Luke chapter number 12, Luke chapter number 12, and we'll look at a verse of scripture there in just a moment. Luke chapter number 12. I do hope you'll be back with us for the evening service tonight. I think that you will thoroughly enjoy, and I'm not talking about enjoy as in entertainment, But I am talking about joy as encouragement and something to be a help and a blessing to you. So I hope that you'll come back and join us for the six o'clock hour tonight. And you can be praying for the folks who have been able to be with us this morning. Brother Mike's wife is sick in Scottsville. His daughter is sick with his wife home taking care of her, and of course we have other folks away. Dan and Sherry are out on vacation, so they should be back soon. But we have folks who are away from us, so please pray for them that they can all feel better and be back with us in the services. For some time now we've been covering and dealing with the issue of the devil and his work within the lives of believers. And we've moved somewhat from the area of just individual work, and yet in one sense, I guess the devil never really abandons that. But he works within people's lives to cause issues that we have termed and defined as divisions. We've already talked about the one big one, and the one big one is that he creates in homes. And that, of course, is between husband and wife. That's called a divorce. The devil loves it. And God hates it. And God's people should never forget that. This society will get you to believe that everything's okay. Don't worry a thing about it. If you don't like what's the situation, you just go get a divorce and everything will be just hunky-dory. That's not true. The Bible does say that God hateth the putting away. Malachi chapter 2 and verse number 16. So He hates it. So don't ever say otherwise. Now you say, well, I'm divorced and that doesn't make you a second-class citizen. Doesn't make you any less who you were. What it just simply says is we can't sacrifice another generation coming up thinking that it's alright just so you can feel comfortable. You must understand that. So divorce is not something God likes. Sometimes it happens, and sometimes, even in the New Testament, there are occasions where God would give us more liberty for it, you know, except it be for fornication. He makes it in 18th and 19th chapter of Matthew. So the point is this, it's something that's there, and we have to deal with it, but we ought not to embrace it. Homosexual people are here, but we don't have to accept it. And you should not accept it. This transgender thing is here, And the government seems to be doing everything in its power to twist and make it something that you and I will embrace and accept, but we don't have to do that. Yea, we should not do that, because God condemns it. What God condemns, you ought to condemn with no uncertain terms, making it very clear whose side you're on. And that's what's happening now. God's people are very, very silent on most of this. We seldom ever anymore see a letter to the editor that condemns same-sex marriage or this transgender issue. But what that says, for those of us who haven't caught on to it yet, what it says is God made a mistake. That's the bottom line. When these people come on the scene and they say, well, I think I'm a girl. Well, you say, no, no, no, no, you're a boy and you're wired that way and you've got all the hardware that way. That's what you are. You are a boy. No, no, no, no. My mind tells me I am a girl. And so they go out and they begin to get all the work done to change who they are. It only says one thing. God made a mistake. Well, that's par for the course because if they can get God to look very human and that God can make a mistake, then quite obviously there is no God to answer to. If there's no God to answer to, there's no accountability. You can do whatever you want to and you're free to do it. It happens to do with accountability and creation. It gets back to the most simple, basic concept. So the fact of the matter is, we talked about that idea of division within the home, and it's also the division that takes place among the children. You know, between parents and children. And the devil delights in that. He loves to get the children pitted against mom and dad and creating a division in the home. Anything that creates a division in the home is of the devil. Is of the devil. Is of the devil. And don't ever forget that. because that's not God's will. God does not like divorce. He does not like for children to rebel against their parents and there to be a division in the home. He does not like those things. So you and I should not like them either. But then there's something that God has sanctioned. In fact, Jesus Christ said it would happen. Look in the passage of Luke chapter number 12 and look at verse 51. We covered this a week or so ago, but you should not forget it. Verse 51, Jesus is speaking here in Luke chapter number 12. He says, suppose you are ye that I am come to give peace on earth. That's a question. Do you suppose I came to give peace on earth? He says, I tell you nay or no, but rather division. Jesus Christ came to this earth to create a division. And the division is clear. There are people in Christ and there are people out of Christ. The ones out of Christ, we say, are lost, unsaved. Those that are in Christ are saved and on their way to heaven. So the fact of the matter is, everybody will make a decision. Everybody will. It will all come down to everybody will be divided for or against Christ. Everybody. No exceptions and no exclusions. Everybody will. Every child born in this world, somewhere, at some time, in some place, will come to face the reality of that decision, that choice. And that matter of the truth is, is why you and I have an obligation to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every person, every creature. And the fact of the matter is, however, that Jesus Christ, when he came to this earth, came with the idea of making that distinction between people who are saved and who are not. So they should eliminate all the fuzzies between it. Listen carefully. You're going to die someday. I'm going to die someday. I'm 60-something, and that's irrelevant. But the longer and the further I get down the road, the fact of the matter is I'm shifting my interest. This world doesn't interest me much anymore. I love my family. I love my wife and my son and his family and my son pastoring and fostering and his wife and the children. I love them. But I'll see them again. So this is not the end. And when I leave this world, I've said