Today we're continuing in our
topical series of Covenant. We're looking to one more Sunday
and then we'll be back into Ephesians chapter 5 and continue there
until the Lord prompts me otherwise. Today I want us to look at the
essential essence of Covenant. I know there's a lot of things
to look at. As we look to covenant together as a people, and as
we've seen that God has covenanted with us in Christ and through
Christ and for Christ, we must understand that there is then
something that as we covenant together as a people, that certain
things must take place. The church, as a way of reminder,
is not a place. No one can go to a church. It's an impossibility. That's
like saying I go to earth. Well, yes, if you were from another
planet, you could go to earth, but I'm going to another place
among the earth or on the earth. Maybe it would be even better
to say I'm going to church would be almost like saying I'm going
to family. It makes no sense. I'm going
to see my family. I'm going to the place where
my family lives or resides. I'm going to do something with
my family. The body of Christ is a living
organism through which or from which or that did come and was
birthed out of the grace of God and His mere pleasure for, to
the praise of the glorious grace, for the purpose of reflecting
the nature of God in the face of Jesus Christ. What we've been
doing in the last three weeks is to look at how we as a people
who will covenant together as a fellowship are to live, think,
love, learn, and on and on. It is not something that we do.
People may ask you, what do y'all do at Grace Truth Church? Wrong
question. For there is no answer to that
except that we take the scripture and says we're forever managing
and hoping and striving and fighting and urging to look like Christ. That is what the church is to
do. Anything else is subservient to that. And I would suggest
that for most of the things that churches do are actually opposed
to the gospel message rather than inclusive of it. Not that
they're bad things. For those men who were at the
training yesterday, we talked about a fruit ministry of providing
fruit or providing water, providing clothes. These are essential
things that Christians ought to be involved in in the community,
but it is not something that the church is supposed to be
about. The church is supposed to be
about reflecting the glory of God and covenant relationship
together so that we set ourselves apart from the world and those
who are unregenerate and lost, that there is a distinctiveness
to the people of God. The church is an exclusive place,
if you will excuse that. It is an exclusive people. is
an exclusive group of individuals who have been saved by the grace
of God in Christ by faith. And therefore, it is not open
to all people. It is not open to those who deny
Christ. The body of Christ is exclusively
and solely for the redeemed. Therefore, the church and all
that she is and all that she does is for the redeemed, not
for the unregenerate. The only thing that the church
should do for the unregenerate is to proclaim the gospel of
Jesus Christ. Repent and believe the gospel.
Turn from your sin and trust solely in the person of Christ
and His righteousness and you will be saved. Friends, here
we come today to look at the unity of covenant. the unity
of covenant. This will be a recapitulation,
if you will, of a sermon that we did on Ephesians 4, verses
11 through 16. But it will not be the same sermon,
for my focus is more on the reason and the outcome of that unity
and the whole essence of why we are unified as a people rather
than the specifics of what we should be doing. So turn with
me to Ephesians. We're also going to be in Luke
and Gideon Timothy and 1 Peter. We'll close our time out in 1
Peter. And I promise you in two weeks we'll be back into the
exposition of Scripture verse by verse. So bear with me as
we do this. Ephesians chapter 4, 11 through
16. We were here last week. And he gave the apostles, the
prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and the teachers,
to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for building
up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of
the faith, and to the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature
manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves,
and carried around by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning,
by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, Speaking the truth in
love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head,
into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together
by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is
working properly, makes the body grow, so that it builds itself
up in love. And so as we look now, what I
want us to see is the full theme of the letter to the Ephesians
is the unity of the church in Christ. By grace through faith,
we can put a bunch of teaching there. There's a lot of doctrine
and theology here that Paul has exposed to us. We understand
that we are one body with many parts. We are all being equipped. We could go back and talk about
these things that the primary ministry, don't forget, the primary
and foundational ministry of the church is to itself and its
members and its covenant fellowship. And the means of that ministry,
or the vehicle of that ministry, is the Word of God. Holistically,
the Word of God. You have trouble in life. You
have depression. You have issues. You have pain
and suffering. You have financial problems.
All of these things that come. You have an emotional distress.
