Brethren, you know that verse
there in Isaiah 65, where the, come not near me,
I'm holier than thou. That's the only place in Scripture
where holiness of men is spoken of as being greater or lesser
than another man. That's the only place it's used
in that sense. men saying, we're holier than
you. And God says, and they're a stench
in my nose. That tells us something about
this comparative holiness and progressive holiness and God
hates it. God hates it. That's the attitude
it creates. Alright, Philippians chapter
1. Philippians chapter 1. I want to focus on verse 3 and
4 now. We're going to try to go through
the letter to the Philippians and I just want to focus here
on verse 3 and 4. Paul said, I thank my God upon
every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you
all, making requests with joy for your fellowship in the gospel
from the first day until now. Paul thanked God for his brethren. He thanked God for his brethren.
We're bound to thank God for one another, brethren. We're
bound to. Everything that our brethren
are, our brethren themselves and everything they are, is all
of God. It's all of God and their brethren
are a gift of God. And everything brethren are is
of God. So we're bound to thank God.
Who maketh thee to differ from another? What hast thou that
thou didst not receive? That means, what hast thou that
God did not freely bestow upon you by His grace? And He says,
now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou
hadst not received it? He said in Romans 11 verse 35,
he said, who has first given to him, who's first given to
God, and it'll be recompensed to him again. God said, I'll
give it back. For of him and through him and
to him are all things, to whom be glory forever, amen. You and
me have never first given to God anything. And anything we've
ever given to God, He gave it to us first. Everything is of
God. So we're bound, we're under obligation
to thank God for what He's done for us personally, but also for
brethren. That's what Paul said in 2 Thessalonians
1. He said we're bound to thank
God always for you brethren, as it's meet, it's fit for us
to do so. He said in 2 Thessalonians 2
verse 13, We are bound to give thanks always to God for you,
brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit
and belief of the truth, whereunto He called you by our gospel to
the obtaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are
bound to thank God. One of the richest gifts God
gives us is brethren, is brethren. We're bound to thank God for
brethren. God's the Father of mercies,
and all spiritual and temporal mercies come from God. He gives
everything we have, He gave it to us. So it's meek not only
to thank Him for what He's done for us personally, but to thank
Him for our brethren. And Paul thanked God always.
He said there, I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,
always in every prayer of mine. That's a good practice for you
and me, brethren. Every time a brother or sister
comes to mind, thank God for them. Thank God for them. Not
sometimes, every time. When they come to your mind,
just thank God for them. Paul said, I thank my God upon
every remembrance of you always in every prayer of mine. We get
in the habit of texting or calling to encourage a brother or sister
that I'm praying for you. Well, before we call or text
it, do it. Before you call or text them
to tell them that, pray for them. Pray for them. If you're driving
down the highway, a brother or sister comes to mind, thank God
for them. We can't thank God too much.
We cannot thank God too much. We cannot exhaust that, that
at all, because He's given us so much. And notice here, Paul
thanked God for each of his brethren. He said, I thank my God upon
every remembrance of you, always, in every prayer of mine, for
you all, for you all. Paul knew there were some in
the church at Philippi that were weak. He knew there were some
that were stronger. He knew that there were some
there that were richer. He knew there were some there
that were poor. He knew there were some educated. He knew there
were some uneducated. He said, I thank God for you
all. He knew there was a couple of women there who were not of
the same mind. He said, I thank God for you
all. Thank God for you all. God's grace makes us be no respecter
of persons. Because God, He's taken us from
every walk of life, every background. Some were moral and decent people
as far as people go. Others were wild and just heathen
sinners. But he's taken us from all these
different backgrounds and he's made us to know each other by
grace, brought us together by grace. And we know now each brother
and each sister are what they are by the grace of God. Because
we know that's what we are, only by the grace of God. Not all
have the same measure of grace. He doesn't give the same measure
of grace to all. So we can't make that a basis
for being a respecter. We have no respecter of persons.
Whatever grace we have, we have it according to the gift of Christ.
