I remember the first time I heard
it was here in this congregation, taking requests one Wednesday
or something, and maybe a Sunday night, Violet Byrd said, Let's
sing number 34. I turned there, and I had never
heard it before, but I loved singing it ever since. Great
hymn. Go back to Ephesians 4 now with
me. Ephesians chapter 4. I was just thinking, I was getting
ready to stand up and preach, how that I really never grow
tired of preaching. I enjoy it if the Lord blesses
it. I would rather quite a bit of
the time, or would rather be sitting where you're sitting.
And I get tired of standing in front of you. I know you get
tired of hearing my voice. But this is what I do. And I don't grow tired of it.
I really don't. I enjoy it. I look forward to every time
we get together. There are times I look more forward
to it than others, feeling like I really have something for you. But this is what God uses, and
who hath despised the day of small things, Scripture said.
This is what God uses, and though I feel so incapable of it, this
is what God uses. And He uses the same message
I quote Paul in Philippians 3 all the time, don't I? That to write
the same things to you, to me, is not grievous. to preach the
same things to you. I mean it. It's not grievous
to me. I don't get tired of it. You know, I sit and for hours
look at the same thing we've been looking at for years together.
I don't get tired of it. That's how you know it's God's
truth. The first three chapters of Ephesians,
God's Word declares. what God has done for his elect
people. Yeah, there it is again. I'm going to keep saying it,
Brother Stan. The first three chapters in Ephesians is just
a declaration of what God Almighty has done for his elect people. That's how it starts. The point
is, he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
verse 4 of chapter 1. Three whole chapters. in this
letter, three whole chapters are a declaration, that's all
they are, a declaration of God's sovereign electing love, mercy,
and grace in saving dead lost sinners by and through Jesus
Christ. That's all it is, three whole
chapters. There are no requests, there
are no questions, there are no pleas. Nothing like that, just
one long declaration of what God has done for us who were
dead and trespassed in sin. Before there was one word, and
now that doesn't mean that's all this book is about, though
that's the theme, that's the foundation, right? But before
the apostle gives one single word of exhortation, one single
word of Instruction. It's this declaration of who
God is. God's people never get tired
of hearing who God is. They're like little children
when people brag on their dad. I remember, you know, you remember,
don't you, when you were a young child? You love to brag on your
dad. Nobody was bigger than your dad.
Nobody was stronger. That's all a declaration of who
God is, His sovereign will and purpose to save His people. It's
a declaration of what we are. You can't appreciate who God
is and what He's done through Christ unless you know what you
are, where He found you. Who Christ is, it's a declaration
of who Christ is, what Christ has done for us, and who the
Holy Spirit is, and what he's done. That's all it is, Dan.
Verse 3, that's all it is. Not one single request, not one
single question, not one single plea, not one single exhortation,
not one single instruction. Why is that? See, that's not modern preaching.
Modern preaching begins with a plea to people. Won't you? Won't you? God's Word,
the power of God unto salvation is the declaration of this message. The power of God, the way God
saves human beings is not the preacher begging people, asking
people. It's declaring who God is, who
Christ is, and what he's done, and the Holy Spirit takes that
and just opens eyes and gives life. Yes, sir, that's it. That's
it. Right? That's what happened to
you, wasn't it? This is the power of God unto
salvation. That's like Ezekiel. Ezekiel,
the Lord had him standing before that valley of dry bones. You
remember the story. Dry bones. I mean, are they dead?
Ezekiel. Can these bones live? Lord, they're
bones. They're dead. No. You know. And the Lord said, Preach, Ezekiel. Now he saw the futility of asking
bones, won't you bones please get together? Oh hip bone, won't
you be connected to the thigh bone? And won't you all just
join together? Won't you all accept my dead
bone? The Lord told him to do one thing,
just stand up and declare who God is. Oh ye dry bones, hear
the word of the Lord. And lo and behold, they became
people, living, breathing, believing. That's what God uses, the declaration
of his Word. Not asking, not pleading, not
the persuasive power of the preacher, not the decision of the people.
