Ephesians chapter 4, and I address
this message principally to all who profess a saving interest
in Jesus Christ to all who have their affections set on things
above, where Christ is, to all who profess to know Christ or
want to know Christ, all who want to win Christ and be found
in Him, someday be with Christ, to all who desire the sincere
milk of the Word that we're about to open. that you may grow thereby,
grow in grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ. And many things
here in this chapter, many truths which make up the truth, the
gospel, and many exhortations, things I need. That's the reason
I'm bringing it, bringing it to you, because I needed it when
I read it, and I know you do too. All right, look at verse
1, Ephesians 4. Paul says, I, therefore, am the
prisoner of the Lord. Or, I'm a prisoner, Paul says,
because God put me here. The Lord put me in jail. This
is a trial from him, because he's the Lord, and he's the Lord
over all trials. He's the one that brings them
all. He said, I, the Lord, do all these things. I create peace. I make peace. make evil," he
said in Isaiah 45.7, or those things that come upon us that
seem to be evil or bad happenings. Paul was in jail, but he said,
No, this wasn't just circumstance, the Lord put me here. I'm the
prisoner of the Lord. And he was there. Paul was in
jail for preaching the gospel. He wasn't in jail because he
was a criminal. that he was in jail for preaching the gospel.
And that's happened to many preachers of the gospel. He says to us,
I, therefore, I'm a prisoner of the Lord, or I'm in jail for
preaching the gospel, since I have, where I am, in other words, I've
been put in jail for my testimony for Christ. He said, I've been
put in jail. He says, I therefore beseech
you that you would walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you
are called. You see what he's saying there? I'm in jail, he said, for preaching
the gospel. I remember a quotation one time
by an older somebody, some time. who said, if it were a crime
to be a believer, to be a Christian, would there be enough evidence
to convict us? That's a strong statement. A
convicting statement. So Paul says, well, I'm a prisoner
of the Lord. I'm in jail for preaching the
gospel. And he says, so I beseech you that you would walk worthy
of the vocation wherewith you're called. The vocation. What is
the vocation we're called? Well, we're called out of darkness
to walk in light. We're called to be saints, called
to be disciples. Believers are disciples, followers,
adherers, lovers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Believers are disciples of the
Lord Jesus Christ. We're called to be his messengers. We're called to be his saints,
his disciples, his followers. were called into the family of
God, and that's how a man gets into this family. He's called
by God. Verse 2, so I beseech you to
walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called, with all lowliness
and meekness. All lowliness and meekness. Now,
I've met some so-called Christians who were proudest people I've
ever met, kind of strut around. Now, that's not what And they
say things like, I'm proud to be a Christian, or put bumper
stickers all over their car, you know, I ain't religious,
I just love the Lord, you know. Boasting of themselves, bragging,
proud of their religion, and they'll let you know it. You're
just an old sinner, I'll have you know I'm a Christian. If you are a disciple of the
Lord Jesus Christ, you will be like him—meek and lowly. You will realize that you are
what you are by the grace of God. Here is the mark of a true child
of God. They have low thoughts of themselves.
They don't have a high opinion of themselves. They have a low
opinion of themselves, and they have a higher opinion of other
people. You ask them what they are or
who they are, they'll say, I'm a nobody, I'm a nothing. He must increase, I must decrease.
