Thank you, my old friend, and
my dear friends, my faithful friends. It's so good to see
you. What a blessing to see you. Thank you. Thank you for another
conference, another time that we're privileged together as
we are. Thank God for the work here.
at Grace Baptist Church in Danville. Thank God that this is a place
where the gospel is proclaimed. Thank God for this pastor. I want you to turn with me for
my scripture reading over in Psalms 133. Very short Psalms. I want to speak to you for just
a few minutes on the subject, dwelling together in unity. Dwelling together in unity. Let
me read these three verses in Psalms 133. Behold how good and how pleasant
it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like the precious
ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's
beard, that went down to the skirts of his garments. As the dew of Hermon, as the
dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion, for there the Lord commanded
the blessing, even life forevermore. Behold how good and pleasant
for brethren to dwell together in unity. Some have suggested
that David wrote this psalm shortly after the death of his son Absalom. Absalom was a very rebellious
young man, sought to overthrow his father's kingdom, had ran
David and his men out of Jerusalem. tried himself to sit upon the
throne. And he was killed. They killed Absalom. And David
sent a message to the men of Judah and said, why haven't you
brought back the king? Well, we know why they hadn't
asked the king to come back. They didn't think he would come
back, not after the way they had treated him. They had anointed
Absalom as their king. And now they see what an awful,
awful mistake they had made. And they were grieved and began
to fuss among themselves about whose fault it was. And David
sent a message to them, and he said this, I am your brother. I'm bone of your bone and flesh
of my flesh. It said that with these words,
David bowed the heart of all the men of Judah as the heart
of one man. And they sent a message to him
and said, return, return and bring all your servants with
you. And some say that's when David wrote this song. How good. how pleasant it is for brethren
to dwell together in unity. We love unity, don't we? We love
it in our families, how important it is in our family to have harmony,
to have peace, with dad and mom and the children and the relatives
to get together and eat together and fellowship together. Unity
in the family, especially when you consider the alternative.
rumors and uproars and bitterness. We love unity in our nation. We love civil unity. Isn't it
good that we have a constitution that we all submit to and love
and we have laws to be ruled by? We love our country that
God has given us and we pray for it. There's men who have
given their lives to keep the peace and the unity of this one
nation under God. And some aren't going to appreciate
that until we probably lose it. Then we're full of anarchy and
danger and you're unsafe. Unity is good in the body, in
the physical body. I was at the doctor's office
the other day and I don't know what was wrong with this young
man, probably in his early 20s, but it's almost like his members
had turned on his body. He was striking himself with
his fist and his face was all bruised and red and they were
having to restrain him. When all the members of the body
and the organs are in unity and they work together as one, that's
wonderful, isn't it? But none of these, none of these
are to be compared to the unity that David's speaking about.
The unity among the brethren. How good, he said, and how pleasant
it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. David knew something
about a dysfunctional family. He had one. And he knew something
about wars in the nation. He fought the battles. Well, your family may not be
what you want it to be. But I tell you this, if you have
unity with a brother, if you have I tell you, that's the best unity
you can enjoy. How good and how pleasant it
is for brethren. And he adds this, behold, behold. Look at this, consider this.
Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away, same word. Behold, I stand
at the door and knock. Behold how good and how pleasant
it is. Good, it's good, it's good. You know what unity is? It's
a good evidence that the Spirit of God is in us. that He has come to us, to our
hearts, and He's there in our hearts. In Acts chapter 4, when
the church got in trouble, the whole church, and I don't know
how many thousands were there, but it said they went back to
their own people, and they lifted up their voice, and it says this,
with one accord, just one person was praying, But the whole assembly
was in one accord, and the place was shaken where they were, and
they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. And here's what
was said about them. They were all of one heart. And one soul. What does it mean
to be filled with the Holy Spirit? It doesn't mean you're shouting
and rolling in the aisles. It doesn't mean you go to the
grocery store and holler hallelujah, praise the Lord. What's one of
the good evidences that we're filled with God's Holy Spirit? Unity. They were in the house of the
Lord and they were in perfect agreement in their hearts and
in their souls. They worshiped with one mind
and with one mouth they glorified the Lord. They were of the same
love, the same sympathy, They were gracious and forgiving and
thoughtful and bearing one another's burdens. They built one another
up in the holy faith. They stirred up one another to
love and to good works. Unity, because the Holy Spirit,
the one Spirit, had filled their hearts. Oh, how good unity must
be. Must be a good thing because
our Lord prayed for it. Father, I pray that they all
may be one as you and I are one. That they may be one in us. The Father and His Son has enjoyed
eternal union. And he prays that as the father
and himself has enjoyed eternal union, that his people may enjoy
union. Unity. Unity. One with another. Must be a good
thing. Must be a good thing. I tell
you this, it's good for an individual soul, isn't it? Boy, it's good
to have it. It's good for your spirit. It's
comfortable, isn't it? And I tell you what, it's comfortable
when you have it, and it's uncomfortable when you lose it. I was telling, I think, Marvin
this morning, or last night, if I spill this, I'm like Martin
Luther in that movie, you notice? I was telling, Larry, maybe it
was this morning that Bunyan, he quoted Bunyan, Bunyan said,
the Lord has some dear children, but you're not going to have much
fellowship with them until you get to heaven. There's not going
to be too much pleasant unity with them. I don't know why that
is, but that's scriptural. It's scriptural. Sometimes You have to separate from some
people and enjoy what unity you have with them. If you get too
close to them, the unity is broken. You know anybody like that? And
don't look at me. Remember Abraham and Lot? Brother, don't let us be grievous
one to another. Abraham said a lot. Don't let
us have this falling out. Don't let us argue. Let us separate
one from another. Ain't that what they said? You
go to the right hand and I'll go to the left. You go to the
left hand and I'll go to the right. They separated themselves. And I am certain there was a
degree of sadness in both those men's hearts, but that's what
it come to. Is this why David said, behold? Listen, he said, behold how good
it is, especially when you remember if you're not careful, it can
be lost. Remember Paul and Barnabas? Right
after that great grace conference in Acts chapter 15, they had
a personal contention, a personal matter had arisen between them,
and contention was so severe and sharp that they had to separate
themselves one from another. Went their own way. Somebody
will say, yes, Bruce, but good came out of that. Yes, it did.
The Lord overruled it and sent the gospel in a different direction.
But I bet you those two men, and I bet you the church was
burdened over those two men losing the degree of unity that they
had. Don't you? It's a good thing. It's good
for our souls. It's good for our spirit. It's
a comfortable thing. Aren't you comfortable here this
weekend? Man, I am so comfortable. I listened to those messages
last night and I tell you, just the feeling in here of unity
and love and peace and harmony. It's good for your soul. It's
good for your spirit. I'm not talking about unity in
doctrine. That's another subject, isn't
it? I'm not talking about unity in truth. That's another subject.
I imagine there wasn't a harsh breath difference between what
Abraham and Lot believed. And you just know that every
essential truth and maybe all truth that Barnabas And Paul
believed there wasn't a harsh breath difference in them. So we're not talking about unity
of doctrine. If we have to talk about unity
of doctrine, well, there probably won't be much unity. Some have
more light than others, don't they? But we're talking about
unity of the Spirit. Endeavor to keep the unity of
the Spirit. Boy, that's different, isn't
it? That's different. You may have come in here, I
suppose most people that came into this building this morning
and last night, you probably believe in the free and sovereign
grace of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you don't, you should. The Bible teaches it. But that's
not what I'm talking about. And we'll see more in just a
minute about this. But there are men who believe
the truth. There are men who love the truth. They love the Lord Jesus. But there's not this deep abiding
unity. endeavor to keep the unity of
the Spirit in the bonds of peace. It's a spiritual unity. And when Paul made that statement,
their endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of
peace, the very verse before that, he said this, with all
lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering and forbearing
one another in love. That's the means that we keep
this unity. Isn't it wonderful to dwell with
