Well, may it please God to bless
us as we continue our meditation in the Apostle Paul to the Ephesians
in chapter 4. And this evening we'll read verses
4, 5 and 6. So, the Apostle Paul to the Ephesians
and reading chapter 4, verses 4, 5 and 6. There is one body and one spirit,
even as ye 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. These verses really are a very
encouraging statement to the true Church of God. to realise
that there is only one true Church of God. And sadly, we live in
a day when there are divisions. We live in a day when there are
denominations. And we live in a day when there
are separations. But there is only one true Church. And therefore we have these words
before us this evening which confirm that so very clearly. There is one body. One body. And what a blessing
it is if you and I are members of that one body. It's a mercy
to know that we are joined to that body and that we are not
separated and we shouldn't think that we have some higher place
and others who form part of that body. We should indeed be concerned
to love one another, the whole Church of God, to love one another,
and to desire to see the good in one another, and to encourage
one another. So if you look through the whole
world, it doesn't matter what colour, what nationality, what
language, there is only one true Church. And therefore there is
only one Body. And the great truth is that The
church is all one in Christ Jesus. In glory, there won't be any
divisions, will there? There won't be little corners
for a group here and a group there. There will be amazing
unity of spirit. That's something to look forward
to, isn't it? If we look around in this earth today and we find
divisions, often over minor issues, Sometimes people make minor issues
great issues. Well, let's bless God today.
As the Apostle writes to the Ephesians and said there is one
body. And there is one Spirit. And there is of course the Holy
Spirit. And that Holy Spirit leads and
directs all of this one body. He doesn't leave a part and say
well I'm going to leave that because I don't think they're
really in line with the true Church, know there is this One
Spirit. One Spirit who is part of the
Holy, Glorious Trinity. What a mercy that it is to know
this. And some of us, of course, have
benefited through this wonderful privilege of realising there
is One Body and there is only One Spirit. Well, may we be found
being led by this One Spirit. and moved by this One Spirit
and directed to the Saviour by this One Spirit. What a blessing
it is then if we form part of that true Church of God. There is One Body and there is
One Spirit even as ye are called in one hope of your calling. The true Church of God are blessed
with one hope which is a good hope of entering into eternal
glory to be with their Lord and Saviour throughout eternity. And this is that which joins
the Church of God together to realise that it is through what
the Lord Jesus Christ has done. In the first chapter of the first
epistle The question is asked, is Christ divided? Well, Christ
is not divided. And then he says, was Paul crucified
for you? Or were you baptised in the name
of Paul? It's good to realise these things. We can so easily become sidetracked. And you must remember that Satan's
greatest ploy is to divide the Church of God. That's his great
aim, to divide the Church of God. Look down through the ages,
and we can see how successful he has been. Well, way back then,
when the Apostle wrote these words, they were obviously necessary
in the day in which he wrote them, and they are surely far
more necessary in the day and age in which we live. Even as
you are called. Well, the whole Church of God
is called And they are called by the grace of God. And they
are called to hear His voice. And they are called to follow
Him. And they are called to do His
will. None are exempt from such a statement
as that. And even as you are called, and
again this is one blessed hope, this good hope, which the true
Church of God have. And what a mercy if you and I
know this in our own hearts, good hope of our calling to know
that we have been called out of the darkness of nature into
the glorious light of the everlasting gospel and are called to view
by faith the blessed Redeemer, our Lord Jesus Christ. Then he says, one Lord, one faith,
one baptism. And he goes on, one God, and
Father of all. We read this chapter in the first
epistle of Paul to the Corinthians in the 8th chapter because the
6th verse tells us, But to us there is but one God, the Father,
of whom are all things, and we in Him, and one Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom are all things, and we by Him. Well, we're thankful,
aren't we, that the Apostle states these things so clearly, with
no ambiguity. And we can be thankful that it
is so. And so we have this statement
then tonight. One Lord. One Lord Jesus Christ. What a Saviour. What a mercy
to have and to know this One Lord. There are many so-called
Lords in the world today. But there is only one true Lord. Jesus Christ. And that is the
One who is so clearly set before us in the Word of God. One Lord
and then one faith. Only one true faith. God-given
faith. Without faith it is impossible
to please God. What a mercy, therefore, if God
has given us that true faith. And again, every member of this
one body must possess this one faith. What a mercy if again
you and I have been blessed with true living faith. And then he
goes on to say one baptism. Well there may be disagreement
with this situation but nonetheless the great truth is that all those
who are baptised are baptised in the name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. We would think and I would think
that the baptism as we carry on by immersion is that which
is scriptural and that which is right. But you see there are
many of course who don't follow that pattern and we shouldn't
cast them off as those who are unbelievers. We should recognise
them as brothers and sisters in Christ and part of this one
body, although they may have a separate view on this particular
issue. And then he says, and one God
and Father of us all. One God. Yes, there's many so-called
gods in the world today, many so-called religions, but they're
all false, and their gods are not the true God, and they're
not alive forever more. And they don't, they haven't
existed from eternity. And all gods are man's invention. Well, the true God is not a man,
and not a god of man's invention. This one God and Father. See how these things are all
gloriously linked together? One God, the Father. One Lord
Jesus Christ. One Holy Spirit, not divided,
united. Wonderful truth. One God and
Father of all, who is above all. Our God is above all. He rules and reigns in heaven. What a blessing it is to come
tonight believing we come to this one God who is above all,
who sits on no precarious throne. He sits on that throne he has
established. And there it is forever. One
God and Father. What a mercy it is then to know
that we do have a Father. Sometimes there seems to be a
reluctance to acknowledge that we do have a Father in Heaven. It's a wonderful thing to know
that. And a Father that we can go to
as little children through the merits of our Saviour, the Lord
Jesus Christ, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. This is the completeness of the
Godhead, nothing lacking, united, and in you all. Christ in you,
the hope of glory. These are really very substantial
and very soul confirming truths. And what a blessing it is if
God gives us grace to lay hold of them as they are written,
and not to argue with them, and not to try and ignore them, but
to recognise they are the Word of God to our eternal soul, for
our blessing and for the honour and glory of our great and glorious
God. Amen.