It's the Word, the power of his Word. Now, after life, after
this life is given, After life is begun, then comes the exhortations,
the instructions, the call to action and responsibility. You
understand? After the fact. After the fact. And so we begin chapter four.
All right? We've been studying through this,
the book of Ephesians. Are you with me? You understand
why I said all that? Because chapter 4 now begins
these exhortations to the people of God. This is written to the
believers, not written to the world. This is not written to
people, to dead people who can't do anything. That's what religion
does, people. They apply the word of God to
the whole world. It doesn't apply. Salvation is
not reformation. Salvation is not decisional regeneration. Salvation is regeneration, being
made alive by the Spirit of God. And how does he do that? I just
told you. But now in chapter 4, are you with me? Come on now. I had to say all that. I had
to. Because this is more a Wednesday
night message than it is Sunday morning. Chapter 4, this is written
to God's people, exhorting them. Verse 1, chapter 4, I therefore,
the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you. Who's he talking to? I beseech
you, as though God did beseech you by us. Who's he talking to?
Not talking to everybody. He's talking to the saints, the
faithful. He wrote this letter to the faithful
brethren in Christ, those, he said, who have been quickened.
who were dead but have been quickened. Those who are now fellow citizens
of the household of the saints. Those who have heard, he said,
and whom you've heard and of whom you've trusted. Believers.
That's who this is written to. Alive, responsible children of
the Most High God. That's who this is talking to. I beseech you. You understand
why I have to say that? I beseech you. That you walk worthy of the vocation
wherewith you are called. That you walk worthy. Now, who's
worthy to be a child of God, a believer? Nobody. He's not saying that at all. He's just saying, since you have
been called, you need to act like it. Knowing who you are, remember
who you are, is what he's saying. Remember who you are. That we're
to act and live responsibly as God's people. Chapter 5, go over
there, verse 1. Chapter 5, verse 1. Be ye therefore
followers of God as dear children. Children of God. We're going
out into the world. God's children, God's people
are not to be separated from this world. None so. Christ did not separate his disciples
from the world. He prayed to the Father, I pray
not that you should take them out of the world, but keep them
from it. Don't let them be influenced by it. They're not separated. physically from the world, but
they go out into the world. Well, going out into the world,
we're to act like, he beseeches us, to act like God's people. What is our vocation? A vocation
is your life's work, right? That's your occupation. That's
what you do. That's what you are. See, there's mechanic. That's
his vocation, right? Deborah's a teller. And you think
of Deborah, you associate her in that little window there at
SunTrust, don't you? Smiling. That's her vocation. And on and on it goes. What is
our vocation? The vocation of every believer.
We're the bride of Christ. We're the wife of the Lord Jesus
Christ. for his bride. We're his stay-at-home
bride. We're the wife of Christ. That's
our vocation. Some people don't consider that
much of a vocation today, that is to be a wife and a mother,
sadly. And we see the results of that
in our society. It's the highest calling on this
planet. And that's what every single believer is. the bride
of Christ. That's his vocation. I say that
when young people stand before me. I'll try to make a point
to say that when they get up here. I say, now you're marrying
each other. Now this is your, they become
your career. You don't go after a separate
career, you know, both of you seeking your own way in the world. No, you become one another's
career. Your whole life from then on
is to serve one another. That's what Christ did for his
bride, did he not? When he came here, he said, I
am as one among you that serveth. The Son of Man came not to be
ministered unto, but to minister. And so is his bride for the service
of their husband. That's their vocation, you see.
Our vocation is a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. A disciple. We serve him. How do we serve
Christ? How do we serve Christ? Christ
is in heaven. We can't give him anything to
eat. We can't clothe him. We can't have him at our table.
He's in heaven. How can we serve him? His body
is on the servant. His body. That's his church. That's his body. That's him. Christ said, inasmuch as you've
done it unto the one of the least of these my brethren. Whatever
you've done to these, you've done it to me. You've done it
to me. So this is our calling. I beseech
you, brethren, that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith
you're called. Live, act responsibly as God's
people, as the bride of Christ, and serve his body. You're not your own. Our Lord
said, you're not your own. anymore. When you're a single
person, you're your own, right? You don't answer anybody. You
don't have to call and check in. Do you? You young people,
you single people be thinking about what I'm saying here. You
don't have to call home every five minutes. You're going to
have to when you're married. Oh yeah, oh yeah. I mean, you can't even decide
to spend ten dollars, because they know it's in your wallet.
