And let us come now to the reading of God's holy word. We turn now to the scriptures for our instruction. We turn to the epistle to the Ephesians and the fourth chapter, Ephesians chapter 4, reading from verse 1 through to the verse 16. This is God's holy word come, let us hear his holy word. I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. there is one body and one spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all, and in you all. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore, he saith, 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? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill 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 slight 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 supplieth according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. Amen. This is God's holy word and may the Lord grant his blessing upon that public reading of his precious, infallible and sacred word and may he do so. Also, we look to him to undertake to enable for the ministry of his precious word and for his glory and for the good of our never-dying souls. Congregation, turning your prayerful attention once again to the epistle to the Ephesians, the chapter 4, seeking the Lord's gracious guidance in enabling to minister his word this evening. The verse 2, we arrive in the verse 2 of the chapter 4, but I read from the verse 1 just to gain the context once again. I therefore, says the Apostle Paul, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. And now the verse two. With all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love. Now the Lord willing, we'll hopefully get down to the verse four this evening. I'm not so sure how far we'll get, but let's just recap as we come into this chapter as we did last time. When the Apostle Paul says here, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. What he's doing when he says therefore, he is causing us to look back on these last three chapters in which he showed us by the Spirit, this is all given by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he showed us the amazing grace of God in quickening us. We who were dead in our trespasses and sins, we who were children of this world, we were who were in darkness. Our parents didn't make us Christians. It was God that saved us. It was God that quickened us. It was all the work of our beloved Father, who chose us in eternity past through His Son, who gave us to His dear Son as a love gift in John Newton's amazing grace. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. He then says, but God who called me here below, will be forever mine. And that's the thought. We were not only chosen in eternity past, but we will forever be gods in eternity to come. We are being called home. Paul has told us of this amazing grace that has come to us before God ever created the world, the heavens and the earth. He has loved us with an everlasting love. And for us, heaven is soon to come. And that is a blessed reality for the Christian because this life is a difficult life as a Christian. We battle with sin. We live in a world of iniquity. We have sin within and sin without. And of course there is the great arch enemy, Satan himself, seeking to try to disturb the church and unsettle the children of God. But these things are written for our encouragement. And God is calling us home. We have been called. Here he speaks about the calling which we have received in the verse 1. It's all because God has in eternity past loved us. quickened us, given us his son who came into this world in time, space and history, lived for us a life that we couldn't live because we by nature are sinners, and then died that awful death in our stead, having taken not only our sins to himself, bearing the punishment that was due to them. All we like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way, but the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. It was laid on him, laid to his charge. How, in what way, we cannot explain this mysterious transaction that took place on the cross, but nonetheless it is true. But God, who has called us now, has called us to be holy. So we have surveyed these great mountain peaks in chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3, and we said last time, it's just like when Peter was there on the Mount of Transfiguration, and he said to the Lord, to Peter, James and John, Moses and Elijah that were there. He said it's good for us to be here. But there was a time he had to come down, and we have to come down to reality. Although these things are true, these glorious things that we have in the Lord Jesus, this doctrine is true, and it's important that we have it. Because this doctrine will lead to right living, but there must be right living, there must be duty that follows. right doctrine. And so we saw last time, he began by saying, I therefore, the prison of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. That word there, I didn't take time last time to explain, but the word there, vocation, is the word klesia. Now when we get to the book of Ecclesiastes, this can be a little bit confusing for you, The book of Ecclesiastes is the word Ecclesia. Now, the actual word Ecclesia is a Latin word, and that means called out. The original Hebrew name there is the name Koleth. which means the preacher. That's why the Authorized Version correctly puts there the preacher. But we have a Latin word there, ecclesia. And so some people, they say, well, the Book of Ecclesiastes means to the church. No, but it rightly is said there to be the preacher. So this word is connected there, ecclesia, a calling. You've heard the old saying, a nurse might say it's not a job. It's a vocation, and so she's serious about her work. It's a calling, and so is the Christian life. The Christian life is a calling. We are called to be holy. And so, what is the calling? Well, we