The Unity of God’s People – False Unity

[00:00:01] Now, I thought that for our reading of the word this evening, to refresh our minds, I would just read what is here as a very simple introduction to our previous study, and then we'll look at one or two scriptures just to see if we can refresh our memories from that time, which must be quite some while ago. [00:00:27] I wrote this. At least this is what I said. I wrote it in this way. There is today a widespread and terrible confusion about this matter of the unity of Christians. [00:00:44] There are, on the one hand, those who are not believers, teaching the importance of unity and of reconciliation, and on the other hand, there are those who are believers justifying the traditional divisions and, in fact, seeing no need for any kind of reconciliation. Now, that's what we, how we introduce this, with very many more words than that. [00:01:20] And then we dealt that evening with false unity. Now we put this we need to investigate what the World Council of Churches means by the word Christian. [00:01:39] They speak of all who are in any way connected with a church or any religious movement. As Christian, we have always understood from the word of God that only those who are saved by the grace of God and born of his spirit are true believers. Therefore, seems very strange when canon Horton, for instance, speaks of us evangelicals being a tiny minority of the Christians. [00:02:11] Strange statement, especially when, as you read on, you discover that he really does believe that all the others are actually believers too. True believers. Now, what are the scriptures which are normally used? We just look at one or two of them to support this kind of unity. [00:02:34] John 1721. This is the motto of the World Council of Churches and was the motto of the Second Vatican Council. John 1721. That they may all be one, even as thou, father, art in me, and I indeed, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that thou didst send me. [00:03:03] Ephesians four three giving diligence to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. [00:03:17] John 1016. [00:03:22] John 1016 and other sheep I have, which are not of this fold, them also I must bring and they shall hear my voice, and they shall become one flock, one shepherd. [00:03:39] Matthew 13, Matthew 13 24 30. [00:03:51] Now the parable saith he before them, saying, the kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man that sowed good seed in his field. But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares also among the wheat, and went away. But when the blade sprang up and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. And the servants of the householder came and said unto him, sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? Whence then hath it tares? And he said unto them, an enemy hath done this. And the servants say unto him, wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he nay, lest haply, while ye gather up the tares, ye root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. And in the time of the harvest, I will say to the reapers, gather up first the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn. Now, the point of this parable is that this is used again and again and again, especially by those in state churches, as an example and basis for believers and unbelievers being together in the church. They say, the tares are there and the wheat is there. And the Lord has expressly told us we are not to bother about it, we are just to go on with the Lord and leave the tares. However, there is one basic, basic misinterpretation, so basic that it is almost laughable. For it says in verse 38, verse 38, and the field is not the church nor the kingdom, but the world. [00:05:43] The field is the world. It's not the church the Lord's talking about here, nor is it the kingdom of. Of God. It is the world. And the problem he is dealing with is why is it that the sun shines on the unrighteous as well as the righteous? Why is it that storms come to the righteous as well as to the unrighteous? The point is that both are being allowed to grow together until the end of the world. [00:06:13] Well, now, there are, of course, a number of other scriptures, too, which would take us too long to look at this evening, and I'm only reading these few because they, I trust they will refresh the memories of you who were there at that time. [00:06:29] Now, what are the scriptures which point to the falsity of these claims? There are many others. The point was the Lord went to the synagogue. We are told he paid tithes to the temple. The early christians met in the temple and always met in the synagogues to begin with and so on. These are all the various examples used in the New Testament for this kind of unity that we are being asked to join in. What are the scriptures which point out its falsity? One Corinthians, chapter ten. [00:07:01] One Corinthians, chapter ten, verse 20. [00:07:11] Well, we say verse 21, ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. [00:07:19] Ye cannot partake of the table of the Lord and of the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he a little later on this evening, we shall be reading those preceding verses, and you will see the full force. Two Corinthians, chapter six, verse 14. [00:07:43] Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? Or what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with belial? Or what portion hath a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement hath a temple of God with idols? For we are a temple of the living God. Even as God said, I will dwell in them and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord. And touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you, and will be to you a father, and ye shall be to me sons and daughters, saith the Lord almighty. There couldn't be anything clearer, I think, in the whole of scripture you cannot really misinterpret those verses. [00:08:32] And then again, one Corinthians five, verse nine. I wrote unto you in my epistle to have no company with fornicators, not at all, meaning with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous and extortioners, or with idolaters, for they must needs go out of the world. But as it is, I wrote unto you not to keep company. If any man that is named a brother be a fornicator or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extraordinary extortioner with such a one. No, not to eat cuts across a lot of naivety amongst christians today. [00:09:16] And then ephesians five, ephesians five, six to eight, let no man deceive you with empty words, for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the sons of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them. [00:09:41] Partakers with them. For ye were once darkness, but are now light in the law. Walk as children of light. The fruit of the light is in all goodness and righteousness and truth, proving what is well pleasing unto the Lord, and have no fellowship, fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather even reprove them. [00:10:06] And then revelation, chapter 18. Now, this just needs a little explanation. To those who are not so well acquainted with their bibles, revelation, chapter 18. In 17 and 18, we have this great description of a counterfeit church which is called