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Our God and Father, we would continue.
With the expressions of this hymn. To confide in thee to trust in the living God.
Realizing our dependence and that high calling wherewith we are called, that we might walk worthy of it, and as in the circle of brethren, to abide there in peace and love one toward another. We thank Thee for the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, who's written the book and would depend upon thee for the liberty. May we allow the liberty of the Spirit to bring home to our souls. We think of thee, young one.
Who have not perhaps gotten much of the truth that we are considering in this chapter. May we be able to bring it forth in a simple form to build up those who are coming along in the faith. Build them up in that most holy faith. We pray for ability to express these truths for the good of all of us. We give thanks to our Father and ask in Jesus precious name, Amen.
Explorer Chapter four, Chapter 4 of Ephesians.
Ephesians chapter 4 verse four. There is one body and one spirit, even as ye are called and are holy, or even as ye are called and one hope of your calling. 1 Lord, 1 faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all, and is you all.
00:05:06
Well, that's where everyone of us is given grace, according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Therefore, he said, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?
In the Descent is the same also that ascended a far above all heavens, that he might kill all things.
And he gave some apostles and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the faith.
And of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive, but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things.
Which is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supply it, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, making increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love, as I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their minds.
Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart, who being past feelings have given themselves over until lasciviousness to work all in cleanness with greediness.
But ye have not solar in Christ, if so be that you have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, that he put off concerning a former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts.
And be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the Newman, which after God has created in righteousness and true holiness, Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.
Be angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath, neither give place to the devil.
Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor working with his hands.
The things which is good that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you.
With all malice and be kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ sake have forgiven you.
Four or five and six.
Four is the circle of reality.
All who are in that circle, members of the One Body by the one Spirit and our, and have the hope of their calling.
Their true believers.
They've all been born again and sealed by the Spirit and indwelt of the Spirit. But in verse five, the circle is larger. It's the circle of profession.
00:10:02
Those that profess the one Lord and the one faith and have been baptized. Now we know that not everyone that's been baptized and professes the the Lord says he's a Christian. He's not a Muslim, he's not a Hindu, he's not some other religion, but he's a Christian. Not all of those are truly saved. That's verse 4. Verse five is profession and then verse six is the spirit of creation.
One God and Father of all, who is above all and through all. And then it goes back to the 1St circle and in you all.
That's the largest sphere, and God is the there's a sense in which he's the father of all. It's not the established relationship that we have.
Being brought into sonship, but the fact that he is the the originator, the source of all. And so there is a sense of the fatherhood of God in that sense.
Before we leave the thought of the one body.
I'm not saying we're going to leave it, but.
How can there's two ways to deny the truth of the one body? We say that we're gathered on the ground of the one body. What does that mean?
Well, I think the easiest way to get a hold of it is to illustrate two ways of denying it. In the Church of England, for instance, I use this as an example of the fellowship of the Church of England is larger, broader than the one body, because all you have to be to be a member of that church is to be an Englishman. And you don't have to be born again. You don't have to be sealed by the Spirit necessarily.
You don't have to be a member of the body of Christ.
To be in the Church of England, as long as you are an Englishman, you are in that. That's broader than the one body. And then there are sects which have conditions of fellowship which are narrower than the one body. It's not enough to be a member of the body of Christ, to have a place at their their table, but you have to subscribe to certain doctrines that they have which are peculiar to their particular sect.
And that's sectarianism, and that's narrower than the one body. Now, we have to be careful that we don't fall into that trap by setting up rules that make us a sect. And that's a possibility that we can fall into that kind of thing. We don't admit any. Sometimes the question is raised, was Judas Iscariot, did he partake of the Lord's Supper? The answer is no.
And I think the Lord the Word makes it very clear in First Corinthians 10.
We who partake, we are in communion with the blood of Christ and the body of Christ, we express that we're members of that one body. So those that take the Lords Supper.
If there's a church, for instance, that allows its members, whether they're members of the body of Christ or not, to take the Lord's Supper, that's totally contrary to Scripture because they're not members of the body of Christ and they have no part in the Lord's Supper.
So the expression of keeping the Lord's Supper is an expression of those who are true members of the body of Christ, and they're the only ones that are that should be there and that should have that privilege. I know that's violated in many churches nowadays, but that's what Scripture would teach.
And then you can be, you can be in a fellowship that is much broader. And that's the one I just described. And some of that are much narrower that if you don't agree with their particular doctor and their mode of baptism or whatever it might be, and then you can't, if you're not baptized by one of them, then you're not, you can't be a member of that church. And that's a narrower thing than the one body. And so it's really a denial of it. So they can, the truth of the one body can be denied.
