Good evening. If you will, let's
turn to John 17. My text is really just a few
words out of one verse, but if I remember, we'll come back to
it at the end. John 17. I think this is very needed for
us right now in our day. And I pray God will be with us.
I can have the greatest, well-prepared, God-honoring message, and you
can come here wanting to rejoice and worship God and say out loud,
we're going to worship God. And if he's not with us, that
ain't going to happen. He has to be with us. And if he's with
us, boy, that's something. That's a privilege. I thought
of those millions and millions and millions and millions of
people on this earth, and the Lord saved eight of them. Kevin,
shouldn't you not resist the flow of popular opinion? Now
y'all stand on God's word. Change does not. Who is a Christian? If you're a child of God, who's
your brother? Who's your sister? Who's my brother? Who's my sister?
Who's a Christian? That word is, there's a bumper
sticker business, ain't there? Lysol plate business. Fish and
everything else. I saw it growing up, I was a
little kid, I didn't know what it meant. I wasn't exposed to things like
that. Man, there's a whole lot of people who really like fishing
in this county. I like fish too. I thought they was out catching
catfish. Who's a Christian? Do we need to know what the greatest
minds of our generation say a Christian is? No. Who's God say it is? What does oneness with Christ
consist of? What does being in Christ consist
of? I want to be one with the Lord. I want to be one with his
people. Because he said, if a man says
he loves God, not a whole lot of people say they love God in
this state, ain't they? But he hates his brother, that one that's
in Christ. He's a liar. They're lying. That's too rough. That's what God says. Is that
what his word says? No, yes. John wrote it, didn't
he? Late in life when he's real loving.
That's loving. They're lying. They don't know
God, God ain't in them. I want to be one with him, and
I want to be one with his people. I do. What's that mean? What is that? What would I have
in common with Abraham? If I had to be stuck on an island
with him for 10 years, could I get along with Abraham? And
I think often of David and Rahab, the king of Israel, the sweet
psalmist of Israel, and the head harlot, Jericho. Could them two get along? Are
they brother and sister? They got some things in common?
Nebuchadnezzar, that wicked king that learned so much. Jonah,
that peevish prophet, kicked his feet up underneath a gourd,
said, I'm gonna watch this town burn to the ground. Greatest
revival that's ever recorded in history. Could we get along
with him? Would he be personable? What
about the apostles? Ruffians. Not these elegant commercial
fishermen in the industry of fishing. Ruffians. Mafiosos. You'd snatch your purse up if
you saw them at a 7-Eleven. You get that? Not these little
cartoon characters. With the saints ever since. People
I admire and respect and the stories I love. These great martyrs
and everything else throughout time and these hymn writers that
we sang with. But Fannie Cross was just sweet
as could be. That woman wouldn't get along with me for nothing.
I'm a warrior. I'm a killing machine. We got something in common. Look
here in John 17 verse 9. Our Lord's praying. This is his
high priestly prayer. John 17, nine, our Lord speaking to the
father, God's praying to God. And he said, I pray for them.
Speaking of his disciples, I was 11 sitting right there with him.
I pray not for the world, but for them, which thou hast given
me, for they are thine. They've been given to Christ
and all mine are thine and thine are mine and I'm glorified in
them. This is good. The creation that he's made,
he says, it's good. That means it's good. Luke verse
20. Is this just those 11? John 17, 20. Neither pray I for
these alone, but for them also, which shall believe on me through
their word, through their preaching, through their writing. That's
us. That's you. That's me. Christ
is praying for us. I want to know what he has to
say. Look at the end of verse 20. That's a semicolon, isn't
it? The thought continues. What's he praying for us? He's
praying for you if you believe. He's praying for me. He's praying
for his people that's to come if there's any left. If there's
going to be another 100 years for everyone that's in that 100
years, what's he praying? Verse 21, that they all, A-double-L,
all. That means from Adam and Eve
in the garden to the last saint that's ever going to live. It's
gonna be called to Christ. All, that they all may be one. As thou, Father, are in me, and
I in thee, that they also may be one in us. Don't that sink
your shoulders? That the world may believe that
thou hast sent me for my glory. union, unity, oneness with Christ. That's to know him. And I don't
know about him. Tons of people know about him.
