Seeking once again the Lord's
help to give me the words to speak to you this evening, I'd
like you to turn with me to the chapter that we read together,
Ephesians chapter 4, and the text you'll find in verse 3.
Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of
peace. Reading from verse 1, I therefore,
the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the
vocation wherewith you are called, with all loneliness and meekness,
with long-suffering, forbearing one another, in love, endeavouring
to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. As we looked
at on the past Lord's Day, the unity that was felt by the very
early church and then how quickly things seemed to deteriorate
as false teaching crept in and as unbelievers also came into
the church to sow discourse amongst the brethren. And we saw that
there was that need for the apostle to write to the different churches
to set them in order, to set them straight on the things of
God and to explain to them in more detail the great blessing
that has taken place through the finished work of the Lord
Jesus Christ and the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit and their
relationship one to another by the Spirit in Christ Jesus And so there was that need. It
wasn't just that these people had been saved and they were
then going on in their lives, but some supernatural incident
had taken place in their lives. They had been born again of the
Holy Spirit. They had had a heart change.
therefore as they had been born again they had been chosen in
Christ as we have been singing before the foundation of the
world and that there was a relationship between themselves, God, the
Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit and each other. And so
the apostle who is in prison at this moment in time writes
to the the Ephesians to to remind them or to teach them of that
great theological truths that had happened as they were born
again. And they are told to walk worthy
of their vocation wherewith they are called. And so he's writing
to believers. Somebody who is not a believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ can never walk worthy of the their
calling because they have never been called, they have never
taken up their cross and followed the Lord Jesus Christ and therefore
he is writing specifically to those believers. those people
who may have been drawn aside by the false teachings, those
people who had maybe been drawn aside by the temptations of Satan,
and he is writing to them to tell them, to remind them, walk
worthy of your calling. Remember that you have been called
through the gospel. you have been called from darkness
to light, that you have been called from unbelief to belief,
from no faith to faith, from not following to following and
so he is reminding them that those who have been called there
is a certain way in which they are to walk. It's not a style of walking, not walking as just walking but a way of
living. The Christian way is described
as a walk. We are people of the way. We
are people of the narrow way. We're people who are following
the Lord Jesus Christ. And so there is a certain way
in which those who follow Christ are to conduct themselves and
to behave themselves and to live their lives. And so writing from
the prison cell he deemed it quite important to write this
letter and to remind them of what had taken place and that
they were to walk worthy of that calling. that one who they were
following, that one that they were knit together with, in unity
with, in God, in Christ, in the Spirit and with one another. And so he reminds them of what they were in the end
part of the chapter in verse 17. He says, This I say therefore,
and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other
Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, having their understanding
darkened, being alienated from the life of God through 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 ye have not so learned Christ. If so be that ye have heard of
him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Christ Jesus. And so he goes on and he explains
to them that he's in the prison cell. and that he's writing to
them that they are to walk worthy of their calling, not like the
other Gentiles or how you used to be. that there must be a difference
in your behaviour because of something that has taken place.
You have been called. You've been called out of darkness.
