Psalm 133. It won't take us long
to read this psalm. It says, Behold, I always, that
word always catches my attention. That's what it's there for, to
get your attention. When God says, Behold, you're
about to see something worth seeing. How good. There's another word now. If
God says this is good, I want to hear about that. People are
always talking about, this is good, you know, this is good
for you, or this will be good, this is a good product. I don't
trust them, usually. But when God says, how good and
how pleasant it is for brethren. Now, if you're not one of the
brethren, then this doesn't apply, does it? It just doesn't. I'm
sorry. I'm not sorry that it's that way. I'm sorry for you if
you're not one of the brethren. to dwell together in unity. How good and how pleasant that
is. And he gives a couple of comparisons
now. These are so instructive. It's
like the precious ointment upon the head. It's like that holy
anointing ointment that God prescribed, that we'll read about in a moment,
that when they anointed God's priest with it, they put it on
his head that ran down upon the beard. You can just picture that,
can't you? Even Aaron's beard. The high
priest. We know who that is now, don't
we? That's our Lord Jesus Christ. We have such a high priest that
entered into the Holy of Holies, not made with hands, and He entered
there on our behalf, and not with the blood of bulls and goats,
but with His own precious blood. And this represents that. The
oil is running down on His beard, even the high priest's beard.
that went down to the skirts of his garments. And David said,
I'll tell you something else that this thing of unity of the
brethren is like. It's like the dew of Hermon,
as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion. For there
the Lord commanded the blessing, even life forevermore. Now as
we saw there, it's pleasant for the brethren to dwell together
in unity. Only brethren can dwell in unity. We don't have any unity with
those who hate our Lord, nor should we. Our Lord said, leave
them alone. You can't do anything for them.
And if God hasn't planted them, any plant that my Heavenly Father
hath not planted, He said, it will be rooted up. You can't
do anything for them. Leave them alone. They've set
themselves up in opposition. They hate your Christ. They hate
your God. There can't be any unity between
us. How can light walk with darkness? And I'll tell you this, they
don't have any unity with one another either. They agree on
one thing. They all hate our Christ, our
God, our Lord Jesus. That's the only thing that men
can agree on. I've had occasion to have inside knowledge of several
large churches. You know, know somebody or be
there myself and witness it. And this is always the case.
There's no unity. There's fighting and ill will
and bitterness. And that's just the nature of
men. But brethren. Brethren are not like that. The
people of God are not that way. Now look at these two words.
How good. Now this is God's estimation of the matter. And only God is
qualified to make this assessment. If I say something's good, well,
you can take that or leave that. But if God does, and I may do
that, I can't proclaim something to be good. If God hasn't said
it's good, if I pronounce something good and the Lord hath not, then
what use is my word on it? If you want to know what's good,
look in the Word of God and see what God has called good. He made the universe. And it
says He saw that it was good. You know why? Because even the
heavens declare the glory of God. Everything He has made,
let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Even the stars
and the moon and the work of His fingers. David said, declare
His glory. That's why it's good. He said
that's good. It was said of the Lord Jesus
Christ, He doeth all things well. Those are the things that are
good, the things that Christ has done. In Acts 10.38, it was Peter
preaching there concerning how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth,
it says, with the Holy Ghost and with power. And then Peter
describes Him this way. He went about doing good. We
know what's good, don't we? Because God said, this is good. This is good. Everything he does
is good. And I know this, when brethren
dwell together in unity, it's the Lord that did it. And if
he did it, it's good. Good because Christ is glorified
therein. He said, by this shall all men
know that you're my disciples. You see how that reflects upon
Him. You're My disciples. How are they going to know that?
