Well, we come to you this morning, having traveled many miles in
the past week, and it is always good to get
away for a few days, but it's always better to get back. Someone said there's no place
like home, and I guess that is a true thing, because wherever
you go in this world, there's nothing that can replace
the blessing that is found in a home and a place where the
Lord gives you roots. And we trust by the grace of
God that he has given us roots in the house of God. And that
we say with David of old, I was glad when they said unto me,
let us go into the house of the Lord. Now this is not the house
of the Lord. These windows are not part of
the house of the Lord. These pews are not. These walls
are not. The house of the Lord is those
that are gathered here in this building. This is just a building. It can burn up in a few minutes. This old fat lighter stuff, you'd
put a match to it and it'd be gone before you knew it. Probably
burn the tin up on the roof, it'd burn so hot. But nothing
can burn up the bond that the Lord is pleased to give to his
people. And we sang about that a moment
ago. And how sweet, how heavenly is the sight when those that
love the Lord and one another's peace delight and thus fulfill
his word. And so we read here in Psalm
133, and this is a song of degrees of David, Psalm 133. Behold how good and how pleasant
it is for brethren 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. Now I believe that the Bible
is a book that can contain some of the most sublime poetry that
has ever been come forth from the pens of men. And I say that
even as, even a carnal man reading these words can find something
of use within them. These are beautiful words, but
when a man has been given the eyes of the light of the Spirit
of God to behold the true beauty of what these things are, it's
even a greater blessing. And so David was given an understanding
of these things in a measure. But this is not really about
David. But this psalm is about the Lord
Jesus Christ, as all the psalms are. Behold how good and how
pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. Now
unity is not something that men can cause to take place. You can't have unity with anybody
unless the Lord gives it to you. I mean a man can't have unity
with his wife unless the Lord gives it to him. And men cannot
have unity with one another except the Lord gives it to them. And
a church cannot be in unity except the Lord blesses them to be so.
Because it is not in the nature of man to be in unity. Because unity involves submission. And men don't like that. Every
man wants to do his own thing. Every man wants to be in control
of himself. If you don't believe that, you
can look right back there and see a little baby in his daddy's
arms. And I guarantee you, He does
not want to do what he's told to do. Now he can, by the grace
of God and by the discipline of a parent, be brought to recognize
that it's better to do what he's told to do. But he'll always
want to do what he wants to do, won't he? I mean, that's just
the way that men are by nature. And it's only by the grace of
God that anybody can be brought into unity with somebody else.
And that is the work of the Spirit of God amongst the people of
God to bring them into unity. Now, the church is made up of
living stones. And I often think of those living
stones, you know, we've just been up in the mountains and
there are stones everywhere. And those stones, when they're
just sitting in that mountain, they're just there. They're not
moving or anything, they're right there where they are. And they
stay just like that with jagged edges, individualistic stones, as long as they're there, inanimate. But you take those same stones
and put them in a flowing stream, and they're tumbled along in
that stream, and the water flowing over those stones, and in time,
they all become smooth stones, and everything is much more beautiful. And I see in that a picture of
the unity of the church. We are living stones, and the
Lord made us living stones so that we're not just put into
a mountain, to remain just like we are, but he puts us in the
stream so we might be tumbled and abraded against one another.
And as those living stones grate on one another. You know, men
think, and we sang about it a moment ago, men think that if they need
patience, and who doesn't, then if we pray to the Lord to give
us patience, that all of a sudden we'll wake up one morning and
we'll just be the most patient person that ever was. Isn't that
the way we'd like for it to be? I mean, you know, that's just,
hey, Lord, give me patience. And tomorrow, everything we do,
we're just patient as we can be. But you know, that's just
not how the Lord works. The Lord gives his people patience
by putting them in situations where they have to, they just
are impatient. You know, they have to be patient.
