Now let's look over in Ephesians
chapter four. And today's message is really
the second part of this passage, these first 16 verses in Ephesians
four concerning unity and the body of Christ. And of course
that passage in First Corinthians one goes right along with it.
Here he's talking about a church there in Corinth who was marked
with divisions, what they call schisms. And there they had divisions
over several things if you read the whole book of 1st and 2nd
Corinthians. But the division he starts with
is division over preachers. People have a pride about that. We were talking about this past
week about baptism. I've almost come to the point,
Mike and Laurieann, we had a successful baptism last week, but I'm getting
to the point where I'm getting old. I can't hardly climb up
and down those steps. And I told Randy and Jim, I said,
we need a young, strong, believing man who can baptize for us. And I think it was Randy brought
up, said, well, you know, some of them, they might want to be
baptized by the pastor. I said, well, you know, it don't
really matter who baptizes you. Paul said that, I didn't come
to baptize, and he said, I'm glad I didn't baptize any of
you who are dividing, except a few of you. And he said, other
than that, I don't even know who I baptized. So over the years,
I've baptized a lot of people, but we're certainly not gonna
divide over that. What baptism is, and that's what
you did last week, Lorraine, you confess Christ and his glory
before the people of God. And that's what it's all about.
And so who baptized you doesn't matter. It's, did you believe
the gospel? That's the issue of baptism,
the one being baptized. Are you confessing something
you believe? And that's what brings us together
in the unity of the faith. Paul, in Ephesians four, in the
first few verses that I preached on last week, he'd been speaking
of the true church of Christ, which is the result of Christ's
ministry, Christ's work, as the surety, the substitute, the redeemer
of his people, sinners saved by grace. The true church is
not, the building of the church, even the local assemblies where
the gospel is preached, is not the building of the pastor. It's
not even the building of the people. Now we're responsible
to get the message out and invite people to come to our worship
services and we pray that the Lord will bless them with salvation
mainly, and bring them into our fellowship. But it's Christ who
is the builder of the church. He's the unity of the church.
I love these outlines about when it talks about the church and
it portrays Christ, he's the foundation of the church. Upon
this rock I'll build my church, he said. And it's the rock of
the glory of his person and the power of his finished work. How
God saves sinners. by the glory of Christ, the God-man,
Emmanuel. We sing about Emmanuel this season
and every season. He's God manifest in the flesh,
God with us. And the power of his work on
that cross. This is why he was born. He was born to die. You
know, I see these, sometimes these jackets that they'll have
on the back of, these leather jackets, they're born to die.
Well, yeah. We're born to die. The death
process starts the moment we're conceived, because it's appointed
unto men once to die, and after that, the judgment. But Christ
was truly born to die, but not in the way that we die. He was
born to die as my surety, having my sins imputed to him, going
under the just wrath of God for me, for you who are saved, and
taking that full punishment to satisfy God's justice. And just like we were talking,
Randy, you know, you used to sing that song in false religion,
is he satisfied with me? The point is, is he satisfied
with his son? Because that's who I plead. Is
he satisfied with Christ? Well, you bet he is. By one offering
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Doesn't
that just thrill your soul? to know that you have a hope.
My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness,
because I know the Father is satisfied with the one who I
plead as my only hope, my only righteousness. There's no other
way God can be pleased with us, satisfied with us. Christ is
our satisfaction, and so he's our substitute. That's why he
came into this world. That's why he was born of a woman.
That's why he took into union with his deity, a perfect sinless
human nature, to obey the law and to die in the place of his
people and redeem us from our sins. He's the redeemer. That's
who he is. Paul, in this passage, he spoke
of how both Jew and Gentile are bound together in Christ, in
that one body. equal members of the true church,
the redeemed of Christ. There's no big I and little you.
