I just love that verse that Ravi
just quoted. I love the picture of it. You
think if every stalk was a quill to write with, and every man
was a scribe, and the ocean was filled with ink, and the sky
was a scroll to write the love of God in Christ. The scroll
could not contain the whole, though stretched from sky to
sky. That's love. That is love. Man, that's a pretty
picture. All right, let's look now at
Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4 and verse
1, we begin. I therefore, the prisoner of
the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith
you are called, the calling wherewith you are called, with all lowliness
and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love,
endeavoring, diligently seeking to keep the unity, the unity
of the Spirit in the bond of peace. And then He gives us what
our foundation is, what our unity is, what our constraint is for
this endeavoring to keep this unity. I've titled this message,
One. There are seven ones He gives
us here. Seven is the number of perfection.
This is our perfect unity right here. Look at verse 4. There
is one body and one spirit. Even as you are called in one
hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God
and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you
all. The first thing we see here is
there is one body. There is one body. Believers
are members of Christ's body. Christ's body. The Lord Jesus
had a physical body just like you and I have a physical body.
He has a physical body, still does. But what we're speaking
about here is Christ's church, His body, His church. Look back
at Ephesians 1 and verse 22. When God raised Christ from the
dead, He put all things under His feet and gave Him to be the
head over all things to the church. which is His body, which is His
body. Now look at this, the fullness
of Him, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all. Christ's
people are the fullness of Him. If you have one member of your
body absent, your body is not full, it's not complete. And
so it is with Christ. He's attached the glory of His
name, the glory of His success and of His victory to His people
so that He shall save every single one of His people so that His
body is full, the fullness of Him. And if one member is missing,
his body is not full. So He shall save all His people.
And then again, look over in chapter 4. We're seeing here
that this body is Christ's church. We see that Christ gives His
ministers for this reason, Ephesians 4.12, for the perfecting of the
saints. for the work of the ministry,
for the edifying of the body of Christ, for His church. Look
down at verse 15. We speak the truth in love that
we may grow up into Him in all things which is the head, even
Christ, from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted
by that which every joint supplies according to the effectual working
in the measure of every part maketh increase of the body unto
the edifying of itself in love. That means Christ our Head put
us in the body, He fitly joined us together in the body, He effectually
works in each member of the body to provide what every other member
of the body needs. Just like your body is one and
every member works toward the good of your body. Well, Christ
is the Head and He is working in each member of His body that
which is good to edify His body. He's taking care of his body.
We saw a few weeks ago in 1 Corinthians 12, 27, now you are the body
of Christ and members in particular. Now, whether we're speaking about
the body of Christ as the general assembly in Church of the Firstborn,
the saints that are in heaven, the church universal over all
time, or whether we're talking about God's elect in a local
assembly, we make divisions and we separate things where Scripture
doesn't doesn't separate things. You know, you'll find one case
where Paul's talking about the whole body in heaven and earth
and then you'll find places where he's talking about a local assembly.
But whether you're talking about the whole body or the local assembly,
this is the fact. We're one body. We're just one
body. We're one body. Whether you're
called out from among the Jews or the Gentiles, rich or poor,
male or female, bond or free. See, we saw this morning how
we sinned in Adam and all these divisions came about. We went
astray. We just went out divided from
one another. And that's where we'd have stayed.
We'd have just kept going away from God and away from one another
till we ended up in hell. But God stopped us. He intervened. He stopped us in sovereign grace. And in Christ Jesus, He brings
all His people back into one. one body in Christ. Isn't that
wonderful? That's our motivation. That's
our constraint, brethren, to endeavor to keep this unity. Now here's a fact. I'm talking
to you about endeavoring to keep this unity. But this is so, brethren,
you can't sever this unity. You and me can't sever this unity.
You and I, we could get into arguing about something and you
go one way and I go the other way. But we still can't sever
this unity. This unity is not of us, it's
not kept by us, it won't continue by us. This unity is of God.
And knowing that, that constrains the believer to do everything
we can not to depart from one another, to keep this unity.
Alright, let's look secondly. It says, this unity is by the
three persons of the Godhead. That's who gives us this unity,
the three persons of the Godhead. Verse 4 says there's one Spirit.
Verse 5 says there's one Lord. And verse 6 says, There is one
God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and
in you all. This is speaking of believers,
brethren. This is speaking of those who truly believe God,
by His grace. Not one of God's children were
born with this unity. Not any of ourselves. Like I
said, we came forth dead in sins, and so we did what dead sinners
do. We went astray as soon as we
were born, speaking lies. We went astray. All we like sheep
have gone astray. We wandered out. We took off.
All of us thinking in our haughtiness that, boy, we know God and we've
got claims on God and we're earning our way to heaven with God. And
God stopped us. He stopped us and He taught us.
