Now we're going to turn to the
book of Ephesians, chapter 4. You hear statements like this
today, well, Christians ought to love one another. My reply to that is this, they
do. They do. You hear others say,
well, Christians ought to be united. They are. They say Christians ought to
worship God. They ought to be faithful to
the house of God. They are. Christians ought to read the
Bible. They do. Christians ought to pray. They
do. They do. Without exception. John Bunyan said prayer is the
breath of a child of God. sooner expect a natural man to
live without breathing as a believer to live without prayer. Our problem
is we're trying to include too many people in this business
of Christians. That's the whole problem. We've erected an umbrella that's
not of God to bring everybody under that umbrella and call
them Christians. It's just not so. I'm going to show you tonight,
from God's Word, the oneness of all believers. The oneness
of all believers. They're one. They always have
been one. They're one now, and they always
will be one. They're not divided. Like that fellow said on television,
he said, there's a cancer in the body of Christ that needs
to be cut out. You're wrong. The body of Christ
is perfect. No cancer in the body of Christ.
The body of Christ is perfect. What you're trying to do is include
too many unbelievers in this body. They're not there. They
never have been there. And they're among the many that
shall hear Him when they say in that day, well, we preached
and did many wonderful works and built great temples and tabernacles
and churches and cast out demons. He said, I never knew you. You're
workers of iniquity. Now, men have endeavored for
centuries, and they've always done it, and they always will,
to bring religious people together. They've endeavored for centuries
to bring religious people together. There have been any number, and
there are today, any number of ecumenical movements based on
this fact. They say, well, we believe in
one God. We believe in one God, and most religious people do
believe in the same God. We believe in the same God. Sure,
but that doesn't mean you believe in the living God. The devil
believes there's a God. We believe in one God. You believe
in one God? Christ said you do well. The
devil believes in one God. We believe in heaven and hell.
We all claim to be Christians. We're all bound for the same
place, and that too may be true. Then let there be no division
among us. Let us come together. Let there
be no divisions, no strife. Let there be no hard feelings.
Let's come together and win the world to our Jesus. It'll never be done. You'll never
bring religious people together. You'll never unite them in one
common church or front. They'll never be united. There
are thousands of reasons for that, but the chief reason is
this. They're not one. They're not one. But all true
believers are one. Now I want to show you that from
God's Word in John 17, in John the 17th chapter. We'll come
back to Ephesians in a moment. But in John chapter 17, this
is the Master speaking. This is the Master speaking.
This is the Lord praying. This is the great high priest
talking to the Heavenly Father just prior to His death on the
cross for His elect, for His church, for His people. And he's
praying here for them. He said in verse nine, I pray
for them. I pray not for the world. This
is not a prayer for the world. The world's not included in this
prayer. The world has nothing to do with this prayer. This
is a personal prayer to the Father from the great high priest for
his church. I don't pray for the world. I'm
not even mentioning them in this prayer. I pray for them which
thou hast given me. That's who I'm praying for, Christ
said. I'm praying for everyone you've given me, from the first
one to the last one. From righteous Abel, Adam, if
he was saved, I don't know, might have been, but I know Abel was.
God said so, called him righteous Abel. From Abel, Moses, Isaiah,
Jeremiah, all the way down to the last one, I pray for them
which thou hast given me. Now watch verse 20. Neither pray I for these alone
in this circle here, but for them also which shall believe
on me through their word. Verse 21, that they all may be
one. One. As thou, Father, art in
me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us. You reckon
his prayer was answered? They're one. That the world may
believe that thou hast sent me, and the glory which thou gavest
me I have given them, that they may be one as we are, one as
we are. I in them, and thou in me, that
they may be made perfect in one, that the world may know thou
hast sent me, and hast loved them." Loved who? Not the world. "...them which thou hast given
me." I pray not for the world, I pray for them. I pray for them
which thou hast given me, that they may be one as we are one."
As we are one. I in them, and thou in me, that
they may be one, that the world may know thou hast sent me, and
thou hast loved them. How much does God the Father
love His church? Just as much as He loves His
Son. That's what that says. These believers, this True believers,
true elect, true children of God have always been one. They're
one now, they always will be one. They'll never be divided.
There'll never be any schisms or divisions in the body of Christ. One. One. Just as God is one
God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, that they may be one as we are
one. And these believers, they do
not become one because they're under one law. They do not become one because
they believe one book. Well, we all believe the Bible.
