All right, brethren, let's go
to John chapter 17. John 17. Our Lord here, as He intercedes
for His people, He's asking the Father that would be born again
of the Spirit. He's asking that His people be
sanctified unto Him in faith and kept from the evil. all this
through the preaching of the Word. And here's the purpose. The purpose is that they all
may be one. Let's read it, verse 20. He says,
he's been praying for the apostles. He said, neither pray I for these
alone, but for them also, which shall believe on me through their
Word, that they all may be one. As thou, Father, art in me, and
I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world
may believe that thou hast sent me, and the glory which thou
gavest me I have given them, that they may be one, even as
we are one, I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made
perfect in one, and that the world may know that thou hast
sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me. that they
all may be one. Now this oneness is not ecumenical
oneness. This is not a bunch of denominations,
varying denominations in this world, you know, trying to get
together. They've been trying this for
ages. The Catholic Church tried it
with all their various councils You know, they have a council,
then they have another council to govern that council, another
council to govern that council, all the way up to the Pope. The Protestants have tried it.
The Church of England tried it. The Puritans tried it. Baptists,
Presbyterian, Methodists, they've all tried it. Past and still
trying it today in the present. And it never succeeded and it
never will. The reason it will not is because
they're not one spiritually. They're not one spiritually.
That's the reason. So they won't be one. They don't
agree on who God is. They have varying opinions on
who Christ is. They don't agree on why Christ
came. They don't agree on who he died for, what he accomplished
by it, where he is now, what he's doing now. Man can't make this oneness.
Man is looking on the outward. Spurgeon commented, he said,
if you're looking at the outward and thinking this oneness is
outward, you're going to miss it. This is a spiritual oneness. It's an invisible tie. This is
the work of God. This is the work of God. It's
the work of God our Father alone. It's the work of Christ our head
alone. It's the work of the Spirit of
God alone. This is the work of God alone. He must get the glory
for this oneness. Now we know it's talking about
our Lord's true people here, because Christ prayed for them.
He says he's praying for his true church, for the true members
of his body, the spiritual church, his people, those that the Father
gave to him. That's who he's praying for.
Look back at verse nine. He said, I pray for them. I pray not for
the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they
are thine. Verse 20, he says, neither pray
I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me
through their word. He's praying for those the Father
gave him in eternity, that those Christ called out. He's praying
for all his people. He's from Abel all the way to
the apostles, to those he would call out through the apostles,
to those he's called out to this day, and those he shall continue
to call out. as well as those that are already
in glory with him, that they all may be one, that they all
may be one. This is what he's interceding
for, that they all may be one. They're those Christ laid down
his life for. These are those Christ came to
redeem, that he laid down his life for and shed his precious
blood for. They're those he made righteous.
They're those that he gives eternal life. And he intercedes that
they be sanctified unto him and kept. And this is what's going
to happen. They're going to be separated
unto Christ and find their all in Christ. Find all their righteousness
in Christ and all their holiness in Christ. This is what their
separation is all about, being united with him. It's not one
of his elect, not one of his redeemed people are left out
of this petition. He said in verse 21 that they
all may be one. This is what he interceded for.
Do you think he's gonna get what he prays for? Yes, he is. They're
gonna all be one. And he keeps speaking of this
oneness. Back up there in verse 11, he had said, Now I'm no more
in the world, but these are in the world, and I've come to thee.
Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast
given me that they may be one as we are. And then here again,
in our text, he's praying for this oneness again. This union
is not a mere agreement of men. It's not a mere agreement of
denominations. It's not a consent to a man-made
creed. It's not even the bond of a visible
church. It's the spiritual union with
the triune God that's made by the triune God. Us with each
other and with Christ. This is true what he does with
all his people. United with him. Its nature is
just like its origin. It's eternal. It's an eternal
union. It originated in eternity, and
it's an eternal union, an inseparable union, a union that'll never
end. When every earthly tie that we know in this earth is broken,
this union won't be broken. This union will still be one
in Christ and with the Father and with one another in Him.
This is so. Now, let's look at this oneness.
Now, first of all, this oneness is in God our Father and His
Son. It's in God our Father and His
Son. And it's with God our Father being in Christ and Christ being
in you. That's a mouthful, isn't it?
