Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4. We'll read
the first 16 verses here in this chapter. Ephesians chapter 4. I therefore the prisoner of the
Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith
you are called with all lowliness and meekness with long-suffering
forbearing one another in love endeavoring to keep the unity
of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 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, through all, and in you all. But unto every one
of us is given grace, according to the measure of the gift of
Christ. Wherefore, when he saith, when
he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts
unto men. Now that he ascended, what is
it but that he also first descended, he had to come down before he
could go up, first into the lower parts of the earth. He that descended,
the one that came down, is the same also that ascended up far
above all heavens that he might fill all things. These are gifts
that he gave. And he gave some apostles, some
prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers for the
perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for
the edifying of the body of Christ, 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 and wait to deceive.
but speaking the truth in love may grow up into him in all things
which is the head even Christ from whom the whole body fitly
joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplies
according to the effectual working in the measure of every part
maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. Let me again here in Ephesians
4 Ephesians 4 and I want you to look in verse 15 with me where
I'm gonna get my subject. Verse 15 where I'm gonna get
my subject. But speaking the truth in love. Speaking the truth in love. That's my subject. You know we
speak the truth. We know we know the truth. John
said we know that He has come and has given understanding that
we may know Him that is true and that we're in Him that is
true. And our Lord Jesus Christ said he is the truth. He himself
is the truth. And so I'm very concerned about
how I communicate to people. That's what preaching is. It's
communicating. It's communicating. It's taking
what God said and just telling everybody what God's already
said. That's what Scott used to say. Just take what God said
and just tell it over again. And that's what we want to do.
We speak the truth in love. And when the Apostle tells us
to speak truth in love, he means for us to hold the truth. Hold the truth in love. Hold
it. Now don't compromise the truth. Hold to that truth. Cherish that
truth. He means also to maintain that
truth. Continue to maintain the truth. Hold to the truth. Maintain the
truth. Maintain it all the days of your life. Do like Paul said,
I fought a good fight, I finished my course, and I kept the faith.
I kept the faith. And also, it also means this,
speaking the truth means living the truth. Living according to
the truth that you know. It's, you know, to say that God
is sovereign and that He rules all things and everything He
does is for the right and good in your life. And then for us
to turn around and complain about our lot in life, that's not living
the truth. That's not living the truth at
all. We take what God gives us and we receive it and we're thankful
for it. And if we've got anything to
say about it, we'll say it privately to the Lord. But publicly, we
live the truth. We're not going to say one thing
about God in private and then go out in public and say something
else about Him. That's not the way it's done.
And then so it also means this speaking the truth, but it's
emphasis. His emphasis is in love. or dispense the truth in a deceitful
spirit. Paul says, you know, that's what
he told the Corinthians. He says, you know, he said, there
are those who hold the truth in deceit and hold the truth.
And he says, that's not the way we do. That's not the way we
do. We don't hold the truth in a deceitful spirit. and try to
make people like us because we want to say something to suit
their fancy or whatever. And we certainly, certainly,
by God's grace, don't want to speak the truth in anger, in
anger. And Peter said it this way, don't
use your liberty, don't use the Word of God in your right, in
your position in preaching the Word or teaching the Word as
a cloak for maliciousness. In other words, to say things
and treat people in a way to get even with them or address
them over something you think's wrong and use your liberty, your
freedom as a cloak to be malicious to somebody and show your maliciousness
for someone. But I do know this, I know this
without a shadow of doubt, where there's just plain nothing but
doctrinal orthodoxy without love being in it. It's cold and it's
lifeless and it's like my uncle used to say, it's like a hobbled
elephant going through dry leaves, just makes a lot of noise. And
Paul's instruction here is that sound teaching should be held,
handled, maintained, and lived in a loving, loving spirit. And
that's what he says in verse 14, that we henceforth be no
more children. Time to grow up is what he's
saying. We don't want to be children anymore, tossed to and fro, carried
about with every wind of doctrine, everything that comes through.
