For just a few minutes, I want to speak on something
that I feel is most important. And I'm going
to use as my scripture the third verse of the
fourth chapter of Ephesians. Beloved, no nation
is stronger than her spiritual forces. Spiritual
forces are no stronger than their unity in the
spirit here on earth. And I believe that with
every atom of my being. Let me read the third
verse in this fourth chapter of Ephesians. of
peace. Note the exact wording of this statement.
It is not the unity of the body which we are
to keep. The Holy Spirit keeps that. For we have
nothing to do with the keeping of the unity of
the body. Always remember that. It's the Holy
Spirit that keeps the unity of the body. in you
and Christ in me, in all regenerated people,
is the secret of the unity of the body. And this
is beautifully set forth in the Old Testament
tabernacle, a symbol of the church here on earth.
Those of you who've been following me in my previous
messages will remember that I taught you that
the Old Testament tabernacle was a symbol of
the church, Christ's church here on earth. The
tabernacle consisted of 48 boards built on 96
sockets of silver, which were made of redemption
money. We did it in the 30th and 38th chapters
of Exodus. Every man was redeemed. with half
a shekel of silver. And if 685 ,000 people gave
one half shekel of silver, the amount of silver
must have weighed about one half ton. Think of
it. Now, this mass of silver was cast into sockets
and formed the foundation of the tabernacle,
upon which the boards of the tabernacle See something
here that's very marvelous. The boards represented
believers being formed into one body. And the
silver foundation is typical of redemption. The
foundation of the church. Now, let's go a step
further. These boards were held together, unified,
by an invisible rod which passed through the
heart of each board. You see what it means? The
invisible rod represents the invisible Christ
dwelling within every believer. That's what that
scripture means. Christ in you. The hope of glory.
That's it. Now the unity of believers began on
the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came
to indwell and empower. And from that day to
the present day, every believer has been united
in the body of Christ. The unity being preserved
by the indwelling Holy Spirit in every redeemed
heart. And so that's the reason Paul tells us
to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of
peace. Now, how do we keep the unity of the Spirit?
We do so when we meet a believer in the Lord
and recognize him as our brother, regardless
of race. regardless of nationality or social
position. For remember something, if he trusts
Christ as his Savior, if his sins are covered
with the blood, if the blood of Jesus Christ,
God's Son, has cleansed him from all sin, regardless
of his nationality, regardless of his race, Regardless
of his position in life, he is a member of the
body of Christ. He has been born into his church.
And he is your brother. He is my brother. And
we need to preserve that unity in the spirit
right here on earth. And when we do, the world
will feel our influence as Christians and not
until. And it's just like that. An incident in
the life of a great saint of God, a minister
who was holding a campaign in Chicago near the
close of World War I. He gave this testimony
that made a profound impression. as he told it
years later. He said, I attended a dinner. It
was nearing the close of World War I. And he
said, at the dinner, there was present representatives
from every nation in the world. Religious leaders,
spiritual leaders, presiding over the meeting
was a Christian. Hebrew. Next to him sat a German.
The minister to whom I refer was an Englishman.
And he sat next to an Irishman. Think of that.
An Englishman. Seated between an Irishman and
a German at a time like that. At the close of
World War I. Then there was an Italian, an Austrian,
a Russian, a Japanese, a Chinese, and so on.
Clear around the table. People from every country
were there. Canada, Spain, the United States,
Mexico. Were they scrapping? Were they fighting?
Not at all. They were having the most blessed
fellowship that believers could possibly have
here on earth. Why? They were united in one spirit
in Christ. That's why. He said the German turned
to him and said, Just think of it, brother. And
he said, he turned to the Irishman and said,
Mike, aren't we having a grand time? And to think
that a Christian Hebrew presided at that dinner.
At the close of the dinner, he said they stood
with linked hands. For he said our hearts had
already been linked together as one. And instead
we sang, blessed be the tide that binds our hearts
in Christian love. Do you want to know what we
need in Christendom today, that very same spirit?
We've gotten so narrow. We've gotten so bigotent.
We've gotten so far away from Christ's teaching.
We've gotten so far. Off of the track, we've
gotten so far away from brotherly love. We've
gotten to hate instead of love. It seems to me
there's so little unity, so little oneness in
the spirit among God's children. That's the reason
we have very little influence. over the unsaved
man, the unregenerated man today. He doesn't
see unity among us. He doesn't see the oneness
in the Spirit among us. He cannot feel our influence.
He cannot see Christ in our lives. And sometimes
we're doing more damage to the cause of Christ
than we're doing good. endeavoring to keep the
unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Oh,
that's wonderful. That's thrilling. We, members
of the body of Christ, by the baptism of the
Spirit, you will never walk worthy of the vocation
wherewith ye are called unless... you'll recognize
the unity of the Spirit and endeavor to keep
that unity. Don't let's stop there. Go on to
the next verse. Verse 4. I read, There is one
body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in
one hope. of your calling. The ground for this
unity about which we've been thinking is set
forth in this verse. One Lord, one faith, one
baptism, one God, and Father of all, who is above
all and through all and in you all. Let's take
it. There is one body. Only one. Not two. Not
three. One. There is one body. We're not told
to make one body. No. Sometimes we try to. Sometimes
we work so hard. trying to make one body. No.
There is, the Scripture says, one body now. The
body of Christ. We're not told to make one body.
The Spirit of God has done that. There is one
body. You were born... into that body. Regardless
of who you are, if you've had that new birth
experience, you had been born into that body
which now exists. And that body is the church
of Jesus Christ. The body is composed of individuals
who have been washed in the blood of Jesus Christ
and regenerated by the Holy Spirit. Every believer
in Christ regardless of nationality is a member
of the church which is his body. There is one
Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in
the bond of peace. Why? Oh, here's something
very thrilling that we give to you in just a
second, and I pray that the Holy Spirit shall
make it so plain to you. For these are the things
of the Spirit. and are only spiritually revealed.
And I pray that the Holy Spirit shall give you
the capacity to see and recognize the things
of the Spirit. Go back to that first verse. I
therefore, it's Paul speaking, the prisoner of
the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of
the vocation wherewith ye are called. Walk worthy,
beloved, of being an heir of God and a joint
heir with Christ Jesus. Walk worthy of your vocation
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Walk worthy of being
a member of his body. What worthy of your vocation
as a member of his church. I shall never forget
an expression Mama used to use when I was a little
girl. She would say, Catherine, you know, that's
not very becoming to a young lady. That old -fashioned
word, becoming. Some of our actions are very
much unbecoming to a member of the body of Christ.
Some of the little petty things we do. Our smugness
sometimes is very unbecoming to a member of his
church. Larry, unbecoming to our vocation. Remember
to whom you belong. I pray that there shall be
a unity among the members of his body. A unity,
a oneness among those of us who are members of
his church, born into his church. that we shall
strive to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit
in the bond of peace, that we might walk worthy
of the vocation wherewith we are called. Yes,
beloved. No nation is stronger than her spiritual
forces. And the spiritual forces... are no stronger
than their unity in the spirit here on earth.
God bless you. Amen.