Epistle to the Romans when he says, they are not all Israel that are of Israel. What a phrase. They are not all of Israel. They are not all Israel that are of Israel. You look at them as a mass, you say they're all of Israel. They are all of Israel, but that doesn't mean that they're all Israel. There is an Israel and an Israel. There is an Israel of the spirit as well as the Israel of the flesh. There is a remnant in the mass. That's the apostolic teaching. And as you know, in these New Testament epistles, it's one of the most vital and important doctrines. You can be of a company and yet really not belonging to it. Or take the Apostle John saying the same thing about certain people who had gone out of the early Christian Church. They went out from us, says John, because they were not of us. For had they been of us, no doubt they would have continued with us. They'd been amongst us, but they were not of us. They'd been in the church and they seemed to be Christians, they've gone out, says John. They never really belonged to us.

Now that is the kind of matter that is raised here for us. Very well, let's consider it by putting it in the form of a number of principles. The first is that the difference between the Christian and the non-Christian is clear and definite. In spite of all I've been saying, the principle remains that there is a clear distinction between a Christian and a non-Christian. Paul puts it like this, you are no more. There's a change, change over. Obvious there, I say, externally, but he isn't concerned about the external, he's concerned about the internal. And therefore there is no hesitation at all in asserting this morning that every one of us in this building at this moment is either a Christian or else not a Christian. We are either in Christ or else we're outside Christ. Aristotle once laid down as a proposition, and it's undoubtedly true, there is no mean between two opposites. Opposites are opposites, and there's nothing in the middle, in, there's no mean between them. It's either or. Now, you noticed in that seventh chapter of Matthew's gospel, a portion of which we read at the beginning, our blessed Lord and Savior was simply concerned to emphasize exactly this point. You can't be on the narrow way and the broad way at the same time. You can't be going in through, through two gates at the same moment. You can't be passing through a turnstile and going through a wide gate at the same moment, it's impossible. It's got to be one or the other, says our Lord, and it is. Now, that's the thing that starts it off, the difference between the Christian and the non-Christian. The Christian goes in at a straight gate, he walks on a narrow way, the other is exactly opposite, and you can't be on the two things at the same time, it can't be uncertain, it's got to be one or the other. That's his statement.

But you notice how he goes on repeating it. False prophet, true prophet. Good tree, bad tree, good fruit, bad fruit. There it is and finally in that tremendous picture of the house on the rock and the house on the sand. You see, it's always one or the other, it's either or, you're Christian or you're not Christian. And these things, I say, are absolute. You are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are Christian in the body. Now, obviously, if we're not agreed about that, there's no point in proceeding. The Christian position is not a vague one, it's not indefinite, it's not uncertain. Of course, if you think of it mainly in terms of superficial conduct and behavior, well then you, it may very well be vague, because I can easily draw a picture for you and show you two men. There is a man who's highly moral, never does anybody any harm at all. He is word is his bond, he's honest and just and upright, a thoroughly good man in every sense of the word. There's another man, you can't say looking at them generally that this second man is as good as the first man. He does things that he shouldn't do at times, he's not such a lovable character perhaps. And yet, it may well be the case that the second man is a Christian and the first man not. Do you accept that? That's a crucial test for you. If you don't accept that sort of statement, you are violating this principle. For what determines whether a man is a Christian or not is not his general appearance. That foreigner living in this land, looks exactly like an Englishman. He does the same things and so on, but the fact is he's still a foreigner. The fact that he looks like the other man doesn't mean he is like him. The question is, is he living on a passport, or has he a citizenship? You see, the test is not a general superficial appearance, that's the very thing that the New Testament is always emphasizing. So I say this is really a fundamental point.