In either one of those ways, and we have to be careful that we don't set up rules and regulations that are inconsistent with the truth that all believers who are members of the body of Christ has have a place at the Lords Table.
00:15:08
To make it simple as to the positive side of the one body and how we get into it, let's read 1St Corinthians 12.
Versus 12 and 13?
It seems so clear there is one bug, so how do we get into that?
Our chapter develops, I think, of the work of Christ by the Spirit, so that in writing to the Corinthians in chapter 12, First Corinthians, we'll read verses 12 and 13.
Or as the body is wrong.
And has many members and all members of that wanted body being made are one body.
So also great. You notice the ears in my bubble is in italics. Some have said it ought to read so also the Christ indicating the head in the body as one.
Now verse 13, four by one spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one spirit.
And I'd like for somebody to explain what the baptism of the Spirit is, and that it was perhaps a one time thing.
The two parts to it.
And it is there.
Somebody open up to us?
Well, the baptism of the Spirit took place on the day of Pentecost.
When the Spirit of God united into one body, those individual believers, and that's a once once for all thing that happened. It's not repeated every time a soul gets saved.
That expression is used over and over again and in in the in the church world, the baptism of the Spirit is usually used to.
Disconnected with speaking in tongues, but it's that's not the that's not the force of it at all. Baptism of the Spirit took place on the day of Pentecost and formed the one body that had never existed before. And every believer now that gets saved and by the Spirit of God is then brought into that already baptized body. There's not a fresh baptism of the Spirit each time a soul gets saved.
But that took place once, but the Spirit of God then who indwells us, He brings us into that baptized body. It's interesting that expression, the baptism of the Spirit is used in Acts chapter one touching what took place in chapter 2. I just pointed out because I think it's important to understand that that's why what the baptism of the Spirit was for next chapter one, the Lord Jesus before he ascended to heaven.
Says in verse 5, for John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. And he was referring to what took place in chapter 2. And then you were mentioning Glenn that it kind of a installment too in the time of Cornelius and the Gentiles that were brought in in chapter 10.
And if you look in Chapter 11, when Peter is called to account for having gone to the Gentiles, he uses that same expression, the baptism of the Spirit.
Verse Chapter 11 of Acts verse 15 and as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them as on us at the beginning. So it was kind of an installment here then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said John indeed baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized.
With the Holy Ghost. So both those times were really the baptism of the Holy Ghost to form the body of Christ in the beginning. Now a believer that here's the gospel and is sealed by the Spirit of God is united to that same body that is already formed. And so we become members of the body of Christ, not by any human.
00:20:03
Endeavor or means, but by the work of the Spirit of God. I think that's important to see that the body of Christ is formed by the Spirit of God, not by us. We preach the gospel, but then the Spirit of God seals those that hear the gospel, and when he seals them, he unites them to the body of Christ that is already in existence. It's interesting to to note that the baptism of the Spirit.
The expression occurs in Acts one and then Acts 11 in Acts 2.
The Jews received the gift of the Holy Ghost in Acts 8. The Samaritans received the Holy Ghost and in Acts 10 both expressions are used, the gift of the Spirit and the Spirit himself. And then now that both Jew and Gentile have been brought into that it began in the day of Pentecost with the Jews, and then the Gentiles were brought in with Cornelius household. Then he closes the the the whole thing and says.
That what you just read them remembered I the word of the Lord, how that John said, John indeed baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. And that took place that began. You might say it that way. He began in Acts two. It was finished in Acts 10, because the baptism of the Spirit embraces Jew and Gentile chapter 2 and chapter 10. But now that both have been brought into that baptized body, there is no fresh baptism of the Spirit anymore.
We're all brought into that baptized body when we believe the Spirit of God is very careful to guard, lest we ever think that there was more than one church formed. And so that's why, as you say, it's brought out in the in that way so that there's no thought in our minds as to there being a Jewish church or a Samaritan church or a Gentile church or even a Jewish Gentile church. And I think it's helpful to see that at the end of Acts chapter 2, there's a little expression it says.
And the Lord added to the church daily, such as should be saved. Let me use a little illustration that helped me when I was a little younger. It's not an original illustration, but it did help me to understand this truth. Suppose we have about 120 beads in a bowl on the table.
And we decide that we're going to take these 120 beads and form a necklace. You take a string and you string those beads. Now they're not just 120 individual beads. That's what you had when they were gathered together in the upper room, waiting for the spirit to be given. You had about 120 individual believers. But now something else is formed. Just like that necklace, a new unit is formed. They're still individuals, but they're formed into a new unit.
But let's carry the illustration a little further. Suppose that some future point we.
