It's Ephesians chapter 4, and
I want to read verses 1-3. Ephesians chapter
4, verses 1-3. Before we read, let's go to the
Lord again in prayer. Our wise and our faithful Father,
we bow before You this morning. We thank You the great honor
and privilege, the necessity of thou and before you here at
this throne of grace, a throne that you've prepared for your
people, your weak people, your poor sinful people, your erring
people, to come for grace and for mercy. We read in your word
that you are God who answers prayer. You are God who hears
when your children call. Our need this morning, Lord,
is for You to, in Your great love and tender mercy, to bless
Your Word as we read, as we attempt this day to set it forth. Our
Father in Heaven, for the glory of Jesus Christ, by the power
of Your Holy Spirit, May you make your word effectual this
morning. Be your own interpreter. Make
it plain. For your glory we ask. Amen. Ephesians chapter 4 and verse
1, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that
you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called. with all lowliness and meekness,
with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring
to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace." Now,
I have one word this morning that I want us to look at as
we begin chapter 4 of Ephesians, and it's found here in verse
1, therefore. I, therefore. And the reason
I want us to look at this word, it's found several times in the
Scripture. And at your leisure, if you want
to get your concordance out and look at it, it's very instructive. This is one of the most instructive
words, I think, sometimes in all of these epistles of these
great apostles. And I want us to look at it this
morning as it's found here in this context, and I want us to
see three things concerning this word, therefore. First of all,
when we look at it, as Brother Mahan often told us, see what
it's there for. When you see this word therefore,
it refers us back to what has previously been said. This is
so important. I hope that you understand the
importance of this word when we look at it this morning. I
beseech you therefore. What's been said? Well, you and
I have been studying on it for several months, haven't we? Maybe
even over a year now, we've been studying on what has already
been said in chapters 1 through chapters 3. Chapter 1, 2, and
3. I beseech you, therefore, in
light of what I've already said, and what truths have we studied
already? Well, we've looked at the sad
state of men, what we are by nature, the danger that we were
in. We've looked at how life came
to us when we were dead in trespasses and sins. God quickened us. He gave us life. We looked at
the grace of God in Christ, chapters 1 and chapters 2. Electing grace,
we consider that. Redeeming grace, in whom we have
redemption through His blood. Even the forgiveness of sins
according to the riches of His grace. Saving grace. Reconciling grace there in chapter
2. Reconciling Jews and Gentiles
unto God. Making peace between God and
the believing sinner. Making peace between them, all
believers. And what a thrill it was there
in the third chapter. At least it was for me. I hope
it was for you. And verse 11, as we looked at
God's eternal purpose, remember that. What a thrill that was
when we remembered and studied that God's purpose isn't contingent
upon man. It's not dependent upon man's
will, what man will do or might do or can do, but it's dependent
upon God's eternal will, His sovereign will, His wisdom, and
His power. We read there in the last portion
of chapter 3, of that wonderful doctrine that Christ comes to
the heart, not just to visit, but He comes there to settle
down. He comes there to live, to abide with us, to sup with
us. And we talked about He abides
there by faith. Get a hold of the reality of
that deep in our hearts. challenges us there in two or
three places in that chapter of the power of God that works
in us. Not only the power of God that
we see in creation, but He reminds us there that God would strengthen
you by His might in the inner man. Ain't that an amazing thing? Remember when we looked at that?
Aren't you thankful for this little word, therefore? Because
it reminds us, don't forget. It points us back to what we've
been studying. The mighty power of God. He is able to do exceeding, abundantly
above all that we ask, all that we can thank according to His
power that works in Not only on our behalf, but His power
that works in us. See the importance of this little
word? One of the commentators that I was reading on this book,
he finished up chapter 3, and he made this statement. He said,
I love these three chapters so desperately, he said, I hate
to go on. I hate to leave these chapters."
