Now, those gifts were in operation
in the early church, and they were given with the laying on
of the apostles' hands. When the apostles died, these
gifts were no longer transferred. Somebody says, well, what about
these gifts? Well, they're not in operation.
And anyone who claims to have them, when people say they speak
with tongues or they have the ability to heal, they're not
being honest. It's phony, because these gifts
no longer are in operation. Acts 8 says clearly, that these
gifts were given on by the laying on of the apostles' hands. Only
the apostles in the early church could transfer these gifts, and
when the apostles died, the church died. Now, I thought, I wish
we could still do this stuff. It seems like it'd be kind of...
If I could heal people, well, it seems like that would help.
Evidently it won't, or we'd still be doing it. The Lord knows what's
best. And these are the gifts that are left, these seven gifts. And I'm gonna look at each one
of them, spend a sermon on each one of them in the next coming
weeks. But this morning, we're going to look at the body that
these gifts are to minister to. These gifts are to be used for
the edification and the building up of the church. Now, here is
who these gifts are to be used for. Look in verse four of Romans
chapter 12. For as we have many members in
one body, and all members have not the same office, so we being
many are one body in Christ, and everyone members one of another. These are who these gifts are
to be used for. Now, he first speaks of the human
body. Verse four, for we have many
members in one body and all members have not the same office. There
are 10 organ systems. all of which have different functions,
and all are necessary. You've got the respiratory system,
you've got the circulatory system, you've got the nervous system.
I can't remember the names of all of them, but there are 10
of them. And they all have different functions, and they're all absolutely
necessary for the life of the body. And in a human body, we
have many members. We have fingers, we have arms,
legs, nose, ears, eyes. Many members in this one body.
Legs, toes, and they're all members of this one body, and they're
all important. Now, I've got a little toe. It may seem insignificant
to you, but it's really important to me. It's part of my body.
And if I hurt it, I don't say, cut it off and get rid of it.
No, I give it all the more attention, don't I? I love my little toe.
It's my little toe. It's part of my body, and it's
very important to me. Every member of the body, that
one body, is very important. Many members, all important. You know, the nose can't say
to the hand, you're useless, you can't even smell. No, this
hand is very important. My nose can't pick up this glass
of water get a drink. All the members
have their functions and needs and all are very important. And you know that with regard
to your own body, every member you have is very important to
you. Now even so, we, each individual
believer, look in verse 5, so we being many are one body in
Christ and every one members one of another, we being many,
10,000 times 10,000, and thousands and thousands are one body, the
body of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, the church is called
the body of Christ in the New Testament 17 different times. Members of his body. Oh, that's so special to be a
member of his body. Turn to 1 Corinthians 12 for
a moment. I just want to read this passage of scripture because
Paul is expanding on this. He says in verse 12 of 1 Corinthians
chapter 12, for as the body is one, and hath many members, and
all the members are of that one body, being many are one body,
so also is Christ. For by one spirit are we all
baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether
we be bond or free. We've all been made to drink
into one spirit, for the body is not many members, is not one
member, but many. If the foot shall say, because
I'm not the hand, I'm not of the body, is it therefore not
of the body? And if the ears shall say, because I'm not the
eye, I'm not of the body, is it therefore not of the body?
If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the
whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God
set the members, every one of them in the body, as it hath
pleased him. Whatever you are in the body
of Christ, it's where God has placed you. It's the best place
to be, isn't it? Verse 19. And if they were all
one member, where were the body? But now there are many members,
yet but one body, and the eye can't say unto the hand, I have
no need of thee, nor again the head to the feet, I have no need
of thee. Nay, much more, those members of the body which seem
to be more feeble are necessary. And those members of the body
which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant
honor, and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness.
When's the last time you looked at a liver? It's not very pretty. How important is it? What's more important, the good
looks of your face or your liver? Why, your liver is. It really
gets more honor than the, quote, good-looking part. Verse 23, And these members of
the body which we think to be less honorable, upon these we
bestow more abundant honor, and our uncomely parts have more
abundant comeliness. For our comely parts, our good-looking
parts, have no need. But God hath tempered the body
together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked,
that there should be no schism, no division in the body, but
that the members should have the same care one for another,
and whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it.