It's us being in the Father through faith in Christ. And the reason
we are is because the Father's in Christ and Christ is in. you
who he's regenerated. Look here now at verse 21. He
says that they all may be one as thou father art in me and
I in thee, that they also may be one in us. You see this? Now that's oneness, isn't it?
As Christ and the father are one. That's how one he's talking
about. And we're one with the father and the son. Verse 22
in the second part, He says that they may be one even as we are
one. Then in verse 23, I in them and
thou in me that they may be made perfect in one. God the Father
is in Christ Jesus and Christ Jesus is in the Father. Christ
here, you know God the Father, God the Son are one, but he's
talking about Christ here as the mediator, as the God-man
mediator. God, the Father, was in Christ. Christ is the Son. The Spirit
of God was in Christ, and Christ was in the Father. They're one.
It's one God, three persons. He says, as thou, Father, art
in me, and I in thee. And this is an amazing union.
This is a spiritual union, an inseparable union, an eternal
union. He said, verse 22, the second
part, that they may be one even as we are one. And you think
about this, even as God, the Father, and Christ Jesus, His
Son are one, that's oneness. That's oneness. And this makes
our perfection, now listen, this makes our perfection to be in
Christ. It's not in us, it's in Christ.
Look, verse 23, I in them, and thou in me. So Christ is in you,
and the Father's in Christ in you. that they may be made perfect
in one. And that one is Christ. We're
in him. You know, Christ made the human
body to picture this. The human body pictures this.
I'm standing here and you see, you see my head and you see my
body. And I got members that make up
my body. But you don't say, you just say
there's clay. The head and the body are one
and the members are all one. You don't say, there's Clay's
head or there's Clay's body. You say, there's Clay. And this
is so with Christ and his people. Go to 1 Corinthians 12. Those
that are born of our Lord, this is so of each of us. Go to 1
Corinthians 12. Now, the reason he's writing
this is because they were divided We're going to see this later.
The Lord doesn't give the same grace to all the members of his
body. He doesn't give us all the same
measure of faith or the spirit, the fruit of the spirit. He doesn't
give all the same measure. All of it's there because we're
born of his incorruptible seed, but he doesn't give it all the
same measure. And he does that on purpose.
But at Corinth, they were divided over this. Some were trying to
boast that they had one gift and others boasted they had another
gift, so they were divided. So right away we understand when
we talk about this oneness, we're not saying that there's going
to be a perfect church because Corinth is bickering over this,
over gifts that they didn't have anything to do with producing. God produced them. And one's
trying to exalt himself over the other. So this is why Paul's
writing this. We're talking about a union in
Christ. that we all have is going to keep us together. Watch this.
First Corinthians 12, 12, he said, 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. For by one spirit
are we all baptized into one body. This is so of all his people
born of him. Whether we be Jews or Gentiles,
now Corinth was Gentiles, he's writing to a Gentile church,
but Paul said, I'm not just talking about you folks here, I'm talking
about all God's elect Jew and Gentile, born of him. Whether
we be bond or free, whether we be Jew or Gentile, whether we
be bond or free, we've all been made to drink into one spirit,
for the body's not one member, but many. If the foot shall say,
because I'm not the hand, I'm not of the body, is it therefore
not of the body? He's saying this because they
were bickering over some having gifts and some thinking, well,
if it's because I don't have that gift, I guess I'm not of
the body. Or because you don't have that gift, you're not of
the body like I am. That's probably what they were
saying. But he says, is that so? If the foot shall say, because
I'm not the hand, I'm not of the body, is it therefore not
of the body? And if the ears shall say, because I'm not the
eye, I'm not the body, is it therefore not of the body? If
the whole body was an eye, where would be the hearing? If the
whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now, watch
this, hath God set the members, every one of them in the body
as it hath pleased him. Now we're talking about the body
of Christ. That's what we're talking about.
We're talking about Christ's body. We're that one with him. He's the head, we're the body.