Obtained some some more beads. Now what do we do? Well, we may untie the string and we may add those beads to what has already been formed. Now you wouldn't say I made a new necklace. I only added to that which had been formed in the beginning. And that's helps us to understand the Lord is still adding to the church daily such as should be saved. And when we look at that loaf on Lordstein morning, I think it's helpful to realize and we need to keep it before our souls or we're going to become narrower sectarian in our view.
We need to keep in view, brethren, that God sees in that loaf every believer in Christ, every believer alive on the face of the earth. On this morning, they're on the table. This morning there wasn't more than one loaf. There wasn't wafers. There was one loaf. And that loaf represented to the heart of God, not just the believers, about 300 of us or so gathered here in this room.
Not just the believers who practically express this truth in the breaking of bread, but every believer is a member of the body of Christ. And let's never forget that. Let me repeat that. Every member, every believer alive on the face of the earth this afternoon is a member of the body of Christ. And as outwardly as things may be in ruin, fragmented outwardly, but God looks down and he says in the language of our chapter, there is one body. Isn't that a tremendous thing to consider? There is one body I think that's so precious to.
00:25:05
Realize and let it sink into our souls.
There is one body that's all God looks at when he sees looks at Mayfield, KY. How many bodies of believers does he contemplate in Mayfield, KY, one body that's all you can scripturally recognize and Mayfield, Kentucky, but it includes like you say, every true believer. The same is in chapter 12 of First Corinthians that was read as the body.
Is one.
Beautiful to think about it because there was the beginnings of.
Sectarianism in Corinth as an assembly, there was the seeds of it, and Paul still writes to them saying he doesn't recognize that he only recognizes one body. Scripture also speaks of division and I've been interested to see, and I'd just like to point it out. In First Corinthians, division, when it is mentioned, is not mentioned in connection with the body, and I think it's instructed.
First Corinthians chapter one and verse 10.
Says Now, I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you.
But that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and same judgment. He doesn't say that there be no divisions in the body. It's among you. And we carry an outward public testimony. And that's where we have failed, brethren. That's where failure has come in. And that's why we say there's ruin sometimes. I illustrate it this way. If a heathen comes from some part of the earth where they don't know about Christianity, and they come to Mayfield, KY.
And they say, I've heard that there's people called Christians here. I'd like to meet up with some. So he goes down the street. Where are there some Christians to meet up with? Well, down the street there's one place. And then he finds a little later another place and another place. He would never guess that there was one body of Christians. Why? Because the testimony, the public testimony is in ruins. But that doesn't change the truth.
That there is one body and that's what I think we need to get ahold of one other verse in.
Chapter 11 That speaks uses the word divisions.
But it again, it doesn't connect it with the body, but with us who are responsible to carry that testimony.
Chapter 11, verse 18. For first of all, when you come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you. It doesn't say divisions in the body, and I partly believe it.
Member in Bolivia one time meeting up with a sister who does a lot of church hopping and she goes until she gets fed up with one place and she goes to the next. And it's not a healthy situation, not a healthy thing for her, but that's where she happens to be in her soul. And she was talking to me one time, she said.
Brother, we should all be one.
Said to her sister. It's not that we should all be one. We are one. We're just not acting like it. We're not functioning like it. And I think that's the point, that we're not giving that testimony. But that's the ground. That's the only ground that God recognizes for our meeting together.
Well, that's the difference between our position and our position. We are all one, but condition wise, our state we're not.
Instead.
I'd like to ask the question I'm sure we all often get asked when we speak to others and identify ourselves as Christians and find out that they are too when they asked us. Well, where do you go?
Or who are you associated with?
I found in my own experience that not easy to represent this truth we're speaking about, that all believers are members of the one body and that we own the headship of Christ. And is there. Are there any words you might say that would be helpful? I'm sure many of us here have experienced this many times as to respond to that question. Because when they learn that we love the Lord Jesus, we have a knowledge of the Word.
00:30:08
Then immediately they like to know where do you go and I.
You know, I'm sure we can all answer that, but it might take more time than you would have at that instant, you know, just meeting someone casually.
Come and see.
I passed the track to a salesperson at a gas station and and she said, oh, what church do you belong to? And I said to her, are you saved? Yes. Oh, I belong to the same one you do. There's only one church according to God's thoughts, and that's all true believers in the Lord Jesus. And she thought for a moment and she said that's the way it ought to be. It's just that simple.
Could I suggest that?
Although it's a convenient thing to do and perhaps might get us off the hook, may I strongly suggest that we not say that we are Plymouth Brethren?