When you hurt your finger, your whole body hurts for it, doesn't
it? It's very important to you. Or if one member is honored,
all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ
and members in particular. That's so beautiful. Now, if
we're members of the body of Christ, that means we're one
with Him. One with Him. And one with one
another. As I said, the church is called
the body of Christ 17 times in the New Testament. Now the finger
is not the toe, the arm is not the leg, the kidney is not the
liver, but they're all part of one body, aren't they? The body
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn with me for a moment to
John 17. John 17, look in verse 11. This is the Lord's great high
priestly prayer for his people. And he says, now I'm no more
in the world, he's getting ready to leave, but these are in the
world and I come to thee, holy father, keep through thine own
name those whom thou has given me that they may be one. As we are one. Look down in verse 20. Neither
pray I for these alone, the eleven, but for them also which shall
believe on me through their word. He's talking about me and you
right now, all of the elect, every believer, those who shall
believe on me through their word. Why? That they all may be one. 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, and the glory which thou
gavest me I've given them, that they may be one even as we are
one. I in them, thou in me, that they
may be made perfect in one, that the world may know that thou
hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me."
Now, these people that are one are described in John chapter
17. You know, six times in this chapter, the Lord refers to these
people as those the Father has given me. He's talking about
the elect. That's the body of Christ. Not everybody's in the
body of Christ. Only the elect of God. Look what he says in
verse 9. He says, I pray for them. I pray not for the world,
but for them which you've given me. They've been given eternal
life. They know God. They have God's
name manifested to them. They've kept God's word. They've
known. They've received. They've known
surely. They've believed. I'm talking about words out of
this chapter to describe these people that are one. They're kept from evil. They're
saved by the truth. They're sanctified by the truth.
All these people, truly they are one. There will be a unity
between them. They've been saved the same way.
Grace. Isn't that true of every one
of God's people? Say the exact same way. They've had the same
teacher. Scripture says they shall all
be taught of God, every one of them. And you know what he does?
He teaches them all the precise same thing. They all believe
that God is altogether glorious and He gets all the glory and
salvation. They all believe they're completely sinful. They all believe
that the righteousness of Christ is the only righteousness there
is. They've been taught by the same Spirit. They've been given
the same nature. They've been born from the same
Spirit. And there will be unity. They believe the same things.
And it's not mechanical, but it's spiritual. There's a true
agreement. It's not forced. It's not overlooking
differences. There is a true and genuine agreement
between all believers. There is a unity. They're one.
They're members of the same body. Now, there are four different
unities taught in the scriptures. First, there's the unity that
exists between the three persons of the one true and living God.
Now, you want to talk about mysterious. God is one God in three distinct
persons, and all three persons are at perfect unity. John said
in 1 John 5, he spake of the Father, the Word, the Lord Jesus
Christ, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. God the Father, God the Son and
God the Holy Spirit. One God in three distinct persons. You know, that blows my mind.