Lowliness and meekness, he said, with longsuffering. See that? Walk with lowliness, meekness,
that is a low opinion of yourself, low thoughts of yourself, high
thoughts of other people, and with longsuffering, forbearing
one another in love. Look back at Galatians, just
a few pages back, Galatians 5. Look back there. Paul says, walk
with lowliness and meekness and be long-suffering, or be patient
with others. Certainly be patient with those
who don't know and understand the gospel, because you are what
you are by the grace of God. Who made you to differ? You know
what you know by the grace of God. What you have, what we have
received, is just that. It's a gift, a revelation. And Henry, you and other people
who were once in religion, and thus once ignorant of the gospel,
are just as lost and just as ignorant and just as blind as
everybody else now, aren't you? And what do you have that you
have not received? So that's the sense of what Paul is saying
there. long-suffering. Be gentle and tender unto those
who don't know the gospel. Chapter 5, look at verse 25. He says, If we live in the Spirit,
let us walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain
glory, provoking one another, envying one another. Verse 1
of chapter 6, Brethren, if a man Although a man be overtaken in
a fault, you which are spiritual, or Christlike, restore such a
one in a spirit of meekness, considering yourself." Whatever
man has fallen into, you could fall into, or however a man he
is, you could still be that way. Consider yourself, lest you also
be tempted. Verse 2, "...bear one another's
burdens, and so fulfill the law." of Christ. If a man thinks himself
to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Like old Brother Bell's illustration,
all of us are just a bunch of zeroes. Just a bunch of zeroes. Zero, zero, no matter how many
zeroes you have together, all a bunch of zeroes. He said the
only thing that adds any worth to a zero is if you put a one
in front of it. That's what we're going to look
at here in chapter four. One Lord. The only thing that makes
me of any value to God or anybody else is there's one in front
of me. The Lord. Him. Christ. I'm in
Him. The only thing that makes me
of any value at all is that one who I am in by God's grace. The scripture says all the law
is fulfilled in one word, love. He says we are to forbear one
another in love. Our Lord said this is the mark
of a true disciple. By this shall all men know you
are my disciples if you have love one to another. That means
active. True evidence of a church, a
body of Christ. God has ordained that his church
be in love, in love with him and in love with one another.
Do not be schisms or divisions or fights or carrying on or bickering. No, he's ordained peace and has
found love among the brethren. And the way to maintain church
is to, verse 3, look at it. Here's the way to maintain this
peace and unity. Verse 3, endeavoring to keep
the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Endeavoring to
keep it. Endeavor means to work at it,
doesn't it? you endeavor to do something, it means you have
to work at it. It says, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit.
Do you need what we have here? Do you need this gospel? I mean, if it's something, like
Paul said, if another come preaching another Jesus whom we have not
preached, you receive another spirit, then go. If it's a better
gospel, if it's a better message out there, one that does you
more good, go. By all means, go. But is there? If you need this and you want
to keep it, you want to keep it. You want this to still be
here years to come for your children's sake? For the community's sake? For
your sake? Do you need this gospel? Do you
need these people? Do you really love these people?
What are you going to do about it? Paul says we need to endeavor
to keep it. We need to work hard at it. Actively
work hard at keeping the unity of the Spirit. The unity of the
Spirit. Spiritual unity. And how does
that start? Or how is that, spiritual unity?
Well, it starts right here. I confess I am the, it starts here. And the spiritual
unity and the unity of the Spirit has got to start right here.
It's got to start with me preaching the gospel. That's the tie that
binds us, isn't it? That binds our heart. If I go
to preach another gospel, then you go someplace else. You do
that. But if I'm preaching the gospel
now, you stay right here. Bear with me. Bear with one another. It starts right here, spiritual
unity, and read on. It says, endeavoring or working
at to keep the unity of the Holy Spirit in the bond of peace. In the bond of peace. Well, James said the fruit of
righteousness is sown in peace by them that make peace. the bond of peace. And Paul admonished
the Corinthian church one time. He said, listen to this, he said,
Brethren, I couldn't speak unto you as spiritual, but as carnal.
Babies in Christ, I fed you with milk and not with meat, for because
hitherto you were not able to bear it, and neither now are
you able. You're carnal. He says, because
there's envy and strife and divisions. He said, doesn't that make you
fleshly and carnal instead of spirit, walk like men of this
world, bickering and fighting? He admonished them back then
for those reasons. And that doesn't, thank God,
that doesn't apply to this church, at least not at the moment. But
if there are bickerings and divisions and schisms and fightings and
and divisions, and doesn't that make us carnal? Doesn't that
make us like everybody else? There ought to be a bond of peace,
a bond of peace. And we need to endeavor, he says,
to keep this unity of the Holy Spirit. Now we know without him
we can do nothing. Without his Holy Spirit we can
do nothing. Scripture says we can breathe the Spirit, though,
doesn't it? So we can grieve the Spirit.
Well, we need to surrender our own
rights and opinions and this and that and the other, endeavoring
to keep this unity, to keep this thing bound together. Let's bind
our hearts with an oath. What do you say? Anybody take
it with me? Bind our hearts with an oath
by the grace of God to endeavor to keep this unity here. of the
Spirit. Would you go with me? Who's on
the Lord's side? Who's with me in this time? Who
needs this gospel? Who needs this church? Who needs
these people? Who wants it to remain here? Well, let's do what
we can to keep it so. And cursed be the one who soweth
discord or who disturbs this peace. I say curse Don't let it ever
be said of you or me. Look at verse four now. He said
there's one body. Now either this is God's church
or it's not. Right? I mean, it is either it is or it
isn't. If it's not, it stands as a false one. Right? There's no borderline churches. is one body. One body. Now there are many local assemblies,
but it's one church. One church. And one Spirit. That's the one who holds it together.