the mother of Harlot, the mystery Babylon. It is a counterfeit church, just as the true church is the mystery of God is the bride of Christ is the new city, the new Jerusalem, city of God. So this is Babylon the Great, the mystery. But it's the mystery of iniquity, the mother of the hearts and of the abominations of the earth. And in chapter 18, verse four, we read this and I heard another voice from heaven saying, come forth, my people, out of her, that ye have no fellowship with her sins and that ye receive not of her place, for her sins have reached even unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. [00:11:10] Ersalam's words. Lastly, one John. [00:11:14] Two John. Sorry, two John, verse seven. [00:11:19] Second letter. John, verse seven. For many deceivers are gone forth into the world, even they that confess not that Jesus Christ cometh in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. Look to yourselves that ye lose not the things which ye have wrought, but that ye receive a full reward. Whosoever goeth onward and abideth not in the teaching of Christ, hath not God. [00:11:47] He that abideth in the teaching the same hath both the father and the Son. If anyone cometh unto you and bringeth not this teaching, receive him not into your house and give him no greeting, for he that giveth him greeting partaketh in his evil works. Very strong words, arent they? Very strong, especially when we think are what we call the new theology current just at present in some parts. In the light of that, it is very, very interesting. Well, now we'll sing just another hymn, just a few verses of another speak about true unity. What is true unity? The true unity of christians, wherein lies genuinely christian unity. Well, the first thing we had to say, and indeed the all inclusive, the comprehensive thing we have to say right at the very beginning of this time, we shall go back to it again and again and again from all different angles, is this. Christ is the unity of all true believers. There is not an Anglican, Methodist, congregational brethren, Lutheran Christ. There is only one Christ. Christ is neither Roman Catholic, Anglo Catholic, Orthodox or Protestant. He is Christ. [00:13:17] And Christ, as it were, transcends all the barriers of the great divisions of Christendom. He transcends all the denominational and sectarian barriers, and he claims, in every group and in every sect, those who belong to him. [00:13:40] Christ is himself the unity of all true believers. It is not the doctrine that is our unity, and it is not even experience which is our unity. It is the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. [00:13:59] He is within himself, the basis, the focal point of christian unity. Now let us look at a number of scriptures and see whether that is borne out by the word of God. First of all, one corinthians, chapter one and verse twelve and 13. Now, this. I mean that each one of you saith, I am a Paul. I have apollos I of Cephas, and I of Christ. [00:14:31] Is Christ divided? [00:14:34] Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you, or were you baptized into the name of Paul? Now compare that with verse nine. [00:14:48] God is faithful through whom ye were called into the fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ. The fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ. Now, this fellowship is not an organization. It's not a movement. It's not a society. It would be best if we could put it like this. God is faithful through whom you were called into participation in his son. Or let us put it another way, through. God is faithful through whom you were called into partnership of his son. Or put it in an even simpler way and say, God is faithful through whom you were called in to share the sharing of his son. Now, you've got to the root of the whole thing. There. You are sharing one Christ. I haven't got a different Christ to the one you have. You haven't got a different Christ to the one I have. The same Christ who saved you is the same Christ who saved me. And the same Christ who is in you is the same Christ who is in me. We are sharing Christ. We have been called by God into this glorious and wonderful thing, this fellowship, his son. Now, some people seem to think that salvation is the objective of everything. [00:16:18] Once you're saved, that's it. You've been saved. You've arrived, and now all you do is try to get others to be saved. [00:16:26] You just spend your life praying and witnessing and helping others. A tremendous thing. But do just remember this. As watchman nee once said, there is something greater than even such salvation in this sense, that though our salvation is so great that you and I will never come to the end of it and never explore all that there is in it, yet, the objective is greater than the means. [00:16:55] And the objective for which God has saved us is that you and I might become part of Jesus Christ. Now, is that heresy, that you and I might become part of Jesus Christ? We may become sharers of the Lord Jesus. We may become participants in the Son of God. We may become partakers of the son of God. Now, this is tremendous when you think about it. And the whole Bible, in actual fact, is explained right from the tree of life right through to the end. [00:17:30] The book, it's explained by this glorious purpose of God to bring us to this place where we are partakers of his son. [00:17:42] We shall explain that in just a moment. Well, now there's one scripture for you to think about. Turn back to John, chapter 17. And here in this great high priestly prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ, we find his heart unveiled. Listen, we've read these words just before. [00:18:04] Neither for these only do I pray, but for them also, that believe on me through their word. He's praying for believers that they may all be one, even as thou, Father, art in me and. And I in thee, that they also may be in us. Now mark the nature of the unity. [00:18:30] The unity between christians, those who are born of God, is the same as the unity between the Son and the Father. [00:18:40] That's tremendous. Even as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee, that they may be in us tremendous sin. Then you go on that the world may believe that thou didst send me. And the glory which thou hast given me, I have given unto them that they may be one, even as we are one. Here was the passion of the Lord's heart. Here was the passion of the Lord's heart. And there's a sense in which the world Council of Churches and the Second Vatican Council have quite rightly taken up these scriptures as being, in one sense, the very condensation. [00:19:21] Condensation of the Lord's work, that we may be in Christ and in the Father, and therefore one with each other. It is a tremendous thing. [00:19:41] Then, if you will turn to John, chapter 15, and verse one, I am the true vine. My father is the husbandman. Verse four, abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, so neither can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in him the same beareth much fruit, for apart from me can do nothing divine. Jesus says he is divine. That is, he is the totality of the vine. He is the sum of the vine, every single part of that vine. Christ is Christ. [00:20:21] And if in some glorious way, you and I are