Because of your love for one another, your unity, your fellowship,
togetherness, oneness in love for one another. It's good because
God's saints are strengthened when we're in unity. It's good
because the work of the gospel ministry is made effective through
this means. The brethren dwelling together
in unity. Well, what do you mean by that, Chris? Now, we know
the gospel is going to prosper. It's going to do... The Word
of God is going to go and accomplish the thing wherein to God sent
it. That's right. And certain things are going to happen to
that end. Certain means are going to be employed to accomplish
that end. And one of them is that you and
I are going to dwell together in unity. And we're all going
to have one voice in this gospel. One voice and one heart. That's
so evident throughout the book of Acts. They were all of one
accord in the preaching of the gospel. The gospel doesn't need
creativity or innovation, as earthly business does, in order
to promote it. I've come up with some grand
ideas about things that we could do as a church, you know, some
things that folks haven't done before, you know, and then I've
promptly and appropriately forgotten every one of them. Things that we can do. We have
one thing to do. One thing. As the church of Christ,
He said, go and preach. It doesn't need man's wisdom
or intelligence to make it prosper. Not God's gospel. The gospel
of men does. You have to know how to to promote
things, you know, and know how to influence and affect people,
to manipulate people. But God's gospel doesn't require
wisdom or intelligence, and I'm glad that it doesn't, because
we don't have much, do we? Worldly business is promoted
through these things, but not the heavenly business. All that is necessary for the
gospel to prosper is for you and I to stay out of its way
And the biggest way we get in its way is when there's discord,
when there's fighting, when there's fussing, when there's a lack
of unity among the brethren. I've seen it and I've seen the
effects of it. In Romans 16, 17, Paul warned,
he said, Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause division.
and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned."
Christ said, a new commandment I give unto you that you love
one another. Are there those that cause offenses
contrary to that? Mark them, He said, and do this,
avoid them. Avoid them. Don't have anything
to do with them. Ignore them and stay away from
them. He said, I beseech you to do
that now. For they that are such serve
not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly." And we know
that doesn't mean they worship in their stomach. That has to
do with the fleshly appetites. It just means you're your own
God. If you would deliberately cause discord and offense in
the church of God. And then David said how pleasant
it is. Now, God said how good, and you
and I say this, how pleasant. It's good in the very nature
of it, unity among the brethren. And it's pleasant in the experience
of it, isn't it? Isn't it wonderful to dwell together
in unity? Don't you find it to be that
way? So good and so pleasant. Usually, for you and I to know
just how good and pleasant something is, we have to do without it
for a little while. There have been times I've seen
the opposite of unity, and I'm sure you have too. And I say
now, even more heartily than I would have otherwise, how good
and how pleasant it is. What's the basis of our unity?
What is it that makes us one? Surely the greatest prejudice
and enmity that has ever existed between men on this earth in
all of history has been the enmity that existed between Jew and
Gentile. Those Gentile dogs, they wouldn't
have anything to do with a Gentile. They were offended when God revealed
that He was having mercy on the Gentiles, the Jews, the people
of God. You know, we're the nation of
Israel. God wouldn't have anything to
do with a dog like the Those Gentile dogs. Oh, enmity, prejudice,
hatred. Listen to the language of Ephesians
2.13. Turn over there with me. This
describes the unity that brethren have, even Jew and Gentile, and
what caused it. You want to know something about
the unity and what the basis of our unity, the unity of the
brethren is? Listen to this and read along
with me. Ephesians 2.13, But now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes
were far off are made nigh, how, by the blood of Christ." It's
because of what He did for us. For He is our peace, verse 14,
who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of
partition between us, having abolished in His flesh the enmity,
even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for
to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace." How
did he make peace? He shed his precious blood for
you and for me. And when he did, he made us one. Look at it. and that he might
reconcile both unto God. There's not only peace between
us, but peace between us and God. In one body by the cross,
having slain the enmity thereby, having slain the enmity between
me and God that exists by nature. Your flesh, your carnal, the
way you're born into this world, the carnal man, Paul said in
Romans 8, is enmity against God. You didn't know you hated God,
did you? You know why? Because you love your idea of
God. Oh, I love God. No, you don't. Not the God of
the Bible. Not by nature. Not until He reveals
Himself to you and breaks down that wall of partition and slays
the enmity in your heart. Paul said, when the commandment
came, when I saw what his law was saying, sin revived and I
died. That old enmity, that old carnal nature, that unbelief,
that hatred of God, dead, dead. And came and preached peace to
you which were far off, and to them that were nigh, to the Gentile
and to the Jew. For through Him we both, you
see that? Enemies by nature. We both, though,
have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore, because
of what Christ did for us because of our relationship with Him,
mine and yours. We, therefore you, are no more
strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints
and of the household of God." We're brothers. How good and
how pleasant it is for who? The household, the brethren.