They have to learn to be patient because we're not patient by
nature. Patience is the gift of God. And so, behold how good
and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. Now,
it's a beautiful thing when men come together in unity. And actually,
the very basis of our unity is what Paul says when he talks
about there's one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. Now there's
only one, but how is it that men have many of them? Now if you went around the countryside,
you'd find people that talk about a different Lord than we do,
and claim to be Christians. You'd talk about people that
talk about a different baptism than we do, and they'd claim
to be Christians. They'd have different faith and
all that sort of thing. But in reality, there's only
one. of each of those. Now, we can
boast and say, well, you know, everybody else is wrong and we're
right and we've got it. But the test of time will prove
one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. And the Lord will bring
his people together. And he will cause them to dwell
together in unity whether they like it or not. I mean, you know,
that's the way, I mean, that's the work. I mean, we can't always
say that unity is a thing that we desire, because we want our
way many times, most often we do. It's only by the grace of
God that he gives us the ability to acquiesce. to our brethren's
desires. But that is the place that the
Lord has called us to be. Paul said, let each esteem others
better than themselves. Now that sounds like a simple
thing, isn't it? But it's the most difficult thing
that a man ever does. By the grace of God, only by
the grace of God can he do. Esteeming others better than
ourselves. Because that's just not human
nature. We always consider our way to be the best way. But the
Lord must teach us otherwise. Behold, how good and how pleasant. What a pleasant thing it is when
unity is brought to pass. Is it not a glorious thing? I
mean, is anybody that would desire dissension Now, I'm talking to
spiritual-minded people here. I'm not talking to, I mean, some
men do love dissension. Some men like to cause strife
and trouble and heartache to other people. For sure, that's
the carnal way. But yet, those who've been taught
by the Spirit of God desire, do we not, unity. I mean we don't
want deception and clamor and all of these things. These are
not the things upon which we feed. But we feed upon that peace
and joy that's found in Christ. Behold how good and how pleasant
it is for brethren to dwell together in unity because that's the only
way that it can take place. Those who are not brothers cannot
be in unity. Paul said light and darkness
have no communion. And so we cannot be in union
with the world. We can't have unity in the world. Because the Lord said, ye are
not of the world. If any man loves the world, then
the love of the Father's not in him. So we have no fellowship
with the powers of darkness. That's not what we're called
to. And we can't have fellowship with the powers of darkness.
You see, Christ and Belial cannot dwell together. We see it in
when the Philistines took the Ark of the Covenant into the
house of Dagon. They found out pretty quick that
the Lord does not have fellowship with false gods. Neither can
we. We cannot have fellowship with
those who despise the truth of God, the way of God. I mean,
those that make a mockery of the gospel, how can we have fellowship
with them? We can't, we're at odds with
them. We can't help it. I mean, I don't desire to be
at odds with anybody. I wish I could get along with
everybody. The Lord said, live peaceably
with all men as much as what? Life within you. In other words,
you should endeavor to be at peace with all men. You're not
going out into the world trying to stir up trouble. But dear
brethren, at the same time, you can't go into the world, you're
not going to be able by the work of the Spirit of God in you to
have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. It cannot
happen. It's not a thing that's right. It's not a thing that's
good. It's not a thing that gives you any peace and satisfaction. And so we're set at odds. I mean,
if somebody's declaring a gospel or declaring something that they
claim to be the gospel that's not the gospel, how can we rejoice
in that? Where do we find any place of
satisfaction in it? We can't. It's against that which
the Lord has taught us is true. And so true unity has to be built
upon truth. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. And that is that which upon which
the Lord is pleased to bring his people together and to give
them unity. How good, how pleasant it is
for brethren to dwell together in unity. And then look at what
he describes it as. He says 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. This is what
he's likening the unity to. Now where was the oil poured
from? It was poured on Aaron's head,
was it not? And so in order for something
to be poured on somebody's head, the one doing the pouring has
to be above their head. I mean, you can't pour the oil
on somebody's head and not be above them, because the head
is the highest part of man. But you see, Aaron couldn't anoint
himself, and the children of God can't
anoint themselves with unity. It must be given to them. must
be poured on their head. Now the Lord told, and Brother
Al's done a good job here a few weeks ago of explaining to us
about the ointment that the Lord, the formula, the recipe for the
ointment that was to be used for the anointing oil. It was
a specific oil, it was specific ingredients that had to be put
in this. It wasn't something somebody
just decided to use, but it was that which was ordained of God.
