Turn to Psalms number 133 I'm
gonna read the whole song. It's three verses Psalms number 133 Behold How
good and how pleasant it is for brethren of to dwell together in unity. It is like the precious ointment
upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard,
that went down to the skirts of his garments. As the dew of
Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion, for
there the Lord commanded the blessing even life forevermore. I like that song. I like that,
I do. Well, we've been talking about
unity for a while. Walter's been preaching on the
church and the organization of the organism that is the church. And there are certain specific
things that it tells us about the church, and one is that the
church of God is in unity. It's important. It's in the scriptures,
therefore it is important. That's one of the main reasons
why I want to talk about it. The second reason is because
of what David wrote here. The second reason is it's good
and it's pleasant to dwell together in unity. David is playing here. Unity is a good thing. But, more specifically, unity
of the brethren is a good and pleasant thing. Because this
unity is real. The problem's with us. The problem's
not with the unity. The problem's with us. If there's
a problem, you can trace it right back to a man, or men, or whatever. But it's not a problem with the
unity, it's not a problem with the Spirit, it's not a problem
with God, it's not a problem with Christ. If there's a problem
with the unity, it's a problem with us. But it is real. I think it's
a marvelous thing that David wrote here because this is the
same thing that Paul wrote in Ephesians chapter 4. God shows us here And in Ephesians
4, that he is unchanging, as unchanging as he is holy, as
unchanging as he is sovereign, as unchanging as he is powerful.
David's talking about unity in the Old Testament among the brethren.
Paul talks about it among the brethren in the New Testament.
There's always been unity for the people of God. There's always
been. and he commands blessings. I
like that. I don't know that I ever remember
reading that unless you mentioned it one time, Walter, I think
you spoke on this a little bit or talked about it, but blessings
are commanded to the brethren, to the people of God, commanded. What a marvelous thing. But first
off, let's start in verse one. Pay attention. Pay attention
to this. This is important. This is called
the Song of Degrees of David. It's got three verses, that's
all it is. But he starts it off saying, behold, I'm gonna say
something that you need to pay attention to. How good and how
pleasant is it for brethren to dwell together in unity? Good and pleasant. Now the word good means, I looked
it up, it means good. The word pleasant means pleasant,
sweet. And here's one I like, it's delightful. That's what that word means,
delightful. How good and how delightful. That's the way a psalm should
start out. Now I know there's some other things, there's some
bad things and there's some people they talk about that are not
good, but it just cheers my heart sometimes to read a psalm like
this where it's behold, how good, how delightful. We got some good
news, people. We have the good news. And David, he knew the good news. And he starts it off saying how
good and how pleasant it is. And not just one. It's not just
good. It's good and pleasant. It's
good and delightful. It's good and it's sweet sometimes. Because some things are good,
but they ain't pleasant. Some things are good, they're
not delightful. And some things that are pleasant and are delightful
aren't good. There's pleasure in sin for a
season. That ain't what David's talking
about. This is both. This is both. It's good and it's
pleasant. And it's for the family, for
brethren. It's good. It's pleasant. And
it's good and pleasant. It's to be good and pleasant
in our sight. David's writing to us. David's
writing to others. This is not a declaration. I've
said it before, I'll say it again. We don't tell God anything. We
praise God for what He is and for who He is and for what He
does, okay? But we don't inform God of anything. Dear God, I've trusted you. He knows if you have. He knows if you haven't. We're not telling Him anything.
David's telling us. It's good and it's delightful
for the brethren, for the family, for the congregation, for the
family of God. And it says to dwell. Literally
this word translates sit down, to settle, to marry, to abide,
to live, to continue, We are to live in this unity
together. We are to live in this unity. It is supposed to be good and
pleasant. It's supposed to be harmonious. Now, like I said at the beginning,
too many times it's not. But that's our fault. That's
my fault. My... Walter, I'm going to turn
this fan on. Move a little there. Sorry, Deb. My circumstances intrude on me,
and just as I know your circumstances intrude on you. But if there's
a problem with the unity of the brethren, it's the problems with
me. It's not with God, and it's not
with the unity. It is good, and it is delightful. to dwell, to live there together. That's the next three words.