Is this right? Is that right? Is this true? Is that true? And
by the slight of men, men using their slight ways and their cunning
ways, they want to try to deceive people, but speaking the truth
in love. And here's the reason that he
uses in verse 15, but speaking the truth in love may grow up
into Him, into Christ, which is the head, we may grow up,
become mature. And where do we grow up at? Not
just in doctrine, not in the church, but in grow up into Christ,
grow up into Christ Himself, grow up in a knowledge of Christ,
in a love for Christ, in faith for Christ, and patience and
then the gentleness and the goodness and the perseverance and the
obedience that it's in Christ all the things it's in Christ
that grow up in him in these things and he's the head we're
just the body so we want to grow up in him and just imagine you
know you want your children to grow up and be certain ways this
is what Paul said I want you to grow up but I want you to
grow up in Christ I want you to grow up in him So you become a full man in the
fullness of the stature of Christ. In the fullness of the stature
of Christ. Oh may God the Holy Spirit help me today to say some
things about this. Now I want to start back up here
in verse 1 and tell you why we did Paul's talks about speaking
the truth in love. Verse 1, look what he says here.
I therefore the prisoner of the Lord. Now this man is in being
held in captivity. And they led him right, and he
said, I beseech you, I implore you, that you walk worthy of
the vocation where you're with your God. And that word vocation
means our profession, our profession. Somebody asks you what your vocation
is, you tell them what you do. And Paul says, I want you to
walk worthy of the vocation, the profession that God's called
you to. He's called you to a vocation.
He's called you to a profession. And that profession is our Lord
Jesus Christ. He is our profession. I profess
Him, trust Him, and that's what He's talking about. Walk worthy
of this calling. Walk worthy of this profession
that He's called you to give, and this profession that we've
made in our Lord Jesus Christ. And then He goes down here and
says, and here's the reason why, because we're all one in Christ.
Walk worthy of this, of our profession. Look down in verse 4. And here's
why we speak the truth in love because we're all one in Christ.
You know how many times this says one here and why it says
one is because you can't get confused when there's just one.
And people they darken counsel with words and I tell you what
you cannot make it simpler or plainer than what Paul is here.
One, one, one, one, one, one. he says there's one body that's
why we're one in Christ there's only one body you know you can
whatever name you want to go by there's one body and that
body is that body is of Christ that body is Christ he's the
head of the body and so we're the body of Christ and since
we're all in the same body and that's why because we're one
in Christ and have this one body and we're all members of that
one body and we join together in Christ that's why we maintain
this blessed truth and hold this truth and live this truth and
speak the truth to honor and glorify our blessed head. We
want to honor our head You know what and I and this happens look
over to your right to Colossians chapter 3. You know if you look
at a picture when you know and you and you get a picture of
people all together oh you know you're in a group and you have
people take a picture of a group you know who the first person
you look for when you look in that picture? yourself. And then
you look, see how you look. If you're, oh, if it's a good
picture or a bad picture. And you look at your face, you
look at your head. Well, that's what Paul said. Christ is our
head. He's the one we look to. He's
the one we admire. He's the perfection of what we're
all aiming for and not what we are in him. And He said here
in Colossians 3 talking about it's from Him that we have our
life. We're in one body. For you are dead and your life
is hid with Christ in God. Dead to the world, dead to sin,
dead to the flesh even as far as God's concerned. For you are
dead and your life is hid with Christ in God. Now that's our
life, right? when Christ who is our life and
you can take the who out of there because in italics when Christ
our life shall appear then shall we also appear with him in glory
so you see we're one in Christ and that's why we speak the truth
that's why we want to hold the truth to honor our blessed head
now back over here again in Ephesians 4 look what else it says There's
one body and there's one spirit, one Holy Spirit, just one spirit. There's not all kinds of different
spirits out here doing different things and showing different
ways. There's not a spirit that makes you act one way and another
spirit makes you act another way. The spirit, when he comes,
he brings the things of Christ and teaches them to us and shows
them to us and reveals them to us. And this is how we got in
the body of Christ. Look in 1 Corinthians 12, 13.