read here, to walk worthy. of this high calling that we have received in God. Chapter 3, verse 20, we can only do this through the supernatural power of God. Notice there with me, now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us. It's God's power that works in us, you see. that gives us the power to do this. And so the right doctrine leads to the right living. And so the Christian, he begins this chapter and he says, I'm not sufficient for these things. How can I do it? Well, Paul has told us that it's through his power that worketh in us. And so we need to be more and more reliant. The Christian, as he grows in the grace and in the knowledge of the Lord, he becomes more humble. And he realizes that in and of himself, he says with Paul, I can do nothing, but I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. And so we said last time that as we come to chapter 4 and the verse 1 here, this is the very first exaltation that the apostle gives us by the Spirit of God. We've seen before in the chapter 1, 2, 3, they're all what we call indicatives. Things that are true, they indicate what is true about a Christian. These are things that God has done for us. Now chapter 4, chapter 5, chapter 6 is Christian living. It's the same as I said last time with the epistle to the Romans. Right up until we get to Romans chapter 12 and the verse 1, Paul says the same thing. He says, I beseech you, by the tender mercies of God, offer yourselves up as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing unto God. And last time we saw that this is a logical call. It's a logical call because he uses the word therefore. And we said that the Bible can only be understood as we read it through. We've got to read it through logically, and that's the right way to study Scripture. Then we said it's a tender pastoral call. He says, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you, I beg you, I plead with you, because God has had such mercy on you. All this deserves our very best to give to God. We don't offer God the scraps of our life. that we should give our moments and our days to him. I spoke on the Lord's Day of how godly the Puritans were, and they certainly were very godly people. They were, as Mr. Packer said, long of old before he went quite liberal. He said they were like the giant redwood cedar trees in California, which grow to 300 feet in height. They are like spiritual giants to many of us today. And men too, like John Bunyan and others, have lived. very tremendous lives, but of course all by the grace of God. They would say that in themselves they had no power to do these things, but these men lived very close to the Word of God, and so should we. And then we said it's also a realistic call. We've seen it in the life of Paul. Think of him as he writes here. He says, I, therefore the prisoner of the Lord. When it's going to cost you, isn't it, as a Christian? As a Christian it's going to be, at times we'll be persecuted for righteousness sake. It's going to cost you. But also it's a, we said, a high calling. I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that ye walk worthy. We said there the word is the word axios, which really means of equal weight, of equal value, equivalent to honor this call with an honorable walk to the Lord. It's a heavenly calling, Hebrews 3.1. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, we're headed home. It's not only a holy calling, but it has an end in view. It has a terminus. And that is to be with God. Be therefore holy, says God, for I am holy. That's how we're going to be for all eternity. Thank the Lord for it. The unbeliever doesn't like this, as we were thinking, Lord's Day evening. That's why many of the Lord's disciples, John 6, followed him no more, because they weren't truly disciples. They weren't born again. Well, he says, I therefore beseech you. In other words, make a very conscious choice to live this worthy life. And there should be no glaring contrasts, we must say, between what we believe and what we practice. It's not to say that there won't be differences, but there should be no glaring contrast. You know, there's something wrong when somebody says, I'm a Christian, but they have no delight in the commandments of God. It's very clear in the Psalm 1, that the godly man, that the righteous, they delight in the law of God. And Paul says the same in Romans 7, in the inward man, he delights in the law of God. Now, we've spent a great deal of time, haven't we, when we were going through the epistles of John in 1 John, on those various litmus tests, at least six, perhaps seven litmus tests, that show whether somebody is born of God. Remember what John said in 1 John 2.3, Hereby do we know that we know him if we keep his commandments. And then he goes on to say, He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. These are very basic ones. Another one is, love not the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. So there are various things, aren't there, that show whether somebody is born of God. So Paul here is coming here now to the church, the church of God which he purchased with his own blood. And Paul tells us when he writes to Titus, in Titus 2, that the grace of God that appears unto all men, that is all God's people, teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts in this present age. That's how you know whether the grace of God has come to somebody. Has it come to you? Has it come to me? Well, we must examine our own hearts. And again, you know, we saw it last week, Paul says to work out your own salvation in fear and in trembling. Why? He says because it is God that worketh in you to will and to do his good pleasure. Yes, the Christian must strive, but remember we're coming back to the verse 20 there. It's God. by his power that worketh in us as Christians. This is how we know. So we've considered the calling, we