But that's what this little word, therefore, reminds us. We don't
have to leave it. We must not leave it. How can
we leave these three chapters? We get them in our memory. We
get them down deep in our heart, the doctrine, the truth, the
knowledge of what we've studied. But we can't leave it Do you
want to leave it? No, we cannot leave it. Well,
that's what this little word here is there for. See what it's
there for. It's there to remind us. What
have you been studying? We've been studying these glorious
truths, haven't we? The wonderful truths that the
Holy Spirit has taught us. not only of our awful depravity
and danger that we were in, but the exceeding great grace of
the love of God in Jesus Christ that reached down to the uttermost
depths and lifted us up. The love of Christ that passeth
knowledge. No, this word, therefore, says
always be looking back. Every time we go to chapter 4,
no matter where we begin in chapter 4, we have to begin it with,
therefore, what have we been studying in these three chapters? Imagine if I got up here a few
months back and announced that we were going to study in the
book of Ephesians, and I begin here at chapter 4. And I said, I therefore. And you'd have said, but wait
a minute. You can't begin there. What comes before? I therefore. I was thinking it would be sort
of like, and you've all seen this or read about it in books.
These fellows that goes in when a bomb has been planted in some
building and this fellow goes in to disarm it. And sometimes
he doesn't know what kind of a bomb it is or how exactly it's
wired, so he has these earplugs. And someone in another location
is talking to him and describing what he should do, which wire
he should unhook next. Can you imagine that he is there
waiting, he hasn't heard anything, and the first words that he hears
is, therefore, See what I'm saying? You can't
begin in the middle of something. Wait a minute. Therefore, what
did you say before you said therefore? Therefore, the next wire you
unhook is the blue wire. Wait a minute. Wait a minute.
See there? We cannot start at chapter 4. When we start at chapter 4, what
are we reminded of? We're reminded of chapters 1.
We're reminded of chapters two, and we're reminded of chapter
three. Brothers and sisters, don't forget,
we're not about to start something new. We're not about to start something
new. What we're going to do is continue. We're going to bring
what we've learned in these three chapters, and now we're going
to continue on. This little word here is a constant
reminder that what we have already learned, we must take with us. I, therefore. That's the first
thing. That's the first thing. Secondly, this little word, therefore,
is very instructive because of this reason. It's put here to remind us that
there's more. There's more. We aren't allowed
to stop, are we? We can't stop here with the doctrines
that we've learned in these three chapters. We can't stop at what
we've been taught. We can't stop with a mere knowledge,
no matter how precious it is. And for me, it's been precious.
This book has been one of the most precious books I've ever
attempted to study with you folks. I have got so much out of it.
These precious truths. But this word, therefore, it
says, Bruce, you can't stop here. There's no stopping place. You've
got to go on. Bring what you've learned with
you, but you can't sit down and say, that's enough. You've got
to go on. We must never leave them, but we must take them with us
as precious companions, as dear friends. But we must go on. I therefore now, the prisoner
of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of Him that has
called you. How do we walk before God? How
do we walk before one another? How do we walk before this world?
What must our attitude be as Christians? What's our duty one
towards another? That's what this word, therefore,
teaches us. We've learned these precious
truths. Therefore, what's next? We're going to study in this
chapter. And I hope we can find out something about unity as
we study it. And peace, as I read to you there,
endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of
peace. But Paul, I want to show you
what the Apostle does here. And show you how this word, therefore,
brings what he had been teaching in chapters 1, 2, and 3. And
it takes us on to experience that in our daily life. Let me
show you what I'm talking about. Look back in chapter 2. Chapter 4 is going to be dealing
with unity. Endeavoring to keep the unity
of the Spirit in the bonds of peace. And the Apostle Paul had
already been talking about this unity, this oneness in Christ. Look here how he said it again
in chapters 2 and verse 14. Christ is our peace, who hath
made both Jew and Gentiles one, and hath broken down the middle
wall of petition between us, having abolished in His flesh
the enmity, even the law of commandments containing ordinances, for to
make in Himself of twain one new man, so making peace." And
then he goes on down in the 20th verse and the 21st verse and
tells us that we have this one foundation. We're built upon
the foundation of the apostles and prophets. In verse 21, in
whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto that holy
temple in the Lord. See what he's saying, that Christ
on the cross, made one new man. Everyone who is in Christ is
just one person. He's one new man. Whether he
be believing Jew or believing Gentile, we're one in Christ. That's the unity that we have.
