Back in your Bibles today to
the fourth chapter of Ephesians. Several verses of scripture which
especially stand out to me because of the word one. One. As an example, David's words
in Psalm 27 and verse 4, One thing have I desired of the Lord,
that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the
Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord,
and to inquire in his temple. One thing, one thing have I desired. And then the words of The Lord
Jesus Christ, which He spoke to Martha in the Gospel of Luke
when He said, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled
about many things, but one thing is needful. And Mary hath chosen
that good part which shall not be taken away from her. And of
course the words of the Apostle Paul in 1st Timothy Chapter 2
and verse 5, where he wrote, For there is one God and one
mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. This passage
that we are looking at this morning, we see the word one seven times. One body, one spirit, one hope,
one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all
who is above all and through all and in you all. Now all of the Word of God, I
started to say the writings of the Apostle Paul, but it's not
exclusive to him. All of the scripture contains
both doctrine, teaching, and practice, but it seems in the
letters of the Apostle Paul, the way the scriptures have been
divided into verses and chapters, this is especially noticeable. How that he always begins the
letters that he wrote with teaching, with doctrine, and then he turns
to practice. This is especially true in Ephesians
where we have six chapters, the first three we would say containing
teaching or doctrine, the last three practice. Same is true
in Colossians where the first two is doctrine, the second two
practice. So we're looking at a passage
of scripture where the apostle And I don't mean to say that
in practice there's not doctrine also taught because that would
be wrong. All scripture is doctrine in
that sense of the word. Paul told Timothy the time will
come when they will not endure sound doctrine and that would
include both teaching and practice, our walk. But I want us to look
at this passage of Scripture this morning, which especially
deals with our conduct, the believer's conduct, the believer's walk.
And it is important. The reason I brought this up
about the fact that usually you have teaching and then doctrine
because what we believe will determine how we live. Who we
believe and what we believe about God. will certainly determine
our conduct, our walk in this world. So first of all, this
is a passage that deals with our conduct. I have four things
I want to bring out to us. First of all, Paul, I want you
to notice the Apostle Paul beseeches them concerning their walk. Verse one, he said, I therefore
the prisoner of the Lord He was a prisoner of Rome, but he always
counted himself to be the prisoner of the Lord, just as he confessed
himself to be the servant or the slave of the Lord Jesus Christ. So the prisoner of the Lord. It was for Christ's sake that
he was in prison. Remember when he stood before
one of those Roman authorities? And there was another man who
he had invited who also had some civil power, and they listened
to the apostle Paul, and one of them told the other, he should
be released. He's done nothing worthy of bonds. But, he said, because he has
appealed unto Caesar, unto Caesar he must go. But Paul always recognized
himself as a prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ. But my point
this morning is simply this, I beseech thee. He doesn't command,
he doesn't use the word command. I command thee, but I beseech
thee. Now the walk, now listen to me
carefully, the walk and the practice that he desired of them, he knew,
would never be the result of commands and of threatening. The apostle knew that. The walk, the conduct, the practice
that he desired of these believers, it would never be the result
of threatening, commanding, or anything like that. It would
be the blessings, the benefits of which they were partakers. In other words, what they had
received of the Lord. This would be the motivating
cause for them to walk in the way that He desired them to walk. Their practice, their conduct
would be the result, not because the law commanded, but rather
because of the love of Christ, the love of Christ constraineth
me." That's what he said in 2 Corinthians 5. He knew that the walk, the
practice, the conduct that he desired for these believers would
never be the result of his threatening, of his commanding them, but rather
as they considered the blessings, the mercies, and the grace that
they had received of the Lord, freely, freely by His grace. In the third letter of John,
just a few verses of scripture, the Apostle John, an older man
when he wrote that letter, but he said this, I have no, now
listen, I have no greater joy. He's putting emphasis here, right? I have no greater joy than to
hear that my children walk in truth. Now, John was writing
to those who were his spiritual children. And the same is true
of the Apostle Paul. These were not his physical children
or his descendants, but they were his spiritual children.
Like he wrote to the Corinthians, for though you have 10,000 instructors
in Christ. Paul said, you could have 10,000
different preachers come by and preach to you, and that would
be good. But, he said, yet have you not
many fathers. For in Christ Jesus, I have begotten
you through the gospel. God uses the gospel. in calling
and saving his people. Go into all the world and preach
the gospel. Whosoever believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. Whosoever believeth not shall
be damned. This is our commission, the commission
that the Apostle Paul had, to go and to preach the gospel. And God blessed his ministry.