now move on this evening to the verses 2 and 3. He says, to walk this worthy calling, now notice, here we begin, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Now we'll just concentrate on these two for a moment and perhaps move to the fourth verse. Now, you notice that there are, what you will see when you, if you were to read over Ephesians several times, you will notice that basically there are two themes that are running through this epistle to the Ephesians. In chapter 1, 2, and 3, The first theme is really the unity that is in the truth. We've read of the truth. These truths, these indicatives from chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3, and then there's unity here in the chapter 4. But then in chapter 5 and chapter 6, there is holy living. That's what he's going to teach us. Doctrine and unity in that doctrine, chapter 4, 1, 2 and 3, unity, but it's unity in those truths. But we come to chapter 5 and chapter 6, it's holy living. It's all about Christian instruction in the life. I suppose there are other areas as well, but that's one basic way of viewing it. But let's say first of all, unity in the truth has to be the foundation, doesn't it, for godly living. We can't have godly living without correct doctrine, without understanding these basic truths, and we're going to see some of them in the chapter 4. There's one Lord, one faith, one baptism, etc. We do not follow other faiths. We follow what the Word of God teaches, and we have to be united in that. Otherwise we cannot come to a consensus about what is truth, and what is godly living, and what principles we have to live by. So there is a very clear and direct relationship between the two. So let us begin as we come to the verse 2. With all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Now let me say first of all that this unity is not a kind of unity that some people imagine. like the ecumenicals, when they think of unity, everybody just somehow agreeing, or people who have no convictions. But here what we have, if you notice, he says, to keep the unity of the Spirit. This is what he's saying, he's saying it's there And our responsibility as Christians is to keep it. How is it there? It's there because it's based on existing truth of God's Word. Our responsibility is not to try to unite people as Christians. But you see, the Spirit, who is the author of the Word, is that which unites us. And I'll seek to try to develop this. The unity Paul is speaking about here is the unity of the Spirit of God. You notice there in the verse 3, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit. Not our spirit, it's a capital S. I.E. meaning God's Spirit that he has given to everybody that is born again. Everybody that is born again, Romans 8 verse 9, has the Spirit of God. And the Spirit also gave the Word. This is not something we manufacture, this unity. And I must say that sin and error divides, doesn't it? Always divides. Sin and error divides. Only God and abiding in his truth, which is authored by the Holy Spirit will unite us. It's the Holy Spirit of truth who's the author of the Word. You see, it's the right kind of unity here, not the kind of unity that Catholics and some Protestants try to manufacture, let's get together and let's just compromise. No, no. That's not what is being discussed here. Notice, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit. Now, notice there is one body and one spirit. What is the body? The body is the church of Christ. And who has made that body? The Holy Spirit, who comes to indwell every single child of God, who is quickened by the Spirit. You hath he quickened. So we're united by the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God, in other words, is working in the body. If we have not the Spirit of Christ, we're not of Christ. So it's the Spirit that is working in the church. Now if you please turn with me to 1 Corinthians 12 and the verse 13. Every Christian, we notice, is baptized into one body. And that body, of course, is the bride of Christ, the church. 1 Corinthians 12, 13, Paul says, for by one Spirit, Are we all baptized into one body? Do you notice that? That's the church. Whether we be Jews or Gentiles, and we've discussed that, haven't we, in chapter 3? The mystery of the fellowship. Now we're joined, both Jews and Gentiles. Whether we be bond or free, or have been made. Now notice, made to drink into one spirit. We drink of the Spirit. The Spirit indwells us. and he has given the word, and we drink of his word. So when a person says, I will not submit myself to the body, there's a problem, isn't there? The unity exists with a spirit baptizes us into one body. Notice there 1 Corinthians 12, 13. For by one spirit we're all baptized into one body. It's the Holy Spirit that has quickened us and joins us to the church. All of God's people, you read in Acts chapter 2, when they repented and believed, they were added to the church. And they had fellowship one with another, they ate bread, and they came under the apostles' teaching, and so on. And they were then members of that church. And so, you see, the unity is there because the Spirit has quickened these people. And they are now having, as Paul says in Philippians 2, they have the mind of Christ. He says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. And so that's where we've got to begin. And what I said earlier, if somebody, say for instance 1 John, we were thinking earlier on, of those litmus tests, if somebody cannot keep the basic commandments of God, God's Word says, but hereby do we know him, if we keep his commandments. If somebody has no delight in those things, they shouldn't be in the church. at all. Shouldn't be baptized. And of course we treat the two together. Baptism and church membership. They go hand in hand. People are joined and added. And so you wouldn't want to add unbelievers, would