That's to love him. Adore him. There's a whole lot of people
know my wife. They don't love her like I love her. I'm one
with her. Lord's united us and what he's
put together, let no man put us under. He's talking about
his bride. We get past ourselves for 30
seconds. My honor Christ in it, huh? And those other things will
sort out. That's eternal life to know him,
isn't it? He says, you've given me power over all flesh, that
he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
And this is eternal life, that they might know thee the only
true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. To know him,
be one with him. If you know him, you love him,
right? And he says, as you and I are
one, Father, that they also may be one in us, that all love him.
ever won, that he's gonna lose none of. Just get a hold of that. Walk around with that. Take that
in your lunchbox tomorrow when you get up and go to work, buddy.
Every sinner given to Christ is as one with the Lord Jesus
Christ and the Father as Christ is one with the Father. He said, I and my Father are
one. That's of the same body, isn't
it? That is knit together. That's a Christian. I can't remember the numbers,
I should have wrote it down, but Christians mentioned once in the scriptures,
and saints mentioned 187 times or whatever, a whole bunch, you
know? I like that better. Those purchased possessions.
No matter the generation, no matter the culture, no matter
the language, no matter the country or the continent, no matter the
status, if they're well-educated, not well-educated, if they're
rich, if they're poor, if they're white, they're black, male, female,
it doesn't matter. Old, young. All are one with
Christ, the same as Christ is one with the Father, right now. If somebody wants to waste 900
pages and try to explain that away, they can have at it. I
just say, I don't understand it, Lord, but thank you. Amen. That's what I need. I don't even
know what I need, but I know that's it. That is so by the word of God.
by the experience of others that are one with him, and by my personal
experience, it's so. Peter wrote, said, whom resist
us steadfast in the faith, talking about warding off the devil,
knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren
that are in the world. We're one. Right now in this time,
the trials we look back on of old, that affects us now, doesn't
it? Doesn't that encourage you? You
see or hear what people went through in the past and what
we're going through now, we see our brethren going through, that's
an encouragement. The trial that comes on me is for you and for
brethren in other places. You can breathe a little bit,
can't you? All right, I can go two more minutes. I can't, but
you get a little puff of energy, don't you? That's encouraging. Turn over to Ephesians 4. I was
thinking, there's so much things we don't have. This isn't a doctrinal,
or I'm gonna boil us down to doctrinal issues, what it is,
but I'm not talking about small things that we don't have in
common. And we need some people with
some discernment to tell us what that is. My brother Eric and the folks
in Danville, they have services on midweek on Tuesdays. We have
it on Wednesdays. Brother Clay and them in New
Jersey have midweek on Thursdays. Some people pass the plate. We
don't do that here. Brother Darwin doesn't have a
midweek service. That's not what I'm talking about.
There's some slight differences here and there, but that one
of us is probably a millionaire. I don't know. There's some errors.
I'm not talking about that. What's the heresy? What's the
damnable heresy of these lies that mankind naturally adopts?
It's in every one of us. I want to know what God has to
say. Don't you? Ephesians 4. He's going to tell us. Isn't
that good? Tell us what this means to be
one with Him. Ephesians 4 verse 1. We'll start there. Therefore
the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the
vocation wherewith you are called. He's speaking to believers, those
that's already called. He said walk worthy of your vocation. Is there anything wrong with
that? One, Paul said it by the hand of God. Holy Spirit moved
him, right? Do you tell your children to act right? You tell
your children, now you behave. Of course you do. Does that change
you being my child if you behave or don't behave? No, you're still
my child, but I tell you to behave. Paul's telling these children
of his, walk worthy of your vocation. The Lord saved you, you're already
called. Now remember who you are and whose you are. You heard
that before? With all, how? Verse two, with
all lowliness and meekness and with long suffering, forbearing
one another in love, Enduring, endeavoring to keep the unity,
the oneness of the spirit and the bond of peace. There's already
unity. Well, Lord has to keep it. He's
the one that prayed for it. Yep. And he's going to do it through
us. He's a God of means. This isn't a fatalistic, just
close your eyes and lay in your hammock and he'll come take care
of you later. If he has servants, they're going to be profitable
servants. He's going to use them. We're going to strive to love one another.
Not put people underneath the law, not whip them, not get them
to stand up and confess all their sins, and not get them to memorize
a bunch of verses. Love one another, meekness, lowliness. Why? Verse four, one body. There's one body. He said, I
pray that all of them is made one. He's gonna tell us what
that is. There's one body, 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. That's
all he just prayed for, wasn't it? Who is above all and through
all, and if you let him, he'll be in you. That's not what that
says. It says, in you all, in you all. He's there. Paul just said, y'all
called. You're already there, ain't you?