The answer to that and the ministry to you is foundationally and
primarily and specifically the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is
the power of God unto salvation, and if that gospel is saved,
that gospel surely will sustain. So do not forget, church, as
a way of reminder, that the ministry of the church is indeed to itself,
to each other, through and from the Word of God. In that, what
is it that we ought to be unified in covenant to do? Well, there
are many things that we see here just in this passage. And as
a way of topically addressing some of them, I want us to look
at some of these words. Look at what Paul says to do.
We have been given the apostles and the prophets and the evangelists
and the shepherds and teachers for the purpose of equipping
the saints for the work of ministry. It does not say for people who
are not in the church. It does not say for the lost.
It does not say for the unregenerate. One of the greatest fallacies
and wickedness that happens in the church today in America is
where people feel like they ought to gather around people who don't
want to be in church, find something that would entice them to become
part of the church, draw them into that, plug them into that,
and give them responsibility and buy-in, and thus seal them
into the fellowship of the saints. Well, that's like saying, I want
to increase my cellular level, so I'm going to take cancer cells
and stuff them into my body. Why would we do such a thing?
Because we in our humanity, and sometimes in our faithlessness,
we feel like it's up to us in order to secure the salvation
of others. But it is up to God to do that. And the only way
that happens is for us to speak the explicit gospel to their
ears straight from the pages of Scripture, Romans 10-17. So
if we're not preaching the gospel, we're preaching damnation. So,
why is it that we are here to be unified
for the building up of the body. Period. Well, what about the
Great Commission? The Great Commission is a command,
but more than a command, it is a declaration of what God's people
will be doing. And primarily, we have been called
to make disciples of all nations, meaning that we do not discriminate
and say, well, that person's a Christian and they go to another
fellowship, so I'll let that pastor deal with them. Or worse,
we see that that's a heathen. We know where he was last night
and what he was up to. I'm not about to waste my pearls
before that swine. And so we don't dare... Embark
on that path of thinking. We are to make disciples of all
nations. Evangelism is indeed teaching
the Word of God and teaching holy obedience. Not unto salvation,
but unto worship. And so as we teach obedience,
we are indeed equipping each other. As we teach the Word of
God, we are equipping each other. We are empowering each other
unto eternal life and into sanctifying living in such a way that the
body grows up. For how long? Look at verse 13.
Until we all. You see that? This is in itself
a specific address to the unification of the church. Now do not hear
what I have not said. I have not said that all who
profess Christ are one. For there are many among us who
are not indeed in Christ. And their profession is indeed
worthless. For we see in the end of John
chapter 2, where many believed in the name of Christ that day
because of the signs and wonders that He was doing. But Jesus
in Himself did not believe in them, for He knew men, and no
one had to tell Him what was in the heart of man. So, we know
that it is for all those who are in Christ are to remain unified
in the fellowship of the body somewhere with some people until
they die in the flesh or until Christ comes back. Until the
unity of the faith. until we all reach the unity
of the faith. A cliché that we've heard very,
very often through the decades has been, our church is only
as strong as its weakest Christian on its knees. And I'll tell you
this, that's absolutely true. Though it may be cliché, though
it may be a little saying from time to time that people think
is sort of cute and cunning, friends, it is true. That we
who are the body, the weakest one among us, It measures the
totality of our maturity. So we, in turn, must always strive
to bring those who are waning and suffering and hurting up.
For when they hurt, we hurt. And when we rejoice, they rejoice. And so if we are a body, there
is no promotion. As much as I want to preach the
Word of God to you today, if my leg falls off, it's over.
Because the pain of that, or if somebody chops off my arm
while I'm preaching, I'm sorry. I'm not going to be able to ignore
the fact that I'm bleeding with no appendage. And so I will have
to stop. My mouth will not continue to
preach because my whole of my soul will be focused on the pain
of that suffering. Same is true with the church.
And so when the church is to be equipped, we need to be unified
in that equipment. Listen. Unity in equipping is
centered on and around the Gospel, the Word of God. It's not to
then teach people, though it's important for people to learn
how to manage their finances. It's important for people to
learn how to deal with conflict resolution. It's important for
people to learn how to change the oil in their car. It's important
for people to learn how to dress themselves and brush their teeth
and all of these things. But that is not ministry unto
the gospel for the sake of the growing of the body. Though it is vital and important
for the life in which we live in this world, it is not gospel
ministry. Understand that our unity is
in all areas. We are unified. We don't have
a group over here that needs something in a different way
than this group over here. We don't have a group of mothers,
and though this is an interesting what we call ministry, we've
had a ministry where we actually would take and every Saturday
we would change the oil in people's cars who didn't know how to do
it or couldn't afford to do it. So they'd just drive up, we'd
change their oil and send them on their way. And it felt good
to help people. That's great. But that's not
the building up of the body. That's not the unity of equipping.