Right, Stephen? Oh yeah, if they'd gotten it out. And vice versa. Vice versa. Am I telling the
truth? You can't do anything independently
anymore. Here's what I'm going to do.
They're going to find out. But that's all right. That keeps
you in check. You're not your own anymore. You belong to Christ and his
body. Yes sir, everything. Now here's the building point
here. Everything we do affects this
church. The body of Christ. It's a bigger
picture than me. There's so much I can say about
this. They get tired of their lot in
life and they want to do something for themselves, irregardless
of children, irregardless of the whole picture. And they say,
I'm going to start living. I've never been happy and I'm
going to make me happy for a change. And it ends up making a whole
bunch of people unhappy and miserable and wrecks everything. There
never will be any happiness after that. We pursue our own happiness
and our own selves, and when it's all over, that's what we'll
have, ourselves. You listen to me, and you listen
carefully. There's a bigger picture. We
serve the cause of Christ, the glory of God, the truth of God.
The body of Christ is a bigger picture than me, a much bigger
picture. No man is an island, that is
for sure, especially in the body of Christ. Especially. You become,
in the body of Christ, you become, in a sense, you live in a fishbowl. I'm not the only one, a preacher,
though I'm more conspicuous than others. What I do, what about
me? What I do has great consequences
on this, in this church, does it not? Lord, help me. You pray for me. But the same
holds true with you. The vocation. When I went out as a child, my
name was Mahan. Whatever Paul Mahan did, whatever
trouble he got into, it was a reflection on Henry and Doris Mahan, and
Robbie Mahan, and Danny Mahan, and Becky Mahan. It brought reproach
upon the Mahans. You understand? And that's the
way it is in the body of Christ. I thought you were a Christian. Our walk in this world, our attitude,
it's not just, it's our attitude that has as much influence as
anything. Our attitude. We, more than anybody,
we who can profess that we believe God is in absolute control. I mean, absolute control. We're really the only ones that
really believe that. There are 7,000 somewhere. But we do believe the sovereign
God and everything is in control. When things happen, we ought
to be the most calm and collected and uncomplaining. Alright, Lord,
it's the Lord. Right? It's our vocation. Act like who we are. It's our
vocation. Read on. He says in verse 2,
with all lowliness and meekness, our Lord in Matthew, where was
it? Matthew 12, 28, I believe. He said, take my yoke
upon you and learn of me, for I am meek. No, Matthew 11. I am meek and lowly in your hearts,
and you'll find rest for your soul." He said, learn of me,
I'm meek and lowly, and you be like me and you'll find rest. Now listen very carefully, okay?
Lowliness and meekness. These are Christlike virtues.
Lowliness and meekness. The world doesn't practice, the
world doesn't esteem that highly, do they, huh? The world doesn't
esteem lowliness and meekness. Pride is the prevailing characteristic
of this world and more prevalent than in religion, right? Religion
is so nauseating because they're so obnoxiously proud of themselves
and their religion and just overbearing with it, aren't they, huh? I'm
so proud. God's true people, those who
have received mercy and grace, are meek and lowly. They feel
unworthy. They feel less than the least.
Pride is the furthest thing from them, really. Pride, arrogance,
and haughtiness, though it's a characteristic of most today,
it is the furthest thing from God's people who know that they
are what they are by the grace of God. Right? And loneliness
and meekness. Our Lord said, you'll find rest,
because God resisted the proud. God resisted them. There is no
peace to the wicked, those that puff themselves up. No, sir,
God won't allow it, because God is jealous of his own glory.
But those who abase themselves, they can sit at the table. He says, so in loneliness and
meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love.