Please do not. If I can emphasize that you we are not, that's right, because I'm telling the lie. I am not Plymouth forever. If somebody says where do you go? What are you connected with? If I can give my own experience, I usually say I gather simply with Christians who gather to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. What denomination are you? We are not part of any denomination. What do you call yourselves?
We take only the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, if they're interested, they'll express more. There'll be more questions. You can go into it as far as you want with them. Sometimes that's all they want to hear. But we have to recognize, on the other hand, that much of Christendom of which we are apart.
Is so predicated on the idea of a local so-called church where the pastor over it, that you have to recognize that many people can hardly think in any other terms except that. And so, as Brother Bob said yesterday, we can't expect to tell them in five or 10 minutes what we may have taken years to learn. And so we may have to understand that some of those things are not going to be easily understood.
But my experience, if I can say it humbly, has been much the same as Brother Chucks, in that once people grasp what you are telling them, they will almost invariably agree that that's the way it ought to be. And usually the argument is, but it's impractical today. You, you, you can't make that work today, but it sure ought to be that way.
I like what chapter Brown said to me once.
Are you a Plymouth brother? And he said.
Well, there's a brother from Lawrenceville, there's a brother from Cedar Rapids, there's a brother from.
San Diego. I don't see anyone from Plymouth though.
I thought that was a good answer.
I'd like to suggest something else that we should not say.
And you may be shocked at it, but to give them a schedule of well, we have Permian on Tuesday night, we have really mean on Thursday night, we have children's Main Lords Day morning, we have the breaking of bread and we have the Gospel in the evening.
That just sinks a person right down to the ground to give them something like this. And what our brother said back here was exactly what was said to the disciples to come and see.
But when did you come and see?
And where? Well, where is it? That's where the wisdom of God comes in. As to what? How we might open the door for them to come rather than just submerge them in a situation that they're overwhelmed in and don't understand.
Some years ago there was some interest on the part of a couple, and they lived some distance from an assembly, but some from the assembly there had contact with them and visited them a number of times. And the brother, I mentioned his name, he's well known to most of us here, but he and others visited this couple who were believers and who had a real interest in where the Lord would have them. And after several visits, the husband said to the wife after these brethren had left.
They said these brothers have come and ministered Christ to us, now we need to go and see where they're getting this. I thought that was very good. They had just gone and ministered the the truth to them. They warmed their hearts and that's what drew them. And that this was many years ago and that couple is still happily at the Lords Table. And so every situation is different. Every contact is different. We deal with souls as individuals. But I thought it was nice in that connection how the Lord gave wisdom to those brethren. As you say, if they said, well you need to come up on Lord Sea morning and be there at 10:30 and you need to come up on Wednesday night and be there by 7:30.
00:35:38
That wouldn't have drawn their hearts out. No, it was Christ that drew their hearts out and eventually brought them to the place where these things were expressed in a practical way. But let me just say, we do deal with souls as individuals. The Lord did that. He didn't deal with the woman at the well the way He had dealt with Nicodemus in the chapter before. He didn't deal with the disciples the way He dealt with others. No, He, of course, being perfect, knew their hearts and knew what was needed. But I believe, brethren, if we're walking in communion.
And seeking the mind of the Lord in these things, whether it's dealing with souls in the gospel or whether it's dealing with them as to questions concerning the truth, the Lord can give us that wisdom to know what to say and what to act. But can I just say this too, in connection with the burst Brother Dave quoted, Come and see. There really is nothing like them seeing it for themselves when the time is right. Because when they ask the Lord, where dwelleth thou?
He didn't go into some long explanation about where he dwelt. And we can go into sometimes long explanations of fine points of doctrine. And I'm not saying that there perhaps isn't a time for that, but that he didn't go into a long explanation. He simply said come and see. And men are so used to system today a system of things that where everyone's pigeonholed and taken care of and everything is run for you. It's very difficult. It's already been said for them to get beyond.
Seeing how anything can function.
Without man's organization, but when they see it for themselves and the Spirit of God makes it good to them, then I believe it's a reality. I'd just like to add, I think to come and see me to remember it's the lower is not the brethren or the meeting room or how we conduct the meetings to the board and use that you don't want to use to come and see in reference to ourselves.
It worked out that way in the 14th of.
First Corinthians where the assembly is functioning, somebody come in and they'll hear, hear the word. They'll report that Christ is in you and.
The church is functioning. What is going on in our chapter? The next verse takes up something for us and responsibility about what has just been said for I believe here in this chapter.
We have the gifts from the ascended head on high and that there are five of them.
And that through them, by the Spirit, Christ is building his church, the one church. So it's kind of surprising to look at the next verse 7. But unto everyone of you is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
There are three chapters that give us gifts.