And who made the difference? Who made the difference? God
the Holy Spirit. That's how in our experience
of it, that's who first makes us to differ. It's God the Holy
Spirit. God the Holy Spirit. And there's
just one. There's one Holy Spirit. Look back at Ephesians 2. Ephesians
2 verse 1. You hath he quickened who were
dead in trespasses and in sins. That's us, Fred. We were by nature
dead in trespasses and sins. Wherein in time past you walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the
children of disobedience. Among whom also we all had our
conversation, our conduct, our manner of life in times past
in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
of the mind, and we were by nature the children of wrath, even as
others." We hated God. In our nature, we hated God.
Now, we were fulfilling the lusts of our flesh. In whatever religious
deed we did, whatever thing we did that we called good, all
it was was the lust of our flesh. It was to have the glory that
belongs to God. That's what it was. Who saved
us? Verse 4. But God, who's rich
in His mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when
we were dead in sins, has quickened us together with Christ, by grace
are you saved. And God the Holy Spirit is the
one by whom each member of Christ's body are born again and called
into the unity of Christ's body. John chapter 3, Nicodemus came. Look at that. John 3, Nicodemus
came. You know the story. He came and
Nicodemus was a master in Israel. Men had made him a teacher in
Israel, a preacher in Israel. But he was dead as a doorknob. That man was dead in trespassing
sins. He didn't know God from a gourd.
And he comes to Christ speaking these great swelling words and
saying, we know you're a man come from God. He was saying,
we know you're just like all of us. men who are masters in
Israel, you're a man of God." That's what he was saying. And
he didn't know who Christ was God. And Christ said to him,
verse 3, Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say
unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom
of God. He's telling him, you can't see
me, you don't know who I am, unless you're born of God. I
think Christ would know if he was born again, wouldn't you?
He knew who he was talking to. Nicodemus said unto him, how
can a man be born when he's old? He don't have a clue what Christ
is talking about. How can a man be born when he's old? Can he
enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? I
wonder if he laughed when he said that. Being a smart aleck. And it's a wonder, it's just
but for God's grace. For God's love in Christ. The
only reason he didn't snatch his little smart aleck butt up
and throw him in hell right then is because he loved him in Christ
from eternity. That's the only reason. Now look
here, verse 5, Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, of the Holy
Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which
is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit
is Spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee,
You must be born again. So, so much for this talk of
free will in man's wisdom and man's work. That's so much for
that. You're dead. You and I are dead.
God's the first cause of everything. We have no will for divine things. We have no spiritual understanding
of divine things. We don't want God to have the
glory in divine things. He must come and through the
Holy Spirit give us life and faith and repentance. And when
He does, brethren, He makes us willing. He makes us willing
in the day of His power. Somebody said, he makes us willing
against our will. That's right. All grace and every
gift a believer has is given to us freely by this one Holy
Spirit of God. It's by the Holy Spirit that
we're taught the gospel which can only be known by spiritual
discernment. Paul said in Corinthians, we
have received not the spirit of the world. There is a spirit
of the world and you can discern it if you have spiritual discernment.
There is a spirit of the world, but we have received the spirit
which is of God that we might know the things that are freely
given to us of God. Is God successful? Is He? Can He teach His people? Can
He teach them the truth? Can He shut them up in their
sin and make them cry out for mercy to God? Can He bring them
to bow and confess Christ is all righteousness and our only
righteousness, our only salvation? Sure He can. Sure He can. We
believe because God gave us the gift of faith through the Holy
Spirit. Look back at Ephesians 2.8. He says, By grace are you
saved through faith. This is how all men are saved.
By grace are you saved through faith. And that not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
For we are His workmanship. Beginning and end. We are His
workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God
had before ordained that we should walk in them. Which God had before
ordained that we should walk in them. What are these good
works? You know what the first one is? Faith. What does Scripture
say? We walk by faith, not by sight. He's ordained that everyone that
He chose and everyone Christ redeemed, they shall walk by
faith. And we'll do so because He creates
us and we're His workmanship and He gives us faith. And He
gives us repentance and He gives us all the gift of the Holy Spirit. And by this one Holy Spirit we
behold Christ and we truly begin to pray. He said, I'll pour out
the spirit of supplication, the spirit of grace, and they'll
look upon me whom they've pierced and they'll mourn for me as one
mourns for his only begotten son. Because we don't know how
to pray as we ought. We sure don't. We prayed a lot
before God saved us, but we never once... We said prayers, but
we never once prayed. because we don't know how to
pray by nature. When the Holy Spirit enters in and the spirit
of grace and supplication enters in and He makes us to behold
Christ, that's when we pray for the first time. That's what happened
to Paul. Paul was knocked down and the Lord went to Ananias
and said, go preach to this man. And he said, I've heard of this
man. He's bounding up people and killing people and he's against
Christ and against His people. And the Lord said, The only proof
he needed to give him that this man was a saved man was this.