Each particular aspect of it, and it was mixed together, and
it was holy. It wasn't to be used for anything
else. Somebody ran out of cooking oil or something, they couldn't
run down there to the tabernacle and give them a cup full of it
to use it because it was holy, it was set apart. It had one
use and that was to be poured on those who were anointed to
be anointed for the service unto God and upon the instruments
of the tabernacle. the holy anointing oil. And he
says here that unity among the brethren is like that oil. It's poured out. It's poured from above. It's
a sweet smelling, all that oil that they used, it had all kinds
of different fragrant oils and spices and things that was put
in it. And it was a pungent odor. And
it filled the house where they were. And so is the unity. This is the thing that fills
the nostrils of all who are able to smell it. I mean, to give
it. You know, smells, some people like certain smells and some
people are repelled by them. But unity is a sweet thing to
the people of God. We desire it, we want it. And
the Lord's pleased to give it. It is like that precious ointment
upon the beard. Now I thought about, there's
a passage of scripture in Hebrews, that speaks about this very oil. And upon the one whose head that
this oil is poured. I'm gonna read the first nine
verses of Hebrews chapter one. It says, God, who at sundry times
and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by
the prophets. Now the Lord did speak to the
nation of Israel in time passed by the prophets. Now only to
the nation of Israel were these prophets sent a specific nation. He didn't speak to the whole
world. He could have, but he didn't. But he spoke to one nation. because he set out to do so,
and in different ways he spoke to them. But he spoke to them
through the prophets, hath in these last days the same one
who spoke to the nation of Israel, the same one. He spoke to them
in time past by the prophets, but now, see there's been a big
change that has taken place. He doesn't speak to Israel anymore.
through the prophets. Why is that? Because when that which is perfect
is come, that which is in part shall be none away. And when
the Lord Jesus Christ came, the prophecy ceased because, listen
to what it says, God who at sundry times and in these prophets hath
in these last days Now, when is the last days? You hear these
preachers on TV, especially the ones trying to sell you their
latest book on this unfolding prophecy or that, they'll tell
you, well, the last days, we're coming up on the last days. Well,
they're too late. They're too late, brethren. These
are the last days. We're not waiting for the last
days. These are the last days. There is not coming another age
of time in the earth. This is the last time, John said. He said, there's not another
one. He said, this is it. Hath in
these last days spoken unto us, how? Not through Isaiah, although
we glean much from Isaiah, not from Ezekiel, not from Elijah,
not from Elisha, not from David, but hath in these last days spoken
unto us by his son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things." You want to know who owns everything?
Here it is right here. He's the heir of all things.
There's not anything made that was made that he didn't make.
that isn't His, that doesn't belong to Him. And He has come
in these last days to speak unto us, whom He hath appointed heir
of all things, by whom also He made the worlds, who being the
brightness of His glory. Would a man see the glory of
God? He must see Jesus Christ. See, you cannot have the glory
of God apart from Jesus Christ. He is the glory of God, who being
the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person. How can a man know the person
of God? Only one way, and that is in
Jesus Christ, because he is God, who has come and dwelt among
us. who being the brightness of his
glory, the express image of his person, and upholding all things
by the word of his power. He said, I'm the way, the truth,
and the life. No man comes to the Father but
by me. Now that's pretty straightforward,
is it not? Man, I have to, you know, people
say, you often hear these people talking about, oh, well, we believe
that Jesus is a great prophet. The Muslims believe Jesus is
a great prophet. You don't hear them talk about
it much, but actually in their writings, I mean, Mohammed, he
said that Jesus was a great prophet. But you see, Jesus is not a great
prophet. Jesus is the prophet. See, Mohammed,
he thought he was the prophet, but he's gonna find out one day
he was not the prophet. There's one prophet. by whom
God has spoken unto us. The image of his person upholding
all things by the word of his power when he had by himself
purged our sins by himself, not with any aid from anybody else,
but by his own power, he has purged our sins. Now, what does
it mean to be, for our sins to be purged? It means they're taken
away. They're cleansed. The record
is expunged. The people of God are clean in
the sight of almighty God. When he had by himself purged
our sins, what did he do? He sat down on the right hand
of the majesty on high. Now when he sat down, what does
that mean? When you sat down, what's that
a sign of? It means you are finished. You've
done all you're going to do. When you sat down, he's done
all he's going to do. He's satisfied the claims of
the law on our behalf. He has purchased redemption for
his people, being made so much better than the angels, as he
hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
The angels are glorious creatures. But you see, the angels are merely
the servants of God. The one of whom we talk is the
Son of God. He is that one who's the rightful
heir of all things. Now, as we just said, he's the
heir of all things. according to the purpose of God.