Listen, Ephesians 4, 7, unto every one of us is given grace
according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Look at 1 Corinthians 12. 1 Corinthians
12. What do you do for brethren who
are more feeble and weak? 1 Corinthians 12. Look at verse 22. He's talking here about the body
being many members. Just like your physical body,
if you have a weak member of your physical body. You just
care for that weak member and try to put more care on it to
make it well, do what you can to it. Look at what he says here
in 1 Corinthians 12.22. Nay, much more those members
of the body which seem to be more feeble, they are necessary. And those members of the body
which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant
honor. and our uncomely parts have more
abundant comeliness. For our comely parts have no
need, but God has tempered the body together, having given more
abundant honor to that part which lacked, to the weaker. That there
should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have
the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer,
all the members suffer with it, or one member be honored, all
the members rejoice with it. That's why Paul prayed for them
all. He said, I pray for you all. I pray for you all. And he looked back there again
at Philippians. He said, I pray for you with
joy. And here was his joy. This is
what I want to get to, my subject. Fellowship of Believers. This
was his joy. He said, I thank God, my God,
upon every remembrance of you, always, in every prayer of mine,
for you all, making requests with joy. That's a good description
of what our prayers are. Making requests. Making requests. He knows what we need before
we ask him. But He's going to have us to ask Him and we just
come to God and make a request. Make a request. John Gill said,
we have always mercies to ask for and we have always mercies
to be thankful for. Now, here was His joy. He said,
verse 5, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first
day until now. What is fellowship? What is fellowship? Well, you know when you get together
and everybody's together and you're visiting and having a
big time and all of that, that's not fellowship. Now that's a
good time and that's good to socialize, but that's not what
the scriptures talk about fellowship. Fellowship is of God. Fellowship
is being one in heart and purpose. It's being one in heart and purpose. It's having all things common. That's what it is. Having a common
union with Christ and with one another in Christ. Go with me
to Ephesians 4. Ephesians 4. There is one body. Look at verse
4. There is one body. There is just
one body. Christ is at the head. You are
members. You that know Him are members.
There is just one body and one Spirit. You're not going to be
differing if you're taught of the one Spirit and have one Spirit
in each of you, in each of us. We're not going to differ, are
we? We're taught of one Spirit. We
have life by one Spirit. We're guided and moved by one
Spirit. Even as you're called in one
hope of your calling, there's one Lord. There's one faith. There's one baptism. There's
one God and Father of all who is above all and through all
and in you all. You know, people hear that and
you think about all the thousands of denominations and all the
different religions in the world. What about all these differences? There's one body. There's just
one. Those born of the Spirit of God
and taught of God, who trust Christ only, they're God's people. That's His church. That's His
church. Fellowship is given through the
preaching of the Gospel. That's how fellowship is given.
God gives it. He gives it through the preaching
of the Gospel, through the incorruptible seed, being born again of one
Spirit. taught by the Lord that Christ
Jesus is all and in all. He takes us, we had all these
different things we thought made us who we are, made us to differ,
and we had all these things that made us differ. But God brought,
He draws you and by one Spirit teaches you, you are a sinner,
nothing else. There is nothing else. Donna
and me were talking about the simplicity of the gospel a while
ago in between services. And it's just what I was saying
at the beginning. The cure for every problem we
have from the first hour He calls us all the way to the last is,
Behold my servant. That's the simplicity of the
gospel. Behold Christ. Belief on Christ. There's two
things that we are taught that just makes us all equal. It's this. One, we are sinners,
and that's it in ourself. We are equally sinners. If one worm wants to try to exalt
himself over another worm, that's foolish, because he's still just
a worm. We're sinners, that's it. But
also, the Lord teaches you in Christ, we're equally righteous. Same righteousness, the Lord
Jesus Christ. We don't have a reason to exalt
one over the other, do we? In ourselves, we're equally sinners. In Christ, we're equally righteous.
That's so of God's people. Listen now, 1 John 1.3, 1 John
1.3, listen to this. That which we've seen and heard
declare we unto you. John was a witness of Christ.
He said, that which we've seen and heard, we preach to you.
Why? I'm saying to you, this fellowship's
given through the preaching of the gospel by God. He said, that
which we've seen and heard, we preach to you. We declare it
to you that you also may have fellowship with us. And truly, our fellowship is
with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. That's it. All these things we thought made
us to differ. He strips us of all those things.