Behold, he prayeth. He prayeth. He's been born again.
Been born again. And all who are born of the Holy
Spirit, they're no longer in the flesh. Look at Romans 8.
I showed you this morning that a man in the flesh can't please
God. He just can't because all he is is sin and all he does
is sin. But the man that's born of God is not in the flesh anymore.
Look here, Romans 8, 7. It says here, The carnal mind
is enmity against God. It's not subject to verse 7.
It's enmity against God. It's not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can be. So then, they that are in the
flesh cannot please God. You just cannot please God. The
flesh is flesh, Christ said. But you are not in the flesh,
but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.
You're in the Spirit. If the Spirit of God dwells in
you, And if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he's none
of His. And if Christ be in you, the body's dead because of sin.
And the body will die because of sin. But the Spirit is life
because of righteousness. That new man in us is alive because
of righteousness. And if the Spirit of Him that
raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised
up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies
by His Spirit that dwelleth in you. He gonna raise us from the
dead. Therefore, brethren, we're debtors not to the flesh. The
flesh hadn't done anything for us. We're not debtors to our
flesh, to our old nature, to our old man. We're debtors to
live after the flesh. For if you live after the flesh,
you shall die. But if you, through the Spirit,
do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live. What are these
deeds of the body we have to mortify? The body wants you to
look somewhere else other than Christ. That's got to be mortified. The flesh wants you to add to
Christ's work by your work. The flesh wants you to say there's
something else that's got to be done. Surely something else
has got to be done. When you have those thoughts,
believer, that's not the Holy Spirit. That's not the inner
man. That's the flesh. That's the flesh. That man's
got to be treated like what he is, dead. That's what mortified
means, dead. He's dead. Treat him like he's
dead. Treat Him like He's dead. For as many as are led by the
Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. That means we're joint
heirs with Christ. And then listen to this too,
brethren. Look back at Ephesians 2. God never takes the Spirit
from us. He never takes the Holy Spirit
from one that's been born of God. He doesn't go back on His
promise. He doesn't go back and there's
no repentance with God when He's given these gifts of grace. Look
at Ephesians 2.13. Ephesians 2.13. He says there,
In Christ you also trusted, after that you heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation, in whom also, after that you
believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.
Preserved by the Holy Spirit of promise. And that Holy Spirit
of promise is the earnest of our inheritance unto the redemption
of the purchased possession unto the praise of His glory. You
see, brethren, to be born of God and to delight in Christ,
that's the earnest. That's the down payment. That's
the foretaste. That's the guarantee, brethren,
that we're going to be brought into glory with Christ. What
brother Ravi just said, he brought us out of Egypt to bring us in.
He brought us out to bring us in. Ah, now that makes us united. The Holy Spirit makes us united
and the Holy Spirit makes us strive and endeavor to keep the
unity of the Spirit. Have you ever gotten mad at a
believer? We're being honest this morning. You know a believer
does something. A fellow believer does something.
And you get upset with them. And you think, why in the world
do they do that? And you go storm off and you're
thinking your thoughts and you're thinking how you're righteous
and they're ignorant and dumb and not doing how they ought
to do. And before long, A total radical change of heart
and mind comes upon you. And you begin to think, why am
I saying these things? Why am I thinking these things
against my brother? Christ died for him. There's
no sin that can be brought up against him. Who's going to lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It's Christ that died.
God that justified. It's Christ that died. Christ
is living right now and in presence, in present God, He makes intercession
for us. What caused you to have that
change of heart? What caused you to have that
repentance and faith again? The Holy Spirit. You see, He
keeps us endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit and the
bond of peace. We're not doing this on our own. No, no. If we were left to ourselves,
we'd split and we'd never come back again. Alright, now look.
This union also, back in our text, Ephesians 4 verse 5. Ephesians
4, 5, this union also is by one Lord. By one Lord. It's speaking here of the God-man,
Christ Jesus, the only begotten Son of God. By one Lord. He's called our one Lord because
to every believer there is but one Lord Jesus Christ. And He's Lord. He's our Master.
He is our Master. He has dominion over us, dominion
in our hearts. This is what Scripture says.
There's one Lord Jesus by whom are all things and we by Him. Everything that a believer has,
everything a believer is, everything a believer shall be is of Christ
and by Christ. Everything, brethren. We're under
the dominion of our blessed Lord Jesus. When He comes in the in
the season of His love, and He comes in the day of His grace,
and He comes in power. He speaks to you and He says,
take my yoke upon you and learn of Me. And when He says that,
brethren, that's when we'll take His yoke upon us. He said, My
word won't return to Me, Void. When He speaks, you're going
to do it. When He speaks, you're going
to listen. When He speaks, you're going to obey. When He speaks,
why? He's Lord. That's why. He's Lord. That means
He always has His way. No man can resist Him. No man
can frustrate Him. He always has His way. And that means, brethren, because
every believer in this body is born of His Spirit and taught
by Christ and is made effectually to take Christ's yoke upon us
and to learn of Christ and to walk after Christ That means
we have one will. Our one will is to please and
honor and glorify our Lord Jesus Christ. I can't give you that
unity and no other man can give you that unity and that will.
