David saying, behold, how good
and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. He admonishes us to pray for
the peace of Jerusalem. That is to pray for the peace
of God's church and kingdom in this world saying, they shall
prosper that love thee. Pray for the peace of God's church.
Pray for the peace of God's kingdom. They who love God's church and
God's kingdom shall prosper. In David's opinion, nothing was
more needful, nothing more desirable for us, and nothing to be sought
and promoted by us more than the unity and peace of God's
saints in this world. I want you to open your Bibles
tonight to Ephesians chapter four, and I want you to see that
the apostle Paul was of the same opinion as this man, David. While he was a prisoner at Rome,
the apostle Paul wrote this epistle to the church at Ephesus. After
giving us instruction in the gospel of God's free and sovereign
grace in Christ, he admonishes us to walk worthy of the vocation,
that is to walk worthy of our high and holy calling as the
children of God in this world. The matter of first importance
that he mentions. and walking worthy of the high
and holy calling as the children of God in this world. The matter
of first importance he mentions is this matter of unity and peace
in God's church. Here we have an exhortation to
unity and peace. Read it with me and then we'll
look at these seven verses together. Ephesians one, or chapter four
rather, verses one through seven. I therefore the prisoner of the
Lord beseech you, that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith
you're called, with all loneliness and meekness, with long-suffering,
forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity
of the spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and
one spirit, Even as you're 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. Paul is saying the church is
spiritually one. Let us therefore be spiritually
one. Our great Savior prayed for this
unity, the unity of his church. When he was about to leave this
world, making his high priestly prayer, one of the very last
things he mentions is this matter of the unity of his church. He
says, Father, this I pray, that they may be one. even as thou,
Father, art in me and I in thee, that they also may be one in
us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. By making
my people live together as one, from all the various backgrounds,
from all the various things that affect our lives, from all the
different places from which we come, that my people may be one
in us. By this, men will be persuaded
to believe that thou hast sent me. So what could be of more
importance? What could be more beneficial?
What could be more blessed? How sweet, how heavenly is the
sight when those who love the Lord in one another's peace delight
and so fulfill his word. When each can feel his brother's
sigh and with him bear apart. When sorrow flows from eye to
eye and joy from heart to heart. When free from envy, scorn and
pride, Our wishes all above, each can his brother's failings
hide and show a brother's love. When love in one delightful stream
through every bosom flows and union sweet and dear esteem in
every action glows. That's what the apostle is talking
about. It's impossible for me to overstate
the importance of this message. So let me begin by showing you
something of its importance. First, when Paul says I therefore,
the word therefore refers specifically to what he has just told us at
the end of chapter three. He calls for us to honor God. He says in verse 20, now unto
him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we
ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto
him, God our Savior, be glory in the church, by Christ Jesus
throughout all ages, world without end. The basis of my appeal then
in making this exhortation to unity and peace is the glory
of God our Savior. God, give us grace that we may
be motivated in all things by your glory. How honoring it is
to our God for brethren to dwell together in peace. How honoring
for those who are born again to live as one, to labor as one,
to think as one in this world. If we would glorify our Lord
Jesus Christ. If we will glorify God, we must
be united to him and united in him, in the unity of the spirit,
in the bond of peace. A second motive by which I appeal
to you is the blessedness. Oh, the blessedness we have enjoyed
as the church of God in this place. That blessedness ought
to compel us constantly to endeavor, constantly to strive to keep,
guard, protect the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.