It's not male and female. It's not rich or poor. It's not
educated, uneducated. It's not whether you were under
the law and think you've kept the law. Whether you were a wild
heathen and never were under the law. It's not any of those
things. Christ is all. Christ is all. That's when you become one. That's when you become one. That's
when you have fellowship with the Father and with His Son,
Jesus Christ, and that's where the fellowship of brethren are.
Some sense fellowship is only by being born of one Spirit of
God. It's called the fellowship of the Spirit. That's why it's
called that. Listen to Philippians 2 and verse
1 there. Philippians 2 and look at verse
1. If there be any consolation in
Christ, any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit. It's only of the Spirit. We're
not talking about Anything that's of us, this is a spiritual work. Fellowship is of the Spirit of
God. It's being born of God and taught
of God. And then go to Ephesians 3. I want you to see this, Ephesians
3. Since the Gospel of God is what
makes His people one. It's this Gospel that makes us
one. And it's only revealed to those that's born again of the
Spirit of God. And so this fellowship is called
the fellowship of the mystery. Because this gospel and God's
purpose is a mystery to this world, but to you it's not. It's called the fellowship of
the mystery. Look here in Ephesians 3. This cause, I Paul, the prisoner
of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, if you've heard of the dispensation
of the grace of God which is given me to you, if you've heard
of the stewardship given me for you, how that revelation, he
made known unto me the mystery. As I wrote before in few words,
I think he's talking about Ephesians 1 and 2, the things he talked
about there. He said, whereby when you read,
you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. which
in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it's
now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. And they began teaching. And
we've been taught this mystery. And here it is, that the Gentiles
should be fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers of
His promise in Christ by the gospel. You know the church at
Philippi was the first church ever established in Europe. That's
the first church ever established in Europe, the church at Philippi. And Paul was the preacher. And
before, everybody thought Israel was the elect of God. Not everybody
thought that because it was clearly revealed in the Old Testament
that God had elect people among the Gentiles. But people didn't
hear that unless they were taught of the Spirit of God. But it
wasn't revealed like it's revealed now. And that's what Paul dealt
with in all of Ephesians 2 was how God came and Christ fulfilled
the law. And by doing that, he removed
what was dividing Jew and Gentile. He took it out of the way and
he made us one in Christ. One. Fellowship. We have fellowship
in Christ because Christ has made us one. who am less than the least of
all saints, verse 8, is this grace given, that I should preach
among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make
all see what is the fellowship of the mystery. which from the
beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things
by Jesus Christ, to the intent that now unto the principalities
and powers and heavenly places might be known by the church
the manifold wisdom of God." God is teaching His holy angels
His wisdom. by what he's working in, me and
you, making Jew and Gentile one through the gospel. And when
you think of Jew and Gentile, don't just think of his elect
Jew and Gentile. Think of all us who differed
so much, who take sinners who otherwise really wouldn't have
anything else in common. And he makes you one, just like
he does Jew and Gentile. How? He takes away that middle
wall of partition. Everything we use to exalt ourselves
and think we were better than somebody else to where we wouldn't
have anything to do with them, he takes that out of the way.
Read Ephesians 2. That's what he did. He fulfilled
the law for us, and then he came to preach peace to us, and he
made us one new man in Christ Jesus. That's where our fellowship
is. That's what John is saying. Our fellowship is with the Father
and with His Son Jesus Christ. Verse 11, according to the eternal
purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom
we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him. By the faith of Him. And so go
to 1 Corinthians 1, because this is all of Christ, that He came
and fulfilled the law and made His people the righteousness
of God, made us one by what He accomplished for us in one righteousness,
it's called the fellowship of His Son. That's what this fellowship
is called, the fellowship of His Son. 1 Corinthians 1 verse
9, it says, I hate to not read this. Let me read it. It's too
good not to read. He says, verse 4, I thank my
God always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given
you by Jesus Christ that in everything you're enriched by Him. You're
enriched in everything by Jesus Christ. How on earth could Paul
say that to these people who were in such a terrible shape
at Corinth? and had so many divisions and
strife and all that going on at Corinth, because it was true.
