Now what I want to speak to you
about this afternoon, very briefly, I'm not here
to occupy a lot of time, but I
want to speak to you about faithfulness.
And so I'm going to read one verse
to lead off my message, and it is
in Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 1.
I'm thankful for the Stout Assembly that still
annually hosts their conference.
There always seems to be many that enjoy
coming here.
So in the will of the Lord, keep
up this work.
Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 1.
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the
will of God, to the saints which are
at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ
Jesus.
I assume that that is a term or
a name given to the Lord Jesus, a
way of speaking of him as the ascended
Christ.
If you were to go to another epistle
that Paul wrote from prison, say the book
of Colossians, you would find that he wrote
to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ.
And I believe as I look at the
book of Ephesians, the first three chapters is
predominantly occupied with positional truth, what we are
in Christ.
Looking through the verses of the first three
chapters, you will find in Christ, in Jesus
Christ, in him, in himself, and also, you
will find as these terms or this recognition
is of the lovely person of the Lord
Jesus Christ, when you come to verse 6,
we are accepted in the beloved.
And so when I think of us being
positionally brought into alignment with God's will and
God's purpose that you will find even mentioned
in chapter 1, that it's a wonderful thing
to be linked with Almighty God and come
into a relationship with the Trinity and the
members of the Godhead, to think that God
is our Father, Jesus Christ is our Lord
and Savior, our Advocate, our Great High Priest,
our Intercessor.
And furthermore, when it comes to the Spirit
of God, as we'll notice, as we could
be noticing in chapter 1 and in chapter
4, the Holy Spirit of God has sealed
us unto the day of redemption.
And we are indwelt by the Spirit of
God.
And as there are so many young people
here today and older ones as well as
myself, listen, we need to have a fresh
glimpse and a recognition and a reminding that
we are linked by the Almighty power and
the will and the purpose of God, linked
to divine persons.
We're just not a bunch of people here
on earth wandering around aimlessly.
We're not orphans in this world.
We are linked with God and we have
been blessed by him exceedingly.
And so as I think of these here
at Ephesus and what was written to them,
I think of what is said in Acts
chapter 18, 19, and 20 as Paul gives
an update on his interaction with the assembly
there.
And it's very interesting that when you come
to chapter 20 and verse 31, let me
read it to you, therefore watch and remember
by the space of three years, I cease
not to warn everyone night and day with
tears.
Why did he say that?
Why was he concerned about these that had
been brought into this wonderful and positional relationship
with our Lord Jesus Christ and recognized as
faithful ones?
Because up the chapter he is writing, and
I think we've been reminded of this in
the conference, that there were grievous wolves that
were going to rise up from within and
there were men that were going to come
along and they were going to gather to
themselves followers and there would be a tremendous
distraction to the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ.
And so he was concerned about their faithfulness
at that time.
You know, after what was recorded in his
interest in Ephesus that we have noticed from
Acts, approximately four years later, I believe if
I'm right, he writes this epistle to the
Ephesian believers and right in the first verse
he identifies them as those that are faithful
in Christ Jesus.
But keep in mind something, it was within
about 26 years the church at Ephesus got
another communication and that communication was from the
Lord Jesus Christ Himself, as you're very familiar
with Revelation chapter 2 and chapter 3.
And in verse 4 of chapter 2, this
is what he says, that they had left
their first love.
There was a problem.
There was a lack of faithfulness in their
lives.
And having left their first love, some have
thought of it this way, they didn't have
the love and appreciation to the Lord Jesus
Christ that they had in the day when
they had trusted Christ or subsequent days and
that which followed on as an assembly.
Well, that may be true.
But you know, I really think the Lord
had realized that he said to them after
he complimented them for so many things, you
have left your first love, that the Lord
Jesus Christ was not receiving from them the
appreciation and the place and the glory and
the honor that he was deserving of.
Maybe you have had that feeling yourself.
Maybe you have been convicted of it yourself.
That really, I do not display a faithfulness
to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as
I ought.