He's already called you. He's telling us what that means.
Christian, a believer, one that's in Christ, one that's one with
Christ. What is it? Well, he says first one body,
isn't it? That's the Lord's church. We're not gonna all get together
and get fused together with stem cells and hold hands or something.
It's his body. That's a believer's throughout
time. The one church, yeah, there's local assemblies throughout time
and throughout this world. We're one of them here. We know
of several others. And I hope there's a lot more
that we don't know of. And I want to get to know them. I got brothers
and sisters out there, I wanna know them. But all of us, throughout
time, the entire body of Christ, we're one family, we're one body.
That's the church of the firstborn, as the scriptures say. And he's
the head. We're the body, he's the head.
Look over on one page of Ephesians 5. A Hebrew writer told us, he said,
to the general assembly and the church of the firstborn, which
are written in heaven. That's us. made one. Here in Ephesians 5 verse 22, Paul writes, wives submit yourselves
unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. There's a lot of applications
there. If you need something, you need to know how to do something
with that house, you submit to me. I'm sorry, but that's what the
word says, isn't it? Here in this assembly, don't
go running to other pastors to go find out what you want to
know. You come to your pastor. And that's other people that's
listening. You can listen in to us here, but you've got questions,
go to your pastor. What's your pastor saying? Go
to your own husbands. And we go unto the Lord, because
it says, as unto the Lord. We'll learn about prayer in a
little bit. For the husband is the head of
the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he's
the savior of the body. That's us. Is there any difference
between Abraham and me? No. Any difference between that
first saint and that last saint? No, it's the same. He's the Savior.
There's no Old Testament God and a New Testament God, and
things changed way back when. He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. It's the same. Therefore, as the church is subject
unto Christ, so let the wives be subject to their own husbands
and everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also
loved the church and gave himself for all of them. All those different
denominations. No, it, one, singular. See that? That he might sanctify,
who does a sanctify? That's awful easy, isn't it?
That he, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing
of water by the word. That he might present it to himself,
a glorious church, singular, not having spot or wrinkle. Well, what about something else
or any such thing? Think it up, it don't have blemishes.
But that it should be holy and without blemish. That's what
our king made his bride and presented to himself. No spot, no wrinkle,
not just as if I had not sinned, justified. You go out and somebody
dies by your hand and you go to the judge and judge say that
was justified. And they say, he murdered him. No, he didn't.
No murder took place. Justified. Go home, do what you
want. Go see a movie. It's gone. He made his bribe without spot,
without wrinkle, or any such thing. I like that. But he might
present it to himself. He did all that, and then he
presents it to himself, and what are we? Holy and without blemish.
That's good news. Every one of the members of his
body, there's no degrees. I gotta say that too. Paul's
real clear on that too. He said we're laboring right
now and there's apostles and there's prophets and there's
pastors and there's people go out work for a living to support
them people and everything else and people pray and this is that's
what we're doing now. That's just why we're here. As
soon as this is over, we're the same. We're just part
of the body and we know our head. Every member knows that our Lord
is on his throne. That's what that thief on the
cross is. When you enter your kingdom, you're the king and you got a
kingdom. All you do is remember me and I'll be with you. We know
he's on his throne. We know he made everything. We
know he performs all things. We act like we don't most of
the time. We just get so downtrodden by providence and the news and
everything else. Lord did that. You know that, don't you? I forget,
but I know that. Every member of that body knows
he sustains everything and that all that is according as it pleases
him. It's his will. Because he wanted
to. And that's fine with me. Lord did that because he wanted
to. Is that okay with you? I hope so. It's okay with his
body. It's okay, isn't it? We may not
understand what the head's doing, but we're okay with it. And all
the armies of heaven and earth and under the earth and everything.
This is life eternal that we may know him. to know Him, to
love Him, to adore Him, to be made one with Him. John said
later on in life, in 1 John 5, he said, We know that the Son
of God has come and hath given us an understanding, that we
may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, in
His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God in the eternal
life. Be in Him, to know Him, be one
with Him. That's why I don't use the term
Christian flippantly. That means something. We know
what that means now. We might have said those things
in the past, but when we learn something, now we have some understanding.