Because it was true. Look, in all utterance and in
all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you,
so that you come behind in no gift, waiting for the coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall also confirm you to the
end that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus
Christ, You mean He said that to these people who had all these
faults in the church? Our blamelessness is in Christ
only. It's in Christ only. Now look
at this next word. He said there, everything came
from Christ. God is faithful by whom you were
called unto the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. What's going to cure their division
at Corinth? Preaching that Christ has made
His people one. That's it. That's it. You see,
the fellowship is being made one in and by the Lord Jesus
Christ. Just one body. Just one spirit. You call into one body. You've
got one hope where you're calling, you've got one Lord, you've got
one faith, you've got one baptism, you've got one God and Father
of all who's above all and through all and in you all. Just one. Now, being born of the Spirit,
of this one Spirit, robed in one righteousness, having one
holiness that's made your inner man holy, that's the only way That's the only way we stopped
thinking sanctification was of our hand. That's what separated
you out from those who tried to... The Pharisees were called
separate ones. That's what sanctified you and
separated you out from those who thought they separated themselves.
It was when He gives you a new holy heart to look out of yourself,
away from yourself, away from your works to Christ and actually
start following Him. And having all this oneness by
Christ, brethren, believers are one body. We're one body. You here who are born in Him,
we're one body. Just like His church is one body. Now I want you to go to Romans
11. I want you to see what that means. Romans 11. Robert Hawker points this out
so well. You know how your physical body
has a lot of members, but it's just one body, makes up one body.
Well, that's so in the Church of God. Many members makes one
body, one body. Now, I want you to see what he's
telling us to do as one body. Look here, Romans 11, 36. Now,
he said, Of him, through him, to him are all things, to whom
it be glory forever and ever. Amen. I beseech you, therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, because of all these mercies
freely given, because you are saved by mercy alone, that you
present your bodies, plural, a living sacrifice. Just one sacrifice. Just one. A lot of different members, but
just one, just one sacrifice together. He's talking about
oneness here, and it's one in Christ. Look, holy in Christ,
acceptable unto God in Christ, and it's your reasonable service
because of Christ. And be not conformed to this
world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect
will of God. What does he mean by that? Read
the next word. For I say through the grace given
to me, to every man that's among you, not to think of himself
more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly,
according as God had dealt to every man the measure of faith."
You see that? What does the world do? Thinks
highly of itself. It's all exalting one over another. That's all the world's about.
Try to get the better business. Try to get the better product.
Try to get more money. Everything's about exalting one
over another. That's all it's about. But in
the church of God, He said, don't be like the world. Don't think
more highly of yourself than you are. For as we have many
members in one body, and all members have not the same office,
so we being many are one body in Christ. and every one members
one of another. Having then gifts differing according
to the grace that's given to us, whether preaching, let us
preach according to the proportion of faith, or ministry, some minister
by cleaning the floor, some minister by shoveling the
snow off the ramp, Let us wait on our ministry. Whatever it
is the Lord has given you to do. For he that teacheth on teaching,
or he that exhorteth on exhortation, he that giveth, let him do it
with simplicity. He that ruleth with diligence,
he that showeth mercy with cheerfulness, let love be without dissimulation.
Let love be sincere. That's what he's saying. In unity,
not fake, not exalting one over the other as if holier than thou.
Abhor that which is evil. That's evil. cleave to that which
is good, be kindly affection one to another with brotherly
love, in honor preferring one another, not slothful in business,
fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. There it is, serving the
Lord. Rejoicing in hope, patient in
tribulation, continuing instant in prayer, distributing. See
that word distributing? That's the exact same word as
fellowship. It's translated communion sometimes, communication, distributing,
fellowship. Because it's, you remember in
Acts 2, after the Lord saved them on the day of Pentecost,
it said they continue from house to house breaking bread in fellowship
with one another. None of them said the things
that he had was his own, but they had all things in common. And so, that's fellowship, where
you have everything in common. What do you have that you didn't
receive? God gave it to you, and what's mine is yours, what's
yours is mine. If I got anything you want and
I can help you, you're welcome to it. I mean that, I really
do. Distributing to the necessity
of saints, giving to hospitality. Bless them which persecute you,
bless and curse not. Rejoice with them that do rejoice,
weep with them that weep. Be of the same mind one toward
another. That's fellowship right there.
