Did you notice in that psalm
that the same message that the saints have here will be the
same message we have when we gather before the throne? We're
not going to sing about our glory and our will and our power here.
and then get there and sing it about Him. We sing His glory
and His power and His praise here and we'll do the same thing
there. Same message. Alright, let's open our Bibles
to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Now the Apostle Paul begins to
deal with these problems that they were having at Corinth.
Contentions among brethren. This is the first problem he's
going to deal with. Contentions among brethren. It's
good to look at these things now because we don't have this
problem. The Lord's blessed us with a
unity here and a sweet fellowship here. And so that's a good time
to learn about these problems and when to deal with them. But
you just think about Paul. Paul's dealing with this while
it's going on. He's dealing with it when it's
happening. That's a difficult thing. That's
a very difficult thing. Now let's see the problem. First
of all, verse 11. He says, "...it had been declared
unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house
of Chloe, that there are contentions among you." Now, contentions
means strife. It means debate. It means quarreling,
wrangling, division. There was disagreement. There
was disunity with them. And this was sinful. What they
were doing amongst themselves was carnal. It was sinful. And
it was greatly hindering their spiritual growth. Look over at
1 Corinthians 3. And look here what Paul says.
Now listen to this language, brethren. This is so strong.
You put yourself in their shoes. You know how we don't like to
be rebuked. Put yourself in their shoes where they are and listen
to the language here that Paul uses. He says in 1 Corinthians
3.1, Our brethren could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but
as unto carnal. I couldn't speak unto you as
believers, he's saying. I had to speak unto you like
carnal men that don't even know the gospel. Look at this. Even
as unto babies in Christ, I fed you with milk and not with meat. For hitherto you were not able
to bear it, neither yet now are you able. For you are yet carnal. For whereas there is among you
envying, and strife and divisions? Are you not carnal and walk as
men?" That's what he means by carnal. Are you not walking like
unbelievers rather than believers? That's what he's talking about.
Some think that, you know, it's wisdom. It shows wisdom to debate
and to argue and to object and all those things. But it doesn't. It doesn't. Paul says it proves
immaturity in the faith. It takes much more maturity in
the faith to submit, to submit, to submit to God, to submit to
Christ, to submit to our brethren, while standing for the gospel,
while trusting Christ, while knowing how to keep unity. That
takes maturity. That takes maturity. Paul said,
you act like babies in Christ. And these contentions hinder
spiritual growth. Paul said, I can't even, they
were too distracted by all these things that were going on. So
Paul had to literally stop preaching Christ to them. That's how we're
going to grow, is hearing the gospel. He had to stop preaching
Christ to them and deal with these issues so that he could
turn them back to Christ and get them listening and paying
attention and focusing on the gospel again. It's an awful,
awful place to be when you're in a church that's full of contentions
and divisions. Because what happens is, is you
sit there and you can't hear the message. You're thinking,
is that person hearing this? Is that person hearing this?
I hope they're hearing this. And you're the one that needs to
hear it. And you can't. You just can't. Because there's
all these divisions. And so it hinders. It greatly
hinders. Now what was it that caused these
divisions? Go back now to 1 Corinthians 1.12. Now this I say, that every one
of you saith, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas,
or the Apostle Peter, and I of Christ. Now, I want you to think
about this. You know division, or rent. When
you have a rent, it doesn't stay a small rent, it always grows,
it always gets bigger. But think how small this started. This ought to teach us something
about avoiding this kind of thing. Think how this started. It started
as just a preference over preachers and the way they preached. That's
all it started as. Paul was not a very good speaker.
If you go through the Scriptures and read the Scriptures, you'll
find out Paul was not an eloquent preacher. They said his speech
is contemptible. But Apollos was an eloquent preacher. He was an eloquent preacher.
And some preferred Paul's simple style. They were converted under
Paul perhaps. Others preferred Apollos and
his eloquence. And that's how this thing started.
Just, well I like Paul and I like Apollos. But it always grows. Now look at this a little deeper.
There's a division here too between Jew and Gentile. Not only one sits there and listens,
you know, and he says, well, I like Peter and I like Apollos.
Well, why do you like them so much? Well, they're Jews and
I'm a Jew. That's where I was raised. I
was raised among the Jews. And then Paul, he's a Gentile. And so Gentiles say, I like Paul.
