May it please God to bless the
reading of His words to the Prophet of our souls this evening. We'll
read part of the second chapter of the Epistle of Paul to the
Philippians. The Epistle of Paul to the Philippians chapter 2
and reading from verse 1 down to verse 16. If there be therefore any consolation
in Christ if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit,
if any bowels and mercies, for which fill ye my joy, that ye
be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of
one mind. Let nothing be done through strife
or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other
better than themselves. Look not every man on his own
things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this
mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in
the form of godliness, form of God, thought it not robbery to
be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon
him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men,
and being found In fashion as a man, he humbled himself and
became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore
God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which
is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow. Things in heaven, and things
in earth, and things under the earth. and that every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God
the Father. Wherefore, my beloved, as ye
have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much
more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear
and trembling. For it is God which worketh in
you, both to will and to do, of his good pleasure. to all
things without murmuring and disputings, that ye may be blameless
and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst
of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights
in the world, holding forth the word of life, that I may rejoice
in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured
in vain. Well may God bless us this evening
as we turn once again to the epistle of Paul to the Ephesians
and the fourth chapter. And this evening we'll read verses
13 and 14. So the epistle of Paul to the
Ephesians, chapter 4, reading verses 13 and 14. Till we all come in the unity
of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect
man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro, and
carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of
men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive." This should be to the Church
of God a very wonderful statement because the Apostle is here directing
us to that wonderful time when there will be that complete unity
of the Church of God. And that will come about, of
course, when everyone is joined together in that place of glory. And there will be no arguments. There will be nothing to separate. There will be no dissension. There will be nobody trying to
obtain the upper hand. There will be nothing that will
distress us. No one. will be desiring to be
better than another. But we will rejoice together
at what the Saviour has done. It's really something which is
quite hard for us to appreciate as we walk on the earth because
we find that sin possesses us and sin influences us in our
mind, in our words, in our actions. But to think in that place of
glory there will be no such thing. There will be nothing that will
come into our mind which will produce any evil, any jealousy,
any pride. All that will be away from us
and will not be allowed to penetrate into that holy place of glory. And so that time will come till
we all come, all the children of God, everyone, different denominations,
different countries, different languages. There will be this
time of unity of the faith, because we will all possess that great
and glorious gift of faith which the Lord gives, which we can
never produce ourselves. But we should be very thankful
to know that we shall rejoice, every one of us, in that faith
which God has given And we will not be jealous of anyone, because
any jealousy is sinful. We won't have pride of our own
ability, because every vestige of pride is sinful. So we can
look forward to that great day. The Church of God is divided
on the earth at the present time. So often divided with very small
issues. We might say often irrelevant
issues. And yet, you see, the devil's
great aim is to separate the brethren. That's what he endeavours
to do. He always has, and he always
will, down to the end of time. And we should be very aware of
that. And we should remind him that the Lord has said there
will be a time coming when there will be complete unity. And the
devil won't be there. And the devil won't be allowed
to come in and disturb us, know or be peace and praise eternally."
Well, here we have then a statement here to encourage us in this
place. And it's good for us to ponder
it and to meditate upon it that we might be encouraged by it. Till we all come, the whole Church
of God, no one will be omitted and everyone Indeed, we'll be
like-minded, seeking to praise and to glorify their great and
glorious God. Till we all come in the unity
of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God. You see, we
have some knowledge, not very much. And some of us have different
knowledge, one to another. The law reveals certain things
to one and certain things to another. We're not always favoured. to enjoy all the same knowledge. But there will be that great
day when we will all come to this wonderful knowledge of the
Son of God. And you see, in that situation
there will be unto a perfect man. A perfect man doesn't exist
on this earth. But the perfect man or perfect
woman will exist in the world to come. And it is a wonderful
prospect to look forward to and to the measure of the stature
of the fullness of Christ. Well we know, I hope we know
there is a great and glorious fullness in Christ. By His grace
we partake of a little of it while we're on this earth. And
we must partake of a little of it because it is one of the evidences
of the grace of God in our hearts. But then there will be that fullness,
fullness of Christ, because all will be revealed. What a wonderful
thought, is it not? As you and I travel through this
earth with so many things to upset us, many things to cast
us down, chiefly our own selves, but to realise then there will
be that time when we come to the measure of the stature, the
fullness of Christ. Well, the fullness of Christ. It's a prospect which is difficult
for us to comprehend here in this earth at the present time.
And he goes on to tell us that we henceforth be no more children
tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine
by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby They lie in
wait to deceive. Well, we recognise, sure, that
these situations are the devil's agents to try and cause us to
turn away from the great and glorious truth of God. But you
see, here we are, and as the Bible tells us, we need to become
as little children to learn, very simply, there are those
things whereby we are tossed to and fro, Sometimes we're faced
with difficult things and we're really not sure what the answer
is. And we're tossed to and fro.
And then sometimes we're carried about with every wind of doctrine. People produce new ideas, new
thoughts. It always has been. And yet you
see, when that time comes, all these things will be done away.
There won't then be these scenes where people are carried about
with the wind which blows, blows one way and then blows another.
We've seen the Church of God down through the ages blown one
way and then blown the other by this doctrine and that doctrine. Bless God, the time will come
when that will be history totally. There will be unity in the great
doctrines of God, the great doctrines of Christ. There won't be any
argument. because there'll be union with
Christ. How many arguments there are
today, often in petty things, but the thing you see, then there
won't be any argument, because we'll all be in agreement with
the great and glorious Gospel, the great and glorious Salvation,
the great and blessed Saviour, the great and glorious Father,
and the wonderful work of the Holy Spirit. Oh, it will be cause
for wonderful praise throughout eternity. He goes on, By the
slight of men... Well, we know men are deceivers.
Men say things cunningly to deceive. The slight of men and cunning
craftiness, sometimes we are taken in. We are but sinners
of the earth. But by the grace of God, we shall
go down these paths. And as he concludes this little
statement, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. Come back to the garden of Eden,
the great deceiver. The devil has never changed. He's the same today. His great
plan, his great desire is to deceive the Church of God. Well,
we may be in measure deceived. We will never be finally deceived. And when we get to glory by the
grace of God, There will be no deception there. No deceit at
all. Everything will be pure and honest
and praise to God. Well, these are good thoughts,
aren't they? They're good to ponder. They're
good to rejoice in. There's much to be sorrowful
about. But there is a great and wonderful prospect for the Church
of God. Maybe therefore I look forward
to that time. And we will come, by God's grace,
be found part of this great heavenly throng, as his words speak, till
we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the
Son of God. Well, may the Lord instruct us
and bless us with such considerations. Let's continue now by singing
together hymn number 500 and 67, 5, 6...