You've been called to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. You have
been called to pass through the door onto the narrow way that
leads to life and therefore you're on another pathway, following
another lifestyle, following another Christ with a different
mind and a different heart. And so he says, don't walk Like
the others walk. Don't walk how you used to walk. Like those who have their understanding
darkened. Like those people who are alienated
from God, foreigners to God, separated from God because they're
walking in blindness. They have no feeling. The scripture
tells us, a new heart will I give you. I will take away your hard
heart and I will give you a soft heart, a heart that feels, a
heart that is sensitive, a heart that craves after God, that loves
Christ, that loves holiness. And so he reminds them that in
the darkness, in your previous experience, in unbelief, you
were hard. You had no feeling. You were
covetous and greedy. But then he says to them, put
off your former conversation or your way of living. The old
man, which is corrupt by nature, put him off. Once someone is born again, they
have been born again, they've been changed. The scripture says,
behold, all things become new. You put off the old man and you
don't put him back on again. You put him off and you leave
him off and you put on the new man which is created after Christ. Righteousness and true holiness. And this new man that has been
put on is a reflection of the new heart that is within. And
what comes out of the heart, the scripture tells us, it is
what truly goes on inside of us. And so he says, as you put
on the new man, as you are a new creation in Christ Jesus, put
away lying, speak the truth to his neighbour, for we are members
one for another. But as we have been born again
and this old man, this old nature, this hard heart. The scripture
tells us it's like we have died. But the old one has died and
a new one has risen again in newness of life. And we do that,
we symbolise that in baptism, don't we? And people are baptised,
they are laid into the water as though into a grave and then
they are lifted up as though they're raising from the dead
their old nature, their old man is left and a new man or a new
woman rises again from the water symbolising what has already
taken place in the life of that person. And Romans tells us,
Romans chapter 6, what shall we say then? Shall we continue
in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that
are dead to sin live any longer therein? Know ye not that so
many of us were baptised into Jesus Christ, were baptised into
his death? Therefore we are buried with
him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up
from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should
walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together
in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in likeness
of his resurrection, knowing this, that our old man is crucified
with him. the body of sin might be destroyed
that henceforth we should should not serve sin for he that is
dead is freed from sin how if we being dead with Christ we
believe that we should also live with him and so he tells us there
that our old nature that old man which was our old nature
outside of Christ has been put off but that old man is here
referred to as being crucified with him upon the cross. As Christ was there upon the
cross paying the penalty for our sin, as the wrath of God
was poured out upon him he dealt with our old nature, our sin. put it away and when the spirit
works within our life as we come to experience the new birth that
old nature is cut off, that old nature is put away and we walk
in newness of life and we don't go back. And so he's warning
them that this has taken place with you and therefore you're
not to turn around and go back to your old nature, the old self
that has been crucified with Christ, the old sins, the old
unbelief, but to press on in the new man, the new woman that
is in Christ, because we have been born again. And as we read through the New
Testament we see the effects of sin entering into the church
and we see those believers that are taken up with those sins
which were from their old nature. And the scripture tells us, doesn't
it, about the dog going back to its vomit. And that is what
it's like. A Christian who has died to self
and risen again in newness of life in Christ A new heart, a
soft, tender conscience then turns around and goes back to
sin, goes back to the old character and tries, as it were, to get
back onto the broad road that leads to destruction. It's like
a dog going back to his vomit. And so Paul writes, you're different. You've been changed. You've been
born again. Your new nature has been crucified
with Christ. Your old nature has been crucified
with Christ. And you are to put on that new
man which is after God and create it unto righteousness. How are these believers to know
then that these things had happened? You see, they may be reading
This letter that has written to Paul and they may be looking
at themselves and thinking, well, well, I don't actually feel like
I've got a new nature. I don't actually feel any different
to what I felt before. I still struggle with sin. I
still battle with unbelief. I still battle with lack of faith.
I still battle with desires. And so how do I even know that
I've even got a new nature? I've even got a new man. How
do I know that he's even speaking to me? Well, he tells them, you are called. He tells them that there is one
body. And he tells them that there's
a unity. A unity, as I said the other
day, has to revolve around love and the love of Christ. Now there's one verse in 1 John
which tells us there. Chapter three, 1 John chapter
three and verse 14 it says, we know that we have passed from
death unto life because we love the brethren. He that loveth
not his brother abideth in death. And so unity with the church, unity with the
brethren, love to the brethren is a sign
that Christ has given us a new nature. There are other assurances written in John's
first letter of different things that the believer is able to
experience and to examine themselves to see whether they are truly
one of the Lord's people. One of those is a love to the brethren, a desire
to be with them, a desire to talk with them, a desire to fellowship
with them, a desire to worship with them, a desire to speak on things of a spiritual
nature with them, a desire to have a relationship with Christ
who is the brother of his church, of his people. they've been adopted
into his family. And so those with a new nature
who have been born again automatically have a love for those who have
also been born again. There's a common ground on which
they can speak. There's a common ground on which
they can communicate and fellowship with one another. And before
they were born again, they maybe felt like a speckled bird on
the outside. They didn't quite fit in. They
didn't quite understand the language that was being spoken. They didn't
understand the love that the church had to the Lord Jesus
Christ. But now something has changed. Now there is that desire to mingle
with and to fellowship with and to communicate with not only
the church but also the Lord Jesus Christ. You know that you
have passed from death to life, to spiritual life because you
love the brethren. And to that love for the brethren
is the product of a changed heart. The heart. The scripture uses
the heart as the very source or the seat of our emotions.