And God used him greatly. And many people were converted
under his ministry. And nothing could bring the apostle
greater joy, just like the apostle John. The same would be true
of Paul. Nothing could bring him greater
joy than to hear that his children, his spiritual children, that
they were walking in the truth. Not only that they professed
the truth. That's important. Not only would
it bring him joy that these profess the truth, but that they walk
in the truth. Notice the verse, I therefore
the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the
vocation wherewith you are called. Now the word vocation means calling. And he's not saying here some
of these people maybe were candle makers, some maybe were butchers,
some were tanners, all kinds of occupations. He's not beseeching
them that they walk worthy of their calling in that sense,
in the way that they earned a living. But what he is beseeching them
is that they walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called."
Now this word vocation, this calling, is what we call the
effectual call, or as some people, the irresistible call. In preaching the gospel, we know
that men are called with an outward call. Everywhere the gospel is
preached, There goes forth a call, an outward call. But if that's
the only call that men hear, men will never come to Christ. Men will never trust in Christ. This call that Paul is speaking
about, wherewith they had been called, was his effectual call. We define that with these very
simple words. This call gets the job done. This call gets the job done. And we all love that passage
of Scripture in Samuel that speaks about David and Mephibosheth.
And what a beautiful picture there of the grace of God and
God's effectual calling when David, the king, gave command,
fetching, fetching. And there was no doubt, there
wasn't the least question that Mephibosheth, who confessed himself
to be a dead dog before the Lord, before the king, there was no
question that Mephibosheth was going to come. Why? Because in
the word of a king, there's power. We're not talking about just
any king here, we're talking about the king of kings. and
the Lord of Lords. Listen to what Paul wrote to
the church, to the believers in the church at Thessalonica.
He said, For our gospel came not unto you in word only. Now it did come in word, in the
preaching. It did come in word, but Paul
says not in word only. You see, when the word, when
the gospel comes in word only, it just goes in one ear and out
the other ear. Men sat under the preaching of
the gospel and all they're thinking about is, I can't wait till this
is over and get out of here. They leave just like they came. Why? Because the word comes in
word only. But Paul was able to write to
the church at Thessalonica to those believers and tell them,
assure them, that the word had not come, the gospel had not
come rather in word only, but also in power and in the Holy
Ghost. This is what we pray for every
time we meet together. know that you pray for this,
I certainly do, every time that we meet together and preach the
gospel, that God will bless his word. The Lord Jesus Christ said,
without me you can do nothing. That's just a big zero, isn't
it? And that's all we can do without
him. It's not our eloquence, it's
not our learning, None of those things, even if we had them,
that's not what God uses. God uses His Word when He pleases
to do so. Paul said, we preach Christ and
Him crucified to the Jews a stumbling block, or to the Greeks a stumbling
block rather, to the Jews foolishness, but unto them which are called
Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. I beseech
you. He doesn't command them. These people have been called.
Look over, keep your place here, but turn over to just a few pages
into the letter of Colossians chapter 1. And we'll read just a few of
the prayer of the Apostle Paul that's recorded here, but Colossians
1 and beginning with verse 9, he said, For this cause we also,
since the day we heard, do not cease to pray for you and to
desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of his will
in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that you might walk worthy of
the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work and
increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might,
according to His glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering
with joyfulness." Now notice this, "...giving thanks unto
the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the power of
darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear
Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness
of our sins. This calling, this effectual
call, brings men out of darkness, being dead in trespasses and
sins, out of darkness, having no understanding. But we are
called, men are called by God himself, using the gospel into
the light. And not only into the light,
but into fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. I beseech
you. Just like he wrote to the church
at Rome when he said, I beseech you, therefore, by the mercies
of God, that you present your body's living sacrifices as living
sacrifices. He doesn't command. Again, I
want to repeat that. The conduct, the walk that the
Apostle Paul desired for these believers, for you and I, as
well. He knew it would never be the
result of issuing certain commands. but the appeal is to those who
have been called. Now notice the second thing,