Let's get together. Whether we're Nazarenes, or Pentecostal,
or free will, or Baptist, or Catholic, or Salvation Army,
or Church of Christ, or Mohammedan, or Confucius, or Buddhist, or
whatever, we all read one book. Let's all get together. This
church is not one because they believe one book. They're not
one because they believe one God. They're not one because
they endeavor to do so to impress the world. They're not one because
they're united under the same system of rules, regulations,
and laws. They're not one that they might
present a united front. They're one because they're all
in Christ. That's the reason they're one.
They're in Christ. Christ is one, and they're one. You see that? That's why they're
one. Mike Barton, if you're in Christ and I'm in Christ, we're
one. And you can't change that. And nobody else can change that.
If those preachers in Mexico are in Christ, and I'm in Christ,
and you're in Christ, and those people in France are in Christ,
we're one. Because why? Because we agree
on everything? No, sir. We're in Christ, and
He's one. He's not divided. Go back to
Ephesians 1. Now watch this. Ephesians chapter
1. I hope I can dispel any doubts
concerning this and any trouble concerning this, wherever it
exists. In Ephesians 1 verse 3, blessed,
listen, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings. What are
spiritual blessings? Spiritual blessings aren't two
cars in every garage. Spiritual blessings aren't a
body free from any pain or suffering or sorrow. Spiritual blessings
are not financial success. Spiritual blessings are justification,
righteousness, redemption, sanctification, and wisdom in Christ. It's an
inheritance in glory. That's spiritual blessing. And
these spiritual blessings are where? In Christ. Look at verse
four. According, we have these spiritual
blessings because He chose us in Christ. How'd I get in Christ? God the Father put me in Christ.
That's how I got in Christ. And that's how everybody who's
in Christ got in Christ. God chose us in Christ. That's
right. He chose us in Christ. Read on.
Before the foundation of the world. Everybody that's in the
Bride of Christ was in the Bride of Christ before the world began.
Everybody in the family of God in glory were in the family of
God when God made up His family before the foundation of the
world. Everybody that's in Christ now has always been in Christ.
That's what it says here. He chose us in Christ before
the foundation of the world. And His object was, and His purpose
was, that we should be holy. We make ourselves holy, but you're
not holy. Not in yourself. Not in yourself. We're holy in Christ. Christ
is our holiness. Christ is our righteousness.
Holy and without blame. Would anybody here tonight stand
and say, I'm holy and without blame in myself, in my goodness,
in my morality, in my religion, in my profession, in my thoughts,
in my conversation, in my daily life? Everybody in here say,
I'm not holy. Look at me. But I tell you, in
Christ we're holy because He's holy. We're in Him. I can't be
unholy and be in Christ. If I'm in Christ, I'm looked
upon in Christ, and loved in Christ, and accepted in Christ,
and I'm everything Christ is because I'm one with Christ. He can't be in heaven and leave
me behind if we're one. Can't divide Christ, we're holy
and without blaming, and He predestinated us. Before the world began, He
predestinated us until the adoption of children. We're in one family
by Jesus Christ Himself, according to our free will, because we
made a choice by free will, because He didn't want to violate our
free will, because He was doing all He did in connection with
our free will. No, sir, according to the good
pleasure of His own will. I'm in Christ. I'm in Christ. You're in Christ. Are you in
Christ? Then God chose you. You say, well, I don't believe
that. Then you're not in Christ. Well, I won't have it. Then you
won't have Christ. There's not but one way in Christ,
and that's by divine choice and divine decree and divine purpose.
Well, I don't think you ought to violate a man's will. Adam
did that. He fixed up the will. to the praise of the glory of
His grace wherein He made us, God made us, God made us, and
God made us accepted in the beloved. He made
us. He made us holy. He made us justified. He made us righteous. He made
us children. He made us willing in the day
of His power. He made us. He did it all. He has made us accepted in where? In the Beloved. In whom? In Christ we have redemption.
Redemption. And it's through His blood. And
it's the whole complete forgiveness of sin according to the riches
of His grace. Yes, sir. Believers are warned.
They've always been warned because they're in Christ. And there
are no divisions. This religious world is split
up and broken up in factions and strife and divisions and
all this junk. Not true believers. They're one.