you, to the church of Jesus Christ? You'd have great disunity. And so this is what he's saying. This is what makes for unity. Unity of the Spirit. It's already there. If we are believing, And so there are, now as we move, there are five attitudes that we must have as we come to this unity with all lowliness. Now this is very important. Let's begin with each of these. All lowliness. What is lowliness? It's the opposite of pride. When somebody says, no, I won't do that. What's that? It's pride. When God's word says something and pride says something else, no, I'll do something else. It's against the Spirit, isn't it? It's against the Word. And it's a sure recipe for disaster. Now, the more we submit to the Word, the more unity, of course, there will be within the church. Pride is thinking you know better. Pride is asserting yourself. And so the Christian submits and yields to the Spirit of Christ. And then secondly, notice, and in meekness, that is doing everything gently. You may not agree with it, but there's a gentle spirit. That's what meekness is. It's power. It's a man who's strong, but who's able to control his temper. Not to show his anger. That's what made Moses a great man. Meekest man, we're told, apart from Christ. And then you notice thirdly, with long-suffering. Now, that means you're willing to wait and to be patient in waiting. Sometimes you'll have to bear ill. Maybe there'll be misunderstandings. These, of course, aren't they? They're all gifts. Galatians 5.22. Fruits of the Holy Spirit. Forbearing. Fourthly, notice. It suggests that others won't always be right either. And you have to forbear with them. Because you're not always right. Isn't it? And then, fifthly, forbearing one another in love. It's not just forbearing for the sake of forbearing, but because you love them, because they're the children of God, and because you're going to spend eternity with them. You are His heritage. You are His special possession. So that's the mindset, if you like, as we enter into the church. And the amazing thing is, you'll find it's almost mirrored when you come to Romans chapter 12. Paul says here, verse three of Romans 12, for I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office. So there are offices in church, and you notice that there are gifts as we move on in this passage. God has given men in the church gifts according to the measure of grace. So turning back here to Ephesians 4, you'll notice that this mindset spills over or moves on as you come down to the verse 7. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Now what he's going to do is he's going to explain the various offices that have been allocated to men within the church, so as God has gifted these men. to so lead the body of Christ. Let me just read verse 7. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore, and that means basically in the light of that, he saith, this by the way is a quotation from Psalm 68 verse 18, when he ascended up on high, that is Christ, he led captivity captive and gave gifts. unto men. What does that mean? Well, when you read Psalm 68 and that verse 18, it's a prophetic word concerning the triumph of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. Not only when he cried, Tetelestai, it is finished, but when he went to the grave and the grave could not hold him. He came up out of the grave and he ascended up, as we read here, on high. He went to the grave, but he ascended up. And when he led captivity captive, what's that? We were captive to Satan. We were in the dark night of sin. We were slaves of Satan. We were chained to this world and to our lusts. But he led captivity captive. He led the captives free. As Mr. Wesley puts in his hymn, my chains fell off, my heart was free, and so on. And when he let captivity captive, he gave gifts to men to establish his church. And this is a very important thing. And so this comes into this context of submitting and yielding ourselves to these various men that God has given within the church. Now you notice, what for? Come down to the verse 12, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Now notice the verse 13, 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. Now there are three illustrations, let me just give them to you quickly. The verse 14 and following, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine. So there you have an analogy of children in a boat and the wind's blowing and the sail is flapping and the tiller, nobody's at the tiller, nobody's steering it and everything's chaos and they're headed nowhere. He says this is why pastors, teachers, so that you'd be no more children. There's another analogy, notice. Moving on from the children in the boat. There is another here. And carried about with every wind of doctrine and by the slight of men. The word there in the Greek is by the dice of men. Men know just how to throw the dice so that certain numbers come up. And well, you're tricked. And they can make the scriptures appear whatever they want it to be. There's another analogy as well. The cunning craftiness of men, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. Here is perhaps a lion waiting in prey for something. That's the other analogy. So this is why the Lord has given pastors, teachers. But you see, of course, it takes humility, as we've seen in the verse 2 and 3, when we enter into the body of Christ. Not everyone has these same gifts. And as I said, that's mirrored in Romans chapter 12 and the verse 4 and following. So these are the gifts, the unique gifts of men for the establishing of the church. There's nothing peculiar in these men themselves. God has just so chosen to endow them with those particular gifts for the edifying of the body and the building up of the church, the verse 13 and so on, till we all come, notice there, 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, etc. So the church