I learned that word caveat. Everybody said, I always thought
it meant in addition to. No, it doesn't. It means warning,
warning. That's literally what it means. Well, once I learned
that, I couldn't hear it as a add-on anymore. I knew what it meant.
The Lord's telling us these things and showing us it. Every member
of this one body knows where we came from. Where'd the Lord
come get you? Well, I was just so holy and
good, he just, he come to me and asked me real nice. No, he
found me dead in trespasses and sins. Is that any different than
Abraham? Is that any different than anybody
else? Is that the same for you? It's
the same for me, isn't it? I was dead. I was a worm. I hated
him. I was against him. I didn't believe
Christ. Didn't want nothing to do with
him. I might've been a church house. I might've been a member
of church. Might've had a whole bunch of scripture memorized,
but I was at war with God and he conquered me. The same on
other continents. That's same, isn't it? It's one. It's one. But God, who is rich
in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sin, he's quickened us together with Christ. He's made
us alive. He's made us one. By grace are you saved. That's
what we call that, Paul says in parentheses. That's gracious. He bore us, sin, me, and the
punishment I rightly earned, and he made me righteous. There's a meeting I only read
of recently, back in the 700s. Not 1700, back in the 700s. And they met up in Turkey. And
they said, Christ was made us, and we're made righteous. That's
done. Worship him. That sounds like
what we believe, doesn't it? That sounds like what this word
says. Yes, it's the same. It's the same. Nothing different.
He bore us, made us righteous, he was buried, he died, he rose
again, and he's seated right now making intercession for us.
Nothing's changed. For there is one God and one
mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. That's
the same for me, for you, for whoever's to come, whoever was,
that's in him, that's one with him, not Mary. That needs said. Equally, take that, don't confess
your sins in a booth to a guy in a funny dress, and don't go
praying the Mother Mary to the rosary at the same weight. A
pound of feathers and a pound of steel is both a pound, ain't
it? Not Kevin Thacker. Whoever's tuning in and listening,
my prayers ain't no better than your prayers. I don't have some
800 number lying to God. I'm no different. Go to him.
He's the mediator. There's one mediator. And that's
my mediator and that's your mediator. If he'll mediate for me, he'll
mediate for you. Come to me. Come to me. We're
made members of one body with one head, Christ our Lord. And
just as my body does whatever my head wants it to. Whatever
these hands want or these feet and blink my eyes, it does what
my head wants. This body does what our head
wants. With that faith comes obedience. He makes us obedient. That ain't our choice. I want
to, but it ain't my doing and my glory in it or I'm better
than somebody else. He works that in us. Our head
does that. He gets all the glory. We love the fact, the whole body,
me and Rahab and David and whoever's to come, the headship of our
husband. our kinsman redemption found
only in the Holy One of Israel, Christ. If someone does not like
that, they don't know God and they're not a member of the body. If what he says is true, the
opposite means it's wrong. He said in Ephesians 2, in whom
all the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy
temple in the Lord. in whom ye also are builded together
for a habitation of God through the Spirit." He's done this.
He's built us. We got one body. That was my
longest point, bear with me. Second, one spirit. That's what
he says next in Ephesians 4, isn't it? A person seeking the
Holy Spirit has not been dealt with by the Holy Spirit yet. A person seeking the Holy Spirit,
the Holy Ghost, hasn't come in contact and been dealt with by
the Holy Ghost yet. Because they're seeking the Holy
Ghost, not Christ. Paul wrote in Romans 8, he said, if any
man have not the Spirit of Christ, he's none of his. You ain't already
got that looking to Christ, Lord ain't saved you yet. Or you're
not his. Do we let them people walk around
in bliss thinking they've done something for themselves? No,
we pray for them. Turn over to John 15. John 15. Here's what
that spirit, one spirit he says. Here's what that spirit does.