it many times in this pulpit, and I guess it's in CD form. I will have no funeral. I'll have no calling. And you can go about your life as you were because I've just moved to location. I am still a living being, not in the flesh, but I'll be alive and present with the Lord. And if that's not a better reality than this, then we ought to quit and go home right now. So the fact of the matter is, my interests have shifted, and for good reason. With the President of the United States sending down a notice to all the schools about these restroom uses of transgender people, it's time for me to go home. My wife keeps me straight at home. That is, there are a lot of things I'd say that I shouldn't say, probably shouldn't say, but my wife will caution me graciously and say, you sure you want to say it that way? And I usually say, yeah, and I'm going to really look mean when I say that. Then I come to a deacons meeting, and the chairman of the board, Brother Mike, has to keep me cool and calm, because Brother Mike says, you can't do that, Pastor. That ain't going to work. That ain't going to work. So at home, my wife helps me, and Brother Mike, our chairman, helps me. And otherwise, you would really be in trouble at the New Life Baptist Church. Because I get fired up about these things, and sometimes, I shouldn't go there. But here's one thing for sure. The Lord knows that my heart is heading in the right direction. I just like a bull in a china shop. I've told Brother Byron sometimes he's the quiet, calm, cool guy and I am the bull in the china shop when it comes to some of these things. And what it amounts to is that just something gets inside of me about these issues. And I'm old school almost all the way back. And I don't understand how we got to where we are, but I know this isn't home. And we're all going somewhere. And if you placed your faith in Jesus Christ, he said, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, receive you unto myself that where I am there, you may be also. One of the fellows said, we don't know where you're going. We don't know how you're going. And he said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And no man cometh unto the Father but by me. That's the division he created. There's only one way home. It's the way of the cross and the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no other way but this. And Jesus Christ sets up that division and says that's the division that is for all humanity, every person ever born or ever will be born. You say, well, what if a person dies without making a decision? Then they just made a decision. They neglected a great salvation. and rejected it by their dying without decision for Christ. So I say to you, we've seen that, we know that decision exists, and in fact it's sanctioned. In Luke chapter 12, it's sanctioned by the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Also, we've seen the vision that the Lord makes, not only the one that he sanctions, as in Luke chapter number 12, but also the one that he encourages, the one that he wants, and it's the division between him and his people and the people of this world. Look again, we've looked at this often and I hope it sinks in. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter number 6 and look, if you would, at verse number 14. 2 Corinthians chapter 6, verse number 14. The Bible says there, Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial, or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God, as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore, come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, verse 18, and will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. What that passage of Scripture is saying, that when and if you have been born again, the Bible describes you as a called out one. That's what the Bible terms in one word, ekklesia, is the church. That's what the church is, not just this building and this body of believers, but all those who are in Christ, who've made a decision for Christ, who have believed on Him and trusted Him as their only hope of salvation, they are in Christ and they're called the body of Christ and they're called the church of Christ. Now, the thing about that is, that word means called out ones. To save you, He had to call you out away from what was in the world, and that's what you're saved out of. Christians, though, because we were born in the world, the Bible says you're not supposed to be of the world. You're supposed to come away from that, and don't let them set the pattern for your lifestyle. Don't let them give you the philosophy of life. Don't let them give you the ethic of work. You make sure you judge what you're supposed to do based on what the Word of God says. Because this is our family book. This is the book of our family. And if you've been saved by the grace of God, you're in God's family. 2 Corinthians chapter 6 is saying, I want you to look like, act like, and talk like family. I don't want you to act like the devil's people. I don't want you to act like the devil's kids. I want you to be like my kids. I want you to be like my people. I want you to be separate, distinct, and unique. And so, this is a division that Christ creates. He not only divided humanity into two groups, divided those who are out of Christ and those who are in Christ, he divides believers from unbelievers so that there will be no doubt about whose side we're on, who we belong to. So that's a division that the Bible sets up in 2 Corinthians chapter 6 that says the devil hates this division. Now he loves the division of divorce, and he loves the division in family, he hates the division that Christ makes in salvation, and he hates this division of believers becoming more like Christ and less like the world. In church, under teaching and preaching of God's Word, we realize knowing and believing what the Bible says is one side of a coin. Living and obeying are the other sides of it. That means, in a sense, truth that is known but not obeyed becomes as much a judgment on us as it does a help. Because you can be corrected or chastened for not doing what God says. I personally believe there are many Christians who have not complied with 2 Corinthians 6.14, and though they would tell you in general their lives are blessed, I believe they'd see greater blessing and I think they'd see greater favor of the Lord if they would come completely away from the world in that sense. Because he says, look, for you to have my blessing and for you to be in fellowship fully with me, this has to be taken care of. It's one thing to believe the inspire or what we