It says together in unity. Together in unity. The word together translates literally as assemblage. Assembled together. Gathered
together and the word unity translates here in the Hebrew as a unit
One unit we are assembled as a unit We are together in unity
if you're part of the brethren David did qualify that It is
a good and pleasant thing to be dwelling, to be abiding, to
be living, and to be assembled as a unit, as one. That's the overall meaning of
the word unity, one. Because that's the operative
word. Together, yes, but together as one. There's lots of people
who are together, but they're not together as one. There's
lots of churches and church buildings where they're together, but they
ain't one. I got run out of one once. Well,
no, I left. But they were just as happy to
see me go. And I wasn't all that happy to leave because it was
one of the only places I knew. But at that place, at that time,
there was no unity. Not with me. There might have
been unity against the gospel, unity against Christ, but that
ain't good and that ain't delightful. But the brethren dwell together
in unity is what David is writing of here. It's good to be assembled,
but it's even better as one. Good and pleasant. And it's good
to be as one, But it's better when you're assembled. Walter, it was good a few weeks
ago when we were at your house and we gathered together and
we sat around and we talked. That was good. And that was,
for me, delightful. It was a joy. It was a joy to
be together and as a unit, in unity. I enjoy studying. I know it's
a strange thing to say, but I do enjoy it. Studying and reading
God's Word and looking at some other things, some commentaries
and some books, other men's sermons, that brings joy to my heart sometimes. I'll see something and it's like,
wow, I never saw that before. And it does, it does. It is good! But it's not the same as coming
together. Henry preached that message on
public worship. You preached one on it too. And
that's exactly what David's talking about here. Being assembled together
in unity. To hear the Word of God. That's where this all comes.
This is what it comes to in fruition. This is a good place to be if
you want to hear about your Lord Jesus Christ. The word unity is actually used
only three times in the scripture. This is one. And the other two
are in Ephesians chapter 4 and I want to look at those for just
a little bit hopefully. Ephesians chapter 4 I want to read verse 3 and verse
13. Verse 3 says, Endeavoring to
keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. And verse
13 says, 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. Now Walter preached
on this not that long ago, so I'm not going to go too much
into it. But man, there's some good stuff in between them verses
too. Because the word in the Greek
here that is translated unity, it's the other two places that's
used, that word is translated oneness. There's a oneness in
the church. There's a unity of the church. And it goes into it, I will say
this. Verse four, there's one body, one spirit, even as you
are called, one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith,
one baptism, one God and Father of all who was above all and
through all and in you all. In this unity, there is this
oneness. Because this oneness is, what
did he say in verse three? It's a unity of the spirit. It's a unity of the spirit. It's not the unity of man. How good and pleasant to dwell
here. Where? In one Lord, one faith,
one baptism, one body, one spirit, one hope of your calling, and
one God. I was listening to Jones about
this. That's seven things. He says, I don't think Paul did
that by accident. Seven is the number of perfection.
Seven is the number of deity. You got three of them, one body,
one spirit, and one hope. That's the work of the Spirit.
You have one Lord, one faith, one baptism. That's the work
of the Son, and then, above all, one God, Father. This is where our unity lies. In one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
one God and Father above us all. One Spirit. It's a unity of the
Spirit. But first of all, the negative
about this unity. I said it already, I'll say it
again. This unity is not the unity of men. Because the unity
of men, the only unity of men, is in rebellion. Is in rebelling
against God. The unity of men is in transgression,
trespass, and sin. And the unity of men is shown
in all we like sheep have gone astray. And we've turned everyone
to our own way. The unity of men is shown in
hating God, loving darkness that's where
the unity of men lies and This is not also the second. This is not the unity of the
world Because the world hates God How do I know that Christ
said so? Marvel not brethren if the world
hates you It hated me before it hated you The world hates
Christ This is not the unity of the world. Now, the world
will like to talk about unity. The religious world will like
to talk about unity. Either I've quit listening or
it's died down some, Mason. But there used to be a big bunch
of talk about ecumenicism. I have quit listening, I know.
But sometimes it still seeps through, you know. even when
I'm not listening. The world wants, the religious
world wants everyone to be together. That's the way they say it. But
the only way they can do that is at the cost of one body, one
spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God
and Father of us all. That has to go out the window
if the world can have its unity. And they are more than willing
to throw that out the window if they can have their unity.