I don't care where you find them, where they are, where they worship.
They're one. They're one in spirit, they're
one in heart, they're one in Christ. And they've always been
one. Whether they're in heaven or
on earth, whether they're over across the sea or in this country,
they're one. And I'm going to show you one.
I'll show you why. Turn to Ephesians 4 now. Ephesians
4. Here in verse, in verse, in verse
4. He says, he goes back here in
verse 1, he says, I'm the prisoner of the Lord and I beseech you,
I beseech you, you know, he uses that often, I beseech you, I
beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present
your bodies a living sacrifice. Knowing the terror of the Lord,
we beseech men, be ye reconciled to God. I beseech you to walk
worthy, walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called. Behave
as sons of God. That's the same thing you tell
your children, behave, behave as my son or my daughter. Walk
in a way that you'll bring honor and respect to your parents.
Don't disgrace your parents. Walk in the vocation where with
you. You don't walk in order to get in that vocation. You're
put in that vocation by God, and you walk in that vocation.
You see that? Walk in the vocation where God
puts you. If you don't, He'll deal with
you. If you don't, He'll deal with you. And if your daughters
don't walk in the vocation, you'll deal with them. Isn't that right?
That's right. You're not going to kick them
out, but you'll deal with them. They wish they'd have kicked
them out. And then the next verse said, with all lowliness and
meekness and longsuffering, forbearing one another in love. And we don't
originate that love, we cultivate it. The love of God is shed abroad
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. We love Him because He first
loved us. And it says, He that's born of
God, he that knoweth God, loveth God. He's born of God. And he
that loveth not, knoweth not God. Well, Christians don't love
each other. They do. If any man say he loves
God and hates his brother, he's a liar, God says. He's a liar. See, believers love God. They
love the truth. They love worship. They love
the brethren. Oh, yes, they do. Oh, yes, they do. I beg your
pardon. They certainly do. And this love is cultivated.
Just like this walk, walk in the vocation wherewith you've
been called. You're a son of God, walk like
a son of God. You're a prince, walk like a
prince. Who made you a prince? You did and God did. You have
the gift, use it. That's what he's saying. And
you have love, it's shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Spirit.
Cultivate that love. Encourage that love with, watch
it, with meekness, long-suffering, and forbearance. And then verse
three, he said, endeavoring to get some unity in this outfit,
oh no, to keep it. See what I'm talking about? Is
that clear what I'm talking about? Endeavoring, striving, putting
forth every effort, your personal, personal effort to keep the unity
of the Spirit. The Spirit's not divided. God's
people are not divided. And if you divide them, God will
kill you. It's just that clear. If you're one of them. If you're
a divisive force in the family of God, God'll kill you. You
say, I know a lot of people have been divisive forces that God
hasn't dealt with and they're not His. He only corrects His
own children. You're without correction, you're
a bastard. That's what Paul said. God corrects His children. Anybody
here who's one in Christ and doesn't endeavor to keep the
unity of the body, God'll correct him. And God'll deal with him
harshly. You will. But there are people who are
divisive and troublemakers, but they're not in the family of
God, and their hell's waiting on them. They'll die in due time,
and that's it. But God will deal with His children,
and anybody who obstructs the purpose and plan of God and will
of God who's in the family of God, God'll kill him. That's
exactly right. So you see that? Paul says this
as he sits down there in jail and writes to this church. He
said, there's a vocation that you're not trying to get into.
God put you there. Now you walk worthy of it. There's
a love in your heart for the brethren. Encourage it. Cultivate it. Grow in love by
patience and long-suffering and meekness and forbearance. And he said, this unity of the
Spirit, you endeavor to keep it. You endeavor to keep it. Do all you can. Do all you can
to keep the peace and keep in the bond of peace and the unity
of the Spirit. If you're in the family of God,
there's a unity in that family that we endeavor to keep, protect,
shelter. Love covers a multitude of things.
That's right. And I'll tell you why. Now look
at verse 4. There's seven things here. I'll tell you why I believe
there's a one. First of all, because there's
one body. Christ is not a monster. You know, you ever been to a
circus and had that big sign of fire? I never forget, when
I was a kid, those big old canvas pictures, you know, of the bearded
woman, you know, and they're waving in the wind, and you go
see the sword swallower and the fire eater. There's always a
two-headed man. I don't know how they fix that up. There's
always a body that had two big heads, the one over here and
one over there. You ever see a two-headed man? Well, that's what they're
trying to insinuate my Lord has is a bunch of bodies. He's a
head, and he's got a whole bunch of local church bodies, you know.