Only He can do that and this is the unity of believers. This
is our one foundation. The church's one foundation is
Jesus Christ our Lord. He does this. The same foundation
on which the apostles and the prophets were founded. Jesus
Christ our righteousness, brethren. We're built upon Him. And there's
no other foundation that a man can lay than that which is laid.
And that foundation is the Lord Jesus Christ. He came down and
made Himself one with us to make us one with Him. He had to. The Scripture says, Hebrews 2.11
says, Both He that sanctifyeth, that's Christ, and they who are
sanctified, that's His people, are all of one. They're all of
one. And for this cause, He's not
ashamed to call them brethren. He did the sanctifying. He made
us one. He said in John 17, I sanctify
myself that they may be sanctified in me. And He said this in John
17. Oh, this is good. Look at this.
John 17, 21. This is one of my favorite passages of Scripture
right here. John 17, verse 21. This is the Lord's Prayer. This
is truly the Lord's Prayer right here. Now, right here, he's making
intercession. He's praying the Father. And
this is what he says. John 17 and in verse 20. First, he had said, I don't pray
for the world, I pray for these you've given me out of the world.
And then in verse 20, he says, neither I pray for these alone,
but for them also which shall believe on me through their word.
And this is his prayer. This is the will of Christ. Verse
21, that they all may be one. How 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 has loved them, as thou hast loved me. That's oneness, brethren. How
one is God the Father and God the Son? There's no division. There will never be any division. That's how one we are with our
one Lord. Because this is what He's accomplished,
brethren. He came to where we are. And
what He did with His own blood is He undid what Adam did. and
he gave us so much more than we ever would have had, that
we had or would have had in Adam. He came and totally fulfilled
the law. We saw this morning Adam had
one law, one law. Christ didn't come, there wasn't
one law, there was not one precept, there was hundreds of precepts. And Adam was in a perfect environment. Christ came into a cursed world.
And Adam, Adam He did what He did. When He saw His bride in
sin, Adam plunged himself into sin. And when Christ saw His
bride in sin, Christ plunged Himself into that curse for us. He made a curse for us that He
might redeem us from that curse. And He brought us out. He purchased
us with His own blood. And He brought us out. He put
away our sin. He fulfilled every precept of
the law for us. No point in time ever again or
in eternity can a charge be laid against one for whom Christ died. They are perfect in Christ Jesus
by what He has accomplished. There is no way a sinner can
establish the law by our doing. There is no way we can establish
the law by our doing. We establish the law one way,
through faith in Christ. He established it. We establish
it by believing on Him. Because He said, do not imagine,
don't even let it enter your mind that I came to destroy the
Law and the Prophets. He said, I did not come to destroy
it, I came to fulfill. to fill it full, to fill it so
full that can't another drop be put in it. I've showed you
that illustration. That cup's not full. You fill that cup up
to the point where the very next drop in it and water starts pouring
over the side, that's full. And that's how fulfilled Christ
fulfilled the law. And He did it for a particular
people. And it's by Him making intercession
for us by what He did. and by His presence with the
Father, that we're made one. One with God. See, God's righteous.
God's righteous. And God's holy. And it must be
holy to be accepted of God. So having put away all our sin,
when Christ enters in, He makes us holy within. Holy and righteous. Created in true holiness and
true righteousness. So that we're one with God. One with God. Man. And look here,
and He brought us and put us in this body through the gospel
for this reason. Look at verse 13. To preach this
gospel, to declare this gospel for this reason. Verse 13. Till
we all come. Till we all come. Who's this
we all we're talking about? Remember this morning? All in
relation to Christ. We're speaking of all whom Christ
represented. Till we all come in the unity
of the faith. and of the knowledge of the Son
of God. That means until we are all saved. Until we are all called
out of darkness into His light. Unto a perfect man. Who is this
perfect? Unto the measure of the stature
of the fullness of Christ. Until every single last elect
child of God is called out into this body which is the fullness
of Him that filleth all in all. As long as there is one left,
this gospel is going to be preached. Until we all come. brought by
Him, because He is not going to lose one. His body is going
to be fully complete. Till we all come in the unity of the
faith, this gospel is going to be declared. Now this is what
that tells us. Not only do we have union with God in Christ,
we have union with one another in Christ, and here is our one
mission in this world. Our one mission is to declare
what Christ has done for His people. Why? Because He is going
to call them out by this gospel. And He's not going to stop calling
until He is called everlast one. Do you want to go home and be
with God in glory? Do you want to go and be with the Father
in glory? I do. I do. I want to go and be with
Christ in glory. Then tell the gospel to everybody
you can get to listen. That's right. Don't look at them
and say they'll never hear the gospel. They're too steeped in
religion. Apostle Paul was. Saul of Tarsus
was. That's right. God saved him.