Do we agree that we are either Christian definitely, or else we are not? And there's no such thing as hoping to be or trying to be. If you're in that position, you are not. That's all. To be on the doorstep isn't being inside. And it doesn't help you to be on the doorstep when the vital question is, are you inside or not? Oh, how often is this depicted in the scriptures? Our Lord draws his picture of people coming. And hammering at the door and saying, open unto us. But the reply comes from the inside, now, you're outside, you don't belong. We are either Christian, or we are not Christian. So the second point I would make, my second principle would be this. To stress the vital importance of knowing which we are. Now, here again, I say, Paul's illustration helps us once more. How does it become clear and obvious whether we are strangers and pilgrims, or strangers and foreigners, or sojourners, or whether we really belong? Well, you know the way in which it always becomes clear. It doesn't matter how intimate a relationship may be, however friendly you are with someone who's living with you in the family or something like that. We've got a saying that puts it all at once entry when we say, but you know, after all, blood is thicker than water. And there it is. Certain points arise in life when actually the one thing that matters is the blood. And it's at that point that the poor stranger begins to feel that he's only a stranger after all. You may have felt for years, well at last these distinctions are irrelevant. I'm one of them. I'm a member of the family. He's been treated as a member of the family. But suddenly in a crisis, he discovers that he isn't. Blood is thicker than water. You can't explain these things, you may even say that there's a great deal that's wrong about all that. All right, say what you like, but I'm telling you that that's how it works out in practice. Something fundamental, elemental, suddenly comes to the surface, and you'll find a whole family that may have been at sixes and sevens, suddenly becoming one, and the poor stranger is conscious that he's an outsider.

Or take the other illustration which puts it perhaps still more clearly. Take a person who's a sojourner, a foreigner in another land. As I say, may have lived there 20 or 30 or 40 years. May have enjoyed living there and everybody liked him and so on and so forth. Well, there it is, these distinctions are irrelevant. What does it matter that he has a passport and that he hasn't a true citizenship, and that he has to go and have it renewed and checked and so on. What's it matter, you say, we're one after all. But wait a minute. Suddenly and unexpectedly, the country to which that man belongs and this country in which he's living have a dispute. And the dispute can't be settled, and war is announced. And this man who may have lived in the country 40 or 50 years, suddenly realizes he's a foreigner, and everybody looks at him with suspicion. And he may very well be interned or sent back to his own country or something. He appeared to be a member of the company, of the citizen of the country, and everything seemed to be one. But when a crisis, a test, a trial comes, at once he's plain, he's a foreigner after all. And there he is isolated. There was a great deal of that sort of thing in this country in 1914 and 15, and sometimes it was almost tragic, but it happened then. It tends to happen at every time of war. Well, now that's the principle that you'll find running right through the scriptures. Why is it important, I said, to know whether you're a Christian or not? Oh well, I'll tell you. It's at the time of testing this thing becomes of vital importance and of value to you. And it is in the tests and the trials of life that this thing comes out. You can go on for years while you're well and hale and hearty, you're in the church, you seem to be of the church, there's your interest and so on, you're with the company. Suddenly you're taken ill, and you find yourself for months on a sick bed.

You won't belong before you know whether you're a Christian or not. It makes a vital difference then. Or when there's an illness in a member of the family, when there's a bereavement or a death, some terrible heart-rending sorrow. Oh, it's then it becomes all important. If you're simply living on the passport, it doesn't seem to help you. But if you really belong, it makes all the difference in the world. But come, let's take it on to the ultimate. Our Lord Himself does this. Isn't that the whole point of that section in the seventh of Matthew? These people who seem to be Christian and who say, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name done many wonderful works? They were in the church, they were active in the church, they were church people. But I will say unto them, I will profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity. A stranger after all. A foreigner in the last analysis. Passport handed back, shipped aboard, sent out of the country. Oh, the vital importance of making absolutely certain as to whether we are still strangers and foreigners, or whether we really belong. Very well, let me try to be practical by taking this as my third principle, how may we know this? How can we settle this question? What are the tests? I'm going to suggest you some very simple answers based upon the illustration used by the apostle. So I start with the more superficial thing of all, it's this, a general feeling, a general feeling. Now, I'm not testing you, you're testing yourself. Here are the questions.