Of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend
to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. I read 1 Corinthians 12 to you.
I want you to go back over there again, 1 Corinthians 12. See
this, 1 Corinthians 12. He says there, just like the
physical body, verse 12, he said 1 Corinthians 12, 12, as the
physical body is one and has many members, all the members
of that one body being many are one body, so also is the body
of Christ. By one spirit, we're all baptized
into one body, whether you're Gentiles, whether we be bond
or free, we've all been made to drink into one spirit. For
the body is not one member, but many. Now watch what he's showing
here. If the foot shall say, because I'm not the hand, I'm
not the body, is it not the body? It's still the body, isn't it?
It's still the body. All these members of our body
have different offices, but they all need it. They're all needed.
That's what he's teaching here. Look now at verse 17. If the
whole body were the eye, where were the hearing? If the whole
were hearing, where were the smelling? But now, now listen
to this right here. Here's how fellowship is created
right here. Now God, now hath God set the
members, every one of them in the body as it is pleased him. Do you think you joined a church?
Do you think you did that? It says, God said to members,
God said to them, as it has pleased Him. Remember
that brethren, as it has pleased Him. Christ put each of us in
the body as it pleased Him. Verse 21, I cannot say unto the
hand, I have no need of thee. nor again the head but to the
feet. I have no need of you. No, much more. Those members
of the body which seem to be more feeble, they're necessary. They're necessary. God put them
there. Some brethren just need more
attention. They're weak and they need more
attention. Listen, if that's you, if you become weak, You can't help that because it's
only by the gift of the measure of Christ's grace to you. But
why would God put one of his members in his body like that?
Why? To bestow more abundant honor
on that member. Just like you would if you had
an injured toe. You'd bestow more honor on that
toe to try to make it well. But you don't, here's what you
don't do, you don't say, I don't, I stump my toe, I'm just gonna
chop it off. No, we try to take care of it. Why would we, if we're one, I
don't say why would we, I say we won't. If God has borne us
of one Spirit and we're of Christ the Lord and made one, we're
not chopping a toe off. God said to members, and He won't
let you. You just mark that down. You
mark that down. What are we saying? 1 Corinthians
10, look there. When we take the Lord's table,
what are we saying? You know what we're saying when
we take that Lord's table? We're saying we're one in Christ. We're one. Look here, 1 Corinthians
10 verse 16. The cup of blessing which we
bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ, the common
union? We have, through the blood of
Christ, making us righteous and perfect in Him. Is that not what
we're saying? We have this common union. We use phrases and just forget
why we use them. We're going to take communion.
You're not going to take communion. God might give you communion.
Communion is God making you have a common union with Christ and
with your brethren. That's what communion is. And
when we're eating that bread, drinking that cup, we're saying
it's the communion of the blood of Christ. We're in common union
with Christ. The bread which we break, is
it not the common union of the body of Christ? For we being
many are one bread, and one body, for we're all partakers of that
one bread. That's fellowship. That's what
God makes his people to be. We regard each other as greater
than ourselves, as greater than ourselves, but never lesser than ourselves. That's what he said in Galatians
3.28. There's neither Jew nor Greek. There's neither bond nor
free. There's neither male nor female. That's all those things
we used to use. Now you're all one in Christ
Jesus. The Spirit of Christ dwelling in His people makes His people
easy to be one with. That's what James said in James
3.17. Easy to be entreated. That means
easy to comply with. and they easily comply with you."
God's people, we see what it cost to give us peace. Christ
had to come down and suffer the wrath of self-righteous religion
that put Him on that cross for us. And we were the self-righteous
religionists. We put Him there. Our sins put
Him there. And then He comes and gives you
the gospel and gives you the Spirit. And just like He said
in Ephesians 2, He broke down that middle wall and made peace.
Then He came and preached peace to us. And now we have this union
in Christ. And having that union in Christ,
brethren, you love peace. You saw what it took to make
you have peace. I don't like to fuss and fight. You don't like to fuss and fight,
do you? Wouldn't you rather have peace? Don't you want peace? That's what God's people want,
is peace. You know what that means? It means you're going
to have to overlook a lot of offenses and forgive and forget
and move forward. That's what we have to do. That's
what the Spirit of the Lord makes His people do. Look over at Colossians 3.10.