Well, they're going to be one short at least, because I'm not
going with that. I got a feeling it's going to
be more than that. And I also got a feeling they ain't going
to get it done, because the unity of men is in
rebellion. And if we're not around, they'll fight amongst themselves,
and they can more or less do it. But now the positive. First of all, Paul clearly states
this is a unity of the spirit. It is of the spirit. It's not of man. It's not of
the world. It's not of the family. It's of the spirit. It's not
even of the brethren. It's of the Spirit. This is the
unity. The unity is not of you. The unity is of the Spirit. Second, Paul states also very
clearly that unity is in the bond of peace. Now the question is not, what
is our peace? The question is, who is our peace? Christ made peace with God and
toward us, and he made peace between Jew and Gentile. Because
in Ephesians 2 and 14, it says, he is our peace. Our unity lies in him. He is our peace. Peace is a person
Just like salvation is in a person and is a person And then Paul thirdly states
clearly that this is the unity of the faith Verse 13 till we all come in
the unity of the faith Where's faith come from It's the gift of God. Not of
works, lest any man should boast. It's the gift of God. And that's
what we're talking about here. The unity of the faith. There's
only one faith. It's the faith of Christ. Because He is the author and
the finisher of faith. Now, I do want to say this, where
Paul does designate this the unity of the faith. Our unity is not in our ignorance.
Our faith is in Christ. Because he says here, and of
the knowledge of the Son of God. Our unity is in the knowledge
of the Son of God. Which He gives. It is the unity of the knowledge
of the Son of God. This unity. And there is no unity
outside of the Spirit. There is no unity outside of
the faith once delivered to the saints. There is no unity outside
of Christ Jesus, the Son of God. But however, in the Spirit, the
faith In the son of God there is unity How do we know well Paul said
it back in Ephesians 1 Verse 18 he says the eyes of
your understanding being enlightened that ye may know What is the
hope of his calling? and what the riches of the glory
of his inheritance in the saints and what is the great greatness
of his power to us were to believe according to the working of his
mighty power. If your eyes of your understanding
have been enlightened, you're going to know some things. I know there was a bunch of people
back when I was a young man And their great saying was, well,
you can't know. Well, the apostle Paul begs to
differ with you. You can know. You are to know. This unity is of the faith, it's
of the spirit, and it is of the knowledge of the Son of God. We have been blessed. And it
was a commanded blessing. to know the Son and thereby know
the Father. You can't know the Father without
knowing the Son. You can't know the Son without
knowing the Father. And you can't know either one
without the Spirit. These three are one. They're one. There's a unity there. There's
no unity outside of the Spirit. There's no unity outside of the
Father. There's no unity outside of the
Son. You know Him. If you know Him,
what you know is the hope of His calling. The riches of the glory of His
inheritance in the saint, the greatness of His power toward
us. This unity is part of our inheritance. from Him. This unity is part of the glory
of His riches given to us. And this unity is in the knowledge
of Him, the Son of God. Now back to verse 2, Psalms 133. It is like the precious ointment
upon the head. that ran down upon the beard,
even Aaron's beard that went down to the skirts of his garment. David tells us what this unity
is like. This is his illustration. Okay? Precious ointment on the
head. Now that word ointment is actually
translated in Leviticus as oil. Literally it means grease. specifically
liquid and also specifically olive oil Anointing oil is always spoken
of in the Old Testament as a type of the Spirit the Holy Spirit This unity is compared by David
to this type the way it works now in Leviticus 8 and 12. I'm
not going to turn there it actually says that Moses poured oil, the
anointing oil, on Aaron's head. He poured it on there. Now everywhere
else it does say, and it's a different word, it says he sprinkled it
on the altar, the anointing oil. He sprinkled it, oh and he said,
I wrote it down here, on the altar and the vessels. But on
Aaron's head that oil was poured out. David gives us even further description
Not only was it on his head it ran down into the beard And not
only was it on the beard and around his face, but it ran down
to his garments This is like the unity of the brethren It
is like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon
the beard this is David's illustration of this and What's this mean? Well, for one
thing, this unity comes down from above. Now I know Aaron
is the high priest. And I know that big pouring out
is a part of a picture also of where the anointing that Christ
had. But David is comparing it here
to this unity of the brethren. He's using it as a physical illustration.
But it comes down from above and it hits you in the head. Guess what? It doesn't stop there. It comes
down into the beard, and it comes down all into your clothes. It
comes down to the skirts of his garment is what it said. That's
what it said. It went down to the skirts of his garment. So what does this mean? Well,
according to David, what I think this means is being gathered
together as a unit, together in unity, has an effect. on you and on me. Because unity, the unity of the
faith, the unity of the spirit, the unity of the knowledge of
the Son of God will affect your thoughts. It will affect what you think
and it will affect how you think. You'll have a point of view you
never had before, if I can put it in that manner. You understand? My thoughts before somebody did
something to me, the Spirit of God did something, my thoughts
were mine. And they were on my stuff continually.