in him, and he is in us here, then is this unity again. Christ is the unity of all believers. I am in Christ. You are in Christ. There are about, I suppose, 60 or 65 or 60, 70 of us here. I don't know this evening. And every single one of us who've been saved by the grace of God is in one Christ, and the one Christ is the same Christ, and the one and the same Christ is in every one of us. If so be that we are of God, so we are in the same Christ, and the same Christ is in us. This is our unity. We don't have to strain, we don't have to strive, we don't have to try to get there. He is already our unity. If God has put us in Christ and Christ in us, then there is the basis of our unity. Now let's see how from the gospels it is expanded. Romans, chapter twelve, verse four and five. [00:21:31] For even as we have many members in one body, and all the members have not the same office, so we who are many are one body in Christ, one body in Christ, and severally members one of another. Just as my body is one body in Lance Lambert. It has many, many different functions, many different parts, many different members. Yet all those many members are members one of another, and they are one body in Lance Lambert. So you and I are one body in Christ. [00:22:10] He is our unity. Turn over, back over, rather, to one corinthians ten. [00:22:17] One corinthians ten. Now we read those preceding verses 16 and 17. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a fellowship or a communion or a participation of the blood of Christ? [00:22:37] The bread or the loaf which we break? Is it not a fellowship, a communion, or a participation of the body of Christ, seeing that we who are many are one loaf, one body? [00:22:52] Here, then you've got it again. [00:22:55] Colossians three. [00:23:00] Colossians three, verse ten and eleven. And have put on the new man that is being renewed unto knowledge after the image of him that created him, where there cannot be greek and jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, scythian, bon man, free, Freeman. But Christ is all and in all here is the basis of this unity you've got here, Greek, Jew and Gentile. You've got barbarian, Scythian, bon man, Freeman. All these people are naturally divided socially, racially, nationally, culturally. They're all divided. They can't get on together. They don't understand each other. There's a sense in which they don't speak the same language. [00:23:51] Yet Christ is all and in all, if they've put on the new man, for the new man is Christ, and so they have put on the new man. And their unity does not lie in themselves. They are as hopelessly divided as ever. They were as able to misunderstand, as able to be difficult and factious, to war and strive and fight as ever. [00:24:20] But it is their unity lies in Christ, the Christ they have put on and the Christ who is all and in all. [00:24:33] Here you have it again. Galatians three, verse 27 and 28. [00:24:43] For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ. There can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither bond nor free. There can be no male and female, for ye are all one man in Christ Jesus. One man in Christ Jesus. There you are. You've got it again. It's in him that we are one man. One Corinthians, chapter twelve, verse twelve and 13. For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. [00:25:31] For in one spirit were we all baptized into one body, were the Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free, and were all made to drink of one spirit. Now here we have something else added. This time the Spirit of God is brought into the picture, one spirit. Just as we have been baptized into the the one body, so we've been made to drink of the one spirit. This is the basis of our unity, the spirit of Christ. Ephesians, chapter four, verse three to five. [00:26:12] Giving diligence to keep the unity of the spirit. In the bond of peace there is one body and one spirit, even as also ye were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Give diligence to keep the unity of the spirit. It's something you have. You can't keep something you haven't got. He doesn't say, give diligence to get the unity of the spirit. Give diligence to obtain the unity of the spirit. Give diligence to arrive at the unity of the spirit. It says, give diligence to keep the unity of the spirit. If the spirit of Christ is within us, if we are Christ's, then we must keep this unity, the unity that is himself. [00:27:09] And then let's look at one corinthians, chapter one and verse two. [00:27:18] The church of God, which is a current. Even them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus call saints with all that call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, their Lord and ours. [00:27:37] Now here is the unity then. [00:27:40] Christ is the unity of all true believers. [00:27:46] This includes every child of God, say through his grace, born of his spirit, however weak or ignorant they may be, the most wobbly, the most weak, the most ignorant of believers. But if the spirit of God has brought them to birth, if by faith they have been washed in the blood of the lamb, they may be ignorant of some of the major doctrines of the Bible, but they are in Christ and Christ is in them. [00:28:21] And this unity includes every such person, whoever it is, whatever they are, wherever they are, it includes them. On the other hand, we have to say it excludes everyone, however religious or however knowledgeable or however important it might be that there's some little washerwoman somewhere in the world she doesn't know that the book of ecclesiastes even exists. [00:28:56] She may not even have it in her own mother tongue. But the spirit of Christ is in her and she is in Christ. She is in this unity. She belongs to the church of God. There may be some missionary, there may be some bishop, there may be someone else who has got all the knowledge and all the doctrine and yet has never been born of the spirit of God. [00:29:24] Just as once Martin Luther wasn't born of the spirit of God, yet he was a deeply religious man, just as Wesley was once a deeply religious missionary. Zealous missionary, and yet not born of God. Well, if a person is not born of God, they may have all the knowledge in the world. They may have studied Hebrew, Greek, Latin and everything else. They may know their Bible inside out. [00:29:47] Inside out. Yet if they are not born of the spirit of God, if they have not been washed through the blood of the land, they're outside of this unity and no amount of reconciliation will ever bring them into it. No amount of human reconciliation will ever bring them into it. There is only one gateway into this unity, and that is through Christ. [00:30:10] He is the door. I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved. [00:30:15] He is the only way into it. [00:30:19] Now we can add a few scriptures to those just to confirm this point. At the risk of being too repetitive, Ephesians, chapter two. [00:30:31] Ephesians, chapter two, verse 19. Now then, does this include anyone who's not a believer? Listen to this. So then ye are no more strangers than sojourners, but ye are fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God. Who are these people? Look, in verse 13. [00:30:50] But now in Christ Jesus, in Christ Jesus, ye that once were far off are made nigh in the blood of Christ, for he is our peace, who made both one and break down the middle wall of petition and so on. And it's quite clear it is those who through the blood of Christ, have come to know God's salvation. And then again, of course, we know the well known words. John three, three. Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born again. He cannot see the kingdom of heaven. Or again, John 17 two. Now this is worth looking at, for this is the scripture that is taken as the motto of the World council of Churches. John 17. Of whom is the Lord praying that they may be one? Who is he praying that they may be perfected into oneness? Listen, he tells us for whom he prays. Verse two, that to all whom thou hast given him, he should give eternal life. The elect, he is not praying for the world in this great high priestly prayer. He is praying for all those known only to God, who are truly born of his spirit. All that the Father hath given him, to them, he has given eternal life. Verse 24. Father, I desire that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am. They are the ones he's praying for. These whom thou hast given me, these are the ones that the Lord Jesus prays, that they may be in us, as I, Father, in thee, and thou in me, that they may be one even as we are one. Those are the ones for whom he prays. Then again, if you turn to Colossians and chapter three and verse twelve, put on. Therefore, it says, after talking about this wonderful unity in verse ten and eleven, put on, therefore, as God's elect, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, and so on, it is quite clear that this church he speaks of are believers, true believers. [00:33:11] Then you turn to one Peter, chapter one and verse two, and you will see that Peter is writing to the elect of God, who are scattered through many places. Again, in romans 15 five, seven. [00:33:28] There's another passage we ought to look at a little more carefully. Romans 15 five, seven. Now the God of patience and of comfort. [00:33:39] It's interesting that these two words are used in the light of what comes after this. Now the God of patience and of comfort grant you to be of the same mind, one with another, according to Christ Jesus. [00:33:53] That with one accord ye may with one mouth glorify the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's not no easy thing. [00:34:03] One of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus. They'll never be of one mind with one another according to our own minds. The only way is to have the mind of Christ. Then we are a one minded. And then it goes on. Verse. [00:34:19] Wherefore receive ye one another as Christ have received, also received you. If we received each other in the way that Christ has received us. My, what a difference that would make, wouldn't it? Instead of all these little hindrances strewn in the way, have you been baptized? Have you had the second blessing? Have you this? Have you that? Have you the other? Have you given up smoking? You given up drinking? Do you go to the pictures? Are you separated? Are you this? Are you that? Are you the other? All these things? Did the Lord ever require all that of us before he received us into fellowship? Did he ever say before, I will have nothing to do with you until you are perfect, until you are holy, as I am holy before. Then I shall have. I won't have anything to do with. Until you reach the standard that I. [00:35:04] That is my standard. I will not. Of course not. He accepted us as sinners. Sinners. Wicked, vile, foul sinners. And he accepted even those of us who think we're decent on that right. And God knows we're sinners. He accepted us on the basis of sinfulness. [00:35:24] Oh, but not on the basis of sinfulness. On the basis of his grace, which has blotted out our sins and made us nigh on the God through the blood of Christ. That's how you and I have been received. I was received by God as a wicked, empty headed, vacuous sinner, stupid and foolish. [00:35:53] That's how God accepted me. I may have thought when I was saying that I was a few degrees better than that. But since then I discovered that's really what I was. That's how God received me. And that's how God received you. Why, think of your life. Think of the way you've double crossed the law. Think of the times you deceived. Think of the way that so often you've treated him faithlessly, unfaithfully. And you, you and I, we would put up banners before we would accept others into fellowship. We would say, before you can join us, you must be so and so and so. So you must do so and so and so and so we must. We must put you through the rigmarole and have you go through a whole course of investigation. And when finally we did, we accept that you're up to scratch. We'll take you in. [00:36:45] No. The scripture says, wherefore receive ye one another as Christ also received. [00:36:53] If we were to receive one another on that basis of grace, christian fellowship, and I'm not talking about this place, but christian fellowship would be transformed into a sunny, joyful thing. [00:37:07] All that wagging finger, all that condemning spirit, all that dark cloud of insinuation suspicion that hangs over, makes it so difficult and hard going, would go in a minute. [00:37:21] When we accept one another as Christ accepted you and me, it's a very big thing to get to. But I can tell you this, to put it down this way, as we've said it before, just supposing the Lord were to accept you in the way that you are accepting your brothers and sisters, how far would you get next week? [00:37:44] Think about it. Just how far would you get next week if you were to treat your brothers? If the Lord was to treat you, receive you in the way that you receive your brothers and sisters? I receive my brothers and sisters. [00:38:01] Well, that's very, very sobering. We have already read two Corinthians chapter, but if we will just turn to it again, I want to point out these words, be not unequally yoked with unbelievers. Now, my dear friends, you can't get away from that, can you? It doesn't just mean marriage. Some people point this out, of course, in the question of believer marrying unbeliever, we know that's wrong. We know it's wrong, quite wrong. Be not unequally yoked, but this yoke is a yoke that actually covers all kinds of things. Don't be yoked with unbelievers, whether it's in a church membership or a religious organization or religious movement or whatever it is, don't get yourself yoked with those who are nominal or unbelievers. Non believers. Very important. It goes on. It goes on. What fellowship, what sharing hath righteousness and iniquity? What communion hath light and darkness? What Concord or agreement hath Christ with belial? What portion hath a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement of the temple of God with idols? Now, just in case someone says, well, if you start to take that, we have to go out of the world. That's why we read that other scripture before, in one corinthians five, which says that we're not talking about the world. We've got to rub shoulders with all these things in the world. Of course, but it's in the circle of believers. [00:39:36] In other words, we must never introduce into the circle of believers those who are not believers. I must