I don't know how else to say it. I can't understand it at
all. But oh, how glorious. The unity of the Trinity. Now, the second unity we read
of in the scriptures is the union of the two natures of the Son
of God. He's God. He's man. He is the God-man. Fully God, as if he were not
man at all. Fully man, as if he were not
God at all. Yet one, the God-man. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. Oh, the union of God and man
making the one God-man. So glorious. And then we have
the union between Christ and His people. This is the third
union. First, the union of the Godhead. The union of the two
natures of the God-man. And then we have the union of
Christ and His people. Hebrews 2.11 says, both he that
sanctifyeth and they who are sanctified are all of one. I'm one with Christ. That doesn't
mean, now listen to me, that doesn't mean we're real close,
we're joined together. Doesn't mean that at all. My hands look
like one right now, but they're not. They can be separated. They're
not one. And this one finger, it's just
one finger. That's all it is. One. There's so many illustrations
of this in the scripture. Baptism. I'm saying in baptism that when
Jesus Christ lived, I was in him. When he kept the law, I
kept the law. When he was nailed to a cross,
I was nailed to a cross. Paul put it this way, I was crucified
with Christ. He didn't say Christ was crucified
for me, although He was. He said, I was crucified with
Christ. Buried with Him, Paul said. Risen with Him. Whatever
He did, I did because I was in Him. I was united to Him. You
know, when somebody goes under the water, all there is is water. When God sees the believer, He
sees the believer, all He sees is Christ because He's one with
Christ. I think of the example of The
Lord saying, I am the vine, you're the branches. What a union there
is between the vine and the branches. There's not a cutoff, but those
stems are always going through. The example of Melchizedek and
Abraham and Levi. The scripture says when Abraham
paid tithes, Levi actually paid tithes as well because when Abraham
paid him, Levi paid him because he was in the loins of his great-granddaddy. And so whatever Abraham did,
Levi did. 1 John 4, 17 says, as he is,
so are we in this world. Is he one with the Father? So
am I. That's how close this union is,
this glorious union that exists between the believer and Christ. I think I was turned to Ephesians
5. I told somebody yesterday, I
said, yeah, I did a funeral in Florida. And what? No, I did
a wedding in Florida this weekend. I don't know why I called it
a funeral. I called and said, what's wrong
with you? I said, I don't know. But at any rate, I did a wedding
in Florida just, was it yesterday or the day before yesterday or
something like that? Whatever it was, but I was reading from
this passage in Ephesians chapter five. And look at this, Ephesians
chapter five. Verse 28. So ought men to love their wives
as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth
himself. Now, I could say, well, you men,
you love your wives, you're only loving yourself because you're
the one who benefits from it. You love her, she's going to treat
you good. You're better off loving your wives, but is that what
Paul's talking about? No. When Christ loved his wife, his
bride, every believer, you know who he was loving? He was loving
himself. That's how close, that's how
real, that's how vital this union is. When Christ loved me, he
was loving himself because I am united to him. That's so that
everything that Christ is, I am. Is He holy? I am too. Is He beautiful
to the Father? I am too. Is He perfect? I am
too. Is He the Son? I'm the Son too. I am in Him. When the Lord, If
we believe not, the scripture says in 2 Timothy 2.13, how many
times do you fail to believe in your own experience? If we
believe not, he abideth faithful, he cannot deny himself. I'm himself. And that is the
union that exists between Christ and His people. That's why that
passage I just read out of John 17 verse 23, it says, The Lord
says regarding the fathers loved his people, thou hast loved them
as thou hast loved me. Now you think of the way the
Father loves the Son. Would you even dare to believe
something like that if the Bible didn't say it? That the Father
has the same love for you that he has to his blessed Son? If
you're united to Christ, he does. This is part of the great mystery
of the Scriptures. Now, the fourth union is the
union that exists between believers. And the Lord prays for this,
that they all may be one. Go back to John chapter 17. Verse 20, neither pray I for
these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through
the word, that they all may be one, 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, and the glory, and the
glory which thou gavest me, I have given them, that they may be
one even as we are one. I in them and thou in me that
they may be made perfect in one that the world may know that
thou has sent me and has loved them as thou has loved me." Now,
there's a oneness. There's a unity with believers. And this unity that exists between
the believers, we're called upon to endeavor to keep. It's natural and it takes a lot
of work. That's what that means. It's
natural. If you're a believer and I'm
a believer, it's as natural for us to be one as it is to breathe. And it's something that takes
hard work to keep. Look at Ephesians chapter four.
I want to read these verses and I'm going to come back to them
in a moment. It's kind of like one, uh, One person said, Brother
Mahan once, they said, do you have to, does giving come naturally
to believers, to give, does it come natural to them, do they
need to be taught? Yes, to both. Yes, it comes naturally. Yes,
they have to be taught regarding this thing of unity. Does it
come natural? Yes. Does it have to be taught?