If that be the case, you know, we're
in the driver's seat of our life.
And so at this time I want to
go over to the third chapter four, five,
and six and look at practical truth.
Listen, if we are in Christ and we
are positionally so, then those that are there
ought to have a willingness and a desire
on their part to practice truth as it
is set before us.
And I don't know what kind of excuse
we could ever give to the Lord when
we fail in this.
And I'm sure we all have a sense
of failure.
But notice here, I want to, I'm going
to read here from chapter four, but before
I do, I want to do something else.
I want to think of some of the
things that he set out in a practical
way that they were expected to be faithful
in.
I think our brother Isaiah yesterday pointed out
verses 19 and 20 of chapter 5, and
it pertains to worship.
And I'm just going to probe ourselves just
a little bit today.
Am I faithful as a worshiper?
Is it my burden?
Is it my interest?
Do I recognize that I have a responsibility
out of love to Christ to worship God?
I come down in the chapter a little
further.
And of course, we're reminded of the church,
the body of Christ, of which Christ is
the head.
But he weaves into that responsibility in a
marriage relationship.
Husbands should love their wives.
Wives should reverence or respect their husbands.
And as done as that unto the Lord.
And the reason I bring this up is
because strong marriages in God's assembly is a
tremendous thing, and it's very beneficial.
You say, how would you prove that?
You come to the assembly, and if you
have one marriage that is not functioning as
it should, it has a capability of making
party spirit and raising chaos in God's assembly.
So we need to be faithful if we're
married.
We need to be faithful in our marriage
relationship to our spouse.
It doesn't run around with our minds wandering
and fantasizing in our mind about anything and
everything.
We need to be loyal in our marriage
relationship.
And I want to say something to the
young folks here today.
The day will come when you will have
a desire for a spouse.
Don't you be taken up with the handsomeness
or the beauty of the individual.
You pay very close attention to their spirituality
and their focus and their interest in spiritual
things.
And make the right choice prayerfully before God.
Now that has already been said in this
conference.
But if you fail in that, you might
find troubles in your marriage that you won't
like and you won't appreciate.
I move over into then into chapter 6.
And the first thing it seems that comes
to our view is a faithfulness in relationship
to our children.
Have we heard that in the conference?
We have.
I'll just underscore it.
We need to bring up our children in
the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
Fathers are not dictators and families.
And children deserve an explanation as to what,
why, what is expected in the family to
be done.
We need to be faithful to our children.
Even comes in on the work in the
work area.
He talks about a slaves and masters.
Today it's employers and employees.
Do we need to be careful about that?
Do we need to be faithful in that?
That there wouldn't be rumors that would circulate
around.
That there wouldn't even be things said in
an area that would be detrimental to assembly
testimony.
We need to be faithful how we run
our business and do our things in this
world.
It is to the glory of the Lord.
I come a little farther in and I
find out that we are exhorted to be
faithful in relationship to the Word of God.
Have we heard about that?
We certainly have.
Are we all prepared to move and make
improvements in our life in that regard?
I hope we are.
I hope to.
And then he talks about faithfulness to the
gospel.
Are we faithful to the gospel?
We appreciate with the gospel the message that
has come to us and the blessings we
have come into.
But are we concerned about others?
We've heard about that.
Encouragement for young men to be out in
the work and to seek to win souls
to Christ.
Faithfulness in the gospel.
And you know as you come right down
to the end of the chapter, I told
you I'm going to get down from this
place as quickly as I can.
It's not my comfort zone, but I find
a little statement here to be in prayer
and supplication for all saints.
Are we faithful in prayer?
If you haven't discovered it yet, prayer is
a work.
And prayer is the result of an exercise.
You know sometimes we pray for those that
are sick.
And we pray for those that are bereaved
because death has come in.
And we pray for those that have lost
jobs and financial resources have dwindled.
But I think of it this way sometimes.
Like Brother Stanley Wills would talk about people
that have their ducks in a row, whatever
that means.
