Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians 4. The last time we were in this
book, I made this statement. The first three chapters of the
book of Ephesians deals with the absolute truth of the doctrine
that we believe. We believe God Almighty is sovereign. God does as He will. He chose us, predestinated us
unto the adoption of children. Now the last three chapters deals
with the believer's walk, the effect of that which God Almighty
has wrought within him. I'm going to actually be looking
at verses 4 to 6 tonight, but I'm going to start in verse 1
through verse 6. Having said all these things
in the first three chapters, the apostle says, The prisoner
of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation
wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with
longsuffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring
to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. For there
is one body, one Spirit, even as you are called in one hope
of your calling, One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and
Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. The Apostle Paul exhorts us,
take heed to your conduct. Let your behavior be a credit,
honorable, to Him who has called us out of spiritual darkness.
Have the best thoughts of others. Bear one another patiently. Be
eager to protect and to keep the oneness of the Spirit within
the body. Strive, endeavor. We're one. We're brethren. Every one of
us has got a body, an arm, legs, and we love our body. We do all we can to protect our
body, keep it, do all for it. Now, I've entitled this message,
The Belief That Binds Us Together. You know there's a A lot of talk
today about oneness in religion. We're all working together, they
say. I had someone invite me to a
pastor's appreciation meeting. You know, they say, you know,
we're all like a wagon wheel. All the spokes, you know, they
come to the center. We're all one, they say. Well, how can we be all one when
there's so many of diversities of things that different ones
say that you must have or do in order to be saved? This one says you have to be
baptized to be saved. This one says you have to speak
in tongues to be saved. Jews say you have to be circumcised. But we're all one. No, we're
not. No. What does the Lord say concerning
the religions of this world? What He said, from among them,
and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean
thing, and I will receive you." Now this is the way it is. We're
not of the world. The Lord said He's not of the
world, we're not of the world. But though believers are commanded
To be separate from the world and its loves and its habits
and its little g-god believers are one among themselves. Now
what is it? What is it that binds us together? I tell you this, there's a lot
of ones that were spoken of in here. I'm going to deal with
them. Just a few minutes, I just want to, just talking about the
oneness. What do we believe? I know Mark and I, I know Mark,
maybe some others too, I know, came up, Roman Catholicism. I'm not one with them. I don't
believe that. Came out of that and got into
something else? I don't believe that. But I tell
you what, believers are one. I'll tell you one of the things
they're one with. They're one in knowing themselves to be helpless,
impotent sinners saved by grace. They're one in that they have
no confidence in the flesh. Not one believer in the Lord
Jesus Christ has any confidence whatsoever in his flesh. They're
all in agreement. They're all one. And they'll
agree with the Apostle Paul It's recorded in Romans chapter 7
verse 24, O wretched man that I am. We're one. One. You talk to a believer,
and I'm telling you, a believer is going to be honest with you,
sincere with you. He's going to tell you, I know
somewhat of what I am. I'll tell you another thing there,
one. They're won in knowing that God Almighty is sovereign in
creation, in providence, and in salvation. Believers know
that the Lord made all things. They know that. They believe
that. They don't believe we're not
evolving. You want to know what Adam looked
like? He looked like us. made in the image of God, taken
from dust, God breathed and became a living soul. He's sovereign. And we believe that He's working
all things after the counsel of His own will. I've said before,
it bears saying again. Now listen, the things that happened
today, the things that crossed your path today, that person,
That you had, you know, God sent Him. God sent her. God Almighty
is sovereign. And He's sovereign in salvation.
The Lord chooses to have mercy and compassion on whomsoever
He will. And I'll tell you another thing,
we're one in. We're one in love for one another. Believers love
each other. Somebody told, I heard Brother
Henry say this one time, somebody told him, he said, you know,
believers ought to love one another, and Brother Henry said, they
do, they do. I tell you what, you're not going
to find two believers that can't reconcile things, I'm going to
tell you. Now you mark that down. The Lord said, by this shall
all men know that you're my disciples, if you have love one for another.
Believers love each other. They love each other. Well, the
Apostle Paul sets forth now in verses 4 to 6 some things that
we absolutely know to be so. This is that which separates
believers in the Lord Jesus Christ and the world. Okay, verse 4. There's one body. There's one body. And it's not made up of different
diversities of beliefs about who God is and what God has done.