From our heart, the scripture says, proceed evil thoughts and
imaginations. In Matthew, we'll turn there. Jesus says, in Matthew 15, 18 and 9, or from verse 16, Jesus says, Are
you also without understanding? Do not ye yet understand? whatsoever enters in at the mouth
goes into the belly and is cast out into the draught or into
the gutter. But those things which proceed
out of the mouth come forth from the heart for they defile a man. Out of the heart produce evil
thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, theft, false witness,
blasphemies. These are the things which defile
a man, but to eat with unwashed hands defileth not a man. And so Jesus points Peter right
into the heart and says the heart is the source, the seat of the
emotion. And when the heart is changed,
the emotions change. There is no longer that constant
filth that proceeds from the heart, evil thoughts and murders
and adulteries and things like that but there is a new desire
that is found there. It's like the fountain is suddenly
changed and no longer does it constantly spew out poison but
now there is that fresh joy, that love that comes out to Christ
and his church. The seat of the emotion, it is
changed. And they go from loving the darkness
to loving the light, to loving the brethren and to loving Christ. And so Christ tells us that the
heart is changed. In the new birth, a heart transplant
takes place, a spiritual one. and we're given a soft heart
that has new tender compassionate emotions towards the things of
God and his people. But it doesn't just leave them
there. We're not just born again and set free to wander in our
own sphere of spiritual experience doing what we feel led to do. The apostle says that when Christ
ascended he gave the church gifts. One of those gifts he says was
the gift of the apostles. And the apostles, the scripture
tells us, have laid the foundation of the church, the perimeter
of the doctrine for belief. And in verse 11 it says he gave
some apostles, some prophets and some evangelists and some
pastors and teachers. And so as the apostle expounds
the word in a greater detail through the direct revelation
of the Spirit and it's laid down on paper. These people the Ephesians
are able to understand not only have they been born again but
what is expected of them as born again people and that great unity
that they have one with another and with Christ and with God. And so they understand that they
have been given these gifts of preachers and apostles to help
them decipher the word of God and to understand their salvation
more clearly and what is expected of them as believers. We see
what it's written in verse 12, the reason why these people are
given, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the
ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. This is why they were given.
For the perfecting of the saints. The work of the ministry and
the edifying of the body of Christ. These men were given to rightly
divide the word of God so that the church might be encouraged
and helped and edified to grow into that spiritual body that
Christ expects of his church for the edification of the body. It has been said that good doctrine
brings about good practice. And so the more we understand
the teachings of the Word of God as believers in Christ, indwelt
with the Spirit of God, that enables us to walk out the pathway
or to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called. And
so it's not just based on how we feel. Our feelings must be compared
to the scripture. Our feelings can be twisted by
our emotion and so therefore we have to bring it all down
to what does the scripture say? Paul wrote to Timothy and tells
him you preach the word that is the scripture or preach the
word that is Christ and it's through the preaching
of the Word of God that the Spirit of God works for the edification
of the church to build them up and perfects them for the work
of the ministry. If we didn't have these scriptures
we wouldn't know anything about Christ We wouldn't know the great
benefits that he has brought by his finished work of salvation. We wouldn't know the great work
of the Holy Spirit. We wouldn't know that we have
been justified and sanctified and made righteous in the sight
of the Holy God. It would just be thoughts that
we had and our thoughts would never be anchored down to any
truth. because we've got the word of
God because God gave these apostles direct insight into the word,
into his mind and we're able to understand more clearly the
great riches that there are in Christ Jesus and the great benefits
that there are given to the church and the way Christ expects his
people to live their life Not based upon how they feel. Because their feelings go up
and down all of the time. Constantly changing. Our lives