Now today, if you might take this and liken it to denominations,
is what you might liken it to. That's kind of what we have in
our day that resembles this. And you can search the scriptures
over. You can't find in the scriptures justification for all these denominations. You can't find it. God found
us separated. God found us divided. That's
where He finds us, in sin. Cast out. And He brings us together. He makes us one. He makes us
one. And then this went on, I'm sure. I can just see this moving on.
Now there's a division about education. Think about it. Jews had to be divided amongst
themselves. They get divided amongst themselves
because Apollos is a Jew, and he's highly educated. But Peter's
a Jew, and he's an old, poor, uneducated fisherman. One of
these men been to seminary and one of them hadn't. That's what
that's likened to in our day. And you got Paul, he's a Gentile
and he's very well educated. So you got a division over this
thing of education. And then some got real pious. Some just got real pious over
this thing. And you've seen this happen.
This happens. And these fellows said, well, you men shouldn't
even be arguing over those men because we're not going to give
honor to any man. We're of Christ. We don't even
need a preacher. We follow Christ. And that's
where the division leads to. When that division leads to that
point, you know what happens? Men quit coming and assembling
to hear the gospel preached. They don't need a preacher. That's
where this division leads to. And they just go off along and
wither and die, like a branch severed from the vine. That's
where division leads to. It was all based on the carnal. And here's the problem. When
we draw attention from Christ by some thing, that we do. It can be extravagant or not
extravagant, or like on the other extreme from extravagant. It
can be extremely self-righteous or base and sinful, the other
direction. But whatever extreme it is we
go to, when we draw the focus from Christ to something, we
make that thing the focus. We make that thing an issue.
And that causes division. That causes folks to turn their
minds and hearts away from Christ. And that's, it just starts as
a little rent, and it just gets like you ladies get a rent in
your pantyhose. And it just gets bigger and bigger and bigger.
That's how it happens. Alright, look, so how does Paul
deal with this problem? How's he gonna, he gonna go in
there and deal harshly with them? He's trying to deal as softly
as he can, and yet firmly. through this letter before he
comes in person. Now look how he deals with this.
He begins with the chief motive of every true believer. He begins
with the greatest reason why true brethren have to put away
contentions and divisions and anything that would draw our
focus from Christ. This is the greatest motive.
Back up in verse 10. Now, I beseech you, brethren, by the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ. That's where it starts. I beseech
you by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. He makes sure they know
that this is not for his own namesake, this is not for his
own glory and his own honor, it's not for his own reputation.
Any true preacher that's trying to lead God's people in the name
of Christ, following Christ Himself, and trying to teach them, follow
me as I follow Christ, any preacher that's doing that, he's not going
to be teaching God's people, and instructing God's people,
and trying to lead God's people for His glory. He's just not
going to be doing that. Listen to what Christ said. Christ
said, He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory. He that
speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory, but he that seeketh
his glory that sent him. Whose glory we're seeking? Christ
was seeking the glory of the Father who sent him. That's who
said this. Every true Christ-sent preacher
is seeking the glory of Christ who sent him. He's not speaking
of himself. He's not trying to do anything
for his own glory or to get a following or to just make folks do things
because he said he's doing it for the good of Christ's body,
for the good of Christ's people. And Christ said, and the same
is true. And there's no unrighteousness
in him. What he's doing is right, Christ is saying, and it's true.
Doing it from the right motive. So Paul is saying here, I beseech
you brethren, not for my namesake, not for my glory, not for my
honor. I beseech you for the honor and
glory of Christ Jesus our Lord. For Christ our Lord who came
from heaven's glory to this hell hole where we live. from the
pristine, holy, immaculate, righteous place of glory to this cesspool
where we dwell. For us, brethren, for Christ's
sake, who walked this earth despised and rejected of men, for you
and I, who He saved by His grace, for Christ's sake, who went to
the cross and bore our sins, and bore our suffering, and bore
our death, for Christ who called us, who
was gracious to call us in spite of us, who was gracious to assemble
us and make us congregate together and unite us together by His
Spirit in His body. For His sake, Paul said, by His
name I beseech you. Now, if Christ is precious to
me, if Christ is really precious to me, And I made them realize
that what I'm doing or what I'm saying is dishonoring Christ. That's all I need to know. Isn't
that right? That's all I need to know. And
I'm going to change my behavior. because I want to honor Christ.