There's no hierarchy here. There's salvation which is of
the Lord. If we're in Christ, we are all
equally forgiven of all our sins based on His blood. If we're
in Christ, we're all equally justified, righteous in God's
sight, based upon His righteousness imputed. And then Christ is also
the keeper, the preserver of the body. He's the administrator
of the body. I'm the pastor here, but I'm
not the CEO. And I got guys who will remind
me of that, and they should. But I'm not the CEO, I'm not
the boss. Christ is the keeper and the
administrator of the church, but here's how he set it up.
He keeps us, he ministers to us in the body, both in a unity
of both equality and diversity. And so in the first six verses
of this chapter, he made this point. He says, there's a sense
in which we are all the same, equally. And what was that? Well, look at verse four, the
one body, that's his church, one spirit, I dealt with all
these last week, so I'm not gonna go over them again specifically,
just to read them. Called one hope, we've all got
the same hope, one Lord, Christ is our Lord, as he's identified
and distinguished in the word of God, one faith, that's our
doctrine, the doctrine of grace, the doctrine of the gospel. This
is not a group of people who all going to the same place but
different ways. We're all going the same way.
And it's all described in the Bible. One baptism, that's the
baptism of the Spirit, that's our new birth. One God and Father
of all who is above all and through all and in you all. And in that
sense, we're all the same. There's no difference. If there's
a difference, you're outside the body of Christ. If you believe
a different gospel than what I'm preaching today, you're not
a member of this one true body. Because there's only one faith,
one spirit, one God and father of us all. But now in verse seven,
he begins to show how the members of the body of Christ are all
different. There's a sense in which we're different. And what
he's talking about is spiritual gifts, offices, Look at verse
seven, but unto every one of us is given grace according to
the measure of the gift of Christ. Now he's not talking about the
grace of salvation. That's all given to us in the
same measure. In other words, it didn't take
more grace for God to save me than it did you, or more grace
for God to save you than it did me. You know, people think that
way. You think about somebody in the area who's a notorious
sinner. just open with his immorality
or her immorality, and boy, people will say something like, boy,
if God could just save somebody like that, that'd take a lot
of grace. Well, my friend, it takes a lot
of grace to save any of us. And I'm gonna tell you something,
and I'm not promoting immorality or anything like that, but I'll
tell you something. The preacher standing behind
a pulpit preaching a false Christ, the people sitting in the pews
listening to that false message, it takes a lot of grace to save
them because they have a false hope. But it's all equal. But the grace that he's speaking
of here is the grace of gifts of ministry. And it's the gift
of Christ. Even the gifts of ministry are
not earned. Salvation is not earned by us. We're not deserving of it. Well,
the same thing holds true for the gifts of ministry. And he
says it here, verse seven, but unto us, every one of us is given
grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Christ
measures it out. I don't measure it out. I don't
have the power to say, I'm gonna give you this gift, and I'm gonna
give another person this gift, but I'm gonna give them more.
No, it's Christ who sovereignly, in his administration of the
church, building up the church. And all of this, and this is
why Paul was adamant about this in 1 Corinthians. Don't glory
in preachers. You know, it's just human nature,
for example, where people say, well, I've got a favorite preacher.
Or I'd say, maybe I like to hear this one more than I do this
one. That's something we can't get away from, because we're
human. But here's what I'm saying. If that man is preaching the
gospel, you're to be there supporting him full 100%. You may like to hear somebody
else preach it. I told a man one time, I said, well, you're
preaching the gospel, but the way you act, people wish like
crazy somebody else was up there preaching it. We're all in this together. And
I think about this in 1 Corinthians 4. And Paul had a lot to say
about this in 1 and 2 Corinthians about spiritual gifts. And in
verse 7, this is 1 Corinthians 4, 7, listen to this. And he's
talking about spiritual gifts. And he says this to the Corinthians,
who maketh thee to differ from another? And what hast thou that
thou didst not receive? Whatever gift I have of preaching,
of prayer, and there are all kinds of gifts. There's the gift
of giving. Some people can give more than
others. That's a gift from God. We're all to give, but some can
give more than others. The gift of preaching, the gift
of prayer, the gift of speaking a word in season. Sometimes I
come up and people have problems, I don't know what to say, but
there are people who, Lord has just given them a gift to say
what needs to be said at that time. And that's why I always
try to just go to the word of God and keep it there. But there's
the gift of ministry in the church. Even you ladies, you have gifts.