Don't ever look at them and say, well, they're so far gone in
sin, and murder, and evil, and adultery, and fornication. A thief on the cross was. Tell them the truth. Tell them
the truth. You can't make them believe it.
Now, you're going to be ready to bear what you're going to
receive, because if He don't work a grace in your heart, they're
going to treat you just like they treated Christ. Save stringing
you up on the cross. And they'd do that if they could.
Tell them anyway. We got to suffer with Him. Tell
them anyway. If we're not willing to suffer
for Christ's sake, we're not going to be saved by Him, hadn't
we? But He's made us willing. Tell
people about Christ, brethren, because it just might be. Just
think of this. That might be the last one. And
cry, you speak that word and Christ's coming. Create a new. And we've all come in the unity
of the faith. This thing is going to be folded up like you fold
up a piece of clothing when you are done with it at the end of
the day. He said in Hebrews, this thing is going to be folded
up like a vesture. He is going to fold it all up,
brethren. And a new heaven and a new earth is coming. But not
until... Why? God is not willing that
any perish. And the long suffering of God
is salvation. That means that those that God
is not willing to perish, they are going to be saved. That's
not God will have all men to be saved. That means all sorts
of men. There are going to be all kinds
of men. Don't ever look at one and say, well, he's a king, surely
he's going to be saved. No, he's going to have some kings.
There are not many mighty, not many noble, but he's going to
have some. And he's going to have some poor, nothing, nobodies
too. He's going to have all men to
be saved, all sorts of men. And he is not willing that any
shall perish. He's not sitting there going,
I wish they'd all be saved. If He was doing that, it would
be dependent upon your will. And it's not. It's dependent
upon His will. And because He's not willing
that any should perish, it's saying to us in 2 Peter 3, that's
why He hasn't destroyed this world yet. They're going to be
called out. They're going to be called out.
Alright, now look here. Also we have this union, Ephesians
4, 6, because we have one God and Father. Verse 6 says, One
God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and
in you all. He is our one God and our one
Father. This is why we are one family.
This is why we are brothers and sisters in Christ. This is why
we have the same family ties, the same family interests, because
we are of the same family origin. We are of the same paternity,
the same Father. That's right. The pedifamilias.
That's who He is. God our Father. And our Father's
sovereign. He's sovereign. Look at verse
6. Who is above all? Who is above all? You ever looked
at night into the starry sky? Turn over to Isaiah 40. You ever
looked up at night into the sky and you see the stars in the
sky and there's just It's like you can just see past stars and
it just keeps going and it just keeps going and it's just so
big and so fast and so huge. Look at Isaiah 40 verse 12. Who
hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted
out heaven with a span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure,
and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord? Who, being His counselor,
has taught Him? With whom took He counsel? And
who instructed Him and taught Him in the path of judgment,
and taught Him knowledge, and showed to Him the way of understanding?
Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket." You know, when
you've poured out all the water out of a bucket and there's just
a few little drops left in there. That's what all the nations are
to God. Look here, in the small dust of the balance, when you've
measured out something in a balance and you pour it out and there's
dust left in the bottom of it, that's where we are, dust in
the balance. Behold, He taketh up the isles as a very little
thing, all the islands of the world everywhere, And Lebanon's
not sufficient to burn, nor the beast thereof sufficient for
a burnt offering. All nations before Him are as nothing, and
they're counted to Him less than nothing in vanity. To whom then
will you liken God? To whom then will you liken God?
What likeness will you compare with Him? Old men try it. Look
here. The workman melts a graven image, and the goldsmith spreads
it over with gold, and he casts silver chains on it. And he that
is so impoverished that he hath no oblation, he chooses him a
tree that will not rot. He seeks unto him a cunning workman
to prepare a graven image that shall not be moved. Have you
not known? Have you not known? Have you
not heard? Hath it not been told you from
the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the
inhabitants thereof are his grasshoppers. that stretched out the heavens
as a curtain and spread them out as a tent to dwell in. All
that vast starry sky you see, He just spread it out like spreading
out a curtain, like opening up a tent that bringeth princes
to nothing and makes judges of the earth as vanity. Look at
Isaiah 55. Our God is absolutely sovereign
over all. He's above all, brethren. Puny
little sinners walking around, talking like they can stop God
from doing something. Get real. Be honest. Come on
now. Look at this. Can he not do with
his own what he will? This is what he says, verse 7.