Paul describes the walk that he desired of them in verses
two and three. He wants their walk to be marked
as I've written down here, marked in these three ways. First of
all, marked by humility. With all lowliness and meekness,
with long, with meekness, with all humility, lowliness, their
walk he desired for them would be marked by their humility. Peter wrote in his letter, yea,
all of you be subject one to another and be clothed with humility. For God resisteth the proud and
giveth grace to the humble. The opposite of humility, of
course, is pride. And God hates pride. I don't know if we can classify
sin. We may try to. But I would say
that pride would have to be unbelief and pride would be right up there
at the very top. God hates pride. God gives grace
to the lowly. I noticed last week Charles Spurgeon's
devotional on Friday, I believe it was, when he was commenting
on the passage in John 14 where the Lord told His disciples that
He would come and manifest Himself to them. And Charles Spurgeon
gave these three things to be true of all of those who Christ
manifests himself to. Humility, number one. Humility,
happiness, number two. And number three, holiness. Every
child of God should recognize that if God were not long-suffering
to us-ward, to you, to me, We wouldn't be saved. I mean
that's just all there is to it. Peter said count his long-suffering
is salvation. Our walk, the walk that Paul
desired of these believers would be marked first of all by lowliness
and meekness, humility. Each one believing his brother
is greater than himself. You know, that one man, the Apostle
John, wrote about, he sought to have preeminence. Nothing
will kill a church faster than pride. And one of the greatest
blessings that God may bestow upon any congregation is that
we all walk in meekness and lowliness. The second mark is forbearing
one another in love. Overlooking, in other words,
overlooking and forgiving wrongs that others may do toward us. Recognizing that we need God's
forgiveness a thousand times a day. overlooking, forbearing
one another. And thirdly, the walk is marked
by endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit. This is a spiritual
union which exists between saints and saints, and the bond of this
union is love. It is called the unity of the
spirit because it is God the Holy Spirit who baptizes us into
the one body. John Gill made these comments
on this unity which exists between saints. He said it is very valuable. Amen, right? It is very valuable
as making much for the glory of God. the mutual comfort and
delight of saints, and, now listen, and is worth taking some pains
about. In other words, this spiritual
union is worth us working at, taking some pains about it. It's too important not to. And I go on reading him that
it is very difficult to secure. Don't just take it for granted.
It's very difficult to secure there being so many things that
frequently arise and break in upon it through the devices of
Satan and the corruption of men's hearts. Amen. There's so, so
many things. that could disrupt and destroy
the unity of a congregation of believers. But again, as John
Gill said, it's worth taking some pains to preserve. And the way to do that, of course,
is by walking in humility and in love for bearing one another. The third thing, Paul shows that
believers have every reason so to walk in these next few verses. We have every reason, those of
us who know Christ as our Lord and Savior today, we have every
reason to so walk. And he lists seven of these which
are true of every saint. These seven things that he mentions
here are true of every child of God, without exception. Every
child of God here today. These seven things are true of
us all. He begins with, there's one body. There's one body of which Christ
is the head. And when we think about this
body, And Christ is the head and we are to walk in humility. Has there ever been anyone who's
walked on the face of God's earth that has been more humble and
lowly than Jesus Christ, our Lord? If our head is that way, then
so should we. There's one body. You know, in
Hebrews 10 and verse 5, we have the eternal Son of God speaking,
and He says, A body hast thou prepared me. Now, in the fullness
of the time, God's time, God sent forth His Son made of a
woman. Mary was told that the Holy Spirit
would overshadow her. God prepared a body, formed a
body for Him. And in that body, which God prepared
for him, we know that he brought in everlasting righteousness. As the Son of Man, he brought
in everlasting righteousness. And he did so by his obedience
and suffering and death. So when we read here, there's
one body we recognize that The Son of God is one person. He has one body that the Holy
Spirit prepared for Him in which He obeyed and suffered and died
and brought in an everlasting righteousness to justify His
people. Now we read of this one body
here. It's not talking about that physical
body in which he obeyed and suffered and bled. Remember, it is that
body that is in union with his deity that gives value to his
obedience, gives value to his sufferings because of who he
is. He's the God-man. But this body
here, is not the body that the Holy Spirit prepared him, that
physical body. But this body is a spiritual
body. Now the writers refer to this
as his mystical body. And I believe the reason they
call it mystical is because there's a mystery. It is mysterious. There's no question about it.