The one Holy Spirit. One Spirit. It's not, I know
what they're saying out there in the world. You do too. You're
hearing them talk about the Holy Spirit and all that going on,
that stuff. That's not the Holy Spirit. Our
Lord made it plain in John 14, John 16, that when the Spirit
comes, he'll preach Christ. He won't make people act like
wild men. It's the other way around. He'll
take wild men and make them act like civil people. Sit them down. Shut their mouths. Make them
listen and worship from the heart, not hands and all this crap. Yeah, I said it. There's one Spirit, and he does
one thing. He brings the body together to
hear the gospel and to worship Christ, even as you're called.
That's how you were called, by this one Spirit. Look at it,
verse 4. You were called this one way. That's the only way
you ever hoped to be called, by this Spirit. And you're not
going to call unless he calls you. Right? I look into the faces of some
ladies and some men who were out there in the world and the
honky-tonks and this and that and the other, you know, running
wild. If the Lord had one day called
you, stopped you, and said, Stop right there. Here the two of
you come no further. You're coming to Christ. You're
coming to where the gospel is. You're going to hear that gospel,
and I'm going to save you. There's no other hope, is there?
No other hope. My hope was that he called me.
It's the only hope anybody has. Do you need this gospel? It's
the only hope your children have. The only hope your children have,
the only hope, if God stops their wild career, calls them by the
gospel. Do you need this blessing? To my knowledge, I just really
don't know another preacher here in town that's preaching this
gospel. or within a several mile radius, really. One hope of your
calling, one, here it is, here's the hope, here's the call, verse
one, or verse five. One Lord. Buddy, we preach a
Jesus who is Lord. We don't just say it. We declare
it. It's not just a silly byword
that we, you know, sounds real religious We mean it. We worship
him as such. He is Lord. Not one you make
Lord. He's one that God made Lord before
this whole shooting match ever had a beginning. He's Lord. He's Lord by rights. He's Lord
by creation. He created all. The one that
made all this is Lord. That's what the scripture says
of Christ. He's Lord by decree. God said it in Psalm 8, I will
declare the decree, thou art my son, your Lord, your Lord. He said it in Hebrews 1, didn't
he? Under the sun he saith, thy throne,
O God, is forever. He's Lord. He's God. He's Lord
by death. In Romans chapter 14, he says
in verse 9, to this end Christ both died, rose, and revived,
that he might be Lord. He earned the right. Barnard
says he bought the right to own all human beings. He's Lord,
both of the dead and the living, and everything and everyone is
in his sovereign hands to do it as he pleases. And the Scripture
says he's got the keys of hell and death right there. What he
opens, no man can shut. What he shuts, no man can open.
He's Lord. Life, death, all things. Read on. One Lord, and that really
is the one thing. That's what we all believe, isn't
it? One thing. We all believe the same thing.
Same thing. Not like that fellow asked another
fellow one time, what do you believe? He said, I believe what
my pastor preaches. He said, what does he believe?
He said, he believes what the church believes. He said, well,
what does the church believe? He said, we all believe the same
thing. But we can tell what we believe. We can give a reason
for the hope to with fear. We can tell what we believe,
or rather who we believe. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed. Churches and so-called out there
today are saying, Jesus is Lord. Well, is he or isn't he? Is he or isn't he? Describe
your Lord to me. They say, well, he wants to save
and you can't. That ain't much of a Lord to
me. Try saying that to King Solomon, the most powerful man on the
face of the earth. Well, King Solomon, I just might let you
be my king, and I might not." King Solomon says, have his head
cut off. You don't make Jesus anything. You don't let Jesus. Tell me
about your Lord. Ask people to tell them about
their Lord. Well, he tried to save, and his
blood won't save anybody unless they believe on him. That ain't
much of a Lord, is it? That ain't much of a Lord who
tries and fails. Well, we know whom we have believed.