He tells us in chapter 1 and verse 10, look at this, that
in the dispensation of the fullness of time, this is God's purpose,
that He might gather together in one all things in Christ,
both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in Him."
When everything is consummated and God's purpose is finished,
everything is going to be one in Christ. Everything is going
to be brought back into perfect harmony, perfect peace in Christ. Angels and men, heaven and earth,
God and angels and men, everything that's in Christ is going to
be brought back to be just one. That speaks of unity, doesn't
it? It speaks of harmony, of peace. This is God's purpose. Look at
this present world today as you and I live in it. Look at the
divisions in it. Look at the trouble that's being
stirred up on every quarter. The world, the Bible teaches,
is like the troubled sea. It's this stirring up mire and
trouble. Look at the division. The divisions
in this world. We have our continents. We have
our countries. We have our nations. We have
our states. We have our towns, our counties.
We have our political parties. We have our denominations. There's
something about man, he loves to be divided. He makes all these
divisions and he causes all of these troubles because of it. But in Jesus Christ, there's
just one. See the unity? In chapters 1
and chapters 2, there's just one. Just one. And everybody
that's in Christ, I don't care What nationality you are, what
color you are, what sex you are, what age you are, you're just
one. And you know if you've got one,
you don't have a division, do you? To have division, you have
to have more than one. In Christ, all are one. One new man. And what's the consequences? Soul-making peace. Soul-making
peace. This is what the Lord Jesus prayed
for His church. He said, Father, I pray for them.
And I think what He was praying for is that we may experience
this unity. I pray for them that they may
be one, as Thou art in me and I in You, that they may be one
in Us. And what does this Word therefore
do? It sends us out into this troubled
world, this world that's so divisive, and it tells us to seek out God's
people. Seek out the church of Christ,
the body of Christ, and glue ourselves to it. Cleave to the
body of Christ and endeavor with all your heart to experience
the unity and the peace, one with another, that you already
have in Christ. That's what this word, therefore,
does. It looks back at all these precious
truths, and then it looks ahead, and it says, you've been studying
about this unity that's in Christ, now endeavor to experience this
unity. I would say that one of the most
difficult works that the churches had to do throughout the ages
is to secure and maintain the unity and the peace among its
members. You look at it in the early church
and you see the divisions beginning in the early church. The church
there at Corinth had divisions among them. They had little cliques. They were divided. Strife and
debate was among them. The church at Galatia was biting
and devouring one another. They were about to consume one
another, about to split. And one of the most difficult
things you and I face in this day as believers, as Christians,
is to maintain this unity and to be held together by the bonds
of peace. I'm not talking now just about
this congregation. It's not too difficult to maintain
unity within a small congregation. You can pretty much do that.
But it's not just in this congregation. But what about the church down
the street? What about the pastor that pastors
the church uptown? The big church, you know. What
about some of your relatives that profess to know Christ? What about your neighbor that
says he knows the Lord? How do you maintain unity with
him? Don't you find it very difficult
in this day Not only how to maintain unity, but who to seek unity
with. That's a problem we face as Christians,
isn't it? You meet someone and he says
he professes to know the Lord, and he wants to get acquainted
with you and talk, and here you are wondering, is he even a Christian? You and I have people that we've
known for years. But when it comes to seeking
unity with them, what do we do? We sort of pull back in our shell.
Why? Well, just not for sure that
we should seek unity with them. And you know why? This is a unity
of Spirit. This is a unity of God's children. This is a unity of those who
are in Christ. You know John Calvin and Martin
Luther. basically believed the same thing.
But you know they couldn't get along with each other for that.