would say the inspiration and inerrancy of the Bible. It's quite another to live under the authority of the Bible, to be governed by what it says. I know people who would fight you over the issue of the translation of the King James Bible. And that's to say, they just absolutely would go to war over that thing. But the same person who I have in mind, with whom I have talked, and who would fight over it, fail miserably when we come to 2 Corinthians chapter 6, verse 14-18. So the problem is they'll fight you over a principle of translation, but they don't pay any attention to what the translation says. They don't see it as being that important, that major deal. Or they say, look, we've got to live here, we've got to somehow get along with people. That's true, but you don't have to go along with people. And there is where the problem comes, and it's come more than once. The more distinct God's people are from the world in which we live, the easier it will be for the pagans to hate us. For the reason, many people don't want to get any closer to Christ's likeness. They want to stay right where they are so they can get along with the world in one hand and they can get along with Christ on the other hand. The problem with that is, even it being true, that the more distinct God's people are from the world, at least there will be no confusion on who we belong to and how, in fact, we are in God's family. Sometimes believers are encouraged to separate from churches. And by the way, talking about the thing with when you and I die, it's a big deal that for a pastor, this is big for pastors. And for those of you who are not pastoring, Brother Byron would understand, Brother Mike would understand some of this as ordained men. But it may not be too much for you. But let me tell you something. It's important that since you're going to die, that everybody you know, you tell that you placed your faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. For a simple reason. There'll be a funeral coming up in the future. I don't know exactly when, but it's coming up. And I know that I'm going to be asked to do this funeral. I have no certainty of the person who is going to have me to do their funeral that they know Christ as Savior. They've already asked me, will you do the funeral? Yes, I'll do the funeral. But in talking with them, I can't get them to commit themselves to certifying that I have trusted Christ as Savior. I have placed my faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ, and when I die, I know I'm going to heaven. Basically, unless something changes, I'm going to be having a funeral of a guy. I have no idea which way he's going. Is he going to heaven, or is he going to be in hell with the devil and his angels? Where is this man going? Now, that's bad. And it also violates what the Bible teaches. The Bible clearly teaches that we're supposed to live our lives in such a self-forgetful way that it's obvious whose side we're on. And nobody have to worry about that. I believe that it ought to be true that at your house, as it is in my house, nobody calls our home on Sunday morning. They don't call my home Sunday night. They don't call my home on Wednesday night. There's a very simple reason. I've made it crystal clear I won't be at home during those times. I'll be at church on Sunday morning, Sunday night, and then Wednesday night. I want everybody to know not that he goes to church and he's so whatever. That's not an arrogant statement. I want them to know whose side I'm on because this is the Lord's day. It's not your day. It's not my day. It's not my neighbor's day to catch up on whatever they didn't get done through the week. This is the Lord's day. The Bible says that. And if it's somebody's day, then they own it and they're supposed to have their full allegiance of it. The fact of the matter is there's liberty within doing that. But the fact is most folks don't know where we stand because there's too many holes in what we say we stand for. And the fact is the scriptures teach and are projecting constantly the fact that we need to make it very clear there should be no guesswork when it comes to our dying, that we have placed our faith in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're not trusting baptism. We're not trusting keeping works and doing things that are good. We're not trying to keep the Ten Commandments so we can go to heaven. We have placed our faith in the finished, finished, finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when we die, we know we'll go to heaven, not because of what we have done, but what He has done for us. So the fact is, that's the laid-up, stated statement that the Bible sets before us about knowing for certain and for sure about us being saved and going to heaven. Now, the Lord's created the division, so we have to make a choice. You'll be faced with that, almost like the choice that Joshua made when he said, well, as for me and my house, we'll serve the Lord. It comes down to the fact that every Christian individually has to say that. As for me, I'm going to trust Christ as my Savior, place my faith in His finished work. And I know there are multiple things that contribute to that, preaching of the Word and understanding the Spirit's work in our life, all of that involved in it, but God can sovereignly take care of that. The issue is when you understand that you're a sinner and you need a Savior, and if you don't have Christ as Savior, I don't care if you have a hundred others, if you don't have Christ, you won't be going to heaven. Because it was Christ who said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man Nobody, nobody gets to the Father apart by me. And so the fact is there's that division. There's another division. And sometimes throughout Scripture we're being encouraged that believers separate from churches. Denominations. They get up and start preaching things that are not found in the Holy Scriptures. And the fact is we come to a point where we have to make a choice. Am I going to be a traditionalist in the sense that I'm going to stick with this church just because my father, grandfather, and father before him, mother and father before them went to this church and therefore I'm just going to stick with the stuff. I'm not going to give up now at this point. And they'll stay with the church even though it does not teach the truth. There are folks in the city of Franklin, Indiana who are so committed to the tradition of their families that they would never think of leaving their church. And in conversation with one of the family members of this particular clan