people that has this attitude and this nature? long-suffering,
lowly in their minds, forgiving, gracious, merciful. It's a good
thing, isn't it? I tell you this much, it's good
for lost souls that's around the church when the church is
in unity. It was said of the early church
that they continued daily with one accord in singleness of heart. In one accord, in singleness
of heart. And three things, you'll notice,
that came out of that. One, praising God. They were
continually praising God. Number two, they had favor with
all the people. And number three, the Lord added
to the church. Daily such as should be said
I'm not saying where there's unity that will assure the salvation
of any one sinner But I know this and you do too Where there's
discord and pride the Lord Jesus does not trust his lambs to such
a congregation He seems to add where there's unity and there's
harmony and peace and It's not only good, David said,
but he said it's pleasant. It's sweet. It's delightful. It's pleasant. I was telling
them up at home the other day that I was raised in the hills
down in Tennessee and we didn't go to the doctor when something
was wrong with us. I almost died one time because
we just didn't go to the doctor. My appendix almost burst. But
my mother had a remedy for everything. It was cod liver oil. And you didn't dare cough around
her? You didn't complain about an
upset stomach? Because she'd say, son, wait
a minute, I've got something that's good for you. And she
gave me this cod liver oil with orange juice, and to this day,
orange juice almost makes me sick. This was before they had
this flavored cod liver. It's good, but it's not very
pleasant. But unity among the brethren
is good and it's pleasant, it's sweet. One man said this, he
said, unity affects our spiritual senses like some things affects
our natural senses. How pleasant to feel, to the
feel is the face on that infant. You put your face up to a little
infant and how soft it is. How pleasant to the eyes is light. How sweet to the taste is honey
and harmony to the ear and a sweet fragrance to the smell. How delightful
and sweet to our spirits is this unity. how good and how pleasant
it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. I was glad when they
said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord. Why? Because
of this good and sweet unity. But he makes this statement.
He said how good and how pleasant it is for brethren, for brethren
to dwell together in unity. This is a family unity, unity
among the brethren. The Lord Jesus said, don't you
be called rabbi, for one is your master, even Christ, and you
are all brethren. Call no man father, you have
one father, and he's in heaven. Our father is in heaven. Our
brother and our redeemer is in heaven. Most of our family is
in heaven. A few of them are on earth. Paul
talks about the family in heaven and the family in earth, doesn't
he? You know there was a time when we had no family members
in heaven. Our father was there, our brother and our redeemer
was there, but there was no human family in heaven. We had not
one single brother or sister in heaven. And then one went
to heaven. I don't know what that was like
when Abel went to heaven. He probably knew nothing about
it, what it was gonna be like, and his brother slew him because
he hated him, and the Lord took him up to heaven, and that's
the first family member that went to heaven. And now there's more family members
in heaven than there is on earth. There's much people in heaven
now. We've got family members in heaven.
We've got brethren in heaven. Abraham's in heaven. We've got
family members that are prophets and kings and apostles and poor
people and common people. Jack's in heaven. Henry's in
heaven. Scott's in heaven. Bobby's in
heaven. You preached his funeral a few
days ago, didn't you? He's in heaven. The Marys are
in heaven. The thieves are in heaven. Most of the family members are
in heaven. And listen to this, brothers
and sisters, still here below. They're more happy, but they're
not more secure than the family in this earth. They may be in
the presence of our Lord and our Savior, but listen, they're
not more loved than the family on earth, and they're not more
received either. They may experience the holiness,
but they're not anymore holy. If you and I long to sit down
with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and other family members in heaven,
if we long for that time and that place to be with our family
members there, then shouldn't we long to be with them here? Shouldn't we seek out fellowship
with them here? Become acquainted with God's
children here? They're family. They're family. We shouldn't be afraid to leave
the family on earth and go join that family in heaven. You and I spend a lot of time,
I want you to turn over to Revelations. Hold Psalms 133 and turn to Revelations
chapter 4 with me. You and I spend a lot of time,
I guess it's rightfully so, I don't know. Sometimes we get so careful,
maybe rightfully so, trying to figure out who the family members
are. One of the ways to discover a
family member, a brother, and see if you're among the family
on earth that's left here, is to know what the family in
heaven is doing. Whatever the family in heaven
is doing, the family on earth, at least to a degree, is doing
that. If you find the family on earth
doing what the families in heaven is doing, then seek unity with
them. They're a family member. There's
three things here in the fourth chapter and the fifth chapter.
of revelations that the Holy Spirit tells us the family in
heaven is different. Just these three things I want
you to notice. In chapter four, in verse two, John was called
up into heaven in this vision. Brother Larry quoted this a minute
ago. And immediately I was in the
Spirit, and behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat
upon the throne. It's amazing how he does this.