Romans 12 are the gifts that God has given, I believe.
And.
First Corinthians.
Perhaps it's 12. It's the gifts that the Spirit of God reports. But here's Christ.
And here there are 5 gifts listed and they remain.
Not anything said about those signed gifts remaining, but here Christ is building his church and just to see those facts, those five gifts.
Or what he is using to give to build and to hold together.
This assembly, well, it's very instructive for us, but when he says to everyone of you is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ, there's no such thing as one pastor in this assembly, every one of you.
00:40:03
Everyone has a gift and everyone has grace to use that gift and at the time to lead others into the wonderful truth of what Christ is doing.
When it says everyone of us has received is given grace.
He's talking about a gift.
The word grace and gift are very closely related. Is given grace that is the the gift of grace to be used in grace for him and for the glory and blessing of the assembly. Each one has a gift. And so you can't say I don't have a gift. You may not have a public gift, but you have a gift. Everyone is needed, every member of my body.
Of them are not even seen, but the ones that are not seen are most vital to my.
Continuing here. And the same was true of your body. So many of those that are not seen publicly are very, very, very valuable, our sisters very valuable in the in the functioning of the assembly properly.
I think that's something that we need to meditate on, especially I say to younger brothers and sisters as well because it applies to all.
If you have a gift, like a brother was saying, there's no such thing as an assembly that has no gift. Every member has a gift. It's not maybe a public gift always and it perhaps there's different measures of gift. It speaks of the measure of the gift of Christ. There's some that are different measures and.
I think that should keep us brethren from trying to compare ourselves amongst ourselves and think that we've got a gift like that other brother. No, God gives gifts, and He gives grace to use the gift, and He gives gifts in different measures according to what he has in mind for use. But He has given a gift to everyone, and if he's given you a gift, it's to be used.
That's why He's given you a gift to be used for the good of all the fellow members of the body of Christ. And if you're not exercised about using the gift that God has given you, then you are really not only hindering yourself, but you're.
Robbing all other members of the body of Christ at the same time. And I think it's really important, Paul had to say to Timothy. Stir up the gift of God that is within you.
And Timothy was a timid person, it seems by the epistle. And, and there's that tendency just to want to kind of clam up and not say anything and not use the gift. But if he's given you something, it's to be used. What are we going to say when we stand before the judgment seat of Christ? And the Lord said, I gave you a gift. What did you do with that gift I gave you? And I, I really believe that if we would be stirred up, brethren.
There would be real blessing, but it seems like we get so involved in our material aspect of our lives, in our jobs and the world around. That's not our first calling, brethren. That may be necessary to sustain life, but that's not our first calling. We are members of the body and He's given gifts to everyone. Are you using the gift that He gave to you, the function that we have as a member of the body of Christ?
Is really a function that no one else can do quite as well as you. He has equipped you, as you say, for that function. And I feel sometimes there are assemblies who suffer a real lack because there are those in the assembly who do not carry out the little function that God has given them as a member of the body of Christ. I suppose that was something of the exercise of Paul when he wrote to the Colossians Saints and he said and say to our Kippis, take heed to the ministry.
That thou hast received of the Lord, that thou fulfill it. Evidently there was a brother in the assembly there who wasn't carrying out the little ministry and were not told what it was. But he wasn't carrying it out. And the Apostle Paul felt that the assembly was suffering a lack. And this is good something for the young people. It doesn't start when men set up a corporation or a business. They don't start people at the top. They start people on the lower rung of the ladder if they prove themselves.
00:45:13
Then they moved them up the ladder. Would God run something more careless than humans? And I believe that those who stay behind after the team meeting to wipe the tables and turn the chairs for the next meeting, they're the ones that God will use in perhaps a little greater way later on. Those who just kind of drift out and don't see anything to do and help they. He says, if we're not faithful in the little things, I'm not quoting exactly. He is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much. But perhaps we might say, well, I don't have any great manifested gift.
I don't have a gift like it's listed here in Ephesians. A pastor, an evangelist, a pastor, a teacher. Turn to 1St Corinthians 12 for a verse that I think might be helpful for each one of us.
First Corinthians, chapter 12.
And verse 28.
And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles and gifts of healing. You say, well, I don't fit into any of these categories, but rather than what's the next one, notice it carefully helps. And I believe that we can all be a help. And this is for the sisters too. The Apostle Paul when he wrote to the Philippians, Saints, he said and help those women which labored with me in the gospel.