And if you teach somebody how to change oil, you're not equipping
them for the work of ministry. Because that's not ministry in
the sense that the Scripture calls building the body. But
yet, the motivation of that ministry indeed is out of maturity. For
what does Paul say at the end of verse 16? That it grows and
builds itself in love. So, we are to be equipping. Look at this. How long? Until we all attain the unity
of the flesh and of the knowledge of the Son of God to mature manhood. Well, some of us say, well, I'm
a man and I'm mature and I'm a mature woman. I'm grown up.
I've been in the church my whole life. I know what I'm talking
about. I've got it together and I'm teaching and I'm living and
I'm doing it the way God wants. Well, hold on a minute. You're
falling short of the actual measure. Because when we ascribe the human
measurement on what the Scripture tells us to be, we have fallen
short of the glory of God yet again. What is it that the Scripture
teaches us here? That we are to grow up until
we attain the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son
of God to mature manhood. And this little pause here in
the next phrase, this infinitive here, says, to the measure of
the stature. So now we see the stature, how
tall and wide and thick and the stature that we're about to get
the measurements from is about to be told to us. So it says,
until we are mature to the measure of the stature of the fullness,
it doesn't say of your pastor, it doesn't say of your brother
or sister next to you, it doesn't say of an evangelist or Jonathan
Edwards or some of the old dead guys, it says to the fullness,
to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. So
we're always looking to each other, through each other, to
the Word which we minister from and to and with, and then we
see what? Christ. And we measure ourselves
to the fullness of that, individually and holistically. So the unity
of the covenant means that we purpose as a people, under the
power of the Holy Spirit of God, which is at work in us, chapter
3, that is able to do far more than we could ever think or ask,
Praise be to God through the church and in Jesus Christ to
all generations forever and ever. Amen. See, that's Paul's doxology
after that prayer. So if we are growing to that
stature, we look to Christ. And until we look just like Him,
we keep going. So how does that work? How does it work? John tells
us that we will be like Him when we see Him face to face. The
Scripture says that when we are with Him, when we're united with
Him, we sang it twice today, when the fullness of time and
Christ returns to take His bride, we will be measurable to Him. Why? Because He's going to make
us like that. He's going to make us like that.
But until that time, the purpose of the church is to be unified
in that equipment. The second thing that the church
is supposed to be unified in is in edification. And so we
see the equipping to do the saints of the ministry, and then the
next thing is the building up of the body. That's not necessarily
just in growth and stature, though it is, but it also includes what
we call edification. That means to take the church
and to stand it up, to push it up. As Moses, when he was failing
and tired, and they held his hands up that he might pray. Are we holding each other up?
Are we holding Christ up? Are we holding ourselves in unity
and in covenant that we might grow the body? Because we who
are of the body, we represent the body. And we represent the
fellowship of Grace Truth Church. And we represent Jesus Christ
and His body universally. And so what we do is a direct
reflection of the people we're a part of. Especially in this
part of the world, as you all know, It's not as important as
to who you are as to who your mom and daddy. Well, that's what
people want to ask you. The older generation, they come
up to you and say, hey, who are you? Who's your daddy? Or they'll
say, I know who you are. And it's really funny, though,
because my generation, we see some youngsters who say, who's
your daddy? That's all we want to know. We
don't know you. We know you look like your favorite daddy. Is
that your daddy? No. Well, you must be lying.