Are you a stranger and a foreigner or are you not? Well, answer this question. Do you feel really at ease in the church? Are you quite at ease in amongst Christian people? Do you feel quite at home? Or have you got an uncomfortable feeling that you're somehow an outsider? That's what happens when you go and stay with a family, isn't it? Well, they're very nice and so on, but you, you just feel that you don't belong, you're not quite at ease, to watch yourself and your behavior and so on. You can't relax, you're a stranger after all, though it's all very kind and affable and friendly. Are you at home, are you at home in God's house, are you at home amongst God's people, are you at ease? Or do you feel in spite of everything that you're just a bit of a an odd man out and a bit of an outsider, that you don't really fit in? Or let me put it to you like this. Are you as much at ease amongst God people as you are in other circles and in other types of company? You know, with the other company, the laughter and the joking and the fun and perhaps the drinking and the gambling and all these things. Ah, how free, how much you have to say, you're one of them.

Is it like that and are you just conscious of being a little bit out of your element? This is tremendously important. When you put it in terms of a family, you see how inevitably it is. One of these imponderables as we call them, a thing you can scarcely put into writing or on paper, but you just know it. That's how I feel, you say, and your feeling is right. Or to put it in another way. Is there a real and a living interest? When you belong to a company, you're active in your interest, you're alive in your interest. In more than that, you really delight in it. Your heart's in it. It's what you love, it's where you like to be, you like to be at home, you like to be in your own country. You may admire others and so on, but after all it's home, quite right. Now the same thing applies to this relationship. And a man who belongs delights in it. It's not a matter of effort to him. It's not a mere matter of duty. It's something in which he enjoys himself and which he prizes above every, everything else. Well, let me summarize this whole section by putting it in the words of the first Epistle of John, we know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. We feel we belong to them. There are some of them we don't like perhaps, but we love them because they're brethren. We may like other people better than we like these, but it isn't a question of liking, it's loving.

Sometimes it happens that a member of a family likes a friend much more than a brother or a sister. That doesn't affect the relationship. This elemental, fundamental organic thing, that's deeper than everything else. That's the question. We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren. General feeling. Come to the second test, understanding. Now, when you are staying with a family. This question of understanding becomes tremendously important. Or when you're a foreigner in another land, this whole question of understanding is important. I mean this. Do you know what's being talked about? Is there anything which is more uncomfortable than to have a feeling that though you're seated with the company, somehow or other you're outside the conversation? You don't know what they're talking about. They all seem to understand one another, they use phrases, they look at one another in a giving and a significant way. They're all in it, it's a sort of free masonry as it were, as we say. But you, somehow, you're not in it. You're listening, you're part of the company, you're hearing the conversation, but you're not able to go into it and to enjoy it. So I'd put questions like this.

Do you understand the language? The family has its own language. People say I can't stand this talk about justification, sanctification, all these terms. Do you feel like that? God forbid that you should. They're precious terms to the children of God. They are not impatient with them. It's like a little child listening to grown-ups. It brings out a big word. It doesn't understand it. Well, what's the child doing? Well, it's trying to prove it's a member of the family. It's using a word that the father used. And the children of God are like that, they may not know what justification and sanctification mean. But because they're children, they want to, and they begin to read and study and they ask questions. But if you're impatient with it all, you're just proclaiming you're an outsider. You don't understand the language. Is the language of Zion sweet to you? Like a man who's been away in another land and having to speak a foreign language, he comes back on the boat and even before he's got off the ship, he hears his native tongue again and, oh, how he rejoices, the language.

But it's not only a question of language. There's something more. Do you know the subjects they're talking about? You understand them. You're interested in the questions. Again, let me use my illustration, we've all had this experience, we must have had, we are staying with a family perhaps, and they're all so nice and kind and affable. And we are engaged in conversation. Well then, suddenly somebody comes in, and you can tell by looking at the face of the man who comes in that something's happened, which is of great concern to the family, and they all feel awkward, they want to talk about this together, but you are there and they can't. So they talk in hints and suggestions, they talk in an indirect roundabout manner, and you don't know what they're talking about. But they're doing that because you are a stranger. They like you, they're not insulting you, but you don't understand. There are these intimate problems and questions, they can't share them with you, though they like you very much, because you don't belong to the family. It's the same with the country. And it's like that in the Christian life.