Paul said, I know whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded he's
able to save. He doesn't try. He does it. He saves. He saves. And we know what we believe,
too. I can tell you, you can tell others exactly what you
believe. What is your faith? It's a who, isn't it? First,
it's a who. We believe a person. We believe
in a person and his work. But what do you believe about
this person? Can you tell people what you believe? Hmm? What do
you believe? Now, just what is it you preach?
What is it you believe? Well, I'll tell you what we believe
and what we preach. I'll tell you what this one faith
is, that all God's people everywhere believe the same way. I'll tell
you what it is. Number one, it's that God is God. God is, and
what do you mean He's God? He's holy. Everything about Him is holy.
He doesn't do anything except holy things. His love is holy. He doesn't love anything but
holy things. His love is so. Everything about God is holy,
first and foremost. God is sovereign. That means
he does as he pleases. He does as he pleases. And when
he speaks, it's done. When he says it, it's done. Whatever
he purposes, he does it. He's sovereign. Everything's
in his hands. God is sovereign. What do you believe? Man's dead.
You mean dead? He can't do anything? That's
exactly what I mean. He's dead. He can't do anything. Unless God elects him to do something. God forechooses him before the
world began. God purposes for him to do something. I believe God has an elect people.
And we believe that God gave all these elect people to Christ
to do something for them they couldn't do for themselves. Come
down and establish a righteousness, shed his blood to pay for their
sins, and do it all. And everybody he did it for,
they're going to be saved. Yeah, because he sends the Holy Spirit
to round them all up. He rounds them all up, and they
all hear this gospel, and they have their eyes open, their ears
open, and they call on Christ, they repent, they believe, they
come to Christ, and they stay there. They stay there. They
don't leave. Why? Because God's God. Because
Christ died for them. He said, I give unto thee. They'll
never perish. They'll never leave. No man's going to... No man!
No thing, nothing's going to pluck them out of my hand. Where's
his hand? It's his body. It's his church. That's where
the gospel is. Nothing and no one's going to
move them. And they'll remain faithful in a few things until
the end. Until he comes. And then he's
going to come and gather them together. And all of them will
be with the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord. What do
you believe? I believe God is God. I believe
Christ is Lord. One baptism, verse 5. One baptism. Baptism is the way that we confess
Him. Right here. This is what the
Lord said, do this in confession of Him. Every believer gets in
that pool right there. Everyone that believes this one
Lord, believes the same way about Him. Christ said, you get in
that pool before the community before everyone to tell them,
this is how you're going to tell everybody that you believe me. You're going to say that when
Christ was buried, I was buried. All my hope, all my salvation,
everything about my salvation depends upon Jesus Christ dying,
living, dying for my sins. When he rose from the grave,
I rose with him. Now where he is now, I'm seated
with him. I'm accepted with God. That's
it. That's how we confess. One, dunk
him. Nobody I know that's ever been
buried has ever had dirt just thrown in their face. You know
anybody? We're going to bury so-and-so
so we get a little thing of dirt and throw it in their face. They
call that baptism today, don't they? Sprinkling? No, you've
got to bury that body. You've got to bury that body.
Down. Under the dirt. Immersion. That's
what baptism means. All right, verse 6. He says there's
one God. One God and Father of all, who
is above all and through all and in you all. Talking to believers,
isn't he? Remember that. Back in chapter
1, he says to the saints at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ
Jesus, he says, One God, and Father of all, who
is above all, and through all, and in you all. In you all. All his children look like him.
All his children look like him. He's like the Williamses there.