of people, they admit, they admit that the church is not teaching the whole counsel of God. Now let me tell you, my friend, that's a dangerous position to get in. Because what one generation does to a degree, the next generation will do it to an extreme. That means they'll take it even a step further. And the next thing you know, this church may throw out the Bible and decide, we're not going to preach the Bible, we're just going to preach some feel-good kind of stuff. And the next generation comes along and you won't even recognize it as a church. I have a preacher that I enjoy, and I've enjoyed listening to him. Scott gave me some CDs by him. He's been a favorite preacher of mine since I was in Bible college. And the fact is, I don't know of anybody I'd rather hear preached than this preacher. He died not all that long ago. He, I thought, was a very healthy fellow. I always, when I watched him, he carried himself well. He just did an outstanding job. And he died. They got a new pastor at this church. Big church. Huge church. Famous church. And I can't even listen to it. It grieves my heart. I caught a glimpse of it a few days ago. It's sad. It's just really sad. This creature was as solid as a rock. Music was a blessing. The attitude of the church was compassionate and caring. It moved from all that. That's all over with. It used to be a church that had a great impact on the community. In fact, there were days and times when the people, officials of that state where this thing is located, would come to this church and talk to them about the position that the state was going to be taking and wanted to know what the pastor and the people of this particular church, what they felt about that direction. They had input. I mean, they had impact. And yet he's gone, he's with the Lord, and his home family can't even attend this church. Oh, it's not that they restricted him, say they can't, they can. But for convictions based on God's Word, they can't even attend this place now. Because it's gone so far in the other direction. I say to you that divisions of that nature, somehow, someway, somebody got into the, we call it the gearbox, and somebody poisoned it. Because for a church to make a mistake like that and bring in a man that would change the full direction of this work and ministry for the impact it had on the whole of society is sad to say the least. So sadly in our day too few professing believers know the scriptures well enough to make a wise decision regarding a church. Even after hearing what the church believes I would tell you that there's a bright red flag that you need to watch out for. That bright red flag that church raises is They play down what they believe and build up what they do. They play down what they believe and they build up what they do. A man in our fellowship talked to me about a church that he heard about and had a family member go to and whatever, and was looking into it, and the first thing they did, they showed him the calendar of events for the family and the teens and the juniors of the church, which took up a whole page for a whole month. I mean, this thing was so loaded that the family wouldn't have time to hardly eat supper together, let alone do anything else. And he said, that's the first thing they showed me. When I asked the question, could I see a doctrinal statement, they said, we don't have one. We don't have one. And he said, what do you mean you don't have one? Everybody at every church has one. He said, yeah, but we don't we don't we we don't display it. We probably have one buried back in the office somewhere. But we don't say much about what we believe, but we do a lot about what we do here. Let me tell you something. You can be busier than a bee in springtime. And you can think that you are really sawing logs. And when everything is said and done, You'll realize that you are anywhere farther down the road than you were when you started. Because it's not about being busy. It's about knowing the Lord, growing in grace and knowledge of Him. And the fellowship that you can enjoy with the fellowship in a church is good, and it's great, and it's right. It's good for our young people. It's good for our adults. It's good for our juniors to have time together and do things. That's not the thing to say it's bad. It's just not the most important thing. Perk Churches is just like this. If you've ever gone down to Indianapolis when When I first came to Indiana, my wife, who was not my wife then, Judy, she was working downtown Indianapolis. And then when I came up to Sear, we went down and had a meal together downtown Indianapolis. And we walked around a little bit and so forth. But what I saw when I was down there, because frankly, I lived in a small community in Tennessee, a place called Sparta, Tennessee in White County. Very small community. I never saw a skyscraper. I never saw a parking garage. I wish I never had to see another park or garage and I wish I never had to go downtown Indianapolis. But anyway, I went down there and had good reason to go to be with my wife and have a meal with her. When I got down there, I noticed there was a building over here they were building and it looked like it was going to be a big deal because they had a big picture out on the front, big tall thing. I don't even know which of the buildings. It was, and maybe they've already torn it down. You know, that was interesting to me. They build buildings and they tear them down and build a new building, and we do it all over again. Whatever the case is, when we looked at this, when I looked into this thing, that was the biggest hole down in there, and you couldn't get up right up against it, but you could look through the cracks, and I'm telling you, it looked like to me they were a half a mile down in the ground. They were down in there digging, and they were taking dirt out, and they were pouring cement, and they were doing all kinds of things way down there off of the surface of the road. And later on, I commented to somebody, and they made this point. Most important thing of any great structure is what you do not see. That sure fits the church. Because the most important thing about the New Life Baptist Church is not, quote, what we do, and it's not our social connects and all that. It's not the most important thing about us. is that we stand on the authority of God's Word. It's what we are about. And we know that's not going to win any favor and blue ribbons and trophies with the community at large. We're not interested in that. We were not here to get them to like us. We were here and sent here and set here to