Are the questions and the subjects and the problems of the Christian life known to you? Are you interested them? Or when you sit and listen to people talking to them, do you be, or perhaps as you listen to a man like myself trying to preach? Do you say to yourself, well, what is all this about? I don't understand it. Now if he were talking to me about the visit of the Russian leaders, or talking to me about this new measure introduced by the Chancellor, well then, of course, I'd understand gambling. Ah, well, now this is my theme, I'll have a discussion with you about gambling. But these other things. What's it all about? What is it? It's so boring. That's the sort of way in which you discover whether you're of the family or not. Well, let me put it finally by putting it like this. I suppose this is one of the best ultimate tests. Are you in on the secrets? There are family secrets. There are national secrets. Are you in on the secrets? What I mean is this, you see. It is possible for a man to be interested in religion. It's possible for a man to be interested in theology. It's possible for a man to be interested in philosophy. And as long as we're dealing with abstract theoretical questions, he's all in, and he appears to be one of the family. But suddenly you begin to talk spiritually, I mean by that you begin to talk experimentally, you begin to talk about your own soul and your own experience. And suddenly the man who's been so interested theoretically feels he's outside. Do you know anything about that? I heard of a man the other day who was in a certain theological seminary in a country that I shan't name, but there he is, he was a stranger there. He went there very especially because he knew that this place was orthodox, and because they taught these great doctrines and lived for them, and he was enjoying it to his heart's content.

But he suddenly had a problem and he wanted to talk to somebody about his soul and to talk in the depths and about some secret, and he couldn't find anybody to talk to. They didn't seem to understand, they didn't want to talk about it. As long as it was arguing about philosophy, marvelous, interested in theology. Yes, certainly. But when the man was in a sole need and wanted something experimental, he suddenly began to feel he'd been living on an iceberg. Thoroughly orthodox, but cold. Ah, it's possible, I say, to have a general interest, but not this intimate, personal interest in the secrets of the life. That's a vital test. Well then, other things I would suggest to you would be these, that are you conforming in general to the laws and the customs of the country? The Apostle John says about the Christian that to the Christian God's commandments are not grievous. They're grievous to everybody else, they're not to the Christian. The Christian says, oh, how I love thy law. David can say that in a psalm, the Christian says it.

And you know, we do proclaim where we are and what we are, don't we, by the way in which we live. You go from this country, say to France, or onto the continent in your car, and you start driving on the left side of the road and in two seconds you'll know you're a foreigner. Quite right. Ah, yes, but I'm afraid I know many people who are driving on the wrong side of the road within the church. They don't know it perhaps, but they're proclaiming that they're foreigners and strangers. They're driving on the wrong side of the road. They don't know and honor the laws and the commandments of the kingdom. They are not behaving in a manner that is consonant with and consistent with the customs and the habits of this particular family. Strangers and foreigners, though living in the company. And the other thing is concern about its state and condition. Work them out for yourself. Finally, it comes to this, doesn't it? I've been starting, I say, on the superficial level and going down and down deeper. There's a final proof. What's that? Well, it's this.

Which of you've got? Is it a passport or a birth certificate? That's absolute proof, isn't it? That's beyond feeling, interest, understanding, and all these things. In the last analysis, it's a legal question. Have you got a birth certificate or are you simply living on a passport? What's the Christian's birth certificate, you say? I'll tell you. It's over and above everything I've been saying, the Spirit Himself beareth witness with my spirit that I am a child of God. It's the sealing of the Spirit. It's the assurance that can only be given by the Holy Spirit Himself, who hath sealed us and who is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased position. Don't misunderstand me. You may be a Christian though you do not know the sealing of the Spirit definitely. If you've passed my other tests, I would assure you that you're a Christian. But I do exhort you and urge you, don't be content with that. Insist upon having your certificate. Go to Somerset House until you find it. Let nothing stop you. Seek it of the Lord. Apply to Him. I use Thomas Goodwin's term again, sue Him for it. Until you've got it, and then you'll know. And you'll be able to say, I am no more a stranger or a foreigner. I am a fellow citizen with the saints. I am of the household of God. I'm a stone in the temple. Which God Himself inhabits. Amen.