There were women who had been a real help in some quiet way to the apostle Paul in the furtherance of the gospel. It's true they didn't stand up and preach like we'll have a preacher here tonight if the Lord leaves us here. It wasn't in a public way, but they went along. I've often been thankful in a gospel effort for sisters, godly sisters, who have been exercised to come and to be a part of that. We wouldn't have meals prepared the way they are. We wouldn't have some of the little things that are a help, sometimes personal contact with children and so on. All these things are, can be, can be a help. And so we need to be exercised. Are we a help? We're going to go back to the little assembly if the Lord leaves us here where we came from.
Brethren, are we going to be exercised to stir up that gift?
To exercise that little ministry and to be a real help again for the sisters. There were three women who followed the Lord in His pathway here, Mary Magdalene, Joanna and Susanna and others. But those three are mentioned by name, and they minister to the Lord of their substance.
And little did they realize that it would be written down in God's eternal record for you and for me and for our encouragement. But there it is. And I believe when I see them at the judgment seat of Christ, they're going to get a tremendous reward because they were a help to the Lord Jesus in his ministry here. And I think that sometimes those who carry on a little hidden work, a little service, those who are the joints and bands of the body perhaps will get a greater reward at the judgment seat of Christ.
Going on, we find Christ.
And his pathway coming down, descending, becoming a man, completing his work.
Buying the whole field that he might get the church out of it.
And then it starts in the parenthesis here.
Verse nine Now that he ascended, that's where he is that Paul was writing. What is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth. He went right down into death. He gave himself for the church. The next chapter tells us that.
And.
He got descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might kill all things. That man who went to lowest is now the highest.
But he's looking at what he's doing now in the gifts, and it goes right on with that. And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers just play them.
Now Christ gave them.
And.
When the Church was formed, the foundation was the apostles and the prophets.
00:50:01
I think you get them listed three times in this epistle.
But we don't have any apostles and prophets today living.
Because the book is complete, we've got apostles and prophets giving us this book.
It's nice to know that that we shouldn't look for those powerful gifts. The Lord is the same and the Spirit of the God is the same. But what we have are the three. And every assembly has those 3 gifts. Evangelists, pastors and teachers, whether they know it or not, they're there. Christ supplies them and you find them.
Beautifully in the first Gentile church formed in Antioch.
Where the disciples were first called Christian. It's so beautiful to trace these things in their primary results in the book of the Acts. And there you have it at Antioch.
The word went out. The gospel was preached. The Grecians believed.
And there were there were also Jews there, but it was primarily a Gentile church.
And so they needed gifts. Well, they had preachers to start with, evangelists. Let's turn back to that chapter and just see them because it's so simple to see the way Christ was building in that first Gentile church.
And that's the one where the Spirit of God would not let.
The teaching.
Corrupt teaching, that was.
Exported from Jerusalem take hold but here in the 11Th chapter of Acts when I get turned to it here.
We were commenting about this a while ago about the baptism and noticing that.
There's a supplementary part of it in Acts 10 and 11 That's connected with Pentecost.
And so the need was there.
Let's start at verse 19. Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Steven, traveled as far as Venice and Cyprus and Antioch, preaching, preaching the word to none, but under the Jews and some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which when they were come to Antioch.
Speak unto the Grecians.
Preaching the Lord Jesus. Now it's indiscriminate. It doesn't matter whether it's Jews or Gentiles, it's preachers preaching the Lord Jesus from the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believe and turned unto the Lord. Think of this composite group. They're at Antioch.
By the evangelists work with Christ that supplied there in that place.
Now they had a further need. Verse 22.
Rent eggs of these things came under the ears of the church which was at Jerusalem, and they set forth Barnabas that he should go as far as Antioch.
When he came and had seen the grace of God, what he saw was the grace of God. He was glad and exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they should scream under the Lord. This was pastoral work on the inside. Barnabas, what a wonderful thing a pastor is. So Christ was supplying preachers at Antioch and pastors, but they needed one more. If we go on, we'll see that it was filled up too.
Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus for to seek Saul 25.
When he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch, and it came to pass that a whole year.
They assemble themselves with the church. What were they doing? They taught much people how faithful Christ was with that first Gentile assembly. The preaching and the pastoral work and the teaching. It still goes on it. It hasn't changed.
Don't we find in the 13th chapter of Acts where the have the Antioch Assembly and the names there? Do we not find the three families of the earth there in that assembly, which to me amplifies the beauty of the three families of the earth Shem, Ham and Japheth brought together. And what are they doing there? Well, they're endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond and peace.
00:55:24
That in the 13th chapter you're talking about.
Well, we know that the first dog that Paul was there, so he would be of the family of Sham.
And then you have Niger, which means black would be of the family of Ham.
And then we have the Romans here, which would be the family of Jacob. I ask, is it a question? But I have enjoyed seeing these three families brought together. But you get it earlier, very clear in the book of the Acts. So I'm glad you mentioned it because.