Because you look like him. So when the church says we are
Christ's body and God is our father and we look like the devil,
what do we do? When we don't grow together,
when we don't covenant together, when we're not in unity of the
equipping, when we're not in unity of the edification, you
know what it teaches us? We're not in the unity of the
faith. Amen. One faith, one Lord, one baptism. Period. One faith. You know what
that means? Doctrally speaking, in the knowledge
of Jesus Christ, the question that should always be fresh on
our hearts is, who is Jesus? Not to me, but who is He? And of course, we'll answer that
as of to me. Well, I think, for I believe,
or I know that Jesus is this. And then we look at the reflection
of Scripture that Jesus is indeed who He says He is, but do we
know who the real Jesus is? Are we growing into the knowledge
of Christ, the Son of God? Are we growing into the fullness
of the knowledge of Christ, which is eternal life? Yes. People
will often say, well, I'm a Christian. Really? How do you know that
you're a Christian? Because I, I'll stop them right
now. You what? What could you do to
purpose your salvation? Nothing. The scripture says that
no man can come to God. No man seeks after God. No, not
one. That our throats are like an
open grave. And our lips are like the venom
of vipers? That we're dead? But that God
in His mercy reaches down to that which is dead and He brings
it to life and that's called the rebirth. Faith. unity, and the equipping, and
the edification of the body, and in the faith, and in the
knowledge of the Son of God, Jesus says in John 17, this is
eternal life. That they know you, the one true
God, and the Son Jesus whom you have sent. So friends, if you
don't know the Jesus of the Bible, He does not know you. To the measure of the fullness
of Christ. I want you to see what that means. This is a sermon
series in itself. To the measure of the fullness
of Christ. Do you grasp? Let me get my psalm
book. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. Look at this. What does it say? All the saints adored thee, casting
down their golden crowns around the glassy sea, Cherubim and
Seraphim falling down before thee. These are the angels of
heaven, powerful beings, highly superior to all of humanity,
that with the stroke of a wing kills millions. But the flying
over Egypt kills every firstborn of every man, woman, and child,
and beast. And they fall down before the
Son of God. They fall down before the Lamb.
They fall down in worship. And in Luke 2, as we saw in December,
the hosts of heaven proclaim glory to God in the highest.
For unto this day, A Savior is born unto you in the city of
death. Paul says that the fullness of
God was pleased to dwell in Christ. The fullness of God was pleased
to dwell. That God in His immeasurable,
ineffable qualities, He cannot be contained, contained Himself
in the man Jesus. and we're to grow to the fullness
of His nature. See, we take too lightly the
process of what God has called us to as unifying in the faith
as a people. We take too lightly the fact
that we just talk about Jesus and read about Jesus and sing
about Jesus and we think about how great He is and we are watering
it down. I, in this expression, am watering
down the fullness of the measure of Christ, for it cannot be fathomed." So just when we think we've seen
a little bit more, we've seen nothing in comparison to what
it is. Moses was allowed to see the
back of the back of God as He walked by, because as I walk
by, I'll let you see the reflection of the back of my glory. And
he couldn't handle it. And he comes down off Mount Sinai.
The people had already cried out, let no more instruction
come to the mountain. We can't bear it. For the Shekinah
glory of God was there at the mountain. And God spoke and said,
if a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned to death.
An animal that has no unrighteousness, but that the presence of God
forbade him to touch the area in which God had circled. And then when Moses came down
off the mountain, the scripture says that the Shekinah glory
of God, the reflection of God's reflective back, caused Moses'
face to shine in such a way that the people of Israel were horrified. And they said, please cover your
face. We can't bear to look at the reflection of the reflection
of God's glory in your face. I honestly believe that the church
is supposed to reflect the reflection of the glory of God in the face
of Christ. I think that when people look at you as a Christian
and the fellowship of where you assemble as a congregation, they
ought to be in horror if they are not regenerated. They ought
to not want to participate in your presence because they see
the righteousness of God in you. Why did Cain hate Abel? Because
Abel was righteous. Not self-righteous. but righteous. The measure of the fullness of
Christ, you cannot battle that. That through the power of His
Word, He spoke and all the infinite universe just became. And He left that glory to become
a human so that He might righteously fulfill the requirement of God
on mankind and live wholly. that God would please Himself
to punish Christ and put sin on Him who had no sin, that we
might become the righteousness of God. We are to grow to the
measure of that fullness. How do we do that? Well, there's
many things here. Let's look at it for a second.
Look at verse 14. We grow to mature manhood to
the measure and the stature of the fullness of Christ so that,
in order that we may no longer be children, who were tossed
to and fro by the waves. That means we don't need to be
fickle in our faith. We need to be steadfast in our faith.
We need to be steadfast in our pursuit of righteousness. Steadfast
in our study of Scripture. Steadfast in our relationship
with the saints. Steadfast in our affection for
each other. Steadfast in our praise and our worship. Steadfast.