is not ruled by pragmatists, is it, or politicians, but by spiritual men. who are endowed with the Holy Spirit of God. And so we've seen that, coming back to the verse 2 and 3, that this unity is not manufactured. The unity comes through the Holy Spirit who has quickened us by his power, and remember what he says here, keeping endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit. This is the Holy Spirit who has quickened us and who is working in each and every one of us. Don't work against that Holy Spirit that is in you, that is teaching you His Word. Submit to it and to those who would hopefully teach the Word of God accurately and clearly, the things of God. So the unity of the Spirit is that spiritual unity which is produced by the Spirit of God. And that, I believe, is the unified teaching. How could I put it without seeming to be putting us in a camp? But those who would teach sound theology, you can read all the old commentators, the good old faithful commentators, they'll all tell you these things. But more than that, the Scriptures are affirming that. We've seen, haven't we, from 1 Corinthians that we are baptized into the body of the church by the Holy Spirit. Into one body, we read. And so long as we walk close to this Word, which is authored by the Holy Spirit, there will be unity. It is that which makes for unity. We have no doubt, as Calvin says, One mind. Philippians chapter 2, the verse 1, he quotes Paul's words. He says to the Philippians, if there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels of mercies, fulfill ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same love. and being of one accord and of one mind. Now remember what Paul says to the Corinthians. He says, you have the mind of Christ. He says, we have the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2. We do not have the mind of this world. The things of Christ, the things of the Word are spiritually discerned. So it is the Spirit of God in man that maintains this peace. And so we must never try to manufacture it. The best thing for us to do is to get as close to the word as we can. That's where true unity will come. The closer the walk we have with the Lord, the more we will know of this true biblical unity. And disputes, which frequently give rise in the church to hatred and resentment, always overcome by the bond of peace which he speaks about in the following verses. Verse 3, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. The bond of peace. Only the Holy Spirit can give peace. Remember Galatians 5.22. The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace. That's there because It's the work of the Spirit. Where there's no peace, there's turmoil, it's the flesh. And sometimes we need to ask, maybe if a problem arises, when did it actually begin? When did the problem begin? And more or less we can trace it back to some problem either we've done or somebody else has done, and it's triggered a reaction in us. And we need to pray against all of these things. We need to pray for the Spirit to help us, to lead us, and to guide us in all truth. I mean, the devil is the one who works discord in the church, and he will seek to sow discord Romans 14, the verse 9, let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace and the things wherewith one may edify another. How we need to do that as God's people. We need to do that more and more. Something we've got to work at. Keep this peace. If we don't grieve the Holy Spirit, There will be peace. There will be peace in the church. We ought to be united in one body, because we are in one body. The Holy Spirit has put us in the body of Christ, as we read. And notice here, he supports this, where he says in verse 4, we'll move to verse 4 just for a few minutes now, there is one body and one spirit, even as ye are called. in hope of your calling now you notice what he does here look at this verse carefully with me he supports this powerful argument about being united in the body by the hope of our calling just as we've received even as you are called in one hope of your calling who called us the father so just as there's one calling we've all received that calling haven't we Remember in chapter 2, how Christ came preaching to us. I mean, he came, the word came through the minister. We who were far off. I'll read from verse 12, that ye at time, ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. But now, in Christ Jesus, ye who were sometimes were afar off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one and broken down the middle wall of partition, having abolished in his flesh even the law of commandments. He has drawn us to himself, verse 17, and came and preached peace to you which were afar off and to them that were nigh. Christ came preaching to us, as you noticed the previous verse, we who were far off, and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to you. How did he do it? By his spirit, which was in a man who was preaching the gospel or his word, indeed we'll call us. He is the author of these things. And so it follows all that will inherit eternal life should be in spiritual harmony within the church because the Holy Spirit is abiding in our hearts. Isn't that a wonderful thing? And so we need to walk after the Spirit of Christ, not by the flesh. There was one, as it were, divine invitation that was addressed to us all, to come and to have life. And of course, by the Spirit of God, we were drawn, weren't we? Made willing in the day of His power. And we're to render every kind of assistance to each other in the church. help and to do for that which makes for peace, as we read from Romans. And there's some things we're not going to agree on. Some things you're not going to agree on with me as your pastor. But as Augustine said, in essentials, unity. Non-essentials, liberty. In all things, charity or love. Now, of course, in one