to dwell together in unity, 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 unto an holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye also are
builded together for inhabitation of God through the Spirit." We're
one, not because we get along with one another and have some
things in common in this life No, no, no. Left to ourselves,
we're bitter enemies because we're all gods by nature. You
know that? We all think we're God. And I'm
not going to have a rival in that until God reveals himself
to me. And I get off of the throne of
my heart. Never was on any kind of a real
throne anyway. Just thought I was. But when
God reveals to me what a fool I am, and shows me who God is,
the sovereign Christ, and I bow to Him and you do too, then you
and I are one. I don't hate you anymore and
you don't hate me either. We're one because of Christ and
what He did for us on the cross. Not only are we actually one
in Him, we are the family of God now in reality, in actuality,
but He's our motivation in unity. toward one another. What do you
mean by that? We forgive one another. Why?
Because Christ forgave us. I know what forgiveness is because
of what He did for me. Now, you just don't if you don't
know Him. You don't know what forgiveness is. You say, oh,
well, I forgive you. And you carry on that relationship
because of what you can get out of it, because of your selfishness,
but always in the back of your mind Ah, you'll never forget
it, will you? It's hard enough to do as believers
because that flesh is always there, isn't it? But by the grace
of God, I know what forgiveness is now, full, free forgiveness. Free forgiveness. I know what
it is because He showed me what it is. He forgave me, you see,
of all of my sins. Not because I apologized for
it, not because I said I was sorry, but because He is able. Because of His nature, He just
forgave it. My sins, which were many, were
forgiven me. Forgiven. I cast them behind
my back, and I won't remember them anymore. That's foreign
to our nature. We love. Why? Because He first
loved us. I know what love is. The love
of God is shed abroad in our hearts. And therefore, we love
just because we're brothers. Again, not because of fleshly
things, because we get along. We may be completely different
opposites as far as the flesh. But if we're brethren in Christ,
that's an indissoluble bond. We love because He loved us.
We give time and money to support one another so that all of us have a place
to worship and to fellowship together. We give of our time
and our effort and our finances. Why? Because Christ gave Himself
for us. Is that why? So we can have a
country club. Christ gave Himself for me. What
do I have that I would withhold? The unity of the church is described
in 1 Corinthians 12. Let's turn over there. I think
we have time to look at that. 1 Corinthians 12. I want us so much to see what's
good and pleasant this morning, and particularly this, because
I believe we enjoy this here, and I want us to be thankful
to God for it. I want myself to be Grateful
to God. Look at verse 4 of 1 Corinthians
12. Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of administrations,
but the same Lord. Differences, but the same. Many,
but one. And there are diversities of
operations, but it's the same God which worketh all in all.
But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man
to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit
the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge by the
same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit." We all have
faith, but he gives the gift to some of strong faith. To another,
the gifts of healing by the same Spirit. To another, the working
of miracles. To another, prophecy. To another,
discerning of spirits. In those days, the apostles had
these gifts. power of the Holy Spirit, to
another discerning of spirits, to another diverse kinds of tongues,
to another the interpretation of tongues. But all these worketh
that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally
as he will. For as the body is one and hath
many members, and all the members of that one body, being many,
are one body, so also is Christ." You know, what a beautiful representation,
their example, illustration of what we are, the body of Christ,
many members but one body. For by one spirit are we all
baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, bitter
enemies by nature now, whether we be bond or free and have been
all made to drink into one spirit, for the body is not one member
but many. If the foot shall say, Because
I am not the hand, I am not of the body, is it therefore not
of the body? Ah, there are times when we say, I don't want to
be part of that body. You are or you're not. And if you are,
you will come around, won't we? We'll come around. And if the
ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body,
is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye,
where were the hearing? If the whole body were hearing,
where were the smelling? I don't want everybody to be
just like me. Do you? We're all different, and that's
great. That's fine. That's wonderful. But we're all
the same. We're all the same. But now hath
God set the members, every one of them in the body, as it has
pleased Him. I wouldn't want to be in charge
of that, would you? You talk about messing something up. God
has placed it, given every one of us the place that we have
in His church, in His body, as it pleased Him to do that now.