There's one body. There's one body. There's one
church. There's one family of God. There's
one body. It's the church of the firstborn.
It's the church whose names are written in heaven. Turn to Ephesians
5, just one page over. In Ephesians 5, now listen to
verse 23. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as
Christ is the head of the church. He's the Savior of the body.
Therefore, as the church is, not ought to be, it is subject
to Christ. So let the wives be to their
husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives as
Christ loved the church, and he gave himself for it, that
he might sanctify it and cleanse it with a washing of water by
the word, that he might present it to himself a bunch of glorious
churches. No sir, a glorious church. Having not spot, not having one
spot, not one, not one wrinkle, or any such thing, that it should
be holy and without blemish. That's his church and that's
his body. And everybody in that church,
every person in that church, believes God's on the throne
They know God. See, eternal life's to know God.
And they know that God's on the throne. They know that God's
will is done. They know that God is sovereign.
They know that God is holy. They know that God is righteous.
They know it. See, the Son of God has come and given us an
understanding that we may know Him that is true, and that we're
in Him that is true, and this is the true God, and this is
salvation. John said, this is eternal life.
We know God. Everybody in this church knows
from whence he came, that we were dead in trespasses and sin,
and God found us, and God quickened us, and God gave us life, and
God had mercy on us. And they know that Jesus Christ
the Lord came to this earth in the flesh, and he suffered and
died that we might be saved, that he imputed to us by his
perfect obedience a righteousness with which the Father is well
pleased. that he was buried and rose again and ascended to the
right hand of God, where there is one mediator, not a half a
dozen. Anybody who prays to Mary is
not a member of this church. Anybody who prays to St. Jude
is not a member of this church. Anybody who confesses his sins
to a man and tries to find forgiveness is not a member of this church.
Because this church has one mediator. Is that right? And they know
who it is. is Jesus Christ the Lord. I'm
just telling you the truth. There's one church, and it's
one in respect to Jew or Gentile, it's one in respect to Old Testament
and New Testament, it's one in respect to saints in heaven and
saints on earth, it's one in respect to rich or poor, it's
one in respect to black and white, it's one in respect to old and
young, and he's the head of the church. And every member of that body
likes it that way. They like it. That's right. Anybody
who cannot subscribe to that truth is not in that body. You
see, my body doesn't fight my head. It does not fight my head. It obeys it. I raised that hand. You know why I raised it? Because
this head told me to. When something comes at my face
and I blink, Why did I blink? His head told it to. That's right. There's no way. That's the reason
you see someone with a problem walking. There's something wrong
up here. There's something wrong up here. If he has a problem
walking, it's not his legs that's giving him a problem. It's up
here that's giving him the problem. That's right. You know, right, John?
It started up here. Your problems started right up here. Now, I
tell you, my head has no problems. My head is the Lord Jesus Christ,
and He has no problems. So His body is perfect. Isn't
that right? Perfect. And it obeys the head. It crowns the head. When you
put a crown on somebody, where do you put it? On their chest?
That's what, come on now. When it's put, it's also on the
crown of kings. It don't crown His body, it crowns
the head. Only His head does it crown. If you have a picture of somebody
in your house, you have any pictures of their back? Who is that? That's John's back. Or you have
a picture of their head. Who is that? That's Tom. Why,
Tom, that's his head. But that's Tom. Without the head
ain't no Tom. See what I'm saying? One body. That's reason believers are one.
And secondly, watch it, there's one spirit. one Holy Spirit. And I want to tell you this,
anybody seeking the Holy Spirit, not Satan. That's exactly right. Because it's the Holy Spirit
of God who regenerates us. We're born of the Spirit of God.