He uses this phrase, a throne was set in heaven. And that's
the only time he uses that phrase, a throne. But 33 times in this
book, he uses the throne. A throne was set. And then 33
times he says the throne. one sits upon that throne and
It's very telling in these two chapters what the saints in heaven
were doing before this throne You know what they were doing
all of them were falling before the throne Look what he says
in chapter chapter 4 in verse 10 The four and 20 elders fell
down before him that sat upon the throne, and they worshiped
him that liveth forever and ever, and they cast their crowns before
the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord. Falling down. And look what he says in chapter
five in verse eight. And when he had taken the book,
the four beast and four and 20 elders fell down before the lamb,
having every one of them harps and golden vowels full of odors,
incense, which are the prayers of saints. And verse 14, and
the four beasts said amen, and the four and 20 elders fell down
and worshiped him that liveth forever and ever. Falling down
before his throne. That's what family members do.
Now, I'll give you this, they do it more freely than the family
on earth does. And I'm not here to tell you
that you sometimes don't have difficulty bowing and falling
down before His throne. There are times when our Lord
crosses us. He reveals this stiff neckness,
stiff knees, rebellion that's in us. He crosses us in his providence. And we don't always like it at
first. And he presses upon us to the
point that he makes us willing and we lovingly and graciously
not only bow the knee, but we prostrate ourselves before his
throne. We may confess like David did. Lord, I've been like a beast.
Look at me, I've been like a beast. How I've been thinking, how I've
been acting. You crossed me, you chastened me sore, and it
hurt. And I rebelled like a beast.
But where are you now, David? I'm laying prostrate before the
throne. And here's what I want to ask
you. When push comes to shove, When
He finally breaks you and brings you, aren't you happy to be laying
prostrate before Him? You don't kick against Him. Even
when you find yourself kicking, your heart is filled with sorrow
and you pray to be broken. Isn't that you? Oh, you can never come up with
this business that we hear today that God's hands is tied and
you've got him over a barrel and he can't do nothing without
you letting him. Oh, you're horrified with such
things. You're falling before his throne. If that's what you're doing,
you're a family member. You're my brother, and come and
let's worship together. Let's go into the house of God
in sweet communion. Let's find unity. We're both
bowing before Him. That's the first thing they did.
The second thing they did, you'll notice here in verse, chapter
five, in verse 12. Here's what they were saying.
They were saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb that
was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and blessing. Worthy is the lamb. Oh, his price. cannot be told out. His worth
is imminent, excellent in His character. He's distinguished.
There's nobody like Him. He's worthy. What are they doing
in heaven? What's our brothers and sisters
doing in heaven? Ascribing all glory to the Lamb
that redeemed them. What do you think of Christ,
dear one? What estimation do you put upon
Him? How highly do you think of Him? What do you think of
Christ? That tells whether you're a family
member or not. Do you say, not unto us, O Lord,
but unto you be glory? Do you say with the Apostle,
Christ is all? He's everything. Someone asked Brother Scott one
time, they said, Scott, is Christ enough? God said, if Christ is
all you have, He is. Is He all you have, brothers
and sisters? Do you see more merit in Him to save you than
sin to damn you? Oh, worthy is the Lamb. Worthy is the Lamb. Are you doing
that? Is that your estimation of Him?
Then you're my brother. Let's have sweet communion together. Let's endeavor to keep the unity
of the Spirit in the bonds of peace. If you think highly of
the Savior, then I'm one with you. I'm for you. Poor old John,
bless his heart. John found someone casting out
devils in the Lord's name, and he stopped him. He told the guy,
I said, you've got to follow us. And that guy said, I'm not
going to follow you. I've got work the Lord's called
me to do. You stop casting out devils in his name if you don't
follow me. Now what he said, he went back and told the Lord.