represent the Lord Jesus Christ as their only hope of salvation. And we don't want to forget that. We don't want to get so caught up in being accepted that they get rejected. And if we get them busy and get them involved in activities and we do not show them or share with them the gospel and they do not see Christ in us, then man, listen, beloved, we've missed our calling. We've missed our mission. We've missed our purpose. And what the Bible is setting up and setting very clearly is when it comes to the matter of church, what's often more important than anything you'll see is what you don't see. It's what undergirds the work. What is it that they're standing on? What are they resting on? What's this thing that makes these people what they are? And I say to you that other things are good and even right in their place and in the right order of priority and so forth, but it's that foundation that's so exceedingly important. Let me take you to a passage. Look, if you would, in the book of Matthew. Matthew chapter 7. Look at Matthew chapter 7. Look down to verse number 21. Matthew chapter 7 and verse number 21. Matthew chapter 7 and verse number 21 says this, Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. And by the way, this is the only book in the world that reveals the will of the Father. This is it. So that puts this book at a high priority, both for the believer knowing it, obeying it, and modeling it. This book reveals the will of the Father, and it's not everybody that says, Lord, Lord, that gets to heaven. It's the people who know the will of God and submits themselves to the will of God, entrusting the Lord Jesus Christ, whose purpose it was to come to this world, to die on the cross as a sacrifice for man's sin. And that's the will of the Father. He's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And that only happens through a revelation of God's Word. So verse 22, Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, Jesus Christ is speaking, then will I profess unto them, I never knew you. depart from me ye that work iniquity." Now how did these people doing good works be translated in the mind of Christ to say, depart from me ye who do iniquity? It's simple. I don't care what good works you do, if what good works you do and you think that's going to get you credit and points with God, it becomes iniquity. You see, if you think going out today after we leave the services and you go to your residence and you pile up a stack of wood and you get out a knife and you go grab the neighbor's goat and you cut his throat and put him on that and then you have any kind of religious ceremony around it, if you think that's going to help you get your sins covered and go to heaven, my friend, that becomes iniquity. That becomes sinful because it's not the truth. That is not, that has nothing to do with you getting to heaven or not. So this passage of scripture says the same thing. Look further it says, verse 24, therefore, and he's talking that therefore makes it a connection to verses 21, 22, 23 of Matthew 7, therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. He likens the person. who hears the will of God talked about, preached about, coming through the scriptures, he likens him to a wise man that built his house upon a rock. And when all the challenges of life came, that is, the rains came, the winds blew and beat upon that thing, it did not fall, it did not give in to the elements. And the reasons were simple. It was built right. So there is a right way to build, and that describes it. But look at verse 26, And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, that is, does not fulfill what the Bible says you are to do, that shall be likened unto a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand, the rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his teaching or his doctrine. For he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. He taught them as someone who knew what he was talking about. And he was saying it with such forcefulness that they say he must have somehow had something to do with writing it. He speaks with authority on this thing. And I say, too many people these days do not look deep enough to find and see what the foundation of a church really is. And I'm not just talking about this one. I'm talking about churches in general, because down deep, you'll find out what they really are all about. Rather, they see all the building, they see activities, music, social connections. And if that satisfies them, then they take it that this is a good church. This is a solid one. The devil laughs all the way out, saying they don't know what they believe. And that's just where I want them. Paul wrote so many of his epistles, you remember, he said, I would not have you to be ignorant. I don't want you to not know. I want you to know what God says in his word and what's expected of you. These people never looking deeper than that. The Lord wants his people to join together as a body of believers, genuine believers, and it's clear what else he had in mind. I read this just this week, and this is a good thing. In verse number 20 and 21 of John 17, he said this, Neither pray I for these alone, for them also which shall believe on me through their word. that they all may be one as thou father art in me and I in thee, that they may also be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." John 17 in verse 20 and 21 is the real Lord's Prayer. It's the High Priestly Prayer for sure, but the Lord prayed this prayer and in this prayer He says and makes it very clear that He prayed for every believer in this auditorium this morning. This prayer says that. You see, in the phrase where it says, in verse number 20, where it simply says, neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word. That incorporates you and me, because their word, he was praying for those disciples who would one day sit down and those who contributed to the text of scripture which you hold in your lap, He was saying, I'm not only praying for these around me here, I'm praying for people who are going to read what they wrote, and the revelation that I gave them through the written word, and they're going to believe on me. And he'll believe on me through these. He calls them theirs. The pronoun carries with it the ideal of these present who will have a long, far-reaching impact on other people. And there, in that context, is talking about that group of people. And he says in that verse, verse number 21, then in John 17, he says that they all may be one as thou father are in me and I in thee. And then he says that they also