And he set the members. In every local church, he's put
the members, there are members there. He's put us there as he
would have it. And watch this. And if they were
all one member, where would be the body? But now are they many
members, yet but one body. Verse 21, and the eye cannot
say unto the hand, I have no need of thee. nor again the head
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. Don't you have some feeble parts
of your body? You've got some very tender spots
on your body, some very tender members of your body, but they're
necessary. They're feeble. Maybe they're
not, maybe your little toe is not quite as important as your
heart is, but you need it. If your body's gonna be complete,
you need it. He said here, these members of the body which
we think to be, verse 23, which we think to be less honorable,
upon these we bestow more abundant honor so that our uncomely parts
have more abundant comeliness. He's speaking of of our human
body, but he's illustrating what we do for members of the body,
those that are feeble, those that are uncomely. We try to
honor them and cover them and make them more comely, just like
we do our body. Watch this. Upon us, we bestow more abundant
honor, and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness,
for our comely parts have no need. But God hath tempered the
body together. He did this on purpose. having
given more abundant honor to that part which lacked, that
there should be no schism in the body, but that the members
should have the same care one of another, whether one member
suffer, all the members suffer with it. Has it hurt you to know
Jeff's over there getting operated on? I thought about that. I woke
up at 1 o'clock that morning, and that's all I could think
about, just kept praying for him. And then he started texting
me this morning when he woke up and sending me pictures. Oh. He did this that there be no
schism. If one member suffer, all the members suffer with it.
Or if one member be honored, all the members rejoice with
it. Now you're the body of Christ and members in particular. So
you see, this is the union we're talking about. We're talking
about Christ's body. He's dead. We're the body and we're members,
you individually are members in particular of Christ's body.
That's the one that we're talking about. Now let's go back to John.
Here's the second thing. How do we have this union? How
do we have this union? Verse 22. He says, in the glory
which thou gave us me, I have given them that they may be one
even as we are one. Now whatever this glory is, Christ
gave it to us He's the one that gave it to us, and he did it
so that we would be one. This is what makes us one, this
glory he's given us. This is what makes us one. See
it there? The glory which thou gavest me,
this is the Father gave him the glory to be the one to give this
to us, this glory to us, to be the mediator to give this to
us. And he said, I've given it to them, talking about those
he's called out, that they may be one even as we are one. And he's talking about them on
way down the road. He's talking about you and me
right then too. Because he, the end, he knows the end from the
beginning. He's eternal and he's, you know, Isaiah 53 sounds like
he's already been to the cross, doesn't it? And he said, I've
given it to him already. Read Romans 8. Whom he did foreknow,
them he did predestinate. And then gets down there and
he starts talking about whom he elected, whom he called, whom
he justified, whom he glorified. It's all in the past tense. It's
done. It's done with God. But see here
now, not long ago, I preached a message on this. I show what
this glory of Christ is. It's his righteousness. It's
his righteousness. It's given to us through the
Spirit. He gives that to us. It's given to us through the
gospel. The gospel's called the glorious gospel. The spirit's
called the spirit of glory. And the glory is this righteousness
of Christ. It's his glory to give it to
us. Remember Romans 3? It said, there's no difference
between any of those he calls. All have sinned and come short
of what? The glory of God. We've come short of the glory.
We gotta have Christ to give us the glory, because we've come
short of it. And the context is saying, You can't get this
glory by going to the law. You can't get this glory by looking
to yourself and your works and your will and this thing. It
says now the righteousness of God without the law is manifest. That's what we're talking about.
That's the glory. That's the glory we've come short of is
the righteousness of God. And now it's manifested without
the law, without you doing the law, and it's witnessed by the
law and the prophets. Even the righteousness of God,
which is by the faithfulness of Christ Jesus the Lord. See,
God the Father gave him the glory of being the righteousness of
his people. He gave him the glory of coming to this earth and working
out a righteousness for us, going to the cross and justifying us
from all our sin. And so he says here, I've given
them the glory that thou gavest me. The Father gave Christ the
glory of this. And it's unto all and it's upon
all them that believe. His righteousness is. And it's
so of all of us because there's no difference between us. We
have all sinned. That's the end of our story.
That's all we could say. We've come short of the glory
of God. But Christ didn't. And he's given us his righteousness.