In the Gospel, the 8th chapter.
Phillip was set to meet that Ethiopian unit.
Who was of the children of Ham?
And he got to faith and believed so that the first one of the descendants of Noah to get that blessing that we know of was this Ethiopia, the descendants of half. Now you go to the 9th chapter and you get to Saul. You're talking about he was a descendant of Shem.
You go to the 10th chapter and you got the last one. Cornelius. He was of Jason. It's the largeness of the heart of God. It's not just the Jews, it's all the world. The gospel is so wonderful.
I want to say something about this, The Apostles and Prophets, which has been mentioned. It's the foundation work. If you go back to the second chapter and the 20th verse, it's looked at what is being billed as a building. You are build upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. I think that's important to see because.
They laid the foundation work, and when you start building, you want to make sure you're on the foundation. So when we act as believers in the Lord Jesus, when we do things collectively, there should be some groundwork, some basis, some.
Something in the New Testament doctrine upon which we ground that action or that what we do it. I think it is important. It's the apostles. Of course we know the apostles were and the prophets in this sense of the word. Prophet is one who spoke the word of God before the Canon of Holy Scripture was complete. He gave the mind of God for certain situations. We have prophets today in a different sense of the word.
In other words, speaking the word of God.
For a certain situation, whether it's for edification or exhortation or comfort, but in this sense of the word, it was those that gave the mind of God before the Scriptures were complete, and that is the.
Groundwork. That's the foundation. You and I are not free to set up the program.
To do what we like. It's all laid down in Scripture. And I love to think of it, brethren, in Second Timothy, when the ruin was so great and Paul wrote writing to Timothy, he says the foundation of God stands firm. That will never change. Thank God for it.
Sometimes in our minds, we have to dig down through a lot of rubble to get what is really scripture.
Sometimes I've had to be challenged. Where do you get that out of scripture? And sometimes it didn't have any scripture for it. I found I was just thinking my own thoughts or maybe what somebody else had suggested. And we need to challenge things. We need to realize that if there's not foundation for it, it won't stand in the long run. And that's why we need to act. When we act, we can listen to council from other areas, but when we act, we need to act.
On what Scripture has been given to us, the principles of the word of God laid down in the apostles doctrine. And then you have, since it's looked at as a building, it's been mentioned you have those other three, the evangelists, and they like to think that they are the ones that go out and bring in new material to be built in to the building. And then the pastors and the teachers are the ones that build in that new material.
01:00:16
Into the building that presents a complete picture. In that way, I think it's nice.
In other words, the past shepherd.
The shepherd, the pastor deals with souls. The teacher deals with the Word.
Basically, the difference they're put together, shepherds and teachers, pastors and teachers, because you can't really deal with souls if you don't teach them, and you really don't know what to teach if you don't know something about the sheep you're teaching. So the two gifts are mentioned together.
Thanks. You're good, Chuck. I don't think I ever heard it that clear before. You want to go through that again for us, Listen to the tape.
Turn it on, Lamoy.
Go ahead and get it again.
The shepherd deals with the sheep, the teacher deals with the word, but they're put together because.
The shepherd also has to teach the sheep, though his primary gift is shepherding, and the teacher has to know the condition of the sheep, the sheep in order to teach them properly.
It's always mentioned in the plural and Scripture. We have pastors or shepherds mentioned in other parts too, but it's always in the plural. There's no such thing as a pastor of one assembly. It's not known in Scripture. It's a gift given to the whole church, to the whole body of Christ. And I I think rather than the work of pastoring, we have the idea that a pastor, somebody who gets up and preaches.
Because I think there's a lot of pastors that never speak publicly.
They are concerned with going after sheep and to seek to be a help to them where they needed and they go after and have them think sheep don't come back on their own when they get off track. They need to go have somebody go after him and help them to get back on track. We really need this. It's a gift that is given and it's perhaps a gift that is used in private an awful lot. I don't say it's not used in public, but it's used in private an awful lot, maybe doesn't have a lot of.
Reward or recognition connected with it, but it's.
So important, the truth of shepherding God's people. I'd just like to tell a little anecdote that happened. I remember the year 1963. My wife and I had spent a week in the Los Angeles area and visited most of the meetings. And at the end of that, on a Monday morning, we were going to go to the airport. And brother Reggie Gross have been our host that night. And he said we have time to stop and see chapter Brown and his wife.