Being made so much better than the angels, he hath by inheritance,
what inheritance? The inheritance that he's given by the Father. The Lord said
in, I believe it's the second Psalm, it says, ask of me and
I'll give thee the heathen for thine inheritance. And he has
obtained that inheritance. Obtained a more excellent name
than they. A more excellent name. His has
a name, the name of Jesus that every knee shall bow and every
tongue shall confess. There is not another name under
heaven whereby we must be saved. There's not another one. For unto which of the angels
said he at any time, thou art my son, this day have I begotten
thee. And again, I will be to him a
father and he shall be to me a son. And again, when he bringeth
in the first begotten into the world, he saith, and let all
the angels of God worship him. Now, if you have any doubt as
to the hierarchy, when the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world
as a mere babe, the heavens were filled with those who worshiped
him. And of the angels, he saith,
who maketh his angel spirits and his ministers a flame of
fire. Now the angels have been given a glorious position. Now you remember when Elijah
was surrounded by the army of the king, I forget what the king's
name, Ben-Hadad maybe. But anyway, his servant Gehazi
said, man, we in trouble. He said, what are we gonna do? And Elijah prayed and he said,
Lord, open his eyes. And he looked and around all
the hills around them, he saw the angels with chariots of fire.
Now they made a movie about chariots of fire. That's what most people
think, chariots of fire. It's a movie if you ask what's
chariots of fire. My dear brethren, the chariots
of fire are the angels of God who surround the people of God,
and there's no weapon that's formed against them that can
prosper. His ministers are flame of fire,
but unto the sun, he said, He said all of that to the angels.
He said, I'm going to give you a position of great power. But
unto the Son, he saith, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. Now, if anybody would doubt whether
or not the Lord Jesus Christ is God, then he needs to tear
this verse here right out of the Bible, does he not? He said,
thy throne, O God. is forever and ever. A scepter
of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved
righteousness and hated iniquity, therefore God, even thy God,
hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. This is the unity. It's like
that oil. that was poured upon Aaron's
head, but in greater measure, the oil of gladness that was
poured upon the Lord Jesus Christ's head, which is the same oil that
he has poured out upon his people. The blessing of the sonship of
Christ revealed unto the children of God, that we might have unity
with one another as we worship him. See, that's what draws us
together is the worship of Christ. Now, there's many churches scattered
around the world today where men gather because they want
to hear somebody preach or they've heard some famous guy and he's
gathering people in just by the boatload. People come and, oh,
have you heard old brother so-and-so? And they come to hear him. Dear
brethren, let us never come together to hear anybody but Christ. I mean, it doesn't make any difference
who the mouthpiece that the Lord is pleased to use in declaring
the gospel unto men. Men have no glory. We're beggars. We're worms. We're those who
have no value before Almighty God except that He should show
mercy to us. Now, the Lord said to Jacob,
he said, thou worm, Jacob. Now, he loved Jacob, did he not?