Verse 2, with loneliness and meekness, that is, considering
who you are, if you'll consider who you really are, where you
came from, it'll be easy to forbear, that is, put up with others. Surely one worm, Brother Kelly,
surely one worm ought to be able to put up with another worm,
shouldn't he? and not get puffed up and think,
well, I'm a prettier worm than you are. I'm a richer worm, I got more
dirt. Forbearing, putting up with,
that's what forbearing means, putting up with one another.
Surely, we should be able to put up with one another. Long-suffering. That is, doing it a long time,
no matter what you suffer through. Putting up with one another in
love. You know, love is really the only thing that will make,
will let you put up with somebody. And we all offend. James said
we all offend in many things. No. We all offend each other in some
way or another. Somewhere or another. A lot of
us offend one another in many ways. And true love between a husband and
wife, between brethren, whoever it may be, is the only thing
that will keep you putting up with one another. Because that's
what we're going to have to do, isn't it? We're all a bunch of
sinners, a bunch of sons of Adam. This old man still is there.
And he comes out and wears his ugly head every now and then.
And we all want to put up with one another. And love is the
only thing that will do it. A parent, let me just use a parent
as the best example. A parent, it doesn't matter how
bad that child is, they'll put up with it. They'll put up with
it. They'll never disown that child.
Never. A true parent. What is our motive? Why should
we put up with one another? As God, for Christ's sake, let's
put up with you. He's going to keep doing it.
Our Lord said this one time to His disciple. He was with them
for about three years, and they were, oh, just like us. They're just like us. Murmuring, complaining, bragging,
you know, who's going to be the greatest, and just on and on.
for the squabbles among themselves and getting, you know, just like
we do. Unbelieving, saw the Lord's sovereign
power for three years and yet act like they didn't believe
it at all at that time. And our Lord said, how long must
I bear with you? Like a parrot. Have you ever
said that? David, have you ever said that
to Tyler? How long am I going to put up with this? Well, how
long did you? Do you? Will you? Love will. How long am I going
to have to bear with it? Peter said it more succinctly. He said, you need to account
that the long-suffering of the Lord is salvation. Did you hear
that? I'll quote it again. He said,
you need to keep, you need to account, you need to consider,
you need to think that the long-suffering of the Lord is our salvation.
Brother Dan, we're going to be saved because the Lord put up
with us all the days of our life. I get sick of myself, don't you?
I have it up here with me, let alone you. Or the Lord puts up with us,
forbears us. How? With love. He said, I've
got you engraved on my heart, on my love, greater love. Now, for a good man, someone
dies. For a righteous man, but God
commended his love toward us. Oh, sinners. Oh, that's love. Behold what manner of love the
Father has bestowed upon us, us, that we should be called.
Really like that, that we should be called the sons of God. Poor
excuses, huh? Peter, I'm going to build my
church on you. Me? Lord, I denied you. Now you. Because he'll keep you low, Peter.
You're going to stay low, remembering what an ungrateful fellow you
were. He's going to keep you meek and
low. So forbearing one another in
love, he tells us, you do the same. Since God's done it and
will do it for us, to us, you do the same. Forbear, put up
with one another. There's going to be a time when
we're going to need somebody to put up with us. It'll be a long
suffering. Verse 3, endeavoring to keep
the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Endeavoring. When you endeavor to do something,
what does that mean? It means you work at it. It's
something you have to work at. An endeavor is something that
requires a good deal of effort, right? Endeavoring. This peace,
peace in the home, peace in the church, peace wherever it is,
just doesn't happen. Oh, it's not natural at all. It's a miracle. What we have
here in this church is a miracle of God's grace. Yes, it is. It's a miracle of God's restraining
grace and constraining grace. God who has ordained peace. Yes it is. And he tells us as
children, you work at it. You nurture it. Endeavor to keep
it. Unity. More than anything, endeavor
to keep yourselves from disturbing the peace. I can't do anything
about Darnell there. Right? I can't do anything. If he causes trouble, he has
it. But Darnell, you take care of Darnell. That's what this
is saying. I can only, this one fellow,
the only fellow that I had to attend to. I need to work at
it. That's what he's saying. Endeavor
to keep the unity, the unity of the Spirit in the bond of
peace. This is what the Holy Spirit
does, unifies his people. But yet, he tells us, it's something
to be worked at, and it's something worth working for and nurturing. What we have here, and if you
have a marriage, if you have a man at all that
doesn't treat you bad, you better be thankful. I mean, you better
be thankful the grass is not greener. their wife, it is not greener. That's why people keep getting
married, keep getting married. It's not greener. Unless, that
is, you're an unbeliever. And he is too, or she is too. Did you hear what I said? And
what God's Word said? It's a job. It's a vocation.