It wasn't so much Calvin, but Luther calling Calvin a scoundrel
and a reprobate. And I imagine they're both in
heaven today at the feet of the Savior. We can talk about endeavoring
to keep the unity of the Spirit, but that's why that word is there.
a laboring, giving your heart to it. It's not easy to maintain
unity, and there's many reasons for it. But this chapter is going
to teach us how to do it. And I hope we can learn something
about it. But that's why this Word is there. Therefore. Therefore. It tells us we can't
stop at chapter 3. If you stop at chapter 3 and
say, oh, what wonderful doctrine we've just studied, but that's
enough for me, that's enough for me, then forget about going
on and talking about unity. See what I'm saying? This Word is so instructive to
us because it says this, as difficulty, as difficult as it may seem. You can't stop here at the end
of chapter 3. You've got to press on towards
the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ
Jesus. We must take these precious truths
of these preceding chapters and press on. There's a highway. It leads from this earth to heaven,
and we need to advance on it. There's a path of the just that
shineth more and more, and you and I need to be walking on it,
advancing on it. That's what this word, therefore,
does. You and I have attitudes that we have to develop. Therefore,
therefore. We have a new man to put on and
an old man to put off. Therefore, therefore. We have
a growth. We have a maturity. We must learn
by experience to walk with God, to live the Christian life, to
honor God in all that we do. Therefore, see what this little
word, therefore, does? It refuses to let us stop. You
cannot. You cannot stop at these precious
doctrines and say those were great. But that's all. That's
all we have to do. The Holy Spirit will allow it,
brothers and sisters. That's why He put this word in
there. Therefore. Therefore. You do not stop. You must press on. For what reason? Well, He tells us, doesn't He?
I beseech you that you walk worthy of this calling, for with you
are called. The third thing about this little
word, therefore, is this. It binds these two together. It binds chapters 1, 2, and 3
with chapters 4, 5, and 6. It gives us balance. It gives
us balance. Doctrine, teaching, knowledge,
we love them. They are absolutely necessary.
But if we stop there, look how unbalanced we'll be. Barb called
yesterday, and she said they had to get her up and walk all
the way around there in the hospital before they let her go home because
she has a broke arm, and the doctor says you're off balance,
and you're going to fall. So he made the nurse get Barb
up and watch her walk around the hospital to make sure she
could keep her balance because she has a broke arm and a sprain.
It's not good to be off balance. You're apt to fall and hurt yourself. This little word, therefore,
keeps us on balance. It says we've got these precious
truths, these doctrines, and we get them down deep in our
heart. And now what do we do? Now we learn how to walk. And ain't it very telling that
the first three chapters is basically on what we're to believe. And
the last three chapters are basically on how we're to walk in our attitude. See the balance that's there?
A perfect balance. Very telling, isn't it? It's so dangerous. It's so dangerous
not to be balanced. Let me give you two examples
and just take me a minute and I'll close. Let me give you two
examples. One is found, if you'd like to
read it sometimes, it'd be very familiar, in Matthew chapter
7, and the other is in Matthew chapter 25. And both of them
is concerning this thing that I'm trying to talk about, of
balance. Concerning knowledge, concerning
doctrine, and concerning practice, or what? Listen to this passage
in Matthew chapter 7. Many will say to me in that day,
in the day of judgment, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied?
Have we not preached in your name? Have we not taught in your
name? In your name we've cast out devils.
In your name we've done many wonderful works. Boy, they were
keeping account, weren't they? They must have been keeping account.
Can you imagine? Can you imagine standing before
the Lord God of glory? And the first thing and seemingly
the only thing you can think of as a reason for Him to let
you into heaven is what you've done? Can you imagine that? Can you imagine just thinking
that way? What would make a person think
that way? Lord, let me in! Let me in! Why should I let you in? Well,
look at all the good things that I've done. Well, I've been preaching. I've been teaching. I've cast
out devils. I've gilled. I've fasted. I've
done these wonderful things. There isn't an unbalanced person. There is a person that was so
concentrated on how to live their so-called Christian life They
had no understanding of how God takes a sinner to heaven. How
He saves a sinner. Do you think that would have
been said under these first three chapters that we've studied?
I bet you they never said 100. If they did, I bet you they thought,
well, that's nothing. Everybody knows that. That's
just the gospel. Everybody knows that. I want
to go on to something practical. Just tell me how to live the
Christian life. We've got people like that. I
used to have a friend that I worked with, and he was a preacher.
And he said, I don't teach doctrine. That's what these fellows thought.