If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he's not his. That's
what the Word says. He just not, no man can call
Jesus Lord but by the Holy Spirit. No man knows Christ except the
Holy Spirit reveals Christ. He regenerates us. He convinces
us of sin. Nobody's ever been convinced
of sin in the light of Christ's true conviction without the Holy
Spirit. It's the Holy Spirit that reveals
Christ. The Lord Jesus said, when he's come, he'll take the
things of mine and show them to you. He'll not glorify himself,
he'll glorify me. The Holy Spirit. You never got
into the body of Christ without the Holy Spirit, because the
Holy Spirit baptizes us into the body of Christ. You know
what the word says? That's the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We're
baptized into one body by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit
is our pledge, our sealer in the body of Christ. Look at Ephesians
1, verse 13. Now listen to this. Now, this is a spiritual umbrella
under which every believer, a body in which every believer fits.
But you can't bring everybody into this. They won't even have
it themselves. Preach it to them. They won't
have it. Look at Ephesians 1, 13. In whom you trusted after
you heard the word of truth. When you trust Christ, when you
heard about it. The gospel of your salvation. in whom also,
after you believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of
promise." Sealed where? In the body of Christ, with the
Holy Spirit. You're not in there without the
Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is the earnest. What's an earnest?
A token, a pledge? He is the pledge of your inheritance
under the redemption of the purchased possession, under the praise
of His glory. There's one spirit. I look back
at Ephesians 4. All believers, one, and they
are one in one body. And there is but one Spirit who
baptizes them into one body. Even as you are called, verse
4, in one hope of your calling, one hope. What is that hope?
I believe I could go out here tonight and just come right across
this altar and ask everybody here, what is your hope? And
I believe most of you would give the right answer. You know what
the hope is? To be like Christ. to be like
Christ. He predestinated us to be conformed
to the image of His Son. Turn with me to 1 John 3. Now
listen to this. 1 John 3, chapter 3, verse 2
and 3. I want you to read this. I'm
not going to try to quote it. I want you to read it. Now listen.
1 John 3, 2. Beloved, now are we sons of God. Whose sons of God? The Beloved.
The Beloved are sons of God. It doesn't yet appear what we
shall be. Not yet. I don't know. I can't
describe it. But I do know this. I do know
when He shall appear, who's He? Christ. We're going to be like
Him. For we're going to see Him as
He is. And every man that has this hope in him, what hope? To be like Christ. I don't know
how many preachers I've heard preach the second coming. And
they say the blessed hope is the second coming of Christ.
The blessed hope, my friend, is to be like Christ. It's to
be like Christ. That's the blessed hope. He that
hath this hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure. And
there are no degrees in this glory. It will be equally possessed
by all. All are loved the same, all are
redeemed the same, and all are secured in the same cover. It's amazing what you hear preached
today. Turn to Galatians 5. Let me show you something. Galatians
5. There was a fellow preaching
on the radio out in Texas today. Someone called me this afternoon
and asked me what I thought of this. The preacher is preaching
out in Texas today on the radio, and he's known by these people.
And he said in Galatians 5.19, Now he said, the works of the
flesh are manifested, which are these, adultery, fornication,
uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred,
variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
envying, murder, drunkenness, revelry, and such like, of which
I tell you before, as I told you in times past, that they
that do these things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. And
he paused and he said, Now, some of them can inhabit the kingdom
of God, but they just won't inherit it. And he went on for a long
time describing the difference in being there and being there
in glorious being there. Being an heir and being an inhabitant. He said, you can be an inhabitant
and not be an heir. That's impossible. That's impossible. There's one,
look at our text again. There's one body, one spirit,
and one hope of your calling. One hope. What is that one hope?
To be like Christ. And there are no degrees and
there are no differences. Every believer is going to be
like Christ. That makes us one. John, we have
a common objective. We have one goal. We have one
desire to be like Christ. And we're one. And the same Holy
Ghost that put that in your soul put it in mine. Two walk together when they're
what? Agreed. Agreed on what? Agreed on Christ.
All right, here's the next one. Now look, if you will, at our
text, Ephesians 4. There's one Lord. There's one
Lord. Believers respect one another.
They admire one another. They love and help one another.
They learn from one another. And they have their elders, and
they have their pastors, and they have their leaders, and
they have their teachers, and they have... It's like in the
family at home. But there's one master. There's
one Lord. There's one King. And that's
the Lord Jesus Christ. There's one King. And every one
of us are brethren. Every one of us are bond slaves
of that King. He is the King. He's the Lord by God's eternal
decree. God hath made this same Jesus
whom you crucified, Lord. He is Lord by creation. He made
all things, and by Him all things consist. He's Lord by death. He died that He might be Lord
of the dead and the living. He's Lord by eternal design. God hath highly exalted him and
given him a name above every name that is the name of Jesus.