You've got to work at it. Not me and mine, it's us. Endeavoring
to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace is something
that must be worked at. And it's worth working for. There
are other people involved. Not just me. There's a lot bigger
picture. There's other people involved
and it's worth it. He says here in verse 4, he says
there's one body. You see? That's what we've been
talking about. There's one body. You know, I've never really approached
this from this standpoint. Janette, I've never, you know,
I've always... This is the context. Do you see that? This is the
context. He's talking about the unity of the Holy Spirit in the
church. And how we're to work at it.
That's what the context is. He says there's one body. There's
one church. Now, this is not a call, listen
to me, listen, this is not a call to what everybody calls an ecumenical
movement. That is, that's a big word for
the whole world is getting together and they say we ought to join
all together, all faiths, all faiths need to join together. No, no, no, we're going to see
in a minute there's one faith. You can't unite with those that
don't believe the true God, no sir. No sir. You can't have, how can light
have fellowship with darkness? No sir. That's not what this
is talking about. This is talking to the church.
The local assembly. He's talking to the Ephesian
believers at Ephesus. You understand? Now it's called
worldwide ecumenicalism. No sir. This is written to the
local church, members of the congregation. And right now it's
just us sitting. Central Baptist Church. This
is urging us to do everything to keep unity in the body, because
there's one body. There's no little finger that's
separate from the body. No little toe, no nothing. If
it's a member of the body, it affects the whole body. There's one body. And it all
works together. What if my little toe wouldn't
cooperate? I'm walking down the road and
my little toe wants to go this way. throw the whole thing out of
whack with it. That just doesn't happen. That's
the sense here. That's the context. That we're to work together,
keep unity in the body. Not to do or say anything to
disturb the peace. Not to act in any way contrary
to what God has ordained. Peace. Now, you've heard all
my illustrations, I know, but I can't—until I come up with
a better one. Until I come up with some better ones, I've got
to keep telling them. My little kingdom. I have a little kingdom
over there. Sixteen acres. It's full of all different kind
of animals. My little kingdom. I'm the king.
Aren't I? I am the king. Come on, just
nod your head so everybody can see, all right. I'm the king of my little kingdom,
and dogs know it. Anyway, we have all kinds. We have horses and dogs and cats,
used to have chickens and all of that. Now, there's nothing
more opposite than a dog and a cat, right? You know, dogs,
cats, roogle, and dogs, droogle. Nothing more opposite. It's in
the nature of a dog to chase a cat. Isn't it? They just don't get along. I
don't know why. They just don't. They're opposite.
Not on my farm. If you're going to stay on my
farm, you're going to get along. The other day I was standing
at the door, and I watch them like a hawk, buddy. I'll tolerate
about anything but somebody that's causing trouble on the farm.
You understand? Yes, sir. I'll tolerate about
anything. I'll let them get by with anything. I'll just feed
them with water. Nobody has to do hardly anything
around there. Kelly, my horses don't work.
My dogs don't fetch anything. My cats, well, no cat does anything. But I keep taking care of them.
I have them there. And I just demand that they be
at peace among one another if they're going to stay there. There's a little dog that we
purchased for my dog, Charlie. You've heard of him by now. And he's one of these highfalutin
dogs, you know. Expensive dogs. Pedigree. A dog. They do what other dogs
do. If they're house dogs, they do
it in the house. He's no better than any other dog. Well, old
Charlie, we got old Charlie. He's an inside dog, because we
chose him to be. Well, when we first got him,
old Charlie went outside and arrested those dogs and cats. You could see the resentment
in their faces. I hate you. Who do you think
you are? And they'd bark at him. He'd
go in and try to eat their food, and I'd hear, just, and I would
lay into each one of them. Not one dog or cat that hadn't
felt my wrath over Charlie. You're going to put up with him.