The next baby comes along, you don't need to wonder what it's
going to look like. You don't need to wonder, it's going to
be a Williams. That's all he produces, is to
look like him. That's all God produces, too. They look like
him. God's people. One guy, he's the
father of all. They talk about him. They have
the same father. They all know him as such. They all know him
as God. Like I was just saying, holy,
sovereign, immutable, omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient, sovereign,
merciful, grace, love, They all know him the same way. They don't
have different conceptions of God. They've got the same Father,
and he teaches them all the same way. Same way. Just like Rick Perry is going
to teach all his daughters. Maybe his son. Maybe his son
is going to teach them all the same way. Same thing. They're
all going to understand one thing. He's a boss. Daddy is boss. Right? And that's what all God
teaches his children, and they ought to come to Christ. Christ
is the only way to approach them. All right, verse 7. And he says,
unto every one of us. Us. You see that? Us. This one body. This one body. These who have this one Lord,
who have this one faith, who have been baptized one way, who
have the same Father who is in us all. Every one of us. is given something. Something
we need bad. Something we need to be saved
by. Something we need to be kept by. Something he's got a lot of,
and we need a lot of it. He giveth grace. Grace. I saw some of you smile at the
very mention of the word. Grace. Every one of us He's giving
grace. Grace. Ah, by the grace of God
I am what I am. You're looking at grace personified
people. I've told you many times that
story of that young man sitting on that park bench after an all-night spree and
fell asleep on an old bench. And the sign behind him, it said,
you're at the southernmost tip of the United States. As low
as he could go, not only physically, but spiritually. Now here I is. Here I stand. By the grace of
God, I am what I am. Fell 65 feet off a building,
landed on my back on concrete. By the grace of God, I am what
I am. Know what I know. Can do what
I can do. Believe what I believe. Have
repented by the grace of God. Everything is by His grace. By
His grace. Every one of us, every one of
the children of God is saved the same way. By grace are you
saved. Through faith, yes, but that's
not of yourself. That's grace too. That's grace too. Every one of
us is given, isn't it? Are you given grace? Everybody
here. According to the, who has it?
Verse 7, according to the measure of the gift of Christ, he's the
one that's got it. Joseph's in charge of the storehouses. Can't
wait to get to that stand. I just can't wait to get there.
In Genesis. Joseph is in charge of the storehouses
of grace. He has it all. See, all the grace
of God is in Christ Jesus. He has it all. He's the one that
gives it. He's the one that gives it. He
decides who gets it, how much, when they get it. The gift of
Christ. Wherefore? Verse 8. He's saying
it. He said that over in Psalm 68.
He said when he ascended up on high, that is when Christ arose
from the grave and went back to the throne. He led captivity
captive. I like that. Would you like that,
John? He led captivity captive. Who's that? Well, let me read
it to you real fast. It says over here in 2 Timothy,
if I can find it fast enough, it says that God gave some men to preach
the gospel, to give repentance, to acknowledge of the truth,
that they that people might recover themselves out of the snare of
the devil who are taken captive by him and his will. and all his demons. Chains around
there, kept in chains, reserved in everlasting darkness until
that great day. He led captivity captive, led
my sins captive, led captivity captive. And look at verse 8
again. He gave some gifts unto men.
He gave gifts when he ascended upon high. Now verse 9 and 10
is just declaring that, who was it that Who was it that ascended? Well, if he ascended, that's
the same one who came down. That means that he was before. Paul's just declaring that he
was God first, not just a man. He couldn't whip the devil, couldn't
whip me. It's Jesus today, can't whip
a flea. And so Paul's saying he's the one that came down.
He came down. And we see Jesus made a little
lower than the angels for the suffering of death. Boy, we seem
higher than that now, don't we? We must. Well, he's the same
one, the one that came down, the one that ascended up on the
throne. All right? Verse 11. Now it says, When he
went back to heaven, before he left, he gave gifts unto men. He said, I'm leaving. It's expedient
that I go," he said, but I won't leave you comfortless. He said,
I'll not leave you to yourself. He said, the comforters will
come, and he will come in various forms. And look at it now, here,
verse 11. He said, when he ascended, he
gave gifts unto men. He gave some apostles. He handpicked,
Roberta, he handpicked twelve men before he left, and left
them here. He said, Preach the gospel in
all the world. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. Go, preach the gospel. Spread it throughout all the
world. Wait, Lord, wait, don't go. Twelve fishermen, about ten,
anyway. Don't go all over the world. Wait a minute, we can't do it.
He said, it's not going to be easy. Don't get ball puffed up
and worried. It's not you. My Spirit's going
to come and And through you and through writing and through the
scriptures, it is going to spread everywhere. Don't worry, just
do what I said. And John was the last one. There
are no more prophets. I was watching TV then. You know,
Winston-Salem is the most religious place on earth. I mean, it's
awful. I thought this was. No, that is. Every channel you turn on TV,
there's somebody, some preacher. And well, they had on that program,
I turned it on Sunday afternoon, I believe it was, and a big dramatic
thing came on and said, the prophets are coming. The prophets are
coming. You know, that dramatic music. The prophets are coming. And
then they'd show them one by one, these prophets. They all
had their collar around their necks, you know. and want to
be Prophet David something, something, and Prophet Jim something, something,
and Prophet Bill something, something, and Prophet Paul something, something,
and Prophet Isaiah something, something, and Prophet Mary something,
something, and Prophet, and on and on it went like that. Just
on and on. Just prophets. They should have
put P-R-O-F-I-T. The prophets are coming for profit. For a profit. They won't come
unless you pay them handsomely. But there are no more prophets. There are none. John was the
last one. Peter said it, didn't he? Peter said it. We have a more sure, now we have
a more sure word of prophecy. Where until you do well to take
heed. If people had read the scriptures, they'd realize those
fellows aren't That's what we're going to see
here in Ephesians 4. If people had just read the scriptures
and not listened to those P-R-O-F-I-T's, they'd see those fellows aren't
P-R-O-P-H-E-T's. They're not prophets. They're
false prophets. Christ said many false prophets
would come. How are you going to know? Peter
said, We have a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do
well to take heed, as a light in a dark place. A light in a dark place. You
see, the Bible was being written when the prophets were around.