Words can't begin to describe the goodness of God to this assembly. I took a long time today preparing
what I'm about to say to you with great care. Men and women
all over the world, literally all over the world, speak of
the blessedness we enjoy in this place. people all over the world. You can't imagine places I go
where folks who watch our videos or hear the messages on CD or
on the Free Grace Radio will ask me about Bill or Bobby or
Merle or Larry or Mark, because I call your names and they want
to know about you. And they rejoice with us in the blessings of God
upon us. Everybody who visits this place
speaks of God's great goodness to this assembly. Every new member
God brings in our midst speaks of that same blessedness. Some
of you may remember Brother Paul Harry's, when he and Kelly got
married, Paul had to go back to school over in Lexington in
order to stay in this country. And then he and Kelly got married
and you folks had a shower for him downstairs. And Paul made
this statement. He said, this is what I call
family. This is what a church ought to be. I remember when
Jim and Susan first came here, First time we went out to dinner,
one of them, I've forgotten which one, I think it was Susan, she
said, we visited almost every Baptist church in this county,
but we've never been in a church like this before. What blessedness
God's given us. Truly, God has blessed us beyond
measure, for reasons known only to himself. He's allowed us to
have a voice of influence in his kingdom, literally around
the world. how we ought to cherish the blessedness. He's given us 35 years since
I was called by you to be your pastor. He's given us, and I
can't speak for the past, but in those 35 years, he's given
us 35 years of delight, of unity in heart, mind, and purpose. Yes, we've had folks come and
go, and that's always painful, painful to deal with. But God
has given us this blessed, blessed unity and peace. And we ought
to guard it and cherish it. And I mean by that, that it is
Bill Raleigh's responsibility. Yours altogether and nobody else's. And it is my responsibility,
mine altogether and nobody else's. I mean, we must each make it
our business to cherish and keep the unity of the spirit in the
bond of peace. God has been so gracious, so
good to us. Now, understand this third basis
of appeal. Unity and peace is the strength
of any congregation. Unity and peace is the strength
of any congregation. Because we've been so blessed
of God, Because we have been so very greatly blessed of God,
we ought to do everything we can to promote that unity and
peace. When we're one, we're strong
and useful. When we're divided, we're weak
and useless. So tonight I want to show you
from the word of God how we are to walk worthy of the vocation
wherewith we are called. How each of us must endeavor
to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. I want
to show you three things in these seven verses of scripture. Just
hold your Bibles open here and follow along with me. To begin
with, I want to present the challenge that Paul gives us here. Here
is his exhortation. In this opening verse, the apostle
urges us to walk in a manner that's worthy of our high calling,
our holy calling as the sons of God. I, therefore, the prisoner
of the Lord, beseech you, I urge you, I beg you, I plead with
you that you walk worthy Walk in a manner worthy of a people,
so-called of God. Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith
you're called. Now notice who it is that's speaking
to us. The one giving us this exhortation. The one who issues
this challenge to us. I, the prisoner of the Lord. This man, Paul, was a prisoner
at Rome. While he awaits execution for
the cause of Christ, he writes out of concern for God's church,
not just the church at Ephesus, but for God's church as a whole.
Out of concern for the whole family of God. Some of you have
been here since you first called me your pastor. One Wednesday
night when we began to meet on Wednesday nights over in Bob
and Sally Ponson's living room, sitting at the table, and I said
to you then at the very beginning, our responsibility, let us always
bear in mind, our responsibility extends beyond the four walls
of the building in which we meet. We are responsible. to care for
and minister to, with everything we have, to the utmost extent
of our ability, the whole Church of God in this world in our generation. While Paul was a prisoner at
Rome, He thinks of this church at Ephesus and thinks of you
and me, the church of God in this world. And he writes to
us, urging us to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond
of peace. He was Christ's prisoner. He
wasn't ashamed to own it. He wasn't ashamed of his sufferings
because they weren't the result of something evil, but of that
which he had done in the cause of Christ. He was aware that
even the evil we suffer at the hands of men because of the gospel
is evil that we suffer by the hand of God. He's, I'm in prison,
but the Jews didn't do it. The Romans didn't do it. I'm
the prisoner of Jesus Christ, my Lord. My redeemer put me here. And he was convinced that the
gospel of Christ and the souls of men were worth whatever sufferings
he endured for their sake. Read this fourth chapter of 2
Corinthians and see how Paul describes the things that he
endured for the gospel's sake. And he refers to them this way,
our light afflictions, which are but for a moment. Work for
us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. You see, faithful
men, faithful servants of God, are faithful to the souls of
men, faithful in preaching the gospel, no matter how disagreeable
they are to some, and no matter what the cost may be to themselves. Gospel preachers must be instant
in season and out of season. Though Paul was in prison at
Rome. He knew he belonged to Christ. There are times when God's servants
become prisoners, but they're his prisoners, and he tenderly
cares for them. John Bunyan, in those 12 years
he was in bed for jail, there was nothing pleasant about it.