I want to glorify Christ. That's so of a believer. Our
reverence and our love of Christ, our respect and our having Him
sanctified in our heart as our Lord, our Master, our Authority,
our Supreme Head, that constrains you to obedience because you
want to honor Him. You want to honor Him. Now notice
what Paul beseeches them to do. Notice here what Paul beseeches
them to do. Verse 10. That ye all speak the
same thing. And that there be no divisions
among you, but that you be perfectly joined together. That's our subject. Perfectly joined together. In the same mind and in the same
judgment. Now, this is a principle right
here. These are, you could say, principles
that we would do well to think about before we do anything,
before we say anything. I'm talking about personally,
each of us personally. Before I say anything or do anything,
this is what I want to think about right here. What's going
to promote unity? He says here that you all speak
the same thing. Now he's speaking here about
the same gospel. He's speaking here of the same
doctrine, of the same truth. And really we should try to speak
the same thing in everything. Whatever it is, we ought to be
in agreement speaking the same thing. And then he says, and
let there be no divisions, no schisms, no rents among you. Not in doctrine, not in isolating
brethren, cutting brethren off or not including brethren, none
of that, not being at odds with one another in any way, but that
you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same
judgment. Perfectly joined together means
repair what needs repaired, put away any division and be perfectly
united together. That, you think about perfectly
united together. No division. Nothing separating
us any at all. And he says in the same mind
and in the same judgment. In the same heart, the same judgment. Now brethren, whatever you do,
don't ever compromise the gospel. We can't compromise the gospel.
Never compromise the gospel. But learn how to keep unity while
not compromising the gospel. Learn how to keep unity while
not compromising the gospel. And it's alright to compromise
on lesser things. If we didn't compromise on lesser
things, what would happen? A stick can't break with just
force at one end. It takes force at two ends. And
it'll snap, won't it? It'll snap. The quickest way
to become isolated, the quickest way to create division among
brethren is to always object. Always object. If a person always
objects, people just won't say anything to them. They'll have
to make all the decisions themselves because people won't say nothing
to them because they always object. Always have a better idea, always
have to say no. You don't have to always object.
A snobbish attitude of my way being the right way, or the only
way, That's going to create division. That's going to create division.
Turn over to Philippians 2. And that's not grace. That's
not love. Look here at Philippians 2. Verse 3. Let nothing be done
through strife or vain glory. Strife or vain glory. But in
lowliness of mind, Let each esteem other better than themselves. Better than themselves. Look,
not every man on his own things, just being selfish, but every
man on the things of others. You know, there's some that do
a lot of work here, that do a lot of things to make sure that things
are getting done that need to be getting done. That shouldn't
be just on one or two or three people. That should be everybody
helping. Look on those things. Say, what
can I help you with? That's what he's talking about.
Look on the things of others. What can I help you with? Well,
I got too much on my plate. I can't... No, that's looking
on my own things and forgetting the things of others. He says,
look on the things of others and help them. Why? Why should
I do that? Let this mind be in you which
was also in Jesus Christ. Isn't that what Christ did for
us? Isn't that what Christ did for us? He looked on our things. He looked on the fact that we
couldn't fulfill righteousness. He looked on the fact we couldn't
sanctify ourselves. We couldn't present ourselves
to God and be accepted of God. And that's a thing that needed
to be looked into. Aren't you glad He looked on
our things and didn't say, well, I've got enough. I can't look
on your things. He looked on our things and He
came to where we are and He took the form of a servant. And He
didn't have to do that. He's God. That's what Paul goes
on to say there. He's God, but he didn't make
himself up of a reputation. He didn't say, I'm too good for
this. He lowered himself to the point of a servant and became
obedient unto God even to the death of the cross. Aren't you
thankful? Aren't you thankful? He looked
on our things and he served us. Now, these principles of unity,
I want you to know this about me. These principles of unity.
What's going to be best for the whole body? What's going to be
best for the whole group? These are things that I think
about. I don't want to do anything hastily. I don't want to say
anything hastily. I don't want to exhort or rebuke in this direction,
that direction, any direction hastily. That's not good. The Scripture said, remember
what we saw in James? Be swift to hear, slow to speak,
slow to anger. Learn to hear, listen. Learn
to hear. And learn to think on it. And learn to think about these
principles that keep unity. Before saying something. That's
what he's saying. Alright, now let's look here.
Then Paul deals with this problem by asking a few questions. Now
look back in our text. He says, verse 13, they were
talking about, I'm of Paul, I'm of Apollos, I'm of Cephas, so
I'm saying I'm of Christ. Paul says, is Christ divided?
Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Was
one of these preachers crucified for you? You worshiping preachers,
he said? Or were you baptized in the name
of Paul? Christ is not divided. Christ
is not divided. Christ's body is not divided.
Remember James said, if we have this divisive spirit like that.