Every knee should bow and every tongue can confess that he's
Lord. Now Romans 9, Romans 10, turn over there with me. And
he's Lord by faith and submission. I told my Sunday school class
this morning, this is a missing note in present day preaching.
Folks are flooding down the aisle to accept Jesus as their personal
Savior, while they deny and reject and refuse His scepter and His
Lordship. That's exactly right. And I'm
telling this generation, or anybody who'll listen to me, it's an
impossibility to know Jesus Christ as a Savior, as a sin offering,
as a forgiver, and not know Him as a Lord and Master and King
of your life. An impossibility. He said, you
call me Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If he's not Lord
of all, he's not Lord at all. If he's not the supreme master
and king and ruler of your life, you're not a Christian. You may
be a church member, a professor, you may be a preacher, but you're
not a Christian. You're not a disciple. If you're
not a disciple, you're not saved. That's what the book says. Romans 10 and 9, listen to this.
If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus." The who? If you'll confess Jesus to be
your personal Savior, no sir. The Lord Jesus. Jesus to be Lord. That's what that says. And believe
in your heart, God raised him from the dead. He raised him
to reign. Thou shalt be saved. For with
the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation. There's one Lord. You see, verse
5, this one Lord, that's the reason believers are united.
They have one Lord. One supreme, eternal, infinite,
unchangeable Lord. That's the reason these two people
get married. Both of them are Christians, believers. They both
know God. They've got one Lord. They'll get along. They'll live
together. They've got one Lord. People
talk about the head of the house or the foot of the house, all
this sort of thing. They've got one Lord in that house. And they
recognize His Word, and His glory, and His will, and His wishes,
and His desires, and His glory, and they build it that way. A
church has one Lord. They don't use their feet to
get a boat in every time we buy a broom. We got one Lord. Everybody
here knows that. We got one Lord. He gives the
orders. We serve Him. That's just so
now. One master. We're not men-followers,
we're Christ-followers. We're not men-worshippers, we're
Christ-worshippers. And look at this next line. There's
one faith. Just one faith. It may be small
faith or great faith. It may be weak faith or strong
faith. It may be old faith or young faith. It may be early
faith or late faith, but it's just faith! That's right. One faith. I had a Baptist preacher
this town, write me one time. Somebody joined this church and
I foolishly, this was years ago, I hadn't done it since, but I
foolishly applied to that church letter. I don't know where we
get this church letter mess, you know. Paul said, I don't
need any letters of recommendation from you. But I wrote him and
said, send us a letter. This man joined our church. He
wrote back and said, we don't grant letters to churches unless
they're the same faith. But I couldn't help it. I wrote
him back and I said, well, ain't but one faith. One of us is out
of it. Just one. Isn't that right? One
faith. One of us is out of it. If you
can't send me a letter because we have different faiths, one
of us is going to hell. That's what he's saying. Well,
he's sure it's me. This one faith. Now watch this.
It has the same author. Christ is the author and finisher
of our faith. Right? As one author. It's the
gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. This faith, this one faith, has one object. It's not a Jesus,
it's the Lord Jesus. One object. This faith has not,
it's not a shot in the dark. It's not keep the faith, baby.
I know whom I have believed. Huh? That's the faith. I have
one author, one finisher, one object. I know whom I have believed.
And I'm persuaded of his power, his ability, and his will. You'll
keep that which I've committed to him. Thirdly, it's born of
the same need. It's born of emptiness, inability,
and desire. I need a Savior. Desperately,
desperately, I need Christ. I need Jesus. That's where that
faith born out of desperation and need. Fourthly, it has the
same foundation, the Word of God. Faith comeeth by hearing,
and hearing by the Word of God. Paul said this, I believe, therefore
I spoke it. David said the same thing, I
believe what? The Word. And this faith has the same rest,
all who believe has ceased from their labor and entered into
his rest. Huh? One faith. Now you just
take this to work with you tomorrow, and all those fellow dynamic
Christians, you know, and they're all talking about, we ought to
get together. All right, here it is. We'll get together right
here. One body. One spirit. One hope. One Lord. One faith. What's the
next one? One baptism. I know there are a lot of folks
who will wrassle around with this, and say it's spiritual
baptism, or the baptism of the Holy Ghost into the body of Christ.