But if you read the man's life, You find out that God graciously,
tenderly cared for him. He had a jailer who actually
liked him. And the jailer would let Bunyan out to visit with
his family a little bit every now and then. God graciously
cared for him even in the midst of the difficulty. Our Lord never
thinks less of us. because of the reproaches others
heap upon us or the evil they do to us. Let us faithfully adhere
to him as he faithfully adheres to us. Though Paul was a prisoner
at Rome, his concern wasn't for his own well-being, but for the
well-being of God's church. He fulfilled his own admonition. Look not every man on his own
things. but every man also on the things
of others. I often wonder, Lindsay, what
God might be pleased to do with me if I could learn never to
consider God and just other folks, and I pray for grace to do so. Look not on your own things,
but on the things of others. That's the admonition, and Paul
fulfilled his own admonition. He's given us a good foundation
for the challenge. I therefore beseech you, because
of all God's great goodness, because of all God's great salvation,
because of all Christ's redemption, because of all the righteousness
and all the blessedness, God has heaped upon you in saving
you by his grace. Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith
you're called. This exhortation is frequently
given to us in the word of God. Listen to how Paul gives it to
us in other places. Walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing,
being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge
of God. He says, walk worthy of God,
who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory. The Apostle
Peter says much the same thing. As he hath called you is holy,
so be ye holy in all manner of conversation. Our calling, our
calling of God is a call to a life for God. He's not talking here
about a general call that's issued when the gospel's preached. He's
talking about that effectual, irresistible call of his grace
by which he calls his sinners to come to Christ and gives them
faith in Christ. It's a call out of darkness into
light, out of bondage into liberty. A call out from among the children
of darkness to dwell forever with children of light. We're
called out of this wicked world into the family of our God. This
high and holy calling is a call without repentance. Once given,
it's never rescinded. He calls for us to walk worthy
of this calling. That is to walk with Christ,
the prize of the high calling of God ever before our eyes,
pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling
of God. To walk worthy of our calling is to walk onward, persevering
to the end. Last night I talked a good bit
with Brother Eric Richards. He and Brother Frank Hall both
have suffered a good bit of reproach recently from folks that ought
to cherish them. And heap accusations and stuff upon them. And I told
them before they ever went to pastor and first started talking
to me about preaching, and I remind them frequently, If you're gonna
pastor a church, if you're gonna preach the gospel of God's grace,
you better have the heart of a baby and a backbone of steel
as wide as a freeway and the height of a rhinoceros and don't
ever defend yourself. Don't ever get in a pit with
folks, don't ever do it, don't ever do it. And I said to Eric,
I said, I know you were raised in Texas, you've probably never
been in a real cold wind. And I'll tell you what you do
when you have to walk through a cold, cold wind. There's ice
in the air and the wind blowing 25, 30 miles an hour. You pull
your collar up around your neck and you pull your hat down close
on your head and you bow, just bow your back and you walk into
the wind and you just keep on walking. You don't ever quit,
you don't ever quit. And that's what we must do. As
we seek to serve our God, just seek to serve him against all
opposition to the end. Now we're called by the Spirit
of God, let us walk worthy of our calling. Let us who are children
of light walk as children of light. Let us who are Christ's
freemen walk as men and women in the liberty of the grace of
God. Walk by faith, leaning on the staff of God's word and his
promise. Walk in Christ's ways in love,
patience, temperance, long-suffering, gentleness, and forbearance.