We hold firm. We stand firm, as Paul will teach
us in just a few months in Ephesians 6, to stand against the schemes
of the devil. We stand firm in steadfastness
and faith and equipping and edification and faith and knowledge. We stand
firm and nothing rocks us. But what are we to stand firm
in? How are we to do it? We're to stand firm as I'll close. I don't want to say this. We
stand firm in understanding and in doctrine and in knowledge.
Look at that. We stand firm in doctrine. so that we no longer be children
tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind
of doctrine. Now, what is a wind of doctrine?
Most of us can understand when something really heretical comes
on the scene. When someone starts to talk about
things that are anti-biblical or anti-spiritual. We have enough
intellect and enough wherewithal and discernment. We recognize
those things. But do we recognize those things
which are not directly related to our faith? Brother Randy and I were briefly
discussing the desensitization. What am I saying? There you go. Y'all know what I'm saying? We
have become desensitized to things which are horribly sinful. We accept them and we don't even
notice that they're there because through our culture, the enemy
has pumped in things into our ears, into our eyes, and our
heart has believed them as normal. And they are far from normal.
They are far from holy. They are far from God. And the
church needs to not just recognize that, but understand that this
is at war. And you know what? The future
of our children is at stake. Popular culture, though there
are a lot of good things that come from it and God can use
it, Paul used it, we don't need to embrace that which is Godless. We need to stand fast in doctrine. And sometimes that doctrine comes
from our Christian publishers. Sometimes that doctrine comes
from a really cool book that talks about God in a really cool
way, but it sounds really good, and it appeases the flesh with,
yeah, that's the God I know, but it's not from the Bible.
And then all of a sudden what happens is that people for decades
have never been excited about the Word of God. Now they're
excited about this book that talks about God. And they buy
a hundred copies and they give it to everybody. And then they
do a study on it and they teach from it. And then the sermons
start to come out of the book instead of out of the Word of
God. And everybody's excited and then it becomes a Facebook
thing. And then we're getting together in small groups. And
one thing after another. And one thing starts up and a
fire goes to blaze and everybody is worshiping an idol that is
not Jesus. And we have to, in the church,
be together so that we can stand fast together when one of us,
and all of us will in some way, sooner or later, fall for something
like that. All of us, even the academics
among us, may find an academic book and say, oh, this is really
intellectual stuff. We'll enjoy learning a little
more about who God is from this. And it'll be garbage. And it
is up to the rest of us, sisters and brothers, and the elders
who oversee and protect the flock from falling away. We are to
see that and go, whoa, whoa, whoa, stop. This is not good. This is not Orthodox. This is
not right teaching. This is wickedness. And throw
that book away. Don't give it out! In doctrine and in faith. We
need to be steadfast in our ministry of the Word. We need to be steadfast
in our ministry to each other. We need to be steadfast in our
protection of the flock. What are you talking about? Well,
don't be carried around by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning. See, those are people who come
in and try to start it up. That's the world that comes in.
That's the enemy that comes in by craftiness and deceitful schemes. You know what really ought to
be doing? This. The devil didn't go to Jesus in the temptation
of wilderness and start teaching false things. He took true things
and he applied them in such a way that made perfect sense to Jesus
the man. You're starving. You haven't
eaten in 40 days. Have you forgotten that you're
divine? Have you forgotten that you need food? You're going to
die. You need to eat. Just take your
power and turn these stones to bread and eat it. Is there anything
sinful about bread? No. Is there anything sinful
about stones? No. Is there anything sinful about the power of God
to turn stones to bread? No. But Jesus was obedient to
the Father, not the devil. His sustenance came from the
Word of God, not the bread of the Lord. You know what you could do? You
just throw yourself off the temple. You see how if you throw yourself...
The Bible says that He will send angels concerning you, that your
foot would not strike the ground. See, the devil knows the Word
of God, and I believe the devil is in many a pulpit, and on many
a bookshelves, and in many Christian bookstores. Now, don't throw
it all away. Read, please. But be a discerning leader. Be
a critical leader. Be a discriminating leader. We should protect one another. And we do that, verse 15, as
we speak the truth in love. That's a protective thing. What
the world says is that unity means we just, shh, don't cause
any fussing. How ignorant is that? And yet
we've all fallen for it. We ought to cause a fuss when
someone is almost dead. We ought to cause a fuss when
the world is encroaching on the church. We ought to cause a fuss
when somebody mocks the very nature of our King. We ought
to make a fuss, but we make it in love. We speak the truth gently
and respectfully as Peter teaches. We counter that which is counter
the Gospel. We oppose those things. We protect
the flock. Speak truth in love. As we speak that truth, we do
so out of love. We are to grow up in every way
into Him who is the Head, into Christ, and Christ is the One
from whom the whole body joined and held together. By every joint
with which it is equipped. And when it's working properly,
each part working properly makes the body grow so that it builds
itself up in love. And so in that, let's look at
the final thing I want us to see about the covenant of unity
or the unity of covenant. We need to be unified in how
we equip and why we equip. We need to be unified in our
edification. unified in our doctrine and our faith and our knowledge
for the same purpose, to grow to measure the fullness of Christ.