never belong to anything which is so mixed as that. [00:39:49] Well, now we can go on. We can go on in this matter. There is no in between lands. [00:39:56] Christ is not the unity of believer and unbeliever. Let us say that absolutely dogmatically, there is no in between land. There is no neutral, no man's land. In this matter. Christ is not the unity and never can be the unity between a believer and an unbeliever. Believers and unbelievers, Christians and non Christians. Those who are born again and those who are not born again. [00:40:24] It cannot be that eulogy again. Look at it like this. Put it on the other hand. [00:40:34] Nor will Christ ratify in any way division or division between believer and believer. [00:40:46] Now it's two sidedness. Sword. [00:40:51] He is not the unity of believer and unbeliever. And he is no party to disunity between believer and believer. [00:41:02] He is the unity of all believers and he is the sword, the dividing wall between and unbeliever. That's why the Lord Jesus said at one point when people got the wrong idea, he turned around and said, don't think that I am come to bring peace. I am come to bring sore. [00:41:28] Sore. [00:41:30] It's a terrible thing. But this is exactly what he was talking about. He is the great dividing wall between believer and unbeliever. [00:41:39] The unity. [00:41:41] This unity is truly Christ in every way we look at it. It's Christ. [00:41:48] It's impossible to see it in any other way. [00:41:51] Christ is our salvation. Jude, verse three. It says in Jude, verse three. [00:42:00] Beloved, while I was giving all diligence to write unto you of our common salvation. Our common salvation. Christ is our common salvation. He is our common saviour. He is the one savior who saved us all. It's a wonderful thing to think that Christ who saved me with all my weird eccentricities is the Christ who saved you with all yours. [00:42:24] He didn't have a liking for me, a kind of temperament that was inclined to me and shut you out. But the same Christ who saved me is the same Christmas to save you. Our common salvation. Now this unity begins here with the salvation. With salvation. Once you and I are saved, we enter into this unity. And it is Christ who is our salvation. And then we find that Christ is our foundation. One Corinthians, chapter three, verse eleven. [00:42:56] For another foundation can no man lay than that which is laid which is Jesus Christ. [00:43:02] Here you've got the one foundation. Are you on the foundation? You know, this is often upon as elementary. Elementary, my dear, dear child of God. God sometimes takes a lifetime before he's got our feet on the foundation. [00:43:19] And let me tell you, your feet will never come down on the foundation which is Jesus Christ. Through some easy experience, it is often devastating. [00:43:31] A devastating experience before your feet come down upon the rock which is Christ Jesus. All that sand has to be dynamited, just blowing away. It's gravelly sand. Shale. [00:43:44] And you know, you and I, we would build not on the rock, but on the shale that's above. [00:43:50] It is an interesting thing when you compare the story that ends the sermon on the mount in Luke and Matthew. In Matthew, if I'm right, we're told that one man built on the rock and the other man built on the sand. [00:44:02] And it seems quite straightforward. Here comes a man and he sees rock, and he says, why, a splendid foundation. Come on, we'll build the house. And he builds the house upon the rock. Storm comes, the house stands, comes another man, and he looks round and he finds some nice flat ground. He says, absolutely perfect here. Fertile looking. [00:44:24] We'll build a house here. And he builds on the sand. Storm comes, and his house collapses because it has no foundation. [00:44:31] But Luke, Doctor Luke gives us the key to the whole story. He says, two men built houses. [00:44:41] One built on the sand, the other digged deep down to the rock. In other words, there was no rock visible. There was a shale. [00:44:54] One man built on the top soil. [00:44:58] The other man dug right down till he got to solid rock, and he laid his foundation on the rock. Oh, how many believers are building on the top soil of their own nature and temperature? Just their old man, their old lad. They don't know it. Their soul, life, if you like. We build there. We're not even aware. We're quite unconscious of it. Quite unconscious of it building simply upon the top soil. The subsoil, if you like, of our own nature and life and thinking. Thinking that it's of God. [00:45:36] It's only when the storm comes under, this goes down like a pack of guards. It's too late. [00:45:43] Oh, God only knows. It does happen. [00:45:47] Someone. The storm beats against the man. Dawn. [00:45:53] Now, don't tell me that it was some minute experience that took down to the foundation of the rock. There was blasting, there was digging there. That man digged deep. [00:46:06] He digged deep. [00:46:09] Hard work, sweat, toil, and he went right down through his own self life, through his own soul life, down to the rock, which is Christ Jesus in his spirit. And there he built that which was the last. Well, now we're digressing. But Christ is the foundation of the church. There is only one foundation. There's no other foundation. God says, all right on what you like, but there's only one foundation for my house. And that foundation is Jesus Christ and him alone. And then Christ is the only head. We have no other head. It says so in Colossians 118, if you turn to it, that in all things he might have the preeminence. It says he is the head of the body, the church. And in all things, he might have the preeminence. We've only got one head, and that head is Jesus Christ. We may have thousands of leaders, thousands of servants of God, but there's only one head, and there's only one Christ. That head is Jesus Christ. [00:47:08] He is our one head. He is our unity again. One salvation, one foundation, one head. We have only one life. Colossians three, four. Ye died. Your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, our life. If you've got eternal life in you and I've got eternal life in me, that's Christ. [00:47:33] The life, eternal life is Christ. Spiritual life. If you're spiritually alive tonight, it's because Christ is in you. [00:47:43] Christ is in you. The spirit of Christ is in, and therefore everything is righteousness and life, and so we can go on life. Christ is the true life of the church. Christ is the goal. [00:47:57] Now, this is a thought that sometimes I think some perhaps don't fully appreciate. In two Corinthians, chapter 13, two Corinthians, chapter. I'm sorry, two Corinthians, chapter eleven, verse two. [00:48:16] For I am jealous, says Paul over you with a godly jealousy, for I espoused you to one husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ. Christ is the goal. You know, we're only engaged. We who belong to the church of God, we're only engaged. We're a spouse, we're betrothed, but we're not married yet. The marriage supper is yet to come. And the object of everything is our bridegroom. He is the object of everything. That's why we're going through tribulation and suffering. That's why there are so many things in our life. That's why the Lord takes us a hard way sometimes, because he