This is what makes his people one. Think about it. The Spirit
of God makes us know we've all sinned and come short of the
glory of God. And the Spirit of God doesn't
let you stop knowing that. It keeps you knowing that. Knowing
we're guilty sinners, that's where he found us, we fell in
at him, and keeps us knowing in our sin nature we're still
sinners. We don't want to sin and we try not to sin, but we
know we're sinners still. We still sin. God keeps us one
by keeping us broken and contrite in our heart showing us from
time to time our sins and our shortcomings. He shows them to
you and you can see them better at times. And that's how He's
keeping us humble and broken and contrite. But it's Christ
also giving us His righteousness. And the Spirit making you know
He's giving you His righteousness. It's unto all His people and
upon all His people. So we don't have anything to
boast of. Nobody can exalt ourselves over one another. because we
are all the same sinners and by Christ we have the same righteousness. There's no difference in us now. We are one in Christ with his
righteousness. Saved by His righteousness, and
that's all been given to us freely by grace. We can't boast it,
you know, that there was something in us that made us get it. There's
nothing about us that can make us exalt ourselves over one another.
So you know what that's going to result in? Oneness. Oneness. With Him, with the Father, with
Christ, and with one another. Go to Ephesians 2. Now, I'm going
to back this up. This is what Ephesians 2 says.
This is how He gave us this oneness. He came and fulfilled the law. You know why God gave the law?
When He gave the law, He separated Israel from the Gentile world.
That's what He did by the law. That was the old covenant. And
it had a lot of glory. That was the old covenant. And
what God was saying by that is, I'm the one who separates you
from everybody else. But that was a covenant of works,
and he showed by it that we can't come to God if he gives us a
covenant of works, because we can't keep his law. But he gives
us something better. Christ came and fulfilled the
law for us, so now God says, here's what makes you to differ
from everybody else in the world. I've given you this new everlasting
covenant of grace. I've made you one in my son,
whether you're Jew or Gentile. Let's read it. Verse 14, for
he is our peace who hath made both one, Jew, Gentile, rich,
poor, bond-free, male, female. He's broken down the middle wall
of partition between us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity,
even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, to make
in himself of two one new man, so make in peace. Isn't that
what Christ said? He said that they may be made
perfect in one. It's in Christ. Jew and Gentile,
wherever, whatever walk of life has elect people come from that
he redeemed were made one in Christ Jesus. In Christ Jesus. Watch this. And that he might
reconcile both unto God, he's talking about Jew and Gentile,
both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity
thereby. And then he came and preached
peace to us which were far off and to them that were nigh, thus
Gentiles that were way away from Israel and to those elect Israel
that was near for through him we both have access by one spirit
unto the Father and so now therefore you're no more strangers and
foreigners you're fellow citizens with the saints you have oneness
and you're of the household of God and you're built upon a foundation
of the apostles and prophets Jesus Christ himself being a
chief cornerstone in whom all the building is fitly framed
together Grows unto one holy temple in the lord one holy temple
in the lord In whom you also in whom you also are built together
for an habitation of god through the spirit See you're in him
in whom and you're built together and god through the spirits in
you That's what christ said in our text. That's the glory he
gave us That's the glory he gave us. He gave us his glory, his
righteousness by giving us the Holy Spirit. He gave us the spirit
of glory. That's from 1 Peter 4, 14. The spirit of glory, that's what
the Holy Spirit's called. He gave us that glory, the spirit,
so we could be alive quickened and know this. And he brought
us out from the glory of that old covenant. You remember, go
to 2 Corinthians, I want you to see this, 2 Corinthians 3.
You remember, as Paul is saying here, He's talking about, Paul
is speaking here about the old covenant law having a glory. He said it had glory. It was
the ministration of death. It was given to declare us guilty.
That's what it was. But it had glory. When Moses
came down out of the mount, his face was shining. It had glory. But Paul is saying to us now,
Christ has come and fulfilled the law for us. And now we're
under the everlasting covenant of grace. That's the new law
we're under, is the covenant of grace. God said, I've done
it all. It's all done. I finished it
all in my son. You're righteous and holy, separated
unto me. Now, walk before me and be holy. You are. And serve me, because
you want to, because you love me. And how do we get all this? I'll tell you, I'll give you
something else. Brother John Reeves called me this week and asked
me about this and it went right along with what I was studying.