Yes, to both things. Now look here in Ephesians chapter
four. I therefore, the prisoner of
the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith
you were called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering,
forbearing one another in love, endeavoring, giving every effort
to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Now, we have an old nature that
seeks its own way, we have the world, we have the flesh, and
we have the devil battling against this unity. I want to read a
few other scriptures. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
1. This is a prominent theme in
the New Testament. Verse 10. May I beseech you,
brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all
speak the same thing. That there be no divisions among
you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind
and in the same judgment. For it's been declared unto me
of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe,
that there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every
one of you say, if I'm of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas,
and the real pious ones say, well, I'm of Christ, I'm not
of any man. Is Christ divided? Are there divisions within the
body of Christ? Are there different denominations? You know, the
very fact of denominations is so silly. Baptists and Methodists
and Presbyterians and Catholics and all the different... It's
all man-made. There's no divisions in the body
of Christ. Is Christ divided? No. Is Paul
crucified for you? Are you baptized in the name
of Paul? I thank God that I baptize none of you but Crispus and Gaius,
lest any should say that I baptize in my own name. And I baptize
also the house of Stephanus, and besides that I know not that
I baptize any other. For Christ sent me not to baptize,
but to preach the gospel. And he goes on to talk about
what preaching the gospel is, and he picks back up in chapter
3. And thy brethren could not speak unto you as unto spiritual,
but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I fed you with
milk and not with meat, for hitherto you were not able to bear it.
Neither now are ye able, for you are yet carnal. For whereas
there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are you
not carnal, and walk as men? For while one saith, I am of
Paul, and I am of Paulus, are ye not carnal? Is that not completely
fleshly? You're one. Now, obviously they
weren't acting one, and Paul is rebuking them for this. Look
in Philippians chapter 1. I want us to see how prominent
this is in the New Testament. Verse 27. Only let your conversation be
as it becometh the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and
see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs that you
stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for
the faith of the gospel. Look in chapter four of this
same book, verse two. I beseech you, O Idis, and I
beseech Syntyche, that they may be of the same mind in the Lord. Now, Paul said to the Romans
that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify God. And you read the acts of the
apostles, particularly after the Sermon on the Day of Pentecost,
how they were all one and had all things in common. Now this
is a very important theme in the church, and we're even taught
when we're taught to pray, we're taught to pray our Father. who
art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will
be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our
daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive
those who sin against us. And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. You see, we even are taught to
pray as an us, as an our, the body of Christ, the one body
and members in particular. Now, turn back to Ephesians chapter
four. Ephesians chapter 4. Now, this unity that we're speaking
of is natural and it takes great effort to keep it. Now, if it's
not important to me, it says a whole lot about the state of
my soul. Loving the brethren is paramount to every believer. John said, we know we've passed
from death to life because we love the brethren. And let's
look back at Ephesians chapter four. I, therefore, I love this. Paul is writing from a Roman
prison in a cell that all who knows what it must have been
like. And he says, I, the prisoner of the Lord. That's why I'm here
in this cell. I'm the prisoner of the Lord.
I, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy
of the vocation, the calling wherewith you're called. You're
called of God. Called of God, what a high, glorious
privilege to be called of God. He said, now I want you to walk
worthy of this high calling with which you've been called. Well,
how do I go about doing that? Well, he gives five things in
verse two. Here's how you walk worthy of
God first with all lowliness or humility. A just estimate
of yourself. That's what humility is, a just
estimate of yourself. Not such high thoughts of yourself.
knowing who you are in Christ. I preached that message last
week, in the last couple of weeks anyway, self-evaluation. First
thing God says to us when he tells us to present our bodies
a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, don't think
too highly of yourself than you ought to think. Don't think too
highly. That's what humility is. It's
not thinking too highly. You know, the scripture says,
by pride only cometh contention. If you've got somebody walking
in lowliness, They're not going to be contentious people. And
the next thing he says is with all meekness. Meek people are
not pushing their own agenda. Long-suffering, he says. Slowness
for revenging and slowness for self-vindification. Slowness
to be always trying to stand up for my own rights and so on.