He said, we saw one casting out devils. We stopped him. You know
what the Lord told him? Don't you do that. If they're
not against me, they're for me. And if they're for me, then seek
peace with them. Have unity. Brothers and sisters,
convince me that you're for Him. And you think highly of Him. I'm for you. I'm with you. God bless your heart. Here's
the third thing that they do in heaven. It's found here in
verse 9. And they sung a new song saying,
thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seal thereof,
for thou was slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of
every kindred and tongue and people and nation. They sang
this song of redemption by blood. They sang that. And you know
why they sang that? They're happy. Are you happy? Do you sing? Do you sing because
you're happy? Do you sing because you're free? Has He taught you this song? Nobody can learn this song. But
those who are taught this song of blood redemption, are you
happy to sing it? One of the reasons sometimes
we doubt one another, we look at each other with our long faces
and we seem like we're such sad, sad Christians. We're not happy
Christians. Oh Bruce, I'm suffering. Tell
me about it. I'm going through some dark trials.
I'm in a valley. I'm climbing these hills. Tell
me about it. But when you look outside yourself
and through this veil of tears and see the Lord Jesus has redeemed
you with His blood and put you among the family, aren't you
happy? Don't you love to sing about
it? I sing because I'm happy. I sing
of blood redemption and the fountain that's been opened for sin and
uncleanness. Are you bowing? Are you bowing
to God's sovereignty? Are you bowing to the sovereign
God? Do you have a high estimation of Jesus Christ the Lord and
Savior? Are you singing of Him? Are you
happy to sing of Him? Then come and let's fellowship
one with another. The unity will be sweet because
we're in agreement. We're in agreement. Turn back
over to my Psalms one time, one more time, and look at this. David describes what this unity
is like in verses two and verse three. And he does it this way. He said, this unity is like the
precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard,
even Aaron's beard that went down to the edge of the skirt
of his garment. And it seems to me that David
is saying this about Moses. That when he mixed up these precious
oils, and he created this sweet aroma, and he anointed Aaron
with it. He poured it on Aaron's head.
And it began to run down his head. David looked through Aaron
by the eye of faith and he saw the greater Aaron. He saw Jesus
Christ, Todd. He saw that God had anointed
him with the oil of gladness above his pellet. He saw that
God had found David, and with his holy oil, he had anointed
him. He said, this is Christ. This
is the real high priest. This is the one that's going
to give himself for our sins. This is the one that's going
to be exalted at the right hand of God, our faithful and merciful
high priest in heaven. And he said, this is the head
of the body. And this oil is gonna flow from
him down to the body. The oil of gladness to rejoice
our hearts. He's the source of it. God's
anointed high priest. And Moses began to see this,
and he just got carried away. And he couldn't quit pouring.
He just poured the whole container. And I imagine Aaron was saying,
brother, what are you doing? You've soaked me. Yes, but you're
Christ. You're the head. And look at
the oil of gladness flowing down on your arms, and your stomach,
and your legs, and your feet. Brothers and sisters, what's
our source of unity? Where does it come from? It comes
from our head. It comes from Jesus Christ, our
faithful and merciful High Priest. It flows out of His heart and
it flows into our hearts. Without Him, we have no fellowship. Without Him, don't talk about
unity. It's all in Him and from Him
and by Him and for His sake and for His glory. That's why we
should seek it above all else. And he says this in the last
verse, he said, this unity is like this, it's like the dew
of Hermon. I like to leave out those next four words. And as
the dew, I think the way probably it should be read, it's as the
dew of Hermon that descended upon the mountains of Zion. The
dew of Hermon that descended upon Hermon is the same dew that
condescended and went down south over a hundred miles and fell
upon the hills around Jerusalem. The very same dew. John Gill
had a friend that wanted to know what the dew of Hermon was like. And Gil said he went over there
and spent a while there at this mountain. And he said every night
there, it was like it rained. The dew was so heavy, it soaked
their tents. What is this unity? Oh, it's
a condescending thing, isn't it? It condescends from this
high mountain. It comes down from heaven, its
source. And it comes down like the dew
went from that high mountain up northern Israel. And it comes
down through the valley and soaks and nourishes the hills around
Jerusalem. It comes down from heaven and
reaches the lowliest heart, the poorest heart, the driest heart. And it softens us. And it tenders
us. And it brings forth fruit like
itself. Peace and love and joy and goodness
and faithfulness and long-suffering. Oh, unity. Isn't it a wonderful
thing, brothers and sisters? Isn't it worth endeavoring to
keep? It is, isn't it? God bless your hearts. Thank
you, dear pastor.