There's one body. Look at Ephesians 1 verse 22-23. The Scripture says concerning
the Lord and His body, God hath put all things under His feet,
all power given to Him, and gave Him to be the head over all things
to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth
all things. That means He does all things
for her, all of her need, the body. Gentile Ephesians 2.16
says that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by
the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. Believers are not joined,
united to this world's religion. They're joined to each other
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And they all believe the same
things about themselves, about who God is, about who the Lord
Jesus Christ is, the fullness of the Godhead bodily. This body,
the body, we are His bride. The Apostle Paul says that's
a great mystery. It's a great mystery. But I know
this, all believers are united together in the Lord Jesus Christ
with His blood that was given Him before the foundation of
the world. God the Father chose us, set His affection upon us, everlastingly
loved us. That's what Jeremiah 31.3 says. And in time, this body, is going
to be brought powerfully out of darkness in regenerating grace
to love Him and to love one another. The bride called out of darkness,
she's given a heart that's willing in the day of God's power. She
believes the Lord. She trusts the Lord. And she
loves His people. We love one another. One body. This one body whose names were
all written in the book of life from the foundation of the world.
That's what Revelation 17, 8 says. One body for whom the Lord died
in particular. I laid down my life for the sheep,
for my body, for my bride, for God's elect. One body. that is surely going to come
to Him. I'm telling you, there's no part of His body that's not
going to be with Him. Father, I will that those that
Thou hast given Me be with Me where I am, that they may behold
My glory. One body. He loves His body. He lived for, died for, raised
for, ascended for, interceded for, and is coming for. His body. And listen, we're going to be
with Him. If you know Him, if I know Him,
if I'm His and He's mine, we're going to be with Him. There's
one body and there's one Spirit, the Holy Spirit, one Spirit. The same Spirit that was given
the Lord Jesus Christ Without measure, we possess. Romans 8 and 9 says, but you're
not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. If so be that the Spirit
of God dwell in you. If any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, he's none of His. We are all taught by the Holy
Spirit concerning who God is and who we are. That's what I
said. Now listen, the Holy Spirit does this work of grace. Now
all of us are led by the Spirit. They that are led by the Spirit
are the children of God. And where the Lord directs and
moves and positions and puts and establishes, He moves us
in different circumstances. I understand that. But when I
say that He does the same work of grace in every believer, this
is what I mean. Here's one Spirit and He's going
to do the same thing, teach the same thing to every believer. Every believer is going to be
reproved, convinced of sin. That's what we are. Every believer
knows that. Every believer is taught that
and agrees with it, believes it, and admits it. We're all
convinced of sin. That's what we are. We're convinced,
secondly, of righteousness. That is, that we have none that
will stand before God except the imputed righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what we admit. We know
that our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. I know that.
You know that. Do you see the difference in
what we believe? There's one Spirit, when the
Comforters come, He's going to convince you. He's going to convince
you of this, of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. An unbeliever
is not convinced of righteousness. He's not convinced of sin, righteousness,
or judgment. He actually believes that he
is or has the ability to reconcile himself back to God by his free
will. He believes that. I came up being taught that.
I believed it. I believed it sincerely. He's not convinced
of righteousness. That is that he doesn't have
any and can't establish any. He believes he can. A believer
doesn't. A believer doesn't believe that.
A believer is convinced that he has no righteousness except
that he'll stand before God except the imputed righteousness of
Christ. And he's convinced thirdly of judgment. That is, that God,
who is the just God, has dealt with the Lord Jesus Christ on
their behalf. They're convinced by the Spirit
of God. One Spirit convinces them of
sin, of righteousness, judgment. They're convinced that there
is now therefore no condemnation to them which be in Christ Jesus,
which walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. They're
convinced of that. One Spirit that reveals to the one body
that God Almighty is truly God. There's one body and one spirit
even as you're called in one hope of your calling. Even as
you're called, that is, effectually, powerfully, in one hope, in one
expectation, in one confidence of your calling. What is the
one hope or confidence that a believer has for salvation? What is that one hope of your calling? You ask an unbeliever, what's
the hope of your calling? Well, I walked down the aisle,
I gave my heart to Jesus, I prayed through. You know why I know
I'm right on that? because there was a Pharisee
and a publican that went up into the temple to pray. And the first
thing the Pharisee did is started confessing all of his so-called
merits. I give, I tithe, I fast. I'm not like that publican around
there. Here is the hope of our calling. It's not based on anything that
I've done. That's the first thing I know about the hope of my calling.