way we can say everything is essential, but there are some things that are not, that which we're going to divide over. I can think of some examples that may be contentious, perhaps, like, all right, we'll talk about lengths of skirts, ladies. Are we going to agree on that? No, of course we're not going to. I'm not going to walk around with a ruler or the size of your hats or anything like that. Men want color suits or whatever. We're not going to agree on these things. But of course we need to have liberty in those non-essentials and in all things love. that should be the overruling thing. And we should dread every kind of animosity in the church. So notice, as we now draw to a close, there is one body and one spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling. Now you'll notice this, I'll just say this in passing, as you come from the verse four onwards to the next few verses, you see the Trinity set out there. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. So here we have one body and one spirit. The body's not divided, is it? The same Holy Spirit that's called us, he's not going to divide us. a Holy Spirit who ought to be in every one of us. And that's why, again, it's so important that it's only believers in the church and who are voting on these things. Believers, because the Spirit is not divided. And that's the trouble you've got with a modern evangelical church. You've got people in churches, membership, who are not saved. They're lost in the world. And it's little wonder the church is in such disarray. So we continue to pray on these things that the Lord will unite us. One Lord, one faith. We'll look at this next time. One baptism. One God and Father of all. Now again I say, you notice there's the Spirit, verse 3, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There's one body and one Spirit. Verse 5, one Lord, that's the Lord Jesus. One faith, one baptism, one God. and Father of all. So we have the Trinity. And God willing, next time we'll look at these things. But we need to pray on these things. I think in application of all of this, we must seek to walk after the Spirit. Seek to get to know the Word of God as best as we can. And again, practice what we know. It's all very well knowing. But as I said, there ought to be no disparities between what we know and what we practice. Because that's often where contention lies, right? We have people saying, well, if you practice what you knew, you'd be half the better man or woman. So we need to put to practice God's Word. We need his Holy Spirit. We're reminded, aren't we, going back to the chapter 3 in the verse 20. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us. What power? The Holy Spirit. He'll unite us. He'll build us up. He'll fight for us. It's interesting, isn't it, when we read in Isaiah, when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall raise up a standard. Just when we think things are ebbing out, the Spirit of the Lord lifts His people up, and there's a new fight, and there's a new vigor. How we need to pray. Pray that we don't grieve the Spirit. Pray that we will come back, as we do here to the verse 2. This is essential to our unity. Walking in all loneliness, We must be humble. Must realize we've not arrived. Meekness, gentleness, long-suffering. Let's make sure we have these gifts as well as they are graces. Because if they're not there, we can be sure of it. We're not walking after the Spirit. We're walking after the flesh. James says, doesn't he, where do all these troubles come from? Well, he says they devilish. They're not of the Spirit of God. but they are demonic, so we need to pray. Pray for the Spirit's help and for grace. We won't look at that, but we'll conclude now. May the Lord help us as we venture on, moving on, God willing, from the verse 4 through a few verses next time. Let us pray. Let us seek the Lord in prayer. Our gracious Lord and Heavenly Father, we do thank and we do praise Thee for Thy precious Word. There is nothing like it. We thank Thee, Lord, that Thou hast given the very clear guidelines as to how we are to live, how we are to walk worthily, how we are to walk circumspectly, following thy word, following all of thy precepts, and endeavouring, Lord, to seek to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. We pray that Satan himself may be kept far away. We know that he would seek to attack any church if he could, and no doubt he has caused the Church of Jesus Christ much unrest. She is described there in Isaiah 54 as that noble galleon that is upon that mighty roaring ocean being buffeted by every tempest. But we thank Thee, Lord, that Thy people, as we read there, shall be established as a glorious temple one day in heaven. And we thank Thee that we will be able to say we had Christ in the vessel and we were able to smile at the storm O Lord, do give us grace and help for every trial and for every difficulty. Cause us to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our blessed Lord and Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that he will be honoured in our lives, that we will walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise. And submitting unto one another, in love. We pray these things, we ask for thy grace and help and pardon of our many sins. Through the Lord Jesus Christ we pray. Amen. We close by singing hymn number 775, Blessed be the tie that binds. Our Father, we do rejoice with joy unspeakable, for thou hast not left us as orphans, neither thy dear Son, but thou hast sent thy Holy Spirit, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. And we thank thee, Lord, that we are able to do all things through Christ's Spirit, the Holy Spirit, thy Spirit. And we look unto thee, now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, and to him be glory in the Church, by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. you