You know sometimes there are believers and they
seem that everything is going along smoothly.
You know what?
We need to pray for one another and
for our preservation.
Sometimes things look on good on the exterior.
But we need to be praying for one
another for our preservation and for help for
fellow believers that we might live for the
glory of Christ and for the prosperity of
God's assemblies where Christians are gathered to the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
After all, we go back to chapter 20.
You know what Paul said to him as
to the assembly?
The assembly had been purchased for the blood
of his own, the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ.
What a place of dignity.
If there are those here today and you
have been saved and haven't been baptized, you
need to be baptized.
If you're saved and baptized, you need to
be gathered to the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ if you are sound in doctrine.
Because that's where the Lord Jesus Christ would
have you.
Every assembly is purchased by the blood of
Christ.
But let me come to my final thought.
This is what I want to consider.
I don't know how much you think about
it.
I don't know how much we are exhorted
in ministry about it.
But I'm back now to chapter 4 and
verse 1.
The rest of my comments I'm going to
draw from chapter 4.
Here we are at verse 1.
I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech
you that ye walk worthy of the vocation
wherein ye have been called.
Go back to the young people.
You have a profession?
Are you excited about your link with the
person of Christ?
Are you interested in bearing testimony to his
name?
You know, I believe everyone that is saved
would really God would want them to gather
to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so he's talking about here their walk.
I'm walking worthy of the vocation wherein they
are called.
You come over to chapter 5.
Sorry, I am deviating here.
It says here walk in love.
Then in verse 8, walk in light.
In verse 15, walk circumspectly.
And so it is important how we walk
as far as God is concerned.
Come down to verse 2.
With all lowliness and meekness and long suffering
for bearing one another in love, endeavoring to
keep the unity of the Spirit in the
bond of peace.
There's my subject.
Faithfulness in relationship to the unity of the
Spirit of God.
You know, the Holy Spirit of God, as
we understand from the Scriptures, he is the
author of Holy Scripture.
I remember what the Lord Jesus Christ said,
as we have already reminded ourselves, that we
have been sealed by the Spirit of God
and were indwelt by the Spirit of God.
But the Lord Jesus Christ said in his
ministry in the upper room, verses 14, 15,
and 16, he talks about the coming of
the Comforter.
And when he comes to chapter 16 and
verses 13 and 14, he says the Holy
Spirit of God, when he is sent, and
he did come ten days after the Lord
ascended, the day of Pentecost, when the Spirit
of truth is come, he will guide you
into all truth.
He will show you things that are to
come.
And I think of it as like frosting
on a big cake.
That's a poor analogy, but listen.
He also says that the Spirit of God
will take the things of mine and show
them unto you.
So, the Spirit of God teaching us truth
relative to the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ.
You know, dear Peter, as he comes to
the end of his writing, as a restored
man, he says, growing grace and in the
knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
to him be glory, both now and forever.
Amen.
That should be our focus.
That should be our goal.
To know more about him and to have
that gentle movement of the Spirit of God
toward us, to guide us into all truth
and things that are coming and things relative
to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
As I come to this verse, these three
verses, I find out that the unity of
the Spirit is not mine to make.
It is made by the Spirit of God.
And where is my responsibility in this?
It is to keep it.
You say, well, what am I keeping?
Keeping the unity of the Spirit.
Listen, I want to make a statement and
I hope you agree with it.
The Spirit of God says the same thing
to you.
He will say the same thing to me.
He doesn't speak variable things to variable people.
He says the same thing to everybody.
And so when I think of the deposit
of truth and all that we are privileged
to, and you know what, really, we're responsible
to know.
We hang our heads how little sometimes we
do know.
But we are responsible for the truth of
God, that the Spirit of God wants to
teach us and wants us to know.
And he has made a unity.
The unity of the Spirit of God, I
judge, from the truth of God that we
have on the pages of Holy Scripture, that
is taught to us and brought to us.
We're glad you're at a conference.
But you know, in the quietness of your
little dwelling, you can, with a bowed and
open heart and prayerfully before God, the Spirit
of God will teach you.