Look at 1 Corinthians 12, 13. This is how we got in the body
of Christ. You see, it's the Spirit that
quickened us from the dead. It was the Spirit that gave us
and does give us a knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. And
He, if we learn anything about Christ today, it's the Spirit
that's going to do it. It's not my voice. if all my
voice is oh i heard barner say one time and i've heard henry
say it time again if my voice is all you hear it won't do you
any good but if you hear the voice of christ through the holy
spirit then you'll be blessed of god and you'll learn something
and god will teach you something but look what he said here in
first corinthians 12 13 says, For by one Spirit," There we
go, one Spirit. Are we all baptized into one
body? Oh, what body? The Spirit of
God takes us and puts us in the body of Christ, and He puts us
where He wants us. We might be an ear, we might
be a finger, we might be a knee, we might be an elbow, But everybody
can't be a head, everybody can't be an eye, everybody can't be
a voice. I got ten fingers and ten toes, two eyes, two ears,
one nose, one mouth, and we all can't be the same type members
of a body. Everybody's got a place in the
body of Christ. You might be a little toe, but
what difference does it make? You're in the body. Everybody
can't be a chief and everybody else just, you know, everybody
can't be the chief and that's what he's telling us here. How do you get in Christ? The
Spirit takes us and immerses us, puts us into the body of
Christ, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be a bondman
or a free man, whether we've all been made to drink into one
Spirit. Oh, you see that? And not only
does the Spirit put us into this body of Christ, but He helps
us with our infirmities. We don't even know what we ought
to pray for sometimes. We don't know how to pray sometimes.
And sometimes our infirmities get so bad that the Holy Spirit
helps us with our infirmities, with the things that's wrong
with us. And look what He said here again in Ephesians 4, 4.
He said there's one body, one spirit, and oh, I love this,
and one hope. And what is that hope? One hope
of your calling. You know, when God called us,
he all called us to the same hope. What is your hope? And
hope has to always do with the future. When you find hope in
the New Testament, it has to do with the future, it has to
do with the resurrection, it has to do with our future life.
And so we've been called by the Holy Spirit, been called by Christ
into one body, by one spirit, and with one hope. I have one
hope in this world and that's to by the grace of God enter
into glory with the Lord Jesus Christ one of these days and
be made perfect in Him. Finished up with this life, finished
up with this body, finished up with the labor, finished up with
sin, finished up with everything that's wrong with me and be finally
fully completely in the presence. That's my hope, blessed hope
he called it. is the glorious appearing of
our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now that's a blessed
hope. That's the hope of my calling.
And we all got this same calling. When God called us, he called
us to Christ. He called us to faith in Christ.
He called us to unity in Christ. He called us to love in Christ.
And one of these days, all those things are going to be fulfilled
and perfected in Christ. That's what our calling is. Huh? Ain't that what God said, for
whom he did foreknow, them he also did predestinate, them he
did predestinate, them he also what? Called. Whom he called,
he also justified. Whom he justified, and this is
in the past tense, he also glorified. We're just waiting, we're just
waiting for past tense to come. But it's done, and oh, our hope
is the same. Our hope of eternal life, our
hope of eternal glory. And it's a good hope through
grace, and our hope is the anchor of our soul. Me and Doogie was
talking yesterday, you know, and yesterday was the second
anniversary of Mary being gone. Second year, I looked at the
clock last night and knew exactly what time it was. Thought of
it all day. Surely knew it. Me and Duke talked
about it. And you know what Duke said?
He said, I can remember that day. And I remember being so
happy that it was over for her. And he said, and I remember when
we gathered for the celebrate, the celebration. of her entering
into glory. And he don't even know Christ.
And he said, that's what he said. The celebration of gathering
with the Lord's people and celebrating. And that's what it was, this
celebration. You know why? Her calling was done. It's empty.
It's gone. It's finished. She's never had
another thought of this world, of me, of her children, of the
gospel. She's never had another thought
of this life. And that's what our calling is.
but I'm sorry. Bless your heart. I know, I know
it's tough. I know, I know it's tough. Bless
your heart. But oh my, ain't it, ain't it
wonderful? That's what we're going to do.