are to be based on the scripture and the knowledge that has been
revealed to us in this book. And he tells them then, these
have been given for the edification of the body of Christ. And that
body, as we looked at the other day, is all of those who are
in Christ Jesus. There's only one body made up
of many members. And those people are united in
love one to another. They have been brought in by
one common means, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ by the
working of the Holy Spirit. And he tells us in chapter five,
when he's speaking about the relationship between husband
and wife, and he likens it to a great mystery. In verse 32
he says, this is a great mystery what I speak concerning Christ
and the church. As an apostle he acknowledges
that it is a mystery. The relationship between Christ
and his church, that they are one body that they are one flesh. Ephesians chapter 2 in verse
17. Verse 16, that he might reconcile
both unto God in one body by the cross having slain the enmity
thereby and he came and preached peace to you which were afar
off and to them that were nigh. That through him we both have
access by one spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye are
no more strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the
saints and of the household of God and are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets Jesus Christ being himself the
chief cornerstone in whom the building whom all the building
fitly framed together groweth up into a holy temple in the
Lord in whom ye are also builded together for habitation of God
through the Spirit. And so we see it's referred to
as a great mystery as the body of Christ but also united as
one building a holy temple unto the Lord. they are reconciled by the gospel
of peace, the good news of peace. Reconciled to God through the
Lord Jesus Christ and reconciled to each other. So we looked at
on the Lord's Day that vast multitude of people from every nation and
every kindred Yet they are united together through the gospel of
peace and they are brought into one body. There is one body and
one spirit. And he goes on. In chapter four,
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. You see there, one body and one
spirit, the body of Christ, one Holy Spirit, one Lord, which
is the Lord Jesus Christ, one master, one faith, one baptism
and one Father of all who is in you all. There lies
the greatest mystery of all. As Paul says, it is a great mystery
that I speak concerning Christ and the church. That there is
one God, the Father. There is one Lord, the Lord Jesus
Christ. There is one Spirit, the Holy
Spirit of God. And there is one body, the one
body of the church. And God the Father is in all. in John 17. It says I in them or from verse 21 and they all may
be one as we as thou father art in me and I in thee that they
also may be in one in us that the world may believe that thou
hast sent me and the glory which thou gavest me i have given to
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 they that the
world may know that thou has sent me and has loved them as
thou has loved me Father I will also I will that they also whom
thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold
my glory which thou hast given me for thou allowest me before
the foundation of the world. And today Christ gives us a mystery
that he is in the father and that the father is in him and
that all those that the father has given to Christ are found
in them both. There is a unity between the
church and the trinity. They are one in each other almost,
or not almost, they are. Such is the relationship and
the work that Christ has wrought in the lives of the believer
when they have been born again. He brings them into the church
and that brings them into the body of Christ which then brings
them into complete unity with Christ, with the Father and with
the Holy Spirit and as Jesus says or as Paul says, one God
and the Father of all who is above all, through all and in
you all. And so that is how a believer
is able to endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit. The Spirit of God dwells in every
single believer. The scripture says if you do
not have the Spirit of God, you do not belong to God, you do
not belong to Christ, you are none of His. He is in all of
His people. As soon as the new birth takes
place, the Spirit of God indwells within that person. They are
born again of the Spirit. They are baptised, they are indwelt
with the Holy Spirit of God. The scripture tells us, do you
not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in
you? And because the Holy Spirit of
God is indwelling in the new people of God, having a new heart,
his characteristics are seen. As their old nature has been
crucified, Galatians tells us that the new nature will be seen.