has this one great goal in mind. The Father has this great goal. The spirit of God has this goal in mind. If you turn to the end of the Bible, revelation 22, you will find the spirit and the bride say, come. It's as if the spirit is in this matter. He's the one who's bringing the bride to prepare herself and enabling her to prepare herself for the coming of the Lord. Who is our goal? It is our Lord Jesus Christ. We've only got one goal. I don't know. There are many sub goals. [00:49:30] I think many people have. They've got all kinds of things, but there's only one goal. As far as God is concerned, that goal is Jesus Christ. [00:49:38] Now, if you turn to Philippians and chapter three and verse 13 and 14, you have it all. Whether and I count not myself yet to have laid hold. But one thing I do forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on toward the goal. Under the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Have you ever thought, dear brother and sister, what is this, this prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus? [00:50:17] What is it? [00:50:19] I don't know whether you think it's that you're going to sit on a throne somewhere and rule over a little bit of territory. Some people have got that idea and the Lord Jesus did suggest it rewards, but I don't think it's here rewards. As you see, the prize of the high calling. What is this calling? Do you know what the word church means? Ecclesia? Call down. [00:50:44] Call down. [00:50:47] You and I are called out. Listen, God is faithful. Who hath called you into the fellowship, his son, Jesus Christ. [00:50:59] The prize of the high calling of God is that you and I might become partners with Jesus Christ. We may become his wife, we may become his bride, we may become his body, we may share his throne to all eternity. The very heart of a new creation. Well, there's all that and much more. And of course, Christ is all that we know in Colossians 311 and many other places where it says Christ is all and in all. [00:51:28] Now that's a tremendous statement. If you go away and think about it, Christ is everything in everyone. [00:51:35] All. [00:51:36] Christ is all. He's not all in me. Is he in you? [00:51:41] Oh how God is moving in our lives all the time to show us the emptiness of other things, the emptiness of even our own self life apart from Christ. Until at last we come to the place where he is all, all, evermore, evermore. To us all, Christ Lord. [00:52:02] Well there you are. You've got such a lot now this oneness of Christ is maintained universally and locally as Christ has his right, rightful place as centre head and circumference in his people. [00:52:22] The moment the Lord Jesus Christ is made the centre of God's children, the moment he has his rightful place as head, immediately God the spirit starts to work. [00:52:39] People cry out and cry, oh, why isn't the Lord doing this in our day? Why isn't he doing that? You look back into church history and you will find that every time one man or a few men have given the Lord Jesus Christ his rightful place, when he has got his rightful place as centre head and circumference, then the spirit of God starts to move again and again and again, again. This has been so every single revival, every single recovery has started with the enthronement of Jesus Christ. And every departure, decline or apostasy. Has started with the dethronement of Jesus Christ. Think about it. But it is absolutely true. [00:53:31] So, you see, the measure in which we shall know this glorious unity. Is the measure in which the Lord Jesus Christ is our head. Now, let's. Let's look at it like this. If Christ is the center of my life. And he is the center of Eric's life. And he is the center of Alan's life. And he's the center of Brother Shaw's life, and Shaw. What has happened? [00:53:56] We have all got a common sense. [00:53:59] And supposing he is the head of my life. The Lord of my life and of his life and his life and his life and his life. And so what has happened? We have one head, many members. One head, many parts. One center, one headquarters. And supposing he is the circumference of my life. That is, he is the sphere and realm in which I move and live. And the same with it. But we're all in the same one. Now, what has happened? The result is unity. You can't stop it. You don't have to strive after it. You don't have to work hard to get it. It's a spontaneous, automatic thing. When the Lord Jesus Christ has his rightful place, the spontaneous result is unity. And when the Lord Jesus Christ has not got his rightful place, the spontaneous result is division. [00:54:50] It's quite simple. [00:54:53] It is the measure in which he is not centre and not head. And not circumference. That is the measure in which we are divided. Now, you can apply that personally. You can apply it locally and you can apply it universally. It is a principle that holds good for all. [00:55:15] When I hold fast the head, I find the body. Colossians 219. [00:55:24] Not holding fast the head. From whom all the body being supplied and knit together through the joints and bands. Increaseth with the increase of God. How do I. How can I be one with my brothers and sisters? Trying. Looking at them, studying them, trying to be kind. Trying to adjust to them. Trying temperamentally to suit myself to. Oh, you know what happens when that starts? Oh, my goodness. We get into terrible one. And we know it. We know it. We all look at each other. I mustn't say so, sir. That'll upset so, sir. I mustn't do so. That'll do. I mustn't do. And before long, a clammy hand of death comes around. And we're all watching one another. All trying to be one with one another. I went into a meeting once in another country, which I will not name, where. Which was a very, very exclusive meeting indeed. And I sat there. They wouldn't allow me to speak, I'm afraid I was beyond the rope, literally beyond the rope, and not allowed to speak, although I had been taken there by one of the leaders, and I had never had an experience like it. The sisters, of course, were not allowed to partake at all. And as there were a very large majority of ladies, it was a very interesting meeting, because as the few brothers who sat near the front took part, so all the sisters like a table ten, like a tennis match at Wimbledon, over and back and over and back and over, and all the hats swish that would st forge, because there wasn't a hatless sister there. And it was the most amazing sight to watch as the lady. But the most terrible thing of all was the brothers. [00:57:12] For the brothers never lifted their heads. Their heads were always on the ground. And when they spoke, they looked at each other first out of the corner of their eye. Oh, it was a terrible spirit. Over there was bondage. Everyone was being one or trying to be one with each other. And that's not the way. When we hold fast ahead, we can be utterly original and utterly one. [00:57:37] We can be ourselves, truly ourselves. Of course there will be love. Of course there will be sensitiveness. Of course there will be a readiness to adjust to one another. There must be. [00:57:48] We must each think of one another. Each esteem are the greater. And that's not easy. [00:57:55] But it's holding fast ahead that matters. When I'm in a right relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ, I