He never confuses people.
And so I think of the Spirit of
truth, and I think of the unity of
the Spirit.
The Spirit brings into a unanimity, to a
oneness, to a completeness to teach us the
truth.
Now some would say, well, we're going to
keep in the context of this epistle.
After all, the Apostle Paul, as he was
speaking about the body of Christ, he was
speaking about Jew and Gentile and brought into
one body.
That's all right.
We're on the practical side of this epistle.
And while that was true in early days,
maybe we don't worry about ethnics and all
that, as to people coming into God's assembly.
That really isn't a problem with us, is
it?
But I want to say this, that everyone
in God's assembly should be in the enjoyment
of the unity of the Spirit of God.
He has made it.
And the exhortation is to keep it.
I like what is said in verse two.
How do we keep it?
With all loneliness.
I was shocked when I really looked at
the word.
Loneliness.
To have a humble opinion of self.
A display of modesty.
And allowing our mind to be controlled by
the Spirit of God.
Loneliness.
You see, when it comes to the unity
of the Spirit, it isn't something that someone
that is headstrong, bullheaded, wanted to move in
some kind of an authority of self-prescription
or an egoistic way.
These people have a hard time coming into
an understanding of what the unity of the
Spirit is about.
That's too bad, isn't it?
It's sad.
How many of us are able that we
would sit on from time to time and
evaluate ourselves and our own life with honesty
and integrity?
Did you ever try that?
Did you ever try to be honest before
God and to think about how am I
personally doing in my Christian experience?
Well, we keep the unity of the Spirit
in loneliness.
He goes on to say meekness.
You know what that is?
That's gentleness.
And modesty is a desire to put myself
to the side for the exaltation of the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Long-suffering.
What's that about?
Patience.
Slowness to avenge wrong when you think you
see it in others.
Is that a help to us today?
Is there something we need to adjust and
change?
Forbearing.
How gentle and how willing to accept others
for what they are.
When I think of meekness and loneliness, you
know where I think?
My mind goes right away to Matthew chapter
11.
Come unto me, all ye that labor and
are heavy laden, and I will give you
rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn of
me, for I am meek and lowly in
heart, and ye shall find rest unto your
souls.
For my yoke is easy and my burden
is light.
What are we talking about here?
You want to talk about meekness and loneliness?
Take a look at the Lord Jesus.
You want to imitate someone?
Imitate Him.
He was never anything other than meek and
lowly.
You look at the scriptures, you look at
the gospels, and how He responded to the
Pharisees and the scribes and the elders.
How He responded to perishing people.
How He responded to His disciples.
It was in a faultless way.
That is how we are to endeavor to
diligently right now.
It isn't something we're going to try to
do sometime.
It should be now.
It should be our personal exercise as to
a faithfulness.
To keep the unity of the Spirit of
God.
The Lord Jesus promised rest, didn't He?
And how true that is.
So I come down to this verse here,
and He says, To diligently keep the unity
of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Do you ever find people moving around, they're
very agitated and they're unhappy and they're grumpy?
It happens.
People are discontented.
You know what the problem is?
They do not know what it means to
keep the unity of the Spirit of God
in the bond of peace.
And again, I find it very interesting that
this word bond is actually the word ligament.
So here's the unity of the Spirit of
God and we are to keep it.
We all know what a tendon is.
It's a muscle that is connected to the
tendon.
It's connected to the bone.
You see those charts sometimes in a doctor's
office.
I understand a ligament and a tendon are
pretty much of the same structure as far
as cells are concerned.
I'm just going with what somebody recently told
me.
But you see, a ligament holds bones together.
And that is what the unity of the
Spirit of God does if it is kept.
What does it bring?
It brings peace.
It brings tranquility.
It brings calm.
It brings a condition that we all like.
And if we deviate away and we go
away from it, no interest in keeping the
unity of the Spirit of God, we're in
big trouble.