Some of you are closer to it than I am. Your mama, she just
looks so forward every time she leaves. She said, boy, I'm closer
than I was, closer than I was. Oh, I tell you what, when the
Lord calls us home, it's going to be wonderful, wonderful. And
then look what else he says here. One body, one spirit if you call
him, one hope if you call him, one Lord. Oh, we speak the truth
and hold the truth, maintain the truth, live the truth because
we have one Lord. One Lord. And oh, our Lord is
sovereign. He's immutable. We have one master,
just one master, don't we? Just one blessed master who orders
all things for our good. I was talking with my neighbor
the other day and we was talking He said, God don't mean nothing
but good for us, does he? I said, yeah. I don't care if
it goes against us and everything we hold dear to our lives. He
said, he's good. And he is. Our master orders
all things for our good. Don't he? Do you think he means
to hurt us? Do you think he means to make
our life tough and miserable? No, he means good for us. There was an old, old preacher
that lived, outlived the apostles and his name was Polycarp. You
can look for him in history and they had a profession for 86
years, so that meant he was old, old, old man. And the Caesars,
you know, there's so many Caesars, and they were the emperors over
Rome, and he commanded Polycarp to call him Lord and bow down
to him. Oh, Polycarp said, No, I ain't
gonna do that. He said, Yes, you will. He said,
No, I won't. He said, 86 years I've served my master 86 years. My Lord has been nothing but
good to me, and I'm not going to dishonor him by bowing to
anybody but him. And they killed him. They killed
him. And now listen, and I tell you
beloved, this one Lord, this sovereign, immutable, gracious
God of heaven. And then look what else, you
know, since we have one Lord, look what it says. We have one
faith. One faith. What is this faith he's talking
about here? Now, this faith that he's talking about here is not
a creed or not a system of doctrine he's talking about. He's talking
about our experience of faith, the faith that we've experienced
in our heart, the faith we've experienced and trust in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now that's what, you know, we
all have the same faith. Some people have more than others.
But our Lord said if you have faith of a grain of mustard seed,
that's enough. You ever seen a mustard seed?
You just barely can see it. But he said if you have that,
that's enough. I'd rather have little faith than have no faith.
And I don't, I've never, I don't know if anybody's ever claimed
to have great faith. there's some people in this two
people in the scriptures that our lord said oh i've never seen
such great faith in all of israel but oh my beloved but we believe
we believe god has brought faith to our hearts and we've experienced
faith And this faith that we've experienced is what causes us
to cast ourselves on Christ entirely and completely with all of everything
that we have. That's why Paul said, I know
whom I have believed. I know whom I have believed.
And I'm persuaded, I'm convinced that He is able to keep preserve
what I've committed unto him against that day this faith and
I'll tell you something there's a day that you start believing
but there is never a day you quit believing to you inner glory
there's a day you start but there's never a day you stop and Todd
always I've heard Todd say this you could not believe if you
wanted to You could not not believe if you wanted to. Try to stop
believing if you can. Stop trying to trust Christ if
you can. You can't do it. Once God gives you that faith
and you experience that faith, you know what that faith does?
It always goes out to Him. Always cries out to Him. Always
looks to Him. Is that not right? Oh my, and
then look what else it says here. One Lord, one, this is why we
speak the truth and maintain the truth, hold the truth, live
the truth. Everything's one, we're all one.
And then look what he says, one baptism, one baptism. Now under
the gospel, this baptism he's talking about here, this one
baptism under the gospel, there's only one baptism, only one. And that's the water baptism.
After you have faith and your confession of faith in Christ,
since there's only one Lord who's to be obeyed and only one Lord
that we worship, one believing experience that unites us to
Him, all of us to Him by faith, there's only one outward visible
ordinance by which believers confess their faith in the Lord
Jesus, and that's by baptism. By baptism. I want to identify
with the Lord Jesus Christ. How do you want to identify with
Him? First of all, he was buried, then he was raised up from the
dead, and then he come out of the grave, and he says, and that's
what we do, we walk in newness of life to the glory of God.
So this baptism, this is the way believers confess faith in
the New Testament. They've never jumped up and went
to an altar and then jumped up and said, well, I've accepted
Jesus and go on about their business. Do you know baptism is one of
the most blessed things that God give us to confess our faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, what a blessed, blessed thing.