Titus 3, 5, not by works of righteousness that we have done. You will not
find a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ bragging on himself, on
what he's done. Here's the second thing concerning
my hope, the hope of my calling. King David voiced it. I mean, these be the last words
of David. He hath made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things, and sure. For this is all my
salvation, and this is all my desire, you that know him. Is
that not the most comforting thought? Here is the hope of
my calling. He made with me. He chose me. He loved me. He rescued me. He keeps me by power. He. He. He. That's the hope of my
calling. Not me. He. Here's the hope of my calling.
He loved me first and gave me a heart for Him. He chose me,
gave me faith to believe, and I came. I did. I came willing
in the day of His power. I came. Here's the hope of my
calling. He died in my place. He redeemed me. I think about that breastplate
of that high priest. in the Old Testament, and it
had twelve stones. One, two, three. One, two, three,
four, five, six. Two stones. One on each shoulder. Names of
six tribes. Six tribes. Each one of the tribes
on his breastplate. He'd go in and minister. The
Lord Jesus Christ died with His people on His heart, bearing
their guilt. Made sin. Made a curse. That's
the hope of my calling. He chose. He loved. He made me
His own. An heir of God and a joint heir
with Christ. That's the one hope of my calling. Salvation is of the Lord. And
then the Scripture says, verse 5, there's one Lord. There's
one Lord. When we say the Lord, get this
thought in your mind. One authority. One supreme in
control. There's one in charge. That's
what I'm saying. It's what I mean. He's not trying
to do anything. He's not trying to do anything. I tell you what He's doing. He's
doing exactly what Nebuchadnezzar confessed under the inspiration
of God's Spirit. He's ruling in the army of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth. He is the Most High. There's one Lord, the Redeemer
and Husband of His church. He's the Lord, Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 9, I'll read this
to you. Isaiah 9, 6. This is who He is. This is who He is and this is
what He's doing. There's one Lord. Now, people say, I love
the Lord. I love the Lord. I gave my heart
to Him. The good Lord. What do you believe
about the Lord that you're talking about? Tell me, is He supreme? Is He the Lord? Is He the Master?
Not the one that's waiting on you to do something. I'm talking
about, is He God? There's one Lord. Isaiah 9, 6, For unto us a child
is born, unto us a son is given. And the government shall be upon
His shoulder. His name shall be called Wonderful
Counselor. the mighty God, the everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace. That's the Lord. That's the Lord
of a believer. That's who a believer bows to. That's the one that does what
he will, when he will. Lord willing, I'm going to preach
one of the messages this Sunday on Bephibosheth. when he was brought before King
David. Mephibosheth was of the house
of Saul. It was customary. Whenever another
king took over, you go out and you wipe out everybody. There
ain't going to be no opposition. There's not going to be any uprising.
There ain't going to be no coups. You kill them all. You kill them
all. Tough way to do things, but that's
the way they did it. He brought that boy in there.
And here he is before David. And this boy knows the rules.
