If you would look in your Bibles
at Ephesians chapter 4 Ephesians chapter 4 Let's go ahead and read verses
1 through 7 Ephesians chapter 4 beginning in verse 1 I therefore
the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the
vocation wherewith ye are called with all lowliness and meekness
and 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 ye are called in one hope
of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and
Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all. But unto every one of us is given
grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ The Bible is a book of one It is many many books 66 books But there's one subject
There's one object. There's one gospel. This is a
book about our Lord Jesus Christ from beginning to end. He's the one. He is the one. Because if you miss him in this
book, you've missed the point. And you've missed a whole lot
more than that, but you definitely missed the point of this book. Now this book of Ephesians that
Paul wrote is a book about the church. This is where he reveals
the mystery of the church in clear, succinct, and detailed
language. Because the mystery of the church
is revealed in this book by the man it was revealed unto, the
Apostle Paul. It wasn't in the Old Testament.
Now you can look back now and see some hints. There are some
promises to the Gentiles that were made in the Old Testament.
But nothing as far as what Earl used to call it, the Great Parenthetical.
Because in the first part of the Old Testament, you see Israel,
Israel, Israel. And then you have the Gospel
and the Messiah has come. But then you get to the epistles
and we find the church. Paul said it. You've rejected
him. Lo, I turn to the Gentiles and
they'll hear it. And we have. But now since the mystery of
the church has been revealed to us, it's no longer a mystery.
It's known, it's written in black and white, in clear English translated
for us so that we can read it. We are told the description of
the church, it's his body. We are told of the composition
of the church, the members. We are told of the head of the
church, Christ Jesus the Lord. We are told of the relationships
in the church with each other and with the head, our Lord Jesus
Christ, all in this book. But right here, what I want to
talk about is one. One body, one spirit, one Lord,
one faith, one baptism, one God and Father. I said, this book
is a book of one. And here we have it laid out
right in sequential order here for the way Paul wanted to lay
it out for us was given to him by the Holy Spirit. It actually
says that in verse three, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit
in the bond of peace. That's verse three. What that
word means, it says, I was looking at the interlinear Greek New
Testament of a God, it says, being diligent to keep the unity. We have to do stuff? Oh yeah,
oh yeah. There's stuff we have to do,
and there's stuff we want to do. But it's very key here, this
unity is only of the Spirit. Lots of people in lots of churches
are unified in a lot of things. They're unified in great social
causes, they're unified in ecumenism to the detriment of the scriptures.
Because in order for all of these different denominations to get
together, you have to leave out Christ. Because Christ came and
brought a sword. Christ came to make divisions. But in his body there is unity.
One body. Because there is no true, true
unity without the Spirit. And the unity of the Spirit is
a faith. Ephesians 4 and 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 the unity of the Spirit
is a unity of faith true faith and as he says here
one faith there's only one faith There is actually no unity in
lives. There are those who heap to themselves
teachers having itching ears, and they stay there because that's
where they want to be. But there is no unity of the
Spirit where there is no unity of the faith of Jesus Christ. Of the faith and of the knowledge
of the Son of God. If you don't know Him, you don't
have unity. If you do have Him, if you do
know Him, you do have unity. Because the unities of the Spirit,
the unities of Christ. That's why we gather together.
This is, and I remember Earl and I talked about this, and he was actually quite pleased
with it. And I am too. This is a diverse bunch of people
that gather together here. We've got more different backgrounds
than you can shake a stick at. We've got primitive Baptist backgrounds.
We've got Catholic backgrounds. We've got sovereign grace backgrounds.