They were on what I wanted, what I needed, and what I thought
I needed, and what I really, really wanted. It's not the same anymore. It's
not the same. This unity of the Spirit will
affect your thoughts. It will affect what you think
and how you think it. But then where it says it comes
down around the beard. And I looked at that and I was wondering what
in the world? And I said, well the only thing I can think of
is the beard's right around your mouth. Guess what? This unity will affect
how you talk. It will affect your conversation. You will speak of things you've
never spoke of before. You will speak of Him. And you'll
speak of this unity. You'll speak of the family amongst
the brethren. You'll want to talk about it.
Never did before, Mason. Didn't care. I didn't care. But now I do. This unity will
affect you. And then, guess what? It goes
down to the skirts of your garment. It'll affect how you walk It
affects how you walk You mean there's a walk for Christians
yes, there is That's what Paul's getting to in Ephesians for you
just keep reading Doctrine true doctrine the true
knowledge of the Son of God the unity of the Spirit the unity
of the faith and leads to walking with God. And if it doesn't,
there's something wrong with you. Now I'm saying, I'm not
saying you're perfect. Lord knows I'm not perfect. But you do walk. You do walk
according to the Spirit. It's the unity of the Spirit.
Guess what? You're going to walk in the Spirit.
And as many as walk in the Spirit are not fulfilling the lust of
the flesh. It might keep you from doing some things. Because of this unity. Because
of this oil poured out. It goes all the way down through
your face, all the way down. It will affect you or you don't
know it. That's what he continues on in
verse 3, as the dew of Hermon and as the dew that descended
upon the mountains of Zion for the Lord, for there the Lord
commanded the blessing, even life forevermore. The Lord commanded the blessing. The Lord commanded the blessing
of life evermore. Guess what? Eternal life is because
of the command of God That blessing comes upon every one of his children
because of his command Not because of you because of him David just
threw that in for free, but guess what just like that command for
life evermore This brethren's unity The unity of the brethren,
being together in unity, that's a commandment of God. It's not
a request. This unity exists. I get the feeling, I may just
be me, but whatever the Lord commands is going to come to
pass. And just like this life everlasting,
this life evermore, this unity has come to pass. What's the conclusion? That was
a tough one. The conclusion is this, to dwell
in the unity of the brethren is good and it's delightful. That's the conclusion. It's easy
when it's still the same as the introduction, you know that.
And this is not of ourselves, it is of the Spirit. It's a blessing
commanded by the Lord. It's called the unity of the
Spirit. It's called the unity of the faith. It's called the
unity of the knowledge of the Son of God. We are, Paul says, to endeavor
to keep the unity. Now, We are not told we need
to enhance the unity. Keep it. Okay? Keep it. Don't mess with it. Keep the unity. Now it is of
the faith. It's of the truth. It's of the
knowledge of the Son of God. It's not an error. That doesn't
mean we suffer error for the sake of unity. It's a unity of
the Spirit. It's a unity of the faith. And
that faith is in the knowledge of the Son of God. We don't need to enhance it.
It's His unity. It's fine the way it is. Like
I said, we're the problem. But we are to endeavor to keep
this unity. And it also says we are to come
to this unity. We don't create it. We don't
make it. It's already there. We come to it. Come to it. Come to this unity. It's in the
faith. It's of the faith. It's of the
Spirit. It's of the knowledge of the
Son of God. So, if the Spirit's come to you,
He's given you faith, and that faith is of the knowledge of
the Son of God. You're there, maybe you don't
know it, but you're there. That's where this unity lies.
In the truth. This unity is in the truth. We
preach the Gospel of Christ to proclaim this unity. And to show this unity. That
this is what we are saying. This is the Christ we believe. The one that commanded life evermore.
The one that commanded this unity. This is the Christ we preach. The light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ is what? Shined
in our hearts. How? By the commandment of God. We are assembled as a unit. We
are to be together in unity. And we want you to know this
unity. We want you to know this. And
actually, I want you to love this unity. And finally, finally, Here's
the conclusion. I want you to enjoy this unity. It's what David says. It's good
and it's delightful. It's good and it's pleasant.
It's joyous to be in unity. To be in harmony. Because in this world there is
no real joy. There is no peace. There is no
joy, there is no happiness outside of Christ. But we are to enjoy our assembling
as a unit. We are to enjoy being together
in unity. It's good to be here in unity
with the brethren. Because this unity is for the
brethren. Thank you, Lord, for everything
you've done for us, for what you are doing. But most of all,
thank you, Lord, for your son, who gave himself a ransom for
many, who took upon himself the sin of many, and paid the price. Paid it all. I, and none of your children,
owe anything. Our sin has been paid for. Our
sin has been punished. And we are granted forgiveness. Thank you. In Christ's name we
pray, amen.