Don't fight against that. Don't buck against that. And
if they were all one member, where were the body? But now
are they many members, yet but one body. In the eye I cannot
say unto the hand, I have no need of thee. Nor again the head
to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more, those members
of the body which seem to be more feeble or necessary. I know that God favors those
who we tend to despise. And I don't mean by despise to
hate. I mean to think little of. That's who I want praying
for me. The ones that nobody ever thinks
about as being important in the church. Oh, I want you to pray
for me because the Lord will hear you. He'll hear all of us
now, understand me. You know what I'm talking about?
The Lord's ear is inclined to the weak and the feeble. And
the more weak and feeble, isn't that what He said? Are necessary. The members of the body which
seem to be the more feeble. And those members of the body
which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant
honor. If we have any sense. And our
uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. For our comely parts
have no need, but God hath tempered the body together, having given
more abundant honor to that part which lacked." God will settle
it all out, won't he? That there should be no schism
in the body, but that the members should have the same care one
for another. We're not going to say, I'm more
important than you, or you're more important to me. God's people,
it said, he said, prefer one another better than yourself. And whether one member suffer,
all the members suffer with it. Or one member be honored, all
the members rejoice with it." Not jealous about that or envious. Thank God that He blessed you,
that He's using you. Now you are the body of Christ
and members, plural, in particular. Can you get a little bit of a
grip on that? Can't you? Just a little bit.
What he's saying by that. And God has set some in the church,
first apostles, prophets, teachers, miracles, gifts, helps, governments,
diversities of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets?
Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles?
Have all the gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do
all interpret? No, of course not. Different
places in the church of God. Just be an encouragement if nothing.
What is your place in the church of God? But covet earnestly the best
gifts. Desire to be used of God. Say, Lord, bless me so I can
be a blessing to your people and to glorify your name. Don't you desire that? Desire
those things. And yet I show unto you a more
excellent way. And you know what that is. 1
Corinthians 13. All of the gifts can't compare
to this one. Love. Do you love God's people? It'll get out on you. It'll show
in everything that you do. And that's the greatest gift.
Now about of faith, hope, and love, but the greatest is love. God gave us love for one another.
That's what binds us together. Love for Him and therefore love
for one another. Well, He said it's like the precious
ointment. In what way, David? How? Turn
to Exodus chapter 30. We'll take a look at this ointment
and see what it was. And I pray the Lord will teach
us some things here. Exodus 30 verse 22. I'm going
to begin reading it for the sake of time. Moreover, the Lord spake
unto Moses, saying, Take thou also unto thee principal spices
of pure myrrh, five hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon, half so
much, even 250 shekels, and of sweet calamus, 250 shekels, and
of cassia, 500 shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary,
and of oil, olive, and hen." Specific amounts. God prescribed
it to be exactly like He wanted it to be and to smell a certain
way with all these spices in there. And thou shalt make it
an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the art of the
apothecary. It shall be an holy anointing
oil." Now David said the unity of the brethren, how good and
pleasant. It's like this oil. Think about that as we read through.
And thou shalt anoint the tabernacle of the congregation therewith,
and the ark of the testimony, and the table and all his vessels.
and the candlestick and his vessels, and the altar of incense, and
the altar of burnt offering with all his vessels, and the laver
and his foot. And thou shalt sanctify them,
set them apart." These are gods. You don't just drink out of this
cup. You don't just take this candlestick into your house so
you can see. This is God's candlestick. You
see that? Sanctify, that they may be most
holy. And whatsoever toucheth them
shall be holy. And thou shalt anoint Aaron and
his sons and consecrate them, that they may minister unto me
in the priest's office. And thou shalt speak unto the
children of Israel, saying, This, shall be in holy anointing oil
unto me throughout your generations. Upon man's flesh shall it not
be poured." You don't just use this, you know, in the morning
when you get up, just so your hair will sit down right, you
know. This is for one purpose. Neither shall you make any other
like it after the composition of it. It is holy and it shall
be holy unto you. Whosoever compoundeth any like
it, or whosoever putteth any of it upon a stranger, shall
even be cut off from his people." Now the first thing we learn
about this oil, and in this we see how it's like the unity of
the brethren. As David said right there in
the psalm, it's precious. It's precious, isn't it? It's like that precious ointment.