We need to be unified in our doctrine, our faith, the protection
of the church, the protection of truth. Why? Why has God done
all of this in the Scripture? Why have the apostles taught
us all of these things? And what's the big deal about
covenant together in the church? Why are we here? What's the ultimate
goal of the body in the first place? to the praise of His glorious
grace, to praise the Lord God. In John 4, Jesus tells the woman
from Sychar, she's a Samaritan, that the Father is seeking worshipers
who worship in spirit and in truth. The Bible does not teach
us that God is seeking type A personalities who have it made. The Bible does
not tell us that God is looking for those over the top successful
people who are going to do incredible things for him. Matter of fact,
Paul says in 1 Corinthians, starting around verse 20, 25, that God
actually uses the low things of the world. And that the strength
of men is greater than the weakness of God, and that the wisdom of
men is greater than the stupidity of God. And that's a paraphrase
there. Not that God is weak or stupid, but if He were, all of
our might and all of our wisdom would be weaker and stupider,
if you could, in comparison to the wisdom of God. And that God
uses the low things of this world to profound the wise. He uses
the nothings of the world to bring the nothing to things that
are. And that God, in the fullness of His glory, stepped out of
glory into the world, created a womb in a woman called Mary,
and was birthed out of that which He created with the same DNA
that He created with His own hands in the body of Jesus Christ. And then He humbled Himself.
He who was the King of all kings humbled Himself and became a
slave, obedient unto death, the criminal's death on the cross.
And so Paul says that that mindset is ours in Christ Jesus, and
we should have that. But why did all that take place?
That God made you praise for His glorious grace. We need to be unified then in
closing in our worship. You know what? You cannot worship
that which you do not know. And you cannot worship rightly
that which you do not continue to learn. You cannot have affection
for something that you think is right. You must have affection
for what you know is right. And what you know is right is
that, as Jesus says in the Gospels, that the Word of God is truth.
And then Jesus claims Himself as that truth. And then John,
apostolically, confirms that. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was God, and the Word was with God, and the Word
became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory.
The Lord is the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth,
and from that fullness we all receive grace upon grace. And
so when Paul said in Ephesians chapter 1 that we are to live
to the praise of His glorious grace, it makes sense to me.
Does it make sense to you? We ought to worship the Son of
God. We ought to worship the Father. We worship the grace
of God. Four simple little things as
we move to the end about grace. Grace is effective. God's grace
given to us is effective in our life. It saves us. It sustains
us. It pushes us. It empowers us.
It causes us to have affection. Affection. It causes us to have
effect in our life. It causes us to be unified. It
causes us to be able to forgive. God's grace is effective. God's grace is sufficient. No
matter what we lose in this life, if we have Christ, we have it
all. We have all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus and the heavenly
realm. There's nothing else that God
has offered us or has that He has not given us. When we have
Christ, we have it all. There is nothing else. These
false doctrines and these false teachers that teach you there
is more? They're liars. It's the same lie that the devil
gave. There's more. Turn that stone to bread. Jump off this thing. Just worship
me. I'll give it all to you. See,
there's more. The rich young ruler thought there was more.