Let the wicked forsake his way. Forsake those vain thoughts.
And the unrighteous man his thoughts. Your thoughts are just dumb.
That's right. That's what they are. Look here.
Let him return unto the Lord, and He'll have mercy on him.
And to our God, for He will abundantly pardon For my thoughts are not
your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth. You look out
there and you see those heavens and you just imagine how high
they are. And there's universe beyond what
you can see. Think how high the heavens are.
Well, look what he said. As the heavens are higher than
the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts
than your thoughts. You see that? God chose a people
in Christ because He would, because He was willing to do so. When
Satan entered that garden, Satan wouldn't enter in that garden
on his own. When he rebelled in heaven and God cast him out
of heaven, that was all according to the eternal purpose of this
all-wise, never failing, never erring, sovereign God of glory.
Whenever Satan entered that garden to tempt Eve, that wasn't by
accident. He said to Job, he said to Satan
when he came with Job's children, when they came to worship, he
said, have you considered my servant Job? I'll take the hedge
off of him. Now you can have at him. God did that. If God's not above
Satan, then Satan's above God. And God's above him. Nothing
in this world comes by accident. The fall came to pass according
to God's purpose. It was man that sinned, man to
blame, man that brought sin in. We saw that. But everything that
happened was according to God's eternal purpose. So that He might
glorify His Son in the salvation of His people. That was the grand
purpose from the beginning. He's above all, brethren. He's
willed to save these people He chose, and there's not one that's
going to stop Him. This God who made this world,
this God who made the stars and the moon and everything, spoke
it into existence. Does little, puny, arrogant,
God-hating man think he's going to stop God from doing what He
will? Oh brethren, I feel so sorry
for those who sit in churches where men won't preach that God
is absolutely sovereign. I feel sorry for them. What basis
do they have for any comfort whatsoever? If I felt like everything
was just happening by chance and everything was just bumping
and going about as it would, I'd just despair. I'd just utterly
despair of everything. But to know that there's not
even a sparrow that falls to the ground without God's consent,
to know that the very hairs of your head are numbered by God,
Oh, what comfort that gives. Oh, I would that men would stop
yoking people with rules and regulations and creeds and making,
making, making men do things. I'll tell you what'll make a
man do something. Stand up and preach this God who does as He
will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth and none can stay His hand, none can stop Him and nobody
can question what He's doing. You preach that God. And through
that message, that God will work His will in the hearts of His
people. I guarantee it. But you go on with this charade
of trying to make men do what you want them to do and jump
through the religious hoops you'd have them jump to. That's another
body. That's another gospel. That's
another Christ. That's another God. That's a
tree stump. That's what that is. That's a
tree stump men are bound down to. That they carved out right
here in that polluted, depraved, ignorant mind. and lest God have
mercy. That's us, brethren. That was
us. And look here at Ephesians 4,
I'm sorry, verse 6. It says, and he's through all.
The word here means taking care of all. That's what it means.
Through all. He's taking care of all. Taking
care of all. Romans 8.28. I want you to see
this. Romans 8.28. And I'll be done. Romans 8.28. We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to His purpose. Let me tell you what that does
not say. That does not say, well, all things work together for
good. That does not say that. Well, God's got a plan and everything.
That don't say that. Read it again and read what it
says. Brethren, we know that all things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to His purpose. His purpose. It's on purpose.
For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among
many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate,
them He also called. In whom He called, them He also
justified. In whom He justified, them He
also glorified. That means God does it all. That's what that means. From
beginning to end. What shall we say to these things?
If God be for us, who can be against us? If God be for us,
who can be against us? He that spared not His own Son,
but delivered Him up for us all. All that Christ represented.
Shall He not with Him freely give us all things? That's right,
this is the God we worship. And then look at our text, it
says, and He's in you all. He's in you all. In Ephesians
2 it said, In whom ye also are built together for habitation
of God through the Spirit. God lives in His people. He lives
in His people and when His body is together, Christ walks among
the candlesticks. He walks among the churches,
His people. Christ does. He's in His people.
So if you ever differ in opinion, if you ever differ with somebody
on opinion or something like this, remember this, brethren.
This union that we have here, it's not a union of denomination. That's not what makes this union.
It's not a union of consent to a man-made creed. It's not even
the bond of a visible church. That's not what This church right
here, the Lord could remove the candlestick and it would be dissolved.
It's not going to take away from the unity of God's elect. Not
at all. Never alter it one bit. This
is a spiritual union made by the triune God. And with every
earthly tie that we see, every one of them is going to be broken.
Eventually, every person in this room is going back to the dust
from whence we came because we died in Adam. And every tie that
we have, fleshly speaking, in the earth is going to be severed.