David describes it that way in our text. And we see in Exodus
30 that it was a special concoction, wasn't it? It wasn't just an
ordinary oil. And this is how we must view
that fellowship that we have with one another in Christ. We
should place a high value on it. Don't miss what I'm saying
now. We should place a high value
on how easily our sin nature How quickly by nature, in my
carnal flesh, I'll just throw away a friendship of a lifetime. I'll know somebody for decades
and be friends with them and close and share things together
and they do something to offend me and just like that, I burn
the bridge between us like it was nothing. Are you that way? turn on one another in an instant
and become bitter against a dear friend, just over small things. And we're quick to do that. This unity of the brethren cannot
be so easily severed. It's precious to us, isn't it?
We count it a precious thing. More precious than all of our
greatest possessions. The unity of the brethren now.
Something that's precious to you. I'm talking about precious
now, not just I really like that. I'm talking about precious. Somebody
could offer you all the money in the world for it and you'd
say, no, thank you. No, thank you. How much would
you take for one of your children? And though this unity cost me
something, it may cost me some hurt feelings. It may cost me
a little bit of my pride. I've got plenty of that to go
around, Lord knows. I've got some to spend, don't
you? And it may cost me some of that, freely, by the grace
of God now. We pay it freely because this
unity is precious to us. I won't part with my true friends
now for anything. Will you? Will you? And then
let me move on. That oil had a wonderful smell
to it, cinnamon and myrrh, cashew. Wonderful, fragrant ointment. And when it poured down his head
and up on the beard and down the garments, it filled, the
smell of it permeated the whole place. You know, folks will pay
$8 for a little container of soap that big when they could
get one for probably two. And I've done that myself. You
know why? Because it smells good. That stuff down there smells
good, doesn't it? And every time you wash your
hands, you enjoy it. I just, oh, that smells good.
How pleasant that is. You know how the Father describes
the sacrifice of His Son this way? It's a sweet smelling savor
in my nostrils. When brethren dwell together
in unity, David said, it's like that precious ointment. It's
a sweet smell that goes up all the way to heaven, and God says
it's good. It's good. We smell it when we come together,
don't we? And it's enjoyable. Every time we come together,
it's enjoyable and peaceful. And we just breathe it in. And
it puts a smile on my face, because I know it's the Lord's doing.
It's the Lord's doing. And then that oil was a sanctifying
oil. It set those things that it was
put upon apart from everything else like it. And what makes
you different from everybody else in this world? Christ said,
by this shall men know Then you're my disciples. It's that love. It's that oneness, that unity,
that bond that you have in me. That's how you'll be separated
from everybody else in this world. And then that oil was a carefully
prescribed recipe, wasn't it? There were specific ingredients
that made this oil what it was. And there are specific ingredients
that make the unity of the brethren what it is. Paul described them
this way in Romans 14, 19. He said, Let us therefore follow
after the things which make for peace. That's the ingredients
right there. The things which make for peace.
And things wherewith one may edify another. Build one another
up in the Lord. Encourage one another. Bless
one another in the Lord as stone sharpeneth stone. So a man's
countenance sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. We make one another better by
being together. This unity makes us more than
we are individually, in God's estimation. This oil, it took
careful preparation, didn't it? The measurements had to be precise. And this unity of the brethren,
it doesn't just happen without some effort. It just doesn't.
It's the gift of God, but He said it'll come by striving and
endeavoring. Ephesians 4, 1-6, He said, Endeavor
to keep the unity of the Spirit. That's how God will do it. He'll
show us how precious it is. And He'll make it important.
Not just, I know it's important. It's important to me in my heart. I value this unity that we have
in Christ. And I'll do everything that God
enables me to do. You see how that works? And that's
how this oil, some effort went into that. Let's measure out
and follow after those things that put together, bring about
this unity of the brethren. He mentions some of them there
in Ephesians 4. Let me turn over there and read them to you. He
mentions some of the things that make for peace. In Ephesians
4, he said, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that
you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called with
all lowliness." How lowly are you? How important
are you in your own eyes? And with all longsuffering, with
all meekness. Meekness is submission to the
will of God. Submission to the betterment
of somebody else. submission to this. And then that's when he says,
endeavoring. Those are the things which make for peace, right there.