Moses come down that mountain and he had his face was shining
with glory. You remember in Acts when Stephen
was preaching the gospel to them before they stoned him, the scripture
says, and his face shined like an angel. He wasn't preaching
the same thing. Moses came down the mountain
preaching. He was preaching Christ. and this everlasting covenant
of grace. See, that had a glory, but this has a glory. This new
covenant has a glory. Now look down at 2 Corinthians
3 and look at verse 18. How do we get this? Let's read
verse 17. He's talking about when we're
turned to the Lord, a veil will be taken off of us so we can
actually see. Now the Lord is that spirit,
and where the spirit of the Lord is, there's liberty. But we all,
with open face, beholding as in a glass, what are we beholding? The glory of the Lord. That's
what we behold, the glory of the Lord. He said, the glory
you've given me, I've given them. This glory of this new covenant,
the glory of his righteousness, the glorious spirit. And we behold
it, all the glory in Christ. And what happens? We're changed
into the same image as Christ. You can't get more perfect than
that. There's a new man in you born of Christ that is holy by
Christ being in you. And look what it did. He took
us from the glory of that old covenant to the glory of this
new covenant. That ain't talking about you
growing perfect in holiness from glory to glory. That's talking
about if you read the context, he's saying that old covenant
had a glory and this new covenant has a glory. And when this happens,
you leave that old covenant, the glory of that covenant, you
come to the glory of this new covenant. And he said the glory
of this new covenant is a lot greater than the glory of that
old covenant. even by the Spirit of the Lord.
That's what Christ prayed in John 17. He said, Father, the
glory you gave me, I've given them that they may be one as
we're one. This is what makes us one. We
didn't do this. We didn't make this oneness.
He did it. I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made
perfect and one. And Christ is going to keep us
one. He's going to keep reminding us we're still sinners in ourselves.
So we can't think more highly of ourselves than we ought to.
When a brother or sister offends us, we may go for a long while. We may go for a long while offended. And we're not going to be one
with them. But if we're here sooner or later, we're going
to be one with them. You just mark it down. You just
mark it down. Christ reminds us of the offenses
by which we have offended God. He's going to show us real clearly
our own offenses by which we offended God, and yet how God,
for Christ's sake, has forgiven us. This is what He has to show
us. This is what breaks our heart,
brings it down, and creates oneness. You can try to, we endeavor to
keep the unity of the Spirit, but you can't put this in another
person's heart. You just can't. You can try and
try and try and try. You cannot put it in another's
heart. No more than you can make another
be born again, no more than you can make another love the Lord.
You can't put this oneness in another's heart. But God can.
God can. And he's going to do this for
all his people sooner or later. Now, most of the time he does
it in this life. Paul and Barnabas, they ended
up one by the end. Abraham and Lot, But if he doesn't
do it in this life, sometimes believers go the whole time and
never reconcile. But when we drop this body of
death, there won't be no difference. We're going to be one. We're
going to be one. He does that for his own purpose
and for his own reasons. But that's our oneness. We're
equally one in Christ's righteousness by the same Holy Spirit, in the
same Holy Covenant, in the same household, all of the same God
and Savior. Go to Ephesians 4. Paul called
it the unity of the Spirit and a bond of peace. And look here
in Ephesians 4, in verse 4, he said there's one body, there's
one Spirit, even as you're calling, one hope of your calling. Where's
your hope? There's just one hope. Where's
yours? Where is it? Our hope has entered into the
veil, Christ Jesus. And it's an anchor of our soul.
That means the anchor's not in us. You don't keep the anchor
in the boat if you want to be anchored. You throw the anchor
out. Our anchor's at God's right hand. That's our hope. One hope.
One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who
is above all and through all and in you all. That's what Christ
is saying. But now watch. but unto every
one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of
Christ, on purpose. Christ gave unto every one of
us grace in measure. So believers are gonna differ
widely in grace. We're gonna differ in the gifts
we have. We've got different measures. There are diversities
of gifts, but it's the same spirit, Paul said. There's differences
of administrations and offices, but it's the same Lord. There
are diversities of operations, but it's the same God working
all in all. You see what this union is about,
this oneness? It's God in you working it all.
The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit
with. That's what Paul said. So we
have to look to Christ, and this is what we have to do. We have
to remind each other of Christ. You know when the Lord tells
us to put off malice and pride, and envy, and evil speaking.