The Bible wasn't fulfilled. The Bible wasn't written when
the prophets were around. Now we've got it all. What do
we need with a prophet? Well, here's the next gift he
gave. He said he gave some evangelists, and we need those evangelists. And whenever a man comes in here
from somewhere else and preaches the gospel, he's doing the work
of an evangelist. I don't care what they call Billy
Graham. He's not preaching the gospel. But we've heard some
evangelists who come in here and preach the gospel, this one
Lord, this one faith, this one baptism, this one hope of your
calling. We've heard some men come in
here from afar off with the good news. They've got pretty feet,
don't they? Beautiful feet. They're evangelists. You sent me down to Winston-Salem
to do the work of an evangelist. That's what that pastor kept
calling me the whole time I was there. Well, then he gave some
pastors and teachers. See that? Pastors and teachers. Yeah, pastors and teachers. He's got a church, and he's the
shepherd, the chief shepherd, the great shepherd, the one shepherd,
and he gives under-shepherds. He says, Go, feed my sheep. He
said, I'll give you pastors. after my own heart. They'll feed
you with knowledge and understanding. They won't entertain you. They'll
feed you. They won't make you laugh, attempt
to make you laugh. They won't be clowns. They'll
be feeders. Feeders. They feed the sheep.
Pastors. That's, see, after my own heart.
That's what my son did, the chief shepherd. He fed his sheep, didn't
he? When Christ came, the shepherd, what did he do? Song and dance. he fed his sheep. He fed them
with knowledge and understanding. 4. Why? This is what they're
for. Verse 12. For the perfecting of the saints,
I really have to hurry, I'm taking too long. He gave these men for
the perfecting of the saints, that is, maturing. The maturing,
that's what the word perfect means, mature. for the perfecting
of the saints, for the maturing of the saints, for the work of
the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Till we
all come," what? To have the biggest church in
town. No. No. That we might win more souls
to Jesus. No, that's not it. Till we all
come, verse 13, into this unity of the faith. to know, to be
found in, to be accepted in, to trust, to believe that same
one, Jesus Christ, the knowledge of the Son of God. A perfect
man. He's a perfect man. And would
you be perfect? Study Christ. Hear Christ. Believe
Christ. The measure, the stature, the
fullness of Christ. And he says not only do we need
to know him and be found in him and trust him and believe him,
we need to be like him. And preachers are to preach the
whole counsel of God, man's responsibility and the things that Christ's
doctrine, everything he taught us, that we might grow to be
like Christ. We need to be found in Christ
and we need to be like Christ, don't we? We need to be found
in Christ by faith, and we need to be like Christ. Verse 14, we don't need to be
children, that we henceforth be no more children. Oh, Paul
said we need to be children in malice, that is, you know, not
be so quick to get angry and hold a grudge and do things in
malice and spite and strife. Adults only do that. Children
quickly get over it. They might have a fight, they
might have a disagreement, but they quickly get over it and
they're bosom buddies. You know, little children can
get in an argument with one another, and a fight, I mean a fist fight,
and the parents get into it to pray. Well, lo and behold, the
children end up making up, and the parents are lifelong enemies,
right? Who's the child? And who's the
adult? Who's the mature one? Well, he
said, don't be children in that respect. Be children in malice. or not having any. But be men
in understanding. Don't be no children anymore.
Toss to and fro. You know, children are easily
misled. They're easily misled. I can take our young people.