I know he's worthless. He bothers you. I know that.
But you will put up with Charlie. The other day I went outside,
and they got me out of the corner of their eye. I went outside,
Mac, and there's Annie, and she's the one that hates him more than
anybody. And I went outside, and there
was Charlie, and he was jumping all over Annie, and on Annie's...
She looked and saw me coming, and she started playing with
him. Look, look, I love him! You know, that may be a silly
illustration, but I can't think of any other one. And yes, the
other morning I looked out the door, in the morning I was drinking
my coffee, looked out the door and there stood Abner, a big
70 pound black dog, you know, he could just, and there's Oliver,
another little cat, a little white cat, about 10 pounds, you
know, and the opposite, daylight and dark, and he could just kill
him in one bite, you know, and they'd just stand there beside
one another, and they nosed each other, and they'd like each other,
they really did. They liked each other. That's, I've ordained
it. I won't tolerate anything. And
if anybody won't abide by it, you're out of here. And that's the way it is in God's
church. That's just the way it is. Do anything to distress the
place and mess things up, you're out of here. That's God's rule. And so it has to be worked at.
And God chastens us when we don't work at it, when we don't endeavor.
And one Spirit, forgive my little familiar illustrations, all right?
That's all I got. If I come up with something better,
I'll give it to you. There's one Holy Spirit. He's
the one that called us, even as you're called and one hope
of your calling. We're all called here, you see.
We're all like that dog, that pound dog. We don't have any
rights here. Of all people, of all dogs, or
any. You know the story of Annie. She was going to be killed, euthanized
the next day. I went and chose her. There were
eleven other dogs. I said, no, you're mine. I'm
bringing you home to Andy. You're mine. Brought her home,
fed her, washed her, clothed her, bedded her, dipped her. Bedded her, did all this thing
for Annie, of all people, of all dogs. It ought to be the
most grateful and humble and lowly and meek and receive any
dog that comes on the property. It ought to be any. You see? It's a good illustration. And
what about us? Where did he find us? Where did
he call us, John? Who were you, John Davis? Who were you, Barbara Ross, when
the Lord found you? Just who were you? Who are you, William? A painter. That's an honest occupation. How many painters are there all
over the world that know Christ and know the gospel? Not many. Nobody from nowhere, when God
found us and called us by his grace, by his gospel, by his
Holy Spirit. That's our hope. See, that was
the hope of our calling. I believe that he's called me. I believe he has. And it's not
because of worth. I have no rights. This is a privilege. Do you understand that if you
realize it's a calling, you'll realize I don't have any rights
here. I don't have any say here. This is a privilege. I'm here
by divine privilege. I'm not worthy. I'm unworthy. We'd approach the table every
time like, oh, I'm hungry. I don't belong here. Can I sit
here? Yes, sir. Yes, ma'am. Holy Spirit. Where did the Holy Spirit find
us all? He went into the highways and the hedges, didn't He? Do you remember the illustration?
He went into the highways and the hedges. He went down into
the pit, the lowest pit. He scraped us, Brother Kelly,
from the bottom of the barrel, buddy. We weren't good apples,
we were bad apples. That's where the Lord found us.
Boy, if we remember that, we'll put up with a few bruises on
somebody else's. He found us on the dung heap
to sit us among princes. And that's the hope of our calling. I believe he had. That's one Lord is one we answer
to. You don't answer to me, I don't answer to you. That's one Lord. I'll keep a solid check on one
Lord. One Lord. We're all under the
same dominion, reign, and care. Lord, Jehovah, Sid, Jehovah,
Jireh. One Lord, one faith, one faith,
we believe the same God. This is absolutely so. There's
no believer, there's no believers anywhere on earth who believe
the different gospel. Believers don't have the different
conception of God Almighty. No, sir. They'll all be taught
of God. All of our children are taught of God. Same God. Same God. Same Father. One Lord,
one faith. We believe the same God, same
gospel, same truth. Our hope, what is our hope? Well,
it's built on nothing less than Jesus Christ's blood and righteousness. That's our hope, that's our faith.