We've got Arminian Baptist backgrounds. But here we are together to hear
the gospel of the one Lord Jesus Christ. He is where our unity
lies at. And without him, this place would
fall apart. It's too far to drive, come up here just to see. I like
you people, I do. But if it wasn't for the fact
that the gospel's preached here, I wouldn't drive this far. I
mean, it's a nice drive even some days, you know, when all
the tourists ain't out. But no, I wouldn't come this
far. I come this far and I come to this place to hear that man
preach the gospel to me. And hopefully preach the gospel
myself. That's the unity of the Spirit and of the knowledge of
the Son of God. He's the one we want to hear
about. He's the one we want to hear. If my voice is the only one you
hear, you're going to be in sorry shape. If you don't hear his
voice speak, if your spirit doesn't bring it to your heart, it's
going to be of no value. And I do the best I can, but
it's just me. I can't help you. I'm here to
preach the gospel. I can't help you hear. I can't
help you understand. All I can do is explain this
the best way I know how. I'm reminded of what a friend's
mother told him one day. Guy's name is Danny Dorton. His
mother looked at him one time. She told him, I ain't here to
be your friend. Which is a wonderful thing to
hear on Mother's Day. But I'm not here to be your friend. I'm here to preach. and hopefully
in the unity of the spirit the holy spirit of god you will hear
the words of christ here in this book this is where they are the spirit is the bond between
us and christ is our peace in the bond of peace he made peace
and he is our peace Verse four, there's one body
and one spirit, even as you are called in one hope of your calling,
there's one body. How many people don't get that?
There's one body. Well, let me just turn back there
Ephesians 1 verse 22 Forget about that verse 20 back
of Cold War which he wrought in Christ when he raised him
from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly
places far above Prince all principality and power and might and Dominion
and every name that is named not only in this world but also
in that which is to come and hath put all things under his
feet and gave him, that's Christ, to be the head over all things
to the church. Verse 23, which is, is his body. The fullness of him that filleth
all in all. One body is the church. There's only one body. Christ
said it when he was telling these Jews about the Good Shepherd.
There's one fold. There's only one body. He didn't
say you should be one body He didn't say we ought to be one
body The Apostle Paul says there only is one body That's all there
is And if you're not a member of that body You're not in the
body You don't know Christ God put all things under his
feet and made him the head. The one body is the church and
also, it says it in other places, it's his body. This body is personally
owned by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It's his body. You have scripture for that?
I think I do. Ephesians 3 and verse 6, that
the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body and
partakers of his promise in Christ by the Gospels. Now, Gentile
believers are fellow heirs. Right now, we are heirs of God. joint heirs with Jesus Christ Ephesians 5 30 says for we are
members of his body of his flesh and of his bones This is a personal salvation. And that person is the Lord Jesus
Christ. But he brings us into his body. Like I said, it's not that we
need to be a body. It's not that we should be a
body. He says we are his body. You may not feel like it some
days. You may not even know it for
a time. We are that dumb, and we are
that dead beforehand. And we're, Lord have mercy, I
remember how ignorant I was. And I thank God that I am not
as ignorant as I used to be, Walter. But Walter and I had
it good together, because we were both ignorant together.
That's the truth. It is. And God brought us to
Earl Cochran. and he wasn't as ignorant as
we were at that time but he did put up with us for quite a long
time in our ignorance and he educated some of that ignorance
out of us through the spirit of God through
the unity of the faith and through the knowledge of the Son of God
we were members of the body even though as ignorant as we were
and we still are members Paul wrote it, which is his body. The church, which is the church,
that body, it is right now us. They use terms, the invisible
church, the unified church, What that is, is to put an express
difference between denominations. You take church, people think
of this building. People think of that building down at Shady
Springs that Earl built. There's there's a church there.
There's another church on there. It's got two lots for sale in
front of it you across the street There's the open-door church
over here somewhere. There's got to be a closed-door church.
I don't know where But there's open-door churches. There's free.
Well Baptist churches. There's Presbyterian. There's
it that has nothing to do with these words We are members of his body It's
the Ekklesia, the called out, the ones that He called that
are His body. The Apostle Paul is a member
of the church. You're a member of the church.
You're a member of the church. You're a member of his body if
you know him. If he has revealed himself to
you. We are the members of his body,
of his flesh, and of his bones. The body, the one body, has many
members. And that's us. believers one spirit the Holy Spirit who
is God he's God he's God the unity of the spirit is the
unity of God He brings in members into the
body. He reveals. He gives life. The unity of the Spirit in the
bond of peace and that Spirit is one. The number one in what they call
biblical numerology, the number one means unity. That's what
it stands for. There's one body, there's one
spirit. We are united in Christ by his
spirit. That's how we become a member
of the body. That's how we come to know we're a member of his
body. That's how we can say to others,
there is one body. There is one spirit. And the
only way I can say that truly, and you can believe it truly,
is by this one spirit. He is God. And then it says, according as
ye are called. Even as ye are called. Now I
looked, and that word called is a passive verb. You understand,
you can read through this book from cover to cover. You will
see some things you are to do, but when it comes to being put
into the body, here's what it, you're called. You're called or you're not in You'll never see anything written
down about your answer because your answer is just as certain
as his call It's his call He calls his members To his body The members of the body are passive
when they're called. It is not according to your answer.