Every one of them eventually. This union shall never, ever
be divided. It'll never be severed. What
God has joined together, no man will ever put us under. Never. Now lastly, these other things
I'm just going to state to you briefly. This is what joins us. He says in verse 4, you're called
in one hope of your calling. We got one hope. Just one hope.
And we got one faith and one baptism. And I want to just make
this point about all of them. Our one hope is Christ. Our one
object of our faith is Christ. And what we're picturing in water
baptism is our death, burial, and resurrection with Christ.
All of this is for the honor and glory of Christ. We got one
hope. I want you to get this now. If
our hope was in our works, Think about this. If your hope was
in your works, and your hope was in your works, and your hope
was in your works, we would all have different hopes. All different
hopes based on our varying works. Or if all our hope was in our
righteousnesses, they'd all be different. They'd all be varying.
So our hopes would be varying. Or if our hopes were based on
reward in heaven. Then we'd all be different in
heaven. We'd all have a different hope. We'd all be looking for
something different in heaven. And if you talk to mainstream
religion, they're all looking for something different. Everyone's
looking for something different. We got one hope. One hope. Christ our life and everlasting
life with Him. And we're going to all have it.
We're going to all have it, brethren. Now let me say there's one faith
as well. Now somebody might say, what
about all the other faiths in the world? There are no other
faiths. There's one faith. There's one
faith. I wish we could get that. There's
one faith. One faith. There's no other faith
but this one faith which is the gift of God and rests in Christ
Jesus, our righteousness, who redeemed His particular people
from our sin. False religions are of fallen
sinners. False religions are of fallen
sinners. And there's a bunch of them.
Cain's the father of false religion. Well, Adam really. He started
it in the garden. But Cain is the one who came
with another offering. He came with the will and work
of his own hand. They all have one thing in common.
You think every religion, I don't care what it is, they all are
unified. They're all unified. They're
all divided, but they're all unified in this one common cause.
They all declare salvation to be by the sinner in some regard. In some regard. I don't care
if you're worshiping a cow. I don't care if you're worshiping
a donkey. I don't care what you're worshiping. A little golden statue
with a pot bed. It looks like he's had too much
sake. I don't care what you're worshiping. They all are preaching
salvation by the will and work of man. This is the only gospel,
the only faith that declares salvation beginning to end is
by the author and finisher of our faith, Christ Jesus. The
only one. The only one. And there's one
baptism. The Greek word for baptism is
baptism. It's not translated. It's baptism. And the word means immersion.
Let me say it. This is what Gil said on this.
I thought this was so good. It's administered one way. Immersion
in water. It symbolizes death, burial and
resurrection. You don't sprinkle dirt on a
dead man. You bury him and get him out
of sight. They didn't sprinkle dirt on our Lord's body. They
put him in a tomb, out of sight, buried. Why? Because that body
dies. and all the sins of the old man
died in that body. That's what we're picturing.
When we go in that watery grave completely under, we're saying
we went completely dead in Christ, our old man. And when we come
out of that water, we're picturing Christ who came out of that grave
on the third day and ascended to the Father and we in Him have
sat down where we remain and where our life is hid right now.
That's what we're picturing. There's one way, there's one
subject. It's believers in Christ. Those
been called and believe Christ. One subject. And they're baptized
in one name. The name of the Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit. That's one name. And if it's
administered this one way, on this one subject, in this one
name, then it's to be done one time. People will say, well,
should I be rebaptized? If you didn't believe Christ
the first time, you ain't been baptized. That's right. You can't be rebaptized.
It's an impossibility. Baptism is for a believer, and
it's in one name, it's in one way, and it's to be done one
time. It can't be done again. And it
doesn't save, brethren. Baptism doesn't save. Now, I
think we're afraid to talk about baptism in our day because we
know about Campbellites, Church of Christ, they'd say that you're
saved, you're regenerated by baptism. Water baptism. That's not so. But brethren,
baptism is utterly important. Let me tell you something. Whenever
in the early days in the church, the Gentiles that were out in
all the heathen religions and all the different religions,
they didn't care if you worshipped Christ. They didn't care if you
went to a church with a bunch of Christians and sat down and
heard the gospel preached. They didn't care. They worshipped
a bunch of different gods. That was good for them. You worshipped
that god and worshipped this god and that god. That's fine.
Worship as many gods as you want to. But the moment a believer
was baptized, you know what he confessed? Your religion is flat
wrong. Your religion is dumb and it's
nothing. I renounce it. I don't want anything
else to do with it. This is the one faith right here.