He knows the rules. David said what he said. I'm going to stop right here
because I'm going to start preaching on that right now if I don't. But
here's what Mephibosheth said. Why is it that you'd show mercy
to a dead dog like me? David was the king. And he was
the absolute monarch. His word was law. There's one Lord. The scripture says in Matthew
28, 18, And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power
is given unto me in heaven and earth. In his high priestly prayer,
John 17, 2, as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that
he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
There's one Lord. One God. And Scripture says there's
one faith. There's one who is the object
of our faith. Again, you talk to someone that
doesn't know the Lord, they start talking about faith, and I'm
telling you, it's something that they think that they exercise
and everybody's got some of it, and it's their prerogative to
exercise it or to not exercise it. Let me tell you this. When
Almighty God gives faith, God's people believe. They believe. They believe. They believe on
Him. They don't believe in their works. They don't even trust in their
faith. Faith is the grace given that looks to Christ and believes
Christ. Philippians 1.29 says, For unto
you it is given in the behalf of Christ. It's given for His
sake. It's given for His sake. Your
good and His sake. He bought that blessed honor,
that privilege for you to believe. He paid for that. It is given
for unto you. It's given in the behalf of Christ
not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for Him. There's
one faith. There's one faith. It's the faith
of God's elect, and all believers believe the same thing. One faith that every believer
possesses. Peter says in 2 Peter 1.1, it's
called like precious faith. You're not going to find two
believers that believe different things about faith. They trust
Christ. They believe God. They trust
Him. Faith without which the Scripture says no man is going
to please God, That faith, that faith that doesn't look to me,
looks to Him, looks to Christ, looks to Him who laid down His
life for the sheep and finished their redemption. He is our life. He is our surety, our great high
priest who loved us and gave Himself for us. at one baptism. Now this place right here, I
know this, that the Holy Spirit does, and this is scriptural
languages, baptizes us in regenerating grace into the body of the Lord
Jesus Christ, openly. We're baptized, immersed in openness,
And that's regeneration, that's what it is. But what is being
spoken of right here is the confession of our faith. There's one baptism. I told you a week or so ago,
baptism does not save. Water does not save. By grace
are you saved. God saves by grace. But baptism confesses something
that we believe and know. Matthew 28, 19, listen to the
words of our Lord. One baptism. Now the reason I
want to make this point right here is because anybody can get
in the water. Anybody can get in the water.
Water, again, doesn't save. Our Lord said, Matthew 28, 19,
Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and
teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded
you. And lo, I am with you always,
even unto the end of the world. Let me tell you what we're confessing
when we confess in baptism, being baptized in the name of the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Ghost. We're confessing our belief in
the Father who loved us and chose us and put us in Christ. We're
confessing in baptism the Son who redeemed us, came into this
world, lived for us, died for us, buried for us, ascended for
us. And our belief in the Holy Ghost
who regenerates like the wind, He blows whether so ever He will. You hear the sound thereof, but
you don't know where He's coming, you don't know where He's going.
We believe that God Almighty saves His people according to
His will and purpose, and we're baptized in the name of the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit. These are not just words. There's
one baptism, not for salvation. That would make baptism a work
of righteousness that we've done. One baptism means that we declare
in obedience to our Lord's command to confess Him in that way. Have you believed? Then confess
Him in baptism. Is it an option? No. No. Is it for salvation? No. It's
for obedience. Confession to the world. Acts
chapter 8 verse 36, the Scripture says that there was an Ethiopian
eunuch that had been in Jerusalem He was coming back, he was reading
the scriptures. The Spirit of God directed Philip to run out
and intersect that chariot with that Ethiopian. Philip asked
him, he said, do you understand what you're reading? He said,
how can I? Let some man show me. Beginning right there where
he was reading, he preached unto him Jesus, the scripture says.
And the man, the Scripture says in Acts chapter 8 and verse 36,
as they went on their way, they came to a certain water. And
the eunuch said, See, here's water. What doth hinder me to
be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest
with all thine heart. What? What we just talked about.
That God is God. Not that you believe that that
water is going to save you, no. Not that you believe that you
had faith and the Lord was waiting on you to exercise your freedom.
No. No. You believe with all your
heart that God saves on purpose, according to His will. You believe
that? He said, if you believe with
all your heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. That is that God Almighty sent
him into this world to redeem his sheep, save his people. I
believe that he's God. He commanded the chariot to stand
still. Went down both into water, both Philip and Eunuch, and he
baptized him. He baptized him. There's one
baptism. Verse 6, one God. and Father
of all. One God and Father of all. He
is the God and Father of all believers. 1 Corinthians 8, 6, it says, but
to us there is but one God. And it's not, as I've said this
whole message, it's not that little g-God that people are
saying wringing his hands and trying, no, but to us there is
but one God, the Father of whom are all things, the fountain of all things, and
we in Him, and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things,
and we are by Him. Acts 17, 28 says, for in Him
we live and move and have our being. There is one God and Father
of all who is above all and through all and in you all. He's above
all. It's the same thing we've been
saying this whole message. He's sovereign. One God and through
all. That is, in the care of this
world, in providence, He's through all. By Him, all things consist. And He's in you all. Dwelling
in His people by the Holy Spirit. These things knit our hearts
together in what we believe about Him. One. One. We're not diversified in
what we believe about who God is, about who we are, who Christ
is. We believe God. May the Lord bless these words
to our heart, for Christ's sake, for our good.