He wanted to take and add Christ or eternal life to all that he
already had. And Jesus said it was going to
cost him all that he had. And he rejected that. So God's
grace is sufficient. When we find out we're going
to die of cancer, when our children leave and die, or if suffering
comes and our husbands leave or our wives leave, or we're
living in a sense where we're handicapped or not able to do
what we used to do as we get older and our bodies just start
to mess up for no reason. God's grace is sufficient. It's
all we need. God's grace is very, very personal. God's grace is given to each
one of us as needed, when needed, for His pleasure, for His purpose,
to the praise of His glorious grace. But it's not just personal. It's personally ascribed and
given effectively to each Christian so that it may be plural. So
that the body may grow. So a Christian by him or herself
is really an ineffective Christian. Not only ineffective, but disobedient
because there's no way for us to give the gifts that God has
given us as a gift to the body. I believe grace is the measure
of the fullness of Christ in the body as one working together
as a reflection of the covenant of God with us. Listen to Timothy. In 1 Timothy chapter 1, just
a few verses, starting verse 15, Paul says to young Timothy
here, the same is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance,
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom
I am foremost. But I received mercy for this
reason. that in me, as the foremost sinner,
Jesus Christ might display His perfect patience as an example
to those who were to believe in Him for eternal life. To the
King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, the honor and glory
forever and ever. Amen. And so God saves His people
so that they may effectively celebrate His grace toward them
and give Him the honor and the glory and the fame and the wonder
that is due His name forever and ever. Jesus says in Luke
19, today salvation has come to this house for the Son of
Man came to seek and to save the lost. And Peter writes these
words in chapter four of his first epistle. Beatified church,
since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves
with the same way of thinking. For whoever has suffered in the
flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the
time in the flesh no longer for human passions, but for the will
of God. For the time that has passed suffices for doing what
the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness,
orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect
to this, they are surprised when you do not join them in the same
flood of debauchery, and they malign you. but they will give
account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are
dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they
might live in the spirit the way God does. The end of all
things is at hand. Therefore, church, be self-controlled
and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, Keep
loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude
of sin. Show hospitality to one another
without grumbling, as each received a gift. Use it to serve one another
as good stewards of God's very grace. Whoever speaks is one
who speaks oracles of God. Whoever serves is one who serves
by the strength that God supplies, in order that in everything God
may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To Him belong glory and
dominion forever and ever. Amen. And he goes on to say,
Do not be surprised, beloved, at the fiery trial when it comes
upon to test you, as if something strange were happening to you.
We won't go on there. But friends, what we see here that echoes
Paul's teaching, even in chapters four and five of Ephesians, is
that we are given to Christ. And then we are also given to
each other. To the praise of His glory, for
the edification of the equipment and the unity of faith, Friends,
we are in coven because that's what the Scripture commands.
Not only does it command it, it exemplifies it and it shows
us explicitly how that should work. Don't let the world lie
to you and teach you that your faith and your church affiliation
is a personal and intimately personal thing. It is a plural
thing. It is for the sake of the body
at large. So we are not part of the body
of Christ so that we might gain at the cost of others. We are
part of the body of Christ that we might, at our own cost, edify
others. And in turn, they do the same
for us. So let us consider that. As we close our time of worship
today, ask yourself, where are you in your understanding of
such things? Do you see the necessity? Do
you understand that true worship comes out of covenants? Understanding the truth, the
growing, the maturity, the sanctity. Seeing the reality of that effectual
grace in our lives that we might love one another. We cannot worship
by ourselves for very long. Because we cannot see the fullness
of God's power when we're alone. So church, pray. Pray diligently that God would
help you understand this. Not just with your mind, but
Holy with your heart and soul. That it would become part of
who you are and that the overflow of God's grace in your life would
create in you a heart to worship Him and to love the church. Not
the place where you go, but the people who are with you. Because Christ has saved you
by His blood and He's died that He might ransom you for Himself. Let's pray. Father, We praise your grace, your glorious
grace. Thank you. Thank you for giving
us the understanding, the power, the person of Jesus that he took
on our sin and we stand perfect and justified before you. And
one day our flesh will be restored and we will no longer sin and
no longer struggle with temptation. And so, Father, until that day,
let us walk together in unity that we might rightly reflect
your nature and your Son and your power in the gospel. Father, that we might serve the
cause of our covenant, that we might serve intimately, that
we build each other up. And Father, as we go out into
the world, that we might reflect perfectly the people who we are
a part of. We praise You for Your love for us. Let's save those who
are Yours. Save those who are lost and apart from You. Bring
those to You, Father. That is our desire. Send us to
the lost and the dying to proclaim the Gospel. to proclaim that
Christ is the true atonement. Father, allow these words that
have been spoken today to sink and plant deep into the hearts
of the children who are here, the young adults, and all the
rest, that we might be effective in the sharing of our faith,
that we might know what we have and all the good things we have
in Christ Jesus. In His name we pray. Amen.