He said, that's not of Christ. That's not of the Spirit of God.
That didn't come from above. That's fleshly. That's where
that came from. And that's what Paul said here.
You're saying you're divided, Paul said. Did Christ do that? Is that Christ working in you?
Is Christ divided? Does He create division? That's
what He's saying. Does Christ create division in
His people? No, He doesn't. Ever. Christ doesn't create division.
If there's division, you know who did it? We did it. Where did division start in the
garden? Man, we did it. Satan entered in and he said,
you could do this instead of that. And there was confusion. And when that happened, He beguiled
Eve from doing one thing, just trusting the Lord. And Adam sinned
and division entered. And it's been entering, going,
dividing ever since. If there's division, it's us.
It's of us. It's not of God. Christ does
not divide. Christ unites. Christ unites. He always unites. That's what
He does. He unites. Now, let me show you
this. Believers are won by Christ,
in Christ, in the truth of the Gospel. And here's how. Here's
how we're won. We've been looking at this and
you see now why we've been looking at this. Paul's going to deal
with this for three chapters about this division and the problems
it causes. Now look here. Number one, go
to John chapter 6. Why is every true believer united? Why is it that Christ does not
divide? How is it Christ always unites?
How is that? Number one, here's how. Every
true believer is one because we're taught of the same teacher. We're taught of the same teacher. John 6, 45. Christ is speaking
and He says, John 6, 45. He says, it's written in the
prophets. This is Isaiah. They shall be
all taught of God. There's our teacher. They shall
be all taught of God. And you know what the rest of
that says in Isaiah 54? And great shall be the peace
of my people. When we're taught of God, we
have peace. Not factions and fighting and division. Not between
us and God. Not between us and one another.
Christ unites us. We're all taught of God. Taught
of God. Every man therefore that hath
heard, he says, and hath learned of the Father, been taught by
my Father, cometh unto me. Look at John 8. Look at John
chapter 8. Remember the Pharisees? They
didn't believe. And they kept complaining and
arguing and all that. Look here at John 8 and look
at verse 47. These men here were saying, You
know, we're of another group, and we're not following you.
We're of Gamaliel, or whoever they were following. And look
here what Christ said to them. Verse 47. He that is of God,
now we saw what that just meant. He that's taught of God, he heareth
God's words. Is there any question there?
Is there any maybe he does? No. Christ said, he that's taught
of God, hears God's words. And what's the result? He follows
Him. He says, He hears my voice and
they follow me. But look here, ye therefore hear
them not, because you are not of God, He said. Isn't that just
as simple? You can't misunderstand that.
Christ told those fellows, there is only one reason you don't
hear the Word of God. God is not teaching you. God is not
teaching you. But those that are of God, they
hear God's words. They hear God's words. Those
among the Corinthians, and this was so because it's so in every
church. There were some there, I'm sure,
that were only taught of men. They heard Paul, they heard Apollos,
they heard Cephas, and they learned doctrine. And probably learned
true doctrine and knew it. But you know what? Do they differentiate
that man from the man that's taught of God? The man that's
not taught of God is going to have his way, come hell or high
water. And the man that's taught of God, God's going to make him
bow. God's going to make him bow.
God's going to make him submit. God's going to bring him down,
and he's going to say, he's going to be a broken-hearted man before
it's all over with. I've been there, Art. I've been
there. Puffed up, going to have my way, middle of a bunch of
contention, and God didn't let me go until he... Broke my heart. Broke it. Broke it. Broke it. That was the best thing that
ever happened to me. That was the best year of my
life. Best year of my life. Alright, number two. Every true
believer is one because we are taught the exact same gospel.
Now he just told us God is the one doing the teaching. Do you
think God is going to teach one believer one thing and another
believer another thing? With our earthly teachers, they
don't even do that. You take a teacher who's teaching
American history, and he's paid to teach American history. Is
he going to teach one class that the North won the Civil War and
teach the other class that the South won the Civil War? No. He's going to teach the truth.
He's going to teach what history reveals. Well, God's not going
to teach His one child one thing and another child another thing.
He's going to teach them all the same thing. Every one of
them. Listen to this, John 16. John 16. He says in John 16, verse 13,
When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, Christ said, When He,
the Spirit of truth, is come, and that's who He is. He's the
Spirit of truth. He will guide you into all truth. For he shall not speak of himself,
but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will
show you things to come. He shall glorify me." There's
where all truth is. Christ said, He shall glorify
me. For he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. That's
what he's going to do. John, speaking in 1 John 2.20,
he said, You have an unction from the Holy One. That's what
Christ said we'd have right here. When the Spirit of Truth has
come, you're going to have an unction from the Holy One. He's going
to guide you unto all the truth. And John said, here's the result.