You know what he's saying, do? The easy way to say what he's
saying do is, just speak to one another about what Christ has
done for you. What else profits you? Talking
about the offenses, does that profit? No. It ends up in evil
speaking, and envy, and malice, and our old flesh. What profits? Reminding each other what Christ
has done for us. That's what prophets. Speak to
yourself in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. That's what
Paul said, glory in the Lord. Whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever
things are honest, whatsoever things are of our Lord. Talk
about those things. And do it, Paul says there in
Ephesians four, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering,
forbearing one another in love. That means there gonna be some
offenses, be some divisions, But you do this endeavoring to
keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace, and he's
going to keep that unity in his true saints, and he's going to
show us Christ is our only righteousness, Christ is our only holiness,
and he's going to show us we're still sinners, and that's how
he's going to keep our hearts broken and contrite. That's how
he's going to keep us meek and lowly, trusting him only and
endeavoring to keep unity. Here's the truth of it. Remember
the two harlots that wanted to You know, each one was saying,
well, that's my baby, and the other one was saying, it's my
baby, and why Solomon? He said, bring me a sword, cut
the baby in half. And the true mother said, nope,
she can have it, don't cut the baby in half. And this is just
the truth of it. When the Lord's worked this in
your heart, and He's got you at Christ's feet, trusting Him,
your heart's broke, you know, Christ is the only righteousness
and holiness you have. When you love the baby, you don't
want to cut the baby in half. That's just so. We start thinking,
well, and I hope you hear this and anybody that's listening,
I hope they hear this. We start thinking the church
won't receive me. They won't receive me back. We
get offended, go out for something. They won't receive me back. This
one's against me. That one's against me. And we
start thinking about that. repeating it over and over in
our mind and we build a big old mountain out of it. You ever
done that? We just start thinking about what other people are thinking.
It just gets bigger and bigger and bigger. That's a combination
of your sinful flesh and the devil trying to keep you from
this unity. That's what this is, that is.
And we get this idea built up in our minds of how to be and
how we'll be rejected and then you go to the Lord's house where
the Lord's truly worked His oneness in the hearts of His people.
and he's broken your heart, and he's humbled your heart, and
you just want to be one with the brethren, you want to be
one with Christ, you want to hear his gospel, and you go into
the Lord's house, and it's nothing like what you imagined it was
going to be. Your brethren receive you because they love you, and
treat you like you never even were gone, because they love
you. Because they know how much God's
forgiven them for Christ's sake. Brethren forgive brethren. I'm
not saying they ought to, I'm saying they do. Christ's not
talking in maybes in John 17, He's saying what He does. If
there's division, it's us, it's our sin, we did it, we caused
it. End of story. If there's unity, God did it.
And He's gonna make us see He's the only one that can create
it and keep it. And keep it. So He makes you cast off your
pride, and your enmity, and your envy, and your bitterness, and
your continuous brethren who are going to spend eternity as
one. That's what He's going to keep
us doing. Now lastly, why? Why is He doing this? And I'll
be very brief. Back in John 17, He said that they, verse 21,
the second part, that they also may be wanting us that the world
may believe that thou hast sent me. There's a purpose in this. It's so that the world will believe
that thou has sent me. Verse 23, I in them and thou
in me that they may be made perfect in one and that the world may
know that thou has sent me and has loved them as thou has loved
me. You see, this oneness that Christ
creates in his true members is for the preaching of the gospel
of Christ. That's what he said. We've seen
it already. They're going to be saved through
their word, he said. And he's using his people he's
already called to call out other lost sheep. We're just going
through this wilderness, like Israel was, as his body, one
with Christ, preaching his gospel, and lost sheep are just being
added by the Lord, such as should be saved by his purpose and his
making them one. They're being added. All over
the world he's doing this. Using those he's already made
one, he's given one mind and one purpose and one goal to preach
Christ in Him crucified and give God all the honor and Christ
all the glory and the Spirit all the glory. He's given us
one mind to do this. Remember Paul in Philippians
2 said, be of one mind, striving together for the faith of the
gospel. And through that oneness, he makes other lost sheep one
with us. He does it through the gospel.
He does it through oneness. He's not going to correct division
through more division. He's going to correct division
through oneness, through us being of one mind, preaching one gospel
of Christ and him crucified. That's what he's saying here.