Meek people aren't like that, are they? They take the lowest
seat. He said, forbearing one another
in love, forbearing one another, putting up with one another,
not being so easily offended and upset, putting the best construction
on what's taking place, forbearing one another. Now, if you're going
to get along with me, you're going to forbear me. If I'm going
to get along with you, I'm going to forbear you. And if we love
each other, that's what we will do. Forbearing one another, how? In love. in love. You know, somebody that the Lord
Jesus Christ loves, somebody that loves the Lord Jesus Christ,
I love that person. By this we know we pass from
death to life because we love the brethren. Now look what he
says next in verse 3. Endeavoring, giving every effort
to keep the unity of the Spirit, the oneness of the Spirit in
the bond of peace. Endeavoring, giving exertion
and effort to keep, to guard over, to watch over carefully
the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Now, I've seen
people who profess to believe this, but they're unconcerned
about this, and they're going to have their way no matter how
much it disturbs the peace. The Lord said, blessed are the
peacemakers. Blessed are the peacemakers.
You know, I think even in 1 Corinthians, We have some people who are not
at all concerned about endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit
in the bond of peace. And they were actually taking
each other to law and suing each other. You're not treating me
right. I'm not getting my rights. You're violating my rights. I'm
taking you to the law and suing you. And Paul said, why don't
you rather suffer yourself to be wronged and defrauded rather
than do something like that? He said, you ought to just go
ahead and let yourself be wronged rather than defending yourself,
and why don't you take the wrong? Why don't you suffer yourself
to be defrauded? Now, unity, the unity of the Spirit, endeavoring,
he said, to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Unity is not overlooking differences. Unity is believing the same things. Now look what he says. Verse 4. There's one body. There's only one. You know, there's
only one church. You know, we got these local
churches. They are local churches, but there's only one church.
And this church has a role. It's got a membership. The General Assembly and Church
of the Firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. Now that's
the church membership I want to be in, the true church of
the living God. Now, in this local assembly,
we don't have a role, don't have a church role. I don't say anything
about that in the Bible, but I know one church role that is
in the Bible. The Lamb's Book of Life. That's the church role
I want to be in. There's only one body, one church,
the body of Christ, the church for which Christ gave himself
for. That's the church, the universal church. It's their local churches.
And we're to be identified with the local church and the gospel
that is preached there. And that's so important. But
it's just a branch of the one church. There's one body, one
body, one church. Next, he says, and one Spirit. Now, if I'm born of the Spirit,
and you're born of the Spirit, we have the same divine nature.
There's one Spirit. Believers all share in that Spirit. That's why every believer loves
Christ. You know, every believer, because they have the Holy Spirit,
because they have a new nature, all of them see themselves as
sinful, completely sinful. It takes the Holy Spirit to show
you that. You'd never know that if you didn't have a new nature.
And they all see Christ as everything in salvation. They're taught
by the same Spirit. Oh, what unity exists because
of the one Spirit. Now go on reading, verse four.
Even as you are called in one hope of your calling, there's
only one hope. There's not two, there's only
one. Here's the only hope I have, that Jesus Christ died for me.
That is it. Who is he that condemneth? It's
Christ that died. That's the only answer I need. That is why, beloved, I find
so offensive the notion that Christ died for all men without
exception and some of those people he died for could go to hell
anyway if they don't do their part. That takes away the only
hope I have because I know, I know if somebody can go to hell that
Christ died for, I know I'll be in hell. I know that. The
only hope I have is that Christ died for me. That's the only
hope any believer has. Every believer in here, you're saying,
yep, that's the only hope I have too. We're at complete unity
and agreement with that. The death of Christ, Christ is
all in salvation. There's one hope, there's not
two. There's only one. I'm not hoping in anything, but
that what he did is enough for me. That everything God requires
of me, he looks to his son for. I'm looking to the same thing
God the Father is. I'm looking to Christ only. That's
the only hope I have. There's only one hope. And then
he says in verse five, there's only one Lord, the Lord Jesus
Christ. who he is in the Bible. I mean,
you know, he manifests himself in the Bible, the Christ of the
Bible. Don't you love him? There's only one Lord. I love
everything he says. I love that scripture. He spake. Everything he said, he spake
as one having authority. You know, there's such authority
in everything he says. It recommends itself as the very
word of God. There's only one like this. He
didn't speak like the scribes. I love that. He spake as one
having authority, not like the scribes. They didn't have any
authority. I mean, everything they said, you could tell that they
were phonies. They weren't real. But oh, the Lord. There's one
Lord. And next he says there's one
faith. One faith. The faith of God's elect. The
acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness. Every believer
believes the precise same thing. We all believe that Christ is
all, don't we? In salvation. We all believe that we're nothing
in and of ourselves but sin and our only hope is the grace of
God. And we're so sensitive about this thing. Christ's got to get
all the glory. We don't want to hear anything that gives man
any glory at all. Christ gets all the glory. There's
only one faith that every believer possesses. And he says there's
only one baptism. One Lord, one faith, one baptism.