John 15 verse 26. He says, but when the comforter
has come, when the Holy Spirit's come, when the Holy Ghost has
come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, the Spirit of
truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify
of me." Now, whenever he testifies of
Christ in you, effectually, what's going to happen? Verse 27, and
ye also shall bear witness of the Holy Ghost and jumping over
pews of Christ. That ain't no different from
the first saint to the last. That's how that works. He comes
to us, he effectually works in power through the preaching of
the gospel and the word and truth, not in a lie. You believe the
truth from the truth, from the word, and then you profess Christ. In believers baptism, you take
his table, We'll get to that in a minute, too. You believe
and then you're baptized. You're not baptized and then
you believe. If you're baptized and you believe, you ain't been
baptized yet. You just kept getting some water in front of people. You
ain't professed it. And ye also shall bear witness. You're going to profess and testify
of Christ, too, just like the Holy Spirit did. People don't think that's a miraculous
act of God the Holy Ghost. Look to Christ and mean it. That's a holy ghost work. Look
over in John 16, page over in verse 13. Albeit, when he, the
spirit of truth, that's who we're talking about, one spirit, that's
the same, is come, he will guide you into all truth, for he shall
not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he
speak, and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me. That one body hits sealed by
one Holy Spirit, isn't it? Look up in verse 9, John 16,
9. He's gonna come to us, and he's
gonna convince us and convict us, and we're just gonna be overwhelmed
by it, of sin. Well, man's bad. Those folks
over there's bad, and bad things happen downtown after 10 p.m.
No, of sin, because they believe not on me. Do you remember when
you didn't believe God and you hated Him? I do. And I was in the right
church with the right preacher and the right Bible set in my
lap. And then God saved me. I'm convinced of it. I was looking
to me and my knowledge and my decades-long reading of the Word
and the study and all this stuff, and then God saved me. And I
didn't believe Him. I was believing me or John Gill
or whoever, some fella. I believe in him of righteousness
because I go to my father and you see me no more He ascended
the only one that could ever a sin is one that descended and
that so he said so and that's right He's holy. I'm not he's
righteous. I need him of judgment because
the prince of this world is judged. It's over Rest that's rest. Nothing's else left to be done
What was promised there in Genesis? It was done when He promised
it, because He's God. It's come to pass. It's done.
Rejoice in Him, worship Him, and thank Him, and go on about
your day until He comes, huh? Or in Ephesians 1, it says, In
whom you've also trusted after you heard the word of truth.
The gospel of your salvation in whom? What's the gospel of
our salvation? In whom? It's a person. In whom
also that after you believed you were sealed with that Holy
Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until
the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of
his glory. That's what we're sealed in.
Everybody, that's his, Christians, true ones, those made one with
Christ that he prayed for. That's what he did in us, and
they were sealed. preserved until he comes. Nothing's gonna get at you. You
ain't gonna ruin, you ain't gonna spoil till he comes. There in Ephesians 4, it says,
one hope of our calling. There's one body, one spirit,
even as you are called in one hope of your calling. A believer,
a member of Christ's body, one that's one with Christ, a true
Christian, truly, as God says so. What's their hope? Go to heaven? No. To be right? I found the right church? No.
It's to be made like Christ. I want to be where He is and
I want to be like Him. He's everything. When I was five years old, I
want to be just like my dad. I wanted to wear what my dad
wore. I wanted the same boots he had. I wanted a 25-foot Stanley
tape line on my hip 24 hours a day. I wanted to have all the
tools he had. I wanted to be just like him.
I admired him. That's our hope. That's a believer's
hope. I want to be made like him. And I want to be where he
is. And that's not a wishy hope as we use it nowadays. It's an
expected end. That's it. John said, Beloved,
now, right now, you who want that, he says, right now, we
are the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall
be. That apostle didn't, I don't really have a good handle on
what it's going to look like. I can't draw you a picture. But
we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we
shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this
hope, what hope? Being made like Christ. That's
predestination. Brother John, we talked about
that quite a bit this week. He's gonna preach on that Friday.
Predestination is being made like Christ. He's the destination. He's the capital H Heaven. That's
it. People hate predestination. Don't
you want to be made like Christ? I guess they don't. Every man
that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. He's all you hope, you're holy. Paul wrote to Thessalonica, he
said, but I will not have you be ignorant, brethren, concerning
them which are asleep, that you sorrow not. We had a brother
go home recently. Even as others which have no
hope, he had hope to be conformed to Christ. Paul said in Romans
eight, we know, and we know that all things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are they called according
to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son." Two
B's in italics. He's predestinated, conformed to the image of his
son. That he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover,
whom he did predestinate, he also called. All that hope he
has for us, he called us to it. And whom he called, he justified.
Whom he justified, he glorified. What shall we say to these things?