may be one in us. And then he adds this last statement. He wants a unity in his body of believers, his church family, and he doesn't want there to be any division among them. And he says, there's a second reason. and that is that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. One of the things about it is being able to see continuity and unity among God's people. is to have a sense of recommendation to that ministry. For instance, if you see a family that fusses and fights and when they come to church, you know, they're not happy with each other. We've had some people come to our fellowship over the last several months and the one thing that more people than not have said to me concerning the visitors that day was they seem unhappy. And people in our fellowship tried very hard to get inside the loop to see what they could do to be of help. And some got more out of them than others. And I spoke with them. I contacted them. I did all those things. So the fact of the matter is I couldn't find out what was wrong, but it appeared to many people, not just me, to other people, something was wrong. Now, let me ask you, would you be comfortable going to that family's home for just a little fellowship? I doubt it. I doubt it. You know, when mom and dad and the children are not on the same page and they're not happy, it's no recommendation for anybody to come near. And we all know that. We all know that. That's just the way life is. We know that if things aren't going well, you wouldn't dare do that. Well, I'll take it to a second step. What about a church? What about a church? You see, a church that's getting along within itself and has the right relationship with the Lord and is seeking to do God's will and His pleasure and so forth, The world looks at us and they make a judgment. One, they make a judgment whether or not we are the real deal. That is, do we really reflect Christ? Are we putting on a show? Are we shallow? Are we real, genuine? Are we anchored in Christ? And are we on a solid rock? They think in those terms. Oh, they may not use the term rock and so forth. But they want to know what makes us what we are and if it's real. If it's real. And one of the great problems is we run into this issue of crippling a church's work and ministry because of disunity within it. And if you caught that in John 17, one of the things our Lord prayed for is that there would be unity among the believers as, and that's a big word, as there is a unity between the Father and the Son. Do you realize that our relationship with each other is in that context compared to the relationship that Jesus Christ had with the Father? I want them to be united in me and me in you, Father, and all of us, as it were, united in such a way that the world would look at it and say, I believe Jesus did come. And I believe that Jesus did come to die for man's sins. That's what John 17 is saying. They'll see this unity between believers that's just like the unity between the Father and the Son and they'll say, I do believe that Jesus Christ has changed the lives of these people. I do believe the Father sent him and he did make a difference in the lives of these people. Well then the opposite is also true. For now, for the next Sunday or two, we'll talk about this church. Listen, look if you would in your Bible, turn to the book of 1 Corinthians. There's a story in the Bible, it's a whole epistle, it's the 1 Corinthians epistle, it's about a church that had this problem. It had a problem of division. It's 1 Corinthians chapter number 3, look if you would at the first chapter first off. In 1 Corinthians chapter 1, Look at verse number 10, 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 10, now I beseech you brethren, Paul's writing verse 1 tells you that, I beseech you brethren by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you all speak the same thing. By the way, Brother Mike, the word in verse 10, by the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, is the authority on which Paul spoke. It's the same issue with this, using it in that other passage. He says that you all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. All of that's described in practical sense for a church, of the closeness of the Lord Jesus Christ to the Father. How close he was, how connected he was, and how unified he was, and so forth. And a good question for believers at the New Life Baptist Church is just to ask you this simple question. Are you that united to fellow believers? Are you as united to fellow believers as Christ is united to the Heavenly Father? Because that's the description. And in this particular case, Paul is telling you in verse number 10 what he wants, but he's telling you also in there that there be no divisions among you. But then just go over two or three chapters. Look at chapter 3 and look at verse number 3. 1 Corinthians 3 and verse 3 says, For ye are yet carnal, for whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions. Are you not carnal and walk as men? Then skip all the way over from chapter 3 over to chapter 11 of 1 Corinthians. Chapter 11, 1 Corinthians chapter 11, look at verse number 18. 1 Corinthians 11, verse number 18. 1 Corinthians 11, 18 says, For first of all, when you come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you, and I partly believe it. What's recognizable in the passage of 1 Corinthians chapter 11, Paul is just getting ready to illustrate in word the Lord's Supper, the communion, communion service. He's getting ready to explain to this Corinthian church and he's getting ready to carry it out. And so the first thing he says to this church, before we get into the communion, we got to get this disunion thing taken care of. So before Paul ever gives to us the illustration and the text of scripture, which is one of the earliest presentations of the communion service in the Bible, before we get to that, Paul says we have a division. I partly believe what I've heard, and usually when Paul heard something, it wasn't gossip. It was usually from some believer in the church who was contacting Paul and saying, we've got a problem down here, and it'd be good if you concerned yourself with it and deal with this thing and so forth. Because that's not the first time he'll say that in his epistles. He says it two or three times. I've heard this, or I believe this, I think this. And Paul is saying in this particular case, we're getting ready to do it and explain the communion service. And before we even get to that, before we can even fulfill this responsibility of this ordinance in the church, I have to explain to you that