The new nature of the Holy Spirit will be manifested through. Sometimes when it's cloudy, The
sun's rays shine through the clouds, don't they? We don't
see it in its fullness but we see glimpses of the sun behind
a cloud. And that's how it is with the
Lord's people. We do not see the indwelling of the Spirit
in his complete fullness but we see glimpses of him as he
indwells with his people, as he slowly conforms them to the
image of the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The evidence of his indwelling
is seen. And part of that evidence is
love. not a selfish love, but a gracious
love one to another. Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith
you are called, with all loneliness and meekness, with long-suffering,
forbearing one another in love, endeavouring to keep the unity
of the Spirit. As the Trinity of God is united
in complete agreement one with another, Father, Son and Holy
Spirit. So the church is to manifest
that same unity one with another. An endeavour, a struggle to keep that unity, to keep that
love one for another. as they live together in harmony. They show forth the peace of
the gospel. They are witnesses to Christ. As people look at the church,
they should see a unity, a oneness. There was the prayer meetings
and the people visiting the hospital and people visiting my auntie's
house when Joshua Jemson was in the coma for a week. What surprised people, ungodly
people, was the way in which the church suddenly became active
and came together. they'd never seen anything like
it before. That this boy was laying there and then suddenly
these people come and begin praying, people who never really knew
him but all had a concern. And that unity had a great effect
upon the unbelievers, what they saw. And they saw the church
acting in a way that she should act. They were united in one
common core, common reason for prayer and for visitation and
compassion. And it was seen. It's very often the case, isn't
it, People forget those things very quickly. They always remember
the bad things that the church does and the way in which people
let down the church. And those things are always remembered
by the unbelievers. Paul here says, endeavour, try,
struggle to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. just peace. The gospel has brought
peace. Peace with God and peace with
each other and he uses an example of like a rope like a ligament of a body which
hold the body together and that peace Like a ligament which holds
the body of Christ together. That common ground, that peace
with God and peace with each other. Struggling to hold it
all together. By the power really and the indwelling
of the spiritful by our natures we squabble and struggle. But he says, put away the old
man. Put away the old nature. Lose sight of yourself and endeavour,
try to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. How then are we to do that? And it's not by looking at everybody
else and saying they're the problem. He says look at yourself. with lowliness and meekness and
long-suffering, forbearing one another in love. There's only
one body. Verse 29, let no corrupt communication
proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use
of edifying, that they may minister grace unto the hearers. Your
mouth, not your friend's mouth, your neighbor's mouth but your
mouth. It starts with us as individuals. It's very easy for us to look
at other people and say they're the problem, they're the cause
of disunity, they're the ones that have got to sort out their
lives and their problems but Paul says no no your mouth, use
your mouth for the good of edification, that it might minister grace
unto the hearers. Don't grieve the Holy Spirit
of God. Let all bitterness and wrath
and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you
with all malice. Put it away, it's from the old
nature, it's from the unconverted state. But now you are new in
Christ Jesus, you have a new heart and out of that heart it
produces things that are God-honouring and God-pleasing. And so he says put them away.
and be kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another. Why? Because God has forgiven you
because of Christ. As God, for Christ's sake, has
forgiven you. That's how the believer is to
do it. Endeavour. to keep the unity
of the Spirit and the bond of peace. Not by looking at everybody
else but by turning our eyes within and seeing that we are
indwelt by the Spirit of God and we have the ability by the
Spirit's power to crucify the lust of the flesh and to walk
worthy of our calling by struggling to keep their old nature, struggling
not to grieve the Holy Spirit, struggling not to allow bitterness
and wrath and anger and clamour and evil speaking to take root
within our hearts and within our minds, but to be kind to
each other and tender and forgiving one another because Christ has
forgiven us. And so as the church grew, So
did discourse but he says struggle to get it back, examine yourself,
look at yourself, don't allow bitterness and evil thoughts
and anger take root within your mind
and within your heart but be tender and forgiving one to another
because because of Christ, he has forgiven
you. I therefore, a prisoner of the
Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of your vocation wherewith
you are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering,
forbearing one another, in love, endeavouring to keep the unity
of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Amen. May the Lord help us as we conclude
our worship with singing 996 from Gadsby's to the tune 418,
996. While the dear saints of God
below travel this vale of sin and woe, there is a river through
the road, make glad the city of our God. 996. The dreams of men. Proceeding from the front above. Then, on its drift, which hereafter
we've come, River, oh, how sweet and clear. Deep river, for the days of white. For river, never to decay. For you, this wondrous dream
arose. Though sin and sorrow make you
sad, Yet drink and live, your heart speak. From whom these streams of mercy
came. Drink, for the fountains open
still, drink for His sake. Dear Lord, we do pray that Thou
be with us now as we part from each other. We ask that Thou
help us to think upon Thy holy word, to enable us to meditate
upon Thy truth, that it may benefit and encourage us to continue
on in the narrow way that leads to life. Do dismiss us with thy
blessing, we pray, and now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love of God the Father, with the fellowship and the communion
of the Holy Spirit, do rest and abide with us now and for evermore.
Amen.