All we want to know is how to live the Christian life. If they
had been established in the Gospel, if they had been listening to
these first three chapters, they would have found out how God
gives us inner life. What is a sinner? He's a man
who is dead and trespasses and sins. Well, how in the world
is he saved? By grace through faith. And that
not of yourselves? But they didn't learn that, did
they? No, they said, it must be of ourselves. Because that's
what they pleaded on the Day of Judgment. Look what we've
done. It's not of works. I tell you, I tell you, to want
to know how to live the Christian life without first knowing who
makes you a Christian is a very dangerous thing. It's a very
dangerous thing. There's a reason the Scripture
begins with these doctrines, with the doctrines of salvation,
because that's what we must know. We cannot live the Christian
life until we are Christian, and just to assume That I know
the gospel, brothers and sisters, is dangerous. It's very dangerous. That's the first example. Here
you see in these men standing there before the Lord, you see
these men that were standing there and all they had was what
they thought was the Christian life that they lived. And the Lord Jesus said this
to them. Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity, I never knew you." Well, it seemed like they were
hoping in something besides Jesus Christ to save them. They put little stock on knowledge, either them knowing Him or Him
knowing them. I tell you, brothers and sisters,
I not only want to know, I want to have the assurance that I
know the Lord Jesus Christ. This is life eternal, that they
might know Thee, the only true God. I want to know that He knows
me. It's not only that I want to
know, as we said the other day, that I love Him, but I want the
evidence that He loves me. I never knew you. Were you even
concerned about that? While you were busy living your
Christian life, that you called it. Were you even concerned about
who I was? What I thought? Were I new you
or not? Were I loved you or not? It was
all about you, wasn't it? It was all about what you were
doing. You were so busy with your committees. You were so
busy with reading and your fastings and all of this. You never even
thought about what I knew. Some of you have listened to
Laura Schletchinger. She has a talk show, a radio
talk show, and she gives advice. She's converted to Judaism. Years and years ago, she converted
to Judaism. She must be one of those Orthodox
Jews because somebody called in one day and wanted to know
her opinion of God's love. I said, what do you think? What's
your opinion of the love of God? And she said, I have over 600
traditions that I have to be concerned about. I don't have
time to concern myself about the love of God. That's unbalanced at best and
how dangerous it is. That's where these men were. They had no time for Ephesians
1-3. To know the love of Christ. You think Laura Schletcher just
got time to sit while we study chapter 3 of Ephesians? To know
the love of Christ? No, she's busy. She's busy. Unbalanced. It's very dangerous.
Very dangerous. But secondly, the Lord Jesus
in Matthew chapter 25, He deals with the other side also. See,
it's dangerous to be unbalanced on either side. In Matthew 25,
you'll remember this. This is also at the same place,
the dead judgment. The Son of Man coming in His
glory, and all the holy angels with Him, and He gathered them
there before His feet, and He divides them as a shepherd divides
the sheep from the goats. And he says to those sheep, those
on his right hand, his children, he commends them for what they
did in this world. Now this is strange. This is
very strange. The Lord knows how to deal with
people. He knows why people do what they do. These other fellows,
they come up and they begin to brag about what all they've done. And boy, he rebuked them. He
said, I don't even know you. Depart from me. Now here these
fellows come up before Him, and it seems like they have all of
this knowledge. They know all of these doctrines
that they've studied. But the Lord doesn't say anything
about, what's your system of theology? What do you fellows
know? But what have you fellows done? And He looks at those on His
right hand, and He says, I was hungry, and you fed me. I was
thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was sick, and you came and
visited me. I was in prison, and you came where I was." And
on and on he goes. What have you done? What have
you done? And he says, you did all of this.
And he commends them for it. And says, Come thou, you blessed
of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you. And he looks
at those, I suppose, who had their heads full of knowledge,
And all the theology may have been as straight as a gun barrel,
and he said, you never did any of these things. Not once did
you visit me, even though I was lonely. Not once did you feed
me, even though I was hungry. Not once did you quench my thirst. Depart from me, you curse. They
were unbalanced the other way. They had all their theology down
pat. But they had no grace in their
hearts, had no love in their hearts for Christ and His church. What is our true heart feeling
towards the Lord's people? Are we concerned about them?