I know and believe we have a problem. We have a division within our church, you say, and wherever there is a church, there is a likelihood there has been, there is, or there will be a division in it. In this church, every church, there be no churches where there are human beings that unless the whole church is walking in the Spirit, that they not fulfill the lust of the flesh and where they're controlled by the Spirit so they do not get into a mindset of envying and strife and all that, which is part of the reason Paul said there was trouble in the church here at Corinth. If we don't get to that level of spiritual maturity, every day bears a possibility of a division within a fellowship and the fact is this is one of those kind of divisions just like marriage the Lord does not want and he hates it and the devil loves it somebody said this of course it was said in the south so it would make more sense down there the devil would rather start a fuss in a church than to sell a barrel of whiskey to the church That's absolutely true. I mean, we can preach against all these physical sins that we know about, drinking and drugs and all these kind of things, you know, pornography and whatever. But the fact of the matter is, if it comes back to an issue within the church, oftentimes it's none of those issues that are the big problem. The big problem is the issue of disunity in a fellowship. And that usually comes by comparisons, you know, competitiveness. or judging in ways that we really have no knowledge of. You know, I read a few weeks ago and put it in a bulletin, one of the lessons or messages in the bulletin that we stick in there on Sunday morning. I put it in there, the passage in First Corinthians 13, where it says, we know in part. I don't know of anything that struck me more recently as being something I need to consider every day than that little phrase Paul was saying. For every Christian, right now, you just know in part. And you say, part about what? Part about everything. We know what the Bible says, but there are parts in it that we do not fully comprehend. And there are parts of life that happen, and things take place, and we don't understand them. And the reason is, we only know in part. We don't have a full disclosure. You can speculate, and that's dangerous. You can estimate, and that's concern. But the fact of the matter is, we cannot be absolutely 100% sure of a lot of things. And what happens with that is, sometimes we make judgments, and sometimes those judgments are harsh and unfair and unkind, and they're not what they ought to be. But the fact is, it is at God's will for our church to be in unity. Not just this one, every church. And it's not just for your sake and mine that He wants that. He wants it because He wants to affect the people out there that don't come in here. the people that you and I come into and bump into through the course of a week. He wants those people to see you as a walking billboard of the unity that's between Jesus Christ and God the Father, and they see a unity in you with other believers instead of bad-mouthing them or criticizing them or making judgment on them, that you do the best you can to stand in the gap to let these pagans know that we stand together. The world has all kinds of brotherhoods. Brother Eddie belongs to the brotherhood of the state patrolman. In this city, there's the blue coat guys, you know, the officers, and they call themselves a brotherhood. Brother Byron and Ron belong to the fellowship or the brotherhood of firemen. And there's groups of men who have jobs that are looked on in the context of brotherhood. And there's a defensiveness about people in those groups defending one another. But we come to the church, and we'll throw you under the wagon, bud. And it's only because we've been, we just got caught in that thing. I mean, it seems easy for us to criticize a fellow believer, Harder than it would be to criticize somebody that we have no spiritual relationship to whatsoever And Paul what he's addressing in the Corinthian passage is because this was envying and strive and murmuring He went through a whole list of things and all of those Contributed to the disunity that this church had me close quickly with just this couple of points Look if you would at Philippians chapter 1 you're in first Corinthians or thereby as close look if you would at Philippians chapter number 1 and Look down to verse number 27. Philippians chapter 1 and verse number 27. Let me get there first. Chapter number 1 and verse number 27 of Philippians says, only let your conversation, or that's your manner of life, be as it becometh the gospel of Christ. that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel." Keep in mind, that's what Paul wanted. Philippians 1.27, that's what he wanted. That, in effect, was what he was praying for, what he was hoping for, and what he was believing could be a reality. And it can. It can be here. But then he'd go from where you are in chapter 1 over to chapter 4. Look at the first two verses of chapter 4 of the book of Philippians. Chapter 4 and verse 1 of Philippians says, Therefore, my brethren, dearly beloved, and long for my joy and my crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved. Verse 2, I beseech thee, beseech you to us, and beseech Synthica, that they be of the sound mind, or same mind, in the Lord. That's what he got. He started out chapter 1 verse 27, he said, here's what I want in the church. And this is what I'm looking for in a church. This is what God wants for his church. This is what the Lord loves for his church. And this is what the devil hates in his church. This is what the Lord loves in the church. Chapter 1 verse number 27. What he got was what's in chapter 4 and verse number 2. He had two women that were at odds with each other. That's what the devil loves. The devil loves Philippians 4.2 and he hates Philippians 1.27. Paul loved Philippians 1.27 as does the Lord and he hates Philippians 4.2. When Christians within a fellowship cannot get along the way they should, God's name is tarnished. And the fact of the matter is, it's not only tarnished, it hurts everything about it. Next week, we'll talk about what it does hurt. What really gets hurt when we do not do it God's way in the division with the church? What happens when we don't get this thing down the way it should? Let me leave you with just this one thought from Philippians chapter 1 and verse number 27. It's interesting here that Paul is pointing out that nothing sends a more contradictory message. That's what this is about, Philippians chapter 1. a more contradictory