You know all things. You know all things. Now, is
there some things about this book I don't know? There's a
lot about this book I don't know. A lot about it I don't know.
But I know all things. I know everything this book teaches.
Because this book has but one message. And the one message
of this book is, salvation is of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Son of God. That's the message of this book.
And if you taught Christ, you know all things. You know all
things. And he said this, I've not written
unto you because you know not the truth, but because you know
it. And no lie is of the truth. Now that's the word of John. He's taught and he's saying exactly
what Christ told him. What do we know? What do we believe?
We know and believe that we didn't put ourselves in Christ. We know
what we are. We know something of what we
are. We were lost sinners, destitute of any ability to save ourselves
whatsoever. D-E-A, dead. That's what we know. But God, before the foundation
of the world, put us in Christ Jesus by His grace, not based
on anything in us. We know that. Do you know that?
I know that. I'm not speculating about that.
I know that is true. And I'm not talking about knowing
the sovereignty of God. I'm talking about knowing the
God of sovereignty. He did that. We know this. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of whom I'm chief. Christ came into this world not
to try to save them. He came to save His people from
our sins and He saved His people from our sins. His name is Jesus,
Savior, for He shall save His people from our sins. He didn't come to save strangers.
He didn't come to save... He came to save His people, and
He shall. He did. That's what He did on
the cross. He obtained eternal redemption for us, and He made
us righteous and holy in Him. That's what He did. And we know
this, we didn't know this until the Spirit of God entered into
us and regenerated us and we were taught of God and given
faith to believe Christ, that spirit of faith and love like
we saw Sunday. And He called us into the fellowship
of Jesus Christ our Lord. We know this and now we know
this, we're being confirmed unto the end by Him because He's keeping
us. Do you know that about yourself?
If you're a true believer, hold on a little while. You're going
to find out because he'll teach you. He'll give you just enough room
to fall flat on your face or act a fool and you'll find out
if he don't keep you, you're gone. You're gone. He'll do that
to show you I'm the one holding you. You hold on to me, but you
don't do it knowing I'm the one holding on to you. That's true. You know, Brother Todd, I was
listening to Brother Todd, and he had this great point. I thought
it was the greatest point. He said this, Satan's objective
is to move us beyond one. Beyond one truth, beyond one
church, beyond one gospel, beyond one Christ. His objective is
to move us beyond one. What happens if you move beyond
one? Now you've got to make a choice. And you know what you've got
now? Confusion. You've got confusion. You know what heresy means? Choice. That's what heresy means, choice.
Choice. We don't have a choice. We don't
have a choice. He brings us, one God brings
us to one Savior, teaching us one truth, one gospel, and puts
us in one body, and saves us with one salvation. And we don't have any choice.
We have no choices to make. No choices to make. Look here,
Ephesians 4.4. Let's go there. Now, you hold
your place in Ephesians 4. I want to end there. But just
look here, Ephesians 4.4. Look at this. I don't know how
more clear this could be. There is one body. That's Christ's
body. That's why we say Christ is not
divided. There is one body and there is one Spirit. Even as
you are called in one hope of your calling, There's one Lord,
there's one of faith, there's one baptism, there's one God
and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you
all. But now here's the fear. Turn over to 2 Corinthians. Here's
Paul's fear. Here's why Paul wanted to nip
this division in the bud before it got any further. Here's why.
Here's why. 2 Corinthians 11.3. This is the
letter he writes to them after he's written the first letter,
and now he's telling them, this is why I wrote these things to
you. Here's my fear. Look here. 2
Corinthians 11.3. But I fear, lest by any means,
as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should
be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. You know what
that word simplicity means? Singleness. Oneness. How did Satan corrupt Eve? He
gave her a choice. That's it. He gave her a choice.
She had one thing to do. Obey God. Don't look anywhere
else. Just do what he said to do. That's
all she had to do. And he come in there and he said,
as God said, well now, here's what he really means. If you
eat that, this is what could happen. So I got a choice now
to not eat or to eat confusion confusion Paul said that's what
I'm afraid is gonna happen here. You'd be in turn from Christ
To all these different folks, to all these different denominations,
to all these different Gospels, to all this division. There's
just one. That's what he's saying. There's
just one. Just one. But Christ brings us to that
one. That one truth. And then the
second. First, we got one teacher. Secondly,
He teaches us one Gospel. And here's the third thing. This
oneness is going to continue in God's church when He brings
us into one because Christ is working it in His people. Christ
worked it at the cross. This is what He wrought at the
cross. He put away our division and brought us and made us one
with God, the Father. We saw that Sunday. And then
this is what He works in His people. He makes us partakers
of His nature, partakers of all He accomplished by His works.