It's according to your call. The answer is according to the
call. If I can put it that way, the
good shepherd calls his sheep by name and they follow. Not they should follow, not they
ought to follow, not they ought to be one body. No, they follow. When He calls, they follow. Why? They're His sheep. And when He calls, you come to
realize you are a member of one body. His body. one hope expectation of your
calling Christ is our hope Christ is
our expectation and it's a Christ call that matters Now there is the gospel to be
preached and there is the gospel to be heard But his calling is the only one
that matters and The gospel is where he's chosen to reveal himself
the knowledge of the Son of God through the Spirit still. But
this calling to his body is direct and it's personal and it's individual. It is your calling and it is
you that are called. Individually And it's his calling that matters Then we have One Lord one faith one baptism
verse 5 We have one Lord Jesus Christ There is no other There's
but one name under heaven by whom you must be saved. There is one name to which every
knee shall bow, to which every tongue shall confess. And it's
better if you confess Him here than if you have to confess Him
later. If you believe not that I am
He while you're here, you shall die in your sins. He is the one Lord The eternal
covenant made between the father and the son The lamb who was slain from before
the foundation of the world whose blood was shed for our redemption
the Lord from heaven the Lord who condescended to come down
to here and became flesh and who took on form and fashion
as a man. Walter was born of a woman. This is the man that we have
to deal, that we have to do. He's given him a name above every
name Jesus and at that name every knee shall bow Every tongue shall
confess that he is Lord To the glory and honor of the father
there is only one Lord Just as there is one body one
spirit one and one hope of your calling. And he's the one hope. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. There's only one faith. It's his faith. Now it's called
many things. It's called the faith of God's
elect It's called his faith. It's called the faith of God
the faith of Christ But it's only one faith You know, I know
that well you look in the book of Hebrews, I'm not gonna turn
there he's the author and the finisher of the faith Now you put that with The just
shall live by faith. I can do with that. It's his
faith. Because there's a lot of people
around that will preach the fact of the just shall live by believing. That ain't it. There's only one faith. That's
his faith. He's the author of it. He is
the one that created it. And he's the finisher of it.
Why? Because it doesn't need anything else. That faith is
perfect. That faith is perfect. And it
is the gift of God. He's the author, he's the finisher,
and he's the giver of our faith. Guess what? That's just right
back here. For by grace are you saved through faith. that not of yourselves It's the
gift of God Not of works lest any man should boast for we are
his workmanship Created in Christ Jesus unto good works with God
hath before ordained that we should walk in them There's no
way I can get into Ephesians without reading that at least
once That's the one faith. By grace
are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. That's
the one faith. It's his faith. He's the author
of it. He's the finisher of it. He's
the maker of it. He's the creator of it. And he's
the giver of that faith to the members of his body. One body. There's one baptism. This is
not the water baptism. It's not. It's not. I am not
against water baptism at all. Baptism by water is the answer
of a good conscience toward God. Because Walter, when I talked
about this yesterday, he explained to me there are people who will
take this verse and say, well, there's only one baptism. It's
the baptism of the Spirit. And that's what it is. And they
will use that to say, well, we don't need to water baptize now.
No, that's not what that's teaching. This is talking about the church.