God give, He give us this wonderful opportunity, this wonderful ordinance,
two ordinance He gave us. One, the bread and the wine.
And we do that in remembrance of Him. But before you can even
take that, you've got to go into the waters of baptism, identify
with Christ. And oh my, and that's how you
confess your faith. That's what they did in the New
Testament. And then look what else he said, this is why we
love the truth and speak the truth in love and rejoice in
the truth in love and maintain it and hold it. Because there's
one God and father of all. We have one God and Father of
all these people that Paul's talking about here. Those that
have this calling, those that have this faith, those who have
this vacation, vocation. One who's been put in the Spirit,
one who's, one have hope of a calling. And what he's saying here is
the one, true, living, sovereign God is the source of all spiritual
life we have as believers. and all the unity that we have
as believers. God gave us this unity. You think
about it. You think about all the different
personalities in this building. You go to a congregation that's
got 200 people in it. Will they believe the gospel?
And all the different personalities, all the different likes and dislikes
that people have, all the things they enjoy, and all the pleasures
they have, and all the things they don't like, and all, you
know, there's no way in the world that we could have all met here
And all become one and all enjoy one another and all delight in
one another and all believe the same gospel Had not God the father
brought us all together It's an impossibility Ain't that right? And He's the Father of all, Jew
and Gentile, male, female, the Father of all believers. I want
to show you something over in 1 Corinthians 8, 5. Now keep
Ephesians there. Keep Ephesians, 1 Corinthians
8, 5. Oh, He's the Father of all believers. He begotten us
again by the Word of Truth. God sent down the Father of Light. No variableness, no shadow of
turning. He begat us with the Word of Truth. But look what
He said here in 1 Corinthians 8, 5, and 6. Talk about one Father. For though there be that are
called gods, gods. See how that's little? How many
gods are in this world right now? whether they're in heaven
or in earth what they call as there be gods many and look here
lords many and they're all small small case because there is there's
lots of gods everywhere you go everybody's got a god but to
us look at there but to us one god The Father, of whom are all
things, everything that there is in this world, created, visible
or invisible, it don't make any difference. All things are of
Him. And look here, we are in Him. And one Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom are all things. God used Him to do everything
in this world. And look here, and we, by Him,
saved by Him, called by Him, loved by Him, chosen by Him. washed in the blood by him and
that's what he says he's above all back here in Ephesians 4
he's above everything and not only is he above all of us but
he's through all he's in all of us he's through us he lives
in us he dwells in us and look what it says here and he's also
in all of you he's in every one of you that's how we recognize
one another how come you think we recognize one another's believers
We're all dressed different. If I seen you out in public,
I wouldn't know you as a believer unless I knowed you was. So you
know, how do we recognize one another? Same spirit, same father,
same Lord, same master, same pain. That's why you can go places
you've never been before and feel at home because you're with
people just like you, huh? All right, and then look where
we speak the truth in love because of grace that's been given to
us. Look what he says in verse seven. But unto every one of
us, there's us again, but unto us, but unto every one of us,
God's elect, God's chosen, God's loved, God's redeemed, Christ,
precious people. But unto us, every one of us
is grace given according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Oh my, grace is given, given. not earned, not deserved, not
merited, not owed. And you know, it says here, he
gives us to us by the measure of Christ. Now wonder how Christ
measures, wonder how he measures things. You know, all you women,
when you cook, you measure stuff. I don't, I just, if it looks
like it'll fit, I put it in there. But you know, every women, you
know, they measure everything. You know, if one egg's good,
two eggs will be better. So you know you use measures. But now if you imagine what it
is for Christ for him to give us the measure of grace according
to him. You reckon he gives us just a
little bit? No, no. We have grace for grace. He gives us grace because he
already gave us grace. He's never, He measures out our
grace to us. He's full of grace and He's rich
in grace and oh the measure of grace. He's the one that measures
it out to us. You think he's going to give
us to them before? No, no, no. Oh my. And I tell you, when he gives
things, he calls it an abundance of grace. He calls it the fullness
of grace. He calls this the riches of grace. Oh my, does he give us a good
measure? Listen, my hands can't hold it,
my heart can't hold it, but I tell you what, he gives me all I can
stand, and he gives it to me every day, a good measure, a
good measure. Give me a good measure there,
you know. Give me a good measure. Oh, what a generous measure.