He makes us united in Him, one with Him as He's one with the
Father. And He makes us partake of the fellowship with the Father.
That was the end of it all. He made us partake of His spirit
of love and faith so that we could believe and love one another.
There's one thing a believer can't do. One thing we can't
do. We can't stop believing Christ
and stop loving each other. And that's one thing. That's
one thing. It's all united. And look here
now. Listen. Oneness is what Christ
accomplishes in each of His people. Listen to Galatians 3.28. There
is neither Jew nor Greek. There's neither bond nor free.
There's neither male nor female. There's not Baptist, Pentecostal,
Methodist, and all these different things. There's not north, south,
east, and west. There's not pride of grace, place,
face, and all these things. You're all one in Christ Jesus. That's what He works in His people.
One in Christ Jesus. And this oneness is what Christ
interceded for. Remember John 17, 21? He prayed
in His high priestly prayer. And this is what He's interceding
at the right hand of the Father. That's how I know this is going
to be so. Christ don't fail. He's there praying now that they
all may be one. As thou, Father, art in me and
I in thee, that they also may be one in us. And I know this
is going to continue as well because look at Ephesians 1.10.
Remember this? Ephesians 1.10. This is the eternal
everlasting will of God. Look here. Ephesians 1 and look
in verse Look at verse 9, He made known unto us the mystery
of His will according to His good pleasure which He purposed
in Himself. And here's that will, that in the dispensation of the
fullness of times, that means when Christ is finished with
His stewardship and has accomplished everything for the Father, bringing
every last one of His people together into the fold, one fold. He's going to gather together
in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and
which are on earth, even in Him. Just in one. Not going to be
multiple gatherings, just in one, in Christ. That's how I
know that's going to be so. Because that's God's everlasting
eternal will. Look at the very next verse.
in whom also we've obtained an inheritance being predestinated
according to the purpose of Him who works all things after the
counsel of His own will." He can't be frustrated. He can't
be frustrated. Now, with that in mind, let's
turn to Ephesians 4 and this is where we're going to end. If you ever feel like you feel
that spirit of division creeping up in you, that fleshly, sinful,
divisive thoughts and nagging at you. Let me tell you something
to think about. Let me tell you something to
remember. You remember what it was like when you didn't have
the gospel here and you wanted the gospel here? You think about what God has
done to give us the unity He's given us in this place. Think
about what it cost Christ to give us this unity in our heart.
Remember, that's what Paul said. He said, whatsoever things are
good, think on those things. You start thinking those divisive,
evil, wicked, separate thoughts. Drop those things and think on
these good things. And here's what we want to endeavor.
Knowing this is all by God's grace. Look here. Ephesians 4.1,
I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that you walk
worthy of the vocation, worthy of the calling wherewith you
are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering."
We wouldn't have to suffer long with one another if there wasn't
a reason. We can all mess up. That's what he's saying. Remember
that, be long-suffering. And he says, "...forbearing one
another in love, Endeavoring. Now, you want to strive, that's
what the word means. If we want to strive for something,
he says, strive for this right here. Endeavor to keep the unity
of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Endeavor to keep the unity of
the Spirit in the bond of peace. Amen. Let's stand together, brethren. Father, we thank You. We thank
You for the grace You've shown us to bring us together, unite
us in Christ, teaching us, uniting us in Spirit, uniting us in the
fellowship of this one Gospel. Lord, we pray that You would
ever strengthen our inner man to think on these things and
to to look to You and trust You
and to forbear one another and be long-suffering with one another.
Fill us with this Spirit. And Lord, subdue our fleshly
nature, subdue our divisive nature. Make us to endeavor to keep unity
all the time. We thank You, Lord, As far as
we know, this is a united church of people that you brought together.
Make us endeavor now to not let it even begin to do as the Corinthian
church. We thank you for these Corinthians.
We thank you that you kept them. Thank you that you used them
to teach us. Thank you, Lord, that even when we sin and are
divided, you can take it and use it to teach your people for
thousands of years. What a God. What a God. Father, forgive us our sins.
We ask it in Christ's name. Amen.