Those are the things that we endeavor in to keep the unity
of the Spirit. Lowliness. Do you have to endeavor
to keep in your mind and heart the realization of the fact that
you're nothing? I keep rising up in my own estimation,
don't you? I start building myself up in
importance and I have to remember, Paul said, he that watereth is
nothing. Does that take an effort on your
part? To keep yourself in subjection to the truth of God? You have
to be reminded and remind yourself by His grace. So these are the
things that make for peace. And then he said it's like the
dew. Think about this for a moment. We'll be through. In Proverbs
19, 12, the wise man Solomon said this, The king's wrath is
as the roaring of a lion. Ah, but his favor is as the dew
upon the grass. Our king is terrible. It's a terrible thing to fall
into the hands of the living God. He's holy. And He's not
to be trifled with. His wrath is described in the
Scriptures as violent and frightening. But His favor is like the dew
upon the grass. The grass will wither and die
without the moisture from heaven. And it comes from heaven. The
dew comes down from heaven. And this unity It's a manifestation
of the favor of God. It's like the dew that comes
down from heaven. God sends that dew down from
heaven to refresh the grass, to revive it. We sang that song
a while ago, Revive Us Again. To revive it. And you come out,
and in the heat of the summer, especially this summer, those
flowers, their heads would be drooping down, and you'd think,
oh no, we're going to have to plant more flowers. Ah, but then
at night the dew would fall and you'd come out in the morning
and the flowers would be open and refreshed. Beautiful. Beautiful. And David said, it's like that
dew. It's like that dew. Thank God
for one another. Do you do that? Are you thankful
for one another? Imagine being alone as a believer
in this wicked, wretched, godless world. When Elijah thought he was the
only one left, you remember there in 1 Kings 19, he said, I'm the
only one left, Lord. Even the people of Israel have
forgotten your name. I'm the only one left. And then
he said to God, it's enough now, O Lord. Take away my life. Do you blame him? I don't want
to be left around here either if all of y'all are gone. I don't
want to be left. Not by myself. I pray that by
grace I could stand for Christ alone, but I don't want to have
to do that to you. You remember that list of things
that God hates in Proverbs 6? The first one is a proud look. Well, I'll tell you something
else that made the list. He that soweth discord among
brethren. I thank God that we don't have
anybody like that here. God hates that fellow. Oh, God
loves everybody. That's not what he said. That's
not what he said. Paul said somebody like that
doesn't serve Christ. He serves his own belly. He serves
his own lust and appetite. He serves himself. And God hates
him. He that soweth discord among
brethren. If somebody tries to come between
you and I, I say, let there be a fight on their hands. I'll be angry with you at times.
I'll be disappointed in you at times if we know each other long
enough. And vice versa. But by the grace of God, you
and I are brothers and sisters in Christ. And there's no earthly bond that
can compare to that. David said it's like that precious
ointment. There's not anything else like
it. It pours over Aaron's head and it flows down his beard and
trickles down to the skirt of his garment and it goes up, it
redounds to the glory of God. God Almighty says, how good,
how good it is. It's like the refreshing dew
that comes down from heaven. It comes down from heaven too,
doesn't it? It doesn't dwell naturally in our hearts. James
said, Every good and perfect gift is from above, and floweth
down, cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness,
neither shadow of turning. In this dew of unity, of fellowship,
of love among the brethren, how good and pleasant it is. It flows
down from heaven, and it refreshes my soul. Doesn't it yours? Let's
bow in prayer. Lord, thank you for your grace. Thank you for this thing that
you said was good and pleasant, and we find it also by your grace. We see it like you see it. How
good and pleasant it is. It redounds to the glory of Christ. and therefore it's good. And
we enjoy, it's pleasant to our hearts, the peace that you give
us with one another. And we know it exists because
of the peace that we all have with God through the blood of
your dear son. Help us to dwell upon this today
and to thank you for it. To thank you for that blood that
made both won and slew the enmity, our enmity against God and our
natural enmity against everybody, slain by the blood of Christ.
Thank you for it and may it redound to His glory in our hearts this
morning as we dwell upon it. In His precious name we pray.