And then let me show you here quickly, let me move on. In verses eight through 10, now
he talks about giving the measure of Christ. Now you're going to
talk about Christ coming down and Christ going back to glory.
And he said, wherefore, when he talks about giving the measure
of the gift of Christ and all these things in Christ and why
we speak the truth in love. when he ascended up on high now
look down verse nine now he that ascended he that went back to
glory but he first descended into the lowest parts of the
earth you can't ascend from someplace you ain't been so christ came
down to the lowest parts of the earth came down to the lowest
sort of people came down to the to to identify with his people
identify with humanity to take upon him flesh he descended to
the lower parts of the earth So then he ascended up and he
ascended up on high and sat down at the right hand of the majesty
on high and when he ascended on high, you know what he did?
He led captivity captive. Now in the margin it says a multitude
of captives And He ascended up far above all heavens that He
might fulfill all things. And here's the thing, you know
what He took captive? What He took captive when He
ascended back high? Everything that held us captive.
Now what held us? Sin held us in bondage, held
us captive. Death held us captive. God's
justice held us captive. right that's three things right
there our flesh held us captive so christ came here and that
law that held us captive he took all those captives those those
things that held us sin death justice And He took all those
things that held us captive. He took them with Him back to
glory. And now you are free. When the Son sets you free, you're
free indeed. And that's why He ascended back
on heaven and He fulfilled everything that needed to be fulfilled for
us. Don't you see? Don't you see? Oh my. And then He gave gifts. And it says here He gave gifts
unto man. And this is what he gave. Verse 11, he gave some
apostles. Now I tell you what, in the days
of the apostles, they had the apostles, no more apostles. I
don't care what anybody says, there's no more. What made you
an apostle was you as an eyewitness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
you was called of Christ to be an apostle. And there was 12
to start with, one of them was Judas, and Paul was the 12th
one that took Judas' place. And so there were 12 apostles.
And then he gave some prophets, some prophets. And that same
word prophet there, you know, is the same word as preacher,
but prophets that could foretell things. Nobody else, we can't
foretell things now. And some evangelists, some people
that travel around and preach and they travel from here yonder.
Paul was an evangelist. He told Timothy to do the work
of an evangelist. And then he gave some pastors
and teachers. And that's the same pastors and
teachers as the same person here in this place. And God, this
is the thing about it. No man takes this honor unto
himself. There's just, it would be, a
man would be a fool to try to become a pastor on his own terms.
He has to be called to this business. He has to, it has to be given.
And you know, that's what it is that God said he gave pastors.
A pastor is a gift. I know you didn't get much when
you got me, but I tell you what, you know, I'm what God gave you,
so you know that's what you're gonna have to deal with. you know and teachers and today
I'm doing the work of a pastor and also as a teacher all at
the same time and that's why that's why we speak and maintain
the truth in love and he says and we he gave these these gifts
to the church and these gifts unto men for the perfecting of
the saints that the saints might be made perfect made mature and
understand the perfection in Christ and he gave them for the
work of the ministry and the reason he gave them that not
only for the but for the edifying to establishing and building
up the body of Christ cause the body of Christ to be established
and build up and we do this till we we keep doing this work of
the ministry preaching Christ and doing the work of a pastor
and teacher till we all come All of us come in the unity of
faith, one faith here, come together in this faith, and come together
in the same knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of
God, till we come to be a perfect man, a mature man, under the
measure of the stature or the age of the fullness of Christ.
And no more tossed to and fro. And ah, let me say this, and
I'll wind it up. We speak and we maintain and
we hold and live the truth in love for all the reasons I've
told you. But we love our Master. Simon
Peter, our Lord Jesus asked him, lovest thou me? Yes Lord, I do. Simon Peter, lovest thou me?