And we're all in this together and we need to listen to each
other, we need to talk to each other, we need to edify one another.
But he says, what have you, whatever the gift it is, what you have
that you didn't receive. What does that mean? It means
you didn't earn it, you didn't deserve it. Christ measured it
out sovereignly. And he didn't look down and say,
well now there's a guy there who's got the gift of gab, I'm
gonna make him a preacher, no. That's not the way he does it.
He says, now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if
thou had not received it? And then look at verse eight
here. He says, wherefore, he saith, when he ascended upon
high, he led captivity captive, or one translation says a multitude
of captives, gave gifts unto men, now that he ascended, what
is it, but that he also descended first, into the lower parts of
the earth, he that descended is the same also that ascended
up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things," or
fulfill all things. Now, what's his point there?
Well, his point is this. If salvation is a gift, then
everything that's connected with salvation is a gift. And what
was it when Christ descended to this earth and he led a multitude
of captives, he led captivity captive, which means he conquered
and triumphed over sin, over Satan, over the world, over death,
over the grave, and indeed every spiritual enemy of his and his
people, especially the devil, he led men captive at his will,
that's who the devil does, the devil leads men captive at his
will, and is therefore called captivity, and all of his principalities
and powers, he led us out, he made us free, set us free. He set us free judicially in
our justification, satisfying the justice of God as our substitute,
our surety, our redeemer. We're free, we're justified.
God will not and cannot charge us with our sins. How free is
that? How liberating is that once God let you in on it? I'm
a sinner, and if at any one time God would judge me based upon
my best efforts to keep the law, to obey him, I'd be damned. But
God will not. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? I've been set free. And then
I've been set free spiritually at some point in time. God the
Holy Spirit in God's providence, and this is Christ administering
to the church. God the Holy Spirit providentially,
and you know what providence is, that's God's government of
things. He's in control. And so at some
point in time, God the Holy Spirit brought me to a preacher and
some people who knew and believed the true gospel. And the Holy
Spirit gave me life from the dead. And he set me free spiritually,
liberating me to understand that my whole salvation was conditioned
on this person who descended, who ascended on high after he
descended into the lower parts of the earth. Now listen, if
you've heard that verse before, and you know people are crazy,
about religion and myth, mythology comes into it. There are a lot of people who
take that verse nine, and when it says, now he that he ascended,
what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of
the earth? And you know what a lot of people
say about that? They say Christ went into hell and preached to
them there. Well, first of all, let me let
you in on something. Hell's not underneath the ground.
You see these horror movies about guys, they discover the gate
to hell. What are the lower parts of the
earth? Literally what that means is this old sin-cursed earth,
period. But hell's not in the center
of the earth. There's no cave that's got an opening called
the gate of hell. That's myth. Somebody said, well,
where is hell? I don't know. And you don't either. I know this about it. It's alienation
from God. That's what it is. And here it
is. Whatever mythology you've bought
into about hell and where it is and what it's like, just put
it out of your mind. I know this about hell. Whatever
it's like and wherever it is, I don't wanna be there. But I know you can dig a hole
all the way to the center of the earth and you're not gonna
find hell. Christ didn't go underneath the earth and preach in hell.
That's not what this verse is saying. Listen, that lower parts
of the earth, that's talking about this low, sin-cursed world. Christ entered in. That's why
he was born. He was set up from everlasting
to be made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were
under the law. And that's why he came here.
He came to this place that according to the righteousness and holiness
of God is so rotten, so low. And that's why we're foolish
to try to cling to it as if it's the be all and the end all. But
that's his point here. Everything we have in salvation
is free, based upon the work, the death, the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that includes our spiritual gifts.