On the way to the airport. And so we stopped for a few minutes and Brother Brown said to me, and I always remembered this, he said, Brother Yeager, he said this brother wanting a regret, he said is doing the most important work. This is the greatest need we have. And he meant that shepherding work. Because during that week, as we traveled around the area, every place we went, Red Cross and his wife was visiting the shuttins, the older ones, the ones who didn't get out the meeting.
A very quiet work with a real pastoral work, and that was Chapter Brown's judgment, he said he's doing the most needful work amongst us.
Well, the apostle Paul, who was not only a great teacher but no doubt a shepherd, a pastor, he said to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20, I have ministered to you publicly and from house to house. And I think that's very, very important. And yet if I can just bear my soul for a moment, sometimes it's very, very difficult to visit in the homes of the Saints. Our lifestyle is such and we seem to be on this treadmill of society that gets.
Faster and faster, and sometimes we move a great deal from the meeting to get affordable housing or a job. And I'm not saying that these things, a brother needs to be exercised before the Lord himself as to these things. But I do think that something we're losing, brethren, is house to house ministry. It ought to exercise, of course, first of all those who seek to shepherd and pastor the people of God, but it ought to exercise us all. There are many of us here this afternoon who have children and young people coming on.
01:05:17
And I am thankful as I look back over my upbringing in a Christian home, that I had parents who were exercised and took the time to have the people of God in our home. And if a brother came through, he might give some nice ministry at the meeting room in the evening. But my parents were exercised to invite that person to the home and listen to what he had to say. And you never really know the sheep until you sit down at their table with them or sit down in their home. That's where you really.
Know what and discern what the needs of the sheep are. But I'm just saying we need, for the sake of our children and young people, to take that time to have our brethren open our homes so that our brethren feel free to come into our homes and sit down and minister the word to us, not just publicly that's important, but also from house to house. The teaching, I think of Luke 10 explains exactly what we're trying to get out here.
For that certain Samaritan.
Went to where this man had fallen into the ditch.
And was wounded and half dead. Religion, whether it be the priests or the.
Another Levites couldn't help it, but a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. Now that's Jesus descending down here, not just to save our soul, do the work of the cross, but to come to us with salvation care.
Found up his wounds that salvation care.
And poured in oil in the wine. When you get saved, you get the Holy Spirit. We've just been talking about that and the joy of it.
But the care didn't stop there.
He picked him up and set him on his beast. Christ had given us his exalted position, the heaviest. We've got it in this epistle to the patients.
But he took him some place.
And that's what needs to be done. And that's primarily why the gospel effort should go out from the assembly. So they'll have a place to bring those new soaps. He brought him to the end. That's a picture of the assembly, the place of shelter and warmth and and fellowship in this poor world. And he gave to the host those who have responsibility in the assembly.
2 Pence to take care of him.
Often suggested we'd love to think of it that the two pants were enough for two days keep.
And one day is 1000 years and 1000 years one day would suggest that.
What the certain Samaritans said when he left. And whatsoever thou spendest more.
When I come again, I will repay the encouragement to the pastor because it's been said it's, it's largely an unseen work, not much public reward of honor and so on for a pastor. But take it up, take it up.
The one who sees.
Who is the?
Pastor of our souls, when he comes again, the rewards to the pastors is going to come out. So we need to be encouraged to take up that gift and we have lots of them in the assembly, I think.
I just wanted to say one more thing in connection with the gifts too. I don't think it is proper for a member of the body to be occupied with what gift do I have. The point is, is to look up to the Lord Jesus and to be exercised in His presence.
To do what He wants us to do, when he lays on our hearts, when he guides us by his Spirit to do. And a young person may say, well, I don't think I'm a pastor or a teacher.
But we're living in days of much ruin, and many members of the body are paralyzed in their activity. They think they don't have any responsibility.
And there's need, brethren, there's need. And I think love is what dictates when you see a need to get into the presence of the Lord and say, Lord, I don't know what I can do here, but show me what I can do for the help of this person. And, and the Lord can use when there's sincerity, when there's simplicity, He can use one. I heard a story and I don't remember where I got it, brother, but it was an encouragement to me.
01:10:24
Of a young younger brother who saw in his particular home assembly a person that was staying at home. He wasn't coming to the meetings anymore and nobody seemed to go visit him.
And he finally felt in his own solo, I'll go visit him and see if I can be a help. And he went to this brother's home and sat down. And he got in there with his Bible. And he didn't know what to say or what to read even he was so young in the faith. So he opens up his Bible and said, let's read, brother, where are we going to read? The other brother said, well, he couldn't think of any verse. So Genesis 11.
In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.
The word of God, brother. He didn't know what else to say about it. He showed his Bible and they had a word of prayer and off he goes.
Another day comes back and same thing again. He didn't know what to read that. Where are you going to read, brother?