If God be for us, who can be against us? If he's our expected
end, who can be against you? If somebody has something else,
you can't walk with them. People say, well, we had fellowship
back in. What kind of boat was you in? I mean it. Amos said, can two walk together
except they be agreed? Either you was in the wrong boat
or they was. So brother, I'll hurry that too. We're getting
to one faith. Brother Henry wrote a letter to a fellow there in
Asheville one time, another church, and he said, we don't send our
stuff to people of a different faith. He said, well, there's
one faith. See, you're wrong where I am. That's so. Man sat in my living room one
time, looked at my children and said, well, we're all going to heaven,
we're just going different paths. I said, don't you say that garbage
in this house. There's one way. And it's Christ. He's the way. There ain't another way. What'd they agree on? Two can
walk together except they be agreed. They agree on Christ.
They agree on our hope. They agree on the head of this
body. They agree on the one that sent the spirits, his spirit.
I'm glad for that. One Lord, one body, there's one
spirit. He prayed we'd be one, all of
us, that they have one body, one spirit, even as you're called
and one hope of your calling, one Lord, every one of us that
are one with Christ. David, Abraham, Rahab, Sarah,
you pick a generation, all of us. We're all willing bond slaves
to the King. You're free to go. I ain't chasing nobody in the
parking lot. Let me tell you something, he didn't chase 5,000. You want
to go too? Lord, to whom shall we go? Willing, bore my ear,
I'm yours. Told that cane, that woman, these
scraps will give children's bread to dogs? I'm your dog. I'll take
any crown you feel like giving me. We want to stay, don't we? He's Lord. He's King. That's the Lordship of Christ.
Everybody and their brother go down to the dime store and find
him a savior of some kind or a helper or a co-pilot. I want to hear about your Lord,
who rules and reigns and is the focus of your whole life. He's Lord by decree. The father
made him so should let therefore, therefore, let all the house
of Israel know it surely that God hath made that same Jesus whom
you crucified, both Lord and Christ. He's made him that way. He's the Lord of all creation.
Everything was made by him. He's the Lord of Providence.
Everything's through him. He controls everything. Salvation. Salvations of the
Lord. Is there any difference between
Jonah coming out of that whale's belly and you? For one, that body's the same,
isn't it? For of him and through him and
to him are all things. He's Lord by death. We couldn't have planned that
one either. Romans 14, nine, for to this end, Christ both
died and rose and revived, that he might be Lord both of the
dead and the living. Living's us. And everybody else
said, well, that ain't fair. He's Lord of all. He's Lord of
all. There was an old quote that said,
if he's not Lord of all, he's not Lord at all. People sitting on a fence, I
want to shake that fence. You can't flirt with a sovereign.
He is almighty God, our God is God. One faith. What about that faith? People always talk about their
faith. That's our faith. There's one faith we have. That's
what it says, isn't it? One faith. There in Hebrews 12,
it says, let us run with patience the race that's set before us.
You're going to run by faith. You're going to walk by faith.
You're going to sit still by faith, and you're going to move
or not move by faith that's conduit. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and the finisher of our faith. He authored it. He sustains it.
He finishes it because he's the one who decides when our point
in time is for us to go see. Be made like him. It conformed
to his image. He's the one giver of this faith.
By grace he's saved through faith and that in and of itself is
the gift of God. Not by works. the way you're doing, lest any
man should boast. He's a sustainer of it. I was
so thankful he told Peter, he said, I've prayed. We just looked
at those I haves, there in his prayer, John 17. Luke 22 says,
I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. What a comfort. He's a sustainer of it. And this
one faith that's given by God, that he's the sustainer of, it
looks to one object, the Lord Jesus Christ. We look to Him. Look to Him. Not our experiences,
not our knowledge, not our status, not our face or grace or place
or anything. Look to Him. That ain't no different. Isn't that throughout time? That's
the same, isn't it? What was Job doing? I don't recommend
anybody go make sacrifices, but his kids were stolen to party.
And he went and said, he said, they've sinned against God. I'm
going to beg God for Him to save them. He looked to Christ, didn't
he? Nothing's changed, nothing's
changed. Paul said to Timothy, he said,
I know whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded he's able to
keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. Fully
persuaded. This one faith has the same foundation.
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. What is this faith? Whose is
it? Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the
law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed
in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of
Christ and not by the works of the law, for by the works of
the law shall no flesh be justified. Same faith, one faith, the faith
that Sarah had to conceive. That looks different when we
read it in Genesis, doesn't it? She laughed. The Lord said, she's
going to have a baby. And she laughed. And he asked
Abraham, he said, why is she laughing? She said, I didn't laugh. The
Lord said, faith. Rahab lied to government officials.