This is talking about the creation of the church, whose church it
is, who's the head of the church, who's in the church, and how
you are placed in the church. Now you are not placed in the
church by water baptism. That's true. That is very true. Baptism is the answer of a good
conscience toward God. Do you have a good conscience
toward God? Then you should be baptized if
you do. But in order to get that good
conscience from God, you got to be baptized here of the spirit. The one baptism Paul wrote of
here is into one body. We are baptized by one spirit
into his body, one body, his body. If you want to, you can go all
the way back to John chapter three. Let me look at it just because
I'm afraid I will misquote it. John chapter 3 Jesus talking the Nicodemus in
verse 3 Jesus answered and said unto him verily verily I say
unto thee except a man be born again. He cannot see the kingdom
of God and Jesus said in verse 5 Jesus answered
verily verily I say unto you and say unto thee except a man
be born of water and of the spirit He cannot enter into the kingdom
of God By the washing of regeneration
and the renewing of your mind The spirit gives life and we
are baptized by one spirit into one body his body that's the
baptism is talking about here that's the baptism that is necessary
why because he said it was this is the way that dead sinners dead in trespasses
and sins We who are without strength are brought into the body of
Christ and come to know it. That one body. There are many,
many members, but there's only one body and we're here because
of one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. That's how we are brought
in. God and father of all who is
above all and through all and in you all And I like the way
it reads actually in the Greek when you put the word it's in
all you Because that kind of reminds me of West Virginia English
He's in all you So here we have one spirit one
Lord one God and father and Those three are one. There's a Trinity at work here. But these three are one. The
unity of the Father and the Son and the Spirit bring together
the body of Christ. One is a grand number. Here,
O Israel, the Lord our God is one. Yes, He is. And here, O church, Christ's
body is one. Christ's body is one. He has saved us. Called us and brought us into
himself We are of his body of his flesh and of his bones That's
the gift we have been given in Christ Verse 7 I'm a quick But unto every one of us is given
grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. We have been given grace according
to the measure of the gift of Christ. Now I know I was a very needy person. I needed
life at one time. But I wasn't given grace according
to my needs. I wasn't given grace according
to my wants or my desires. Because I didn't desire it, Walter.
But to each one of us This is an individual thing.
We are members, plural, and we are together now in one body,
His body, but to each one of us is given grace according to
the measure of the gift of Christ. He's the measure, He's the gift,
and He's the giver. And it certainly wasn't according
to my worth. Well, God saw that you'd believe,
and now He decided to give you and choose you. Oh, never mind. When God sees you, He saw that
worm, Jacob. Shall we offend somebody else
today? I'm better than some worms, but other worms are better than
me. But we're all worms in God's sight. The grace that is given
to us is because the gift of Christ That's the measure and
that's the gift God doesn't do anything halfway and expect you
to do anything else Or everything else I Can't help but Think of those people that are
bold enough to say, well, I haven't sinned in 15 years. I think Christ had an answer
for that. He said, you say you have no sin, therefore, what? Your sin remaineth. I'm lucky if I can go 15 minutes. But it's not based on me. It's not based on you, and it's
not based on anything you do. It is unto every one of us is given
grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. And by
that gift of Christ, by His measure, by that grace given to us, we
have one body, one spirit, One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
one God and Father that's in you all. Because of the grace of the gift
of Christ. There is a church. There is his
body. There is his called out assembly. But it is all according to his
grace. the gift of Christ. It's a gift. You didn't earn
it, you didn't deserve it, and most of you didn't want it. I
admit to that. I do want it now though. And I'll add just a few other
things, closing, from other places. Walter, there's one Passover
because there's only one Lamb of God. There's one vine, there's
many branches, but there's only one vine. There's one shepherd,
I already said, and there's one fold. And there's one olive tree. There were some branches broke
off so that we got grafted in the church. But there's only
one olive tree, and somebody can get grafted right back in,
just like what Paul wrote in Romans 11. There's one hope,
one way, one truth, one light, one life, one salvation, one
gospel, which is the gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This book is a book of one. It's
His book. And if He reveals Himself to
you, you're going to be a member of
His body. And you're going to know it,
because you're going to know Him. This is the book of our Lord,
and if you've missed Him, you've missed it all. But if you see
him, if you hear him, if you know him, if you love him, if
you bow to him, you already have been given all in Christ. And there ain't but one thing
to say about that. Rejoice. again, I say rejoice For he is
all in all Our Heavenly Father we are thankful again for this
time this place most of all Most of all your son Our Lord whom
you sent to us whom you sent for us and He was rejected and
crucified and resurrected. Thank you, Lord, for calling
out your people for giving us life and hope and light and love. In Christ's name, we thank you. Amen.