message into a community than to have a church that's in a division. Nothing sends any greater perspective about the whole thing than that, and it's more contradictory. But it's interesting that Paul puts in under inspiration of the scriptures, he writes in verse number 27, he says, only let your conversation, that is your manner of life, be as it becometh the gospel of Christ. You don't need to memorize the whole verse, but I'd recommend that you memorize that phrase, only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel. Only let your lifestyle be as it becometh the gospel. And his point was, if we did that part of this verse then what we would have would be this one spirit and this one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel. By the way, the ideal of the word becometh in that text, the Greek word would mean and is defined as what's appropriate and what is consistent with it. Just ask yourself this simple question. Does your lifestyle, is it consistent with what the gospel message of the Lord Jesus Christ is? Is it consistent with it? When people look at you and watch you and observe your life, do they see a unity of you and their fellow believers, or do they see a conflict? Do they see some kind of always having a word to say about someone that's not the best and not complimentary and not kind and not gracious, but just something bad about them all the time? What do they see in you? Their idea would be, if you have been saved by the grace of God, they expect something better and something bigger from us. And that's what hurts the church's testimony in any community where it happens. Remember, God hates a divorce. He hates that division. The devil loves it. Jesus Christ came to this earth and set in motion a division of every human being. Nobody will leave this world without making a decision for the Lord Jesus Christ. And even not to make a decision is to make a decision. And thirdly, it is a matter that the Lord Jesus Christ wants a division. among his people and the people of this world. He wants it to be distinctively his kids and what they look like, what they act like, how they carry themselves, how they behave themselves. In fact, the same phrase of Philippians 1.27 could be applied to that very truth. And he wants you to your conversation, your manner of life to be as that which is becoming, is appropriate, is consistent with the gospel of the grace of God. And then he says, There are divisions in churches and we need to address that. We need to look at that. We need to see to it that it doesn't happen. You say, well, pastor, we can't, we can't do anything about stopping divisions in the other churches. That's correct. I'm not interested this morning or this week or next week or the week after about other churches at this moment. I am in general concerned about all Bible preaching churches because we are in this thing together. We can either hang together or we'll hang separately. But they're going to be after anybody who's a Bible believer, you can bank on that. What we have to do is we make sure we're right. I can't change the world. I can't run for president and own the standard of the Bible and get the fundamental truths of the Bible back into the people of the world. I can't do that. But what I can do is what I can have in the circle of influence I do have, and I can exert that on people to help them come to know Christ, live for Christ, and be a part of a local fellowship to encourage the rest of the body of Christ in that location to do what it ought to do, to project that Jesus Christ did come from the Father, He came to earth to die on the cross for our sins, and He wants to be their Savior too. I hope you'll think about it. Let's bow in prayer and you may go. Our Father, we thank you for your word and we thank you for the truth that's set before us in these texts. And Father, over and again, as we read them and think on them, we recognize that there are so many things in the scriptures that though we read them, that they have such a depth of meaning that we would ask for your help in understanding them. And when it comes to the matter and this issue of church divisions, Quite obviously, Father, there are church divisions. They've already happened in many places. And we just are concerned, Father, not only not happening at New Life Baptist Church, but they would stop happening in Bible-believing churches. It's one thing for there to be a division in a church that's not preaching the Word. We can almost pray that there would be a division and the churches would close if they're not preaching the whole counsel of God. But for Bible-believing churches, which is really, in a sense, the hope of this country, it's imperative that we get this thing right. and that we come together as a body of believers in harmony and unity, and that we serve you with an attitude and a spirit and love of the brethren, concern for the brethren, that we do what we ought to do as a fundamental principle of what it is to be a church member and a church fellowship. So I pray you'll drive these truths home to our heart. And I pray the first one we deal with this morning, Father, would be the obvious one, and that is that Christ came to this world to cause division. Everybody in this room is either going to heaven or going to hell. Everybody in this room at this moment, at this hour, if all the world's lights went out and life came to a conclusion, there's only two places everybody in this room is going to end up. They're either going to end up in heaven because they placed their faith in the finished work of Christ and what he came to this earth to do, or they're going to die without having believed on Christ as Savior and they'll end up in hell. So this morning, I pray that you'll press this point on our hearts. There's no middle ground, there's no place to run, and there's no place to hide. It means that the moment we were born into this world, at that moment, down the road, you and your wisdom knew exactly where we would end up. And it's for sure there was a time when we didn't exist, but there'll never be another time when we don't exist. We'll be somewhere forever. I pray you'll help that truth to get buried deep into our souls, that we'll never forget it, and our conscience may bring it to the surface often. and ask us the simple question, is our conversation that which becometh the gospel of Jesus Christ? Help it to be the standard of our life, and may it all bring glory to you as to what we do about it. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. If you'll stand with me please, we'll go to page 319.