It's free. There's no use me envying somebody
who has a particular gift that I don't have. Why? Because Christ measured it out
according to his sovereign will. He did it for his reasons. You
may look at somebody and say, well, he doesn't deserve that
gift, but I do. My friend, do you know about,
let me tell you about salvation. Let me tell you what it's all
about. And it's not about what you deserve or what you earn
or anybody. It's grace, grace, grace, based
on the righteousness of another. And so he says in verse 11, he
says he gave some apostles, That was the first office in the New
Testament church. He gave it to 12 men. Now, Judas was a false apostle.
Paul, I believe, was the 12th apostle. An apostle was one directly
called by Christ, given their doctrine from him. And it was
the first and the chief office in the New Testament church.
These were men called by Christ. They had their doctrine directly
from him and had a power to work miracles to confirm the word.
And if you look over in verse 20 of chapter two, listen to
what it says here. Verse 20, he says that the church
is built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets,
Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. This church
is built upon the doctrine of the apostles. And what was their
doctrine? Jesus Christ crucified, risen from the dead, the chief
cornerstone, the foundation of the church, the head of the church,
the heart of the church, the redeemer of the church, redeemed
by his blood, justified by his righteousness. That's the foundation
of the apostles and the prophets. That's not being built upon men.
You know, the Catholic Church, they talk about how Peter was
the first pope and he's the rock. That's not true. That's not what
the Bible teaches. Peter was the little rock, and
that's what we are. We're the stones of the building.
Christ is the foundation rock, the rock that cannot be moved,
the perfect rock, the rock from which the water came, the rock
that moved with his people. That's Christ. And then it says
he gave some prophets. The prophets were men of God
in the early church who had a particular gift to interpret the scripture,
especially prophecies of the Old Testament, and they foretold
things to come as it was revealed to them. For example, there's
one named Agabus in Acts chapter 11, who gave a prophecy of the
destruction of Jerusalem. And then there are evangelists.
Well, the word evangelist comes from evangel, which means good
news. These were preachers who were traveling missionaries,
just going around spreading the gospel. And then he says pastors
and teachers. Some people say that's one in
the same office. Well, that's okay. If you're
a pastor, that means you're an under shepherd to lead the flock
of God. And you do that by preaching
and teaching. A pastor who can't teach, what good is he? Now there are
some who are teachers that aren't pastors, but pastors are the
shepherds of the flock, while teachers may be gifted brethren
in the church, teachers of the word who assist the pastor. But
these are all offices, and look at verse 12. Here's the purpose
of it. Now listen to this. For the perfecting
of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying
of the body of Christ. Now that word perfecting, normally
when we speak of perfection, like in verse 13, the perfect
man, We're talking about that word that applies to a finished
work. Christ on the cross, he said,
it is finished. Our redemption is finished. But
the word perfecting in verse 12 is a different word. It can
basically mean the same thing, talking about a finished work.
But the idea here is the church made up of all of God's chosen
ones the elect, sanctified and set apart for himself in eternal
election. And what he's saying is that
these gifts of ministry are given among the church that God might
bring them all in. That's the perfecting. Bring
them all together. and the work of the ministry.
The ministry of the gospel is designed for the completing the
number of these by effectual calling. What are we here for?
We're here to worship God. We're here to call in his sheep.