And when they did that, that's when the fussing and the fighting
started. That's how important baptism
is. That's what we're confessing by baptism. We renounce every
other religion but Christ. That's right. So brethren, this
is it. I'm done now. The remainder of
this epistle... Oh, I do want to show you this,
verse 7. This is important to remember now. But unto every
one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of
Christ. This is, I think, the main point here. We're not all
at the same place in spiritual life. You know, look around us
in the natural realm. There's a baby just born, just
now. And then there's one that was
born yesterday and one born the day before that. And then there's
some that are walking, just started walking, just got out of diapers. And then there's some that just
started talking. And then there's some that just started driving
a car. And then there's some that... You see what I'm saying?
They're all around us. Everybody's at a different stage
in life. That's the case with the believers, with this body.
Everyone's at different stages in spiritual life. Now, don't
misunderstand me. I'm not saying you're getting
progressively more holy. We're all holy. You either are
holy or you are not holy. If you'll read scripture, there's
no middle ground on holiness. You're either holy or you're
not holy. So, when He takes us out of the realm of flesh and
puts us in the realm of spirit and He sanctified us, we became
holy. Now, in that state of holiness, we're growing in grace according
to the gift of the measure of Christ to us. But when you're
born, you don't become more of a man when you grow. You're a
man. You're going to be a human the rest of your life. It's not
going to change. But when you're made holy, you're
going to be holy from here on out. If you died the instant
you were born, you're holy. You got the holiness without
which no man shall see the Lord. But you're going to grow in that
state of holiness in grace. So we're all in different states.
But here's what we saw the other day. There are diversities of
gifts, but it's the same spirit. And there's differences of administrations,
but it's the same Lord. And there's diversities of operations,
but it's the same God which worketh all in all. And here's why we
have the Spirit. To profit with. To profit with. So, if you're a babe, or a little
more mature, or a little more mature, just start any kind of
haughtiness by knowing we all see through a glass dark. We're
all babies. In our greatest state, we're babies. But now remember,
that one that doesn't understand how free they are from the law,
that doesn't mean they're not saved. They may say something
stupid. They may think they're still under the law in some regard
and they don't understand it. That don't mean they're not saved.
So be patient with them and wait on the Lord to teach them. Keep
telling them the truth and wait on the Lord to teach them. Or
that one who thinks he knows so much now that he's about to
bust out his britches and nobody can tell him anything. The Lord
is able to bring him back down to reality. Just trust the Lord.
You just keep telling the truth. So that we're not taking things
into our own hands and trying to make one grow by our power
and one come down by our power. We're speaking the truth in love
that we might grow up into Him in all things from whom all this
growth comes. It's according to the gift of
the measure of Him. Now, you go home, and I can't do this,
but you go home and you read the rest of Ephesians. Before
this gets taken away by this world, take these things and
go home and read the rest of Ephesians. The rest of Ephesians
is God the Holy Spirit's application to us of what we've heard here
today. Let me show you just a little
bit of it. Ephesians 4.17. He says, This I say therefore,
having shown us all this. He said, This I say therefore,
in testifying the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other
Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding
darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance
that is in them because of the blindness of their heart, who
being past feeling have given themselves over to lasciviousness
to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not
so learned Christ. You have not so learned. If so
be you have heard Him and have been taught by Him as the truth
is in Jesus, that you put off concerning the former conversation
of the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust,
and you be renewed in the spirit of your mind. And you put on
the new man which after God is created in righteousness and
holiness. Wherefore, you put away lying, you speak the truth
to your neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be not
angry, sin not, let not the sun go down upon your wrath, neither
give place to the devil. Whenever you get upset with your
brother, End it fast. Just end it. It's not worth it.
Whatever it is, it's not worth it. It's just not worth it. And
he says, let him that stole steal no more, particularly the glory
of God. Don't try to steal God's glory
no more. Give him the glory. And then physical things too.
But let him labor working with his hands the thing which is
good that he may have to give to him that needeth. You see,
our motive now is to provide for one another in the body.
You see, why am I working now? Now, I got a whole new motive
for going out and going to work every day. What now? I'm doing
it to provide for Christ's body. Let no corrupt communications
proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use
of edifying. And he said, that it may minister
grace unto the hearers. It's the only thing that does,
that's the gospel. He said, speak the gospel. Speak the truth to
people. And he says, and grieve not the Spirit of God, whereby
you're sealed unto the day of redemption. Whenever we Whenever
we walk contrary to what we're being taught here, that's grieving
the Holy Spirit of God. That's grieving the Holy Spirit
of God. Bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking, that's
all grieving the Holy Spirit. He says, put that away from you.
Put it away from you. And be you kind one to another.
tender hearted, forgiving one another even as God for Christ's
sake has forgiven you. Be therefore followers of God
as dear children and walk in love as Christ has loved us and
given himself for us and offering a sacrifice to God for our sweet
smell and savor. You read the rest, but everything
there he says from here on out is based on this unity we have
in the seven ones. Amen.