This is in every message Paul, every letter he wrote. Now the
moment I'm critical of how somebody else does the things I'm saying
here, I stop seeking peace at that point. Now I'm seeking strife. The moment criticism enters to
my mind, they're not doing the things he's preaching. I'm seeking
peace. I'm seeking strife. I'm critical. How are you doing at it? That's
the thing we need to consider. How am I doing at this? Not how
is somebody else doing it. How am I doing at it? Each of us ask ourselves that.
How I want to help my brother. I want to be in common union
and fellowship with my brother. Paul said, I'm thankful for your
fellowship from the very first day all the way till right now. I heard Brother Henry Mahan one
time, he got up to preach. Brother
Maurice Montgomery had introduced him. He was preaching down at
Madisonville when Brother Maurice was the pastor there before he
was with the Lord in glory. And Henry got up to preach, and
I think him and Maurice have been friends for 30, 35 years.
And Henry said something that I thought was the sweetest thing
I ever heard in my life. He said, me and Maurice have
been brothers, and we've been one for 35 years. And he said,
we've never had a ripple. We've never had a ripple. That's what I'm talking about.
Never have a ripple. Colossians 3.10. You put on the
new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of
him that created him, where there's neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision
nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond or free, but Christ
is all and in all. Put on therefore, put on therefore,
because that's so. Put on therefore as the elect
of God, holy and beloved, bows of mercies, That means being
merciful from the inward most part. Being merciful when, you
know what, mercy is not deserved. It's not deserved. Bows of mercies, kindness, humbleness
of mind, meekness, long-suffering. for bearing one another, forgiving
one another, if any man have a quarrel against any, even as
Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things,
but on charity, which is the bond of perfectness." Charity
is the bond of perfectness. We're not talking about fleshly
love here, we're talking about commitment that God gives when
He gives you this common union right here, can't be broken,
can't be severed. Put on charity, which is the
bond of perfectness, and let the peace of God rule in your
hearts to the which you're called, and here it is again, in one
body, and be ye thankful. Let the Word of Christ dwell
in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one
another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with
grace in your heart to the Lord. And whatsoever you do in word
or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, given thanks
to God and the Father by Him." And you know what the Lord is
going to do for His church? You see, we started out fallen in
Adam, separated from God, separated from one another. He sent the
Gospel and He stripped us of everything we thought made us
to differ. He clothed us in Christ's righteousness with one spirit,
with one hope, One faith, one Lord, one Father within us, and
He did this and made us one. And He's going to keep doing
this through the gospel. Scripture says, till we all come
in the unity of the faith, to the measure of the stature of
the fullness of Christ. Christ said of His body, the
church is the fullness of His body. And He's going to keep
calling every member that He redeemed because He justified
them. He's got to save them. And He's going to call every
one of them to every members in the body. And the body is
the full measure of Christ's body. And then you know what
He's going to do? Ephesians 1 says the mystery
is this. He said in the dispensation of
the fullness of time, that means when it's all said and done,
This was the purpose of God. He's going to gather together
in one. all His people in heaven and all His people in earth,
even in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's going to gather us in one
and we're going to obtain an eternal inheritance in Christ
because He predestinated us to it and He works all things after
the counsel of His own will and He did it all so that we praise
God's glory because He trusted Christ to do this work for us.
That's the purpose. That is the whole purpose. We're
going to end up all one in Christ, all his people, with no differences
whatsoever, and we're going to do one thing. We're going to
praise God for not putting the work in our hands, for trusting
in all of Christ and saving us. That's the purpose. That's salvation.
That's what we're going to do for eternity. Right there. Telling
you brethren, this thing, you start out and you got all these,
you got your desk full of books and you got all these things
that's so important, so vital, and you just, oh, this is, this,
and that desk, it gets smaller and smaller and smaller. God's
just making it. Just draw down, draw down, draw
down, and all the things you thought were important are just
falling off each side, and He's going to keep drawing it down,
drawing it down, drawing it down, until you take your last breath,
and you're going to see the one thing you ever needed is Christ. And we're going to praise God
for putting it all in His hands. Amen.