You know, if I was standing here and
all my ligaments failed me, I'm not much
to look at right now, but I'd be
a whole lot less.
Do we not understand, here's the unity of
the Spirit, and it is our personal responsibility
to keep it.
Will that have impact even in the domestic
realm?
It will.
But primarily in God's assembly?
You know, sometimes people leave an assembly.
I'm not here to hang out filthy laundry.
That isn't it.
We can't deny reality either.
Sometimes people leave.
Sometimes people aren't happy.
They go on their downward spiral.
They leave the assembly.
Because something there doesn't please them.
There's agitation and there's peace and there's a
lack of peace and there's sorrow.
I'm just trying to open our eyes a
little bit today.
Maybe everybody knows much more about this than
I do.
I don't know.
But it's been speaking to my soul.
To keep the unity of the Spirit in
the bond of peace.
And how do we do it?
Well, I'll tell you what, we've got to
have the right attitude.
We've got to have the right focus.
And as Paul is saying here, with all
lowliness and meekness and longsuffering, forbearing one another
in love.
Let's go to the end of the chapter.
I see in verse 20, that no communication
or rotten or putrid words in communication come
out of our mouth.
Verse 30, Grieve not the Holy Spirit of
God.
Don't bring sorrow to the Holy Spirit of
God.
Don't bring heaviness to the Spirit of God.
There's no wisdom in quenching the Spirit of
God.
1 Thessalonians 5 verse 19, Grieve not the
Holy Spirit of God, whereby he is sealed
unto the day of redemption.
The second place in this epistle that Paul
speaks about, having mentioned it in chapter 1
and verse 13.
Sealed unto the day of redemption.
Sealed unto the day when we're at home
with the Lord and our bodies are changed.
And there's a consummation of our salvation.
Then he says, Let all bitterness and wrath
and anger and clamor and evil speaking be
put away from you with all malice.
Does that ever happen among Christians?
All I'm going to say is it can.
Now, I'm not going to go into the
definition of those words.
Maybe it would be profitable.
But I know the malice is ill will
and a desire to hurt.
What we told yesterday about watching our tongue
and what we have to say.
Right?
Let me wind this up.
You're saying good.
I'm glad you're about done.
But anyhow, And be ye kind one to
another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God,
for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you.
I wonder if there's anybody here today and
you have a grudge against somebody else.
You think you have been hurt.
And consequently, you have ill feelings toward others.
Do you know what forgiveness is?
Forgiveness is taking someone you feel that has
offended you and you pardon them.
You drop.
You just plain, flat out drop your feelings
and your accusations against them.
Add something to that.
And then show them kindness on top of
it.
Why should we do that?
Because God has forgiven us for Christ's sake.
I am going to submit something to you
today, whether you like it or not.
You know, I've got to leave here pretty
soon anyhow.
So maybe you won't have anything to say
to me.
But I would say this.
People that hold grudges and people that don't
want to forgive other people.
They don't have a clear understanding of that
forgiveness that has come to them.
From God to the Son of God, the
Lord Jesus, and all that he passed through
to forgive us of all our sins.
You know, people that are bitter.
You know, I was thinking of Hebrews chapter
12, I think about verse 15.
It talks about the root of bitterness.
You know what the root of bitterness produces
in anybody?
The fruit of bitterness.
And I have never met a bitter person
yet that has profited one iota by holding
that grudge, that bitterness.
I never have.
And who suffers from it most?
The person that carries the bitterness.
For Christ's sake, we should forgive one another.
Being wound up and caught in a battlefield
isn't a profitable place to make and have
prosperity.
Spiritually speaking.
I don't know what you think about keeping
the unity of the Spirit.
But it's for the blessing of all who
do it.
It's for the blessing of every assembly to
have peace and tranquility.
By keeping the unity of the Spirit.
Dear Saint of God, I'm telling you something.
If God's assembly is a place where Christ
is in full charge, and he has purchased
it with his blood, God keeping the unity
of the Spirit is to the glory of
our Lord Jesus Christ.