must, of necessity, be in a right relationship to every believer. [00:58:06] I can't be otherwise. [00:58:09] I'm amazed at the number of believers who can be out of gear with one another quite happily, quite happily, and all the better if they don't meet in their company. [00:58:20] If they can feel that there's someone they don't dislike intensely living the other side of the world or somewhere else, it's okay. They feel it. It's all right, you know, but it's not right. For we are one. [00:58:32] And one day we shall meet together in the glory. And there's going to be many a shock in the glory when we all pass through those pearly gates and see just who is there. [00:58:42] And as I've often said, find out who we're sharing rooms with in the many mansions that the Lord has gone to prepare. We may have many a shock, for the Lord will never let us get away with anything. [00:58:54] Anything. Believe me, we shall find it out in the end. If not down here, up there. [00:59:01] Well then, if this unity is kept and maintained as we hold fast to the head, what is this unity? [00:59:09] It is the church. It is Christ. Yes, it is the church. [00:59:15] It is not that. The church is not an organization. [00:59:19] It is not an institution. This is the whole problem. [00:59:24] It is not an institution, a traditional institution, or a great unwieldy organization hoary with age. [00:59:32] And nor is it a great system of teaching and doctrine. [00:59:36] Thats not the church, not according to the Bible. [00:59:40] And the church is not even a society for mutual benefit. But some people do look upon it as you go there to get, not to give, but you go there to get. And you judge everything by what you get, by what you give. [01:00:03] It's a kind of society for the underprivileged, a society for the dishing out of soup to the poor spiritually. [01:00:11] And everything needs to be judged along those lines. Of course, it is a house of bread. Of course there is to be food in the house of God. But I'm saying it is not merely that God forbid to the church of God is some glorified spiritual soup kitchen. It's not that. [01:00:31] Nor is it a congregation of dear believers for the church of God. Before Pentecost was exactly that. 120 born again believers with a risen Christ faith in a finished work on Calvary and an open bible. And they believed every one of it. Wouldn't would we all be happy if we had such a church today? 120 born again believers, all in perfect unity, spending days waiting upon the Lord, praying together with a risen Christ in the midst and an open bible which had given them the key that they might understand. We'd be thrilled if Britain was covered with churches like that. But the Lord Jesus wouldn't be thrilled. [01:01:16] And he said continually, wait, wait, wait, wait. Don't go out and propagate this kind of thing. Don't set up groups like this all over the country. Wait. And what happened on the day of Pentecost? 120 born again members of a congregation, perfect membership, became 120 members of a body. And my dear friend, there's all the difference in the world between being members of a congregation and members of a body. [01:01:44] Members of a congregation, you remain individual units. You go in and you go out as you will members of a body. You belong to each other. You belong to each other. You're part of each other. You care for each other somehow. The thing intuitively, instinctively is within you, is that this is the family. This is where you belong. This is the church of God now. That's the church. Nothing less and nothing more. [01:02:13] One day, when we get to the glory, it will be no more. It will be without sin. It will be delivered from these corruptible bodies. But, my dear friends, when we are in the glory, what shall we be? We shall be one glorious unity in the Lord Jesus Christ for all eternity in which and through which he will reveal his glory, glory, and manifest his wisdom and administer worlds to us unknown all through this, this body. [01:02:47] I think we shall have to stop there and we'll go on perhaps next week, if it fairly, if we should. But this church, this unity, the church, just wait. [01:03:05] It is Christ's head and body. [01:03:09] That's what it is. [01:03:11] God is faithful through whom ye were called into the fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ. Oh, I can't help but say that sometimes with all my own impoverishment and my own need, my heart aches when I see the dear children of God saved and no idea of what they've been saved into. [01:03:41] Why, as soon as you start to talk about this, they say, oh, what deep things, what mysteries. Well, it is a mystery, but it's not meant to remain a mystery to the believer. This is a mystery which has been revealed to us for ages. It was hid all through the generations of the old covenant. It was a hidden, it was a mystery hid. [01:04:07] But now it's been unlocked to us. Every single believer should know what is the purpose of God, should know what God's goal is. My dear friend, how can you get into the work of God? How can you be a good workman? How can you be a co worker with the Lord Jesus Christ if you don't even know what God's driving at? [01:04:28] God only knows how the devil has used ignorance amongst the people of God. So that today, where you go, why, just look at dear believers. We speak of going to church and we speak of buildings as churches, and we speak of organizations of the church and we speak of this is the church and that is the church and the other. And you know, I've been called again and again a mystic. [01:04:53] And David Bieber said he's a mystic, of course, mystic because of his view of the church. As if this, that I've said is some mystical view that belongs to those rather strange and weird christians who are a little visionary or rather pathetic. [01:05:14] And somehow or other, for most of us, we are to sort of kick around with pots and pans and forget this heavenly calling. My dear friend, every single believer, from the humblest to the noblest should know what the heavenly vision is and not be disobedient to it. [01:05:35] For, you know, it's when you've got our a sight of the, of the purpose of God that you can go through the tribulation, you can go into the thick of the fight, away with all this talk about somehow being delivered from the conflict and being delivered from the battle and being delivered from the tribulation. My dear friends, it's the tribulation that's getting us into the city. [01:05:59] Now, I'm not saying that we shouldn't have joy unspeakable and full of glory, and I'm not saying that we shouldn't have power, exceeding great power. I need it. You need it. But my dear friends, if anyone thinks they're going to get that kind of thing, which is going to forever lift them onto a new level where they don't feel the battle and they don't feel any more suffering or tribulation, they're in for a mighty disillusionment. [01:06:26] If you, as I once heard one dear old brother known to many of you say, if you, you want your tribulation down here, you can have it and glory there, or you can have a good time here and waiting in tribulation, but you'll get it. [01:06:45] Sooner or later it'll come and the choice is yours. The choice is yours if you're going to be in the body, if you're going