But this mystical body was chosen by God the Father and given unto
Him, and He is the head of this body. Look back to chapter 1
and verse 22 here in Ephesians. Scripture says, and hath put
all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over
all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of
him that filleth all in all. How then could we be envious
and jealous and have malice toward anyone else who is a member of
this body? It's only by grace, and we recognize
it, by grace that we are part of this body. Surely, we're able
to overlook and forbear things that may be done against us,
toward us. And I speak from experience. It's possible to say something
and have one meaning in your mind and someone else take it
in a completely different way. And when I do and you hear it
and you get mad, forbear, forbear. That's what we're talking about,
right? It's impossible that this many people that we can be together
as we often are, and some will not say something, some will
not, maybe not say something that they should say, and some
won't have their feelings heard. This is what Paul is appealing,
that we have this unity of spirit, and we should because we're all
members of the same body. If you take the physical body
All these members that we have, our hands, our feet, our knees,
everything, all parts, they all work together, don't they? What
if your right hand got mad at your face and just started slapping
your face? Got offended over some minor
thing. Now, it's not minor to the person
who is offended. I recognize that. But when it's
all said and done in the grand scale of things, something minor. Number two, not only one body,
but one spirit. And this is, of course, the Holy
Spirit, who comes to us from the head, that is from Christ,
and unites us to Him. And yes, He dwells in us. Now
this is true of every child of God. Just as I said, every child
of God, every believer is a member of Christ's mystical body. So the Holy Spirit dwells in
every believer. Again, if you look in Ephesians
1 and verses 12 and 13. that we should be to the praise
of his glory who first trusted in Christ, in whom you also trusted
after that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your
salvation, in whom also after that you believed, you were sealed
with that Holy Spirit of promise. Now the Holy Spirit is the seal. He is the seal. And our bodies
are made temples, temples of the Holy Spirit. One body, one spirit, one hope,
one hope of your calling. Now what is this? Well, this
hope is that which every child of God has and that is what we
refer to many times as simply heaven. enjoying God forever,
eternal life, being with Him forever in the presence, in His
presence where there's fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore. There's one hope. Every believer
has this same hope. When we say our goodbyes here
in this world, we're opening our eyes in the presence of the
Lord, to be with Him forever and ever and ever. One hope, one Lord, the Lord
Jesus Christ. The religious world has debated
in my day whether it's possible to know Christ as Savior and
not to know Him as Lord. How foolish. How foolish! The order in Scripture is always
Lord and Savior. And just listen to these words
of the Savior. He said, If any man come to me,
and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children,
and brethren, and sisters, yea, his own life also, he cannot
be my disciple. The Lord Jesus we recognize does
not mean to say that we are to hate anyone. One of the Ten Commandments
is to honor your father and mother, not to hate them, and for a man
to forsake all others and cleave to his wife, to love her even
as Christ loved the church. He doesn't mean that we are to
hate anyone, but he does point out that Christ must be first. before everyone. And if there's
ever a decision, ever a choice between these and Christ, Christ
must have our loyalty. That's what he said. Lord, there's
one Lord, even Christ. And then number five, there's
one faith. In another passage of Scripture, it's called the
faith of the operation of God. In other words, it is a gift
of God. This faith has Christ as its
author and as its finisher, as its author and its sustainer. This faith, there's one faith. This faith is wrought in the
heart of God's elect in that effectual call that causes the
heart to fix upon his one atonement, his one sacrifice to cleanse
from sin. I'm not looking to the water
in the baptismal pool to wash away my sins, are you? I'm not
looking to any penance that I might do, no matter how difficult to
the flesh The faith that God has given me looks to the blood,
the sacrifice, the death of Jesus Christ as all, all my hope of
salvation, all my righteousness. One faith. And then number six,
there's one baptism. Now notice that most of the writers,
most of the writers who sprinkle infants, They're in agreement. They all believe this refers
to the baptism of the Spirit into the body of Christ. Well,
when Paul wrote this letter, there was only one mode of baptism. The word baptism itself means
immersion. There's only one baptism that
pictures death and burial and resurrection. And that is the
gospel that we profess. And number seven, there's one
God and Father of all who is above all and through all and
in you all. One version of the text, instead
of that line that says through all, has taken care of all. There's one God and Father of
all who's above all and takes care of all, of all his children,
his special providence. Nothing can befall you apart
from God's will, God's permission. What a comfort. What a blessing. Paul declares, fourthly, that
everyone is given grace and gifts. Everyone who is part of this
body, this church, all the saints, we're all given grace and gifts. But obviously, we do not all
have the same gift. We do not all have the same grace. If we did, the body would not
function. Just like the human body, if
every member had the same function, as Paul said, where would the
hearing be if the whole body was a hand? Or if the whole body
was a foot, where would the seeing be? And so in every body, we're
all given grace and gifts, and we should use them for His glory
and for the good of the whole for the church. I pray that the
Lord would bless this word to all of us here this morning.