You know, the only baptism there is is
baptism by immersion, a believer being baptized. That's a confession
of Christ. There's only one baptism. You
know, when somebody baptizes infants, All that is is a form
of salvation by works. You're at least saying, I don't
understand this. Somebody says, well, they seem
to preach a gospel and believe infant baptism. Well, I don't
know. I know this. If you baptize infants,
you think somehow that's going to at least contribute to their
salvation. It's going to put them in the covenant family.
It's going to somehow help them. And there's not a hint in the
scripture of the baptism of infants. There's absolutely no excuse
for believing that. Somebody says, well, I was raised
up with that. Well, you were raised up with a lot of bad things.
That doesn't mean you're supposed to believe them, does it? No, I mean, there's
one baptism, baptism by immersion because of what it symbolizes.
It symbolizes union with the Lord Jesus Christ. When I'm baptized,
I confess, here's my salvation. Here's all my salvation. that
when Jesus Christ lived and kept the Law, I did too. When He died,
I died, my sins were paid for. When He was raised from the dead,
I was raised from the dead, because I was in Him. Now that's our
confession of Christ. There's only one baptism. Anything
else is contrary to the Gospel. Sprinkling. You think about when
you bury somebody, you sprinkle dirt on them? No, it doesn't
signify death. It doesn't sprinkle dirt on somebody.
Why, that's ridiculous. You bury them. That's what the
word baptized means, immerse. You know, even in our translation
in the Bible, they don't translate baptism. They just say baptism
because they knew if they translated it would say immerse. And that
would condemn them, the guys that translated the Bible. So
they just called it the Greek word baptized instead of translating
it immersion. And baptism means to immerse.
Take something and put it all the way underwater and bring
it back out. That's what it means. There's
one baptism. And there's verse six, there's
one God. He's the Father of all, who's
above all, and through all, and in you all, the God of the Bible. There's one God. Now, there is a unity and a heart
agreement over all this, isn't there? One Lord, one faith, one
baptism, one God, the God of the Bible, who's through all,
above all, and in you all. There is a true unity, and this
unity is to be kept. Endeavor, give every effort to
keep the unity of the Spirit, which is the bond of peace. Now,
how is it that this unity is not kept? Well, number one, by subtraction, by leaving out something that
Christ has said. Now, everything I say may be
true to the scriptures, but what am I leaving out? What am I leaving
out? Somebody says, I preach the gospel,
I preach salvation by grace, and they never say anything about
election. I tell you what, unity's destroyed over that. We're not
on the same page. We're not on the same page when
there's a subtraction, when something vital is left out. And there's
no unity when there's an addition, not only a subtraction, but an
addition, adding something to what Christ said. Christ plus,
Christ and, Christ, anything human added. you've lost the
unity. There's no unity. Christ minus
destroys the unity. Christ plus destroys the unity. And then there's the magnifying,
a subtraction, an addition, or a magnification. If I magnify
one doctrine at the expense of the other, there's no unity there.
If I magnify God's sovereignty and leave out responsibility,
really I've preached neither. You can't magnify any doctrine
at the expense of the other, and you can't magnify yourself
and promote yourself. If I promote myself, if I magnify
myself, unity's destroyed. Because the only way there's
true unity is when everybody's nothing and Christ is all. Oh,
we rejoice in that. Don't you rejoice in being a
nothing and Christ being all? But whenever we start magnifying
ourself and promoting ourself, unity is destroyed. Back to our text in Romans 12.
I just want to read it in close. For as we have many members in
one body, and all the members have not the same office, so
we, being many, are one body in Christ. and everyone members
one of another. Now this is the body that these
gifts are to be used to edify and build up. What could be more glorious than
to be a member of the body of Jesus Christ. Doesn't get any better than that,
does it? Let's pray together.