One baptism, read it, one baptism, one confession of faith, not
only is our hope that the Holy Spirit has put us in Christ,
immersed us in Christ, but there's one confession of faith, there's
one way to confess Christ. That's what the Lord has told
us to do. Water immersion. All are commanded to do that.
They do it. Verse 6. One God and Father of
all. That is, one who reigns and rules.
That's God. One Father. One who begets all
his children. As someone said, religion has
people giving birth to themselves. And God, just like a helpless
midwife over to the side. That's not the way we were born.
I didn't have anything to do with my birth. Did you? Did you decide, Lee, for your
mom and dad to have you? You see, it's funny. So it's almost comical, the conception
of new birth by religion. No, no, we've got one Father.
He begat us. How did He begat us, John? The
Word of Truth. That's right. We begat ourselves. We didn't get born again. We
were born from above by the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. One Father,
Father of all. Who? Who's all? All mankind? No, we saw that in Romans 9.
He says, not the Father of all. Children of the flesh are not
the children of God. Look at verse 6. Keep reading.
He says, One God and Father of all, who is above all, through
all, in you all. You all. Y'all. When I say y'all,
you know who I'm talking about. I'm not talking to anybody. I'm talking to y'all. Now we
understand. Now we're talking English. You all, Henry and Roberta, you
all. Stand in a chair, you all. You
all. Saints, brethren, faithful in
Christ, who were dead, but now have been quick. Fellow citizens,
you all. He's the Father of us all, all
God's people. And above all, Or if we'll keep
that in mind, He's over and above us. Keep us fearing God and approaching
God as we should. Christ said, I'm from above,
you're from beneath. You don't ever approach us superior
in any way but like that. Above all, and through all. That is, God Almighty is sovereignly
working in you, in your life, in everything. He is working
all things together in and through you. Yes, you. You are a part
of His purpose. And you know what I'm saying.
I'm not saying that we're so necessary and needful. Not at
all. But nevertheless, God, if you're
a part of the body, you're in it. And He's working through
you. Not me. Virgie used to say that,
oh, that can't do nothing. We're still talking about Virgie.
She being dead yet speaketh firmly. Didn't the Lord use Virgie? Her
dying testimony was one of the best I've ever heard. But she
always would say, Amy, she'd always say, I can't do nothing.
My buddy. She was one of the most outspoken
believers I know. all, through you all, and in
you all. In you all. Christ in you is
the hope of God. He dwells in you, in your people. How? By love. Faith and love. Faith and love. That's just how
we know we've passed from death. We love the brethren. That's
how we know we're one of the family. You keep the peace. The
king demands it. We all cause trouble every now
and then. You see the context of that?
I never really approached it like that, but that's what it's
all about, and that's who it's to, us. And you see, when I started
it like I did, the first three chapters now are a declaration
of the truth, and that's what saves people and changes people
and gives life. Not trying to do these things.
That won't give you life. God must give a new heart and
life. And then once it's given, then
God talks to us like children now. Straighten up. Back right.
Do it right. You know what it's to do. It's
like a father with his children. Don't do that. Stop that. Quit
that. Good boy. Oh, yes. Well done. Without faithfulness,
sir. Just like a father. All right,
Brother Gabe, what's that number? 186. This is taken from Ephesians
4, 186. The church is one foundation,
and the charter of salvation in the scripture says one Lord,
one faith, one birth. That's verse 2. Let's sing verses
1 and 2. 186. Stand with us. A church's one foundation is
Jesus Christ her Lord. She is His new creation. From him he came and suffered
to be his holy bride. With his own blood he lost her,
and for her life he died. He left from every nation, yet
one more Earth, garden of salvation, one
Lord, one faith, one birth. One holy name she glances, partakes
one holy food. To one hope she presses, with
every grace in hand. so so It's a good old time to go down
the line. It's a good old time to go down
the line.