Simon Peter loveth thy name. Oh Lord, thou knowest all things. You know that I love you. And
you know why we love him? Because he first loved us. And we love his message. We love
the truth that he took everything that was against us, everything
that was against us, he took it out of the way and he nailed
it to his cross. He nailed sin there, he nailed
death there, he nailed the law there he nailed everything that
was against us he nailed it right there on that cross and he came
down off that cross and went to the grave and he came back
out victorious and he ascended up on high and right there right
now that's our justification before God our Lord Jesus Christ
in glory and all we love is free the message of free sovereign
love free sovereign grace, of God's discriminating love, of
His effectual redemption, of the perseverance of the blessed
saints of God. And I tell you, we not only love
our Master and love His message, but we love His manner of dealing
with us. I love the way He deals with
us in this world. Let me ask you something. Since
you've been a believer, have you ever wanted for anything? want. And I believe I can prove
that from the scripture. And I can tell you from my own
experience, and I believe you can yours. But look in Psalm
46. Oh, listen, has God not, oh,
have we ever wanted anything, wanted for anything? Oh no, and
I tell you what, the name of the Lord is a strong tower and
the righteous run into it and they're saved. And we love His
manner, His way of dealing with us. Look what He said here in
Psalm 46, God is our refuge. And not only is He our refuge,
but He's our strength. And listen to this, a very present
help in time of trouble. He's right there, right there.
Though therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed,
though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea. He's
saying these are spiritual things, you know. And though the waters
thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with
the swelling. There is a river, the streams, whereof shall make
glad the city of God. Where's it come from? Comes from
God himself, a river. The holy place of the tabernacles
of the Most High. God is in the midst of her. She
shall not be moved. God shall help her, and that
very early. Oh, listen. The Lord of the heathen
race, the king was removed. He uttered his voice, the earth
melted. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Oh, my, what could we possibly
want? And I'll tell you something else
we love. We love his people. Oh, how we love his people. Oh,
how we love his people. We're concerned about him, concerned
for him. We know we've passed on life
under death. Why? Because we love the brethren. And I'll tell you something else
we love. Don't we love this? Don't we love that right there?
Just absolutely love it. Love it. It's living. It's what
I'm gonna try to talk about tonight. That book's alive. It's alive. It's alive. It's living this
morning. This word's alive. And oh, beloved. And God help us. God help me. Not to speak the truth in hatefulness,
or pride, or arrogance. Oh, no. Or malice, or envy, or
greed, or covetousness. Oh, God help us. Help me not
to ever do that. But speaking the truth in love.
Oh, may God help me and you both to always speak the truth and
do it in love. Maintain the truth in love. Hold
the truth in love. Live out the truth. Living the
truth in love. And you know what we'll do? We'll
grow up under Christ. We'll grow up in him. We'll honor
our head. We'll glorify our master. We'll
bring honor and glory to his blessed name. And we're going
to do this till we all come in the unity of the faith and unto
a knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man. under the
measure of the fullness of Christ. That's our aim. Turn right to
the right, Philippians chapter 3. That's our aim. That's our
goal. That's what we're shooting for.
Look what Paul said here in Philippians 3.12, and then I'm done. Not
as though I'd already attained, either we're already perfect.
I've not arrived yet, is what he's saying. But I follow after. I'm after these things. I'm after
perfection. I want to attain. that I may
apprehend, understand why Christ apprehended me and laid hold
of me. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but
here we go one again, but this one thing I do, forgetting what's
behind. Reaching forth unto the things
which are before, Christ, eternal life, perfection in Christ when
we do. And look what he says, so I press
toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in
Christ Jesus. He's the prize, what a prize,
what a reward. Everybody talking about they
won't get a reward. Christ's our prize. Our Father, oh, our blessed,
blessed Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus, thank you for
your message. Thank you for the gospel. Thank
you for the truth in Christ. God, bless it to our hearts,
bless it to our minds, bless it to our understanding. And
Lord, help us to be this way. God, help me. Help me. I'm like
Paul. I've got apprehended. I've not
attained, not attained, but I'm pressing on, pressing on as everyone
else here is too. We thank you, bless you, and
praise you. Amen.