Do we care about them? Do we interact with them? Can
we go for weeks or months or even longer and never give a
serious thought of the Lord's people and how they're doing? Do we leave here on Sunday and
go all week and never think about the Lord's people? That's what he's talking about
in this chapter. We have our theology. Thank God for it. It's necessary. It puts the weight
on this side. Now we have that worked out in
our life. In grace and love. In practical
living. In practical holiness. Loving
one another. Endeavoring to keep the unity
of the Spirit in the bonds of peace. See what I'm saying? And
this little word, therefore, says here's your balance. Here's
what you must seek to maintain. And if we shut up our bowels
of compassion against the Lord's little children and don't seek
to think well of them and help them, then we're unbalanced at
best. This little word, therefore,
stands between these chapters, and it binds them together with
a mighty arm and refuses to let us separate them. refuses to let us do it. It says
to us what God has joined together. Don't dare put us under. See,
we don't stop. We don't stop at chapter 3 and
say, now if you want to and you're not interested in this, you can
stay home today. This may not even concern you.
God forbid! I sometimes wonder if the Apostle
Paul hadn't put one in you. God forbid! These two are bound
together, doctrine and practice. It takes hold of chapters 1 through
3 with its right hand and says, Here is what you must believe. Get it deep in your heart. Be
clear about it. And it takes hold of chapters
4 through 6 with its other hand and says, Here is how you are
to walk. Walk worthy of Him. And God is
joining these two things together. This word, therefore, prods us
along, doesn't it? Refuses to let us stop. I feel sorry for those people,
those dear people, poor, poor things, who go from months or longer And when you see them, they'll
talk to you about doctrine. But if you see them, it's not
in the congregation of God's people. It's somewhere out there in the
world. And how unbalanced they are. And they're ready to fall. They're ready to fall. Therefore,
we thank the Lord, we bless Him that He's brought us here this
morning to see this Word, therefore. As we begin chapter 4 to study
on it, we see the necessity of it now, don't we? That we can't
stop. We can't stop. You say, well, it's difficult.
Yes, it's difficult. It is difficult. But we're instructed to do it
by a man who is a prisoner. Wouldn't you and I be embarrassed
if we complained that it's just too difficult to go on? I just want to sit down in my
little office or in my living room, in my chair, and continue
to study my doctrine. I never want to go out. I never
want to see anybody. Well, here's a man who was a
prisoner, and he says, no, you can't do it. You can't do it. And not only was he a prisoner,
he forbids us to stop. He points us on up this road
to the celestial city. He says it's no time to stop.
You can't sit down. And he doesn't threaten us, but
he begs us. Here's this great apostle. And
he says you must go on. But how does he do it? He prays
us. He begs us. as a tender father
with his children. Oh, children, listen. Go on. Go on. Advance. See what kind
of attitude you need to develop now. And develop it. Labor to
put off this old man with his deceitfulness and put on the
new man. That's what we're going to look
at in chapter 4. But we first got to see this word, therefore.
It's there for a reason. And so don't you bail out. I
ain't going to bail out, and don't you bail out. Don't you
bail out. We've got to go on. Therefore,
go on. Oh, Father. Our Father, we bless
You for this Word. Bless You for the Holy Spirit
putting it there. Bless You for what we've already
learned. How dangerous it would be for us to begin here and go
on seeking peace when we had no peace, seeking unity when
we are outside Christ. But, oh, Father, You've taught
us. You've taught us already that we are indeed in Jesus Christ
our Lord, and we're one in Him. Therefore, now don't forsake
us. Oh, teach us. Teach us, give us grace, give
us courage to even as difficult as it may be to look at these
things and help us to be willing. Give us grace. Work within us
by your mighty power to endeavor to walk well-pleasing unto you.
Thank you for this day. Thank you for this dear people
that's come here. Thank you for their attention.
Thank you for their reverence. We pray, our Father, as we receive
our meal that these dear, kind sisters have prepared. Bless
our fellowship around it. For our Lord's sake, we pray.
Amen.