I could jerk a profession of faith out of these kids. There's
no doubt in my mind. I could do it just as well as
these soul winners. I could have Andrew running up
here crying. show him a film on hell and scare
him to death. Couldn't they? That's evil. That's the slight
of me. That's cunning craftiness, whereby
they lay in wait to deceive. And he says to adults, he's talking
to adults here, don't be tossed to and fro, up and down. You know, a mature person is
a person who's on the even key on it. Listen to me. Just a couple more minutes, okay?
Just a couple more minutes. Spiritual maturity is staying
the same. Spiritual maturity is staying
the same. By that, I mean you believe the
same one. the same. I believe the same
way I did when God first saved me, like Todd's article. And I trust the same one. I haven't
risen above that. I trust Christ and him alone
for salvation. My salvation depends on him alone,
righteous as blood, the same one. Well, Christ said we need to be faithful
in a few things. Be faithful to a few things. Responsibility. What is my responsibility
as a member of the church? What is your responsibility?
To be faithful. To be here. To be here. That's the person
that will remain the same. And it all gets back to the Word.
I tell you, if you're out from under it, you're going to be
weak and malnourished and be close to them, brother, and show
signs of sickness and this and that and the other. And children
are easily misled and fooled and easily swayed and easily
convinced. If you are out from under the Word, you are going
to be easily convinced by, read on, every wind of doctrine that
comes along. Preacher, I heard, I heard, I
was listening to a fellow the other day Boy, he said some good
things, now you need to hear that fella. I know, we just studied
that in the scriptures the other day. Yeah, we studied. What'd
he say? He says that, yeah, we just studied
that. I could have told you that before he said it. Now, I'll
tell you what's wrong with that. Let's look at it from the Word
of God. You see, out from under the Word, you'll be tossed to
and fro everywhere in the doctrine that comes along with it. Yeah,
but, but, but, but, but, what's said in the Scripture? to every wind of doctrine. That's
all we do here in it. Vicki, what do we do here other
than this? We haven't got a quartet or choir
or clown shows and puppet shows for our kids. What are we doing
here? This is all we're doing, every time. We open up the Word
of God. What else is there? What better
is it? How's anybody going to get anything
else elsewhere? Isn't this it? And we're going
verse by verse. We've gone through every epistle
in the New Testament since I've been here in six years. Verse
by verse, word line upon line, line upon line, precept upon
precept, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little,
here a little, there a little. On and on we go. Haven't we? Why? That we might grow up, look at
verse 15, in truth. Read it. Speaking the truth in
love, we might grow up into him in all things. And you see, Christ
is the theme of everything we say and do here. Why? We need
to believe Christ. We need to trust Christ. We need
to put all our faith in Christ. Him alone, not me, not you, not
anything else, but Him and Him alone. To grow up in Him, grow
in faith and knowledge of the Son of God, grow in Him, grow
up into Him in all things. He's the Head, He's the Head,
even Christ. And from Him, verse 16, and I'll
quit with it, from Him, from Christ, the whole body is fitly
joined together. And a while ago I said this is
his church. Verse 3 says the unity of the
Spirit. Verse 13, unity of the Spirit,
unity of the faith. Verse 16, joined together. I tell you, what God has joined
together, there better be no man trying to put us under for
any reason. And this whole thing, this body
is fitly joined together by He decided whose where. Compacted
by that, and every joint supplies something. Yes, we need everybody. Just because you're not the eye
and you're just a toe doesn't mean you're not important. Believe
me, toes are very important. According to the effectual working
in the measure of every part, in other words, if a If the toe is sore, the whole
body will be sore. So don't be a sore toe. Don't be an old sore toe. If your toe is sore, don't let
it on like it is anyway. But every joint supplies what?
What are we supplying? What are we trying to do? The
effects are working. Verse 16. Hurry. Every part makes
increase of the body under the edifying of itself in love. Gathering
together, building, serving, edifying, administering. Let this mind be in you. Yeah,
but you don't know. I just haven't got the attention
on it. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus,
who took the servant. Thought it not robbery to be
equal with God, but took upon himself the form of a servant,
made in the likeness of sinful flesh, spit on, despised, rejected."
This is the love we're supposed to have. Whether we get any in
return, we're supposed to show it. And it's truly more blessed
to give than to receive. I guarantee you from God's Word,
if you show enough love, you're going to get some. I guarantee you, if you gather
together, you're going to be helped at some point. If you
do some helping, you're going to be helped. Guarantee it. Guarantee
it. All right, let's stand and be
dismissed.