And yet he said, thou worm. You're a maggot. But it really
is what that is translated as, that you're a maggot. Well, I
take offense at being called that. You know, it's amazing. I mean, you look in most hymn
books today, and Isaac watched him, alas, and did my Savior
bleed. and did my sovereign die, would
he devote that sacred head for such a worm as I? And that's been changed, because
see, that doesn't sound right. You know, I mean, we're a more
noble people than that, are we not? I mean, you know, let's
change it for sinners such as I. We're just sinners. But the
Lord says you're worms. Now brethren, you see, Worms,
I don't know if you've ever seen a bunch of maggots, this is gross,
I agree, in a dead carcass. Now, they don't know they're
maggots, do they? They're just being maggots. And
they're just all balled up in there, and they're just going
about doing what they're doing. But you see, that's a picture,
is it not, of the unity of God's people. We're all the same. You
know, you wouldn't look down in amongst those and say, oh,
now there's a nice maggot there. Let's pull him out. He's really
got some value. I think I could use his talent.
No, you see the maggots, so they're what they are. But by the grace
of God, He shows mercy to maggots, does he not? Oh, what a glorious thing. But
Christ is that one. 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. Now I've
never been over there, but they claim that this particular mountain,
the Hermon, the Mount Hermon, or as it has been known through
history, that is a place where heavy fog and dew is just a real
abundant place for that. I've read some accounts of people
who've been there, and they said that in this particular location,
your clothes just get soaking wet. Now, like I said, we've
been up in the mountains for a few days, and it was pretty
damp up there. But you see, the mountain, it
says here, as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended
upon the mountains of Zion. Now, what is Zion? Zion's the
kingdom of God. And the dew of God has descended. This oil that flowed from Christ,
who was anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows,
this has run down, dear brethren. according to his mercy and kindness.
And the kingdom of God has been blessed by it. What a glorious
thing it is. The Lord commanded the blessing,
even life forevermore. You see, that's what the unity
of the brethren is. See, there's not gonna be any
discord. Everybody's got their own idea
about what heaven is, but the scripture has one description
of what it is. Men talk about, oh yeah, I heard
some guys talking on the radio yesterday, and they were, actually
this was supposed to be a Christian, which if you want to call it
that, radio station, and they were talking about heaven, and
how this one guy, he really liked to play basketball, and he figured
that when he gets to heaven, He'll just be able to just play
basketball. Heaven's not a place of carnality. It's not a place where we transfer
the things that are in this world to the next. There's nothing
in this world worth keeping except one thing. And that is that blessing
and love of the Father for his people. And you see, we've been
made heirs and joint heirs with Christ. And so in that standing
as the heirs and joint heirs with Christ, we are partakers
of that same love. And there's not gonna be any
discord in heaven. There's not gonna be anything
but unity. Why? Because we're gonna have
one object that occupies our mind and thought, and it is Jesus
Christ, that one who's worthy of all praise. Now, the flesh
says, well, that would be boring. But the spiritual man who's been
taught the glories of Christ, he says, oh, that I might know
him. and the power of his resurrection being made conformable unto his
death that I might worship him in spirit and truth and so I
can't tell you exactly what heaven will be like but I know one thing
that heaven is not heaven without Christ see if Christ If he could let
you fish for the rest of your life and catch the biggest fish
you ever, or the rest of your days, what would you have? A
bunch of fish. You wouldn't have gained anything.
Pretty soon you'd get tired of them, I'm sure. But see, when
the Lord is pleased to give a man a love for Christ, then that's
the thing that will occupy his mind and thought. And what a
greater place is that witnessed in this world than when the children
of God come together in unity to worship Him. The Lord has
commanded it, even life forevermore. And we ought to exhort one another.
The Lord said, or Paul said, or whoever wrote Hebrews, said,
exhort one another therefore Not to neglect the assembling
of ourselves together. And so much the more so as the
day approaches. Now what is the day that's approaching?
It's approaching for every one of us. From the youngest to the
oldest. It is that day when we shall
indeed lay down these fleshly garments. And so shall we ever
be with the Lord. And so we're exhorted, dear brethren,
to walk together in unity. That's not something that's a
work of the flesh, but it is that which is a precious thing
which is brought upon the people of God by the work of His Spirit. May it be so with us. May the
Lord bless us and help us to be a people who walk in that
unity according to the good pleasure of His will.