Now, here's the second thing. That's the exhortation. Walk
worthy of the Lord, of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
How? How are we to behave ourselves
if we would meet that challenge? Paul tells us plainly, he describes
for us the conduct which is agreeable to this calling and promotes
this unity. Verse two, walk worthy of vocation
wherewith you're called with all lowliness and meekness, with
long suffering for bearing one another in love. endeavoring
to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. We don't
walk worthy of our calling unless we're faithful friends to God's
people. Nothing is pressed upon us more
earnestly. Nothing pressed upon us more
frequently in this book than brotherly love. That's the law
of Christ's kingdom. That's the lesson of his school.
That's the garment of his people. In these two verses, Paul gives
us some things that are demonstrated in the lives of men and women
who walk with God. In the lives of many women who
are born again by the power of His grace, in the lives of many
women bought with Christ's precious blood, their lives are governed
by the love of Christ. They're called to walk with all
loneliness, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another in love,
endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of
peace. God teach me these things. And God teach you these things.
There are many precious promises to men and women of this character.
The meek, the lowly. The meek shall eat and be satisfied. The Lord lifteth up the meek.
The Lord taketh pleasure in his people. He will beautify the
meek with his salvation. The meek shall increase their
joy in the Lord. Blessed are the meek for theirs
is the kingdom of God. they shall inherit the earth.
What is this meekness? Who are these meek ones? It's not what men and women commonly
think meekness is. Meek folks are not people who
folks look at and say, my, there's a meek man. He's so humble, he's
so humble. Moses is held before us in scripture
as the exemplification of meekness. And I can't think of any man
in this book except our Lord himself, who displayed more boldness,
more courage, more uprightness, more steadfastness, a stronger
back, a stronger heart, a stronger mind than that man Moses. But
he was meekness, the embodiment of meekness. How is that? Moses
possessed a meekness. He was possessed of a meekness
that made him comfortable, confident, and courageous as he walked with
God. Moses knew who he was. God kept on reminding him by
giving him plenty of occasion to see in his own actions just
who he was. just a sinner, a sinner chosen
of God, loved of God, redeemed by the precious blood of Christ,
saved by God's free grace. Moses knew what he was. He knew
who he was. He knew whose he was. He belonged
to God. He was God's property, God's
possession, not his own. and he knew what God would have
him to do. Knowing who he was and whose
he was, knowing what God would have him to do, he would not
be turned aside from what God would have him to do. Not by
his wife, not by his sons, not by his father-in-law, not by
Aaron, not by his sister, not by anybody, he wouldn't be turned
aside. Such meekness is essential to
every man called and sent of God to preach the gospel, essential
to the success of his work in the ministry. Paul says, the
servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all
men, apt to teach, patient in meekness, with bold heart. self-denying, God-honoring, confident
meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves, if God peradventure
will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.
And if you would profit by the ministry of the word, if you
would profit by the faithful exposition of the scriptures,
if you would profit by the preaching of the gospel, you must receive
the word of God. with such meekness. James says
plainly, lay aside all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness
and receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able
to save your souls. You open the book. God speaks by his servant to
your heart and you say, well, I'll consider that. I'll think
about that. Explain that to me. No, you bow
to God's word. Now I'm gonna tell you something,
and it'll help you if you can remember it. It'll help me if
I can remember it. You don't come to understand
scripture by research and study. Yes, study to show yourself a
proven workman that needeth not to be ashamed. Rightly divide
in the word of truth by all means study, study. But study doesn't
open the scriptures to you. Faith does. You come to understand
the scriptures when you bow to the revelation of God. You have,
every one of you, every one of you who are believers have proved
this again and again and again. You look at something and it
runs contrary to your flesh, contrary to your thinking, contrary
to what you've been taught. You just, well, let me study
this. Let me study this. Let me study this. And you read
and study and read and study and read and study and read and
study. And you just, you just can't get away from it. And then
you, well, God said that. That's just the way it is. That's
just the way it is. And you bow to it. And bowing
to it, God gives you understanding of it. There's no other way to
understand the word except to receive it with meekness as one
who bows to God in all things. Meekness is a Christ-like spirit. Paul urged this similar exhortation
upon the Corinthians by the meekness and gentleness of Christ. Our
Lord said, take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am
meek and lowly in heart. How did he display such meekness? How do we see that meekness in
him? He was oppressed and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth. He was brought as a lamb to the
slaughter, As a sheep before his shearers is dumb, so he openeth
not his mouth. When he was reviled, he reviled
not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously. That's it. That's it. In its essence, this is meekness.