And in the end, when his body's complete and a full measure of
the stature of Christ, he's talking here about the world. He's talking
about his elect so that they know Father that thou has loved
them as thou has loved me. That's what he says to you that
know him God the father loves you as he loves Christ, and he's
gonna make each others He calls out to know that from all over
the world, but there is gonna be something that's gonna happen
to the unregenerate world Let me illustrate this this way bear
with me. I'm just this be my last point
bear with me You picture a war zone you picture Ukraine right
now You've seen the pictures, our picture of Europe in World
War II. All the bombs going off and the
bullets whizzing and you hear rockets coming by and soldier
against soldier and it's just war. It's just war is all it
is. Now imagine in the midst of it,
somebody starts building a building. The war is raging all about them
and there they lay a foundation. These people are foolish. It's
a war going on all around them, and they're laying a foundation? All these armies are in a fierce
battle, and all the while, there goes one stone laid on a foundation,
and another stone, and another stone. One after another, they're
being built up, one stone, one stone, one stone. Bombs busting
right beside it, right beside it. A bomb goes off. Maybe some
foreigner runs through it, through the work, runs through it, runs
out the other side. And it keeps going, stone by
stone by stone by stone. And then all of a sudden, the
bombs stop, and the bullets stop, and everybody freezes and looks.
And there's a building completely erected And they never even saw
it being built. And there it is, perfect, right
there in the midst of them. That's exactly what the Lord's
doing with us in this world. We're in a war zone in this world. And through this gospel, the
Lord's building His church. He's uniting living stone with
living stone. And the last one's going to be
added. He's going to bring the headstone crying, grace, grace
unto it. And every stone will be united.
And when that happens, Not one's going to be missing. They're
all going to be one. And when that happens, He's going
to start coming. And all the while, the poxards
have been striving with the poxards. Everybody's going about what's
so important. They've got to get done. And
they ain't even noticing what's going on here. And when it's
all finished, Christ is going to come. And New Jerusalem with
all the saints made perfect and all the holy angels are going
to come down out of glory. And we're going to meet Him. And then this whole unregenerate
world that was so going after whatever they thought was so
important is going to know Jesus is the Christ that God sent.
Remember He said the Kingdom of God comes without observation.
They don't even see it happening. But He's going to finish the
building. He's going to get all the glory. And there's not going
to be one stone left. Not one stone left. And He said
at that day, you shall know that I'm in my Father and you in me
and I in you. And you're going to know the
Father has loved us as He's loved Christ. Go to Ephesians 1.8.
I'm going to end with this. Ephesians 1.8. I know I've kept
you a little long tonight. But this is my last verse. This is what our Lord's been
doing the whole time. This is his purpose. This is
the whole purpose of God for making this earth and establishing
his church in it. Verse 8. Wherein he hath abounded
toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the
mystery of his will. That's what I've been talking
to you about tonight. According to his good pleasure, which he
hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness
of times, when it's all said and done, he'll gather together
in one in one. You see it there, in one. Christ
said that they all may be one. They're gonna gather in one,
all things in Christ. And the things he's talking about
are his saints. Those that are in heaven and those that are
on earth, even in Christ. They're gonna all be one. In
whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will, that we should be to the praise
of God the Father's glory who first trusted in Christ and trusted
us to Christ. We're going to be to his praise
and to his glory. He's the first one trusted Christ.
You see it there? That's the grand purpose that
we might be gathered together in one, in Christ, those in heaven,
those in the earth, even in Christ. That's the whole purpose. That's
the whole purpose. And that's going to happen. Now,
if we get to that point and we're still bitter against somebody,
That's a brother in Christ. At that day, we're not going
to be bitter anymore. There's not going to be any division.
We're going to be one. And we're going to sit at Christ's
feet, praising him. So why not go through this life
as those that are going to spend eternity together and love his
brethren? Father, we thank you for this
word. We pray, Lord, you'd bless it. Pray you would give us grace
to be one. Put down our flesh, Lord, and
quicken us in the inner man. And use us to preach your gospel,
call out your people. Lord, we thank you for this glorious
purpose that you've set forth, knowing full well that in the
end, we'll all be one in Christ. Lord, we thank you for bringing
Brother Jeff through the surgery. Pray that you'd be with him now
in his recovery. Lord, we pray for our brethren
everywhere. You keep them, provide for them, keep them one in you,
one with us in you. Thank you, Lord, for this oneness.
Forgive us our sins, forgive us our divisive spirits, and
it's just pride. That's all it is. I'm guilty,
we're guilty. Lord, forgive us. Thank you that
you do forgive us. Thank you that you're merciful.
Keep us seeing all our oneness is Christ. In his name we pray.
Amen.