But I think if you'll check through the Word, you'll find that there's
one baptism under the gospel, which is water baptism, to be
administered to believers by immersion. That's the one baptism.
There are not many baptisms and many washings. There's one baptism.
One baptism. And that baptism is a confession
of Christ. That baptism is an identification
with Christ. That's the reason Peter said
at Pentecost, repent and be baptized, every one of you, without exception,
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you shall receive
the remission of sin. That's the reason Anna and I
said to Saul of Tarsus, arise and be baptized, and wash away
thy sins. That's the reason our Lord Jesus
Christ said when he sent the disciples out, We in all the
world preach the gospel. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. You know what he said? That's
what he said. And he that believeth not shall
be damned. It's one baptism. It's a confession of Christ.
It's an identification with Christ. It's showing not only his death
and burial and resurrection, but my death, burial and resurrection.
I'm dead to this world. Don't do it if you don't mean
it. Some of you who are holding back on baptism, you're smart
to hold back. You don't mean it, don't play
with God. But if you're really dead, you'll show it. If you're
really risen with Christ, you'll confess it, you'll identify.
It's a declaration of the work of Christ. You wouldn't stand
waiting at the Lord's table, would you? He said, as often
as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you show my death till
I come. The Lord only left His church two ordinances, Lord's
Suffering and Baptism. That's what he said. He said,
go into all the world, make disciples and baptize them. He didn't say, make children
and baptize them. He said, make disciples and baptize them. Children
aren't to be baptized. Baptism is for believers. He
said, believe it and it's baptized. Make disciples and baptize them. The eunuch said, what's to hinder
me from being baptized? He said, if you believe, you
can. If you don't believe, you can't. That's what he said. I
don't preach on baptism a whole lot because I don't want people
doing something because I tell them to. I want people to do
what they do because God urges them to. Because God leads them
to. Because God impresses their souls
with it. Do what God impresses you to
do. Don't do what I tell you to do. One baptism. And there's no way in the world
that I can stand in this pool and be one with a man that denies
takes an infant and sprinkles water on his head, he's denying
salvation. He's not only denying the mode
of baptism, he's denying the way God saves sinners. God doesn't
save unconscious people, He saves sinners. Huh? There's one baptism. Now watch
verse 6, and there's one God. One God. One God and Father. It's not different variations
of God. Well, you worship your God and I'll worship mine. No,
sir, that can't be. That cannot be. There's only
one God. Like the angel said to the man
who bowed before him, he said, don't bow before me, worship
God. Well, I've got to know who He is. No man knoweth the Father
but the Son, he to whom the Son will reveal. That's how you know
God in Christ. The Son hath declared Him. The
Son hath declared it. And who is He? What's this? He's
the God, God, Sovereign, Immutable God. He's the Father of all believers. He is our Father. We have one
Father. Don't ever call one of those silly fellows in the long
dress his father. Don't do that. Don't even do
that out of respect, because don't respect people like that.
I've known people, you know, even in this church and others
who, those fellows that come in their store, you know, with
that That habit on there, say, well, good morning, Father. I
ain't going to call him Father. If you want to call him something,
say, good morning, imposter. No, pastor, I mean. One God and Father. Let's stand
for what we believe, all right? Stand for what you believe. If
you believe it, stand for it. If you believe it, you will stand for it. And
you despise impostors. Because they're compromising
the gospel, they're betraying souls, and they're compromising
God's gospel and denying the Word of God, and putting people
in hell. That's what they're doing. And
He's above all. That's me and you and the whole
shooting match. He's above us. He's the King
and Lord and Master, and He does what He will, when He will, with
whom He will, and nobody can question His judgment. Who can
say unto Him, What doest thou? And He's through all. That is,
by his providence, he works through all things and all people to
do his will, and does all things after his will. Check on that,
through all. By his providence, he works all
things after the counsel of his own will, through all agencies,
through all creatures. He said to Pharaoh, why I raised
you up, show my glory. He worked through Pharaoh. And bless God, here's a wonderful
thing. He's in you all. You see why believers are one?
They're not ought to be, or gonna be, or should be. They are one.
They're one. One in Christ. Because there's
one body, and there's one spirit, and there's one hope, and there's
one Lord, Jesus Christ. And there's one faith, and there's
one baptism.