The committing of myself to him who judgeth righteously. Let
men say what they will. Let men do what they will. Let
hell rage as it will. It is the committing of myself
to my God who judges righteously. Paul wrote to those accusers
at Corinth. He said, I don't give a flip
what you think. You judge me, I don't care what
you think. I don't even judge myself. I
commit myself to him who judges righteously. Such meekness. is truly precious in the sight
of God. Peter says, the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit is
in the sight of God of great price. Meekness and lowliness
of mind is rare. It's seldom seen because it is
completely contrary to our nature, completely contrary to our pride,
completely contrary to our sense of worth. meekness and lowliness
of mind, is that sweet disposition of grace that causes saved sinners
to disown themselves. I mean by that to give up the
possession of themselves into the hands of God, the will of
God, and the glory of God. It is that humility that causes
men to have low thoughts of themselves and high esteem for others. It's
that excellent disposition of soul that makes us unwilling
to provoke others and keeps us from being easily provoked by
others. These things, oh, they're so contrary to me
and so contrary to you. They're just totally inconsistent
with everything about us by nature. Peevishness is ours by nature.
We like to take offense, we like to pout, and we like to defend
ourselves, and we like to talk about others. Meekness is given
to us only by the grace of Christ. If we would keep the unity of
the Spirit in the bond of peace, we must be long-suffering with
one another. Long-suffering, that is patiently bearing reproaches,
injuries, and infirmities for Christ's sake. The Lord our God
has been long-suffering to us. The Lord our God, Don Fortner,
has been long-suffering to you. That means you ought, above all
people, to be long-suffering with others. Perhaps one of our greatest needs
is loving forbearance. That love and forbearance that
covers a multitude of sins. The love of Christ experienced
in the soul makes saved sinners forbearing with one another. That person who is truly and
most fully aware of the depravity of his own heart, his own propensity
to every evil, his own liability to fall into any sin, being loved
of God and forgiven of all is least likely to judge faults
in others and most likely to forgive their offenses. That
which makes us quick to judge and makes us hold a grudge and
not forgive, makes us so that we're not quick to forgive, is
our own haughty, arrogant, proud, high opinion of ourselves, nothing
else. As I've said, these are the things
that are contrary to our nature. Therefore, we must labor. We
must earnestly endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit. But
Brother Don, isn't this something that is given to us by the Spirit
of God? Indeed it is. Were it not for
the gift of His grace, it would not be present. Yet it is that
which we are admonished by the Spirit of God who gives it to
endeavor, to strain, to labor, to strive, to keep this unity
of the Spirit and this bond of peace. Only by pride cometh contention. Let us then strive to keep this,
the bond of peace. What's he talking about? If you
take and go out in the woods and just gather up a bunch of
little twigs, just little sticks, they're really useless. You can't
do anything with them except maybe start a fire. If you try
to build a fire by them, it won't last long. All you can do is
just start one with them. They're just useless. But if
you take those same little sticks, those useless little sticks,
and you find your piece of strong rope, and you bind them together,
tie them tightly together, and now all those little sticks bound
together as one large post, now you can do something with that.