to be in the city. Now, every one of us, if we're born of God, is going to potentially a member of the Church of God. That's what I've said. [01:07:02] But my dear friends, we've got to go on and possess our inheritance. [01:07:07] I know that some people will immediately say, and that's why I'm going to stop there immediately say, oh, what a dangerous doctrine. But I do not believe that every christian willy nilly will be in the city of God, that everybody Christian willy nilly will be part of the bride. Yes, every Christian will be in the kingdom. [01:07:29] Every Christian who's been born of God will not lose their salvation. [01:07:35] But my dear friends, we've got to go on and overcome if we're going to sit down in the throne of God. And the throne of God is in the city. [01:07:48] So you see, this is a tremendous calling. That's yours. Mine, and how thankful we should be to God for all the way he leads us. There are times when I think to myself, oh Lord, why was I born? [01:08:01] Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward, says the scripture. And sometimes I thought to myself, why, why, why wouldn't it be better not to have been born that had the problems and perplexity and everything else? Why is it that the Christian, especially those who are going to go the whole way, why do they have so much trouble? [01:08:22] Some Christians can fritter away things and dance around on the circumference and get away with murder and have a wonderful time. [01:08:32] I remember some years ago, and I'm digressing again, but I remember some years ago speaking with a missionary, a real missionary in China, and she said to me, you know, I once went to a conference and I heard a well known missionary and he told us of an experience he'd had. And he said, for the last years I lived at the gate of heaven. [01:08:54] And she said, I found him so depressing because she said, I went there to be helped. And she said I had lived at the gate of hell for some years. [01:09:07] And I thought, well, I don't know, how can I get to that gate of heaven now? This lady had been a preacher on the baptism of God in north China, leading hundreds and hundreds in north China into Kuhei blessing. One of her little booklets is upstairs in the library. [01:09:25] Some years later in Hong Kong, a little dear believer, illiterate lady. [01:09:36] Her son committed suicide and she was beside herself with queen. She didn't know where to turn or what to do. The elders went to her. They could do nothing. [01:09:49] It was her own lesson. And he committed suicide ere they sent workers to her. No one could help her. They wrapped their brains trying to send people to help and finally turn to this missionary and a friend, and they said, do you think it would be possible for you? [01:10:09] And she said, I didn't know what I could do. So I went down and I just sat with her and I hardly said anything. I just sat, that's all. [01:10:22] And slowly this dear, dear chinese leader lifted out of the dead. [01:10:30] She came out on top and she said afterwards, you know, I don't know what it was, but there was something in you that wasn't in the other. [01:10:42] That lady went back to the Lord and said, well, lord, I don't understand that. [01:10:46] And the Lord said to her, oh, yes, you do. [01:10:50] That's why you've been living at the gate, gate of hell. [01:10:56] The other man with his glorious experience would not have been able to help. [01:11:02] That woman would feel shut out and cut off. Now, I'm not saying that all of us should live at the gate of hell, but what I do know is, as dear old C. T. Studd said, he'd rather run a rescue shop within a yard of hell. Thank have a mansion right at the gates of heaven. [01:11:21] You see, my dear friends, if you and I have once decided, Lord, at whatever cost, get me into the city, make me part of the bride. Help me to go on so that I possess my inheritance, whatever the cost. The Lord takes us at our word. He knows our frailty. [01:11:40] He knows how double minded we are. That he takes us our word. And through the mill we start to go. And often when we're in the mill, we question, o Lord, Lord, why? What's wrong? What's happening? Why am I here? What's happening to me? Should it be like this? But, my dear friend, there is no other way that pearl can come, and there's no other way that gold can come, and there's no other way that precious stone can come than that. When those are the three materials, the city of God is laid out. [01:12:10] So we end. We are all in this church, if we are born of God. [01:12:17] But we all want to be part of that eternal. Of that gloriously eternal object of God's divine love and mercy and favor. We don't want to be those who are blessed so much, invited to the marriage supper, the lamb. We don't want to be those nations that walk in the light of the city. [01:12:41] We want to be those who are in the throne of the lamb. [01:12:45] But there's a price, I counsel thee, says the Lord, to buy of me. Buy of me, go refined by fire. [01:12:55] Here, then, is the price. God is faithful. Have you ever thought, surely it should say, God is gracious, who has called us into the fellowship of his son? Surely should be God is merciful, who has called us into the fellowship of. You know, here it is. God is faithful. Only those who started on the road know how much they need the faithfulness of God. [01:13:23] When God starts to put his hand upon us with his grace, objectively, you thank the Lord. He never takes it off until we're through. [01:13:34] Is God's hand on you like that? [01:13:38] That's what Paul meant when he said, let as many of us as are perfect. Perfect. [01:13:44] Not sinless. Perfect. No, not sinless. [01:13:50] But forewell, I don't. You're on your own two legs. You just got to a certain stage. [01:13:57] We are going on. [01:13:59] We. If we're spiritually adult, all these things are behind us. We've put them behind us. We're going on to the prize of the high calling of God in Christ. Jesus serves as Paul. Let as many of us as our adult be thus mine. And if he in anything you are otherwise minded, God will reveal it and we won't fight about it. We'll all go our ways and we'll love each other and care for each other and seek to keep the unity of the spirit. And in the end, one day it says, they shall see eye to eye, all of us, eye to eye. When finally we're in the city, we'll say, well, I disagreed with you down there, but now I understand. [01:14:55] All right, let's pray together. [01:15:05] Dear Lord Jesus Christ. [01:15:07] Thou knowest then how this kind of thing has to be revealed to us. Thou didst once say to Peter, flesh and blood have not revealed that to thee. But my father which is in heaven and Paul prayed the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of thy of the Lord Jesus should be granted to us. The eyes of our hearts being enlightened, that we might know. [01:15:33] O beloved Lord, thou knowest. For many of us these words are well known. But we do pray, beloved Lord, that thou wouldst grant that spirit of wisdom and revelation may dawn on us, Lord. Just dawn and transform us. [01:15:53] We praise thee, Lord, for this glorious possibility. [01:15:58] And we would be those, Lord, who would be at apprehended in a new way for thyself, so help us. We pray for thy name. [01:16:10] Amen.