The harlot, great faith. David's great faith. He said,
why do y'all scare this uncircumcised Philistine? Give me a couple
of rocks. I'll take five smooth stones
out there. I'll drop him. What's wrong with you? That's the same
one that had spittle running down his beard, wasn't it? Elijah's faith on and on. That's
all the faith of Christ. That's what the Father sees.
Well done, my good and faithful servant. Same faith you have
that believe right now. No different. He said, oh, ye
of little faith. Well, for days I could just drop
and I want to crawl underneath the rock. And there's other days
I want to clap. And I said, you hear that? He said, we have faith.
And if he gave it, that's enough. That's saving faith is what that
is. How could somebody be of a different
faith? Well, you just have a different faith than I do. That's not according
to God's word, is it? One thing. One baptism. Is that by the Holy Spirit? Yes. He comes to you, reveals Christ
to you, only Christ, and that's being baptized into one body. We read in 1 Corinthians 12.
Whether you be Jew, Gentile, bond-free, it don't make no difference.
No matter what you are, who you are, where you are, when you
are, we're baptized by Him into Christ. And that's also in our
physical baptism. That thief on the cross wasn't
baptized. Yes, he was. It was three and a half years
before, wasn't it? He went to John, our Lord did,
John the Baptist. He said, you baptize me. And
he said, Lord, I need baptized of thee. You come to me? And
he said, suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us, me and
you, John, the whole body. You sat in here today that love
him, those in the past, it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. When the Holy Spirit came to
them, they didn't have a chance to physically be baptized. They
were 2,000 years ago. That's what the father's saying. He came up out of that water
and he said, it's my son whom I'm well pleased. That's the
head. What's attached to the head? The whole body, isn't it?
And then what about us? We know this. The Lord commands
it. He said, go in all the world,
preach, make disciples, baptize them, and teach them. in that
order, isn't it? He that believes and is baptized
shall be saved. Not those that were baptized
and then 20 years later, like, well, I know I've come to the
truth now. I've been drawn to Christ. Brought
me to him. Belief comes first, not we're
baptized and that makes us believe. That Ethiopian eunuch looked
at Philip and said, I believe, what must I do to be baptized? He said, you believe? Well, if you do, if he's your
hope and he's your head and it's his spirit and his faith and
everything else, if he's y'all, that's it. And if not, I ain't
baptizing you. You can wait. If you were baptized and believed.
You did not confess Christ and you don't yet know Him. It says,
finally, one God in Ephesians 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. One
God who is above all and through all and in you all. I thought it said that Christ
and the Father was going to abide in us and the Spirit's going
to make His boat there. Yes. That triune God, that thrice
holy God, manifests in a body. The Godhead manifests in a body. That's in us. He physically came
in His body. He was prepared for Him, and
He's in us His body. We're one with Him. One with
Him. It's so common to say, well,
you know, they got their God and Muhammad and this one and
that one or whatever, Buddha. It'll be fine. We all got our,
our God. No, it won't. There's one God,
one father who's above all and through all and in you all. Look
back at John 17 close. Knowing that, see, seeing what
his word says about all these things. Let's read this one more
time. You ready? Verse 20, speaking of those 11,
neither pray I for these alone, not just for these apostles,
but for them also, which shall, shall believe on me through their
word, that they all may be one as thou father are in me and
I in thee, that they also may be one in us. that the world may believe thou
hast sent me. How, how could I be made one
with the Holy God I was brought with? Christ's gonna have come. He's gonna have to be son of
the Father and live for me and bear my wrath and die for me
and be raised for me. Is that any different for you? He's made us one, hasn't he?
I thank him for that. It makes me think that's pretty
good. Father, what a salvation we have.
What a savior. Thank you. Words unimaginable that we're
with him now and he's in us now. As we see this flesh and this
world around us, we know our own thoughts and this body of
death and everything we want to do, we don't do and what we
don't want to do, that's what we do. Which leaves us needy. And that's
a good place to be. Thank you for that, Lord. Thank
you for making us dependent on the one that's worthy. Be with
those that aren't with us, Lord, and give them comfort and draw them
and make them one as Christ has prayed. And it shall happen. Forgive us for what we are. Forgive
us for our wondering and our feebleness. You know our frame,
Lord. Thank you for this day. Keep
Christ on our minds this week. It's in his name that we ask.
Amen.