That's what we're doing. When we preach the gospel, when
I preach it on television, on tape or internet, when you go
out and witness to people, what are we doing? We're seeking his
sheep. And what did he say? He said,
my sheep hear my voice and they follow me. There's a good shepherd,
the great shepherd, the chief shepherd brings them in. And
that's what he's talking about. And basically this perfecting
of the saints is simply telling us that not one of God's chosen
people will be missing. This church is gonna be perfected. This universal church of the
living God redeemed by the blood of Christ. And that's what the
work of the ministry is all about, to glorify God, and then also
the edifying of the body of Christ. That means building us up spiritually
by encouraging us in truth and love, equipping us, every member,
to serve the Lord however God calls you to do it, whatever
gift you have. And then verse 13, he says, till
we all come in the unity of faith. Now that's not talking about
different denominations coming together. That's talking about
bringing sinners to hear the gospel. All the elect of God,
all the sheep, justified, redeemed, are called into the church by
the gospel, that one faith that we talked about. And they're
brought by God-given faith to believe in Christ and brought
to true repentance. And he says the unity of the
faith, the unity of the gospel, the unity of our doctrine, Salvation
by grace. He says, and of the knowledge
of the Son of God, the knowledge of Christ, to know Christ. I
want you to know Christ. I want to know him. I don't want
you to know men's and women's opinions of him, what they think. Doesn't matter what they think.
I want to know what God's word says about him, about who he
is. God manifest in the flesh. He
is God. I mentioned this on a television
message last week. A friend of mine, a brother in
Christ up in Kentucky, was talking with a co-worker of his, and
they got to talking about denominations and doctrine. And my friend,
my brother, asked this co-worker, said, do you believe that Christ
is God? And this man who went to a local Baptist church, he
hesitated. He said, well, he's the son of God. Well, he is the
son of God. But the man was saying that as
if to say that Christ is some kind of lesser God. Well, my
friend, the second person of the Trinity, the son of God,
is not a lesser God. He's co-equal with the Father
and the Spirit and every attribute of deity. Listen, he is God. Now, he's also man. Perfect man. But that's who he is. He submitted
himself, became subordinate to the Father for the purposes of
our salvation. But that doesn't knock off any
of his attributes of deity. He's still God. And that's what
he's talking about. Look at verse 13 again. Till
we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of
the Son of God unto a perfect man. That perfect man is the
same as over in Ephesians 2 and verse 15, that one new man, that's
talking about the church. When it's all over and Christ
splits the skies to destroy this world and to call his people
together, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ will be a finished,
complete work, no vacancies. No one missing. There'll be no
empty pews. We'll all come to the measure
of the fullness of Christ. He says in verse 13, we're complete
in Christ. We're perfect in Christ, not
in ourselves. So we grow in grace and in knowledge
of him in his fullness. The more I know about my perfection
in him legally, based upon his righteousness imputed, the more
I'll grow in grace and in knowledge. The more my heart will be established
with grace. And he says in verse 14, this
is the key here now. He says that we henceforth be
no more children tossed to and fro, carried about with every
wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness
whereby they lie and wait to deceive. Verse 15, but speaking
the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which
is the head, even Christ. The more we're established in
the grace of God in Christ, false preachers, false teachers, the
opinions of men and women, they won't toss us back and forth.
We know whom we have believed, and we're persuaded that he's
able to keep us unto that day. All that we've committed unto
him, And speaking the truth in love does not mean speaking the
truth so as to remove its offense. You understand that? Because
the natural man will not receive the things of the Spirit of God.
When we speak the truth in love, we're speaking the truth having
in mind that God would save this person we're speaking to. We
want to be an instrument of God in bringing the sheep into the
fold. But we can't compromise the gospel
in the name of love to do that. And then verse 16, he says, from
whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted. Now who
puts us all together? Not us. God does. Christ puts us together and we're
compacted. That means, it's kind of like
people say, well, they're joined at the hip. Well, we're joined
at the heart. That's what that is. Basically,
what it's saying is, in reality, we can't get away from each other.
Sometimes we may want to, but that's old selfishness, isn't
it? But we're compacted together by the grace of God in a heart
by that which every joint supplieth. according to the effectual working
and the measure of every part. See, this is all the power of
God. Maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in
love. Isn't that glorious? That's a
message of salvation and comfort for God's people. There's no
other way to be. Keep these things in mind. Pray
that the Lord will make them effectual to our heart. and that
we just don't go walking out unaffected. This is the edifying
of the breath. This is the purpose of the church,
to go out and seek his sheep. Let's sing a hymn to close.