That makes it strong. That makes them useful. This
bond of peace, the peace God gives in this blessed unity of
the spirit is the strength of his people. Let us then strive
to keep it. Abide with one another. Abide
with one another. What's that mean? Make it your
determination to let nothing divorce your heart from me. Make it your determination to
let nothing divorce your heart from another. This ain't gonna
happen. This ain't gonna happen. Years
ago, when I was down in Florida years ago, a long time ago, down
in Plant City, Florida, an old man was preaching. and he talked
about he and his wife been married for 60, 65 years, and a young
fella came up to him and said to him, said, said, Brother Hunnicutt,
do you mind if I ask you a personal question? He said, why, no, son,
ask whatever you want to. He said, in all those years you
and Sister Hunnicutt been married, he said, did you ever think about
divorce? He said, oh, no, son, no. Murder
on occasion, but never divorce. How come? Because we made up
our mind in the beginning, it ain't gonna happen. It ain't
gonna happen. It just ain't gonna happen. And
that's how we in this place must live together in the unity of
the spirit, in the bond of peace. When you come to unite with a
family of God, come to unite with a local church, You lift
your hand to heaven and you declare to heaven and to earth and to
hell, we ain't gonna be parted. It just ain't gonna happen. It
just ain't gonna happen. This is what it is to be filled
with the spirit. This is what it is to follow
Christ and live after the pattern of Christ. This is what it is
to live for God. Now look at the constraint he
gives. I'll come back to this another day. But if you're gonna
have such an admonition, such an exhortation, such a challenge
given, you gotta have some kind of constraint that will really
motivate you. Endeavoring to keep the unity
of the spirit in the bond of peace. And here's the reason. There's one body. The church
of God is one. and one spirit. The spirit of
Christ is one. One. All God's people are one. We are all born of one spirit
and live in one spirit. Even as you're called in one
hope of your calling. There's just one Lord. Just one
Lord. That's Christ our Savior. One
faith, the gospel of God's free grace. The faith God gives us
in his son. That faith we confess in our
baptism, being buried with Christ, risen with Christ, seated with
Christ, living with Christ. One God and no other. And this
God, the God of the universe, he's the father of all. He's
not talking about God being the universal father of men. He's
the father of every one of us. He's the father of every one
of us. You who are youngest and you who are oldest. You who are
weakest and you who are strongest. You who know the most and you
who know the least. We are all the children of one
father. One father. That gives us a bond
that we ought to cherish always. One father. He's above all. And He is through all. Imagine that. God works through
you, just like He works through me. And He works through me,
just like He works through you. And He's in you all. God dwelling
in us by His Spirit. This is a sweet constraint of
grace. Now look at one more constraint
He gives us in verse 7. But unto every one of us is given
grace. To every one of us, God has given
grace. Now watch what it says. According
to the measure of the gift of Christ. Grace according to the
measure of the gift of Christ. He's given us grace. to serve Him in exactly the place
where He's put us to serve Him. Grace to do exactly what He's
given us to do. I used to often hear Brother
Bob Pontcher make this statement, and I cherish the memory of his
attitude. He said back in the office many
times, said in my presence many times, he said, he said, we can't
preach, but we can preach through you. I can't do this or I can't, I
can do that. He'd be out here, he'd be out
here sometimes every day of the week doing something, just doing
something. just doing something. How come? And I said, Bob, you just don't
need to do that. He said, I can do this, Brother
Don. I can do this. God's given us
grace, every one of us who are his, to do what God would have
us to do in the cause of our Redeemer for one another. Given
us grace to do so. And I'll tell you what I've observed.
Most folks who don't have anything to do, you know how come? Because
they don't want anything to do. That's just the way they want
it. God's given us grace. Grace according to the measure
of Christ to serve our Redeemer. God, make me faithful to use
the grace you've given to keep the unity of the Spirit in the
bond of peace. Lord, we all look up to thee
as one flock, one family. May all strife between us cease
as we love thee, Prince of Peace. Make us one in heart and mind,
gentle, meek, forgiving, kind. Lowly both in thought and word,
like thyself, beloved Lord. Let us for each other care, each
the other's burden bear, each to each by love and dear, one
in faith and hope and fear. Free from all that hearts divide,
let us thus in thee abide, all the depths of love express, all
the heights of holiness. Oh, blessed Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit, hasten the day when we shall be made perfect in one. And until then, give us grace
day by day that we may endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit
in the bond of the peace for the honor of God our Savior.
Amen.